Chapter 47: The Qualifications of a Master (2)

Russia’s Nobles’ Committee, that is, the Council of the United Nobility, had originally been founded at the initiative of nobles who felt threatened by uprisings among the common people.

It was not some formal body that had existed all along; it was an organization born of pure crisis-consciousness, along the lines of “Ah, we’re in real trouble at this rate. Shouldn’t we band together?”

But though it had clearly been formed to stand against peasants and workers, somehow the bulk of its recent gatherings had been convened because of the Tsar.

“So you’re telling us that all this time, every one of us has completely misjudged His Majesty?”

“Yes. It’s obvious if you look at the last hearing and the Okhrana’s movements now.”

Durnovo’s voice carried the sense of defeat that had been piling up ever since the hearing.

“His Majesty wears that vague, innocent expression on the surface, but behind it he has assembled the monster called the Okhrana. Starting with the cover-up of the massacre of Jews, then the purge of the Grand Dukes, the bloodless suppression of Bloody Sunday, the sweep against Rasputin and the Socialist Revolutionary Party, and the reorganization of the Okhrana itself. That this entire chain of events has been moving atop a single blueprint is a fact we can no longer deny.”

The elder figures of the Council of the United Nobility studied one another’s faces.

Those gathered here were the most influential of the provincial noble representatives, and every party to the last hearing, Durnovo, Sukhomlinov, even Bishop Isidor, was in attendance.

“And one more thing. Do you know what hardened my conviction beyond all doubt?”

Durnovo glanced around the room once before continuing.

“Yakov. That man must bear a grudge against us. There is no way he doesn’t know we tried to bury him with fabricated evidence. And yet, strangely, he hasn’t shown the slightest sign of seeking revenge.”

“That is true….”

“He smashed the pro-Tsar ultra-right groups and mopped up the remnants of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, and that was all. Not once has he turned the blade of vengeance on the nobility.”

Was Yakov simply so magnanimous a soul that he had forgotten his grudge against the men who tried to bury him?

“I see. So it’s not that Yakov holds back because he doesn’t want revenge; it’s that he was never in a position to take revenge in the first place.”

“Yes. Because the man is nothing more than a blade swung by someone else’s hand.”

Sukhomlinov nodded gravely, arms crossed.

“And the only man above Yakov could be His Majesty. But I still can’t quite believe….”

“General Sukhomlinov, I was the same at first. That Nicholas? That guileless man?”

Most of the senior figures in this room had watched the Tsar since his days as Tsesarevich.

The very men who had once petitioned the previous Tsar to please give the boy a proper heir’s education, because the Tsesarevich was so shallow and so wanting, were sitting in this room at this very moment.

And now that deficient man was suddenly gripping the nobility by the throat and roaring in triumph. How was anyone supposed to accept that?

Durnovo sighed at the reactions around him and laid on the table a document summarizing every incident connected to Nicholas II over the past 2 years.

“What is all this?”

“Taken piece by piece, you cannot see it. But gather it all together like this, and every one of you will have no choice but to admit it.”

Right after the cover-up of the massacre of Jews broke, the Okhrana was split off from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The moment the Okhrana became independent, a Japanese spy was exposed, and for the merit of that exposure the Okhrana’s powers were expanded.

Just as those powers grew, the Russo-Japanese War and the Grand Dukes’ corruption burst out one after another, and for the merit of uncovering that corruption, authority over military appointments passed to the Okhrana.

By forbidding fire on Bloody Sunday it won the citizens’ support; by snaring Rasputin in a trap it seized even the authority of surveillance over the Orthodox Church; and by annihilating the Socialist Revolutionary Party it earned the support of the common people as well.

And then, at the last hearing, it turned the tables on its accusers, dropped them into a trap of its own, and moved investigative authority into the Okhrana’s hands too.

“Well? Line it all up like this and doesn’t it leap out at you? The outcome of each incident becomes the premise of the next.”

The expressions of the nobles looking down at the papers slowly began to change.

“So all of this… you are saying none of it was coincidence, but the product of moves made in a predetermined order.”

Once the incidents had been laid out this far, an elderly noble of advanced years in the chamber slowly opened his mouth.

Count Bobrinsky.

He had exerted no small influence on the founding of the Nobles’ Committee, and the weight his voice carried in this room was anything but small.

“Minister Durnovo, I have watched His Majesty Nicholas since his days as Tsesarevich.”

The room fell quiet at the low but weighty voice.

“I remember it vividly still. He was a frail, indecisive man. A boy who never escaped the shadow of his father, His Majesty Alexander III, and indeed, everything he showed us after his accession matched that impression exactly.”

“I thought so as well.”

“And that man was in fact hiding his abilities, with the makings of a conqueror? Honestly, I cannot tell how that differs from claiming Peter III was secretly a wise ruler.”

Having said that much, Bobrinsky looked at the pile of documents before him and slowly shook his head.

“But… seeing it all gathered like this, I have no choice but to admit it.”

“We think the same.”

One by one, the other elders began to nod.

Bishop Isidor murmured, fingering the cross on his chest.

“The Rasputin affair, too, now that I think back on it… they said he spent months watching the man, piling up evidence in his study, did they not? And he succeeded in drawing in Savinkov and arresting him at the scene. Yet from what I hear, not a single soul at the palace ever noticed the slightest sign that His Majesty suspected Rasputin.”

“I heard the same. If anything, they say the palace was rife with worry that His Majesty had been bewitched by some depraved mystic and that his judgment had clouded.”

Could the past self shown by a man capable of deceiving everyone around him, of acting to this degree, possibly have been genuine?

The heavy air of the chamber spoke the obvious truth.

Nicholas II was an ambitious schemer wearing an innocent face, bent on turning Russia into a true absolute monarchy.

All his incompetence until now had merely been a matter of waiting until every preparation was complete.

“Then there is only one thing we must confirm. Let us make our nobility’s great premise clear once more.”

The Count’s eyes swept slowly over the assembly.

“The loyalty we offer His Majesty exists solely because His Majesty protects our property, our authority, and our lawful rights. This is an absolute principle that has not changed once since the Romanov dynasty began.”

“Agreed.”

“Tsar and nobility are the twin pillars that hold up this Russia. Neither must ever encroach upon the other.”

Everyone’s will was firm.

That the Emperor should reign as the pillar of the autocracy, they approved of wholeheartedly.

But the Tsar using that autocracy to trample the interests of the nobility, that they could never, ever tolerate.

Bobrinsky caught his breath for a moment, then continued in a heavy voice.

What became of Peter III when he ignored the interests of the nobility?

There was not a man in this room who did not know what fate Paul I met when he tried to curtail the nobles’ privileges.

“If His Majesty seeks to harm the traditions of Russia, then it is the nobility’s duty to correct him and guide him back onto the proper path. That too is a tradition we nobles must uphold.”

“However!”

Durnovo hastily added his voice to cool the overheating mood.

“His Majesty as he stands now has already grown far too large to fight head-on. He has attached the Gendarme Corps to the Okhrana and placed investigative authority in its hands. Drawing our swords in the open would be close to suicide.”

“That… the minister is certainly right about that.”

Sukhomlinov let slip a bitter smile.

Not that they had any such intention yet, but frankly speaking, even if they tried to mount a coup d’état, the way things stood now, the Okhrana was bound to sniff it out at once.

“Exactly. So we must change our methods. Anything that leaves evidence or breaks the law is absolutely forbidden.”

“Then all that remains is to squeeze slowly, within the bounds of the law.”

The nobles, whose minds ran second to none at moments like these, immediately began discussing concrete measures.

First, it would be possible to use the ties between the Russian imperial house and the royal families of Europe to place constraints on the Tsar’s movements.

In addition, financial pressure, the surest and safest method of all, was well worth considering.

Did not the bulk of the imperial household finances depend on the treasury subsidy, and was not the treasury allocation drawn up through the Ministry of Finance?

The working officials of the Ministry of Finance were almost all of noble birth.

Scrutinizing every last expense during the budget review and dragging things out was purely a matter of administration, with nothing about it that could ever be tied to a crime.

The same went for applying procedure with rigid strictness during execution and controlling the pace.

Even if the Okhrana tried to investigate, it could hardly touch lawful administrative acts.

“Of course, even this must be carried out meticulously, and with the utmost secrecy.”

Durnovo’s voice dropped low.

“Keep this in mind. His Majesty is not the frail, indecisive man we knew. We must move on the assumption that the moment we draw our swords carelessly, our heads will roll.”

“We will keep it in mind.”

Pressing the Tsar through lawful offensives alone while evading the Okhrana’s eyes was a formidable problem, but the nobles reached the consensus that there was no other way.

For Nicholas II was a far more dangerous and devious monarch than they had ever imagined.

* * *

A few days after the Nobles’ Committee held its secret meeting, the Tsar convened the Committee of Ministers.

The ministers filed into the council chamber of the Winter Palace; Director-General Yakov took his place at the Tsar’s side, and behind the Director-General I settled in, hugging an armful of documents.

Most of the ministers paid my presence little mind.

It was nothing unusual for an aide attending on the council to come and go, and I was already known as the next leader of the Okhrana, being groomed by the Emperor himself.

Of course, no matter how much I was the next confidant the Emperor was grooming, openly moving to check a ten-year-old child was simply impossible in Russia.

Above all, their pride as nobles would never permit anything so far beneath their dignity.

When everyone had taken their seats, the Tsar spoke.

“We have summoned you today to discuss the matter of Manchuria.”

At the word Manchuria, a subtle shift ran through the ministers’ eyes.

Interest, anticipation, calculation.

I could see each man’s private desires showing through his pupils.

“We intend to develop in earnest the Manchuria secured by Our victory in the Russo-Japanese War. To begin with, We are considering a plan to run mining, agriculture, and harbor operations in an integrated fashion, centered on the Chinese Eastern Railway.”

“A wise judgment, Your Majesty.”

“Analyses keep coming in that Manchuria is a treasure trove of resources. Develop it, and the profits will be enormous.”

Up to this point, it was all smiles and welcome.

Developing Manchuria was, by any reckoning, something that had to be done, a gold mine promising immense returns.

“Ever since the victory in the Russo-Japanese War, there have been loud calls to harness Manchuria’s potential, and with this opportunity, in earnest….”

“Interest in Manchurian development runs high in noble society as well. A great many nobles have expressed their wish to take part, so perhaps Your Majesty might actively draw upon private capacity.”

-Whew, transparent as glass.

Tell me about it.

It took exactly 30 seconds, no more, no less, for the words “noble participation” to come out.

Pretending to hand materials to Director-General Yakov, I studied the ministers’ faces one by one.

The one beaming as he offered his praise.

The one nodding along diligently while his eyes darted busily about.

And the one whose mouth was curved upward while his eyes weren’t smiling at all.

The Tsar watched the ministers’ reactions for a good while, then drew a sheet of paper from his breast.

It was the cheat sheet I had slipped him in advance, but I was the only person in this room who knew what that paper really was; most of them tensed up, wondering what secret intelligence the Emperor was reviewing this time.

“We are grateful for your interest, but there is something that troubles Us.”

The Emperor’s tone changed abruptly.

The genial atmosphere of a moment ago vanished, and the Tsar’s voice went utterly dry.

“We know full well that the nobility’s interest in Manchuria runs deep. But it seems We must pause here and review with you all exactly what that interest has produced.”

At a signal from the Tsar’s eyes, Yakov spread the reports he was holding across the enormous table in one long sweep.

“We have investigated in detail what took place during the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway, when French capital was brought in for the work.”

The council chamber fell silent in an instant, and only Director Yakov’s voice filled the room.

“Companies established by certain members of the nobility inserted themselves into the supply of railway sleepers. The traces of substandard sleepers delivered at full price and the difference pocketed are unmistakable. In a national project of Russia, one into which even French capital had been poured, our own nobles raked in profits by supplying defective materials.”

Several ministers’ shoulders gave the faintest twitch.

“Is there more?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Astonishingly, Yakov’s report did not stop there.

“Close associates of Their Imperial Highnesses the Grand Dukes set up multiple shell companies under different names and took the subcontracts. Companies with no substance were sucking down the national budget, and no one was catching it.”

Naturally, there is no need to explain that an enormous share of those profits flowed into the Grand Dukes’ pockets as kickbacks.

“We have also confirmed cases of loans taken from banks with the subcontracting rights to branch lines that had not even broken ground put up as collateral.”

Item by item, the sheer ingenuity of the ways they had skimmed things off was truly something else.

Once again, I couldn’t help marveling at the raw constitution of a Russia that kept on running without collapsing even through all of this.

“Insider trading, buying up land along the railway’s planned route in advance to capture the resale profit margin. Cases of securing mineral prospecting rights, conducting no prospecting whatsoever, and reselling the rights for a profit.”

Beyond these, there were the warehouses and stevedoring rights of the port of Dalny funneled to particular noble companies, handing them a simultaneous monopoly on military transport and civilian freight, and so on; Yakov’s indictment ran on for a long while more.

The Tsar let out a sigh and raised a hand, indicating that was quite enough.

Even after the Director’s mouth had stopped, the air in the council chamber stayed frozen for a long while more.

Judging by how nearly half the ministers had suddenly gone pale, the air in here didn’t seem to agree with them.

What a pity.

“You all understand why We had this recited, do you not?”

Nicholas II’s eyes passed slowly over the ministers.

“The development of Manchuria is an undertaking on which Russia’s future rides. We will absolutely not tolerate the kind of lax discipline We saw with the Chinese Eastern Railway.”

By now, surely the ministers were slowly beginning to guess the Tsar’s intent?

At once, voices thick with concern began popping up here and there.

“Your Majesty, in that case, the managing body of the Manchurian enterprise would be….”

Minister of Finance Kokovtsov asked cautiously.

“For now, We are inclined to run it directly under the imperial household. A company will be established to manage mining, agriculture, and harbors in an integrated fashion, centered on the Chinese Eastern Railway, and We shall compose its board of directors Ourselves.”

After a brief silence, Kokovtsov spoke again.

“Then a portion of the revenue from Manchuria would go to the state treasury….”

“We will negotiate the precise ratios with you separately, minister. Let us arrange a meeting later.”

Kokovtsov nodded and withdrew.

The Finance Minister’s questions had been purely practical, but the other ministers could read the Emperor’s meaning with perfect clarity.

Was there any room for the nobility to get into Manchuria?

The Emperor had given his answer, unmistakably.

There was no such room.

The ministers looked full of things they wanted to say, but not one of them openly raised an objection.

Pretending to tidy my papers, I watched them closely.

Not a single face in the room looked at ease, which made it plain as day what sort of talks they had been trading lately and how they had meant to check us.

Manchuria is going to be the imperial household’s cash cow, so don’t even think about clumsily sinking a straw into it.

The Tsar’s declaration had them well and truly triggered; oh, they were triggered good.

Judging by how their faces were rotting, they just couldn’t stand the sight of the imperial household standing on its own two feet financially, could they?

Well, if that’s how it is, it can’t be helped.

I’ll make this succeed, no matter what it takes.

~~~

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