Chernyshov took it for granted. Menshikov's situation was far from being as good as Paskovich had expected. The old eunuch felt a little frustrated because he was in trouble and everything was going wrong.
First of all, the Mesakov incident continues to ferment. The fat man and his friends who fell into the hands of Grand Duke Constantine do not have as deep a background as Li Xiao, and they do not have such a strong will. Soon
In the third part, under the coercion and inducement of his minions, he "honestly" confessed all the problems - including smuggling, corruption, bribery, and fraud.
In order to avoid being beaten, and to eat the pig food that he once looked down upon, Fatty Mesakov just said whatever he wanted, without any ambiguity! The pitiful way of begging for mercy is really despicable.
"This is not enough!"
Grand Duke Constantine was not very satisfied and threw aside Mesakov's signature and fingerprinted confession. It was not that he thought Mesakov was innocent, although the confession was appropriately "modified" in some details.
, but generally speaking, a certain fat guy did all those bad things. That guy is definitely not worthy of sympathy.
What makes Grand Duke Constantine dissatisfied is that these crimes are relatively far away from Menshikov. The only thing that can directly implicate Menshikov is the trivial matter of accepting bribes. This is basically a well-known unspoken rule in Russian official circles.
King Gula I also heard about it. Although he occasionally carried out investigation operations, he mostly turned a blind eye.
For a loyal old minister like Menshikov, such a small flaw in his personal affairs would at best result in a scolding, which would not hurt his bones. Although Grand Duke Constantine also accepted that he could not defeat Menshikov once.
Although he was a husband, he still wanted to maximize the results and make the old man suffer even more.
He picked up the confession again and looked at it more carefully to see if there were any projects that could make a big fuss. After a long time, he suddenly asked: "What's going on with this fraud? Why are there no details?"
Archduke Constantine’s confidant in the third part quickly replied: "Your Excellency, because this is a trivial matter, we think it is not enough..."
Grand Duke Constantine interrupted impatiently: "Don't worry about the size of the matter, tell me the details!"
This person did not dare to disobey, so he quickly made it clear: It turned out that more than a year ago, when Mesakov was still serving as a small section chief in the Logistics Department of the Navy, he received a message from Menshikov.
direct instructions.
The old eunuch asked Mesakov to manipulate a batch of specially purchased coal, replace the high-quality anthracite with the lowest quality coal gangue, and then supply it to the steamship Fierce. As a result, Fierce later lost an internal naval dispute.
competition.
The military policeman in the third unit did not notice the change in Grand Duke Constantine's face at all. When the words gangue and fierce were combined, the Grand Duke's face first turned blue and then red, and then...
A loud bang was heard.
Grand Duke Constantine punched the desk so hard that the ink bottle on the desk was knocked over. Black ink flowed everywhere, making a mess on the tabletop and the precious Persian carpet on the floor.
But Grand Duke Constantine turned a blind eye to these. In anger, he waved his fist viciously and cursed Menshikov:
"You old bastard without eggs, you bastard with no sex to give birth to a son, how dare you cheat on me!"
"Just wait for me, this matter is not over yet!"
Of course Grand Duke Constantine was angry, because he still remembered that game. Fierce was a rare steamship in the Baltic Fleet, and it was relatively young. He specially selected it for the long voyage with Menshikov's favorite sailing ship.
Racing ships.
That time, Archduke Constantine spent a lot of effort to persuade his father to pay attention to this game, and prepared to use the victory of this game as a stepping stone. As long as Nicholas I saw the advantages of steamships, then
He would be sure to persuade the stubborn emperor to build more steamships.
But the game that Grand Duke Constantine had high hopes for was lost in disgrace. From the beginning to the end, Fierce was like a lame bad horse or a drunken fool, stumbling out of Kronstadt and not long after it was destroyed by the boiler.
The machine broke down and lost the game in disgrace.
It was this failure that made Nicholas I less optimistic about steam ships. No matter how hard Duke Constantine worked, he could not save the emperor's dislike of them.
In fact, Grand Duke Constantine himself was deeply disappointed with the Fierce and the steamship at that time. He felt that they were nothing but dog meat and could not get a seat. If he had not invested a huge amount of money and no one took over, he would have walked away and no longer supported the steamship.
But today, when the diorama was exposed and he learned some of the secrets of the reason for the failure of the Fierce, he realized that he had fallen into Menshikov's plan. This dead eunuch dared to trick him and shamelessly did something to the fuel.
The article, replacing high-quality anthracite with coal gangue that is almost impossible to burn, is so shameless and despicable.
Thinking of the grievance of being taught a lesson by Nicholas I and despised by the ministers, Grand Duke Constantine became furious. He had to settle this account with Menshikov. He slapped Menshikov's confession hard and said,
He ordered seriously:
"Continue to interrogate that bastard, and ask for all the details of the Fierce's defeat in the competition. In addition to playing tricks on the coal, ask them if they did anything else!"
The bastard is a little confused. So, isn’t the master going to engage in Menshikov? Why are you suddenly paying attention to such a trivial matter as a fierce account competition? Now the focus should be on big issues such as smuggling, bribery and corruption, right? Just cheating in an internal competition can
What's it worth?
Of course, a loser would not dare to question his master. No matter how doubtful or disdainful he was, he would not dare to express it to his face. Like all loyal Russian officials of this era, he accepted the task without any doubt and went to work with high morale.
.
"This is also a waste!"
Looking at the back of the loser leaving, Grand Duke Constantine sighed. He had discovered that there were many problems with his father's way of serving his subordinates. Under his control, most of the officials in Russia were like this loser.
They only know how to obey blindly, they only know how to flatter others, they have no brains and no constructive ideas.
Such people are used to being ordered around and used to doing things without thinking. They are of infinite help to their masters. It is almost a daydream to expect them to check for omissions or give reasonable suggestions.
For example, the incident involving the fierce account seems small compared with corruption, but people with keen political nerves can realize that this incident is much more lethal than corruption.
If more inside information can be unearthed, it will reverse Grand Duke Constantine's passivity in supporting steamships, revitalize his steel plants and boiler plants, and also greatly reduce Menshikov's credibility with Nicholas I.
.
But these stupid guys couldn't see it, and Grand Duke Constantine was speechless. He began to miss dealing with Li Xiao and his friends. He had to say that it was more comfortable to communicate with smart people, even if they didn't like each other, than to talk to idiots.