The Tsaress felt that she could not keep up with her somewhat neurotic husband, so she simply pretended to be an ignorant girl: "I don't know. Do you have any good advice? ”

Zhou Chun did not express his attitude: "This is a Russian matter. It's your Tsar's job. I'm just an idler. ”

He waved his hand, and really decided to go to Vienna, and he made an appointment to meet with Princess Sissi to discuss the moving art and the impermanence of life.

The female tsar looked at the map for a long time, Russia was getting stronger, and the civil strife that had been feared did not appear. Even though the nobles had opposed her, and even still did so, she still guaranteed the power of the nobles. Only now the House of Nobles and the House of Nationals were equal, and their differences were decided by the Tsar, under which her power became transcendent.

Russia has become more open, not only to European capital, but also to Chinese capital. The aristocracy in exile, who returned from Europe, brought in a lot of European capital, mainly British and German. Captured by the nobility who returned from China, Chinese capital, mainly trade capital, was introduced.

The economy grew rapidly, mainly driven by railway transportation and mining, and a large number of Russian mineral resources were developed, iron from Kursk, coal from Donbass, and a developed metallurgical and mechanical manufacturing industry converged in Tula.

Agriculture grew faster than industry, the kulaks continued to stabilize their dominance over the rural areas, and through the local councils they established their position, they now represented their village at meetings, and the rank and file could no longer be shaken by the ordinary villagers, and the village community was controlled by them. They became the new village leaders, and they had good and bad ones. The good ones still miss the old feelings and help others develop production, while the bad ones only care about themselves and annex the land of bankrupt villagers, and the large land system is gradually formed.

The annexation of rural land, the large number of peasants driven into the cities into industrial and mining industries, the introduction of new machinery and equipment under the large land system, and the improvement of the land have greatly increased agricultural output, and the proportion of cash crops planted has increased, a large number of sugar beets have begun to be planted, and Russia has even begun to become a sugar exporter instead of importing it.

Economic growth has brought about fiscal improvement, but the fiscal pressure is still very high, sixty percent of the annual income is paying interest on foreign debt, and China has accumulated 40 million taels of gold, and the annual interest alone is as high as 2 million taels, equivalent to 10 million pounds. Thousands of British less, but there are also £30 million, with interest up to £1.8 million per year.

The Tsaress felt that the money might never be repaid.

Due to the high interest rates that need to be maintained, Russia's tax rates are very high, and it is difficult to attract investment in industries other than the irreplaceable mining and transportation industries, but the domestic industry is growing slowly. She adopted high tariffs to protect the industry, and it was only under the spurring of the war that Russia began to have a certain mechanical industry. The cotton and wool textile industry relies entirely on protection and has no export capacity at all. Fortunately, Russia had a relatively large domestic market, which grew larger and larger after the reform of serfdom. The decline in the wealth of more than a million nobles brought about an increase in the wealth of the entire nation. From this point of view, the reform of serfdom was very necessary.

The greatest manifestation of the reform of serfdom was the surge in grain exports, which of course also depended on the development of rail and inland waterway transport, so that Russian grain could be exported in large quantities to southern Europe, and in the British market, it could also compete with American grain.

Agriculture is important, agriculture feeds people, and population is the basis of the army.

Based on a relatively stable kulak system in the countryside, Muravyov created a Russian-style reserve military service system, compared with China, the Russian peasants were all soldiers, and serving as a soldier was compulsory, and training in peacetime did not count as service, and there was no military pay. But military uniforms and weapons must be equipped. Under the village soldier system, the number of Russian reserve troops could reach 5 million, 3 million could be conscripted for front-line operations in wartime, and 2 million could be used to control local order. In this way, Russia could use 3.5 million men to fight during the war, almost twice as many as before. It is also believed that it is safer, because the remaining young and strong people are led by rural leaders led by rich peasants to maintain order and prevent civil unrest.

The basis of civil strife was famine, or unemployment, and the Russian citizen population was very small, only six or seven million, of whom there were about a million young men, and Muravyov organized these people into a national army, which was used for simple training in peacetime and to maintain order in the city in wartime. When necessary, it can also be used for defensive operations.

There was also a rapid mobilization system, modeled on Prussia, where the General Staff was established and a detailed operational plan was formulated. These include a system of mutual support such as military transportation and logistical support. But compared with the Prussian staff headquarters, the efficiency is still somewhat inferior.

The establishment of the reserve military service system greatly strengthened Russia's war potential. Russia is not Austria, and it cannot be defeated with a single charge. Therefore, even if the mobilization system is slightly inefficient, it is enough to support the Russian army to build. Such a Russia is no longer to be taken lightly, and it is time to make its voice heard.

From a topographical point of view, there is not much difficulty in attacking either Western Ukraine or the Danube region, which is a plate with the Russian plain.

Needless to say, Western Ukraine is separated from Eastern Ukraine by a Dnieper River, and the language and script of the population on both sides of the river are the same, and the difference with Russian is not very large, and basically you can communicate directly without special training; The only difference is that Eastern Ukraine is Orthodox and Western Ukraine is Catholic.

The lowlands along the Black Sea coast are flat from the lower Volga to the mouth of the Danube, and the reason why nomads moved from here to the Balkans is because this area is a continuous steppe. The population here has also been Slavized due to the migration of the Volga Bolgars, and although the language is different from Slavic, it is also religiously Orthodox. It was easier for Russia to rule here than for Catholic Austria.

But expansion in both directions at once meant an all-out war with Austria, and the distance between Russia and Austria, and Russia's mobilization system, were not destined to fight the kind of quick war that Prussia had, and once the war became prolonged, it gave the other powers the opportunity to intervene.

The most worrying thing is that Prussia is getting stronger and stronger, Prussia and Poland are one, and now they are the hegemon of Central Europe. Then the expansion in the direction of Western Ukraine is too sensitive, and if Prussia and Austria are attacked here, Russia will pay a great price even if it wins.

If it expands to the Danube to the south, as long as the Chinese do not interfere, then Russia will easily defeat Austria, which is not yet very stable. They can give Northern Italy to the Kingdom of Sardinia, and there is no reason why Moldova cannot be given to Russia. Leaving Wallachia to Austria and allowing them to continue to retain access to the Black Sea is presumably acceptable to them.

In this way, the border between Russia and Austria was advanced from the Prut River to the Carpathian Mountains and the lower Danube, and such a demarcation was in accordance with the prevailing doctrine of natural boundaries.

In this way, only a local border war will be fought, no mobilization will be required, and no time will be given to the great powers to intervene.

As for Western Ukraine, we have to wait for the moment, the current tension between France and Prussia, this is the opportunity for Russia. If Prussia goes to war with France, Russia will have the initiative, and an alliance with France can directly Prussia and seize the whole of Poland, which is worth fighting a decisive battle. If Prussia did not want Russia to enter the war, it would also have to pay some price.

The tsaress looked at the map again, as long as Prussia had a request from Russia, then Russia would take back Western Ukraine, and Prussia would not interfere. But Prussia also had to pay some price, otherwise Russia would rather unite with France, after all, the loss of Poland would make Russia's losses too great.

Without looking at the map once, the female tsar couldn't help but sigh in her heart. Russia's geography is too poor, the northern outlet to the sea is St. Petersburg in the Gulf of Finland, the Baltic Sea is a very cold sea, and the Gulf of Finland freezes for half a year. If you go south, even if you reach the Gulf of Riga, although the port is no longer frozen in winter, it is not an ice-free port, because there will be ice floe on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, except for the port that is frozen, it is still not navigable in winter. On the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, the northernmost ice-free port is Memel, which has been occupied since the 13th century by the Teutonic Knights, who later became the Duchy of Prussia and controlled by the Prussians. It can be said that the ports on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, from the beginning of civilization here, and even before the glory of Jesus Christ was accepted here, were controlled by the Prussians.

How much blood did the Russians shed to enter the Baltic Sea, but they were frozen on land for most of the year. Even in a few months, the south would have to be subject to straits controlled by Sweden and Denmark, through which direct navigation could be made to the British. It is much more difficult to control this strait than the Ottoman Strait, which has to be directly contested with Prussia and Britain.

The best sea area should be considered the Black Sea. The latitude of the Black Sea is obviously farther south than that of the United Kingdom, but it is not warm here. Every year, the cold wind from the mainland blows to the Black Sea, setting off huge waves on the Black Sea, especially in the northwestern part of the sea, which has become a major feature of the Black Sea. The cold wind forms a strong bula wind along some mountain passes and passes. These cold winds make the Sea of Azov in the central part of the Black Sea, even floe ice appear every year.

The female tsar has been to China and India, where the weather in the summer, although the hot people want to die, but it will never freeze, and the four seasons will be evergreen, which means wealth to people in cold regions. Not only does it take longer to create wealth than in the alpine zone, but the energy of the sun makes the plants here grow longer, and in the agricultural era, planting was the only wealth.

In the direction of the Black Sea, it is necessary to control the mouth of the Danube. In the Baltic direction, at least an ice-free port is also needed.

The tsaress decided, asked Prussia for Memel (Klaipeda)!

As for whether Prussia agrees or not, it depends on whether the pressure exerted on them by France is enough.