Struggle in Russia

Neither Nesselrode nor Chernyshov, Duke Ordov, or Count Uvarov had any objection to ending the war as soon as possible.

Because originally according to their plan, this war would last at most half a year, but now it has been three months, and half of the estimated time has passed. Let alone the end of the war, the scale is getting bigger and bigger. Isn't it fatal?

Of course, they also knew that they couldn't blame Duke Mikhail for his incompetence. After all, no one thought that Britain and France would be so tough that they would declare war on them for the chicken.

This is completely different from what they had imagined before, and they have never made any predictions about it, and they don't even know what to do.

In particular, the reactions of Prussia and Austria in recent days have shocked them even more. Who would have thought that even their hard-core allies would turn their backs, so how could this happen.

At one time, they were very worried that Duke Mikhail would make a mistake and be violently beaten when he was attacked from both sides. Now that one can tenaciously stabilize the situation of the war and not continue to deteriorate, it is not a loss of fame.

Of course, they are fortunate, but they all know that it is extremely unrealistic to expect Duke Mikhail to use the force at hand to deal with Austria, Turkey, Britain and France or even defeat Turkey. To put it bluntly, it is a fool's dream!

Anyway, these people in the imperial study knew that it was imperative to increase the number of troops, and the sooner the better. But how to increase troops and how many additional troops should be dispatched also need to be discussed carefully. After all, the national treasury is almost empty now, and if we continue to increase our troops, we will definitely have to increase taxes, or even severely increase taxes.

But if you think about how much oil and water the serfs in Russia have to squeeze, shouldn’t the tax increase be taken out of the pockets of noble ministers like them?

Although Nicholas I's authority and methods are much stronger than those of Louis XVI, he is not worried that someone would dare to assassinate him and refuse to pay. But none of his courtiers are good stubblers. How can they sit back and watch their own interests be damaged? It is something they will inevitably do to pass the burden on to the bottom of society. If they do this, there may be problems in the country.

And this problem is big or small. If Prince Mikhail had the Turks settled as quickly as possible by God's help, then these would be minor problems in the light of the brilliant victory.

But if the progress of the war is not optimistic, or even dragged on for a long time, and it has been so exhausting, then small problems will become big problems.

Nicholas I still had a relatively clear understanding of these things, knowing that increasing taxes and increasing troops is tantamount to fighting chicken blood, but one must not be the same, and he must not exhaust the water and kill chickens to get eggs.

If he decides to increase his troops, he must ask relevant questions clearly.

Nesselrode as prime minister,

He must first make this question clear: "If the tax is temporarily increased, considering the upcoming spring plowing and the season of slack, I personally think that enough should be done. The maximum military expenditure to ensure the operation of 100,000 troops is the limit!"

Before he finished speaking, Chernyshov was the first to jump out and object: "What's the use of a hundred thousand people? Prime Minister, don't you know how much pressure Duke Mikhail is under now? There are nearly a million troops, and Austria has also hoarded hundreds of thousands of horses on the front line of Transylvania, you only give him 100,000, what is enough for you?"

Of course Nesselrode knew that 100,000 people would definitely not be enough, but he definitely couldn't say more, because he hoped that Nicholas I would quit in spite of the difficulties. Deliberately saying that it is only enough to mobilize another 100,000 people to fight, the Majesty should retreat, right?

He glanced at Chernyshov, and replied lightly: "The state treasury and the people's livelihood are like this, and I can't help it. I can't force taxes to be directly apportioned, right?"

Chernyshov stopped talking immediately, because he knew that as long as he said that he could do this, then Nesselrode would definitely suck blood from his party first when collecting taxes. He is not stupid, how could he fall into such a trick!

It's just that Nesselrode's tricks can frighten Chernyshov, but they can't fool the other spirits in the study. Duke Ordorf immediately asked: "Isn't it right? When we quelled the Hungarian rebellion in 1848, A total of more than 700,000 troops were mobilized, and there was no tax increase at that time, and now we have only mobilized 600,000 people, which is less than before, so why can we only mobilize another 100,000 people?"

Nesselrode sighed in his heart, knowing that it was easy to fool Chernyshev, who was not sensitive to numbers, but it was impossible to fool a man like Duke Ordorf, but he also had the confidence. The attitude of King Ra I is that it is unlikely to dismiss him, and it is very likely that he will have to rely on him to negotiate with Britain and France, so even if you know that I lied, so what!

Immediately, he snorted and said contemptuously: "This moment is different from that moment!"

This attitude is naturally very irritating, but Nesselrode's judgment is very accurate. Nicholas I really cannot do without him for the time being, and can only tolerate his arrogance. And the Duke of Aldorf also knew that it was pointless to challenge this old fox, so he said directly to Nicholas I:

"Your Majesty, based on my experience, if we want to defeat Turkey as soon as possible and end the war as soon as possible, we need at least 500,000 additional troops to Wallachia, and 100,000 troops are simply not enough!"

Okay, with an additional 500,000 troops, this kind of lion's mouth wide open seems to have no other effect other than scaring people.

But Nesselrode knew that the Duke of Ordorf did it on purpose, because they all knew that Russia's national strength could not afford that many troops, and it was obviously impossible to have 500,000 troops. The reason why Duke Ordorf asked for 500,000 people was obviously because he said that he could only provide 100,000 people, and this was to help Chernyshev raise the price.

"Duke, you are a fool! It is impossible to have half a million people!" Nesselrode retorted through gritted teeth.

The Duke of Ordorf didn't answer the question at all, but directly analyzed it for Nicholas I: "Your Majesty, half a million people are not many at all, and this is the only reason why so many people are needed on the basis of Duke Mikhail's effective command." Otherwise, if someone else were to command the war, it would take at least a million men to defeat the Turks!"

This is talking nonsense with open eyes. In fact, whether it is Duke Mikhail or other generals to command the battle, the required troops are almost the same. Duke Aldorf deliberately helped bid, on the one hand to raise the asking price, and on the other hand to speak well for Duke Mikhail.

Because during this period of time, there have been many voices criticizing Duke Mikhail, saying that he is incompetent in command, and with an army of 500,000 to 600,000, he can't even defeat a mere Turkish mob.