Struggle in Russia

Nikolai Milyutin was shocked. It was the first time he discovered that Count Rostovtsev had such a bad temper. Looking at his angry look just now, you almost wanted to eat him alive.

Is this still the gentle Count Rostovtsev he is familiar with?

Nikolai Milyutin was so scared that his heart was pounding. His mind was in a mess. The traditional morals of the aristocracy told him that Count Rostovtsev's words were simply heresy. However, his experience in working in the officialdom over the years told him that, Although these words are not pleasant or pleasant to hear, they do make sense.

Everything in Russia, big or small, all depends on the Tsar. If you meet a wise and promising Tsar, you can indeed make great strides forward, but if you meet a coward, there will be constant disasters and no peace.

Even the so-called promising tsar could not be so good from beginning to end. If you look at Peter the Great in his later years, his troubles essentially eliminated the Romanov family. Do you think this is a good thing?

In other words, Russia has always been good and bad, and its national policy has never been consistent and unified. Each czar has his own unique way. It makes the whole country feel like riding a roller coaster, going up and down and killing everyone.

What's the best way to face this situation? Naturally, it was like the Decembrists wanted to strive for a constitutional monarchy, learn from the advanced experience of the West, limit the power of the tsar, and ensure that no single man would harm the country.

But, although Nikolai Milyutin had thought about this idea and even dreamed about it, he was timid when it came to reality. He was always worried that doing so would go too far and go beyond the limits. The limits of ministers.

For a noble noble with integrity, Nikolai Milyutin always found it difficult to accept approaches similar to the French Revolution or the British Constitutional Monarchy. He always felt that this was transgression.

Naturally, when it came time to implement the reform policy, he could not help but observe the face of Alexander II. On the one hand, he hoped to make the country strong again through reforms, and on the other hand, he hoped not to offend the tsar and make the tsar happy.

The problem is that this is a mess. After all, the interests of the tsar are actually very closely bound to the conservatives. To put it bluntly, the tsar is the real leader and boss of the conservatives. If you attack the leader of the most conservative forces, how can you carry out drastic reforms?

This is the key reason for the failure of reforms in the history of people like Nikolai Milyutin. The reason why they were able to carry out reforms was the acquiescence of Alexander II. Once Alexander II changed his mind, everything would be reduced to ashes.

In short, it is unreliable to expect the tsar to carry out reforms from the top down. Only by solving the problem at its source and fundamentally limiting the monopoly power of the tsar family can we ensure that reforms will never go backwards.

In this regard, Count Rostovtsev saw much further than Nikolai Milyutin. He realized very early on that the tsar was unreliable. He relied solely on the tsar to carry out top-down reforms. One was that the reform plan would definitely be subject to a lot of restrictions, and many things could only be mixed. In addition, the tsar can repent at any time. Look at Alexander I. When he appointed Count Speransky to reform, he still regretted it in the end.

Therefore, we cannot place all our hopes on the Tsar, and we must even be mentally prepared that the Tsar is also one of the obstructionists of reform.

But Nikolai Milyutin lacks such psychological construction. He always feels that reform is finally possible. At this time, don't "excessive", as long as you can get by, you can get by!

This idea is extremely dangerous, which is why Count Rostovtsev especially wanted to hit Nikolai Milyutin. After this conversation, the latter naturally had a new view of the situation. Although it may not completely wake him up, More or less, it also made him understand how difficult this reform was, because it encountered a lot of difficult problems before it even started.

At this time, Nikolai Milyutin was also a little discouraged. He also admitted that he thought of the reform too simply and underestimated the problems that the tsar might cause.

"Then what position do you plan to give the Grand Duke?" he asked sadly.

Count Rostovtsev replied: "The chief of the St. Petersburg police."

Nikolay Milyutin was shocked, because although the chief of the St. Petersburg Police Department did not look like a high-ranking official, he had very crucial power in his hands. All the police and security officers of all sizes in St. Petersburg had it in his hands. You are welcome. People who were not particularly trusted by the Tsar in this position were generally unable to sit still or sit still.

At least Nikolai Milyutin felt that Li Xiao would definitely not be able to sit still, because Alexander II would definitely not be happy to let such an unsightly cousin control the violent institutions of St. Petersburg.

"This is impossible!" Nikolai Milyutin blurted out, "There is no way His Majesty will agree to this!"

Count Rostovtsev replied calmly: "So we need to put some pressure on His Majesty. If the police force of St. Petersburg can be controlled in our hands, there will be a lot less trouble in the reform, right?"

Nikolai Milyutin admitted that this idea is indeed very beautiful. If he can really control all the police agencies in St. Petersburg, it will definitely make those conservatives more honest.

But he still thought this was a bit too much. After all, Alexander II and the conservatives were not stupid. How could they not see the possible blow this appointment would have on them?

"I think even if we try to apply pressure, we won't be able to succeed," Nikolai Milyutin replied thoughtfully, "How about we give the Grand Duke another position, I promise it won't be too bad!"

Count Rostovtsev laughed out loud in his heart. He knew that Nikolai Milyutin would say this. In fact, he was sure that Nikolai Milyutin would not agree, so he deliberately proposed to let Li Xiao be the St. Petersburg Police Station. Director, to put it bluntly, this is a bargaining tool.

"Really?" He snorted slightly, "It seems that you really have a lot of beautiful jobs there! You can choose at will!"

Nikolai Milyutin suddenly smiled bitterly. He didn't have many good jobs. Wasn't he forced by Count Rostovtsev to have no choice but to try to make him happy? Do you think it's easy for him?

Nikolai Milyutin thought for a while and replied: "How about going to the Ministry of Finance? There are plenty of jobs there!"

Count Rostovtsev immediately snorted: "I'm not here to make money. What I want is a position that is truly influential and powerful and can help us!"

Nikolai Milyutin vomited in his heart: "You are so rude, the problem is where is such a location so easy to find!"