Ch.83Let’s Draw Up a Blueprint

* * *

It was about time.

I called in people like Beria, except for some Okhrana agents dispatched to America.

They said they couldn’t find Trotsky.

Well, finding Trotsky was only “if possible.”

It couldn’t be helped that they couldn’t locate Trotsky who had crossed the Atlantic early due to history’s whims.

“You couldn’t find Trotsky?”

“No. We couldn’t find him. I apologize.”

Beria hung his head.

What a hypocrite. Of course, he probably genuinely tried to find Trotsky, but isn’t he being too obvious with his act in front of me?

Right. I suppose he wants to curry favor with me that badly.

“This man tried incredibly hard. He even nearly got caught beating up communists in America.”

“Was there anything unusual? Anyone who resembled him?”

Trotsky fled Petrograd to save his life, whether willingly or not.

He must have disguised himself to avoid the Okhrana.

If so, they should have at least found someone similar.

“We saw someone resembling Trotsky, but we didn’t meet him directly.”

What does that mean?

They saw someone resembling Trotsky but didn’t meet him directly.

Perhaps they saw a photo or something?

He doesn’t need to make excuses, I would have understood. This is rather annoying.

“You didn’t meet him directly?”

“There was a chicken-frying old man statue that resembled Trotsky. We even wanted to meet the actual person.”

The Okhrana agent standing next to Beria handed me a photo.

It was a statue in front of some fast food restaurant.

Wait, this looks exactly like the KFC guy.

It’s precisely what Trotsky would look like if he were fat, smiling warmly, and holding a chicken leg.

Doesn’t KFC come out decades later than now?

“Hmm. This looks exactly like that KFC grandfather statue.”

“Pardon?”

Ah, that slipped out.

It just looked so much like that grandfather that I momentarily got confused.

KFC shouldn’t exist yet, so this can’t be KFC.

“Never mind. So you didn’t meet this person directly?”

They probably didn’t meet him.

Judging by Beria’s behavior, he seems to have seen Trotsky from afar many times.

Whether he learned about him from the Bolsheviks’ harsh treatment of the people or something else, if he had met him directly, he would have recognized him immediately.

“No. Could this person be Trotsky?”

Beria is asking me as if I have some kind of precognition.

Yes. It’s Trotsky.

Unless Colonel Harland Sanders has traveled back in time like me saying, “I’m going to fry chicken faster!” and is trying to make chicken decades earlier, that’s probably Trotsky.

Who would have thought that the revolutionary Trotsky would be frying chicken?

Despite appearances, who knows what he might be plotting behind the scenes.

This guy frying chicken?

Fried chicken. Honestly, it’s hard to resist.

Isn’t there a theory that fried chicken originated with Black slaves?

During this period, Black people were still suffering from racial discrimination and poor treatment.

For some reason, I can’t help thinking that Trotsky might be frying chicken while secretly organizing Black people for some scheme.

Hmm.

If my hypothesis is correct, this could be a money-making opportunity.

Imagine if Trotsky incites Black people to start a revolution. Of course, given America’s status, the country wouldn’t immediately be overturned, but if he managed to unite Black people and communists well, he could potentially lead them into a civil war.

Instead of capturing this guy now, let’s watch him. He’ll eventually make a move.

If we exploit the opportunity to intervene properly…

Couldn’t we extract some money from those Yankees?

Since Patton is here too, I can send him back.

If other agents hadn’t stopped him, Beria would have eventually found this Trotsky.

So, is there really a need to capture him now?

Although America is modern Korea’s ally and a superpower, I don’t need to help them right now just because of my past life.

Rather, I should let this cancer called Trotsky grow a bit more and intervene later.

“How would I know? Don’t poke around too much or you might be exposed as Okhrana, which could cause diplomatic issues. Just establish a branch in America.”

We need to create an Okhrana branch to periodically… well, let’s call it TFC for now.

We need to keep an eye on Trotsky’s TFC.

Somehow, I feel like TFC could really explode in America.

“Then what should I do now?”

While I was thinking, Beria cautiously asked while watching my expression.

Ah, yes. He’s completely ingrained with a slave mentality.

Very good attitude.

He must be afraid I’ll punish him for failing to capture Trotsky. So he’s preemptively asking what to do, essentially saying “I’m the Tsarina’s slave, please command me.”

For now, keeping him as an Okhrana agent wouldn’t be bad.

“Beria. I’m appointing you as an official Okhrana agent. For now, keep an eye on Grand Duke Kirill’s movements in Finland.”

He’s not a Grand Duke anymore, but I should call him that mockingly.

No matter what he does in Finland, he’ll just keep insisting “I am the Tsar!” But we need to pressure him regularly to prevent unnecessary actions.

“What if he makes suspicious moves?”

“Like what?”

This guy’s eyes are gleaming fiercely.

Let’s hear what he has to say.

It might be interesting to hear what he comes up with.

“What if he claims to be the true heir to the Tsar, violating Your Majesty’s authority?”

This guy is quite sharp, as expected of his reputation.

He’s actually claiming the Tsar’s position, so it’s not wrong.

Our Beria is using his brain well.

“That won’t happen, but hmm. Yes. If he really does that, just give him a warning. After all, he is Vladimir’s father, so we can’t kill him.”

No matter how much he betrayed me, I can’t kill him.

Even if he now claims “I am the Tsar!” he was already treated as a fool among the Romanov royals in the original history.

If he claims to be the Tsar now, wouldn’t people think he’s truly gone mad?

I did criticize Kirill for boldly demanding power, but…

He’s not someone who lacks that much judgment.

The difference in our status and hierarchy is so clear?

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Beria and the Okhrana withdrew.

I hope this doesn’t mean KFC won’t exist.

It would be nice if a Black civil war really broke out.

I stood up and went to the window.

As spring approaches, the weather is getting better with sunshine on this fine day.

It’s been a while since I had a day without grading papers, so let me think a bit.

Alright, let’s envision the future.

Let’s consider various variables without letting our guard down.

First, Germany will use Poland as its hunting dog to tear things apart, and continue weapon development.

This is proceeding according to plan. Then, it ultimately comes down to America.

How will Trotsky act?

Let’s say my guess is correct and he’s inciting Black people and people of color.

Since it’s difficult to immediately start a communist revolution in America, Trotsky will certainly try to recruit Black people who are discriminated against in American society.

Let’s say Trotsky successfully incites Black people and communists, drags them up by their collars, and starts a civil war.

America’s second civil war would be a Black-White civil war.

A civil war between Black and White people. Humanly speaking, it’s hard to know if America would split in half like the North and South if a civil war broke out.

Trotsky will probably wait for the right moment and make his move when the Great Depression hits.

If a civil war really breaks out properly, America would have no choice but to seek foreign help.

France, having suffered greatly in the Great War, is out of the question.

Britain, considering the original history, has too many other concerns, so they’re obviously impossible. I’m not even sure if they would have troops to spare.

Communist Germany or Communist Italy aren’t even worth mentioning.

What remains is the United States of Greater Russia, which extremely despises communists and was born from drinking the blood of communists, with plenty of infantry.

Isn’t it obvious who they would lean on?

Of course, the world won’t revolve according to my thoughts.

America is a vast country.

Trotsky might suddenly die, or his Black chicken club might just remain that.

Trotsky might suddenly have a change of heart and create a Black civil rights association or something.

But if things go according to my wishes?

How about getting Alaska back?

Depending on how the civil war goes, I could even fantasize about reclaiming all former Russian American territories, extending to Northern California.

When Russia advanced into America, the Spanish California was terrified to see Russians coming near their colony looking for fur.

I heard they even built Fort Ross near San Francisco.

They advanced so far that they even reached parts of Hawaii and started building fortresses until they received protests.

Of course, this fantasy assumes everything goes extremely well.

If none of this works out, well…

It might be good to keep an eye on Trotsky, who’s become a chicken restaurant owner, so we can capture him anytime.

It would be troublesome if the White House found out that the Okhrana has infiltrated America.

If there’s no opportunity to make money…

Then I’ll just have to rake in money using Russia’s resources.

I’ll have to grab Russia’s capital by the collar and make at least one nuclear bomb.

One for testing, and one for Germany.

Let me draw up a blueprint.

We’ll sell resources to Japan.

I don’t know if Chen Jiongming’s Federalism Movement China will fight Japan as much as in the original history, but as much as we support Japan, Japan will fight China and America, splattering blood.

Ah, wait.

What if I give them oil but they don’t go to war with America?

There were complex reasons for attacking America first, but I don’t know how the snowball I’ve set in motion will roll.

Moreover, I don’t know if the Axis Alliance will be formed, so I need to watch the situation.

I can’t even be sure if the Pearl Harbor attack will happen.

So, I should just do some moderate meddling.

It would be nice if America, China, and Japan forced each other to bleed profusely. Let’s leave it at that for now.

Look outside that window. Moscow’s reconstruction has progressed quite a bit.

It’s not perfect, but it’s been built well enough that I won’t have to pound the ground crying “Oh my city!” when German troops invade and bombard it.

The damage from the civil war has mostly been repaired now. Now, should I decide on the capital issue?

More precisely, I’m thinking of officially resolving the capital issue while also addressing the remains of the Tsar’s family that are still carelessly left in the Yekaterinburg cemetery.

To do that, I need to present my opinion to the State Duma.

I’m a teacher who grades papers.

I think this is an issue that Anastasia, Nicholas II’s daughter, should resolve.

Georgy Lvov should be educating Vladimir right now.

I decided to call for him.

* * *

“You called for me?”

Georgy Lvov came very quickly.

It seems he was just about to return after teaching Vladimir.

“Is Vladimir learning well?”

“He’s still young so his future is uncertain, but he’s intelligent now. At least he doesn’t seem like he’ll follow the same path as Grand Duke Kirill.”

That’s good. It would be troublesome if he were full of opportunism and greed like Grand Duke Kirill.

It’s fortunate that I assigned Lvov to him from a young age to teach him well.

“That’s fortunate.”

“Does Your Majesty perhaps dream of autocracy again?”

Of course not.

How could I dream of autocracy?

“The imperial family should be the focal point for the Russian people, and power should come solely from the State Duma and the citizens who support the Duma.”

“I see.”

This hasn’t changed even now.

I am a free person, not a fool.

I was originally Korean, and while I’m not without some monarchist tendencies, that’s sufficiently possible with a constitutional monarchy.

Anyway, if the Romanovs are to be maintained after my death, they must be maintained by the State Duma.

If I dreamed of autocracy, there would be some in the White Army who would support that.

So I absolutely don’t think that way.

“I’m thinking of having him serve in the military under the White Army once he’s past his mid-teens.”

I need to cultivate support bases for after me, so the State Duma will properly treat him as Tsar.

“Hmm, since there’s the position of Tsar, you’re considering military support.”

Georgy Lvov said that while gently stroking his bearded chin.

Yes. That’s what most people would think.