The sky over St. Petersburg is clear. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

As the capital of the Russian Empire, its proximity to the Arctic Circle makes it one of the few cities in the world where the sun never sets, and there is probably no place in the world where summer is more pleasant than that in St. Petersburg. Not only is there no boredom of summer in other places, but more importantly, this is a city without darkness every summer!

In the middle of this beautiful summer, the people of St. Petersburg always enjoy this rare summer day, and almost every day there is a grand ball in the aristocratic estate, the latest opera is performed in the opera house, ladies and ladies in gorgeous dresses hold the arms of their husbands or lovers, or they dance a cheerful waltz on the dance floor, or enjoy the latest opera or ballet in the opera house.

The Russian Empire in 1897 may have entered an unprecedented period of development, which was largely due to war, or more precisely, the war between Russia and Japan, which lasted for a year and a half, which, although ultimately ended with a Russian victory, showed all the shortcomings of Russia. During the war, in order to carry on the war, the Russian imperial elite tried their best to make considerable progress in the country's heavy industry, but this was achieved through the investment of artificial key projects, and these heavy industry projects were mainly related to the arms industry, not an economic system that could create a virtuous cycle. During the war, although the order continued to prosper for a while. But with the end of the war. These industries that had been built with a lot of money also went into a depression.

But the depression was only temporary. The lack of armaments exposed during the war was quickly remedied after the war, after all, the Russian Empire has always been a military state. One order after another from the defense and railway industries has allowed Russia's heavy industry to grow considerably, even showing a posture to catch up with the powerful Western European countries in key areas such as metallurgy, coal, engineering and steel.

Although issues such as the stability of the occupied territories, the serfdom at home, and ethnicity still plagued the world's largest empire, almost everyone believed in Russia under Tsar Mikhail III. It is entering an unprecedented period of glory.

Although the Russian Empire relied on its own to build the world's longest Trans-Siberian Railway, and at the same time ambitiously built its large navy, its finances remained at a deficit-free level, and its fiscal situation was in fact relatively healthy, which became the cornerstone of sustained and rapid economic development. In the five years since the end of the Russo-Japanese War, Russia's industrial production capacity has increased by 74.9 percent in five years, despite its domestic problems.

"Russia...... More and more prosperous! ”

No one seems to be able to deny this, and even the Great Trans-Siberian Railway, which was built at great expense, will be insured in the future, as the extension of the railway line becomes more and more obvious and direct to its enormous economic value.

And Werther, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the Reich. Undoubtedly the agent of this change, actually. As Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire, Witte had an unmatched influence in St. Petersburg, both for the Tsar and for the political situation in Russia, and it was under his leadership that Russia signed a tariff treaty with Germany and brought in a large amount of foreign capital in the past five years. To take effective measures to consolidate the country's finances and promote industrial development, such as the introduction of protective tariffs, the monopoly of liquor, the reform of the currency system, the acceleration of the construction of railways with the Trans-Siberian Railway as the core, the reorganization and construction of banks to build the financial system of the Russian Empire. Werther, a German from the Baltic Sea, played a role beyond imagination, and it was thanks to his efforts that Russia seemed to be entering a new spring.

In June, it was the day in St. Petersburg, and the twenty-third day of the day was the best time of the year for the factory owners - they did not need to turn on the electric lights, they could produce day and night, and of course, for the officials of the Reich Treasury, they naturally did not hesitate to pay a few kopecks for electricity, and it was almost midnight, in the office of the Reich Chancellor, the electric lights were on, and the thick curtains blocked the sunlight outside.

Five years ago, Witte became the minister of the most powerful finance ministry in the Russian Empire. His talent and straightforwardness made him highly regarded by Tsar Alexander III, who wholeheartedly supported Werther's desire to pull Russia out of the quagmire of backwardness as soon as possible, and gave Werther political asylum in a bureaucratic system that stifled initiative to get things done.

Despite the death of His Majesty Alexander III, the successor of Tsar Mikhail III did not abandon the important minister of the empire, and still trusted him, and even gave him more protection, so that he could do more things according to his own ideas.

Again, at the end of the day's work, Witte picked up the newspaper on his desk, and in the newspaper he once again saw an article in which he had recently seen such arguments, not only in the newspapers, but also in the upper classes of St. Petersburg, Russia.

"We discussed with envy that the Chinese had acquired in Southeast Asia a colony of more than 500,000 square versts(1) in the hands of the Dutch, and what was even more enviable was that it was a tropical colony that Russia had never owned, and that overnight our savage and ignorant Tatar neighbor had not only a vast overseas colony, but also a large number of tropical plantations, let's see what was produced there.

Precious rubber, pepper and cinnamon are tropical spices that every Russian household needs, and it is disappointing that despite the fact that the Russian Empire has the largest territory in the world, we do not have a single land in the tropics. When tropical spices were popularized in the common people of various European countries. In Russia. Because its high cost was still confined to the kitchens of the aristocracy, even cane sugar, because its source was controlled by the Spaniards, the British, and the Dutch, the Russians could only eat beet sugar, which was not so sweet, and every year, the Russian Empire had to waste tens of millions of rubles in order to import spices, cane sugar, tobacco and other tropical crops. The Tatars can do it, and we, the Russians, can only keep our eyes open and watch as the wealth of Russia continues to flow into the pockets of other countries? ”

It seems to be a simple article, but in fact, in the past six months, especially after the Qing and Dutch countries reached a consensus on the status of the Nanyang Republic, in the face of the expansion of the Qing State, the young elite aristocrats of Russia could not calmly sit back and watch the "benefits" of the Qing State. The Netherlands were forced to make concessions.

As for what West Borneo was not strictly a Dutch colony, although de jure it was. As for the independence of the so-called "Nanyang Republic", it was only the Dutch East Indies Governor's Office that handed over the mandate of Borneo to the Provisional Government of the Nanyang Republic, not the territory of the Dutch East Indies.

Of course, this is just a face, just to protect the face of the Dutch, and even Witte can say unceremoniously that if the Qing people had not sent their fleet to Borneo, the Nanyang Republic would not have existed at all, let alone be recognized by the Dutch.

As for the so-called republic, well, it is just the so-called "republic", maybe in two or three years, it will become a province of the Qing State, and similar games are often played by Russia.

"What a lucky guy!"

Again, looking at the massive island on the map, without much guesswork, Witte could imagine how much wealth it would bring to the Northeast authorities—a steady stream of sugar, rubber, and spices.

What's more important is the high cost-effectiveness!

"In order to defeat Japan, we paid a huge military expenditure of 1.645 billion rubles, and in order to maintain the occupation of it, in the past five years, more than 150 million roubles have been spent on military spending, although the current situation in the Viceroyalty of Nikolai has stabilized, and the goods such as raw silk, tea, and cotton cloth of the Viceroyalty of Nicholas have brought us rich returns, but the expenditure of 1.8 billion rubles is an ironclad fact......"

In the presence of Werther, Ivanovich, the young aristocratic financial commissioner of the Viceroyalty of Nikolai, once again lamented the heavy military expenditures, and at the same time praised the efficient expansion of the northeastern authorities in an admiring tone,

"In contrast, according to the information we currently have, the governors of the three eastern provinces of the Qing Dynasty are independent of the so-called "Nanyang Republic", and the expenses do not exceed 15 million yuan! It also included a loan of $10 million to the Provisional Government to help establish the armed forces of the Provisional Government and its government institutions, and what was the reward for them? ”

Millions of Russian acres of tropical plantations, that is, the Northeast authorities were rewarded, and even they were given ports to the south, in short, in Ivanovic's words, the Northeast took advantage of it. And this is the root of their envy - it only takes a very small price to get a rich return beyond imagination.

"Whether it's rubber, sugar, even spices, all of them are what Russia needs, and your Excellency, such discussions are not only in the Viceroyalty, but also in the courts, including Your Majesty himself, are of great interest."

Looking at the thoughtful Chancellor of the Exchequer, Ivanovich looked a little cautious.

"I think, perhaps, in terms of territorial expansion, we should learn from them, and it is undoubtedly extremely irrational to have a direct war with a rising regional power like Japan, and it is more in Russia's interests to expand to a declining empire than to them!"

As a close confidant of the Minister of Finance, Ivanovich naturally knew that the Minister in front of him was different from the group of madmen in the War Department who wanted to push the border to the Great Wall, and Witte believed that Manchuria was too populous and extremely difficult to digest, and that the military strength of the Northeast was even much stronger than that of Japan, so he advocated that appropriate concessions could be made on certain issues in the Far East and an agreement could be reached with the Northeast authorities. The use of fiscal-economic expansion to achieve Russia's colonial interests was opposed by the extremely belligerent ministers of the court.

With a brilliant mind and extraordinary managerial flair, Werther recognized the power of railways to connect Russia's vast empire and serve as a catalyst for Russia's rapid modernization. It was for this reason that he called several times to speed up the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which Witte saw as an engine for commercial development, and the Tsar and others as a means of projecting Russian military power into the Far East. And this is exactly what Witte is firmly opposed to, against Russia's territorial expansion in Asia, which he fears will provoke a war between Russia and the emerging Northeast.

But on the other hand, the belligerent atmosphere within the court was not something that Witte could stop, and even His Majesty the Tsar, who was extremely supportive of him, was equally eager to expand, eager to establish his own merits through expansion.

"Expansion into a declining empire, is it the Philippines?"

Witt smiled helplessly.

"Spain has indeed declined, but don't forget that the expansion of the Chinese was tacitly approved by the British, and if it were not for the mistakes of the British on the issue of territorial establishment, the British could have completely stopped the expansion of the Chinese in Southeast Asia!"

Blunder!

The whole of Europe knows why the Dutch lost Borneo, not because the Chinese are stronger than the Netherlands, but because of the diplomatic mistakes of the British - on the issue of China's hope that Britain would support its establishment of a consulate in Dutch East India, the British rationally chose neutrality, and undoubtedly in the current situation, it is undoubtedly more in the interests of Britain not to intervene in the issue of establishing a consulate between China and the Netherlands, but no one expected that the situation would deteriorate rapidly, so that in the end, when the Chinese chose to replace diplomatic negotiations with military threats, The British had absolutely no control over the development of the situation - they had previously made it clear that they would not intervene in the Sino-Dutch issue, and it was with the "acquiescence" caused by this mistake that the Chinese were able to use military force to force the Dutch to make concessions and thus get Borneo.

But if Russia extends its hand to Southeast Asia, even if it is only a colony of the declining Spanish Empire, it is probably impossible for Britain to accept, and at that time, what kind of reaction will Britain make.

"Your Excellency, you can't stop everything!"

(1) Russian units: 1 square Russian Rio is approximately equal to 1.067 square kilometers (to be continued.) )