What was Russia like in 1901?

This year, it seems, for Russia that everything is not bad, and in just ten years, Russia has finally got everything they have always dreamed of. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoWhether it is Japan or the Philippines, for Russia, it does not only mean the expansion of the surviving territories, but also means sunshine and wealth.

Japan's raw silk, tea and even cotton cloth have freed Russia from its dependence on imports, while Philippine sugar and spices have enriched Russia's dinner plates.

For the first time, Russia truly experienced the benefits of a colony compared to its old expansion, although, on the map of Russia, Japan was the imperial proper, and only the Philippines was the imperial territory. But when a bear tastes honey, it only fuels its greed, and it never stops it.

In 1901, Russia was still in high spirits of further aggression and expansion into the Far East, despite the rebellion in the Viceroyalty of Nicholas, and the Russian brown bear, which had already tasted the sweetness of honey, was not satisfied with the Philippines, but turned its attention to other regions because of the smooth colonial expansion and the rich returns.

In the court, Bezobrasov, who was called a "traitor" by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Witte, was more and more favored by the emperor at this time.

This military-turned-adventurer, like many other military men, saw foreign expansion as Russia's duty. He was not only an adventurer, but also a dreamer, and in the past few years as a favorite of Tsar Mikhail III, he has drawn a huge blueprint for the tsar.

"Britain is the reason it is prosperous today. It was because they annexed the Indian Empire. If Your Majesty wants to dominate the world. It is necessary to turn Manchuria and Korea into Japan. Become another Imperial Governorate! ”

Before suggesting all this to the Tsar, he had popularized his "patriotic cause" to the nobles of the court and their wives, and of course, more importantly, he had convinced them that if they supported his patriotic deeds, he would bring great wealth to the court.

Four years ago, Bezobrasov and others were preaching "going south" and "sunny lands". After the Pacific Fleet seized the Philippines at the cost of only a few dozen casualties, Bezobrasov and others established the "Southeast Asian Cane Sugar and Spice Company", which made huge profits by operating tropical plantations, and now, Bezobrasov's advocacy has also been supported by many people.

Faced with the lucrative gains, the tsar naturally supported Bezobrasov's plan, which became the way forward for Russia. Naturally, the Army and Navy were not far behind. Like the soldiers of any country in any era, as long as their simple minds are once enthusiastic about the cause of aggression. Any citizens and politicians who adopted a non-aggressive attitude were classified as unpatriotic, and even the Minister of War Kuropatkin, who had always taken a more moderate political stance, was among them.

Of course, every soldier knew that if this plan was to be implemented, the Russo-Japanese War would inevitably break out. Of course. In the end, the local government of China in Manchuria will certainly be defeated, just like Japan.

It was in this atmosphere that in 1901, as more and more "evidence" appeared that the "Manchurian authorities" were involved in supporting the rebellion in the Viceroyalty of Nicholas, the work of the Consulate General in St. Petersburg became more and more difficult, especially in the previous month, when the Russians intercepted a merchant ship laden with weapons at sea, which brought relations to a freezing point.

"It's getting harder and harder right now!"

Lin Yuqing, who had just returned to the Consulate General from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, couldn't help but sigh as soon as he entered the door. Now, no diplomat has a more difficult time to do - the Russians blame the Japanese rebellion supported by the Northeast, and he, as a diplomat, naturally does his best to deny it.

Not to mention that they have no direct evidence, and even if they do, he will deny it. However, his denial does not change the situation - relations with Russia are becoming increasingly tense.

Support for the "rebellion" was only the fuse, and when the Russian newspapers continued to publish the news of "Manchuria's" support for the "rebels" in the Nicholas Governorate, the voice of "eastward expansion" once again sounded in Russia now.

In fact, not only in Russia, but also in the Northeast, the newspapers in the Northeast are also constantly reporting the massacre of the Russians against the Japanese, which has also aroused the righteous indignation of the people in the Northeast, after all, for many years, the people of the Northeast have long formed a view in their hearts - China, as a **** country, enjoys the right to natural protection of the Northeast Asian nations, and now the massacre of the Russians against the Japanese is undoubtedly a kind of insult to China. Especially for those young people who advocate the reappearance of "**** glory", every massacre of the Japanese is no less than a resounding slap in the face, and in this continuous slap, anger is also accumulated in the hearts of the Chinese people.

Now, both in Russia and in the Northeast, the people of both sides are already deeply dissatisfied with each other, and in such a situation, the work of diplomats is naturally becoming more and more difficult.

"It's not a problem that diplomacy is not easy to do, if it's really easy to do now, that's the most incredible thing!"

As Lin Yuqing's secret, Li Guowei has always been like an invisible person, in fact, in the Consulate General, his seemingly inconspicuous secret is the real person in charge of intelligence. In fact, as the head of the intelligence service, he has always stirred up the "emotions" of the Russians in order to find a pretext for future actions.

"The point is, many Russians simply don't know what calmness is! Really, even if you support them, you should take into account the diplomatic difficulties! ”

Looking at Li Guowei, Lin Yuqing complained with some headaches, and in his opinion, most of those accusations were well-founded -- after the sudden death of the father and son of the former Japanese emperor Meiji, the resistance in the Japanese occupation zone became fierce, and the intelligence officers at home were not only involved, but also the support for the rebels was inevitable.

"It's a smuggler who misses so many times, really, it's a smuggler. It's better than you......"

Perhaps because of a previous dispute with Russian Foreign Minister Ramstorv. made Lin Yuqing's tone a little unhappy. The reason for the unhappiness. The reason couldn't be simpler, they behaved too unprofessionally, that is, the thief wouldn't be picked up by thieves all day long, if not, how could he be as passive as he is now.

"Uh......"

The consul general's accusation made Li Guowei's expression embarrassed, and he also didn't expect that his family would be so "careless", logically speaking. Arms smuggling should be a simple matter, but who would have thought that they would miss every once in a while, in the past month, the Russians have protested at least 12 times, as many as tens of thousands of weapons have been seized by the Russians, and even worse, hundreds of crew members have been detained.

Fortunately, most of those crew members are Japanese, and their lives and deaths have nothing to do with the bureau, but they will always bring some diplomatic troubles, which need to be dealt with by Lin Yuqing.

"I think. What is truly incredible is that not only not a single person among the Russian servicemen made a reasonable assessment of our strength, but also did not make a sober analysis. ”

Li Guowei, who was a little embarrassed, hurriedly changed the topic. Just a few dozen minutes ago, the Russian foreign minister raised the "threat of war" in his words, of course, everyone can hear that it is just a threat, but the threat that "only one division needs to be sent to conquer Dalian" is too exaggerated.

"But it's just a bunch of arrogant Westerners!"

At the mention of Ramstorff's threat, the corners of Lin Yuqing's lips lifted slightly, and his words were full of contempt.

In fact, the analysis and evaluation of the strength of the army and navy in the northeast by Russian military personnel is entirely based on the psychological superiority of Caucasians over colored people.

For example, "It may take hundreds of years for the Manchurian Army to reach the level of the weakest armies in Europe." "It's a common view,

In the eyes of the Russians, the Northeast Army was not only inferior to the weakest armies in Europe, but it would take a hundred years to catch up with them. They do not see the merits of the Northeast Army at all, or rather its potential combat effectiveness. This is true for the army, and the same is true for the navy, two years ago, Lin Yuqing received a report submitted by the Russian naval attache in Dalian to his own admiralty, in which he declared:

"The Northeast Navy has indeed improved its warship equipment by importing technical personnel from abroad and importing key equipment. However, in terms of the mental outlook of the navy, it is far inferior to the Russian Navy, and its actual level is even inferior to the Turkish Navy. And they are also quite naïve in terms of the operation and operation of warships......"

However, the observation of British naval officers during the same period was that the operation and operation of warships in the Northeast Navy had reached the level of the Royal Navy, and in some respects, the Royal Navy was unattainable, compared with the high-intensity training it maintained all year round, which the Royal Navy could not match.

This diametrically opposed conclusion exists in the army and navy, and compared with the German Army and the British Royal Navy's praise of the Northeast Army and Navy, the Russians, after a detailed investigation of the Northeast Army and Navy, still came to the weakest conclusion in the world, just as their War Minister Kuropatkin said.

Perhaps, the Manchurian soldiers were better than the Beiyang soldiers, but that was only within the Qing state, and in fact, if compared with Russia, one Russian soldier was equivalent to three Manchurian soldiers. Our army can assemble half a million men in the Far East in thirteen days, and it is ready. This was enough to defeat three times the forces of Manchuria. If war breaks out with Manchuria, then this war is more of a military walk than a war......"

Similar views pervade the entire Russian military circles and public opinion circles, and Lin Yuqing, who has long been numb, said in a tone like a joke when he mentioned this matter.

"That's fine, one Russian soldier is equal to three northeastern soldiers, if that's the case, no wonder they are so arrogant to deploy only a few troops in the Far East......"

Shaking his head and sighing, Lin Yuqing said with a long sigh.

"Have they forgotten that it took almost a million troops to defeat Japan?"

Lin Yuqing finally felt a little more comfortable when it came to the old Russian occupation of Japan, those Caucasian people were so arrogant, and the Russians had now completely forgotten the stubborn resistance they had suffered in Japan.

"It's not millions, it's 650,000 to be exact, and the number of troops they actually put into Japan is 650,000!"

Li Guowei hurriedly corrected the consul general's words, Japan's defeat was affected by many factors, both external factors and internal factors, of course, the most fundamental reason was that its strength was too weak.

"I don't know what kind of brain makes those Russian soldiers observe like this, but I think that compared to the soldiers of any country, the Russian soldiers are the easiest to become prisoners of fixed concepts. It's like, they always look at us with the eyes of the Qing army, didn't he still say today, he wants to teach us a good lesson......

The corners of his lips raised slightly, and Li Guowei added.

"I think we should truthfully convey the threat of the Russians to the country!"

Li Guowei's words had a hint of ridicule, in fact, such a "verbal threat" does not need to be reported to the country, and even if it is reported to the country, it will at most make people laugh. The Russians may despise China, but the Chinese people will not feel inferior because of their contempt.

"Well, it's necessary!"

Lin Yuqing, who didn't seem to hear the ridicule in Li Guowei's words, nodded solemnly and agreed.

"Huh? Commander-in-chief, I'm just ......"

Li Guowei, who had never thought that the commander would take his words seriously, looked at the other party in surprise, as if he wanted to find out if he was joking.

"I know what you mean, but it's not the same time it used to be!"

With a long sigh, Lin Yuqing stood up, walked back and forth, and then walked to the window to look out.

"Now, we have to take into account that the attitude of the Russians towards the Northeast is changing, and their verbal threats may become reality at any time, perhaps, such threats may seem meaningless, but if carefully analyzed, they expose the ambitions of the Russians towards the Northeast, and this ambition once burned......"

What will be the result? I'm afraid it's war!

Is war really inevitable? After a long sigh, there was a sudden knock on the door of Lin Yuqing's office, and then the door was opened, and it was the confidential officer of the consulate who walked in, holding a folder in his hand, and his expression was extremely serious. (To be continued.) )