Ch.142Let’s Get a Car.

***

I’ve heard that Keynes is a famous economist who worked at the Treasury during World War II and had some stake in creating the Bretton Woods system.

I understand he was also involved with the reserve currency issue.

To be precise, he didn’t advocate for the dollar as the reserve currency, but rather proposed creating an international common currency called “bancor” to serve as the reserve currency and establish an international monetary system. However, the proposal to make the dollar the reserve currency was what passed.

The bancor must have been a decent proposal, as the International Monetary Fund partially borrowed from it to create Special Drawing Rights (SDR).

What if we invited such a person to Moscow to try various things?

We could build a relationship with him and later try to create the bancor he proposed.

Of course, I don’t know if he would say the same things in this timeline. At least I don’t think it’s a bad idea.

I smiled and snapped my fingers.

“What about inviting him to Moscow?”

“You mean that British scholar?”

“He seems quite confident in his ideas. Why not have him research Modified Capitalism with our economists?”

I just attached some good concepts and called it Modified Capitalism, and there have been suggestions in the State Duma that Modified Capitalism needs some adjustments.

If that’s the case, he’s exactly the right person.

“But whether he’ll accept is another matter.”

“If we tell him he can research in Russia what he wants to try in Britain, he’ll accept.”

It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t accept.

It would be good to have him, but the United States of Greater Russia will continue functioning one way or another without him.

If we’re going to establish ties with Britain, this wouldn’t be a bad approach.

We’ll formally propose Modified Capitalism in Russia, reference his work, and build a relationship with him.

“Then I’ll inform the Okhrana.”

Right. Speaking of the Okhrana.

Wasn’t Beria in London now?

I placed him there as a liaison with Churchill.

“By the way, is Beria currently at the London branch in England?”

“Yes. He’s in charge of the Okhrana’s London branch.”

“Impressive that he hasn’t been detected by British intelligence.”

It’s remarkable that he hasn’t been caught yet.

I can certainly applaud our Beria for that.

“He’s quite capable in some ways, but isn’t it because Churchill has kept quiet about it?”

“Indeed. Since they’ve accepted our extended hand, they need a contact person.”

At least we’re not Reds, so from Churchill’s perspective, we’re not bad partners.

From his position, the current cabinet that bowed to the Communists probably looks like a bunch of traitors.

Anyway, the reason I brought up Beria was for one thing.

Jet engines.

It suddenly came to mind again.

I can’t see the future where Germany similarly puts jet engines in aircraft, but I’ve decided to prepare for any possibility by classifying Communist Germany as equivalent to Nazi Germany and looking to the future.

Overreacting, you say?

From Russia’s perspective, having to deal with Germany, it’s unavoidable.

Germany has been split in half, and Austria, unlike in the original history, is wary enough of German communism that they don’t want to unify with Germany.

Though they’re a far lower weight class than Nazi Germany, there’s no harm in being cautious.

A Red version of the Luftwaffe might suddenly appear and fight our air force.

Russia is technologically behind other countries.

Especially in aircraft technology.

We somewhat kept up with aircraft technology until World War II, but anyway, what I need to do is secure jet engine technology first.

“There should be a man named Frank Whittle at the Royal Air Force College or Royal Air Force Academy in Britain.”

“Why are you interested in him?”

I can’t mention jet engines yet.

If I bring up jet engines, I’d have to explain how they work.

While I remember some key figures, I don’t know the specifics of jet engines.

If I did, I would have built them myself. So I’ll just say it’s about development.

“His development work will be beneficial to Russia in the future.”

“Is what he’s developing related to weapons that could help us?”

Should I call jet engines weapons?

It’s a bit ambiguous to call them weapons, but they do go into weapons.

Since they go into weapons, let’s treat them as such.

“Yes. Tell them to contact him, become friendly, and provide support if he needs anything.”

“I will do so.”

Huh? Normally one would question this, right?

It seems too vague to just accept.

“You’re not curious about why I want to sponsor him?”

“Your Majesty is the Tsar of All Russia. You must have your reasons.”

It’s problematic that he accepts it so naturally. Hmm. Vladimir shouldn’t be like this.

Right. Usually, people would question “Why?” and in Korea, when they opposed what the king was doing, they’d submit petitions of resignation and protest by planting stakes in the ground.

These yes-men who blindly believe everything I say are a bit frightening.

What I’m saying now is essentially ordering the mind control of some Englishman.

“Well, the issue is elsewhere. What is this?”

I tilted my head at the new document before me.

“It’s about expanding Russia’s infrastructure, submitted by the Ministry of Land and Transportation. The entire State Duma approved it, so it’s essentially the consensus of the Duma.”

“Infrastructure expansion? What’s most lacking?”

“Roads, wouldn’t you say?”

“Roads. Roads. Hmm. I agree roads are necessary. What good are railways alone? The more roads, the better. But what good are roads alone? Let’s install many traffic lights too.”

Right. I understand.

We can’t just build roads. Let’s install traffic lights too.

Modern traffic lights don’t exist in this era, but that’s not a bad idea.

“Traffic lights. Understood.”

“And if we build roads, we need cars too, don’t we?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We’ve been importing cars from various automobile companies, including Ford from America.”

That’s true.

I myself have received some as gifts from foreign automobile companies.

I haven’t driven them much, but anyway, we do have foreign cars.

There aren’t any notable Russian car companies yet.

We established a tank design bureau in Yekaterinburg to make tanks, but we don’t know much about cars yet.

“It’s still difficult with our own capabilities.”

“We recently imported many trucks from Austria’s Laurin & Klement company.”

“Laurin & Klement?”

That sounds familiar.

“It’s a car company that faced management difficulties due to defects where their trucks caught fire during production after the Great War.”

They sold trucks to us?

I wonder if they’re courting us for investment.

Wait, Laurin & Klement seems familiar.

“Laurin & Klement. Laurin & Klement. Ah.”

It’s Škoda.

It’s a prestigious Czech car company.

It was acquired by Škoda Works and became Škoda Auto, and I heard their cars are quite famous.

During World War II, they also produced light tanks and developed main guns for tanks.

From the mention of Laurin & Klement, it seems they haven’t been acquired yet.

“Do the trucks we received have fire problems?”

If they have fire problems, wouldn’t that be dangerous?

If so, there’s no reason to use them.

“They were donated for military use if needed.”

So they won’t be used by civilians?

“Hmm, let’s acquire them.”

“The company, you mean?”

In the original history, they fell under Nazi Germany’s military industry during World War II, and later were nationalized when a communist regime took power in Czechoslovakia. If Austria is holding onto them now, history will change again.

Regardless, due to historical irony, if Škoda hasn’t acquired them yet, it might be worth targeting Laurin & Klement.

Škoda is quite a good car company.

I heard they grew tremendously with Volkswagen’s investment later. It doesn’t sound bad.

“Let’s move forward with acquisition.”

“Your Majesty?”

“Why not acquire a failing car company cheaply and have it produce in Russia? We can tap into Prince Yusupov’s wallet. This is just my personal thought. The Duma should focus on infrastructure.”

“Yes. Understood.”

The car issue can be handled separately.

I may not know about cars for all citizens, but if we’re building roads and such, we need to have cars driving around, right?

I immediately summoned Prince Yusupov.

His face, which had been gaunt when he returned from the civil war to reclaim his property, had recently gained some oil and become plump.

You can tell how someone’s life is going just by their appearance.

The well-oiled and plump Yusupov has probably already amassed all the money he can.

I know the recipes and business methods I passed on to him have worked well.

Now, can the Tsar tap into some of that money?

“Your Majesty. What brings me here today?”

Perhaps because of my sly smile, our prince gulped.

If I called you, wouldn’t you sense something?

I simply smiled with my chin resting on one hand.

“Um, Your Majesty, why did you summon me?”

Right. Right. Then shall I tell you?

“You have shares in radio and oil businesses, and you’ve made a lot of money recently, haven’t you? Of course, it’s all thanks to me, but I understand the ramen and choco pie businesses are also progressing.”

“Y-yes?”

I’m just repeating what I’ve said before.

Why am I saying it again? It’s simple.

I need to dangle this bait so our oily prince will lay golden eggs.

“I’d like to dabble in the automobile sector. Haven’t you been handling some money recently?”

“Well, I’ve been looking into automobiles since there’s talk of building roads on a large scale.”

“Is that so? How is it going?”

Yusupov has already looked into exactly what I had in mind.

That’s helpful for me.

“Well, our Russian Frese company was sold to the Russo-Balt automobile factory. G.A. Lester also withdrew from the automobile business.”

Right. With few companies surviving the civil war, there wouldn’t be many automobile companies.

From his response, it seems these companies have already failed.

As far as I know, there’s a high dependence on automobiles.

“Are there no notable companies?”

“There is one. The Russo-Balt company I mentioned earlier. Unlike other companies, they held out quite long.”

“What happened to them?”

Should we invest in them?

No. If they held out for a long time, that means they barely survived.

Maybe their business vision wasn’t good.

“Actually, they were still producing vehicles until two years ago. But I understand they’re on the verge of closing.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

So they’ve failed too.

Thinking about it, they went through World War I and the revolution, so it wouldn’t have been easy.

If they were based in the Baltic region, German forces entered that area. They must have suffered damage.

“Surprisingly, their performance wasn’t bad. They even produced the Ilya Muromets.”

“The Ilya Muromets?”

“Yes. They made as many as 80 of them, and at their peak, they produced up to 1,000 passenger cars, trucks, and buses.”

This is quite unexpected.

For a car company to even make bombers means they were doing well.

Currently, the Ilya Muromets is being reproduced at Igor Sikorsky’s design bureau.

So we’re almost entirely dependent on foreign countries for cars?

“Hmm, so we’re almost entirely dependent on foreign countries now?”

“Yes, realistically we’re dependent on other countries’ automobiles. There’s especially high preference for Ford from America, which helped us during the civil war.”

“I see.”

Indeed. If you asked Russians which country they have the most favorable impression of, America would probably be first.

Although the Entente powers provided support through the Black Sea, it was America that provided enormous support to the Siberian White Army in Yekaterinburg, which was the main force in the early civil war.

There was almost no military support, but some White Army generals praise Patton.

In simple terms, it’s like this.

Isn’t it similar to having favorable impressions of countries that helped during the Korean War?

Anyway, except for Ungern, in the major battles of the Ukrainian theater, Patton rampaged around, buying time for Anton Denikin to advance northward and attack.

Pro-American Russia. It’s quite confusing.