Rothschild and Nobel
In the Rothschild family home in Britain, which could now be called the true headquarters of the family, the situation unfolding across the country was giving them a serious headache.
“They say there’s a Jewish woman among the German Communist Party executives?”
“I heard she’s simply the general secretary’s closest aide.”
“Now that you mention it, isn’t the Rothschild family Jewish too? Maybe they supported the German Communist Party?”
Because the land that had been the German Empire until recently had turned completely red, anti-German—or more precisely, anti-communist German—sentiment had surged in Britain, separated by only a narrow strait. Along with it, anti-Jewish feelings had begun to sprout. The cause was the spread of information that Roza Luxemburg, the key figure who had led the revolution alongside Karl Liebknecht, General Secretary of the German Free Socialist Republic, was a Polish-born Jew.
On top of that, a few people began muttering, “Wait, isn’t Rothschild Jewish? Could it be…?” which turned into a minor annoyance for the main Rothschild house. Of course, it was only a minor annoyance. From the Rothschild perspective, it was nothing more than a dog barking somewhere in the distance. They could simply ignore it.
After all, who would dare touch a financial dynasty that held Europe in its grip?
Yet around this time, another strange report arrived.
“Recently, Russia is said to be protecting the Jews.”
“The Jews? Hah. How amusing that an anti-Semitic nation would do such a thing.”
Walter Rothschild, the 2nd Baron Rothschild, wore an open sneer. That anti-Semitic Russia? Of course he had heard they had tried to embrace Jews during the civil war, but to actually follow through seriously? It was no different from a zoologist abandoning animals. In the original history, he had been the one to secure support for the Balfour Declaration—the document that essentially decided the founding of Israel.
“They say it is now official state policy to assist Jewish settlement. They are already providing support for Jews to settle in those eastern lands.”
“Jewish settlement? I thought it only applied to those Jews who supported the White Army?”
“Apparently not.”
This was new information. At most, he had assumed they were simply treating well those who had aided the White Army during the Russian Civil War.
“It seems the current Tsarina is carrying out a pro-Jewish policy thanks to the help she received from Jews during the civil war.”
The Tsarina—he had heard the name. Russia’s saint. In France, Russia’s ally, she was apparently called Russia’s Joan of Arc. It was probably somewhat glorified and exaggerated, but they said she had fought directly alongside the soldiers in the midst of the bombardment during the civil war.
“The Tsarina was quite remarkable in the civil war. A woman, personally rushing in with the troops. Hmm. How very interesting.”
“Surely it was just propaganda.”
“No, no. Looking at the Romanov family’s situation, they probably had no choice but to do something like that to win back the hearts of their lost subjects. There may be some exaggeration, but I suspect half of it is true.”
Baron Walter seemed to remember something and pulled documents from his desk drawer. He had already investigated information about that Tsarina some time ago. The recent turmoil in Britain had caused him to set it aside, but now it came back to him.
She had carried out reforms that even socialists would approve of during the civil war, effectively screwing over the Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik regime that had massacred the Tsar’s family could not replicate what the princess had done, so they failed to properly implement worker reforms. They had only conscripted soldiers and then collapsed.
Baron Walter saw the Tsarina’s reforms as preempting what the Bolsheviks would have done. By deliberately providing welfare for workers while simultaneously stealing the Bolshevik platform, she prevented them from gaining support. Some claimed the nobles were behind it and the Tsarina was merely a figurehead, but those rigid aristocrats would never have advocated such reforms.
“If that is truly the case, then she really is a saint.”
Something else suddenly occurred to him.
“Speaking of which, they recently struck oil in Russia, didn’t they?”
“Yes.”
And it had come from an entity called the Romanov Oil Company. Just from the name, it was clearly a company created by the Tsarina. Russia should have been firmly under Branobel’s control. Even though the revolution had failed, it seemed Branobel had still taken a hit. That part was going according to plan.
But the Romanov Oil Company was a concern. Perhaps it was time to make contact first. The Ploesti oil fields were good, but reaching out toward Surgut might also be worthwhile.
“How about establishing a connection with them?”
The main house in Britain was unlikely to fall, but given the current instability, it was wise to plant feet elsewhere. If the Tsarina was truly pursuing a pro-Jewish policy, it might be worth pursuing. Establishing a Rothschild Russia branch at this opportunity would be excellent. He had no direct successor, so the thought of taking the young Tsarina as a daughter-in-law did not cross his mind, but forming a connection with her and the Rothschilds was certainly possible.
China has entered the warlord era.
It had already been heading that way, but now Sun Yat-sen—who had carried the possibility of unification—was dead, and Chiang Kai-shek had apparently failed to grow his forces significantly. That didn’t mean any single faction held overwhelming power. At this rate, who knew when true unification would ever happen?
Yet the more I thought about it, the more it made me laugh.
Chen Jiongming really is quite the dreamer.
It was impressive that he had accepted the proposal. In his own way, he seemed to have made the decision trusting only in me, but I knew better. Even without me pulling any strings behind the scenes, the warlords would eventually become unable to relinquish any more power. Distrust would grow, fights would break out, and since he had played the federal provincial autonomy card without securing dominance, Chen Jiongming would fail to become a unifying center. Each faction would descend into its own Warring States period.
This was different from the era when they fought for the throne of the Son of Heaven. It might even last longer than that, with the great powers occasionally using them as proxies in their own conflicts.
Of course, Chen Jiongming had no choice but to trust me. Why? It was like those people who turn to cults searching for peace of mind. No—I had spoken aloud every secret dream he had kept hidden in his heart. On top of that, I was the Tsarina revered as a saint in Russian lands. He had no choice but to believe.
He probably never imagined that the person he trusted was planning to keep China divided for the rest of her life. Still, as a final insurance, they had at least placed Puyi on the throne to make it appear as one China on the surface. So while it was technically the Republic of China, they seemed to be calling it the Chinese Empire or the Chinese Federation. As expected, trying to copy me without any real foundation only produced this half-baked result.
“But.”
According to the report from the Ohrana, the Communist Party had been mentioned. Why had Mao Zedong appeared? They said he had played a major role in undermining Sun Yat-sen this time and had effectively become the second-in-command of the Guangdong warlord faction.
This crazy bastard.
There was no one else trustworthy, so he took Mao Zedong as a subordinate? Or perhaps history had changed him as well. The communist idol Lenin had betrayed everyone’s expectations and blasted himself into the afterlife. Stalin had become a eunuch. Trotsky was frying chicken in America and pandering to Black voters. If the German Communist Party heard about the Chinese Communist Party, they would probably just say, “Oh, there was one there too?”
Communist Germany, busy trying to stabilize its internal affairs so it could strike its neighbors, would have no interest in China. Which meant the current Mao Zedong was essentially an anarchist-leaning communist. I recalled that when he first encountered communism, he had been close to an anarchist. He was the one who claimed China would be better off divided into twenty-seven parts.
So, following Chen Jiongming, I would mobilize Mao Zedong to further divide China while using him to keep Chiang Kai-shek in check. Ah, I couldn’t resist this.
Later, once the divided China solidified and Chen Jiongming’s successor became Mao Zedong, it would give me the perfect justification for military intervention.
“This bastard Mao Zedong was a communist?” I could play the victim of betrayal. Recalling how we had almost been overthrown by the Communist Party in the past, the Russian United States—now filled with hatred for communism—could intervene in China with clean hands.
Of course, that would come later. After China got thoroughly wrecked in the Sino-Japanese War. Once I pushed them around a bit, I could establish a Jewish state in Hua as a check against China. Or perhaps set up Green Ukraine there instead. If that didn’t work, I could bring in Zhang Zuolin, who should currently be in the Shandong Peninsula, have him regroup the Manchurian forces, and establish him as the Shandong warlord. The man might have started as a bandit, but his physique and presence were impressive. With a little help in leadership, he could grow into a proper warlord again.
Just imagining it was rather entertaining.
If I manipulated China exactly as I wished, the continent would not unify easily. If the division solidified for even a few decades, the differences in economic power, the lust for authority, the enormous cost of unification—everything would make it nearly impossible. Just like how modern Korea had remained divided for over seventy years.
Well, I would leave the China issue as it was for now. Chiang Kai-shek was not the kind of man to sit still. The information Chen Jiongming had sent mentioned that Chiang was already dissatisfied. Something was bound to explode in China. Before the National-Communist Civil War or the Sino-Japanese War, a major internal conflict would surely break out. Military intervention could wait until then.
With China set aside for later, a matter from earlier in the day suddenly came to mind. There had been word that the British Baron Rothschild would be coming to Russia. Since the information came through the British embassy, it was unlikely to be false. I wondered why he was coming. Actually, I had a pretty good idea.
He must have caught the scent of the Surgut oil. We still didn’t know exactly how much was there. He would probably offer to help with production in exchange for a share of the profits. From our position we could not afford to make an enemy of the Rothschilds, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth.
There were rumors that Rothschild looked favorably upon the Tsarina who was carrying out pro-Jewish policies. It seemed they were trying to take advantage of that. Well, I would deal with it when Baron Rothschild actually arrived.
Right now, the person who had come to see me was Prince Yusupov, who had somehow grown into a proper businessman before I realized it.
“But why has Prince Yusupov come here?”
“Your Majesty, I have something to discuss regarding the oil drilling operations.”
Regarding oil drilling? In the current situation where we were investing Romanov gold bars all over the place, I couldn’t pour money in alone, so I had told Prince Yusupov to contribute some funds for the drilling.
“What is the matter?”
“With so many businesses underway recently, it seems we will have to postpone the oil development for the time being.”
Postpone the oil development? That was quite disappointing. Until the Great Depression, I wanted to secure everything we possibly could. Russian economists had said that during the Depression, unlike other countries, we could at least maintain the status quo or even improve. So I had wanted to show that we possessed real assets.
“I want to secure everything possible before the Great Depression. Is it truly impossible?”
“It is not impossible, but… that would require pulling money from elsewhere…”
Hmm. So in the end, it came down to a lack of funds. Should I just use up all the remaining gold bars? No. We needed to keep some reserves for emergencies.
“Is there no other way?”
“There is one possibility. Thanks to the opportunity Your Majesty gave me, I have studied the oil sector quite extensively in the meantime.”
Oh, he had been working hard. Then I should listen to what he had to say.
“Go on.”
“The truth is, Branobel has offered to assist with oil production.”
“Branobel?”
What kind of name was that? It sounded like a publishing company.
“From the beginning, it was Branobel that supported the pipelines intended for the Surgut oil field. For now they are useless, but they even provided tankers.”
Pipelines and tankers? They had such things in this era? Supporting that level of infrastructure meant it was quite a substantial company. Ah, of course. It was the Nobel family. The family of that Alfred Nobel.
I didn’t know their circumstances well, so I simply nodded and asked a question.
“What is the reason the Nobel family is helping us so generously?”
“It is only natural. They nearly lost the Russian market because of the revolution. Although they originated in Sweden, the family prospered greatly within the Russian Empire and is essentially a Russian company.”
“Because of the revolution?”
“The Nobel family was so powerful they controlled nearly half the Russian market. They were especially deeply involved with the Baku oil fields. But when the revolution erupted, it seems Rockefeller and Rothschild tried to do something to Branobel.”
Rockefeller. Come to think of it, when we received oil drilling technology support from America, I seemed to recall hearing something about Standard Oil. What exactly had they tried to do? Ah, the picture was clear now.
If the Soviets had won the Red-White Civil War and taken control of Russia, they would have nationalized the Baku oil fields, dealing a severe blow to Branobel. Yes. It was highly likely that Standard Oil and Rothschild had supported the Reds.
Then the Nobel family… Hmm. Could I make use of them in the oil sector?
“Please continue.”