Russian Empire, Romanov dynasty. Moscow, Kremlin, office of the Tsar of the Great Kremlin

Alexander II looked at his Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov and asked, "Is the news from the French reliable?" The Germans are in alliance with the Austrians? ”

"Yes, Your Majesty. Our ambassador to the United Kingdom, General Peter Shuvalov, also confirmed this news from the side of the British Foreign Office. Foreign Minister Gorchakov replied.

"What do the Germans want to do, is Bismarck going to war with Russia because of my letter?" Alexander asked, frowning.

"Your Majesty, provoking a war between Russia and Germany is not in keeping with Bismarck's foreign policy, and on the other hand, news has come from our friends in the German court that His Majesty Wilhelm I is categorically opposed to Bismarck's proposal to join Austria." Gorchakov replied less confidently.

"Against? If this Uncle Wilhelm of mine had been able to control Bismarck, he wouldn't have called him a robber! Alexander said with a look of disgust, turned to the chairman of the Reich Council of Ministers, Nikolai Pavlovich Ignaev, and asked, "Nikolai, what do you think about the German-Austrian alliance?" ”

"Your Majesty, I think that this state of affairs is purely due to the weakness of General Shuvalov! As ambassador to Britain, he could not withstand the pressure of the Englishman Disraeli, and as the envoy to Berlin, he could not withstand the pressure of the German Bismarck. Your Majesty, you see, the consequences of the Berlin Treaty, which General Shuvalov finally signed, are now being felt! Ignaev quickly found the scapegoat.

"Your Excellency, the Treaty of San Stefano under your leadership exposes the Empire to the threat of war from both the British and Austria-Hungary, and the German Bismarck hints that Germany will support Austria-Hungary. Had it not been for the diplomatic wisdom of General Shuvalov, who appeased Disraeli in Britain and prevented the British from ally with Germany and Austria-Hungary, otherwise the Russian Empire would now be at war with three European powers. "Alexander II's attendant military attaché, Russian Field Marshal Baryatinsky, directly and loudly refuted Ignaev's point of view.

He then added forcefully, "Your Majesty, Your Excellency's words are nothing more than irresponsible self-shirk and irresponsible accusations against General Shuvalov. ”

"Your Excellency, you are pure nonsense!" Ignaev knew very well that Marshal Baryatinsky was a political ally of General Shuvalov, and pointed at Marshal Baryatinsky's nose and angrily rebuked, "Do you know the result of Shuvalov's abandonment of the Treaty of Santo Stefano and his concessions to the British!" Now that the British can take advantage of the opportunity given by the Treaty of Berlin to transfer their troops in Istanbul to Afghanistan, our ally Hill-Ali in Afghanistan can no longer resist the offensive of the British, and Zuo Zongtang of the Qing State has also contained a large number of our troops in Xinjiang, and the Empire's plan for India is now completely finished! ”

"Your Excellency, don't blame General Shuvalov for the British war in Kabul, you discussed with Alex to give up Afghanistan last year under the threat of war by the British." Marshal Baryatinsky pointed his hand at the Foreign Minister, "saying that it is to avoid further provoking Britain in Asia, and at the same time worrying that the active performance of Zuo Zongtang in Xinjiang will make the empire lose its interests in the Qing State, and ask His Majesty to agree to give up Hill-Ali's!" You are now blaming General Shuvalov again for Russia's defeat in Afghanistan, which is a complete deception! ”

"Your Majesty, at present, the Empire, as one of the five great powers in Europe, does not yet have the strength to start a war with the other three powers. In the face of a multinational threat, appropriate diplomatic concessions were only a short break in the expansion of the Russian Empire. Minister of National Enlightenment Dmitry Tolstoy interjected.

"Now the most important opponent of the empire is the British, and we have been hindered by the British in the process of expansion throughout the world, in the Far East they support the Qing people against our infiltration in the northeast and Korea, in Central Asia they support the Qing people to confront us in Xinjiang, and even directly send troops to expel the pro-Russian King Hil-Ali. In the Middle and Near East, they were supporting the Persian and Ottoman Turks, and even the fleets of the British sailed into the Baltic. Tolstoy enumerated for the old tsar the British suppression and obstruction of Russian expansion.

After sweeping the crowd that had stopped arguing, Tolstoy turned the globe around him and continued to Tsar Alexander II, "Your Majesty, we must distinguish between the main and secondary opponents. Our contradictions with the British are global, so the British are our main adversary. As for our contradictions with Germany and Austria-Hungary, they are concentrated only in the Balkans, so Germany and Austria-Hungary are only secondary opponents. Only when we have a clear distinction between our primary and secondary adversaries will our foreign policy have its direction. It is impossible for Russia to give up the interests of the Far East in the Qing Dynasty, nor to give up the ideal of finding an outlet to the Indian Ocean, let alone to give up the plan to allow the Reich's Black Sea Fleet to freely enter and exit the Mediterranean Sea and Suez, so we have never been able to reconcile the global contradictions with the British. ”

Tolstoy gently rotated the globe and pointed to the Eastern European part and said, "Your Majesty, the main contradiction between Russia and Austria-Hungary is here, although compared with the Treaty of San Stefano, the Treaty of Berlin is somewhat compromised. But please note to you, Your Majesty, that the main purpose of the Empire in waging the Tenth Russo-Turkish War was to acquire the lands of the South Caucasus; Creation of the State of Bulgaria; to give independence to Serbia, Men's Negro and Romania; Receiving an indemnity of 1.4 billion rubles from Turkey, all of which Russia met and was also recognized by the Great Powers, General Shuvalov's diplomacy was remarkable. ”

"Your Majesty, General Shuvalov owes another point, before last year the French had very little contact with Russia, but since the Treaty of Berlin, the Russian economy has begun to have a large amount of credit support from the French, and now in St. Petersburg, Moscow, the Urals and Novosibirsk in Russia, industrial areas are booming. With the deepening of relations with the French, Russia is now the equalizer of Franco-German relations, and it should now be the Germans who are afraid of Russia. Tolstoy paused for a moment and continued.

"If you manage to restore Russian-German relations to what they were before 78, then Russia has the support of Germany and France, that is, Russia 3:1 Britain! Assuming that the French and Germans are still unable to eat at the same table in Russia, we can try to bring Austria-Hungary in. For example, we can test the Germans to see if we can also join the German-Austrian treaty! In this way, it was still 3:1 against the British. ”

"You're just whimsical, Germany and Austria-Hungary want to deal with us, and you have to join in!" Ignaev, chairman of the Reich Council of Ministers, roared at Tolstoy.

"Your Excellency, if we join the framework of the German-Austrian Treaty, how can this treaty be said to be against us? Besides. Based on our 100-year close relationship with the Germans, I personally think that last year's unhappiness was nothing more than a petty awkwardness between lovers, and I see Bismarck's German-Austrian alliance as an irrational demonstration of his Russian boyfriend by a temperamental German girlfriend. ”

"After all, the women of the great Romansov family are all from Germany, and German women are jealous, you know!" Tolstoy playfully winked at the group of laughing men in front of him, and he could see that the old tsar was smiling the happiest!

"We have signed the Three Emperors Alliance Treaty before, and it is far easier to achieve mutual understanding between the three monarchies than confrontation." Tolstoy finally concluded.

"Hmph, it's worthy of a family that can write vulgar and obscene novels, or a series of vulgar and obscene novels." Ignaev squinted coldly.

Tolstoy's face immediately darkened, and after glancing at Ignaev coldly, he continued, "Your Majesty, as for the accusations made by the Chairman against General Shuvalov, I personally think that it is a shirk of responsibility for the frequent terrorist attacks in the country recently. The President, who is also Minister of the Interior, has not yet given an answer to the terrorist bomb attack that took place in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg one month ago against Your Majesty. ”

"As everyone knows, General Shuvalov was the chief of police in St. Petersburg last year, and the purpose of the chairman's attack on General Shuvalov is nothing more than to make him bear the root cause of the St. Petersburg police's disadvantage."

"You damn Tolstoy bastard!" Ignaev flew and pounced on Tolstoy, and the two immediately scuffled together!

"Enough, I've had enough of you two bastards, come on, separate them for me! Part! Tsar Alexander II looked at this disturbing scene in front of him and shouted angrily!

At the same time as the guards and attendants rushed in to separate the two, a court maid who hurried in after a whisper beside Alexander II. The old tsar didn't care about the two ministers fighting together like cockfights in front of him, so he rushed out of the office and ran to the third floor of the Grand Kremlin, and he couldn't tell from his skills that the old tsar was about to be sixty-one years old.

Without the most important audience, Ignaev, chairman of the Reich Council of Ministers, and Tolstoy, minister of national enlightenment, glared at each other under the persuasion of everyone, and then calmly dispersed. People, life is like a play!