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"Finland has been a battlefield for centuries, and in every war, thousands of people have been killed, causing permanent damage to the country, which is why nearly half of Finland's land has not been cultivated to this day, and when peace healed some wounds, the population began to grow, and the material welfare increased, the war waged by Sweden against Russia came again, and the first peace brought with it increased taxes and burdens, sometimes heavier than the Swedes...... That's what we got when we were part of Sweden, and I believe that as long as we continue to enjoy the protection of the Tsar, as long as the Russian Empire continues to exist, Finland will never be a battlefield again, and it's from these aspects that I think Finland is much luckier than it was in the past......"

Cal? Gustav? Mannerheim

In 1809, Russia defeated Sweden in the Northern War, and as a product of the war, Russia merged Finland to form the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland, and the Tsar of the Russian Empire naturally added the title of Grand Duke of Finland to many titles.

In order to eliminate the Swedish influence in Finland and facilitate management, the Russian Tsar Alexander I moved the capital of Finland from Turku near the Swedish border to Helsinki, when Helsinki was just a small rocky fishing port, after two generations of construction, it finally became one of the most important cities in the Gulf of Finland, its city center was built on a grand scale, and the German architect Engel designed a large number of neoclassical buildings, including Senate Square, City Hall, University of Helsinki, ****** Like the cathedral, many of the buildings in St. Petersburg were designed by Engel, so there are places in Helsinki that resemble the Russian capital 260 miles to the east.

On the north side of Helsinki's South Pier stands a white palace, this palace is the Tsar's palace or the palace of the Great Palace of Finland, this palace built nearly a hundred years ago is far less luxurious than the St. Petersburg palace, but outside the white palace, people can still feel its solemnity, this is a very solemn building.

For the most part, the Tsar's palace was vacant – although the Tsar had the title of Grand Duke of Finland, it was only one of his dozens, and for the Tsar, he rarely even came to Finland, which was the key to keeping the tradition alive.

But now, the palace has its owner, Tsar Mikhail II, who came to Finland for the first time as a Tsar after being driven by revolutionaries at gunfire, compared to the visits of his father and grandfather. In the midst of the revolution, Finland became an oasis for the empire, and it was also the last barrier of the empire.

However, as the last bulwark of the empire, Finland was initially at odds over whether to help the Tsar, as Finland, with a population of only 3 million, was too weak compared to Russia. Perhaps, in the Russian Empire the tsar was a **** monarch, but in Finland he was a constitutional monarchy, which made Mikhail II, as the tsar, have to wait for the decision of the Finnish Senate, and in the process of waiting, he fully showed his respect for Finland as a tsar - he ordered the troops stationed in Finland to assemble, just assemble and wait, waiting for the decision of the Finnish Senate.

"Regardless of the outcome, I will respect the choice of the Finnish people, and if the Senate of Finland refuses to help me, then I will return to Russia with an army loyal to me! Fought for the Russian Empire, as well as for his people. May God bless Russia and Finland! ”

This respect won the favor of the Finns, and also made the Finns, who had enjoyed a stable life under the protection of the Tsar for nearly a hundred years, realize that it was time to fulfill their loyalty to the monarch, although some newspapers tended to respect the choice of the Russian people, but more Finns believed that they should be loyal to the Tsar and their Grand Duke, so when the Finnish parliament was arguing whether to recruit soldiers, tens of thousands of Finns spontaneously came to the barracks, Joining the Russian army in the name of Russians, although, many of them do not speak Russian at all, public opinion ultimately sways the decision of the parliament.

Finland was, is and will continue to stand firmly under the leadership of the Tsar of the Russian Empire and fight for the Russian traditions!

It took the Finnish parliament ten days to make its choice!

And for Mikhail II, who lived in the palace, those ten days were undoubtedly painful, because every question he feared most was what to do if the Finns rejected him?

"Your Majesty, in fact, even under a constitutional monarchy, public opinion can be manipulated!"

Once again, as the Tsar's most trusted Chancellor of the Exchequer, Witte instilled in Mikhail II the idea of a constitutional monarchy, and since coming to Finland, it was not so much the Tsar who showed his enlightened side, but the Tsar showed his enlightened side to the world at the behest of Werther.

It seems that overnight, this **** monarch has become a monarch under a constitutional system, and he respects the will of the people, but no one knows how many times Werther lobbied and how much effort was made behind all this, and even Werther called this enlightenment more important than twenty divisions.

"Like the Finns, they are strangers to Your Majesty, but when you show respect for them, they are grateful to Your Majesty, when all of Russia betrays you under the manipulation of the mob, these Finns, who were once accused of being non-Russian, have become the last bulwark of the Reich, Your Majesty, and now the war we are waging with the rebels in Petersburg is not only military, but also political, of course, the intervention of Germany and Austria, It may be possible to restore order in Russia, but how long will stability be maintained after order is restored? ”

As the most powerful minister of the Empire, although Witte was in favor of the monarchy, did not mean that he was against constitutionalism, and as a pragmatist, he knew very well what His Majesty needed to buy the hearts and minds of the people now, and that the German and Austrian military boots alone could not restore order in Russia.

"Werther, I believe you're right!"

Although reluctant to admit it, Mikhail II had to face the reality that he had to win the support of the people, and that constitutionalism would be his last bargaining chip.

"But now we have to see that Russia is in unprecedented danger, more than half a million rebel troops are massing and attacking Finland, and Finland is only able to mobilize a force of 100,000 men, even including our garrison here, there are less than 130,000, Witte, tell me, what should we do now?"

Looking at Witte with anticipation, in the eyes of Mikhail II, the hope of Russia may lie in Werther, who brought himself to Finland at the most dangerous time, and it was also he who secured a loan of 50 million marks for Russia, so that he could maintain the Russian Empire in Finland.

And more importantly, if he had not personally traveled to Germany to lobby the Kaiser, there would have been little hope for Russia's future, after all, Finland was too weak compared to Russia, and this weak region could not even protect itself

"Werther, you have just returned from Germany, tell me, what should we do now? Are there any new demands from the Germans? ”

Because the Germans postponed sending troops to Finland, Mikhail II immediately realized the crisis, and it is for this reason that he asked about the outcome of Werther's return from Germany.

More importantly, when will the German reinforcements come, now the whole of Finland is paying attention to the German reinforcements, although the German army has entered Russia and began to help Russia restore order, but everyone who knows Russia knows that they are still far away from St. Petersburg, and compared to the separatist rebellion in Poland and Ukraine, what Russia needs now is to restore order in St. Petersburg,

However, Russia is so vast that it will take time for the Germans to enter St. Petersburg from the border, and with the onset of winter, perhaps this will drag on until next year, which means that before that, he will have to stop the rebels in Finland, and Finland is closer to St. Petersburg than from the border!

"Your Majesty, with the Kaiser and Bernhard in Berlin? Feng? Prime Minister Bilo has met and they have agreed to send troops to Finland to help us defend against the attack of the rebels! Soon their army will reach Finland! Your Majesty! ”

Although this was good news, Mikhail II noticed that there was no smile on Werther's face, but a vague sense of apprehension.

"That's good news, Witt, isn't it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Of course, it was good news, and in fact when he got the news, Witte was so excited that he almost didn't shout long live the Kaiser, because it meant that order would soon be restored in Russia.

"Then why, I don't think you're very happy!"

Looking at Werther, Mikhail said with a solemn expression.

"The Germans rejected our proposed conditions, and they even refused us to transfer the Philippines to them......"

Everyone can see what Russia's transfer of the Philippines to Germany means, not only means the cession of the colonies, but also pushes Germany into the opposite plane of Britain and China, and this will undoubtedly be beneficial to Russia-Germany's prey and will inevitably lead to China's hostility to Germany, and the intervention of German forces in Southeast Asia will inevitably lead to the deepening of the contradictions between Germany and Britain and even France.

Although the Germans longed for colonies, they also saw the Philippines as a "danger" to Germany, so they refused. Not only did they reject this suggestion, but they even made a proposal that was beyond their imagination.

"Your Majesty......"

After a slight pause, Witt bowed deeply and said.

"Germany, I hope we can immediately ...... an armistice with Chinese"

"What?"

After a look of surprise, Mikhail II asked rhetorically.

"Aren't we already preparing for a truce with the Chinese? Didn't the Germans also say that they were mediating? ”

A series of questions, so that Mikhail can not react, a truce with China, and then let China release prisoners of war, and then with the Siberian Army to suppress the domestic uprising, this is one of their plans, and even this is the key to blocking Germany's interests in Russia, maybe Russia is not Hungary, Germany cannot rely on suppressing the Russian rebellion, and annex Russia, but at least it can prevent Germany from gaining more benefits, of course, he does not mind satisfying his cousin's vanity in words, But that's about it.

At least in return to Germany...... Russia had asked for something in return when it helped restore order in Europe, and he had agreed to transfer the Philippines to Germany in return, but Germany rejected this offer. Now Germany wants Russia to negotiate peace with China, and for what?

"Yes, Your Majesty, the Germans did mediate, but the conditions Chinese made ......"

When referring to the terms of the armistice offered by the Chinese, Witt's face was filled with anger, Russia had never considered accepting such a harsh armistice treaty, it was not an armistice treaty, it was clearly humiliating.

"No, the plan they came up with is shocking, they not only want us to return the land they occupied before and cede Japan and the Philippines, but they also want Siberia and the Viceroyalty of the steppe and Turkestan to ......"

"They're delusional!"

Before Witte could finish speaking, Mikhail II immediately shouted in exasperation.

"Tell the Chinese that Russia will never accept such a treaty unless the Russian Empire falls!"

Maybe Siberia is cold, the steppes of Central Asia are desolate, but for Russia, it is Asia, and the Chinese made a treaty that required the Russians to cede all their territories in Asia to them, such a treaty, in any case, he could not agree.

"Your Majesty, this treaty was not proposed by them, but by St. Petersburg......"

"What? What did you say? Are those rebels? How dare they ......"

Why wouldn't they dare?

What they have sold is only the land of Russia, and they have betrayed the interests of Russia in exchange for the success of the revolution, why don't they dare?

"Your Majesty, they even agreed to pay a billion gold rubles to China, as long as China agrees to form an alliance with them to block Germany's "aggression" against Russia! ”

"No, no, if they really did, then all of Russia would be against it......"

Mikhail, who seemed to realize the seriousness of the problem, muttered that he could not imagine that those so-called revolutionaries would actually do that, and did they not know that if they did that, it would destroy the dignity of Russia?

"Your Majesty, Russian opposition cannot stop them, and now for Chinese, they can negotiate with us and with those rebels, and we ...... There aren't many other options......" (To be continued.) )