Struggle in Russia

Nikolai Milyutin stopped talking, because Dmitri was right. Sometimes he was also depressed by Count Rostovtsev, but you can't go against him just because you are a little unhappy. ?

Especially at this critical moment, as long as we endure this period of time and the curtain of reform begins, won't everything get better?

For Nikolai Milyutin, this fact is not worth making a fuss about. It is almost impossible to expect him to speak out in support of Li Xiao just for this reason.

He advised: "This is a critical moment, so be patient. As long as this period of time passes, I believe the earl will change his style without us reminding him!"

Dmitri sneered at this: "What if he doesn't change? Will you continue to endure it?"

Nikolai Milyutin was stunned. In fact, he had never thought about this problem at all. To him, it was not a big problem at all. Isn't this the Russian tradition? Isn’t it normal for leaders to obey their superiors and carry out their orders meticulously without asking why? ..

Dmitry has finally seen what kind of character his brother is. No wonder he always stumbles when implementing reforms, because in the end he is still a traditional person. If it weren't for the conservative tradition, he would be intolerable. , he doesn’t want to change at all.

Dmitri taught him a lesson rudely: "Since you like to follow traditions so much, then obeying His Majesty's will is also a Russian tradition, so why bother with reforms! Just keep your traditions!"

Nikolai Milyutin was dumbfounded, and subconsciously prepared to refute, but when the words came to his lips, he suddenly realized that the reason for his refutation was so weak, that is, Dmitri was right.

This made him feel a little uncomfortable. Could it be that after so many years of hard work, he turned out to be a conservative? He really doesn’t think he is being conservative!

After a long time, he sighed: "Okay, I will speak for them, but don't expect me to oppose the earl. I don't think the earl has done anything wrong. For the time being, obeying his arrangements is the right thing to do!"

Dmitri hummed: "Maybe, but it will be a big problem in the long run!"

Nikolai Milyutin wanted to say something else, but he waved his hand and said: "Forget it, we can't achieve anything by arguing about this issue. As long as you speak for Grand Duke Andrei!"

Looking at Dmitri's leaving figure, Nikolai Milyutin felt that the differences between the two brothers were getting bigger and bigger, not only in their attitude towards Alexander II, but now also in their attitude towards Count Rostovtsev. They all have huge differences that are impossible to bridge.

This made him deeply worried. He felt that Dmitri had gone further and further down the road of no return. In the future, would he become like Prince Sergei Petrovich Trubetskoy? What if they are equally extreme and eventually lead to self-destruction?

Nikolai Milyutin decided to have a good chat with Count Rostovtsev about Dmitri. He could not just watch Dmitri being destroyed.

Of course, he also complained a little about Li Xiao, who was particularly good at messing around. You said you were messing around so much. When did it become the turn of a junior like you to dictate the overall situation? Don't you think this is going too far?

Li Xiao doesn't think he's going too far. What's wrong with discussing things as they stand? If Count Rostovtsev did nothing wrong, why should he be afraid of other people's comments?

However, he was surprised that Nikolai Milyutin spoke out in support of him. After all, he thought that this public opposition to Count Rostovtsev would not have much impact on the core core of the reformists, and those people were unlikely to agree with him. After all, they were brought out by Count Rostovtsev. According to Russian tradition, it was impossible to openly oppose Count Rostovtsev.

Of course, he didn't think that Nikolai Milyutin was sincerely supporting him. He actually knew him better than Dmitri. History had analyzed him thoroughly. He was an enlightened person, even a swinging enlightened one. It is impossible to expect him to completely draw a line with Russian "tradition", otherwise he would not have made such a dramatic exit in history.

The reason why he supported him this time was either because he had a conflict with Count Rostovtsev and used his own small counterattack, or Dmitry did something and asked him to help him.

Li Xiao is very sure that apart from these two possibilities, there will never be a third possibility!

So he was not surprised when Nikolai Milyutin suddenly came to him and gave him a warning.

"This man is hopeless!"

Li Xiao said to Alexei jokingly: "Look at him, he has never understood why I opposed Count Rostovtsev, nor did he realize how dangerous the count's actions are. Instead, he thinks that we It’s unreasonable and his head is just a ball of mush!”

Alexey smiled bitterly and said: "Who says it's not the case! He even wrote to me specifically to ask me to take care of the overall situation and not to accompany you to fool around! Look, he thinks we are fooling around!"

Obviously they were all dissatisfied with Nikolai Milyutin. How could such a man who had naive illusions about the conservatives and the Tsar, and who had no firm will to reform and was so dependent on him, lead the reform?

The two were relatively speechless. After a while, Alexei suddenly said: "Lyonia wrote a letter and expressed some views on Paris and London. He seems to be quite critical of the constitutional monarchy."

Li Xiao was stunned. After telling the truth and tricking Leonid out of the country, he almost forgot about this old friend. On the one hand, he was too busy, and on the other hand, he was also very reserved and serious. No matter what he said, he Detailed investigation and research will inevitably be done, and this takes time.

"What did he say?" Li Xiao asked.

"He said that constitutional monarchy is like taking off your pants and farting, and it is a fig leaf for careerists to usurp the power of the king!" Alexei said with a bitter smile.

Well, that's very Leonid, he seems like someone who would talk like that.

But Li Xiao was not particularly surprised, because constitutional monarchy is nothing more than taking off your pants and farting! It retains a rubber-stamp-like king who spends huge sums of money every year to support a royal family that eats people's food but does nothing to help others. It also claims to have respected tradition and created democracy.

hehe!

Alexei sighed and said: "He doesn't appreciate the constitutional monarchy very much. He said that either we should become a complete republic or simply continue to hand over power to the king. He would not care about the outcome of such a compromise!"

Li Xiao curled his lips and said, "So does he support the Republic?"

Alexey suddenly laughed bitterly: "He doesn't support it, he thinks it is a rebellion..."

Well, that’s enough. To put it bluntly, Leonid was just complaining about them and opposing reforms!