411 Congrats from the Russians 1
"Earl Robanov, it's really surprising that I can see you here. I think after this, you will have fewer and fewer opportunities to come here." When Earl Taff left the palace, he happened to meet the person he least wanted to see - the Russian special envoy Count Robanov.
The Russians are definitely not satisfied with the marriage between Bavaria and Austria. The Count who hit a nail in the prince will naturally not miss the opportunity to mock his old enemy. In the future, the princess of the Austro-Hungarian Empire will become the mistress of the palace, and the Bavarian royal family's attitude towards Russia will naturally be affected.
"But no one can get along with the interests. Moreover, judging from your face, what you are going to do does not seem to be successful." Robanov retorted.
"Empress, you can go in and don't let the prince wait too long." At this moment, Earl Schelling's appearance interrupted the conversation with a strong smell of gunpowder.
"It seems that our situation is not very good." Earl Taff couldn't help but sigh after looking at the Russian envoy who had disappeared in the corridor.
"First of all, on behalf of the Russian Empire, I send my most sincere blessings to the prince. I wish you and Princess Mary a happy and fulfilling married life. At the same time, I hope that the friendship between Russia and Germany will last forever." Earl Robanov's opening remark made the prince feel very inconsistent...
"You should listen to this in the opposite way?" The prince complained in his heart. Russia must not want to see the marriage between Austro-Hungary and Bavaria. After all, Austro-Hungary and Russia are still fighting in the Balkans. As for the friendship between Russia and Germany, as the saying goes, one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers, unless one male and one female. Until now, when Germany's expansion ambitions and strong attitude are undoubtedly revealed, Russia and Germany are still afraid of each other, right?
"Thank you very much for the blessings of His Majesty the Tsar." However, the prince who has been practicing for so many years has mastered the essential skills of politicians to speak humans and to speak humans. "In order to express our gratitude, the two super warships ordered by your country in Bavaria, the Rurik and the Russia, will be completed within one month. I hope that the Count will notify your Navy immediately after returning and prepare for picking up the ship."
"Completed within one month? The construction cycle of these two warships is no more than 17 months, right? This is really fast. I would like to express my gratitude to Your Highness again." Robanov said flatteredly. Stimulated by the French fleet being stimulated by the German warship Ko in minutes and the Japanese ordering a large number of warships from Britain again, the Russians ordered four super warships from Germany that were made into the 2nd level of Liurik. Two of them were additional, and construction just started in the middle of last year.
The first two warships ordered will be put into service in the second half of this year, but in order to free up the ship platform and workers to build the first batch of German dreadnoughts, the prince decided to work overtime and quickly complete the two ships. Of course, the cost of speeding up the progress is fortunate, but for Russia, once these two warships arrive in the Far East, they can rebalance the maritime power of both sides. There is no reason for the Russians not to do such a transaction!
"I want to know, has His Majesty the Tsar decided on the issue of military food supply to the Russian Army in the Far East undertaken by us?" asked the prince. In the transaction with the Russians, the prince's eyes were not only on artillery and warships. These transactions were not only for economic benefits. What the prince needs now is not only for money, but more importantly, it is laying a nail for Russia's collapse!
And this nail was nailed to Ukraine! Ukraine is Russia's most important granary. Half of Russia's arable land and more than half of its food comes from Ukraine, and the Ukrainians have a certain tendency to independence. Although it was included in Russia's territory for a long time, ********** and the trend of independence have always existed. In history, during the Soviet Civil War, leaders of the Ukrainian independence movement such as Makhno appeared.
The prince did not intend to swallow Ukraine as a whole, because he knew that even Germany and Austro-Hungarians would not have such a good appetite! More than 600,000 square kilometers of land and more than 30 million people above it! It is impossible to digest at all! So the prince’s idea is to establish a pro-German independent Ukraine country!
However, it is difficult to complete this task. For some Ukrainian independent elements, the Slavs are certainly the enemy, and the Germans who fought are not good things. If the prince wants to achieve this goal, he must at least have a certain "mass base".
The main target of this "mass base" will of course not be Ukrainian farmers, but Ukrainian intellectuals, farmers and some independents. If this relationship is solid, it naturally requires some economic benefits. As Russia's most important grain production area, the only transactions that Ukraine and Bavaria can do is only agricultural products. So the prince means importing agricultural products from Ukraine and transporting them to Turkey by sea. Then it is processed into various canned foods or other easy-to-preserve foods from the Bavarian factory that sets up factories in Turkey.
With stable economic ties, only those who have great influence in Ukrainian society will trust you and trust you, and the cooperation between the two sides can continue better. After the outbreak of World War I in the future, Ukrainians will stab the opponent when Russia is at its weakest...
In order to achieve this goal, the prince did not hesitate to personally persuade the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Russia to sign a treaty restricting the arms of the two countries. Both sides would delay the deployment of new rapid-fire artillery in their respective border areas. He also said that the actions in the Balkans would notify the other party in advance. Historically, this treaty was signed in about 1904. This time, it was signed in 1899, so that the Russians could fight the Japanese with confidence.
Everything the prince does needs to be compensated, and the content of the compensation is to allow Bavaria to operate military rations from the Russian Far East army! It directly imports grain from Ukraine, then processes it to nearby Turkey, and then loads it on ships and transports it directly to the Far East.
"His Majesty the Tsar paid great attention to your request and tried his best to suppress domestic opposition. And the purpose of my coming here today is to convey this good news. His Majesty the Tsar agreed that your country's merchants would purchase food from Ukraine under effective management, and then process it into military rations." Robanov said. The purpose of Robanov came here not only to want the prince to inform the news, but to see if he could take the opportunity to gain some more benefits from Bavaria. After all, the Battle of the Philippines also shocked the Russians very much. In their eyes, Japan changed from 1.58 meters to 1.85 meters...
Chapter completed!