The role of bureaucrats

 After a few days, Nikolai showed up at the Railway Bureau under the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Empire, wearing a small round hat, a cane in his right hand, and a briefcase in his left. He was dressed in a blue-gray coat and a small Bourgeois dress. He stopped to look around.

 According to the arrangement of his father, Alexander III, Nicholas assumed the post of chairman of the Siberian Railway Commission, but after that, nothing happened.

　　Although he already knew that he was just a handful, Nikolai was still surprised. He hadn't expected such a blatant failure to act.

Nikolai's interests were very different now. If it was his predecessor, he would have already gone to his playmates to spend time with them, but Nikolai didn't like them.

　　Nicholas remembered what he had seen on his way to Orenburg and its neighboring provinces, but when he mentioned it to his father, Alexander III just nodded and said that he knew, and that it was up to his ministers to take care of it. So what was Nicholas to do next? He was shocked to realize that, despite his predecessor being over twenty years old, he had never dealt with his father's ministers!

　　On top of that, if Nicholas had to go to the Minister of Agriculture, there was also a Department of Agriculture in the Ministry of the Interior, a special ministerial body, the General Directorate of Land and Agricultural Management, which also managed agriculture, and the Ministry of Finance, which had an Agricultural Land Bank and an Agricultural Management and Planning Committee, which also had the power to manage agriculture.

This made it difficult for Nikolai to find someone in the Russian government who could help him understand the confusing rules and regulations.

　　"Viktor is pretty popular with His Majesty right now, wouldn't you say?" Nikki, you can go to him.

　　Nikolai told his confusion to a couple of colleagues who served together in the cavalry regiment. They filled him in on the latest in the official world.

　　Since Alexander III and his family had been involved in a rail accident in Ukraine, Witte, the only person who had warned that an accident would occur, had become one of the rising stars that Alexander III had promoted in a blaze of glory.

　　Tsar Alexander III was so impressed with Witte that he gave him a big promotion.

　　"Nikki, you have no idea what I'm talking about!" In 1880, Veit was just a ninth-ranking civil servant. Some of the guys I played with were the sons of noblemen, and they knew all about these rumors. "If he'd just gone through the motions, it would have taken him fifteen years to reach the fifth rank, and he'd probably have had to spend his entire life at that level!"

　　In the Russian Empire, the fourth rank of civil officer meant life nobility. This came from the Tsar's granting of life nobility, so the fourth rank of civil officer came only from the Tsar's appointment.

"So, what position does he hold now?"

　　"Fourth rank!" Nikki, he's only 42 years old! In terms of officers, that's a big jump from Captain to Major General in just nine years!

　　The other colleague seemed to know that Nikolai didn't have any of this inside information and was kind enough to explain it all to him.

　　"But isn't he the Director of Railroad Affairs?"

　　"Hi, Nikki! I just wanted to let you know that this is a springboard for 'Mr. Express' from His Majesty. A lot of people are saying that Witte's got his eyes set on Vishnegradsky's throne as Minister of Finance, which he's perfectly capable of doing with his talents."

　　To sum up, Nikolai went to the front of the building where the Bureau of Railroad Affairs is located, in front of the imposing government building. He remembered the story of his previous life when he was looking for a job, and the kind of nervousness he felt when he was facing the HR department.

　　But I'm a leader now!

　　Just as Nikolai was getting too comfortable, a government employee dressed like the same social elite walked out of the building.

　　"You must be Nikolai, right?" "Hello, my name is Rangel. Director Witte asked me to note at the front desk that a new person has reported to the station."

The civil servant named Rangel introduced himself by reaching out his hand to Nikolai, who quickly shook it and nodded.

　　"Yes, that's right. Director Vetter asked me to come and get to know the job."

　　There was no self-publishing or internet in this day and age, so it was normal for Nikolai to be misidentified with his unimpressive looks and lack of clothing identification.

　　Nikolai shook hands and nodded, then followed Rangel, who was leading the way.

　　"Our Railroad Affairs Bureau is a new department that started up in March 1889, and 'Mr. Express' is our first director."

　　"Wait a minute, does 'Mr. Express' mean Commissioner Vetter?"

　　Nikolai froze. He knew the title referred to Vetter, but he didn't know much about the inner workings of it.

　　"Yes," Nikolai's statement further led Rangel to believe that the young-looking man was probably just as well connected as one who had entered the system through the back door to mix up his credentials. However, this Nikolai was so connected that Rangel hadn't expected him to be. "The word has two meanings." "It means 'express' and 'vette'."

Rangel repeated it twice, and Nikolai realized that in the Slavic native alphabet, the phonetic translation "express" was similar to the word "vette."

　　"OK, what about the other meaning?"

　　"Do you know what the average speed of our trains is?" Rangel looked at Nikolai, who just shook his head in slight embarrassment. "The average speed is about 32 kilometers per hour. The low speed is due to the fact that the railroads that are built are light rail, mainly single track routes, and have to stop at almost every station."

　　Rangel tried to explain some basic facts about railroads, but Nikolai was even more embarrassed by his lack of knowledge.

　　"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it when you start working here."

　　Rangel showed Nicolai all the different stations for the civil servants in the bureau. To Nicolai's surprise, there weren't many people there, and most of them seemed to have nothing to do.

　　"Are you surprised?"

　　Rangel could see that Nikolai was a bit taken aback. He knew that almost every newcomer to the system would feel the same way.

　　"Yeah, well, not exactly surprised."

 Nikolai wasn't completely clueless about bureaucratic groups. He'd dealt with civil servants a lot in his previous life, and there were a few common problems all over the world.

　　"There are two kinds of people here," Rangel said, shaking his head. The middle-aged man in officialdom seemed to still have a bit of the cynical blood of his youth. "One kind is the busybody who accomplishes nothing. They do the same job day in and day out, and end up with nothing else to do." The other category is the idle nobleman who does nothing, bides his time, and in a few years becomes a state councilor and gets everything he wants if he reaches heaven.

　　Does he think I'm the second type? Nikolai couldn't help but laugh.

　　But Rangel went on, making another comment as they walked, "This kind of thing is more common in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." "Our Treasury system is pretty solid. Successive ministers have risen to the top on merit, but we're not just trade loafers."

　　"I've told you not to go to all this trouble for me with the official stuff!" "Your rhetoric is useless here!"

　　Before he even got to the Director's office, Veit's rough, savage talk rumbled out beyond the wooden door along with a growl.

　　A civil servant, covered in Viktor's attack and clutching a stack of papers, rushed past the pair of Rangel and Nikolai, looking like he'd been through a rough time, though he also had the look of a well-groomed elitist.

 Rangel opened the door, and Nikolai looked up to see Viktor, who was still complaining about the Bureau of Railroad Affairs employees.

　　"It's all about the official habits, no motivation to work, the text of the paperwork is difficult to read and understand, but the result is a sea of official documents, and the result is more than a trivial... Oh, Rangel! You brought the guy, so please show us the door. I want to talk to this guy. "Mr. Nicolai."

　　Vit noticed Nikolai's understated dress and Rangel's look of little surprise and seemed to guess what was going on. He waited until Nikolai had taken his seat and then he stumped Rangel before bowing his head slightly in arrears.

　　"I'm sorry I missed you, Your Highness," Viktor's greeting was a little stiff; he seemed to be the kind of guy who was good at practical matters but not so good with words, "as you can see, I'm too busy with my business here to go out and meet you at a distance."

　　"Oh, it's fine," said Nicolas, shaking his head quickly, "I'm here about the rural famine..."

　　It was the end of 1891, and although the government hadn't released the news yet, it was already common knowledge that widespread harvest failures had brought about a famine.

　　"Well, I've heard about the famine, but I don't think the Finance Minister will use government funds to bail out the peasants."

　　After all, Veit was in the know at the Ministry of Finance, and he knew more than Nikolai.

"Huh? Why is that?"

　　"I can see where you're coming from, Your Highness. I do, too. But this has to be taken into account with the policy of the Ministry of Finance, as well as the news brought in by the Ministry of the Interior."

　　Veit thought for a moment before sharing the politically correct words and the latest updates from the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of the Interior.

　　In today's Russian Empire, the Ministry of the Interior is the biggest and most powerful department. It's said to control the sky and the air. The Ministry of the Interior is almost a miniature Russian Imperial government set. The Ministry of Finance is the second most powerful department in the empire. It's not just about taxes. It also handles commerce and industry, finance, railroad construction, and the operation of state assets and state-owned enterprises.

　　"From what I've heard, Minister Vishnegradsky isn't as eager to spend money on disaster relief as he was when he first took office. He's still trying to "reverse the perennial deficit of the Empire's finances," but Minister of the Interior Durnovo is defending him because, according to the Ministry of the Interior's stats on the governor's report, this time the failure was pretty smooth."

　　"Is that what you think?"

　　His predecessor didn't care much for Viktor, and one of the reasons was that Viktor was pretty outspoken and sometimes spoke for himself.

　　Nikolai listened to Veit's explanation and realized that he hadn't added any of his own opinions.

　　"... Veit froze for a moment, then looked at Nicolai with wide eyes. It seemed like he was somewhat unrecognizable to this Imperial Crown Prince. He was silent for a moment before continuing, "Your Highness, I'm not making this judgment. "

"Why don't you share your thoughts with us?"

　　Nikolai was used to the newfound look from the people around him. The more of that experience Nikolai had, the worse his senses became about his predecessor. It just showed that his predecessor was a complete idiot.

　　"So, back in the summer, the local self-governance bureaus and the governors of the provinces gave the Minister of the Interior, Durnovo, quite a bit of information on the disaster and the victims' needs. But the data from the provinces is often contradictory, and the Ministry of the Interior can't deal with the vastness of the information in many instances."

　　Viktor told Nikolai that he'd gotten some inside info from his colleagues at the Ministry of the Interior.

　　"Requests for aid from the local self-government bureaus are often exaggerated because the peasant class is also represented in the local self-government bodies. While the governors know that a bad harvest will bring a serious famine, they usually suppress requests for relief figures to avoid an ugly political record."

　　The local self-government bureaus were set up after the emancipation of the serfs under Alexander II's "Great Reform" to help the government run the vast lands.

　　Local self-government was a necessity because the peasants were emancipated and no longer wanted to be under the control of the nobles. However, the central government didn't have enough officials to rule over the large rural population.

　　Since the local self-governing bodies were filled with educated liberals and intellectuals who admired democratic culture, they were a hotbed of "dissent" and were therefore suppressed by the Tsarist autocracy under Alexander III.

At least Nikolai's predecessor had a basic understanding of what Viktor was saying, which allowed Nikolai to respond.

　　"So the Minister of the Interior, Durnovo, decided to believe the governors?"

　　Nikolai made a judgment based on his previous experience.

　　"Well, Your Highness, it seems that Durnovo made the call on this one."

　　"And what about you?" What would you choose?

　　Nikolai's questioning made Veit think for a moment before sharing his own perspective: "It depends on whether I'm the Minister of Finance or the Minister of the Interior, Your Highness."

　　"And what if you were the Minister of the Interior?"

　　Nikolai was intrigued, as if Viktor had a good idea of what to expect at this point.

　　"As the Minister of the Interior, I can send my team to the disaster area to get the real story. They can look at what the local autonomy bureau and the governor of the province say and see if there's a difference. Then there's the relief distribution. If His Majesty wants to save the treasury funds, he can cut the relief supplies. If your majesty wants to save the treasury's money, then cut down on the relief supplies. If your majesty is as concerned about the people's lives as you say you are, then you can collect as much as possible as early as possible in the spring when food prices are low and distribute it to the affected provinces.

　　"It doesn't sound too bad, so what if you're the Minister of Finance?"

　　Veit's words seemed like a good plan, which made Nicolai nod in agreement.

　　"As the manager of the Empire's economy, I have to take into account the treasury's funds as much as possible. What Minister Vishnegradsky did was to prevent the famine from ruining his goal of eliminating the deficit." After a pause, Witte said, "It's clear that what Minister Vishnegradsky, our current Minister of Finance, is doing is all for the sake of the Empire's financial situation."

　　Isn't this just a repeat of the suffering the people are already going through? Nikolai had a thought.

　　Witte saw that Nicholas was quiet, so he said to him, "Your Highness, I know you're worried about how this affects the people, so if you want to be able to come up with good solutions to help with the famine, I suggest you do this..." Viktor said he didn't have the authority to intervene in the famine situation in the countryside, but he had an idea for Nicholas. Nicholas actually lacked someone with knowledge of the bureaucracy to advise him.

　　"What about a temporary relief committee?"

　　A day later, after getting a new idea from Veit, Nicholas suggested it to Alexander III over breakfast with his parents.

　　When Alexander III heard this, he seemed surprised by the Crown Prince's enthusiasm. He then asked Nikolai, "Nikki, What's got you so fired up about politics lately? "You don't even look like a 'sissy' anymore!"

 The term "sissy" has a dark history. His predecessor was afraid of being punished for something he did wrong. He made his playmate take the punishment for him. Alexander III was strict. His beard went askew, and he said, "How could my son Nicholas be such a cowardly sissy?"

　　That's why Alexander III sometimes used the word "sissy" to tease Nikolai.

　　"Dad, I've seen how the people are suffering on my travels..."

　　Nicholas gave a brief summary of what he had seen, but it had scared Empress Maria into saying it was horrible, and Alexander III's original smile faded into seriousness.

　　"I heard from Durnovo that there's a famine in the Volga Valley."

　　"Then, Father, shouldn't this be a..."

　　"But Nikki!" "Have you had any experience with this?"

　　Alexander III's rhetorical question didn't faze Nikolai, and in fact he had an answer to that question.

　　"I can ask your ministers, especially the Minister of the Interior, Durnovo, for help."

　　"Hmph..." Nikki, you've never been this smart before. Did you come up with this idea?

　　"This was my idea, of course."

　　Nikolai was about to brag, but Alexander III cut him off.

　　"I want to hear the truth."

 Nikolai felt a moment of unexpected shyness when he faced his father's piercing gaze. It seemed that Nikolai had already been intimidated by his father's strict figure.

　　"This is Viktor's idea."

　　"So it's that clever Tbilisi man. Can he be right? I'll set up the task for you as soon as possible."

　　It was actually pretty common in the bureaucracy to set up a temporary special body when the Tsarist government was dealing with a major problem. But this idea of setting up a special committee just to solve a problem was obviously only suggested by bureaucrats who were too immersed in the system to see that Nikolai's idea had another mastermind.

　　However, it was clear that Alexander III trusted Viktor, so Nikolai's idea was approved by his father.

　　A little later, in November 1891, Alexander III set up the "Extraordinary Commission for Famine Relief," which was led by Crown Prince Nikolai Alexandrovich.

　　So, what did this Nicholas-led committee do first?

　　The first thing the Nicholas-led committee did was, of course, the daily routine of bureaucrats: meetings.

　　As well as Nikolai, who was in charge of the commission, another key figure was the Minister of Internal Affairs, Durnovo.

　　Ivan Nikolaevich Durnovo was a small but muscular man with a figure-eight beard. His eyes had a shrewd and ruthless quality that impressed Nikolai.

　　"Your Highness."

 After greeting the Crown Prince, Durnovo presented a statistical report he had compiled from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and it was pretty concerning.

　　The provinces that were affected were mainly Nizhny Novgorod, Tula, Kazan, Simbirsk, Saratov, Penza, Samara, and Tambov.

　　It's about 1,400 kilometers from Kursk in the southwest to Vyatka in the northeast, and it covers about 1.03 million square kilometers, which is almost twice the size of France.

　　"It's estimated that around two million people have been affected by the disaster, but the exact number and the damage are still being calculated."

　　Interior Minister Durnovo gave Nicolas a heads-up on this.

　　"What should we do?"

　　After reading the report, Nikolai was taken aback by the data. He recalled the bodies and suffering of the peasants he'd seen, but he quickly regained his composure and looked up to the many bureaucrats present.

　　"Right now, the information we're getting is still a bit confusing," the bureaucrat from the Ministry of the Interior said. "If it's possible, the committee should send representatives into the provinces to gather information about the disaster situation there. They should find out which areas are in the most need of assistance and then take steps to increase relief supplies."

　　"Given the problems we had in Kazan, the Committee will also have to set up local regional committees under their own administration to coordinate relief supplies from all sectors of Russian society."

　　Another representative from the Kazan local government bureau joined the meeting.

　　As the bureaucrats in the room put the work program together, Nikolai felt like he'd been through this kind of meeting a million times in his previous life as a clerk.

 Nicolai had eaten pork and seen pigs run, so Durnovo was surprised at how quickly he picked up on things. Durnovo had never realized that the originally introverted Crown Prince still had the ability to preside over meetings.

　　"So the relief work itself already has a preliminary program, but what about the relief supplies?" "How much can we get together now?"

　　"Our plan is to have the governor or merchants make the purchases for the relief supplies that have been drawn up for the need." "The supplies will be delivered to designated warehouses, where they'll be picked up by the charities that are doing the distribution."

　　The civil servant from the Ministry of Finance handed out the list of supplies that had been bought and the plan for getting them to the other officials there.

　　"When the time comes, we can mark the wagons carrying the relief supplies so they can be transported more quickly."

　　The civil servant from the Ministry of Transportation made some more adjustments to the transportation plan.

　　"Is there anything else I should mention?"

　　Nikolai let out a long sigh, his face creased with lines from years of taking notes.

　　"Well, that's about it for now..." Count Vorontsov-Dashkov, Minister of Court Affairs, suggested that we buy livestock to make up for the peasants who slaughter their animals because of starvation.

　　"Minister of State Property Ostrovsky suggested that we give direct subsidies to local rural craftsmen..."

　 Nikolai was always full of beans, even though the meetings of the Extraordinary Council went on until late.

　　Was it because of the power it held? Or was it because it would save a lot of Russian lives?

　　Nikolai wasn't thinking clearly, but Durnovo could see he was trying.

　　"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has really changed since the old days. Maybe you can let him make more of the big decisions."

　　Late at night, the Interior Minister, Durnovo, gave Alexander III a piece of advice as he handed over the minutes of the Extraordinary Council to him.

　　"... "Alexander III's face was not very healthy. It looked as if his body was emaciated from years of alcoholism, and he did not look as strong as he did in the daytime when he spent time with his family. He let out a long sigh," "If this is God's will, then so be it."

　　"Yes, Your Majesty."