As soon as the Russian Civil War began, Dmitry immediately sent a telegram to Arthur asking if he would support Nicholas II.

Arthur's reply to Dmitry said that Australasia did not have much energy to pay attention to foreign affairs for the time being because of the large construction in China.

Arthur advised Dmitry to act at the right time, with the development of Finland as the main purpose, giving priority to the interests of Finland.

It was clear that Dmitry listened to Arthur's words. Although he is the Grand Duke of Finland, the Finnish government is not Dmitry alone.

What's more, Finland's current strength is nothing to mention in the event of a war, and Finland's help, in addition to being good on the face, actually does not have much effect.

Dmitry understood this, and after being reminded by Arthur, he focused on how Finland could get out of the economic crisis, rather than on paying attention to and helping Nicholas II.

In fact, Dmitry still has a certain amount of ability in politics and economics.

Because of Finland's high forest cover, Dmitry set his sights on manufacturing, especially wood and paper.

Finland is now the third largest exporter of paper and wood in Europe, the economy has improved, and the public has begun to embrace the non-native Grand Duke.

The timber manufacturing industry, supplemented by the mechanical processing industry, combined with the large import of oil and gas from Norway, has made Finland one of the richest countries in Northern Europe.

Because of this, Dmitry's throne as Grand Duke is also very secure, and it is still very popular in Finland.

This was also the reason why Dmitry asked Arthur if he supported Nicholas II. If Arthur had expressed his support for Nicholas II, Dmitry could have called on three divisions in Finland at any time.

In fact, in addition to Dmitry, there are many others who have also expressed concern about the war.

Rather than the British, who hoped for a lose-lose situation, the French hoped that Tsarist Russia would win and thus gain a strong ally.

Of course, it is not unacceptable for another Russia to win. After all, the last thing Britain wants to see is the birth of a powerful enemy, and France doesn't care.

For many countries in Central Europe, such as Germany, Poland, Italy, the Austrian Empire, and Hungary, it was natural that they wanted the war to last as long as possible.

First of all, with the outbreak of this war, they will also be able to export more supplies to Nicholas II to make enough profits.

Second, for these Central European countries, a neighbor with constant civil wars is certainly more reassuring than a unified and powerful neighbor.

That is, the strength of the two Russians is relatively strong at present, otherwise, Poland, which has not been independent for a long time but likes to find trouble, may still want to restore the territory of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

In fact, it's not that I haven't thought about it that way, and it's not that I haven't done it. But it is a pity that Poland, which is clearly no match for any of Russia, has been beaten to the ground in previous conflicts.

It turned out that it was not for nothing that Poland had previously been divided by Germany and Russia. The current tide had weakened, and the fact that he had three powers to the east and west to the south annoyed the ambitious Poland, but could not do anything about it.

At the same time, Russia, St. Petersburg.

Time passed, and Nicholas II was no longer the confident and ambitious emperor in his prime.

Nicholas II, who was born in 1868, is now 62 years old.

This is no joke. In this era, 62 years old is really an advanced age, and it can even be said that it is half buried in the ground.

The average life expectancy of human beings has continued to increase with the development of science and technology after World War II, and more than 50 people are already considered elderly, and the average life expectancy in Australasia is only about 60 years old.

Nicholas II sat upright on his throne as emperor, looking a little weak.

The combination of an old and frail face and gray hair made Nicholas II look much older than his real age.

If you look only at the first half of Nicholas II's life, there is no doubt that it is very brilliant. He ruled one of the most powerful countries in the world at the time, and he still held the power of the autocratic tsar.

But now, although he still rules Russia, he has experienced revolutions and civil wars, and the whole person has long lost the sharpness he had before.

Perhaps the only good news for Nicholas II is that his son, Crown Prince Alexei, who is suffering from hemophilia, is alive and well, and his wife is about to give birth to a new member of the Russian imperial family.

However, Crown Prince Alexei was in poor health. Before the outbreak of the civil war, the most Nicholas II did every day was to pray that the little one who was about to be born would be a boy so that he could inherit the Russian throne.

If not to say that the throne of Russia could not be inherited by a girl. The problem is that the current environment in Russia is no longer able to accommodate a female heir.

Only a healthy male heir can strengthen the stability of the country and prevent those rebellions from occurring.

Of course, he had to pray that the little guy who was not yet born did not inherit his father's hemophilia.

Hemophilia not only destroys a person's health, but also has a high risk of dying in childhood.

Nicholas II didn't want the throne to pass to the little one, who had some accident because of hemophilia.

The current Nicholas II no longer has the luxury of passing on power. As long as the throne can be passed on, even if Russia becomes a constitutional state, Nicholas II will be acceptable.

But the problem is that the previous capitalist coup d'état made Nicholas II less convinced of some political parties.

This also makes the current Nicholas II more confusing. He also wanted to reform Russia by delegating power, but he was worried that his decentralization would lead to a coup d'état again, which would directly lead to the collapse of the royal power.

I have to admit that the prosperity of the heirs largely determines the stability of a kingdom.

The Russian royal Romanov family, which is currently sparsely populated, is also one of the important reasons for Russia's instability.

Nicholas II had only one son, Crown Prince Alexei, who was suffering from hemophilia.

Although Nicholas II had three brothers, two brothers died early due to various diseases, and only the youngest brother, Mikhail, survived.

This Grand Duke Mikhail is the one who historically Nicholas II wanted to abdicate the throne.

Although Grand Duke Mikhail was the younger brother of Nicholas II, his marriage to a commoner woman caused his descendants to lose the right to inherit the throne.

To put it simply, Grand Duke Mikhail is on the list of succession to the Russian throne. But the descendants of his noble marriages could not have any qualifications to inherit the Russian Empire.

This is also the tradition and rule of the European aristocracy, and the descendants of the nobles who intermarry generally do not have the right to inherit.

This rule also allowed most of the kingdoms in Europe to intermarry with each other, and they all formed more complicated kinship relationships.

Because of this, the only people who are currently eligible to inherit the Russian throne are Crown Prince Alexei and Grand Duke Mikhail.

But both of them have serious problems. Crown Prince Alexei was suffering from hemophilia, and his physical health was not enough for him to manage such a large empire.

The descendants of Grand Duke Mikhail have no right to inherit, and the passing of the throne to him will most likely represent the last swan song of the Romanov dynasty.

Although Nicholas II also advised his younger brother to abolish the current marriage contract and remarry a suitable wife to have offspring.

However, as the youngest brother, Grand Duke Mikhail was indeed rebellious and directly rejected his brother's proposal.

In fact, this also means that the succession to the Russian throne can only fall into the hands of Crown Prince Alexei.

After all, the marriage of Grand Duke Mikhail was not as simple as the marriage of nobles. The woman he married was a widow who had a poor private life.

This is the same as George VI's brother Edward VIII. Although the marrying of wives by members of the royal family is not so strict at present, it is still necessary to be cautious and cautious about the selection of queens.

After all, the royal family represents a country, and officials and the people will not agree to the members of the royal family who have damaged the country's image to become the rulers of the country.

"How's the war going on the front?" Nicholas II rubbed his brow, blinked his sore eyes twice, and asked with a sigh.

"At present, our 1st Frontier Army has exchanged fire with the enemy, and the 2nd Army is also on its way to support. According to the war reports sent so far, our casualties have exceeded 2,000, and there is a high probability that the road to Ukraine will be cut off. The Prime Minister of Tsarist Russia replied to Nicholas II.

"Damn, the enemy is clearly prepared, it's us who slackened." How could Nicholas II not understand that the enemy had been prepared? It's just that war doesn't pay attention to absolute fairness.

Whether it is prepared or a sneak attack, who can seize the opportunity is the most important thing.

"What is our current financial situation? Will the finances be able to sustain this war? After a moment of contemplation, Nicholas II looked at the Chancellor.

"It's very difficult." The Chancellor of the Exchequer said with a sad face: "Unless we can get reparations from the Great Lakes region as soon as possible, or borrow some money from France and Australasia."

Otherwise, our reserves of funds will last for two months at most, and then we will have to declare bankruptcy. ”

Although Tsarist Russia recuperated from its wounds for several years after the end of the civil war, the economic crisis tore the wounds apart.

The economic crisis exacerbated Russia's already poor finances, and some of the savings accumulated over the past few years were all invested in relief.

It's a pity that the population of Tsarist Russia is so large that there is not even a splash of that little money.

This also made the tsarist government unspeakable. Obviously, all the funds have been spilled out, but most of the Russian people are unable to enjoy the government's relief, which also makes the Russian people very dissatisfied with the government.

3000 words for the second update, ask for a monthly pass, ask for support!

(End of chapter)