Chapter 81: Propaganda Comes Before the Army Moves

The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

The military arms deal contract between Russia and Austria had appeared on Nicholas I's desk, accompanied by documents concerning the loan blockade and suggestions from the Austrian Government for bond issuance.

Nicholas I had no objections to purchasing the weapons production lines and directly made annotations on the document.

The gap between the Russian Empire's military industry and those of other European countries was vast, and it wasn't something that could be bridged in the short term. Purchasing production lines was the only option to quickly close the gap.

Nicholas I asked, "Austria has proposed issuing bonds, what do you think about this?"

Finance Minister Aristander Rhodes analyzed, "Your Majesty, this is likely to be very troublesome. We have issued bonds before, but previous bonds were not well received in the capital market.