Reincarnated as Nikolai II

Chapter 13 Balance (4)

On the way back after quickly wrapping up the talks.

'Father has passed away.'

Before I could fully accept this reality, my mind became increasingly complex.

Sadness? While my heart feels empty as if pierced with a hole, my tired eyes remain dry without a hint of moisture.

"Your Highness."

"What?"

"The Tsar's final order through the communications department."

"Speak."

"The Crown Prince should complete all given tasks before returning. That is all."

"..."

Yes, that's the kind of person he was. Someone who tried to do what he could as a father until his dying moment.

Gratitude, and regret. That's probably the type of emotions I'm feeling right now.

Actually, I knew from the beginning.

According to the original history, father passes away as soon as November arrives.

And I came to the Far East knowing this fact.

But now that I think about it...

'Father must have known too.'

That's why he must have held on longer than his originally given time before finally passing away.

Father tried to support my back until his final moment.

"Your Highness, shall we return immediately?"

"One week. Let's delay it for one week."

"But in St. Petersburg, they're waiting for your return-"

"It was father's final order, wasn't it?"

The Orthodox funeral service must already be ongoing at the cathedral in the capital, with father's coffin.

Everyone must be opening the coffin one by one to say their final farewells and sending him off.

Although I should be there more than anyone else...

Even if I rush there belatedly now, it would only be kicking away father's final arrangement.

All I can do now is be grateful. Only then did my heart start to feel warm again.

I cannot waste the final time father has given me.

"Roman, I'll teach you quickly from now on, so learn well without missing anything."

"Pardon?"

From now on, we must move without rest.

==

"Do you know which region has shown the fastest industrial development in the empire since Sergei Witte became Finance Minister?"

"Well, given the rapid increase in trade volume, wouldn't it be the port cities?"

"No. It's the Donetsk coal basin."

After returning to Khabarovsk, I began educating Roman, making him realize that he was destined to bury his bones in the Far East.

"Coal is like oxygen for industry. Without it, industrial development is impossible from the start. And the Far East is a land filled with coal."

Primorye region. Called Yeonhaeju in Korea, there are currently 7 operating coal mines here. However, 21 mines have been discovered.

'This means we can extract as much as we want just by putting in miners. The deposits are immeasurable even for the future.'

In fact, just around Vladivostok alone, not even the entire Far East, it's a mining area that shows no signs of depletion even if we transport 20 million tons annually.

"Though your words weren't entirely wrong. Donetsk is developing rapidly through its ports along the Black Sea."

"Just like this place."

"Coal, ports, and lastly, one more thing. Railways."

A place connecting inland and sea.

A place where exchanges frequently occur due to abundant resources.

These are the commonalities between Primorye and Donetsk.

"But wasn't Donetsk famous for its salt mines even before the empire managed it? It's quite different from here."

"Yes, that's why we need your role."

Donetsk, which breaks industrial records every year, was already a developed region through numerous countries including the Ottoman Empire. It's now a region that grows on its own with industrialists already settled there.

On the other hand, the Far East...

'There's nothing here. Except for those who fled from their countries.'

The owner of Manchuria is still the Qing Dynasty. The tide is rising on that sandcastle called the Qing Dynasty.

Probably when the tide recedes again, we Russians will naturally be the ones planting our flag.

"Governor Sergei, five years at most. If you watch over that fellow, I'll call you to the capital."

"In fact, Your Highness is now the Tsar. I will follow whatever you command."

I feel somewhat sorry for Sergei, but I only heard his name for the first time when I came to the Far East.

With the guaranteed capability of Roman, the stakes we've placed here are too high to employ him instead.

As a military man, he didn't seem particularly dissatisfied with my personnel decision, but I still changed the subject.

"How is Beren doing? I heard he's quite capable at his work, coming from logistics."

"Many of those Your Highness sent initially struggled to adapt as if they'd fallen from the sky, but that fellow is different. He even said this place is the only place in the world where labor costs less than in the military."

"...He was that kind of person in his serving unit too."

Even after leaving the military, he ended up doing work related to the military, where he had been a logistics officer.

Though he's only doing small tasks now like supplying food and delivering materials for newly constructed units, at this rate, he shows potential for considerable growth.

"That's how this Far East is. A land abandoned by the empire. A place given only responsibilities without any investment."

"I still don't understand what potential Your Highness saw in this land. While there will be no expectations, support, or plans from the mainland, you tell me to build up the military."

Troops busily moving outside catch my eye. They must be engineers moving to build new barracks.

"This too is a kind of policy. Military units are groups focused solely on consumption, making them the best consumers."

"That's not all there is to it, is it?"

I have to return in three days. When will I be able to come back to the Far East and see this land with my own eyes again?

"Governor Sergei."

"Yes."

"Even though we've signed a treaty, the scent of war lingering in my nose hasn't faded."

Not now, probably. Maybe not even in five years.

If we're really lucky, we might even avoid the Russo-Japanese War from the original history.

But eventually, imperialism sweeping through this Far East will arrive.

The old minister Li Hongzhang tried to solve this problem by creating a three-power balance like Sam-jok-ho.

Though it would require massive peace maintenance costs, he thought that if Russia and Japan maintained appropriate friction in the Far East, it would be difficult to touch Qing.

A truly Chinese continent-style approach.

In contrast, I, who has lived as the Crown Prince of a great power all my life, think differently.

'With such self-centered thinking in diplomacy, you won't last long.'

Even our Russia drew in our awkward neighbor Germany and distant friend France to pressure Japan, but Li Hongzhang is trying to create balance too easily.

"After I leave, spread the news to other countries about obtaining railway construction rights from Qing."

"Pardon?"

The old minister Li Hongzhang probably knew in his heart.

That Russia would eventually gain effective control over this Manchurian land, and that it would naturally connect with the Trans-Siberian Railway even without his request.

That's why he's trying to officially draw us in and connect the railway to Chinese land using Russian labor, technology, and capital.

After all, the reason Qing is holding on now is because of its size that prevents one country from monopolizing it, not because Qing has the ability to protect itself.

'That old man is quite something too. Protecting the country by drawing in more outsiders.'

One slight misstep could lead to being called a traitor at best, and his entire life's work could be negated, yet Li Hongzhang still set up such a grand plan behind the railway construction.

And I... I'm not as ambitious as he thinks.

"Every nation with most-favored-nation treatment will rush in. They'll probably do anything to connect railways in front of their concessions, just like we have construction rights in Manchuria."

"The countries that couldn't join that most-favored-nation treatment would probably be..."

"Are there any besides Japan? The Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship, over 20 years old, was abolished along with this war."

Just off the top of my head, there's Britain, America, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.

More might be added here, or some might be disqualified, but either way, isn't there an opportunity for the powers to drool over and step in deeply?

If Japan starts a war in the near future despite all this...

'Then I'll acknowledge it.'

I'll cleanly hand over Korea.

But do they have such confidence? It wasn't long ago that Prime Minister Ito took money and left just on my word as the new Tsar.

Yet would the Japanese Empire, which had only been watching carefully, antagonize all the powers just to stretch toward the continent?

"Well, I saw reason still remaining in Prime Minister Ito's eyes."

It might be possible if they erase all that reason and leave only the predatory instinct of imperialism...

But that would require a lot of opium.

Perhaps even more opium than China.