C1158 People are short of ambition (1/2)

The present Russian Tsar Alexander II was indeed one of the most influential Tsar in the history of Russia. Peter the Great, Catherine the Second and this Tsar were later known as the Tsar Three.

One of the most important contributions of the Alexander II to the Russia was to abolish the serfdom in the eyes of the world. From the very beginning of his succession, he had deeply reflected on the merits and demerits of the Crimean War that her father had initiated.

Why did Crimean War fail? The English and French had the advantage of geography, why did it end up in such a miserable state?

The Alexander II was aware that the essence of the problem was that there was a problem with Russia's industrial and political system, completely behind the European powers.

In Russia at that time, 90% of the population were serfs, locked in the ground and unable to move, they had no property of their own so they had no purchasing power, they would not have their own wealth to invest in trade, the huge landowners had accumulated a large amount of wealth in society.

From this point of view, the social system of the Russia was not even comparable to that of the Great Qing, and the miserable fate of the serfs was even more tragic than that of the tenants.

The basic element of the development of capitalism lies in the free flow of large groups of workers, and because of that freedom, the population, the most basic resource, will be scattered and disintegrated by the magic wand of the market economy.

To give a simple example, if British businessman wanted to invest in a Steel plant, as long as he could rent the land and have the initial funds, he would be able to provide a relatively good salary and he would be able to gather a large amount of outstanding labour.

But Russia couldn't even do that. Capitalists would painfully find out if they wanted to invest, and they wouldn't even be able to recruit people if they had money, because 90% of the people he looked at were serfs.

Reform was imminent, and instead of resorting to the American system of forced abolition, the Tsar Alexander II opted for a more moderate system of ransom.

The state provides loans to serfs to get land from the landlords, and at the same time they have the status of free people, so that they can repay the state within the prescribed period of time.

This was a relatively moderate path of reform. At least, it would not cause too much bloodshed, and everyone could accept it. However, the biggest disadvantage of it was that it required a huge amount of starting funds. This amount of money was so much that it required the Ministry of Finance to produce a fake account, otherwise, the English and French would not even dare to give him a loan.

In the hopes that the Russia's treasury would not come up with such a sum, they had no choice but to ask the Bankers's in London and Paris for help. One high interest loan after another was sent to Moscow and then to Russia.

The reform had already been going on for eight years now, the outside world claimed that the most difficult period had passed, and everything was progressing in a good direction. However, for the higher ups like EdStefanski, they were all thinking the same thing.

Each month, English and French would receive an astronomical amount of interest. They would have to tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall.

The Ministry of Finance could only use one lie after another to numb the Bankers in Europe, so that they could continue to lend the funds to the Russia to tide through the crisis. According to the optimistic judgement of the Moscow higher-ups, if they wanted to balance the Russia's finances gradually, it would take at least another ten years.