St. Petersburg

After receiving the urgent call from Minshkov, Nicholas I had a headache, especially after seeing the estimated ammunition consumption in the notes below, his heart was bleeding. It was all money!

For this war, the Tsarist government spent 300 million to 400 million rubles. If the economic losses caused by the war were added, this number could be doubled.

Where is the victory? No one can answer this question. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, it is still far from the outcome of both sides.

If we knew in advance, the war would be the result of the present, and Nicholas I could guarantee that he would never provoke this war.

It’s okay to have casualties, but the Russians can afford great things, but the cost of war is completely beyond his expectations.

Before Britain and France joined the war, the Tsarist government prepared to attack Constantinople in multiple ways, conquered Constantinople within three months, and killed the Ottoman Empire within one year.

After Britain and France joined the war, the Tsarist government believed that it was easy to attack Constantinople after the Battle of Bulgaria. After taking Constantinople, everyone negotiated to resolve the problem.

Unexpectedly, when I arrived at the gates of Constantinople, I encountered the French again blocking the road.

The 200,000 French troops guarded a fortress city, which was enough to despair anyone, but there was no way, and under domestic pressure, they could only bite the bullet.

Even if the Russians were so stupid that they were still dizzy and used up all kinds of means, the final conclusion they had to be hit with cannons.

Nicholas I asked, "What do you think of General Minshkov's proposal?"

Army Minister Ivanovich replied: "Your Majesty, from the military, General Minshkov's proposal is no problem.

Constantinople is one of the best fortresses in the world. The enemy has deployed heavy troops to guard them. If you want to conquer this place, you can only pull out one fortress and one fortress.

Fortunately, the Ottoman Empire has become corrupt and neglected the construction of city defense fortifications. We can only use cannons to advance along the way.”

This answer is speechless. If the Ottomans hadn't ignored the upgrade of city defense fortifications, even using cannons would not have been possible.

This is a fact. The Russians can get heavy artillery, will the enemy on the other side be short? If war requires it, even thousands of artillery cannons can be easily taken out.

According to General Myshkov's proposal, he built an artillery position a few kilometers away and just hit Constantinople. Anyway, the target is so big that people can hide, and there is no place to hide in the building.

Two hundred thousand French troops were scattered in this city, and there were absolutely no enough artillery holes. As long as the random bombing was ravaged, the French could suffer heavy losses, as long as there were enough cannons and ammunition.

The casualties of civilians have never been considered by the Tsarist government. Knowing that the war is coming and that they do not know how to run away is to seek death, and guns and cannons do not have eyes.

The Chancellor of Finance Arestanley Rhodes frowned: "Your Majesty, the number of artillery and ammunition required by General Myshkov is too terrifying. Can't they save some use?

You should know that these heavy artillery and ammunition are not cheap. Even if the Austrians do not take advantage of the situation, this is an astronomical figure!"

He was not against this plan, he just felt sorry for the money. Constantinople must be conquered, otherwise he would not be able to explain it to the country. This is a consensus reached by everyone.

Arestanley Rhodes still has this overall concept. The problem is that the Tsarist government has really had financial problems. It is really difficult for him to take out hundreds of millions of rubles at one time.

Austria did not rob on fire, which is one of the reasons why the Tsarist government supported Austria in the Paris Conference and was not fooled by Britain and France.

Nicholas I was a credible person. As long as he did not exceed his bottom line, he would basically fulfill his promise.

Of course, it doesn’t take it. He is also a Tsar. Just refer to the practices of his ancestors. This is a talent inherited by the family.

"Mr. Arestanley Rod, it is important to conquer Constantinople now. If this goal is accomplished, I can have a ceasefire with Britain and France.

If the war continues, our military expenditure may be more in the later stage than it is now." Foreign Minister Carl Woesel advised

They are all people on the same boat. If the boat capsizes, everyone will be in trouble.

Now the river water has begun to rise, and the big waves are rolling and the boats are overturned at any time. The only way is to go to the port as soon as possible to avoid the wind and waves.

If you want to dock, you must conquer Constantinople. If you take Constantinople, you can calm the hearts of the people internally and have the capital to bargain with the enemy externally.

The Chancellor of the Finance Minister Arestanley Rhodes was dissatisfied with: "Marquis Carl, am I the kind of person who ignores the overall situation?

The problem now is that the Ministry of Finance does not have so much money at all and cannot afford the war funds.

According to General Minshkov's plan, it would be impossible to complete without 200 million rubles. This is based on the smooth flow of everything.

In the actual battlefield, there will definitely be changes, and it may continue to increase at that time.

The Caucasus battlefield and the Crimean Peninsula battlefield, these two places are also fighting, and the commanders on the front line are asking for dressing up. This is an urgent matter, and it still requires money.

The Russian Empire has only so much fiscal revenue in a year. Because of the war, our tax revenue will continue to decline this year. Where can I get so much money?"

It is a big trouble to have no money. It is not bad in peacetime. Once a war breaks out, the weakness of the feudal rule of the Tsarist government will be exposed, and it is far from comparable to that of capitalist countries in raising funds.

To put it bluntly, countries like Britain, France and Austria can print money when they are out of money. At worst, inflation is enough to solve the urgent problem.

Can the Russian Empire do this? The rubles they used were always real money and silver. It would be fine if the banknotes were issued by other European countries, but the international capital market issued by the Tsarist government did not recognize them.

Even in China, few people like paper rubles. The main reason is that they have too many past records, and the Russians are also skeptical about the credibility of the Tsarist government.

"How big is the funding gap?" Nicholas I asked with concern

This is expected to be short of money. The key is how much is missing. If the amount is not large, they still have a way to solve it.

The Chancellor of Finance Arestanley Rod analyzed: "Your Majesty, if General Minshkov's plan is implemented, it is initially estimated that our military expenditure may exceed 400 million rubles in 1854, exceeding the total of the previous year and a half.

By issuing bonds, we raise 65 million rubles in funds, government taxes can provide 80 million rubles, and 58 million rubles from domestic banks.

Now Constantinople is close to us. At this time, we can still collect a war tax, which is estimated to be levied at 120 million rubles.

The final funding gap is 77 million rubles, which is just an ideal state. If the situation changes, this number may continue to increase."

Nicholas I was silent. The gap was too large. Domestic tax revenue could no longer continue to increase. If it was added, something big would happen.

Army Secretary Ivanovich asked: "Is it possible to get loans from overseas, such as those of the Austrians?"

Chancellor Arestanley Rhodes shook his head: "This is impossible. We have used up the channels for raising funds overseas.

If the Austrians had not initiated the Unification War last year, perhaps they could have provided us with this loan, which is impossible now.

Don’t look at them swallowing Bavaria almost without bloodshed, but in order to shock Britain and France, they mobilized nearly 1.8 million troops in one breath, and consumed a lot of government financial resources."

There is no way, Austria's fiscal situation is slightly better than Russia. However, the Vienna government is accelerating the process of industrialization and a lot of financial resources are invested in domestic construction.

With last year's war expenses, from a professional perspective, Arestanley Rohde judged that the Vienna government could not afford the money.

After hesitating for a while, Nicholas I slowly asked, "How much military expenses can I save when I suspend the war in the Caucasus first?"

Now fighting on the third line, the most important thing for the Tsarist government is to take Constantinople, followed by the Crimean Peninsula. Both places cannot be given up.

As for the Russian army on the Caucasus battlefield, they always had the initiative in the war. If they stopped attacking, the paralyzed Ottoman Empire would only feel fortunate that it would be impossible to provoke it.

After thinking about it, the Minister of Finance Arestanley Rhodes replied: "It can save about 40 to 50 million rubles. If we first cease to fight the Ottoman Empire and withdraw most of the troops and invest in the Crimean battlefield, we can save another 10 million rubles."

This is equivalent to reducing the number of troops. Since the forces in the Caucasus region have been withdrawn, their military strength gap will no longer exist, and there will be no need for so many troops to be mobilized in China.

When the cannon fires, there are ten thousand taels of gold.

This is not an exaggeration at all, and it is even much smaller. During this period, tens of taels of gold were really not enough, at least one million taels of gold started.

Nicholas I did not hesitate: "Okay, that's it. Let the Ottomans go first, and in the Caucasus we switch from offense to defense, and we will draw troops to reinforce the other two battlefields, and then we will conquer Constantinople!

The Ministry of Finance has thought of another way to find a way for the remaining funding gap. In short, it is a critical moment. We cannot lead to the failure of the war because of lack of money."

"Yes, your majesty!" Arestanley Rhode replied helplessly.

This is a difficult problem. Don’t look at the funding gap that seems to have been solved most of it. In fact, the remaining gap is still an astronomical figure.

Especially when all kinds of channels for raising funds are used up, it is definitely not that easy to solve this problem.

But when he came to this position, Arestanley Rhodes could only bite his teeth and had to find a way to solve this problem.

The funding problem was barely solved. After everyone's unanimous decision, the Constantinople demolition team, led by General Minshkov, was officially established. Everyone's slogan was to razed Constantinople to the ground.

The Tsarist government cannot consider so much about protecting ancient buildings. It first conquered Constantinople, and at worst it could be rebuilt after the war.

It is also possible to put the blame on the French. As long as the holy land is recovered, no one will have such a small flaw. In order to conquer Constantinople, the Russians have been desperate.

Holy Roman Empire
Chapter completed!