Chapter 765

St. Peter's Fortress

After receiving Menshikov's urgent message, Nicholas I Of Russia had a headache, especially when he saw the estimated ammunition consumption. His heart was bleeding. This was all money!

For this war, the Tsarist government had spent three to four hundred million rubles. If the economic losses brought about by the war were included, the figure could be doubled.

Where was the victory? No one could answer this question. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, it was still far from a clear winner.

If he had known in advance that the war would end up like this, Nicholas I Of Russia could guarantee that he would never have started the war.

It was fine if there were casualties, as Russia was big and could afford it. However, the cost of the war had completely exceeded his expectations.

Before Britain and France entered the war, the Tsarist government was prepared to attack Constantinople from multiple routes. They planned to conquer Constantinople within three months and destroy the Osman Empire within a year.

After Britain and France entered the war, the Tsarist government thought that after the end of the Battle of Bulgaria, it would be easy to attack Constantinople. After conquering Constantinople, everyone would negotiate a solution.

Unexpectedly, when they reached the gates of Constantinople, they encountered the French blocking their way.

Two hundred thousand French troops guarding a fortress city. This result was enough to make anyone despair, but there was no other way. Under domestic pressure, they could only bite the bullet.

Even if the Russians were iron-headed, they were still dizzy from all the hits. After using all kinds of methods, they finally came to the conclusion that they had to use cannons.

Nicholas I Of Russia asked, "What do you think of General Menshikov's proposal?"

Minister of War Ivanovich replied, "Your Majesty, from a military point of view, there is no problem with General Menshikov's proposal.

Constantinople is one of the best fortresses in the world, and the enemy has deployed a large number of troops to guard it. There is no shortcut to attack here. We can only pull out the fortresses one by one.

Fortunately, the Osman Empire has decayed and neglected the construction of the city's defenses. We can only use artillery to push all the way. "

This answer made people speechless. If it wasn't for the Osman Empire neglecting to upgrade the city's defenses, they might not even be able to use artillery.

This was the truth. If the Russians could get heavy artillery, would the enemy lack it? If the war required, even if there were thousands of artillery, Britain and France could easily take them out.

According to General Menshikov's proposal, they could build artillery positions a few kilometers away and just bombard the Constantinople. The people could hide, but there was no place to hide in the buildings.

Two hundred thousand French soldiers were scattered all over the city, and there were definitely not enough holes for the cannons. A random bombardment would cause the French to suffer heavy losses, provided that they had enough cannons and ammunition.

Civilian casualties were never in the Tsarist government's consideration. Knowing that war was coming and not knowing how to run, that was just seeking death. Guns and cannons didn't have eyes.

Finance Minister Arestan-Lirode frowned and said, "Your Majesty, the number of artillery and ammunition that General Menshikov requested is too terrifying. Can't they use it sparingly?

These heavy artillery and ammunition are not cheap. Even if the Austrians don't take advantage of the situation, it will still be an astronomical figure! "

He wasn't against the plan, but he was simply distressed about the money. The Constantinople had to take down the city, or else they wouldn't be able to answer to their country. This was a consensus.

Arestan-Lirode still had this bit of big picture perspective. The problem was that the Tsarist government really had financial problems. It was too difficult for him to take out hundreds of millions of rubles at once.

Austria didn't take advantage of the situation, which was one of the reasons why the Tsarist government supported Austria in the Paris Conference and wasn't fooled by Britain and France.

Nicholas I Of Russia was a man of his word. As long as it didn't exceed his bottom line, he would basically fulfill his promise.

Needless to say, he was also the tsar. Just by looking at the practices of his ancestors, he would know that this was a talent inherited from his family.

"Mr. Arestan-Lirode, the most important thing now is to take down the Constantinople. Once this goal is achieved, I can stop the war with Britain and France.

If the war goes on, we may have to spend more than we do now, "advised Karl Worcel, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

They were all on the same boat. If the boat capsized, everyone would be in trouble.

Now that the river had begun to rise, the waves could capsize the boat at any time. The only way was to get to the port as soon as possible to avoid the wind and waves.

If they wanted to get to the port, they had to take down the Constantinople. Taking down the Constantinople could appease the people internally and have the capital to bargain with the enemy externally.

Finance Minister Arestan-Lirode said unhappily, "Marquis Carr, am I the kind of person who doesn't care about the big picture?

The problem now is that the Ministry of Finance doesn't have that much money to pay for the war.

According to General Menshikov's plan, it was impossible to complete it without two or three hundred million rubles, and this was based on the premise that everything went smoothly.

On the actual battlefield, there would definitely be unforeseen events. Who knows, when the time came, it would continue to increase.

The Caucasus Battlefield and the Crimean Peninsula Battlefield were also at war. The frontline commanders were asking for a change of equipment. This was also an urgent matter, and it still required money.

The Russian Empire's annual revenue is only so much. Because of the war, our tax revenue this year will continue to decline. Where can I find so much money? "

Not having money was a big problem. It was fine during peacetime, but once the war broke out, the weakness of the Tsarist government's feudal rule would be exposed. In terms of raising money, it was far inferior to the capitalist countries.

To put it bluntly, countries like the Fao could still print money if they really had no money. At worst, it would just be inflation, and it could still be used to solve the urgent problems.

But can the Russian Empire do this? The rubles they used had always been real gold and silver. It was fine if other European countries issued paper money, but the Tsarist government's currency was not recognized by the international capital market.

Even in China, there were not many people who liked paper rubles. The main reason was that the Russians had too many criminal records, and they were also skeptical of the Tsarist government's credibility.

"How big is the funding gap?" Nicholas I Of Russia asked with concern.

The lack of money was expected. The key was how much money they were short of. If the amount was not large, they still had ways to solve it.

Finance Minister Arestani Rhode analyzed: "Your Majesty, if General Menshikov's plan is implemented, it is estimated that our military expenditure in 1854 will exceed 400 million rubles, which is more than the sum of the previous one and a half years.

Through the issuance of bonds, we raised 65 million rubles. The government can provide 80 million rubles from taxes, and we raised 58 million rubles from the domestic banks.

Now that the Constantinople is right in front of us, we can also collect another war tax, which is estimated to be 120 million rubles.

The final funding gap is 77 million rubles. This is only under the ideal situation. If the situation changes, this figure may continue to increase. "

Nicholas I Of Russia was silent. This figure was too big, and the domestic tax could not continue to increase. If it increased further, it would be a big problem.

Army Minister Ivanovich asked: "Is it possible to get a loan from overseas, for example from the Austrians?"

Finance Minister Arestan-Lirode shook his head and said, "That's impossible. We've used up all the overseas channels to raise funds.

If the Austrians did not start the war last year, they might be able to provide us with this loan. Now, it is impossible.

Don't think that they swallowed Bavaria without bloodshed. In order to intimidate England and France, they mobilized nearly 1.8 million troops, and it still consumed a lot of the government's financial resources. "

There was no other way. Austria's financial situation was slightly better than Russia. However, the Government of Vienna was speeding up the industrialization process, and a lot of money was invested in domestic construction.

Coupled with last year's war expenditure, from a professional point of view, Arestani Rhode judged that the Government of Vienna could not afford this amount of money.

After hesitating for a while, Nicholas I Of Russia slowly asked: "How much military expenditure can we save by suspending the war in the Caucasus region?"

Now that they were fighting on three fronts, the most important thing for the Tsarist government was to take down Constantinople, followed by the Crimean Peninsula. These two places could not be given up.

As for the Caucasus battlefield, the Russian Army had an absolute advantage. They had always held the initiative of the war in their hands. If they stopped attacking, the half-paralyzed Osman Empire would only feel lucky. It was impossible for them to take the initiative to provoke them.

After thinking about it, Minister of Finance Arestani Rhode replied: "We can save about 40 to 50 million rubles. If we first stop the war with the Osman Empire and withdraw most of our troops to the Crimean battlefield, then we can save another 10 million rubles."

This was equivalent to reducing the number of troops. Since the troops in the Caucasus region had been withdrawn, there was no longer a gap in their military strength. There was no need for so many troops to be mobilized in the country.

Once the cannons were fired, ten thousand taels of gold would be lost.

This was not an exaggeration at all. In fact, it could be said that it was much smaller. In this period of war, ten thousand taels of gold was really not enough. At least one million taels of gold was needed.

Nicholas I Of Russia said without hesitation: "Okay, let's do it this way. Let the Osman Empire go first. In the Caucasus region, we will turn from offense to defense and transfer troops to reinforce the other two battlefields. We will talk about it after we take down Constantinople!

The Ministry of Finance will think of a way to solve the remaining funding gap. In short, this is a critical moment. We cannot lose the war because of a lack of money. "

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Arestani Rhode replied helplessly.

This was a difficult problem. Although the funding gap seemed to have been solved by more than half, in fact, the remaining gap was still an astronomical figure.

Especially in a situation where all kinds of funding channels had been used up, it was definitely not easy to solve this problem.

But since he was in this position, Arestani Rhode could only bite the bullet and think of a way to solve this problem.

The funding problem was barely solved. Under everyone's unanimous decision, the Constantinople Demolition Team with General Menshikov as the leader was officially established. Everyone's slogan was to raze Constantinople to the ground.

The Tsarist government could not think too much about the problem of protecting the ancient buildings. They had to conquer Constantinople first. At worst, they could rebuild it after the war.

They could also push the responsibility to the French. As long as they recovered the Holy Land, no one would care about such a small flaw. It could be said that in order to conquer Constantinople, the Russians were desperate.