Chapter 165: The Preparation of Kazan Gold (Part I)
Eder wasn't ignorant of what was happening in the new territory, and the strategy was largely his own. Now in the face of the increasingly intense atmosphere of war, he just wants to make Romania, a small Balkan country, prepare in advance as soon as possible.
"This news is really surprising."
Edel spoke to Calust, the head of the guard, with the information he had just gotten.
Caluster also said in disbelief. "Yes, Your Highness, I did not expect that Britain would propose a 'naval holiday' to suspend the construction of warships for a year. And it's surprising that the British Admiralty made the proposal, isn't it? β
In fact, it is not only Caluster who thinks so, but most people in Europe now have the image of Britain as it was in the Victorian era. In fact, the vast majority of people were deceived by Britain's previous glorious image, as can be seen from its shipbuilding plan for the 1913 fiscal year.
From the 1913 fiscal year, the Royal Navy developed a plan for the construction of 8 Revenge-class superdreadnoughts (5 were actually built, 2 were converted into battle cruisers, and 1 was cancelled). However, compared with its predecessors, the Queen Elizabeth-class battleships, the Revenge-class battleships had a considerable technical regression: the full load displacement was reduced by 500 tons, the speed was reduced to 23 knots, and the endurance was reduced from 8,600 nautical miles to 4,200 nautical miles. Obviously, this reduced the cost and was also in line with the requirements of the British Royal Navy to fight the German Navy in the North Sea.
And Eder vaguely remembered that in World War I, Britain concentrated all its main dreadnoughts on its home turf to deal with the German Navy. Then the Mediterranean should have been jointly taken over by the French and Italian navies at that time, in fact, the allies who lacked the Italian navy had no room to play in the Mediterranean. The combined strength of the four Austro-Hungarian ships was completely insufficient for France to fight, let alone add Italy. The Allied powers, which had mastered the seas, were actually invincible, and the four years of World War I were fought entirely by Germany's strong army, which was why Eder was reluctant to join.
As a result of Romania's entry into the war in 1916, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince now believes that 1918 is actually the best time to seize the greatest benefits for Romania. Austria-Hungary was dying, Tsarist Russia had been overthrown, and Red Russia had signed the Treaty of Brest and withdrew from World War I. The two countries that posed the greatest threat to Romania have collapsed for a while, and Romania can take advantage of this time to snatch the legacy of these two countries and then concentrate on dealing with the power from the red.
Thinking of this, Eder suddenly remembered a news that had been widely spread in later generations, that is, "Kolchak Gold". Kolchak was born into a noble family in St. Petersburg. He graduated from the St. Petersburg Naval School in 1894 and fought in Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War.
In 1916 he was appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet. In 1917 he was promoted to admiral. In 1918, he was appointed Minister of the Army and Navy of the "Siberian Government", and then staged a coup d'Γ©tat with the support of foreign armed forces, established a military dictatorship, and proclaimed himself "the supreme ruler of Russia" and the supreme commander of the Russian army and navy. He then became the commander-in-chief of the White Guards during the first armed intervention of the Entente in Soviet Russia, and occupied Siberia, the Urals and the Volga River for a time. Captured after being defeated by the Red Army at the end of 1919, he was executed in Irkutsk in 1920. Now it seems that in the Baltic as the captain of the mine team.
As for the approximately 600 tons of gold he possessed in the original space, it came from the Russian reserve bank in Kazan, and because of the bravery of the German army in World War I, Tsar Nicholas II ordered the transfer of most of Russia's gold reserves to Kazan in the middle reaches of the Volga River. It has always been the rear of Russia, and it is easily accessible and has abundant products nearby.
Kolchak discovered the gold from the Reserve Bank after seizing Kazan in 1918, and he transferred it to his Siberian capital, Omtsk.
As for the people in the original plane who said that the gold was transferred here by the Soviet government, Eder always scoffed. Nearly 600 tons of gold, if the Soviet government had really known, could have been transported by a train in half a day, where would have been left to Kolchak. This is now worth more than 80 million pounds of gold hard currency, which can completely build a new German high seas fleet, and it is completely unaware of the financial difficulties of the Soviet and Russian governments in the early stage.
Thinking of the gold, which is now worth more than 80 million pounds, Eder thought he should do something about it. However, considering that the place where the gold is usually stored is well guarded, then you need to prepare in advance.
Thinking of this, Eder couldn't sit still, this is now the financial income of Romania for four years. If you can put this money in Romania, you can do a lot of things.
"Calust, you go and call Milok, I have something to do with him."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Hearing that the crown prince had received a British proposal to stop the one-year naval holiday, and suddenly wanted to find the intelligence chief Miloch, he didn't think much about it, and immediately agreed. I didn't know how quickly Edel's thinking would spread, and I thought about the Russian Civil War.
While Edel waited patiently, Miloc, who was ordinary-looking and not at all noticeable, was also sitting in his office thinking about his future path. Although it was sunny outside, the inside of his office was still dark due to the thick curtains, which was why he did too much intelligence work and didn't like the light to be too bright.
He has done many things for the old king and knows too much, he has not said anything about retirement, and can only work in this position until he dies of old age. Now the crown prince rarely uses them, and usually calls him the chief of the guard to do it. This made Milok deeply worried, knowing that if an intelligence unit was not used, then it would not be too far from disbanding. Others estimate that they will change departments at most, and only what will happen to their final outcome, no one knows.
As Milok pondered his way out, a subordinate walked in and whispered. "Head, the man named Caluster has arrived, and he said that the crown prince summoned you."
Due to Eder's relationship, the royal family now has two intelligence departments, and most of the side led by Milok is not used by the crown prince, so the relationship between these two intelligence departments can be known from the tone of this Miloc's subordinates.
Although he was worried about his future, Milok would not show it in front of his subordinates, and he said in a flat tone without a trace of emotion. "Ask him to come in."
PS Someone actually got down because I didn't update.,And he doesn't follow the new.,This excuse is so bad.,I express strong contempt for those authors who don't update.γ