Chapter 6 The Old Prime Minister's Final Efforts (Part 2)

Will Paskovic work well with Nesselrode? It's hard to say, because Dad's current status is a bit delicate. From the perspective of the distribution of power in the empire, he has basically no desires. He is also a marshal and a prince. So let him fight for something, he doesn't have the motivation.

Anyway, in the past two years, Paskovich has basically been in the state of resting his life. He basically doesn't show his mountains and dews on weekdays, and his temper seems to have improved a lot. But if you want to say that he just let Nesselrode greet him, that's impossible!

He looks harmless to humans and animals, but in fact no one can provoke him, otherwise Nesselrode would not think that he has been very difficult to deal with in the past two years.

For Paskovich, if Nesselrode talks to him well and gives him enough face, he can raise his hand and cooperate with the opponent one or two. But if Nesselrode really dispatched him with a chicken feather as an arrow, he would also let the other party know what it means to cooperate well!

"Prime Minister," Paskovich said slowly, "I can conduct one or two military exercises in Wallachia, or you can talk to Lazarev, how about having the Black Sea Fleet cooperate?"

It’s not polite to listen to this, and Nesselrode can’t get angry yet, because the old man on the opposite side is really annoying, he can only answer with humility: “If you can cooperate with our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to send a note to the Turkish side to carry out military exercises Naturally, it is very good... But this is far from enough. As far as I know, Britain and France are also very concerned about the Bulgarian issue. It is reported that they are in contact with Turkey, and it is not ruled out that they will support Turkey in some form..."

Nesselrode is telling Paskovich that the cooperation this time is not as simple as imagined, and the problem cannot be solved by the army conducting a small exercise or two on the Wallachia border. Because there are shadows of Britain and France looming behind Turkey, it is not so easy to scare them!

Of course, Nesselrode's real purpose is to put pressure on Paskovich through Britain and France's possible support for Turkey, so that the other party will obediently follow his baton, rather than cooperating with others.

A light flashed in Paskovich's dim eyes, but it disappeared immediately, and he returned to the previous dazed and almost confused appearance.

I only heard him reply: "I don't understand diplomatic matters. We Qiu Ba are just following His Majesty's orders. It is our duty to let His Majesty let us go up the mountain of swords and down into the sea of ​​fire..."

Nesselrode left the War Department with a stern look on his face. He got nothing from Paskovich, because this old Qiuba is also slippery. Look at what he just said-everything Acting on the orders of Gulla I. This is equivalent to saying that he would not do anything without direct instructions from Nicholas I!

Of course Nesselrode was not particularly disappointed,

Because he was psychologically prepared for Paskovich's lack of cooperation, he immediately drove back to the Winter Palace to find Crown Prince Alexander.

Yes. Nesselrode knew that it was meaningless to go to Nicholas I. The reason why he only asked Paskovich to cooperate was to guard against him as the prime minister, so it was meaningless to go to him again. Turned into kicking balls and wrangling.

But looking for Crown Prince Alexander is different. Although Nesselrode does not have the label of the Crown Prince Party, he has never helped Grand Duke Constantine before, and most of the time when their brothers have disputes, they still tend to Alexander. Nesselrode felt that he still had a bit of face in front of Crown Prince Alexander. It should not be particularly difficult to ask the Crown Prince to help clear up the military relationship and make him act a little easier.

Nesselrode's idea was to let the crown prince Alexander come forward to clear up the relationship with Duke Bariatinsky, let the newly promoted general and the deputy minister of the army talk to Paskovich, and let the old man give him a face.

"Your Highness, as you know, this action is very important. If Turkey can be forced to give up Bulgaria, it means that the door to Constantinople is completely open to our country. We may have a chance in the next twenty or thirty years The wishes of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great have been fulfilled!"

The nearly thirty-five-year-old Crown Prince Alexander seemed much calmer than before. With thick black hair and sideburns, he looked more and more like his father. The lively boy who loved to cry was no longer visible at all. .

"How do you want the army to cooperate?" Crown Prince Alexander asked in a deep voice.

This question does not mean that Crown Prince Alexander agrees to cooperate. On the contrary, he is more concerned about what Nesselrode wants to do, and then he decides whether to help. Obviously, if Nesselrode's request is too much, he must be "I can't help".

Nesselrode naturally knew that the key question was coming. After a moment of contemplation, he replied: "I hope that the army can cooperate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to carry out a series of deterrent actions, and put more pressure on the Turkish side to force them to Submit before Britain and France fully intervene!"

This is actually Nesselrode's entire plan. He doesn't intend to really fight Turkey, not only because the empire's finances don't allow it, but more importantly, he doesn't like military adventures at all, especially in the Balkans. Powder keg adventure.

The attitude of Britain and France is too hard to say. If Russia really takes action in the Balkans, it is hard to say whether they will take targeted measures. Anyway, Nesselrode didn't dare to gamble, because once he lost the bet, it would be a battle of unprecedented scale, and no one could guarantee that he would be the winner in such a battle.

So Nesselrode's idea is to put pressure on Turkey with the momentum of Mount Tai, scare them with thunderous means, and finalize the matter before Britain and France decide to fully intervene. At that time, even if Britain and France really support Turkey, at most it will make Russia take a step back, and it is impossible to completely push Russia back to its original position.

In this way, one or two pieces of meat can be more or less eaten in Bulgaria and Russia, and as long as he eats meat, he, the prime minister, will have something to say. On the one hand, he proved his prime minister's ability to Nicholas I, and on the other hand, he also deterred those who were ready to move, letting them know that his prime minister was still young!

It can be said that this is Nesselrode's last struggle or death struggle. If he succeeds, he can continue to be the prime minister. If you succeed, you will be benevolent, he is going all out...