Struggle in Russia

Two months passed in a flash, and it was the end of September 1852. This season is the most comfortable season of the year for other temperate or subtropical countries, but for Russia at high latitudes it means that winter is coming.

Generally, this season means that Russia is about to enter a state of hibernation, and Russia in hibernation is obviously unlikely to fall asleep and fight Turkey. Naturally, Nicholas I was very angry. First he called Neserrodie into the imperial study and cursed him, saying that he was extremely irresponsible in diplomatic work and that he was unable to make Turkey surrender after taking so long. He was simply a corpse. The meal position does not interfere with human affairs.

Neserrodie was not the only one who was scolded. Menshikov, who was far away in Istanbul, was not in St. Petersburg, otherwise he would have been scolded even worse. It's just that although Nicholas I couldn't scold the old eunuch in person, it was perfectly fine to send a special envoy to scold the old guy.

Little Adlerberg, who was hanging out with his old father in the Winter Palace, was honored to take over this job. When the cold air was about to move south, he embarked on the road south, heading south all the way to Istanbul to scold Menshikov. .

"Pay attention to the propriety, not only to satisfy His Majesty, but also not to prevent His Excellency from coming to the stage!"

Adlerberg nodded hastily to his old father's warning, but it was similar to the time when he went to Wallachia as a special envoy a few years ago, and he still didn't take it seriously.

In other words, although he listened, he was completely unable to fulfill the old Adlerberg's request. For him, he had to either offend Menshikov or make Nicholas I unhappy. In comparison, he was more willing to offend the former.

Little Adlerberg left, and Neserrodie, who had been scolded, looked a little dull when he learned the news. He was completely out of shape, looking gloomy and gloomy. Looking at Jean People are worried.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister, even if your Majesty sends a special envoy to supervise Prince Menshikov, there is no risk of war, right? When winter comes, it is not suitable for the army to deploy. How can we fight?"

Of course Neserrode understands this truth. Objectively speaking, the delay to this month basically means that it is impossible for a war to break out before May next year. But for him as the Prime Minister, is this something to be thankful for or happy about?

After all, according to his original intention, he did not want to go to war with Turkey at all. Although the risk of war has been postponed until May next year, in a sense, this delay has made the possibility of war even greater. .

After all, although Nicholas I was impatient before, he did not decide to use force to solve the problem. At that time, he was still reasonable, and force was his least priority option.

But after procrastinating for so long,

His Majesty's patience has obviously run out. He has no intention or interest in continuing to deal with Turkey, and is more inclined to use force to solve the problem.

If the Turks continue to be so stubborn before next May, then war will inevitably break out, and then the worst situation may occur, and he, the first one, may be implicated.

Neserro was even more worried about the collapse of order in Europe after the elimination of Napoleon. That was the biggest nightmare. And now this nightmare is very likely to become a reality!

Neserrodie had a premonition that once Russia went to war with Turkey, Pandora's box would be opened, all kinds of monsters and plagues would jump out, and then the whole of Europe would be reshaped, and everything would become unpredictable. The worst possibility will arise.

Neserrodie felt inexplicably irritable when he thought of this. The chill brought by the cold air made people feel chilly, but he felt hot all over, and it was like there was a fire in his heart that was drying him out little by little.

This feeling was so uncomfortable that Neserrodie could only put aside the problem that made him angry for the time being, and suddenly asked: "Count Rostovtsev had a conflict with Count Uvarov recently?"

Although the people under his command didn't understand why Neserrode suddenly asked about this matter, after all, the matter was not that big. It was a conflict rather than a little friction. The two sides only had an issue in the imperial study about the Governor of Ukraine. During the dispute, Count Uvarov's favorite candidate was ruthlessly knocked out by Count Rostovtsev, and Count Rostovtsev also promoted the candidate he recommended to the governor's throne. Naturally, Count Uvarov It's normal to be angry.

In fact, the change of a governor did not attract Neserrodie's attention, but the direct friction between Count Uvarov and Count Rostovtsev over the position of a governor, even if it subsided quickly, it still deserves his attention. .

After all, the identity and status of these two people are there. As Nicholas I's right-hand man, if there is a problem between them, it will easily cause shock within the court.

Things are in a mess outside now. If the two top bosses in Russia are also fighting among themselves, then Neserrode will really want to catch him blind, even if it is for himself, he has to mediate the dispute between the two.

"Let's have a ball!" Neserrodie sighed and said, "Invite the two counts over, I want to have a chat with them."

Obviously Neserrodie was ready to act as a peacemaker. He had done this kind of thing a lot in the past. The dance at his house once became the best place to resolve internal conflicts in Russian official circles.

It's just that in recent years, he has become more and more unable to control himself. There are more and more similar dance parties, and every time he solves a problem, it will bring up another problem. This made him very confused, and he couldn't understand why the ball trick was becoming more and more difficult to use.

In fact, it is not that this method is not easy to use, but that there are more and more problems within Russia that are increasingly unable to be solved by self-regulation. Even if Neserrode is like a paper framer, he can't fix the leaks here and there.

The final analysis is that Russia's current system has hidden too many problems and is no longer able to repair itself. Even if Neserrode tried his best to repair it, it was like whack-a-mole.

After dealing with another batch of miscellaneous things, Neserrode felt increasingly exhausted mentally and physically. He had to take off his eyes and slowly move to the window, open the window and let the dry and cold air outside calm his anger.

However, this could only cure the symptoms. Although he felt a little better for the time being, he soon felt dizzy and his limbs were cold. He quickly closed the window and was about to sit on the sofa to warm himself up, but he just turned around and stepped forward. As soon as he stepped out of his left leg, he felt like the world was spinning. Before he could react, he fell down on the carpet and fainted...