What Uvarov and his like are most afraid of and frustrated about is this situation. Everything they have comes from the Tsar. If the Tsar agrees with their ideas, there will naturally be nothing to say, but once their ideas conflict, those things they believe in
It collapsed in minutes.
This is why Uvarov particularly dislikes Grand Duke Constantine. The reason why he prefers Crown Prince Alexander is because Grand Duke Konstantin is too out-of-touch and has no interest in conservative theories.
If Grand Duke Constantine is allowed to be the tsar, then reforms may be necessary, which Uvarov cannot accept at all. Once the worst case scenario occurs, they conservatives will honestly abide by Constantine
Their own interests cannot live up to the Grand Duke's will, but if they don't accept it, it goes against their own ideals. Anyway, they will be blocked at both ends!
In order to avoid this painful situation, Uvarov naturally strongly supported Crown Prince Alexander. He thought that as long as Crown Prince Alexander succeeded to the throne in the future, there would naturally be no problem for Grand Duke Constantine. At that time, their conservatives were still popular.
Drinking spicy food is so relaxing.
But what Uvarov didn't expect was that before Crown Prince Alexander succeeded to the throne, they would face a difficult test - Nicholas I actually changed his mind. From the good tsar who obeyed their words at first, he became one who did whatever he wanted.
Unstable factors that don’t listen to what’s being said.
Now Nicholas I has personally given the green light to the cable telegraph. With his authority, this must be done, and it must be done beautifully. Even if he loses money and makes a fuss, he still has to make the cable telegraph project a success.
This is the philosophy of Russian officialdom. Everything serves the Tsar. As long as the Tsar is happy, then all costs are worth it.
But for Uvarov, this was a bit unacceptable, because if he wanted to make Nicholas I happy, conservatives like them would definitely have to cry. But he really didn’t want to cry, so he wanted to
make trouble.
"Tell me to go down and let the people below create as much trouble as possible for the cable telegraph project. They must mess with it for me!"
Uvarov was getting angry, but Chernyshev, old Adlerberg and others looked at each other a little bit. They didn't want to do this, thinking that the risk was too great.
Yes, there are actually different factions within the conservatives. The only old diehard who truly agrees with Uvarov’s political philosophy from the bottom of his heart may be him. Others, such as Chernyshev and old Adlerberg, are conservatives.
But still aware of current affairs.
If it were an ordinary project, it would be easy to create some trouble for him, and there would be no future troubles. But if you do this for a project that Nicholas I attaches great importance to, it would be tantamount to singing against the Tsar - it is tantamount to courting death!
For these particularly smart bureaucrats, they are reluctant to do this kind of thing, the risk is too great. But now Uvarov is forcing them to do it, tell me what the hell is this!
Old Adlerberg immediately persuaded in a low voice: "Count, I think we should be cautious about this matter. Your Majesty is watching! In case..."
Before he finished speaking, Uvarov stared at him, and the anger lingering in his eyes made him unable to speak at all.
"Nothing is wrong!" Uvarov said with a stern face, "As long as I am alive, I will not allow these damn new things to multiply on Russian soil!"
These words were so loud that they silenced old Adlerberg and others. Uvarov seemed to be very satisfied with the effect he had created. He glanced at everyone and solemnly said: "This is a war without gunpowder, it is a matter of life and death.
A battle! I just want to let those guys with second thoughts know that there is no luck in front of me!"
With Uvarov's final word, the matter has been settled. The next task of the conservatives is to cause trouble. Whether it is conspiracy or conspiracy, it will disrupt the cable telegraph project.
Perhaps as Uvarov said, this was a life-and-death war, but he never imagined that this war would be so unfavorable to him from the beginning.
It’s not that they were unsuccessful in making trouble. On the contrary, with the strength of Chernyshov, Old Adlerberg and others, it was really easy to make trouble. Let’s put it this way, the cable telegraph project ran into trouble from the beginning.
.
First of all, the Ministry of Finance is dragging its feet on allocating funds. It delays granting money as long as it can, and if it cannot be delayed, it tries every possible means to withhold money. Secondly, bureaucrats at all levels are not cooperative at all. This is a red light for land acquisition, and that is a red light.
Instigating local powerful people to deliberately find trouble. Finally, and the most important thing is that Uvarov also led a group of subordinates to constantly criticize Duke Ordorf. From time to time, he would put on Duke Ordorf's shoes or beat him in front of Nicholas I.
The small report made Prince Ordorff very annoyed.
Looks like it's going well?
Hehe, it just looks like it. Although the conservative tricks are very successful, the biggest hidden danger has gradually befallen them.
About a month later, when Nicholas I asked at the Imperial Council about the progress of wire telegraphy, especially when the first line from St. Petersburg to the Kronstadt Fortress would be completed, Duke Ordorff
The counterattack came.
"...Local officials are extremely uncooperative, and the Ministry of Finance is dragging its feet in allocating funds. As of yesterday, only 200,000 rubles have been allocated in total. Nothing can be done with this little money!"
"According to my personal estimate, at this pace, it will take about five years to complete the construction of this line..."
Five years?!
Nicholas I was stunned. He didn't want to wait for five months, let alone five years. Besides, how far is St. Petersburg from Kronstadt? It would take five years to build such a small distance. How about building a nationwide cable telegraph network?
Wouldn’t it take a hundred years!
He can't wait a hundred years!
Suddenly Nicholas I became angry: "Why haven't you allocated funds for so long? Didn't I tell you that the cable telegraph project has the highest priority? Did you, Count, turn a deaf ear to my words?!"
Paul Fedorovich Sheremetev's expression was quite calm. As the Minister of Finance, he was also an out-and-out conservative. Ever since he received Uvarov's instructions, he knew that this day would come sooner or later.
But he was really not particularly scared, because he had already thought of a sure-fire plan and he was confident that he could handle it.
He replied very calmly: "Your Majesty, of course I have not forgotten your will. But finances are really tight now. In order to cope with the possible war with Turkey, most of the funds have been invested in war preparations. I can only find ways to
To raise funds for the cable telegraph project, I squeezed out the two hundred thousand rubles through my teeth. I really tried my best!"