Rasputin of the East

Episode 10

st petersburg

As I entered the luxurious mansion, I was guided by the butler to the drawing room.

“Wait a minute, Your Majesty the Grand Duke will be here soon.”

“I will wait.”

“I’ll bring the car while you wait.”

When the butler left, I immediately fell into deep thought.

A rabbit does not dig a single burrow. So do I.

I created Spetsnaz because I needed an army to be loyal to me, on paper it belongs to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation and in wartime it is a unit that is commanded by the military, but in fact I have created a unit that is privatized to me, and I am filling it with people I can trust.

The Russians can betray me, but the Koreans have no other to rely on, so I built a unit based on them. Of course, among the Spetsnaz units, those who will infiltrate the enemy are German, Serbian, etc., but there are quite a few Koreans in the general combat unit.

And to add one more thing, if there is a civil war between Red and White and we lose… Shouldn’t there be at least one place to escape?

Traveling to the United States, where the business is located, could be considered, but if it was impossible, it had to be accounted for.

During the Russian Revolution, Britain alone refused to asylum for the imperial family. I can’t say that there is no possibility of being denied entry to the body, which is closely related to the royal family.

‘In the worst case, independence should also be considered.’

Literally, like Finland, you’re tearing apart the country. Of course it won’t be easy.

Finland was a semi-autonomous region from the beginning, and eventually suffered an invasion by the Soviet Union.

No, to be honest, none of the countries that declared independence from the Russian Empire had a good word. The three Baltic countries survived for a long time, but they collapsed during the partition of Poland.

‘If we had to leave the Russian Empire, Asia would be better than Europe.’

If I were white, I would have considered establishing a kingdom or a republic in Europe, but unfortunately I am a yellow man.

In other words, Asia is better than Europe to dig a rat hole as an insurance to be used only in the last resort.

‘It is not difficult to become independent with the whole of Siberia, and you have to choose between Central Asia or the Far East, but to do that, you need to lubricate it in advance.’

Building a munitions factory in the area for investment, and contacting local influential people.

Infiltrate my forces and make it my stronghold during the Red and White Civil War, and declare independence if you want to be pushed into a corner.

The next Soviet invasion must be stopped somehow.

Of course, it is best to not have to implement this plan in the first place, but it is best not to receive any insurance money in the first place.

‘I have to be prepared to pay the insurance premium.’

At the very least, if an industrial zone is created, it will be useful even during the First World War. Currently, there is no reason not to invest because there is an excuse that it is close to the natural resource zone supplied from Manchuria, which is now divided in half between the Russian Empire and the Japanese Empire.

Korean independence support? To be honest, I’m not interested. If I left it alone, I would be vaguely independent anyway.

No matter what I do, the Japanese imperial runaway is inevitable, and regardless of the end of World War I, the Japanese Empire will be booming just by having the war happen.

And after the war ended, even before the Great Depression broke out, immediately after the Great Kanto Earthquake, they were hit by two consecutive hits: the Showa Financial Depression and the Showa Depression.

It was the Great Depression that drove the wedge. This was caused by a combination of several events in the first place, the collapse of the bloated economic structure caused by the contraction of the market, and the poor initial response of the Hoover administration in the United States. Just because I’m the only one running wild doesn’t mean it can’t be solved.

Of course, if the outcome of World War I is completely different, there is a possibility. I think it will be similar to the original history.

Then, even if the timing may change a little, the Great Depression is inevitable, and the military goes unconditionally. And as soon as the military rushes and accumulates in the colonies of the United States, a Hull note or similar level of pressure is essential unless the United States government goes crazy all over, and the Japanese military suddenly chooses to take their overthrow and win against the United States. If you don’t, the war will eventually break out.

Then, as long as war breaks out, Japan will fall and Korea will become independent. It is a set sequence. Could Japan ever defeat America?

In other words, if I had to support my independence, there would be no meaning. But at least lip service or formal support would be better than nothing.

Even if it were to go to the Independence Army anyway, it wouldn’t be a huge amount, but if you can buy the loyalty of your subordinates with just a few of those supplies, it’s a business that has hundreds of times more.

A warlord with unreliable subordinates said nothing but death or downfall, and I have no intention of doing that.

‘Of course, there is a way to blow up Lenin, Trotsky, etc. in the first place.’

But the problem is that neither of them are in Russia right now.

Lenin had been exiled to Germany for a few years before I appeared, and Trotsky was imprisoned in Siberia in 1900 and then escaped in 1902 and continued his fugitive life by traveling around Europe. It was difficult to plan an operation such as removal.

First of all, isn’t an overseas operation possible only if there are spies overseas? Or set up a forward base at the embassy.

However, Ohrana was a member of the ‘Ministry of Interior’, so it was a little difficult to work abroad, and I finally concluded that it would be quite difficult to get rid of them.

In fact, at this point either Lenin or Trotsky are one of the overflowing revolutionaries in the Empire, and even if they get rid of them, it’s very likely that someone I don’t know will take their place.

If they become the central axis of the revolution and eliminate them, the possibility of the revolution will be wiped out. Because I’m throwing my information advantage in the trash.

Fortunately, the tsar trusted me completely and gave me considerable power. It’s a good thing because there really was a big bang in Tunguska.

Still, to be honest, I was hitting a wall now, and the development of medium ammunition and Sten submachine gun, which I confidently pushed forward, was blocked.

As long as the concept of ‘submachine gun’ did not exist yet, it was impossible to copy the MP28, which had to wait 20 years for it to come out like the original history. First of all, I had to start developing with the concept of a ‘pistol-fired machine gun’ that is ‘extremely simplified and portable’, but the problem is that even the Russian state-owned arsenal has no experience in developing or producing light machine guns. I couldn’t.

Besides, what I was asking for was a submachine gun, not a light machine gun.

I couldn’t even grasp the concept, so I intervened and tried to fix it.

It would be possible with more time and budget, but before that, war is about to break out. It seemed that it would be faster to recruit firearms engineers from abroad.

‘John Browning… If I had come a few years earlier, I could have recruited him.’

Browning had a fight with Winchester and his contract with Remington was also canceled, so I signed with FN before I came, so it was difficult to get it out now. Swallowing my disappointment, I thought about the two people who made the entry.

‘Pyotor Vasilyevich Tokarev, Hugo Schmeiser.’

Tokarev is now in the Russian Imperial Army, and Hugo Schmeisser is in Thuringia, Germany.

Although Tokarev is much easier in terms of recruitment difficulty – if you move the Tsar, it wouldn’t be a problem to take one Gunsmith, who is still known as a kid, from the Cossacks – Hugo Schumaiser was a talent I wanted to recruit considering that he was in a hypothetical enemy country.

If he is the developer of MP18, he will make it difficult for him, and as he is also the developer of StG44, he will be able to break through the medium bullet research that is currently hitting the wall.

‘As far as I know, Tokarev has never made submachine guns, but it’s a bit tricky.’

As I was thinking about it, the door opened and a man walked in.

“The Grand Duke.”

“Be at ease.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“I heard that you put a lot of effort into persuading my brother, thank you.”

“No, I should have helped.”

“Hmm, is that so? You and I wouldn’t have had much of a connection.”

“I just thought that it was not right to neglect someone who was wounded in battle while contributing to the country just because he was married to the one he loved.”

Archduke Kirill was a member of the Russian Navy, and during the Russo-Japanese War, when a warship that touched mines sank, he suffered a back injury, burns and PTSD, and had to be discharged from the military after only saving his life.

“Really?”

Archduke Cyril seemed to be looking at me with a favorable gaze, but if I was deceived by it, my previous career cried.

That’s not a benevolent gaze, but a gaze of exploration.

“Hey, do you want something? If you have a wish, I want to grant it as much as I can. Of course, if you are my brother’s favourite, I think you can get pretty much anything in the Empire.”

“It’s just shameful if you pay for acting according to your beliefs.”

“Don’t do that, let me tell you one thing, but after that, you’re not married yet? What do you think of me arranging for a decent marriage?”

“Well………”

The eyes of Archduke Kirill and I collided for a moment.

‘Damn, I’ll leave some favors as favors and settle for later.’

‘I hate being in debt to a guy whose intentions are hard to understand, so it’s better to organize it here.’

“I would rather get one.”

“Are you human?”

“I am an engineer, I run a factory in Central Asia, and I want to develop a new gun and deliver it to the Imperial Army, but it is delayed due to various problems.”

“Hmm, then…”

“I am a firearms engineer in the Imperial Army. I heard that you are currently in the 12th Cossack Regiment.”

If Archduke Cyril puts pressure on him to use his favor now, he will use it, but it is difficult to get a technician out of a conflict with the army anyway, so even if it is the Navy, it would be better if Archduke Kirill, a member of the army, give me some bullets.

At this point in time, there is no authority on automatic weapons in the Russian Empire like Tokarev.

“Hmm… it’s the army.”

The archduke tilted his head slightly and replied.

“There’s nothing you can’t do.”

As I have felt many times, Russia in the 20th century is a city where real pre-modern society, renaissance, and modernity are mixed.

After all, actions that would normally not be easily accepted even during the Napoleonic Wars were made possible simply by the fact that I was under the tsar’s protection.

“I will visit you often in the future, Grand Duke. Take good care of me.”

“Yes, I will pass on the detailed information to my butler, and I will issue an order to you sooner or later, but anyway, you are the military and the Ministry of the Interior.

I smiled over the mask.

“Of course, Grand Duke.”