The Year-End meeting

In the Russian Empire, as in every other country, there were annual meetings to present progress to the Tsar and allocate the budget for the next year.

This year, the Tsar had selected 26 December as the date for this year's meeting. But this time,

there was also a novelty.

The crown prince, Nicholas was going to participate in the meeting.

The ministers walked into the lavishly decorated conference room of the majestic Winter Palace. They were quite familiar with this room and in the middle, there was a large table in which a map and piles of documents rested.

The ministers took their respective seats and threw a last glace at thee documents they had to present to the Tsar.

After some minutes, an aide stepped into the room, announcing:

"His Imperial Majesty, Tsar Alexander III, and His Highness, Tsarevich Nicholas, are here!"

~~Tsarevich Nicholas???, what is he doing here?!~~ was the collective thought of every minister present in the room. The ministers exchanged glances for a second before turning their attention towards the opened door through which Alexander walked in first and Nicholas right behind him.

They all respectfully bowed towards their emperor.

Alexander walked solemnly and sat on his seat at the top of the table, while Nicholas sat beside him.

"Everyone, sit." said Alexander.

When everyone sat and got comfortable, Alexander finally spoke again:

"As you can see, Nicholas will be with us today. And not just today, but I have decided he will be joining us in all government meetings from now on to observe and be best prepared for his future rule of the Motherland."

Nicholas observed the faces of the members of his father's cabinet and he saw mixed feelings. Curiosity, support, frowning, respect.

It was more or less what he had expected.

He had expected the Minister of Interior, Count Ivan Durnovo and the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod, Konstantin Pobedonotsnev to be his main opposers. And indeed, he was right.

He could clearly see both of them frowning.

Konstantin Pobedonotsnev was actually his tutor but he was overly conservative.

While Durnovo was a conservative man through and through.

His political stance was wholly anti-reformist and he always believed stability and conservatism to be the key to the suppression and security of the populance.

Nicholas thought of Count Tolstoy to be a blind man. Blind not in the literal sense of the word, but blind to see how fast the times was changing. The revolutionary ideas the french ignited were swiftly spreading throughout Europe and the whole world.

Nationalism was on the rise and this was actually the period the populance would become more and more expectant to change and reform...

Anyway, as much as these two key figures of the Russian government wanted to oppose the addition of Nicholas, they couldn't. Simply because they understood from the tone of Alexander that this decision was final.

So they did what nobles knew best, they exchanged plesantries with Nicholas even if their eyes told other stories.

Alexander coughed and said "alright gentlemen, time to officially start our meeting."

Everyone toughed up and Alexander continued "We have much to discuss. Minister Witte, I invite you to begin with the financial review."

Count Sergei nodded and commenced. "Thank you, Your Majesty. As we approach the end of the fiscal year, I first want to state we had a budget deficit of around 10 Million Rubles.

Tax revenues are rising, Your Majesty, but they cannot keep pace with the rising costs of modernization and military expenditures. Still it is understandable since we are realizing many projects which I am very confident will bear the fruits later.

Inflation is still present at around 6% annually. The prices for essential goods, including food and industrial products are still rising, leading to decreased purchasing power for the general populance.

That's why, Your Majesty, our reliance on the agrarian system must be replaced by the industrial system as soon as possible.

This year we had a 5-6% annual growth rate in industrial sectors, particularly in textiles and heavy industries, just like the global trend.

The total length of the railways throughout the Motherland has increased to 25,000 kilometers.

Our Iron and Steel output have increased by 30% and 33% with 2.2 million tons and 1 million tons per year respectively. Safe to say we're already on France's level but far away from Germany, let alone the British or the United States.

While sadly our coal production remains quite low at 7 Million tons compared to the other great powers.

--- To give you a comparison, Great Britain had an annual production of 185 million tons of coal, the United States 160 million tons and then in third place we have Germany with 75 Million tons annually ---

Sergei sighed and added "The cause of this is our insufficent industrial sector and our transport routes. That's why for next year I ask for a 15 million Rubles budget increase for the construction of railways, especially the Trans-Siberian railway, the place we get our coal from and investment into the industrial sector."

"If I may, Father," interjected Nicholas "I believe the industrial sector will very soon become the most important sector of our economy. Mabye the results of these investments will not be obvious right away but the future generations of Russia will surely see it.

Giving priority to industry and railways which come with it will definitely be worth it."

Alexander nodded while a vein formed on Count Toltoy's forehead.

"Thank you, Sergei, you may sit" said Alexander while shifting his eyesight to the Minister of War, Pyotr Vannovsky.

The latter caught the hint, rose from his seat and began presenting his data.

"Your Majesty, currently we have a standing army of 1.3 million troops ready to defend the Motherland against any threats and about 4 million reserves.

Our numbers are definitely higher than the other European counterparts, but, our army remains not modernized.

Also assesments indicate that we need to improve mobilization logistics, particularly for troops in the Far East.

Tensions and skirmishes are rising in the Far East so I would also like to ask for a 10 million Rubles budget increase for modernization and research efforts."

"Thank you, mr. Pyotr.

Tolstoy, you may begin" stated Alexander.

The Minister of the Interior rose from his seat and eloquently started presenting

"Your Majesty, our census of this year indicated that the population grew by around 3% arriving to 126 Million people.

It is estimated 80% of our population still lives in the countryside although industrial cities like our St. Petersburg and Moscow have been growing quite switfly.

We predict the urbanization will continue rapidly because of continous labor demands. But this also brought social unrest, leading to strikes and labor movements but until now everything is under control.

As for our attempts to push for russification in the Baltic, Poland and Ukraine, we, as usual, face significant resistance among local populations but they have been successfully suppressed by force.

We will keep up our work for the security and well-being of the empire in the name of Your Majesty the Tsar just like we have been doing until today!"

Alexander nodded and beaconed for the the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Georgy Sergeyevich Giers to continue...