Rasputin of the East

＜ Episode 64 >

Surprisingly, the first reaction was the Russian legation in France.

“You mean your Majesty sent you an encrypted telegram?”

“Yes, sir.”

When we entered the Russian legation with the minister who came to us in person, there was a cipher text.

“The recipient was your Excellency. First of all, the decryption is not finished yet, so please wait a little bit.”

“Sure.”

Actually, it was a bit surprising. I thought that it was natural for the British minister to make a dinner date or the French president to ask for a meeting, but what about the Russian government first?

‘Are you telling me to come back and command the army?’

If you’re really going to do that, you’ll just have to send Brusilov an order to advance and he’ll do well on his own.

The situation of the reorganization of the European power structure itself is beyond my capabilities.

‘The purpose of coming here was just to convey that the Hohenzollern imperial family wanted to survive, to do some shopping while I was there, and to build a justification that I had done enough. You’ve got to carry out your mission.’

First of all, we need to confirm the support of France. Mr. England is not allowed to go with us. Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Scandanavian countries, etc. just leave it to their diplomats, I can’t even deal with France and England right now. It seems that the United States is the one who just doesn’t participate in the war, so whether to unify North and South America in the new continent, establish the American Empire, and establish Norton I as the emperor… Whether or not that nobleman has been dead for a long time, I’ll leave it to you anyway.

A construction project appeared in front of me, which was unfolding my starry delusions.

“Here it is.”

I unwrapped the decrypted ciphertext and it was frozen.

***

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Moscow. Kremlin.

“Why should we fight for England?”

Rep. Markov of the State Duma raised his voice.

“Your Majesty, they are only sparing their forces in spite of the need to go to war! I dare say that there is no longer any reason for us to do something that is only beneficial to our dear allies, at the expense of Russian soldiers!”

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Many of Russia’s political giants, such as Sergei Witte, who has been out of town for a long time, and Markov, the conservative head of the State Duma, have opened their mouths.

“After the democracies of England and France overthrow the German monarchy, we will surely become Russia! Already in Constantinople we have clearly seen their hypocrisy!”

“If they don’t go to war, so should we. Already at the time the Austro-Hungarian Empire fell, our aim was achieved, and at this point the Balkans are in the hands of the Empire, so why should we shed more blood!”

Even Empress Alexandra helped there.

“Honey, the Balkans don’t deserve the whole world to fight for it, and the Serbs, like the Bulgarians, will not appreciate it and only want more territory. We are no longer willing to shed blood for them.”

It was the British side that crossed the line first.

We have already shed enough blood.

We’ve got everything we can get, so what’s the point of bleeding more?

These arguments came out simultaneously, from all directions.

‘If you feel sorry for the allies, you have to do it with your own hands. We’ve got everything we’ve got. If that’s the case, let’s just get out of the way, whether they lose or not!’

At least in Russian politics, such a perception was shared.

While they were fighting, Britain caught up and what did France replace? Italy?

In their view, this war was nothing more or less than just a war between Russia and Germany.

Since Sazonov, who was a pro-British faction, was orthodoxly beaten by the tsar’s anger and was overthrown, the pro-Western faction’s position was dramatically reduced, and the liberals who supported them were also hit by strong drafts and had their coats folded and their heads tucked in.

Although Nicholas II was skeptical about whether the war should continue, there was no reason to fight anymore after the empress, former Prime Ministers Witte and Duma, etc., criticized Britain and France. There were a lot of arguments about whether or not it was.

Of course, they also did not offer to negotiate first, but if Germany offered a negotiation, they would accept the negotiation ‘generally’.

In the end, after much deliberation, the Tsar decided to seek advice from his loyal servant and most trusted advisor, Mikhail Kim, Earl of Vostok.

***

Legation of the Russian Empire in Paris, France.

“This gentleman…”

I clasped my forehead.

Do you want to strengthen yourself here? Because of the salty public opinion?

‘No, wouldn’t it be huge if the public opinion on the salt pan was enough to change the minds of high-ranking officials and even the tsar?’

Also, Irina should have left behind. Shall we send it to the destroyer right now?

Fortunately, none of the cubs seem to be arguing over all the territory that Austria-Hungary vomited. Fortunately, the tsar wants to advance into a dual empire and annex everything from Hungary to Austria. What do you think? If I had written something like this, I would be poisoned with real tea.

After a while, I picked up the pen.

First of all, I wrote a telegram asking for a little more time because I didn’t have enough information, and then I got up.

It was the next day that the British foreign minister went directly to France.

“There was still a little bit of time left for our schedule in England, but I didn’t expect to see you in France. Minister.”

British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Gray, a pro-French and pro-Russian minister who stood firm amid the chaos that overturned the cabinet. One of the few members of the Liberal Party that still holds a seat in the current situation where the Liberal Party has almost collapsed.

This would have been possible because he was a member of the Liberal Party, but was more friendly with the Conservatives than the Liberals, and carried out a bipartisan policy while risking friction with the Liberals. Of course, there must have been a reason why it was difficult to replace the foreign minister in a state of war.

“If the situation is different, shouldn’t the response also be different?”

Secretary Gray smirked and rolled his eyes. As I tilted my head at his slightly awkward behavior, I immediately understood what he said as if he was making an excuse.

“sorry. My eyesight is not very good, so I can’t see the Count’s face very well.”

Oh, by the way, did I mention that you recently suffered from an eye disease? In any case, it’s a shame that this human being is carrying out the post of foreign minister without being physically ill.

“I have committed the rudeness of procrastinating a little to discuss the current situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It happened because of our unilateral request, so we should apologize first.”

“it’s okay.”

Well, he doesn’t seem to be apologizing at all, and I also skipped the clichéd apology.

“I think we, the British Empire, should occupy Austria-Hungary as soon as possible. We also need to provide military support to suppress socialists. If you are the Count who has been crushing socialist conspiracies for a long time, are you not aware of the dangers of rednecks?”

“Does it mean that our Russian army should leave the German front alone and go into suppressing the communists?”

I understand the situation. It must be scary because even the communists put their heads out in such a situation.

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Moreover, if we focus on Austria-Hungary, we can take a breather from anywhere in the Middle East. You might have thought that it was unlikely that we would get out of Jerusalem and go near Suez or cross the border with Persia.

but we don’t know

“Of course, the British Empire will also send troops. We will also negotiate with the French Republic.”

“Is there a way for the British Empire to advance its forces into Austria-Hungary?”

“We plan to send British troops to the Alps.”

“How about ending the war, then? As you may know, my original task was to agree on a common end-of-war plan for the negotiating countries at the end of the great war to come in the not-too-distant future.”

“The war is over……”

Of course I want to end the war. Any savvy man in the British Empire today would be happy to applaud if he could end the war immediately.

In addition to the unrealistic situation of the naval plan established during the war, there are huge casualties, the national debt is increasing, and Russia is taking advantage of the war to threaten the status of its metallurgical country.

In the first place, the naval plan itself consumes the same amount of money as any war. It is not for nothing that the construction of battleships ceased at the same time as the outbreak of World War II.

The United States, which has built many large ships and waged wars at the same time, is just crazy about them, and even the British Empire is not good enough to imitate the United States of the World War II era.

The imperial treasury is at stake, issuing a huge amount of bonds and receiving unofficial war donations. It’s nothing, but I can’t help but shed tears when I watch the sights of healthy companies going bankrupt without being able to withstand the massive cash flow.

Of course, many of the unemployed people raised as a result were absorbed into the army, which greedily sucks up manpower, but considering their skills and abilities, it’s not a good deal.

However, if the war is over now, the bandit will not hit Big Ben immediately.

Countries that had already seen the fragments in Austria-Hungary had to be very careful.

“I will tell you one thing. There are already many people in their home country who want to end the war with Germany. There is no denying that your home country put in your own efforts, but as a result, it is not true that your home country could not play a big role when we fought in Tarkov, Constantinople, Jerusalem, and Warsaw. There are a lot of people in their home country who think this is a betrayal.”

“……”

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Minister Gray looked at him anew.

In hindsight, most of Russia’s victories in major campaigns, no, most victories against the Germans were accomplished by that young man in front of him.

Not the Russian Army, but that young man.

The great war would not be a war between an ally and a negotiating country, but a war between Germany and that man.

In a sense, the count… It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was the military commander of the Russian Empire itself. At least not yet, but most likely in the near future.

“I would like to propose an end to the war between the negotiating country and the allies.”