The court attendants at the St. Petersburg train station gave Crown Prince Nicholas a warm welcome. It had been a month since he'd been able to do the same. "Now I'm on the podium too!"Nikolai was overwhelmed with emotion. He'd been one of the applauding masses down there not so long ago. The accompanying brigade also said their goodbyes at the train station. After Ukhtomsky and a bunch of other civil and military officials gave Nikolai a salute, they left first. Prince George of Greece gave Nikolai a warm hug and got into his carriage. On the other hand, Nicholas drove from the train station to the Winter Palace in the most distinguished royal carriage. It was already October in St. Petersburg, with temperatures in the single digits, which made Nikolai look especially pale. He seemed to have inherited this trait from his mother, Empress Maria.The carriage circled the streets and eventually pulled into the Winter Palace, which Nicholas knew well but had never visited.The walls of the Hermitage were reddish in color and the columns were beige. This was a new change that Alexander III, the owner of the Hermitage, had brought to the building. After passing through the main gate, the carriage stopped. Nikolai stepped on the red carpet and looked a little hesitant. This was the first time he'd met his parents in this body, so he wasn't sure what to do. With this apprehension, Nikolai arrived in front of the Tsar and his wife, who were standing on the steps waiting for him.
"Father, mother..."
Based on the principle of saying more and saying less, Nikolai expressed his greetings succinctly.Hey Nikki, When we heard the news of your assassination, we were devastated! Nikolai remembered Alexander III as having a big physique, but this time, Nikolai noticed that his father's face was waxy and somewhat emaciated. "But God has once again favored you with salvation," he said.
"My poor little Nikki." Empress Maria's attitude became more pronounced as she stepped forward and touched Nikolai's forehead, which was only lightly scarred. Maria treated Nikolai as if he were an older boy. Nikolai's eyes welled up with tears, and he simply bowed his head and said that it was all a misunderstanding. "Regardless, it seems that God has protected you from danger for the second time." Alexander III nodded slightly. He was referring to the 1888 accident in which the Tsar's family survived a speeding derailment of the royal train due to safety violations. The incident brought back memories of a lot of fear for Nikolai. The family was then reunited, and Nikolai, as the eldest son, met his younger siblings on the walk to the Hermitage restaurant. Georgi, who unfortunately had tuberculosis, was Nikolai's second brother. Xenia was the Tsar's and his wife's eldest daughter. Mikhail was the third brother, and the youngest daughter was Olga. The family sat around the big circular dining table, with Alexander III at the head of the table leading all the family members in prayers before dinner and then eating. "Nikki!" "Tell us about your experience in the East!"Alexander III was a great dad who kept all the kids in line and eating in silence. But Mikhail, the youngest son, was so favored that he could be a bit more daring. Mikhail's words prompted Alexander III to look up at Nikolai, who nodded and said, "Yes, Nikki, speak to your younger siblings." "Well, actually..." Nikolai paused his hand that was holding the knife and fork to cut the lamb steak. He found two table knives and held them with his fingers to make the appearance of holding chopsticks. "The Orientals use a kind of food called 'chopsticks'. No knife and fork, just two wooden sticks to hold the food." Although Nicolas had a bit of trouble with the demonstration with two table knives, his move to hold up a slice of bread was still met with applause from his younger siblings. "... Other than that, the Far East—mainly Japan and China—is buying machines and sending foreign students to Western Europe. They're not leading the way, but they're still moving forward. After sharing a few interesting facts about different cultures with his younger siblings, Nicholas told Tsar Alexander III what he had learned from his observations."Do you think the Japanese will be our rivals in the Far East?" Alexander III asked Nikolai directly after listening to his theories about the Japanese. He wanted to know if Nikolai's views were influenced by personal feelings or by the theories he'd added to the original. "Both, actually." Nikolai said frankly, "Father, your plans for the Great Siberian Railroad have scared both Japan and China. They're worried that the Russian Empire's armies will quickly expand their territories in the Far East via the railroad." Some of the info came from his predecessor, Nikolai, and some was from Nikolai's own knowledge and analysis after the fact. "That's precisely what I'm aiming to do." Alexander III didn't beat around the bush. "The Far East is territory that the Western European powers haven't gotten yet, and the Russians deserve to reap the benefits there." "But the Brits are really scared of us expanding, so they do everything they can to keep us in check in the Mediterranean and Central Asia."This caught Alexander III's attention, and he looked at Nikolai with particular surprise. "Continue." "I think our expansion in the Far East will also alert the British, and they'll...," "Nikki!" "I hope you're polite to all the English..." Empress Maria spoke up to cut in on Nikolai's shallow conversation. She was from the Danish royal family, pro-English and anti-German. The rude Prussians had taken away two German duchy titles from her mother's Danish kingdom. "..." "No, Nikki, you talk, I'm listening." Alexander III, the family's outspoken parent, was pleased with his eldest son Nikolai's input, which seemed to be the first time that something constructive had come out of Nikolai's mouth regarding this country."Well, when the time comes, they'll probably choose to fund China or Japan against us." "But once the Siberian Railroad is finished, the Russian army will easily defeat those yellow, fragile toy soldiers." Alexander III made a show of strength by crushing a dinner fork into a ball with his bare hands and throwing it across the table."Well, to be honest..." Well, that's a good point. Nikolai paused, though he remembered this wasn't the first time his father had done this. The memory wasn't the same as the real experience, though, and his eyes lit up as he thought hard about it. "Yes, father, but that would be bloodshed in the Far East fighting the Chinese or the Japanese. And that would drain our finances and our lives." "Are we just going to sit back and watch?" "Are we just going to let the British and French make a profit in the Far East?" Alexander III nodded before asking Nicholas. "Well, railroads can do more than just move armies. They can also transport goods." "Our industries need markets too, but this expansion isn't about territory. It's about economics." Nikolai had a bit of a rough start, but he quickly found his footing. His predecessor had stored the information in his memory in bits and pieces. Some of it he had heard, some of it his teachers and the officials accompanying him had talked to him about. Now Nikolai was putting it all together. "Excellent! Ukhtomsky told me that Crown Prince Nicholas had gained a lot from his travels in the East, and it was true!"Alexander III raised his glass in a toast to Nikolai, the only one in the Winter Palace who drank wine at noon. This caused Empress Maria to grumble in a whisper. It turned out to be an exam, and Nikolai was sweating bullets. Czar Alexander III was 193 cm tall and had a broad waist. When he faced Nikolai, who was 178 cm tall and slim, Nikolai felt like he was facing a giant Russian bear. No further discussion took place, but once he had finished his meal, Alexander III called out to Nikolai, who was just about to leave. "Nikki!" "Come with me!" Alexander III, looking a bit worse for wear but a little rosier from the wine, took Nikolai in his stride and led him to the chambers belonging to the Tsar. "Come and see our 'Mr. Express'!" Just outside the office door stood a slightly hunched man, broad and fat like Alexander III, but not as tall. Sergei Yulievich Vetter, a guy his predecessor didn't like, came back to Nikolai's mind. Vetter was a new kind of minister in the Russian Empire government: a technocrat from the provinces. He was of Lutheran Baltic German ancestry, his father was a civil servant, and his mother was a duchess of the Dolgoruki family. Witte is unkempt, rude, and often unimpressed by his accomplishments. He comes across as extremely self-important. Vetter's brilliance and arrogance was just the right contrast to his predecessor Nikolai's mediocrity and low self-esteem. This was one of the reasons his predecessor had hated the technocrat from the province of Odessa."Your Majesty, Your Highness." Viktor followed the Tsar's father and son into the office after a quick salute. "Nikolai!" Veit suggested that I put you on the Siberian Railroad Commission. I think you can do it, don't you? Alexander III opened the door to Nikolai and told him about one of his decisions. "A railroad commission?" Nikolai was surprised by the job offer. "But I'm not an engineer and I don't know anything about railroads." "No, Your Highness, the committee is full of skilled experts." Veit spoke up to calm Nicholas down. "You'll be the chairman of the railroad committee. Your main job will be to coordinate and promote the continuation of the railroad work." In other words, to overcome the shirking of responsibilities and slow efficiency among bureaucrats in the capacity of the Crown Prince, Nikolai speculated, based on his experience as a junior clerk. "You can gain experience through work, like when I was head of the Odessa railroad department with no qualifications as a railroad engineer!" Viktor was all about showing off his impressive qualifications, while Alexander III looked over at Nikolai and said, "Nikki?" So, have you made up your mind? "Absolutely. I'll do a great job." Nikolai realized it was time to let it go, but it left him with a lot of mixed feelings. Just because Nikolai's last name was Romanov, he was able to get this position as chairman of the committee that only high-level government officials were qualified to sit on as soon as he got back home.