Struggle in Russia

Count Rostovtsev rested his fingers on the armrest and listened quietly to Dmitry's story. He didn't mean to interrupt, as if he was a quiet and handsome man.

After a long time, Dmitry finally finished what he wanted to say, then he raised his head and looked at Count Rostovtsev with bright eyes, and asked sincerely, "Count, what do you think of my suggestion?"

Count Rostovtsev finally moved, like a marble sculpture that suddenly came to life, and seemed to be thawed out of the ice.

He replied slowly: "Objectively speaking, your opinion is very reasonable. Our army does have these chronic illnesses, and your method can also alleviate a series of problems caused by these chronic illnesses!"

Dmitry frowned slightly unknowingly, because he felt that his method was not to alleviate the stubborn illness, but to eliminate these problems. Couldn't the wise Count Rostovtsev see the benefits of his method? ?

Count Rostovtsev seemed to have read Dmitry's mind, and he asked slowly: "Your method is similar to that, but there is one most important problem!"

Dmitry asked a little unconvinced: "What's the problem?"

Count Rostovtsev smiled slightly and said, "The issue of serfdom!"

Dmitry was stunned, not understanding what Count Rostovtsev wanted to express, but before he could ask, Count Rostovtsev gave the answer:

"You mean that universal conscription is going to replace the current conscription, right?"

Dmitry nodded. He made it very clear just now that the current recruitment system is a piece of shit and must be changed.

Count Rostovtsev tapped his finger on the armrest and replied slowly: "That's the question! Where are you going to recruit troops?"

Dmitry was taken aback for a moment, and just about to say that he was not recruiting soldiers among the vast number of Russians, but when the answer came to his lips, he suddenly thought of a big question. That is, the vast number of Russians does not include serfs.

If it is included, then the serf owners will definitely quit, because these serfs are their private property. When recruiting soldiers before, the state paid for the right to use the serfs purchased from them. But now the conscripts will take away their property without pulling out a cent, how can this be agreed?

Well, if the scope of conscription does not include the serf class, then the problem arises again, because 60% to 70% of the Russian population are serfs, except for these and the noble groups, the remaining number of "free people" is too small , cannot support a sufficient number of troops at all,

And Russia has such a large land area, too few troops is not a problem at all, okay!

In other words, if Dmitry's military reform is to be implemented, the interests of the serf owners will first be touched. This is simply a tiger's mouth, okay?

Dmitry's cold sweat immediately broke down, because his reform is tantamount to declaring war on the majority of serf owners. With the strength of the current conservative forces, it would be easy to tear him apart. He said bluntly that he would implement his method. Serfdom must be abolished!

Count Rostovtsev smiled, and said slowly: "It seems that you have realized where the problem is? If you want to carry out the reforms you want, you must abolish the serf system, otherwise everything will be out of the question!"

Dmitry nodded with a pale face. He now understands why there was little response when he promoted his reform policy in the military academy, and why the crown prince didn't like to talk to him after he talked about this issue with Crown Prince Alexander. Where are the roots.

I am afraid that in the eyes of Crown Prince Alexander and his colleagues, there is no fundamental difference between what he did and what the Decembrists did. He just opened fire on serfdom in a different package.

Dmitry suddenly smiled wryly. He used to find it strange that his views on political issues were no worse than those of Duke Bariatinsky, and he often offered some thought-provoking suggestions, but Crown Prince Alexander always treated him with indifference. .

He always thought that it was because of the better personal relationship between Bariatinsky and Crown Prince Alexander. Now it seemed that in the eyes of Crown Prince Alexander, he might be an invisible Decembrist. And Nicholas I hated the Decembrists the most, so naturally Crown Prince Alexander dared not get too close to him even if he was capable. This is for fear of getting burned!

After a while, Dmitry sighed dejectedly, and admitted: "Count, it seems that I am Meng Lang. These opinions of mine are really just ridiculous. It seems that changing the conscription system is a dead end. I was wrong!"

Count Rostovtsev is still so calm, because he knows that Dmitry still has not recognized the reality, thinking that as long as he does not clearly oppose the serf system, he can implement other reforms, it can only be said that this child is really naive ah!

Sure enough, Dmitry said again: "Since changing the conscription system is a dead end, it seems that the first thing to do is to make adjustments from the army's command organization!"

Count Rostovtsev remained calm, because he knew that this unlucky boy was going to do something stupid again. Is it that simple to move the superstructure! Innocent!

"I think we should learn from Prussia and set up a general staff!"

Count Rostovtsev laughed, because Dmitry guessed exactly as he did, and he was indeed planning to take the path of separating the military from the government and the military.

The so-called separation of military, government and military orders is simply the separation of institutions for raising troops and using them. The organization that raises soldiers is responsible for the usual recruitment, training, and management functions. The military organization is single-mindedly responsible for combat command, control and coordination.

The military and political department is responsible for the formulation of military policies, military development planning, education and training, officer assessment and promotion, and reserve management and other administrative affairs. The military order department is responsible for specific military operations such as the combat organization, combat readiness, and combat mobilization of the troops.

To put it simply, one is responsible for the daily management and formulation of overall plans, while the other is responsible for fighting wars. Military and political departments can be run by civilian personnel, while military order departments are managed by professional soldiers.

The national defense of the Western system in later generations basically followed the routine of separating military orders from the military and the government. The minister of defense or the navy or army minister was in charge of military administration, and the army and navy chiefs of staff were in charge of the military order department. Each performed its duties and worked together to be responsible for the head of state.

The benefits of this are obvious, but the problem is also obvious to Russia in this era. In the simplest terms, the powers of the Minister of War and the Minister of the Navy have been greatly weakened. , take care of everything, and from now on they will lose the command of the troops, do you think they will be happy?