"Damn, shit, shit! Those damn guys, they didn't take me seriously at all! "Inside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Nicholas II was furious. Although the cold wind was howling outside the window, and the white world was covered in silver, the anger of the Tsar in the room burned hardly in the room.

"I've backed down! I had to choose a plan that I was not happy with, but even such a plan was still rejected! Those damn guys are against my will! Nicholas II roared angrily.

It didn't make sense just to watch His Majesty the Tsar get angry, and in 1906, after the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Stolypin, who succeeded Witte as Prime Minister of Tsarist Russia, asked, "Your Majesty, what are the minutes ......of this meeting?"

"I'm not going to sign it! Never! Let them die this heart! Nicholas II flatly refused.

What made Nicholas II so angry was that the National Defense Council rejected Nicholas II's proposal to rebuild the Baltic Fleet, so the angry Nicholas II refused to sign the minutes, and these National Defense Councils, which were in opposition to His Majesty the Tsar, were now deeply hated by Nicholas II.

At this time, the Russian Baltic Fleet only had one Borodino-class battleship, the fifth ship Glorious, and two Parvel-class ex-dreadnoughts were under construction, but because of the exposure of the British Dreadnought, the two ex-dreadnoughts that started construction in the early stage of the Russo-Japanese War made appropriate design modifications, so the construction period was delayed, and it was expected to be completed until 1910.

Two ex-dreadnoughts were revised and still ex-dreadnoughts after completion, and the Baltic Fleet had only one dreadnought to take the lead for 5 years, I really don't know what the Russians thought. But in any case, the current Baltic Fleet is a completely empty shelf.

This was unacceptable for Nicholas II, the capital St. Petersburg was on the shores of the Baltic Sea, but the Baltic Sea was practically undefended. Therefore, the reconstruction of the Baltic Fleet became a top priority in the minds of Nicholas II.

However, as Tsar, Nicholas II's will was not omnipotent, and the road to the reconstruction of the Russian navy was bumpy and bumpy.

The Russo-Japanese War dealt a heavy blow to Tsarist Russia, and the various contradictions that had been suppressed before converged into a magnificent revolution that almost overthrew the Romanov dynasty, which had existed for more than 300 years. After finally suppressing the turmoil in the country, Nicholas II was forced to convene the State Duma, which rejected the parliamentary nature.

The first two Duma sessions were uncooperative. As a result, it was dissolved by Nicholas II, and the current Third Duma was constantly divided between governments due to conflicts of interest, and the Russian Navy became a victim of the struggle.

The Duma deputies identified the Admiralty as the main culprit for the defeat of the naval battle against Tsushima and called the Admiralty "Tsushima Ministry." Using its own power to review the government budget, the Admiralty will not want to get a kopeck to build a ship if the Admiralty is not satisfied with their demands for reform.

At the same time, Nicholas II established a nine-member defense council headed by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich to coordinate defense policy. There are only two Navy seats on the committee, and the overwhelmingly dominant Army members are trying to secure funding and policy preferences for their services. The Navy's call to revive its strength could only be extinguished.

"Everybody's getting in my way! Duma! National Defense Committee! The British and Germans were desperately trying to build new battleships, but they asked the Russian Empire to build shore defense ships like the Norwegians! When did the Russian Empire need to be in the company of the small Nordic states? We don't need those boats fluttering in the tub! ”

When did the Russian Empire get so miserable as a nearshore defensive Baltic Fleet consisting of shore defense ships and torpedo boats?!

In fact, not everyone is opposed to rebuilding a large navy, but Prime Minister Stolypin and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs still believe that a strong naval fleet is needed, which is the most powerful tool to show strength and put pressure on other countries to achieve their diplomatic goals. Foreign Minister Izvolsky once said: "The fleet should be present wherever any (foreign) policy requires his presence." ”

Well, however, the construction of a new fleet of dreadnoughts is unacceptable to the Army. If the navy has more funds, the army's cake will be smaller. And the Duma also supported the army, because it saved so much money, and the parliamentarians believed that for Russia, dreadnoughts were really expensive and useless things.

"Your Majesty, please stop your anger. Be careful with your body. Your Excellency Izvolsky and I are resolutely obedient to your will. We can think of other ways. Stolypin reassured. Stolypin was well aware that as long as the Army remained dominant in the National Defense Council, there was no possibility of rebuilding the Navy, so a way must be found to bypass the National Defense Committee.

The anger was almost exhausted, and Nicholas II sat down dejectedly. But he still reluctantly said: "I have chosen the least expensive plan, I have made such a big concession, but they still rejected my plan." Is there any other way you can do it? Peter? ”

Nicholas II's visit this time was really not vexatious. The General Staff of the Russian Navy proposed that the detachment be the basic tactical unit of the Russian Navy, and that all warships in the detachment should be trained together to ensure coordination in wartime, and each detachment included 4 battleships of the same type, 9 light cruisers, and 36 destroyers.

As for how many detachments are needed for the reconstruction of the Navy and how they should be equipped, the Navy has put forward four plans:

1. Build 4 sub-fleets, including 2 in the Pacific Fleet and 1 in the Black Sea and 1 in the Baltic Sea;

2. Construction of 3 detachments, including 2 in the Baltic Sea (1 of which will be transferred to the Pacific Ocean if necessary) and 1 in the Black Sea;

3. Construction of 2 detachments, 1 each in the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea;

4. Build a detachment of 1 detachment, which will be deployed in the Baltic Sea, and the Black Sea Fleet will be mainly based on modernized and modified former dreadnoughts, with some light ships attached.

Taking into account the poor financial situation, Nicholas II opted for the least expensive option No. 4, and at the same time, in order to free the detachment from defensive operations as the main combat force, proposed to build 180 torpedo boats as a purely defensive force.

It stands to reason that Nicholas II has made compromises and concessions quite rationally, but a detachment will cost about 350 million rubles, plus supporting logistics facilities, auxiliary ships, and the cost of renovating the Black Sea Fleet, the total budget of the Navy will still be as high as 870 million rubles.

The first reaction of this amount in front of those Army commissioners in the National Defense Committee was: "What kind of dream is this?" Just kidding, if this budget is passed, will the army still need to expand? No way! Veto! ”

Such a decision simply did not give Nicholas II any face, and it was largely out of the army's own selfishness, which he thought made Nicholas II angry.

Stolypin is naturally not a fuel-efficient lamp, since the army wants to obstruct it, then simply get rid of them, so he said to Nicholas II: "Your Majesty, since the army wants to fight the ship-building plan to the end, then we might as well put them aside, Your Majesty, you directly submit the plan to the State Council for discussion, it is difficult for the Army to influence the results of the discussion of the State Council, Your Majesty personally submits it, plus me and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs support, the possibility of passing guò will be very great." ”

"Good! Do as you say! Nicholas II was overjoyed: "If you can pass the guò, you will be my great hero!" ”

"However, the fact that the National Defense Council is controlled by the Army will still be a major obstacle, and even if the State Council approves the plan, it will still be opposed when it is implemented, and the Army will have the support of the Duma, and their opposition will be very strong."

Gaining the trust of Nicholas II can make his own resistance to reform smaller, and the construction of the navy is also an important part of the implementation of his own foreign policy, Stolypin naturally has to fully support, but the army's stubborn obstruction is a stumbling block, so Stolypin took the opportunity to provoke Nicholas II's dissatisfaction, and Nicholas II, who was angry, immediately made an answer that Stolypin expected to hear.

"If those guys thwart my plans any more, I'll disband them all! I'm going to make it impossible for them to go against my will! ”

"Your Majesty should not be in a hurry, and the continuous dissolution of the Duma is not conducive to the stability of the empire, and I will do my best to lobby for the Duma. Moreover, even if the Duma does not agree, we can still pass the budget for the next year, but the fact that the army is in charge of the overall situation within the National Defense Council does not meet the security needs of our country, and the navy is an important part of national defense security, but the National Defense Council does not take into account the needs of the navy at all, so how can it say that the policies formulated by the National Defense Council are really in line with national security? Stolypin said.

According to the Russian budget law, if the Cabinet of Ministers and the Duma reach a deadlock and the two sides reach a stalemate, the government can implement the budget proposal of the most recent agreement. Therefore, as long as the State Council approves this plan, even if the Duma opposes the plan this time and cannot implement it, then it will be proposed again in the next year, and even if the Duma opposes it again, the government can implement the plan.

Therefore, the State Defense Committee is more of an obstacle to the reconstruction of the Navy than the Duma, so pulling one faction to fight another, Slorepin decided to give the army a pill on the eye.

"Although the empire's navy can finally be rebuilt according to Peter's method, it is really difficult to compete with other countries on such a scale, the British and Germans are building dreadnoughts, the French have already started construction of many battleships, and the Americans have sent 16 battleships to circumnavigate the world this time, this situation must be contained." Nicholas II said.

"However, Your Majesty, at this stage it is simply impossible for us to build warships on a large scale as Britain and Germany do." Stolypin hurriedly persuaded him, fearing that after he came up with a way to make the naval reconstruction plan clear, he would have to think about how to expand the scale of the naval reconstruction.

"I know." Nicholas II said angrily: "Since we can't build it on a large scale, then let others not be able to build it, Peter, send invitations to London, Berlin, Paris, Washington, etc., invite them to the Hague International Peace Conference, and we send them an international disarmament initiative." (To be continued......)