Chapter 68: Alaska
St. Petersburg
After accepting the task, Count Sergey gathered his associates and explained the situation to them.
"Listen, all we have to do is convince the Empire to sell the Alaska colony to the Hohenzollern Consortium, and we'll get paid. The less money they pay, the more we earn. Here's a 20,000-ruble down payment. If we succeed, we'll receive 100,000 rubles. For every 1 million rubles we lower the price, we get an extra 10,000," Sergey said, holding up the check from the Hohenzollern Consortium.
"Count, isn't this Hohenzollern Consortium being too stingy? That's a huge piece of land, and they want to pay so little?" one minister asked.
"What do you know? Alaska is a godforsaken place—no value at all. We're lucky anyone even wants it! It's only because the Consortium's boss has strange hobbies that he's willing to spend money on it," Sergey replied.
"But Count, isn't the Empire already negotiating with the Americans to sell Alaska? They might offer a better price," another asked.
Sergey scowled and said, "Even if the Americans buy it, it's not out of goodwill. They're only considering it because we supported them during their independence. Otherwise, they wouldn't care about us."
"So even if they do buy Alaska out of old friendship, it has nothing to do with us personally—they won't pay us anything directly."
"Now if we convince the Empire to sell it to the Hohenzollern Consortium, not only will the Empire get rid of this burden, but we'll also receive a bonus. It's a win-win—why wouldn't we do it?"
Winter Palace
Sergey and his allies presented their proposal to Tsar Alexander II about selling Alaska.
The Tsar looked at them curiously and asked, "Count Sergey, only a few people knew about the idea of selling Alaska. How did the Hohenzollern Consortium hear of it?"
"Your Majesty, it's not surprising. After all, we've talked about this with a few royal families in Europe. The Consortium is backed by Prince Ernst of the Hohenzollern family in Prussia. With his status, it wouldn't be hard for him to get wind of this," Sergey replied calmly.
Alexander II nodded in agreement. "Hmm, that makes sense. So, what price are they offering?"
"Five million rubles."
"What?! Five million? Did I hear that right? That's absolutely impossible—wishful thinking!" the Tsar exclaimed in disbelief.
Sergey quickly explained, "Your Majesty, don't be alarmed. The Hohenzollern Consortium isn't buying all of Alaska. They only want the land north of the 56th parallel. The land south of that will remain under the Empire's control."
This immediately caught Alexander II's interest. Alaska was in the Arctic zone, and the farther south you went, the more suitable it was for human habitation.
In the past, Russia tried to move settlers to Alaska, but harsh weather made northern living nearly impossible. Most settlers ended up in the islands and southern areas with oceanic climates.
The fact that the Consortium was willing to give up the more habitable southern part and instead choose the cold, harsh north puzzled the Tsar.
"Why would they give up the land south of the 56th parallel and choose the northern wasteland instead?" he asked.
"Your Majesty, the Consortium faces a problem similar to ours: two powerful potential enemies in North America—Britain and the U.S.," Sergey explained.
"They only want to conduct fur trade, so they don't need the warmer southern area. By choosing the harsh north, they avoid British greed."
Hearing someone call the British greedy delighted Alexander II, especially since on the world stage it was usually the British, French, and Austrians accusing Russians of being greedy.
"So you're saying the Hohenzollern Consortium is using our Empire as a shield?"
"Your Majesty, I see this as a mutually beneficial deal. Think about it—why did we colonize Alaska in the first place, and why are we selling it now?" Sergey countered.
"We colonized Alaska to expand in North America. Now we're selling it because it's a burden, and Britain has its eyes on it," Alexander II said.
"Exactly. If we sell Alaska to the Americans, we'll forever lose our foothold in the Americas. But if we sell to the Hohenzollern Consortium, we keep the more livable part of Alaska. Once the Empire recovers, we can use southern Alaska as a base to expand south again. As for the British threat, once we sell the north, we can move the population to the southern part we control. With a solid population, even Britain will think twice before trying to take it."
Alexander II agreed with this logic. In fact, Britain had been limiting Russian power strictly since the Crimean War, and Russia was in no shape to challenge them directly.
That's why selling Alaska—Russia's foothold in the Americas—had become an option. Truthfully, given Russia's nature, harsh climates didn't scare them. Look at all of Siberia—they had taken over worse places.
"In short, Your Majesty, selling northern Alaska to the Hohenzollern Consortium brings us all benefits and no harm. Even if the price is a little low, it's still better than losing our foothold in the Americas," Sergey concluded.
Other ministers who stood to gain also agreed with Sergey, further swaying the Tsar.
After all, the wealth of North America was obvious to the Russians. America's rapid development in recent years only proved how rich the land was.
If not for the defeat in Crimea, Russia wouldn't have considered giving up on North American expansion, even at a financial loss.
Now that someone wanted to buy northern Alaska, it eased the pressure on Russia in the Americas.
The land south of the 56th parallel was in the southeastern corner of the Alaska colony, mostly made up of islands and mountains, around 20,000 square kilometers—easy for Russia to defend.
It was also closer to key areas in Canada and the U.S. Since the entire northern part of North America was filled with vast snowy plains and forests, it was mostly uninhabited wilderness.
Prince Ernst had been very deliberate in what he left for Russia. The southern tip of Alaska, with the Alaska Current flowing through it, had the best climate in the region and no major resources.
Unlike Juneau, where gold was later found, or nearby oil-rich areas, Ernst purposely left the entire southeastern "tail" of Alaska for Russia, hoping they'd clash with Canada and the U.S. in the future.
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