Reincarnated as Nikolai II

When not many years had passed since Kuropatkin rose to Lieutenant General.

Those who liked to talk mocked the newly enthroned Tsar calling him the ’Colorless Tsar’.

An Emperor who hadn’t even received successor education.

An incompetent one with no practical experience who was thrown into the military after earning his father’s hatred.

Nobles said the Tsar wouldn’t properly handle even one practical matter after ten years, and his weak and merely kind-hearted nature didn’t suit a monarch.

And several more years passed.

While the State Duma was noisy daily and nobles still boasted the Duma couldn’t threaten their power, the Tsar began leading reforms directly.

These sweeping changes were being directed by a Tsar who had never truly mastered the art of governance, who remained painfully unschooled in the complex machinery of state that he now sought to reorganize.

Isn’t it something anyone would mock? Kuropatkin predicted the agricultural reform would go beyond failure to become an element hindering the Tsar for years to come.

And the next year.

No more sounds of nobles laughing and chattering in the capital, no more news of Duma’s noisy dogfights were heard.

Because they all died.

Those caught then didn’t go to camps or prisons.

The Tsar killed even nobles and stripped their titles making inheritance impossible, erasing entire families from history.

Duma representatives of regions, organizations, religions, classes?

Those who loved pointing fingers and teaching others full of conviction somehow got their mouths sewn shut after one interview with Director Sekerenskiy in Okhrana’s basement and lived quietly.

Only then did the empire realize.

That the Tsar wasn’t actually colorless. And that He had been quietly writing a death list.

Truly the first great purge in nearly half a century since His Majesty Alexander II.

And Kuropatkin only realized after blood was splattered enough to reach ankles in the streets.

These reforms and purges unfolded gradually, like shadows lengthening across the empire’s vast expanse. The changes crept through ministries and offices, courtrooms and councils, each shift carefully orchestrated from above.

For a very long time, the machinery of state ground slowly but inexorably forward. Perhaps the Tsar had been laying these foundations methodically since the very day he ascended the throne, placing each piece with deliberate care, like a master playing an extended game of chess with history itself.

If there was any stroke of fortune in those uncertain days, it was that the military remained somewhat insulated from the worst of the turbulence. While civil institutions weathered the storm of change, the armed forces stood relatively steady, spared from the more dramatic upheavals that transformed other corners of the realm.

Of course military police went around arresting people in the military too but getting caught didn’t mean immediate death.

And last year the war ended.

The war was an overwhelming victory and military morale was better than ever.

Decorations were handed out generously and Prime Minister Witte handled post-war matters extremely well.

However analyzing this war just a bit more carefully, Kuropatkin couldn’t smile.

’Engagement ratios were only good in defensive battles. The final pitched battle’s overwhelming victory was because the enemy was already vulnerable, not because our forces were strong. Far Eastern Army? The quality of troops is completely different dimension from Military District forces.’

Just simply comparing Siberian Corps and Far Eastern Army - commander level, training intensity, combat doctrine, even organization. Everything was different from start to finish.

Why so different when both are imperial forces?

Because they received more budget? Due to Far Eastern region’s special nature? Just because historical governors and subordinate officers were unparalleled excellent officials?

No. It can’t be just that. To Kuropatkin’s eyes having carried out military command reforms as minister, more reasons seemed hidden.

After studying the two different imperial forces for several days.

Kuropatkin realized one fact.

"...New Military."

They are a New Military completely different from existing imperial forces.

The Far Eastern Army had machine guns in every company that other regiments got only six of, and was attempting various gun adoptions including Mosin-Nagant supply.

The Far Eastern Army constantly prepared for war and showed the enemy battlefields not in existing combat doctrine.

And, that New Military is superior to current imperial forces. The war proved this.

A New Military to replace existing forces.

"Ah, aah."

Then, the blood that would naturally follow in that change.

Why did the Tsar marry Count Elston’s daughter from military background?

Why do all the Tsar’s military-background confidants have Far East connections?

How could the gap between Far Eastern Army and Military District forces widen so much in just a few years?

"No, no! Damn it, when I reformed commanders they wouldn’t even give budget! Why was original imperial army reform changed to commander reform! It was all because there was no money!"

It’s unfair. Having devoted lifetime to empire in military to be pushed out as obsolete like this.

How did he climb up here from bottom commoner origins with no money or backing, only to be driven out now.

Yet he couldn’t stop the New Military already proven in numerous battles.

’I too advocated military reform more than anyone!’

Then, yes. Rather let’s get on board.

Ride this flow of the era.

The military was nobles’ playground anyway. Let’s completely replace it all.

Whether purge of useless old-style military or some other form, mere General Kuropatkin couldn’t know, but he clearly realized some winds of change were coming.

And Kuropatkin headed straight for the Summer Palace immediately upon gaining this realization.

"Prime Minister! Please save me!"

First must stick to the Prime Minister trusted by the Tsar.

==

"So you grabbed an Army General’s collar and came this evening?"

"Not collar, just wished to inquire His Majesty’s true intentions. If this is a misunderstanding, just saying it isn’t so would give General Kuropatkin peace of mind."

So, to summarize.

After hearing Kuropatkin’s near-pleading hypothesis, the Prime Minister who saw some possibility came to me without even leaving work to question me, is that it?

"Evidence?"

Stay connected through empire

"...The Far Eastern Army under Amur Governor-General’s Office is the ideal army itself, just small in numbers. Amur Governor-General’s Office is where Your Majesty’s limbs serve. The imperial army will have no choice but follow their footsteps."