SWNOVELXO Chapter 54
Sure. Well, I led the war, so I expected it.
But still, this is just…
It’s quite funny, in a way, to see middle-aged men seeking permission from a twenty-something Tsarina, isn’t it?
“What happened to Nikola Tesla from the Ministry of Science and Technology?”
“Prince Yusupov has invested in Nikola Tesla’s new Wardenclyffe Tower, which is currently making progress.”
I heard something about radars coming out recently, but are they already developing something else?
Wardenclyffe Tower, huh?
That didn’t originally have clear results, right? Didn’t Morgan pull out because he thought it wouldn’t make money and it ended in failure?
Can we just let it continue like this?
If it succeeds, it could really hit it big with wireless transmission technology. That wouldn’t be bad in this vast Russian land, would it?
Was Yusupov that rich? Well, Wilson celebrated the victory of the White Russians while generously pouring benefits from the Great Empire onto Russia, and with the Romanov gold also in abundance, there’s a bit of leeway until the Great Depression.
“Has anything come of it?”
“Apparently, they have invented something called a wireless transmission camera.”
“What the…?”
Isn’t that something that was invented in the U.S. in ’24?
But you see…
The only papers I’m receiving on my desk are the exams to be graded from the Duma.
Today, a letter from General Ungern expressing his grievances also arrived.
“Speaking of which…”
“Yes, Your Majesty?”
“Why is that Patton guy sticking around in Russia instead of going back? General Ungern seems quite angry about it.”
Drozdovsky is backing Patton, and it seems to be quite the headache.
There’s a lot of talk about tank doctrine, I guess.
“Well, he said he feels like he’s forgotten his presence in the U.S., and he plans to stay in Russia for a while longer.”
“Hmm. I don’t want to deal with that guy either. Let’s pass him onto General Ungern. And even though we signed a non-aggression pact with Japan, we must remain vigilant. We can’t afford to neglect the Far East.”
Those guys signed a treaty to reassure us and clearly marked their sphere of influence. But we need to be able to trust those guys.
Moreover, if we want to deliver a nice smackdown to Japan in World War II, we should always be prepared for war in the Far East.
Coincidentally, since we’re supposed to defend against the Chinese forces, we can also station our troops in the Far East and deceive the Japanese easily.
“The improved Tovarov automatic rifles are flowing out of the factories daily. The reinforcements in the Far Eastern military district will also be equipped with these rifles soon.”
“Good. We mustn’t neglect weapon development either. We need to continuously improve the quality of our weapons to be prepared for the next war. What about tanks?”
“The tanks are also still in development. We have technicians dispatched from Germany assisting with that. I’ve heard we’ve already surpassed the British tanks.”
“Are they here?”
They didn’t return to Germany and stayed here?
With this, Russia would have dominance in tanks.
“It seems they can’t go to Communist Germany, and as for East Prussia, they’ve probably lost interest in the Kaiser.”
That makes sense.
Even if they went to East Prussia now, they would just be made slaves in the effort to reclaim the homeland.
Thinking about such things…
“True, that’s also a fair point.”
German technicians, huh?
Didn’t the historical Germany with its technology and Soviet resources exchange and cooperate like this?
We could say the current situation is much better than it was back then.
With us assimilating all the German technology beforehand.
Since Russia has no intention of supplying resources to Communist Germany.
That means Communist Germany will have a tougher time.
They are fighting against a much weaker Germany different from Nazi Germany, and with Russia, which is united with anti-communist spirit and has raised its resources and technology.
Communist Germany is likely to have a hard time.
I wonder how it will go?
After all, Nazi Germany managed to devour Europe thanks to a bit of luck and was able to aim for the German-Soviet war.
That really shows how important resources are.
I need to increase our oil reserves. We have to deal with the Great Depression as best as we can.
So, I moderately suggested to the Duma to send out exploration teams, especially since they were considering resource extraction due to Russia’s economic issues.
The oil issue is a national problem.
Right now, Russia is thinking of utilizing internal resources as a response to the Great Depression. That’s only natural.
So…
“How is the resource exploration in Siberia and Northern Manchuria going?”
“It’s ongoing, so we should have some results soon.”
I wonder about the Daqing oil field.
There’s oil already, but it would be great to have more. In original history, Japan attempted to explore near Daqing using American drilling technology in the 30s, but they failed.
Once again, it implies we should seek help from America.
I wonder if America has that technology at this point.
At least, we should give it a shot.
I really didn’t want to do things like this, but what can I do?
I might as well put to use that knowledge I learned in the library.
Now that I think about it, maybe the old man sent me here because I had this knowledge in that wretched world.
I wiggled my fingers as if sketching in the air.
“Dig in Western Siberia. The Surgut area seems good.”
“Excuse me?”
“I have a feeling oil will come out from there. And if our technology isn’t sufficient, we can reach out to American oil companies.”
Surgut.
A city in Western Siberia where oil fields do exist.
Discovered in the 50s, it wasn’t particularly well-known during World War II. But we have to try hard to extract it.
It feels like I’m doing some sort of territory management.
I feel like I’ve become the protagonist of a novel with resource cheat codes.
“I understand.”
“I should also ask to dig into the land of Manchuria. Later, I’ll have to invest there with Prince Yusupov’s help.”
We should be careful not to get caught by the Japanese while excavating.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to sell some fuel to Japan later on, forcing China and the U.S. to suffer damage during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War.
Since we’re going down this route, wouldn’t it be good for White Russia to lead the Cold War?
And then, when everyone is exhausted, we can deliver a solid blow to Japan.
Since we know them as allies, Japan wouldn’t be able to withstand our attack.
If China suffers more damage than in real history, whether it’s Chiang Kai-shek or Mao Zedong, unification would be hard, and it may end in the warlord era.
Those guys must never unite.
Even if Chiang Kai-shek helped the Provisional Government of Korea, he’s a nationalist who viewed Korea as a vassal state, and had he unified China and opened it, Korea might have ended up like that.
The Communist Party cannot be tolerated by White Russia, so they must remain in a warlord state.
I know better than anyone what kind of dismal future awaits a unified Communist China.
To prevent that dreadful future, China must disappear.
Sometimes, in alternate history novels, it’s suggested that to stop China’s growth, either Communist China must unify or there’s a scenario where China and the Republic of China split into half-North and half-South. But why would we do that?
We can just let the warlords splinter everything.
We mustn’t give even a sliver of opportunity to the Reds.
This is still not the stage to mention this in the Duma; for now, Europe must take priority.
No matter what, I am the face of the Tsar.
Before that, I have something I’m curious about.
“By the way…”
“Please, go ahead.”
“What is General Gaida and the Czech Legion doing?”
I said I would actively support General Gaida and the Czech Legion as the new military body of Czechia, but what will happen now?
Czechia is still under Austrian control. After all, the defeated Austria wouldn’t be able to do anything to General Gaida. But independent Czechia seems unlikely.
Yet, if I were to rip Czechia from Austria, our mustached army would completely lose the strength to fend off Communist Germany.
If I say I’m going to take Czechia, the great powers will go berserk.
Communist Germany will surely have its eye on Czechia.
In that case, General Gaida will be in danger, regardless of his situation. I wonder what the Duma plans to do about General Gaida and the Czech Legion.
“It might be better to have General Gaida and the Czech Legion accepted by Austria.”
“Yes. To fend off Communist Germany, Austria needs military power, but currently, the divided Austria has disarmament clauses, so it would be tough for them. It would be good to accept the elite Czech Legion.”
“That’s a good solution.”
Right. To give an example…
What if we drop this with Hitler’s help into Austria?