-1837 June 18-
Today Alexander has set up a steel and railway company.
The reason it took so long is because it was hard to find engineers who knew how to build railways and trains, he actually had to recruit some people from abroad.
But to protect the secret of the belinsky process for as long as possible only native russians were hired for it and no one other then him and the scientists know the full process.
"Ladies and gentlemen. I've brought you here today to lay down the first plan towards connecting the entirety of the russian empire through railways.
First we should priorotise profits only building railways where there will be guaranteed traffic, any suggestions?"
At the meeting one engineer who is nervous raised his hand and started to speak
"We should start small, for example connecting the city of St.petersburg to the port and small near by towns.
We can do the same for moscow and other minor cities.
And inside the cities themselves we could connect far-away places"
"Good, make sure the railways are profitable so that it will be easier to fund more railways in the future dissmissed."
And like that the engineers left one by one to work on a draft of specific railway lines.
The reason Alexander emphasises profit firat is because building railways in the 19th century were a LOT more expensive then he thought, Not to mention the bad weather.
The only saving grace is that the empire is mostly flat terrain if you don't go past the ural mountains.
And now he has another matter to address,
Selling the steel internationally.
He is 100% sure that his steel will crush all the competition and huge tons of money can be made. Especially the upcoming railway boom in britain, hell it may even start because of his cheap high quality steel.
He hasn't started yet because he has been busy consolidating, building more steel plants and looking for employees.
But now, its all ready, He can start exporting it.
-June 24-
The news of queen victorias coronation has reached Tsar Nicholas I, so he held a meeeting inviting all hos advisors as well as his son Alexander II
"With queen victorias coronation does anyone have thoughts on the national policy of the Brirish empire?"
Nicholas I asked, and one of his advisors started to speak.
"Your majesty queen victoria is only 18 years of age, she is young and inexpirienced.
We could try to be more domineering."
After the advisor stopped talking Alexander stood up to speak.
"I disagree. The british empire, unlike is a constitutional monsrchy, the queens power is limited. Sure, she has some influence but its not to the degree of overriding the parliament. The national policy of the british will never change, no matter what they must keep the balance of power in europe.
Else if a european hegemon rises then it can challenge the british empire, they will avoid that scenario at all costs"
Nicholas I, impressed by Alexanders assesment asks him another question.
"Do you think it is possible for russia to conquer the city of Constantinople?"
Alexander, not excpecting to be asked such a questions thinks for a bit and voices his honest opinion.
"No. Not even in the near future."
Seeing his fathers face darken for a bit Alexander knows he doesn't accept it but... thats reality. In the original timeline russia already tried 1853 crimean war. Russia declared war on the ottoman empire and
It didn't go well, britain and france naval invaded sevastopol and inflicited heavy casualties. The war ended in a stalemate with no side gaining or losing anything substantial.
"If war were declared on the ottomans what awaits us would be nothing but a disaster, unless we can somehow capture constantinople in a matter of a couple of months, hell we may have to capitulate the entire country in a matter of months.
Even with railways its basiclly impossible"
"Is there truly no way to gain a warm water port?"
"There actually is. IF the british empire were lets say... busy with other matters, like a large scale rebellion,We can try to conquer persia, they are backwards and given enough time its possible to conquer them completely.
The key is that the british are busy somewhere else and can only support persia in limited amounts. However that is unlikely to happen anytimes soon."
"Is see."
Having heard his fathers words Alexander cleared of his sweat, He doesn't want the russian empire to go in a large scale war.
Not only is it very expensive, which means less money overall for development but because he knows it will be useless.
The british are watching the russians like a hawk. And will oppose them in everything.
"Everyone Dismissed."
Slowly they all left.
Alexander must also prepare for the export of steel.
-1837 October 27-
Currently the british empires parliament is a mess. The reason? The cheap steel produced by the russians.
The moment cheap russian steel entered the british market it crushed all other competition as well as increased the demand for steel.
After all, such high quality steel for just 15 pounds per tonne is irresistable to anyone, especially the bussinessmen who build railways.
Since steel is over 10x stronger then cast iron the import rate of steel by the british empire has increased at an unprecedented rate.
Already importing over 50,000 tons of steel, and its increasing.
"Gentlemen, we must solve our current predicimant. If our import of russian steel continues, not only will we be entirely dependent on the russians but our gold reserves will also start to decrease."
"What are you worrying about? With the cheap steel the domestic economy is doing incredibly well, and with the construction of railways the average standard of living of a british citizen increased, if we forxibly limit imports and impose tariffs then what will happen to our country men?"
2 sides are fighting, those who wish to impose tariffs on russian steel and those that want things to stay that way which are the business men, if steel is cheap so is builsing with it cheaper thus allowing them to save on costs.
[End Of Chapter]
A/N I wonder what will happen? What kind of decisions will be made? Who knows.
Anyways, good day.