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In the early morning of August 16, 1903 and August 29, 1903, in a large mansion in St. Petersburg, Sergei Yulievich Witt was having breakfast when a lavishly decorated scroll of paper was placed on the table, which was the imperial edict given to him by Tsar Nicholas II on New Year's Day this year. It reads in beautiful floral characters:

Sergey Yulievich:

Ten years ago, my father, who now lives in Heaven, appointed you Chancellor of the Exchequer. In spite of the financial difficulties of 1891 after a poor harvest in 1891, you have taken up the task of reviving Russian finance, which your predecessors had begun, with unwavering confidence in the strength of the Russian economy, and you can take comfort in the fact that you have lived up to the trust placed in you by Emperor Alexander III, and that you are worthy of his gratitude.

As you return 10 years as Chancellor of the Exchequer, I am pleased to express my gratitude for all the work you have done over the past eight years to live up to the trust I have placed in you. Strengthening national strength and national defense and prospering the country that God has entrusted to me are my major concerns. With the same confidence in the strength of the Russian people, and with the same loyalty to the sovereign, you have not only shared with me my efforts to achieve the above ends, but you have also encouraged the best men of Russia to serve their country spontaneously. You have strengthened the independence and stability of the currency and increased the financial resources of the public treasury, thus enabling us to supply the state funds that have increased year after year. I am very satisfied with the work you have done, in addition to the complicated affairs of the country, which I have entrusted to you, to teach the Crown Prince and my beloved brother, Prince Mikhail Aleksandrovich, the economics of the country.

Your performance has been of great benefit to the country and to me, and I look forward to continuing to serve the country in the future in the post of head of the ministry that I have entrusted to you.

Eternity has a good opinion of you

(Signed)

Witt sighed lowly.

"It's been ten years, and there are troublesome jobs every year, so what will happen this year?"

Fifty-four-year-old Witte has a broad face, loose skin, and bright, calm eyes. He was born into a German aristocratic family in the Baltic region, his mother was Russian, and his father was a high-ranking official in the Caucasian Governor's Palace. After graduating from the University of Odessa and working in the railway sector, he was appreciated by Tsar Alexander III, and in 1889 he was appointed director of the railways, in 1892 he was promoted to Minister of Transport, and in August of the same year he was changed to Minister of Finance.

"My lord, Mr. Preske has arrived."

The servant came and reported.

"Tell him I'll come."

Witt said, wiping his mouth with a napkin and getting up and walking towards the living room.

Preske, who was then president of the Imperial Bank, received an order from the emperor yesterday to report to him on the morning of the 16th to Petergov Palace.

"You're here, let's go."

Witte said when he saw Preske, who nodded in agreement, and the two went out and got into the carriage and went straight to the Petergov Palace.

In the car, Werther sat alone in his carriage, thinking about things.

War with China seemed inevitable, and the massacre in Blagoveshchensk irritated the Chinese and gave them an excuse. The matter could have been properly resolved, for example, by immediately organizing a commission of inquiry into the incident to conduct a comprehensive investigation, punishing the parties involved, dismissing the Governor-General of the Far East, Admiral Alekseev, and then sending a further envoy to apologize to China, give appropriate compensation, and agree to resume negotiations on the territorial issue — even if we do not intend to make any substantive concessions.

War Minister Kuropatkin messed everything up, convincing the emperor that the Chinese did not have the courage and strength to challenge the interests of the Russian Empire in the Far East, and the emperor was deeply influenced by him, constantly stating at the imperial council that he could not show weakness to China, and also hinted at infiltrating China's Xinjiang and Outer Mongolia. Is that really the case? Are the Chinese really not strong enough to take back what they think is rightfully theirs? Kuropatkin not only obstructed the establishment of the Commission of Inquiry into the Incident, but also constantly stated to the outside world that Russia's actions against foreign spies on its territory were not to be blamed, and that it did not recognize the existence of the massacre and the fact that aggression took place. He also instigated Prince Alexei Alexandrovich to advise the emperor not to remove Alekseev from his post, and everyone knew that Alekseev was picked up by the prince.

Foreign Minister Muravyov was also making trouble, saying that the dispute with China did not have to be settled in the Far East but in Europe, and after the incident, he not only ignored the protests of the Chinese minister, but also made suggestions to the emperor, asking Britain and France to send himself on a tour of Europe, asking Britain and France to exert pressure on China, and to go to China for talks after obtaining the promise of Britain and France, so as to effectively ensure that the territory of the Far East would not be harmed. The emperor believed him, and now he should be in London, while the angry Chinese waited 10,000 kilometers for his visit after October.

But none of the above problems are the key problems, the key problem is that we have not really strengthened our forces in the Far East, we have not invested enough money in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which could have been opened three years ago, but it did not start until last year, and now it can only pass seven trains a day and night. We have not strengthened our investment there, there are too few immigrants, the aborigines who were once favored by the Chinese emperor are not cleared enough, and they do not use their tricks, how do Alekseev, the clowns who only make the prince happy, how do you know how to create conditions to attract immigrants and remove or assimilate the aborigines by covert means?

If there were 10 million or 20 million Russian inhabitants in the Far East, their own economic and human resources would be sufficient to protect them from foreign threats.

Although China has a large number of people, it has not surpassed Russia economically, and it is only a third-rate country in Europe, but it can concentrate its strength in the Far East, but we have to concentrate its main strength in Europe to deal with the Germans and Austrians. As if we did know that the Chinese did not dare to attack us and were willing to endure everything, the War Office had been preoccupied with preparing for war with the Teutonic empires all these years, and we had been busy preparing for war against Germany and Austria-Hungary in anticipation of the inevitability of war against Germany and Austria-Hungary during these months, and we had even appointed army commanders. Prince Nikolai Nikolayevich was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces against the German army, and General Kuropatkin was appointed to command the army on the Russian-Austrian border.

We are not ready in the Far East, Alekseev said that only 350,000 people are needed to defend the Far East, but now he has only 150,000 men, and it will be necessary to reach the strength he said after full mobilization on the ground, but we only started mobilization in the Far East only three days ago. Kuropatkin believed that there was no need to send more troops to the Far East, as long as enough weapons and ammunition were sent there, and the forces of the Far Eastern Governorate itself could completely deter the Chinese. He is deceiving the emperor, and he is deceiving himself, but he can't deceive me, he has to pay the price, Russia has to pay the price, but if there is a war, we will not lose, Britain and France are behind us, as long as the war funds are sufficient, the ambitions of the emperor and the generals should not be over-inflated, even if the war breaks out, we can get a decent ending. However, I am afraid that the stable financial system that I have worked so hard to build over the past ten years will be undermined, yes, we now have 400 million rubles of idle funds in our treasury, which will all disappear like steam in an instant as soon as war breaks out, and we will have to borrow. However, the emperor thought I was alarmist, and he tried to convince me that there was no danger in taking a constant tough stance against China, let alone damage the country—he was much more proud than the emperor, and his efforts were in vain.

Therefore, since I do not approve of the policy adopted by the Emperor at all, it is natural that he will not let me occupy one of the most important positions in the government.

So, this time he asked me to take Preske to meet him, the emperor must have wanted to appoint Prex to a certain position, although I don't understand why he would choose this person he didn't know well, but I guess my road has come to an end.

The carriage stopped in front of the Petrogov Palace, Witt cleared his throat, took the necessary documents, got out of the carriage and walked towards the palace with Presk.

In front of the palace, a chamberlain took Plesk away, saying that the emperor wanted to listen to Werther's report first, so Plesk stayed in the reception room, and Werther walked into the emperor's study alone.

"Sergei Yulievich, you're here, it's good, sit down."

Nicholas II received him kindly, but his mind still could not calm down, and the emperor told him to start reporting immediately.

Werther reported several plans to the Emperor and asked him for permission to make a tour of the provinces where the vodka monopoly was being introduced, and the Emperor agreed that he wanted to personally inspect the implementation of this important reform.

Finally, when Witte got up to take his leave, Nicholas II asked him if Preske had come.

"Your Majesty, he's here, and he's in the reception room."

"Look at this man." The Emperor asked, eyes looking at him.

"I think this guy is very good."

In fact, Witt replied, valued Preske in terms of his character and financial expertise, and considered him one of his closest aides.

The emperor paused for a moment and said: "Sergei Yulievich, I would like to ask you to take over as chairman of the Council of Ministers, and I would like to appoint Presk as your successor. ”

Witte could not help but look surprised by this sudden decision, and Nicholas II saw it and asked: "Are you not satisfied with this new appointment?" It is important to know that the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers is the highest official position in the empire. ”

Witte paused and then replied in a very respectful tone: "Please believe that the Emperor is pleased with this new appointment, but I think that my original position may play a greater role than my new one." ”

So, Witte took his bid farewell to the emperor and left his study.

Then Preske was summoned in, and Witt did not stop, but walked directly outside the palace, just in time to meet the Minister of War Kuropatkin.

"It turned out to be Sergei Yulievich, I was so happy to see you, did the emperor summon you?"

"Yes, the emperor just summoned me, so, how about you, is the emperor going to summon you too?"

"General Alekseev is in a bit of trouble there, you know, he has always been in trouble there, and for this, the emperor wants to summon me."

"Then I won't bother you, I'll see you again."

Witte said that when he walked out of the Petrogov Palace, he found that the weather was very sunny that day, and his mood became cheerful.

On the contrary, Kuropatkin did not notice the weather at all on this day, and dark clouds were churning in his heart.

The intelligence that has been reported from various sources in the past few days is sketching a future: the Chinese Empire is about to launch a large-scale attack on the Russian Empire, and the main point of attack is in the Russian Far East, but Russia is hardly prepared.

Kuropatkin had no choice but to report to the emperor that war was coming, and it was necessary to enter a state of general mobilization, increase troops to the Far East, and at the same time draw up a plan to attack the weak regions of the Chinese Empire.

Preske excitedly walked out and offered to greet Kuropatkin, who pretended to be happy to answer him, and then walked to Nicholas II's study.

"Well, my general, here you are, tell me quickly, what are you going to do."

"Your Majesty, I am ready to mobilize the troops of the Siberian Military District first, then the First Army of the Kiev Military District and the 27th Army of the Moscow Military District, and finally the reserve division of the Kazan Military District, and we will have more than two hundred battalions available......"

"Well, we have more than two hundred battalions at our disposal, so how do we get them to the front? Do you use a train? ”

"Yes, only by train."

"When will it be shipped?"

"If the railroad is subject to military control, it will be transported in two months."

"Well, two months, let's pray to the merciful God that the Chinese will not take any action against Russia in two months."

Kuropatkin hung his head and continued to explain his plan to the emperor, he was annoyed and fearful, but Nicholas II did not reproach him.

"You don't have to go to Kyiv, go to the Far East, I want you to be the commander of the Far Eastern Army, work with Alekseev, don't let the Chinese succeed, if possible, destroy them and march to Manchuria."

Kuropatkin thanked the emperor for his grace and went out of his way in a huff.

His face was gloomy, and he saw a person walking in front of him, and he knew that person, it was Rear Admiral Rozhestvensky, who had recently been favored by the emperor, and Kuropatkin walked straight out of the hall with a gloomy face, and did not greet Rozhestvensky.

Rozhestvensky glanced at Kuropatkin, blinked unhappily, shrugged his shoulders and walked towards the emperor's study.

The emperor was very happy to see him and said: "You are here, very well, tell me quickly, what do you think about the formation of the 2nd Pacific Fleet?" ”

"Your Majesty, the Minister of the Navy said that it is feasible, but I think the time is not ripe, our four new armored ships have not yet been completed, and the cruisers purchased from Britain and France have not yet arrived, and the existing warships are not enough to complete this too difficult task."

"Well, the time has not yet come, so what do you think of the current Pacific detachment? Do you think they will be able to defeat the Chinese fleet? ”

Rozhestvensky hesitated for a moment and replied cautiously: "Your Majesty, I think that the commander of the fleet, General Makarov, has a very high ability, and the strength of the Pacific Fleet also has a slight advantage over the Chinese fleet. ”

Nicholas II frowned, touched his chin, shook his head and said: "You have a point, but is it really not necessary to send reinforcements?" How many armored ships do we have that we can go to Vladivostok now? ”

"There are seven, Your Majesty, and six more armored cruisers available, but we must keep half of them so that we can maintain pressure on Germany and exert the necessary influence in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean."

"Okay, let's just wait, wait for the completion of those four new armored ships, until then, you are solely responsible for the affairs of the second Pacific Fleet, I don't want to send the second Pacific Fleet, but we should be ready."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Rozhestvensky replied humbly, and after answering a few more questions from the emperor, Rozhestvensky walked out of the Petrogov Palace, and after getting into the carriage, some thoughts began to well-spring in his heart.

Does the emperor want me to go to the Far East? To send to death? Restless Makarov was driven from Kronstadt to Vladivostok, I don't want to go to that kind of place, leaving St. Petersburg, leaving Kronstadt, my fate is not in my hands. Yes, the emperor likes me, so he wants me to make meritorious contributions, but this is not something I can do, no, this is also something that no general can do, we can't let the fleet go into battle immediately after going around the globe from the Baltic Sea around the earth and then into the China Sea, we need to advance bases, if we can get an forward base, let's say Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam......

Rozhestvensky looked at the sky, the sun was harsh, he crooked his lips in disgust, and put down the tarpaulin on the carriage.

The sky of St. Petersburg, on this day is especially fascinating - but not everyone thinks so.

Attach:

In August 1903, the main warship of the Russian Pacific Fleet was tactically and technically performed

1. Fleet armored ships

1. Petropavlovsk: launched in 1894, displacement 11,354 tons, speed 17 knots, 4 main guns 305 mm, 12 secondary guns of 152 mm, 12 guns of 47 mm, 28 guns of 37 mm, 6 torpedo firing officers, and 651 people.

2. Poltava: launched in 1894, displacement 10,960 tons, speed 17 knots, artillery as above, torpedo as above, and establishment as above.

3. Sevastopol: launched in 1895, displacement 11,842 tons, speed 17 knots, artillery ditto, torpedo ditto, ditto establishment.

4. Dawn: Launched in 1898, with a displacement of 12,674 tons, a speed of 18 knots, 4 main guns of 254 mm, 11 secondary guns of 152 mm, 20 guns of 75 mm, 20 guns of 47 mm, 8 guns of 37 mm, 5 torpedo tubes, and an establishment of 778 people.

5. Retvizhan: Launched in 1900, displacement 12,902 tons, speed 18 knots, 4 main guns of 305 mm, 12 secondary guns of 152 mm, 20 guns of 75 mm, 24 guns of 47 mm, 8 guns of 37 mm, 6 torpedo firing officers, and the establishment of 778 people.

6. Victory: Launched in 1900, with a displacement of 12,674 tons, a speed of 18 knots, 4 main guns of 254 mm, 11 guns of 152 mm, 20 guns of 75 mm, 20 guns of 47 mm, 8 guns of 37 mm, 5 torpedo tubes, and an establishment of 778 people.

7. Chashalevich: Launched in 1901, displacement 12,900 tons, speed 18 knots, 4 main guns 305 mm, 12 152 mm, 20 75 mm, 20 47 mm, 4 torpedo tubes, the establishment is unknown.

Second, a cruiser of the first class

1. Rulik: Launched in 1892, displacement of 11,690 tons, speed of 18 knots, 4 main guns of 203 mm, 16 secondary guns of 152 mm, 6 guns of 120 mm, 10 guns of 47 mm, 12 guns of 37 mm, 6 torpedo tubes, and a strength of 719 people.

2. Thunderbolt: Launched in 1899, displacement of 13,880 tons, speed of 19 knots, 4 main guns of 203 mm, 4 secondary guns of 203 mm, 16 guns of 152 mm, 24 75 mm, 12 47 mm, 18 37 mm, 4 torpedo tubes, 874 people.

3. Varyag: Launched in 1899, with a displacement of 6,500 tons, a speed of 23 knots, 12 main guns of 152 mm, 12 secondary guns of 75 mm, 8 guns of 47 mm, 6 torpedo tubes, and an establishment of 573 people.

4. Parada: Launched in 1899, with a displacement of 6,731 tons, a speed of 20 knots, 8 main guns of 152 mm, 24 secondary guns of 75 mm, 8 guns of 37 mm, 3 torpedo tubes, and a staff of 567 people.

5. Diana: Same as above.

6. Askold: Launched in 1899, with a displacement of 5,905 tons, a speed of 23 knots, 12 main guns of 152 mm, 12 secondary guns of 75 mm, 8 guns of 47 mm, 6 torpedo tubes, and a staff of 573 people.

Reference: "History of the Russian-Japanese War", edited by Rostunov, translated and printed by the Headquarters of Unit 37001 of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.