Dominate the Country

Although it is not summer yet, the temperature in St. Petersburg is still quite high at noon. Even if you sit in the house, you can feel the steam outside.

This is the heart of the Russian Provisional Government - the Winter Palace.

Since the Romanov dynasty was overthrown and Tsar Nicholas II and his family were imprisoned, the Winter Palace has become the presidential palace of the Provisional Government.

As the acting president of the Provisional Central Government of the Russian Republic, Alexander Fodorovich Kerensky is now sweating profusely, half of which is hot and the other half is anxious. Although the electric fan on the table in front of him has been whirring, it can't stop the sweat beads from rolling down his neck into his clothes one by one.

How can he not be anxious?

Now the presidential palace of the Provisional Government has been surrounded by protesters for five consecutive days. What does this represent? People's dissatisfaction with the Provisional Government is intensifying. Also in this city, on the other side of the city, the armed forces of the workers instigated by the red elements are still growing. The Provisional Government can be said to be troubled by internal and external troubles, Kerensky Alexander.

The workers' armed forces were not strong. Compared with the entire Russian military force, they were as weak as a small flame in the wind. But there is a saying in China: A spark can start a prairie fire. With the existence of this armed force, Kerensky could not use tough measures to drive away the demonstrators, because the people who surrounded the Winter Palace were all ordinary citizens of St. Petersburg, and they were the objects of the Reds' unity.

The Provisional Government is now under great pressure, and it is better not to drive people to the opponent.

Kerensky is not stupid, he is a very smart person. His moderate political attitude and emotional eloquence have established a good personal image for him. The two previous imprisonments have also brought him great political prestige. He reached the pinnacle of Russian politics at the age of 35. How could he be a person without knowledge and IQ?

Kerensky knows very well what Russia needs now.

If he completely turns to China, with China's assistance, Russia's predicament will be relieved in an instant.

After all, Russia, with a population of only 80 million, is too small compared to China, with a population of over 1 billion. With the backing of the Chinese government, Russia's national debt can be exchanged for billions of yuan in the Chinese market in a blink of an eye. Factories will be built one after another in Russia, a large number of surplus rural labor will be absorbed, social wealth will be able to move to the maximum extent, and China's vast "land/market" will be open to Russia.

From Istanbul to Egypt, from Egypt to the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, from the Cape of Good Hope to South America thousands of miles away, as long as it is a place where humans can survive, Russia, with the protection of China, can go unimpeded.

Isn't Russia's current situation of internal and external difficulties caused by the debt crisis? Year after year of huge debt compensation crushed the Romanov dynasty, just like the French Bourbon dynasty was crushed by debt. However, the Chinese promised openly that as long as Russia surrendered to China, the remaining part of Russia's war reparations against China would not only be written off, but the amount of compensation paid in the previous 20 years would also be fed back to Russia by China. This has nothing to do with the aid funds promised by the Chinese. They are two different things.

The feedback of compensation is compensation, and aid funds are aid funds.

It can be said that as long as there is money, the Russian Provisional Government will be able to revive immediately. Because as long as there is money, the Russian national army can always be firmly controlled by the Provisional Government. Compared with them, the Red Workers' Armed Pickets are a joke.

Kerensky was very confident in his political propositions. Compared with the Reds' vanity, Kerensky's theory and temptation derived from China's real politics are very strong.

First of all, he supports democracy and has no ambition to be an emperor; he advocates civil liberties, women's equal rights and universal suffrage, and also supports the "Labor Protection Law", "Women and Children Protection Law" and so on.

It can be said that Kerensky's political theory is far more attractive than that of the Reds. Because many of his policies and suggestions were copied from his neighboring country, the powerful world hegemon China. This alone can unite the hearts of most people in Russia.

But while being a politician, Kerensky is also an idealist. In his 35 years of life, he was an anti-China element for most of the time, or more accurately, he was a Russian angry young man.

Just like China's modern history of humiliation has given birth to countless angry young people in modern society. Kerensky is also a Russian angry young man. The century-long history of humiliation in modern China in the original time and space is a lesson that the entire Chinese nation has remembered deeply, so what about Europe in the current time and space?

From the rise of Chen Han to the end of the Second East-West War, Europeans first lost Southeast Asia and America, and later lost the hegemony of the entire world. Russia, as the main battlefield of several land wars, lost most of its land.

Except that Chinese soldiers did not carry out massacres on Russian soil, the humiliation that China gave to Europe and Russia was no less shallow than the shame that Japan left on China.

Kerensky also has his own political base, and as the political concept that consolidates his base, anti-China thought is very strong in it. If Kerensky accepts China's "good intentions" now, let alone other things, his followers will be in chaos.

This is also the reason why Kerensky has persisted until now and gritted his teeth and refused to give in to China.

But Kerensky gritted his teeth and resisted China's temptation, but turned around and faced Russia's difficult domestic situation head-on.

The Tsar has been placed under house arrest, and some greedy nobles have even been hanged, but Russia is already facing difficult financial pressures. Ukraine's grain production has not dropped significantly, but it takes action to transport this grain to the whole of Russia.

In recent years, Russia has relied on a large export of basic raw materials in exchange for industrial products from Western society and China. The huge gap between industry and agriculture has made Russia's rural areas poor, while at the same time, the big merchants who control the materials of life are trying their best to exploit the workers in the city. Why did the red ideology spread in several major industrial cities in Russia? That's because they are poor and they suffer from the oppression of the bourgeoisie. And where there is oppression, there is resistance.

Kerensky needed to face the Russian society that was completely messed up by the Romanov dynasty. From top to bottom, from inside to outside, the Russian society was completely corrupt and degenerate. He was not a god, so how could he easily make the entire Russian society harmonious and peaceful?

Kerensky had no idea now, but as a political leader, although his experience in political struggle was not rich, his political sense was extremely sensitive. So many people gathered outside the Winter Palace, and his intuition told him that this matter was definitely not as simple as it seemed. There must be someone standing behind those citizens who were crying and shouting in front of the gate of the Winter Palace, and that person must be his enemy.

But Kerensky couldn't figure out who was behind the incitement of the citizens of St. Petersburg to make trouble.

Was it Lvov? The acting president of the provisional government who was replaced by him?

It was indeed possible, but there was no evidence at all. And in the whole of St. Petersburg, there was more than one Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov who could do this.

Russia is experiencing a once-in-a-century change, and who would not want to take advantage of the opportunity to rise up if they have a brain? The Tsar fell, and a considerable number of old bureaucrats were liquidated and arrested. The power vacuum left behind caused the socialists who have been jumping around for years to fight and bleed, and also caused endless chaos. So there are too many suspects.

Kerensky was annoyed and had doubts, but the most important thing now was how to deal with the aftermath.

He had just sat on the throne of acting president, and the crater under the seat began to emit heat. Kerensky could not let the volcano continue, otherwise the eruption of the volcano would definitely kill him without a burial place.

The citizens outside were not protesting the latest law promulgated by the Provisional Government. They were protesting that they could not buy enough food, that the price of food in St. Petersburg was constantly soaring, and that the merchants in St. Petersburg were hoarding and the government was ignoring it...

Kerensky had a good impression of this aspect. He even thought of Paris after the French Revolution more than a hundred years ago. Didn't the Directory at that time also make thousands of Parisians hungry every day? There was no capital to restrict it. They didn't care about the lives of the citizens at all, but just raised the price of food and made all the profits they could.

This scene in St. Petersburg is a replay of what happened in Paris that year. The Russian Socialists are a standard bourgeois party. The food business in St. Petersburg and the rising food prices are inextricably linked to many bigwigs in the Socialist Party.

Kerensky also didn't approve of the current food prices, but cutting off someone's financial resources was like killing his parents. Kerensky didn't have the ability to carry out his intentions. The issue of limiting food prices has been discussed over and over in the Russian Parliament for a month or two, but there is still no explanation.

But this is not the reason why the Winter Palace was surrounded.

This is the presidential palace, the seat of the highest authority of the provisional government. If it is surrounded by a group of civilians for three or two days, the provisional government will lose face and dignity.

Among the foreign envoys stationed in Russia, some people urged Kerensky to make up his mind as soon as possible and use "thunderous means" to maintain the authority of the Russian government center. But they are just talking without any pain.

Only God knows how bad the situation in Russia is. There is only one policy suitable for Russia at the moment - recuperation.

If possible, it is the ambassador to Russia, and Kerensky does not want to see any of them.

The reason why Russia ended up like this is not only because of the war reparations demanded by China, but also because Britain, France and other countries have an unshirkable responsibility. Their hands are longer than those of the Chinese. They supported political forces in Russia and intervened in Russian evidence decades ago. Russia's current bad situation is inseparable from their contribution.

Kerensky sat in his office alone and pondered for a long time, but he couldn't make up his mind in the end, let alone think of a perfect plan.

In this city, there are too many constraints restricting him. In fact, what is most needed to solve this chaos is power.

Using power to establish an order, even if it is unreasonable, even if it is terrible, it is better than no order.

Liberalism is very marketable in this era of change, and once it spreads, it will be a headache for any government.

But at this moment, the phone on Kerensky's desk suddenly rang. Kerensky's brain, which was filled with thousands of thoughts, suddenly cleared up. He picked up the phone on the table, and the panicked voice of the captain of the Winter Palace guard came from the other end of the phone.

"Sir, I heard gunshots, gunshots were heard in the demonstrators. But I swear, the guards did not shoot, and none of us here fired. Sir, now it's all messed up, all messed up..."

Originally, the demonstrators outside the Winter Palace were not very orderly, even if someone was organizing them. However, when the gunshots rang, the power of order was instantly turned into nothing. The captain of the guard didn't know how many people were in the demonstrators in front of him, anyway, it was completely chaotic.

Just like a flock of sheep without restraint, like a herd of horses that were suddenly frightened...

The words of the captain of the guard made Kerensky feel like he was collapsing at this moment. "Who fired the gun? Which bastard gave the order?"

The microphone also heard countless shouts and panicked shouts. Kerensky sat back in his chair dejectedly.

"Take care of the aftermath!"

Kerensky had a lot of things to say in his heart, but in the end, all he could say was these four words.

He no longer thought about who was in charge of this matter. Kerensky's brain was already thinking about how he would deal with it next.

But Kerensky stood up first and walked out of the office. But as soon as he opened the door, he saw a man coming in, who was the captain of the Winter Palace guard. The gunshots must be taken off the guards, otherwise Kerensky, who was accused of shooting civilians, would be completely infamous for thousands of years.

The impact of such things is very, very bad, and someone will catch him. Moreover, this kind of "strong" suppression of the marching crowd is seriously inconsistent with the political ideas he has promoted to the outside world, and it is very likely that the entire person's external image will collapse. In that case, Kerensky will no longer have any political future.

He died completely at once, without even the possibility of a resurgence.

This was obviously not what Kerensky needed.

The Winter Palace Guard had more than 2,000 people, and this was a reinforced regiment. The captain of the guard had a close relationship with Kerensky. Before the others arrived, Kerensky and the captain of the guard whispered to each other. The captain's panicked face first froze, and then he gritted his teeth...

Twenty minutes later, Kerensky, who appeared outside the Winter Palace in person, was hit in the abdomen by a flying bullet while trying his best to comfort the injured people. He fainted on the spot. The Provisional Government, which had just experienced the change of acting president, seemed to be welcoming the third acting president.