Chapter 34: The Night of the Purge

The fact that five Grand Dukes had been hauled off in a row like a string of dried croaker naturally became the great topic of the day among the Russian nobility.

First three had been arrested on the spot for treason, and then two more had been arrested inside the palace while trying to secure their release.

With matters standing as they did, the nobles could hardly help wondering.

Just what had those two Grand Dukes said, that the Tsar, that pushover of all people, had thrown his own relatives into confinement then and there?

Of course, the Grand Dukes themselves surely had no idea why either.

They could never have guessed that they had scratched, dead center, at the matter of the illegitimate son that the Emperor above all others wanted kept secret.

He was so thoroughly furious that Nicholas II, a man whose temper normally dissolved after a single prayer, was still huffing and puffing over it, which said everything.

“So then, Misha. By my authority, there would be nothing whatever to stop me from stripping those men of every position they hold and banishing them, would there?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Your Majesty is the lawful master of all Russia.”

“Yes. Yes. And since it is only the two of us here, I will say plainly that those wretches dared to drag even you into it. On top of that there is the matter of Alexei. I cannot possibly overlook it.”

“That’s true, but if you’re going to punish the Grand Dukes, of all people, wouldn’t you have to make the reasons public?”

“That…well, even if we keep your true identity hidden, as we must, it is still a fact that they went after Alexei, is it not? So if we announce that they dared to meddle with the Tsesarevich’s succession, the nobles will not be able to say a word.”

Perhaps because his child had been touched, Nicholas II’s reaction was quite plainly of an entirely different order than before.

-Doesn’t matter how gentle a guy is, you go after his kids and he snaps. Just look at Niki sitting there thinking about a purge. Tells you how much punch it packs, right?

Niki, who used to tack something about being a good Christian onto the end of every other sentence, now flinging his rage in all directions at once, was certainly a strange sight.

But if I left that anger pointed where it was, it could spread into a fire nobody needed.

“Your Majesty, there’s one thing that bothers me, though.”

“And what would that be?”

“Daring to bring up His Imperial Highness the Tsesarevich’s health is of course a grave crime. But is it really all right for that to be the stated reason?”

The eyes of the Tsar, who had been huffing right up until that moment, faltered for an instant.

“Hm…I do not follow. Naturally we will not so much as mention the hemophilia.”

“What I mean is that announcing the Grand Dukes dared to use the Tsesarevich’s health as a bargaining chip is itself the problem. Wouldn’t the nobles be certain to start thinking along these lines?”

Niki must have caught my meaning, because the light of reason slowly returned to his eyes.

“Is there really something wrong with Alexei’s health, if the Grand Dukes thought it worth putting on the table like that? Could that be why the Emperor is overreacting to this degree? That sort of thing.”

If it were announced that they had used his health as a bargaining chip, the nobles would naturally conclude the Grand Dukes had it coming.

But the very fact that talking about the Tsesarevich’s health counted as something a man deserved to be struck down for was the problem.

“Then Alexei’s….”

“Yes. One wrong step and, in trying to punish the Grand Dukes, we’d end up turning the Tsesarevich’s health into a public question instead. Isn’t that exactly what the Grand Dukes wanted?”

The Tsar clenched and unclenched his fist over and over, steadying his breathing.

He was not calming his anger so much as barely, barely holding on to the last thread of his reason.

“Then what would you have me do?”

“It’s simple. Instead of the Tsesarevich, we widen it to your children.”

“My children?”

“Yes. The Grand Dukes dared to demand a bargain, threatening to spread private rumours concerning the Tsar’s children. Put that way, it doesn’t feel as though the Tsesarevich has been singled out, does it?”

The Tsar’s eyes widened slightly.

“If the Princesses are included as well, the target is spread out, so the nobles lose any reason to dig only at His Imperial Highness Alexei. And it isn’t a lie anyway. The Grand Dukes really did dare to touch the Tsar’s children.”

A brief silence fell.

They had not gone after the Tsesarevich Alexei alone; they had gone after me as well, so the word “children” was hardly wrong.

In place of anger, a faint stirring of emotion welled in the Tsar’s eyes.

“Misha…you are always worrying over Alexei.”

“Worrying about my little brother is only what an older brother does. And I promised him I’d make him better, so if I’m going to keep that promise, word of Alexei’s health mustn’t get out.”

The Tsar’s eyes began to go damp again.

He’s my old man and all, but his mood swings really are something else.

Five minutes ago the man had been raging about killing every last Grand Duke, and now he was choking up over his son’s devotion.

“…Yes, you are right. Let us make it ‘the children’. And we do not disclose the specifics?”

“Yes. You need only say that it is a family matter of the Tsar’s and cannot be disclosed. Then no one can press any further. And if some noble does press, you can ask him whether he too takes an interest in rumours about the imperial children.”

“Haha, that is my Misha for you. The way that head of yours turns is really something.”

Fortunately, Nicholas II’s children were still young, so how serious could a “family matter” possibly be?

At worst people would assume one of the Princesses was an appallingly rude little thing, or had caused some incident that might damage the dignity of the imperial house.

A smile settled once more on the lips of the Tsar, who moments before had been radiating murder.

At any rate, his mood seemed to have lifted a little, so wasn’t it about time to get to the main business?

“Speaking of which, Your Majesty. I have a plan for their punishment here that I worked out with Section Chief Yakov….”

This was a great undertaking, sweeping away all at once five men who occupied the very highest offices of the government.

Which meant that beyond simply establishing the Emperor’s authority, the real power structure of this country would have to be built anew.

The Tsar, who thanks to me had avoided a disaster that might otherwise have happened, skimmed the contents once and nodded.

“Yes, yes. Your thinking runs far deeper than mine, so let us do it this way.”

All of it in order to save this hopeless basket-case country.

All power to the Tsar.

* * *

After the Tsar’s final approval came down, Petersburg society was enveloped in an atmosphere it had never breathed before.

First a curiously specific rumour went drifting through society.

“They say the Grand Dukes went to beg for leniency and, far from repenting, tried to threaten His Majesty.”

“I heard the same. Apparently they proposed a bargain, saying they would spread private rumours about the Tsar’s children.”

“Have they gone mad? Is that why His Majesty was so enraged?”

“However desperate they were, to take children hostage…did the Grand Dukes want to die?”

Nobody knew precisely what those rumours were supposed to contain.

But there was no need to know.

The single fact that they had used the Tsar’s children as a bargaining tool sent opinion of the Grand Dukes through the floor and down into the cellar.

“There’s no hope of the Grand Dukes being released now.”

“It’s worse than that. The sparks could reach us as well. We had best be careful for a while.”

The talk about whether a clemency campaign ought to be mounted for the Grand Dukes vanished as though it had never existed.

Of course, the man who had planted this rumour in every corner of noble society was the one Grand Duke to survive the great purge of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Mikhailovich.

He mobilized the whole of his influence, drawing even on the connections of his lover Kschessinska, and amplified the Grand Dukes’ latest escapade for all it was worth.

And the Grand Dukes, locked away in prison, were given no chance whatsoever to make excuses.

Having confirmed that opinion had turned this thoroughly, the Tsar moved straight into the work of the purge.

The Tsar’s imperial edict was concise, but line by line it amounted to nothing less than a redrawing of the empire’s map of power.

“Vladimir Alexandrovich.

For the crime of defying an imperial command to its face and directing the opening of fire upon citizens, he is stripped of the rank of Grand Duke, all his property is confiscated, and he is permanently exiled abroad.”

With the post of Commander of the Guards Corps returned to a vacancy, the military power of Petersburg passed for the time being under the Tsar’s direct authority.

The right of appointment over the Imperial Guard, which the house of Vladimir had held clenched in its fist for more than 20 years, had evaporated with a single line of edict.

A slate of appointments Section Chief Yakov had briskly drawn up in advance received the Tsar’s sanction, and the new command of the Guards Corps filled up with officers within the Okhrana’s reach.

“Kirill Vladimirovich.

For the overreach of authority in mobilizing units of naval ratings on his own initiative, and for complicity in the order to open fire, he is stripped of all military posts. He too is sentenced to exile abroad.”

Should Alexei prove unable to inherit the throne because of his hemophilia, then setting aside Nicholas II’s own younger brother, the member of the imperial house standing nearest to becoming the next Tsar had been Kirill.

And that man had now been removed from the order of succession in all but name.

For the vacant post of General Admiral, the name of Makarov, the hero of Port Arthur, began to be raised.

Naturally, he too was a man who gave his absolute loyalty to the Tsar.

“Sergei Alexandrovich.

On charges of embezzling the budget of the Moscow Governor-Generalship, systematically ignoring the workers’ petitions, and taking bribes from factory owners, he is formally dismissed from the post of Governor-General of Moscow. He is further stripped in perpetuity of all public office and confined to his country estate.”

From this one onward the sentences stopped short of permanent exile, but in practice the level of punishment was not greatly different.

“Nicholas Nikolaevich.

For unofficial military mobilization and for the criminal intimidation of threatening to spread rumours concerning the Tsar’s children, he is excluded from all military posts and stripped of the right to reside in Petersburg.”

Last of all, Alexander Mikhailovich’s punishment fell on the lighter side of things.

For taking part in the threat to spread rumours about the Tsar’s children, his Far East trade concessions were confiscated in their entirety and he was barred from attending court for a fixed period.

It was the outcome of allowance being made for the fact that he was Grand Duke Mikhailovich’s elder brother.

There was also the calculation that by stopping at merely lopping the arms and legs off one of the five, the Tsar would be showing his mercy.

Because if every last one of them were sent to their graves, mutterings that it was all too harsh might start up behind his back.

-Either way, this much and Sandro will lean our way on his own. Drop a word that he’d better remember his little brother is alive thanks to me, and he’ll work out how to behave.

Of course, for the benefit of those who thought even this excessive, the Grand Dukes’ glorious embezzled sums were laid bare before the whole world.

Because when the entire Okhrana was mobilized to investigate the Grand Dukes’ fortunes, the figures that came back were far too magnificent to keep to myself.

Vladimir, estimated embezzlement relating to the Imperial Guard, 18,000,000 rubles.

Sergei, estimated corruption in the Moscow Governor-Generalship, 15,000,000 rubles.

Kirill, estimated naval malfeasance, 7,000,000 rubles.

Nicholas Nikolaevich, estimated military corruption, 8,000,000 rubles.

Sandro, estimated malfeasance in the Far East concessions, 4,000,000 rubles.

And add to that the 30,000,000 rubles that the already blown-to-pieces Alexei Alexandrovich embezzled from the navy?

The total sum siphoned off by six Grand Dukes came to more than 80,000,000 rubles.

For reference, that was the low estimate.

“No less than 80,000,000 rubles has drained away behind our backs. This, precisely this, is the reality Russia faces today!”

Once the hard figures were published, all of Russia was turned on its head.

Why the workers went hungry, why the warships were never properly built, why the factories of Moscow were hell on earth.

A reason with far more destructive force than any long-winded explanation had been branded into the mind of the nation as a single number.

“His Majesty the Emperor has proclaimed an imperial edict converting a portion of the confiscated property into a workers’ welfare fund!”

Alongside it, bills for the reduction of working hours and for putting wage standards in order were submitted as well.

The important point was that none of this was handled as the Tsar taking the workers’ side.

The structure by which the Grand Dukes had exploited the workers in order to accumulate wealth illicitly had been exposed, and this was merely the restoration of that structure to normal.

Once the exploitation was gone, the workers’ conditions could only improve of their own accord.

Of course, changing the labour law rather than simply seizing the Grand Dukes’ property was the kind of matter that could provoke ferocious resistance from the nobility, and sure enough, discontented voices leaked out here and there.

“Your Majesty, if the workers are given too free a rein, discipline may grow lax.”

“Just so. Our Russia developed her industry later than Britain, and so we must work all the more diligently if we are to catch up.”

Yet uncomfortable though the contents were for the nobles, there existed a magic incantation that shut their mouths.

“Everything you say is correct. And yet the sum the Grand Dukes embezzled amounts to a full 80,000,000 rubles. Was that truly a problem of the Grand Dukes alone? If only for the sake of catching up quickly with the industrial technology in which we trail Britain, it seems to me there must be no more money leaking off to the side.”

There was simply no counting how many thieves this country held, and now there was a pretext as well, so why not roll up our sleeves and shake them all down?

“We praise the great Tsar’s resolve!”

“Long live the great Nicholas II, the true Emperor who loves his workers!”

“…Tsk, tsk. Grand Dukes or not, they ought to have kept to the line. To dare threaten His Majesty!”

“Confiscation of property! Exile abroad! Normalization of working conditions! Every one of them a reasonable policy!”

Even for an emperor, rifling privately through the ledgers of the nobility was an act contrary to custom, but the times being what the times were.

At the Tsar’s gracious suggestion that they might care for a taste of a tax audit, the nobles united as one and came forward to denounce the Grand Dukes’ corruption.

A truly beautiful scene unfolded in which workers and nobles found themselves of one mind, so what was there left to hesitate over?

The punishments the Tsar had announced and the improvement of the workers’ conditions passed exactly as they stood, beneath overwhelming cheers and applause.

There was not a single voice raised against them.

~~~

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