Duke Dolgoruky was still a little proud, thinking that he would be the first to take the initiative. At least one thing he could confirm was that there would be absolutely no problem with what he said, and the rebellion in Ukraine was the best excuse to attack the reformists.
So has his purpose been achieved?
It can only be said that it is unsatisfactory. Perhaps for those simple-minded guys who are habitually hostile to the reformists, his words are very reasonable and pleasant, almost equal to the truth.
But this type of people is not the mainstream among conservatives. This does not mean that there are not enough conservatives who are hostile to reformists. In fact, almost all conservatives are hostile to reform. The difference is that some people have brains and some do not.
Most of the people who agree with Duke Dolgoruky belong to the category of brainless or simple-minded people.
People with real brains know that hostility is hostility, but hostility does not mean foolishly rushing to attack the reformists. In the current climate, I am afraid that rushing forward with such recklessness will only serve as cannon fodder.
Naturally, these guys won't foolishly agree. Even if they agree twice, they are probably in a state of mind to encourage others to die.
A dead Taoist friend will never die a poor Taoist, everyone knows this truth.
As for the core of the conservatives and those in power, they showed no expression at all and acted as if they had not heard Duke Dolgoruky's speech.
The audience was a little lively for a while, but the stage was quiet. Duke Dolgoruky frowned and was a little unhappy. He felt that Count Uvarov and his gang were deliberately not giving him face, even for such a simple reason.
If you don’t agree with me, what does this mean?
Of course, he did not stupidly rush up to question him. After a brief pause, he said to Pobedonostsev seriously: "Count, what do you think?"
Pobedonostsev glanced at him, his attitude neither good nor bad.
After a long while, he replied slowly: "I don't have any attitude. If you think this is an opportunity, then you can take the lead and show some color to those liberal elements."
After saying that, he leaned back on the chair with an expression as if he was just watching a show.
This made Prince Dolgoruky very angry. The reason why he first spoke to Pobedonostsev was because he felt that everyone belonged to the young faction and were enemies of Count Uvarov, so we should work together to reach an agreement.
foreign.
As long as Pobedonostsev nods and encourages him a little more, he will be able to seize power if he stays aside!
But who would have thought that Pobedonostsev would not cooperate at all? Do you still have the overall situation? No wonder you can only be the second-in-command of our young faction!
But, slander is of no use. Pobedonostsev turned away from the boss and was clearly uncooperative. This made Prince Dolgoruky's plan to unite with the outside world come to an end as soon as it started.
Next, he could either take the initiative and roll up his sleeves to fight Count Uvarov, or he could just sit back and watch Count Uvarov's performance.
But he didn't like either of these options. He didn't have the courage to go directly to Count Uvarov, mainly because he was so reckless. To be honest, unless Baryatinsky came, there would be no one in this bunch.
A man fighting alone is his opponent.
But he was unwilling to let Duke Dolgoruky just watch Count Uvarov's performance without doing anything. After thinking about it, he carefully turned to Count Uvarov and said: "Count, what do you mean?
?”
This was a test, and it was also a little trick he played. In his opinion, Count Uvarov was unlikely to oppose his suggestion. With the count's consistent hatred of reform, he would definitely choose to attack the reformists.
In this case, we can only agree with his proposal. In that case, his proposal will naturally be passed smoothly, and naturally everyone will remember him as the initiator!
But Duke Dolgoruki miscalculated again, because Count Uvarov snorted: "If you want to die, I won't stop you!"
These words were like a slap in the face, and almost knocked Prince Dolgoruky out of his wits. He could not understand why Count Uvarov had any reason to disagree!
Why!
Suddenly he became anxious and shouted: "You disappoint me so much. You let the opportunity slip away at such a critical moment. I think you are scared out of your wits by those liberal elements!"
Count Uvarov glanced at him sideways, his eyes full of disdain. He reacted calmly to Prince Dolgoruky's accusation, as if he were watching a dog barking.
"You think this is a good opportunity?"
After Duke Dolgorugin finished cursing, Count Uvarov asked calmly.
"Isn't it? As long as we..."
Count Uvarov interrupted him: "As long as you bump into it stupidly, you will be cleaned up by those free elements in minutes!"
Count Uvarov stared at him and lectured: "Opportunity? I really don't know how you can see this is an opportunity! This is our reminder!"
It was not only Duke Dolgoruky who was dumbfounded, but the simple-minded fools around him were even more stunned. They could understand every word Count Uvarov said, but why were they so confused when they were put together?
?
Why isn't it a good opportunity?
"Didn't you realize that since the Ukrainian rebellion started, those liberal elements have taken the opportunity to criticize us, saying that they revolted because of our oppression of the serfs. If the serfdom system is not abolished, there will be more serfs.
Riots. They have already dumped all the responsibility on us!"
Count Uvarov glared at Prince Dolgoruky fiercely and said: "What do you do all day long when you work in the third department? Don't tell me you didn't hear these deadly rumors, but did you do anything?"
"
"No, you did nothing and allowed these rumors to spread. Now the whole of St. Petersburg is discussing rebellion and the abolition of slavery. You think this is a good thing!"
Just as Duke Dolgoruky was about to explain something, Pobedonostsev interrupted: "Of course this is not a good thing, but these rumors are coming so fiercely that I tried to block them, but it was meaningless. Obviously, the power of those liberal elements
It’s much bigger than we thought, at least in terms of public opinion, it’s far ahead of us!”
Count Uvarov glanced at him, then stared at Duke Dolgoruky and said: "Did you hear that? Now think about it. When public opinion is extremely unfavorable to us, you foolishly rushed up to talk about the rebellion in Ukraine."
It’s all the responsibility of liberal elements. Can you trust your majesty with such nonsense?”
As he spoke, he sneered: "I'm afraid His Majesty will think that you are shirking responsibility and avoiding the problem, and then the group of liberal elements swarm forward again. Do you think there is any hope of winning?!"