Chapter 236 Constantinople Demolition Team
St. Petersburg
After receiving the emergency telegram from Menshkov, Nicholas I had a headache, especially after seeing the estimated ammunition consumption in the notes on the back, his heart was bleeding, it was all money!
For this war, the tsarist government has spent 300 million to 400 million rubles. If the economic losses caused by the war are added, this figure can be doubled.
Where is the victory? No one can answer this question. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, it is still a long way from the victory and defeat between the two sides.
If he had known in advance that the war would end as it is now, Nicholas I could guarantee that he would never have started this war.
Even the casualties, the Russian family can afford it, but the cost of the war is completely beyond his expectations.
Before Britain and France entered 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 after the Bulgarian battle was over, it would be easy to attack Constantinople. After winning Constantinople, everyone negotiated to solve the problem.
Unexpectedly, when we reached the gate of Constantinople, we encountered the French blocking the road again.
Two hundred thousand French troops guarding a fortress city, this result is enough to make anyone despair, but there is no way, forced to bite the bullet due to domestic pressure.
Even if the Russians are iron-headed, they are dizzy when they are touched. After all means are used up, the final conclusion is that they have to use cannons.
Nicholas I asked: "What do you think of General Menshkov's proposal?"
The War Minister Ivanovich replied: "Your Majesty, from a military point of view, there is no problem with General Menshkov's proposal.
Constantinople is one of the best fortresses in the world, and the enemy has deployed heavy guards. There is no shortcut to conquer here, only one fortress can be pulled out.
Fortunately, the Ottoman Empire has decayed, neglecting the construction of the city fortifications, we can use artillery to advance all the way. "
This answer is very speechless. If the Ottomans hadn't neglected to upgrade the city's fortifications, even the use of artillery may not be possible now.
This is a fact, the Russians can get heavy artillery, will the enemy on the opposite side lack it? If the war needs, even if thousands of artillery, Britain and France can easily come out.
According to General Menshkov's proposal, it is enough to build artillery positions a few kilometers away and bombard Constantinople. Anyway, the target is so big that people can hide, and there is no place to hide in buildings.
With 200,000 French troops scattered in this city, there are absolutely not enough holes for artillery, as long as the bombardment can cause heavy losses to the French, the premise is that there are enough cannons and enough ammunition.
Civilian casualties were never considered by the tsarist government. Knowing that the war is coming, but not knowing where to go, is to seek death, and guns do not have eyes.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Aristan Lirod frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the number of artillery pieces and ammunition consumption requested by General Menshkov is too terrifying, can't they save a little?
You must know that these heavy artillery and ammunition are not cheap, even if the Austrians do not take advantage of the fire, this is an astronomical sum! "
He is not against the plan, he is simply distressed for money. Constantinople must be captured, otherwise it will not be able to explain to the country. This is the consensus reached by everyone.
Aristan Lirod still has this big picture concept. The problem is that the tsarist government really has a financial problem, and it is too embarrassing for him to spend hundreds of millions of rubles at one time.
Austria did not take advantage of the 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 man of credibility, and as long as he did not exceed his bottom line, he would basically keep his promises.
Of course, it goes without saying that he is also a tsar. You can see from the practice of his ancestors. This is a talent inherited from the family.
"Mr. Aristan Lirod, now is the most important thing to conquer Constantinople, and when this goal is completed, I can end the war with Britain and France.
If the war continues, maybe in the later stage our military expenditure will be more than it is now. ' said Foreign Secretary Karl Woossel.
They were all on the same boat, and if the boat capsized, everyone would be out of luck.
Now that the river has begun to rise, the big waves may overturn the boat at any time. The only way is to get to the port as soon as possible to avoid the wind and waves.
If you want to land, you must conquer Constantinople. Having won Constantinople, it can appease the hearts of the people internally, and has the capital to bargain with the enemy externally.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer Aristan Lirod said dissatisfiedly: "Marquis Karl, am I the kind of person who ignores the overall situation?
The problem now is that the Treasury simply doesn't have that much money to pay for the war.
According to General Menshkov's plan, it is impossible to complete without two or three hundred million rubles, and this is based on the situation that everything goes well.
In the actual battlefield, there will definitely be changes, and maybe it will continue to increase.
The Caucasus battlefield and the Crimean Peninsula battlefield, these two places are also fighting, and the commanders on the front line are asking for a change of clothes. This is also an urgent matter, and it still requires money.
The Russian Empire's fiscal revenue is only so much in one year. Because of the war, our tax revenue will continue to decline this year. Where can I get so much money? "
No money is a big trouble, in peaceful times it was fine, once the war broke out the weakness of the feudal rule of the tsarist government was exposed,
It is far from being able to compete with capitalist countries in raising funds.
To put it mildly, countries such as Britain, France, and Austria really have no money and can still print money. The big deal is inflation.
Can the Russian Empire do this? The rubles they use have always been real gold and silver, even if the paper money is issued by other European countries, and the international capital market issued by the tsarist government does not recognize it.
Even in the country, few like paper rubles. Mainly because there are too many previous convictions, the Russians are also skeptical of the credibility of the tsarist government.
"How big is the funding gap?" Nicholas I asked with concern
The lack of money is expected, the key is how much is missing, if the amount is not large, they still have a way to solve it.
Chancellor of the Exchequer Aristan Lirod analyzed: "Your Majesty, if General Menshkov's plan is implemented, it is tentatively estimated that our military expenditure in 1854 may exceed 400 million rubles, more than the sum of the previous year and a half.
Through the issuance of bonds, we raised 65 million rubles, 80 million rubles from government taxes and 58 million rubles from domestic banks.
Now that Constantinople is near, we can collect a war tax at this time, which is estimated to be 120 million rubles.
The final funding gap is 77 million rubles, which is only ideal, and if the situation changes, this number may continue to increase. "
Nicholas I was silent, the gap was too large, and the domestic tax revenue could no longer continue to increase, and if it was added, a major incident would occur.
"Is it possible to get a loan from abroad, say from the Austrians?" asked Ivanovich, the Minister of the Army.
Chancellor Aristan Ryrod shook his head and said: "It's impossible, we've run out of ways to raise money overseas.
If last year the Austrians hadn't started a war of unification, maybe they could have given us this loan, which is not possible now.
Don't look at them swallowing Bavaria almost without blood, but in order to deter Britain and France, they mobilized nearly 1.8 million troops in one breath, which still consumed a lot of government financial resources. "
No way, Austria is in a slightly better financial position than Russia. However, the Vienna government is accelerating the process of industrialization, and a lot of financial resources are invested in domestic construction.
In addition to last year's war expenses, from a professional point of view, Aristan Lirod judged that the Vienna government could not afford the money.
After hesitating for a while, Nicholas I slowly asked, "How much military expenditure can be saved by suspending the war in the Caucasus first?"
Now fighting on three fronts, for the tsarist government, the most important thing is to win Constantinople, followed by the Crimea Peninsula, both of which cannot be given up.
As for the Russian army in the Caucasus battlefield, they have an absolute advantage, and the initiative in the war has always been in their hands. If they stopped the attack, the hemiplegia Ottoman Empire would only be happy, and active provocation was impossible.
After thinking about it, the Chancellor of the Exchequer Aristan Lirod replied: "About 40 to 50 million rubles can be saved. If we stop the war with the Ottoman Empire first and withdraw most of our troops to the Crimea battlefield, then we can do more. Save ten million rubles."
This is equivalent to reducing the number of troops. Now that the troops in the Caucasus have withdrawn, there will be no shortage of troops, and the domestic mobilization of troops will not be so much.
As soon as the cannon rang, the gold was ten thousand taels.
This is no exaggeration at all, and even a lot smaller. In this period of war, 10,000 taels of gold are really not enough, at least it started with 1 million taels of gold.
Nicholas I said without hesitation: "Okay, let's do it like this. Let the Ottomans go first. In the Caucasus region, we will turn the offensive into the defensive, and deploy troops to reinforce the other two battlefields. We will talk about it after the capture of Constantinople!
For the remaining funding gap, the Ministry of Finance will think of ways. In short, now is a critical moment. We cannot fail the war because of lack of money. "
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Aristan Lirod replied helplessly.
This is a difficult problem. Don't look at the funding gap that seems to have been solved for the most part. In fact, the remaining gap is still an astronomical figure.
Especially when all the avenues for raising funds are exhausted, it is definitely not that simple to solve this problem.
But sitting in this position, Aristan Lirod can only bite the bullet and must find a way to solve this problem.
The funding problem was reluctantly resolved. With the unanimous decision of everyone, the Constantinople Demolition Team was formally established with General Menshkov as the captain. The slogan was to raze Constantinople to the ground.
The issue of protecting ancient buildings, the tsarist government can't think about it so much now, first conquered Constantinople, and then rebuild it after the war.
You can also put the blame on the French. As long as the Holy Land is recovered, no one will care about such a small flaw. It can be said that in order to conquer Constantinople, the Russians have been desperate.