Chapter 118: An Invitation to the Tsar’s Palace
Tsar Nicholas II had taken the consequences of the Russian Civil War to heart. Forced to draft a constitution rather quickly following the defeat of the Bolsheviks in order to appease the aggrieved people of Russia, he had largely based it upon the German Constitution.
Meaning that the Tsar only had the power to declare a defensive war. As for any offensive war that was up for the State Duma to vote upon. Even so, he retained significant authority over the military, meaning that he had the power to simply not mobilize his forces even if the State Duma declared war on Germany in the coming years.
But that was starting to seem less and less like a possibility. Bruno's actions in Russia had changed things quite significantly. The man was viewed as a war hero by the nation, and the humanitarian efforts undertaken by the Iron Division, and the means of support they left behind after withdrawing, had left a good reputation of Germany on the Russian people.
As for the French, their covert attempt to assassinate Bruno while he was in Russia had left a very poor image of the French in the minds of the Russian People. The Tsar had only been informed of it after the war was over, and though it was blamed on the Marxists for the sake of wartime propaganda, a correction was made by the Tsar and his government after the truth was revealed to him.
Even so, the Russian people weren't angry that the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and other Marxist groups in Russia took the blame, as their fury was entirely vented upon the French. Because of this, Russian support for Germany was growing, especially when Bruno began investing in the rebuilding of Russia following its civil war.
Money had become a means for Bruno to acquire power. He, after all, lived a very humble life, and gaining control over Russian assets that were undiscovered, especially in the terms of raw materials, was an enormous benefit given to him by the Tsar after he became a member of the Russian landowning nobility.
In other words, using his knowledge from his past life, and his understanding of the Russian landscape, Bruno had begun buying up significant swaths of land that was currently deemed useless by its owners, knowing that many valuable resources which would be critical to future industry were located there.
Oil, Natural Gas, Titanium, Uranium, et cetera. If there was a valuable resource deposit in an area, he knew that had yet to be discovered, Bruno bought it. This included resources that would not be processed, refined, and used in production for another hundred years, like lithium.
Quite frankly speaking, this was actually a byproduct of Bruno's actions that he was now taking advantage of. He honestly did not expect to be granted the status of a hereditary nobleman in Russia. This came with the right for him and his family to own land in perpetuity within the nation.
Was it something he thought about in the back of his head when he initially planned to enter Russia in years past? Most certainly, the thought had crossed his mind. But considering the previous actions he had taken against Russia in the past, Bruno honestly thought Nicholas would be stingy in rewarding him for his victories against the Marxists.