Phew. What a busy day, Nicholas thought.
First of all he had heard about everyone else beginning to build railways, and after having an engineer check out the new German one, ordered the Trans-Siberian railway, one which would run from St. Petersburg and Moscow all the way to Vladivostok, and have many branch lines that would connect other major cities and Russia's borders, so that troops could be moved around quickly.
It would take years, but it would be worth it, he decided. It would finally make Russia seem much smaller, a good thing from many people's point of view.
Then came the pending membership of Canada into the Shanghai Pact. He thought this was a good idea, and also thought of a new name for the pact - the World Peace Pact or WPP. He didn't know what others would think of it, so also dreamt up the International Peace Alliance, or IPA, and the Global Defence Pact, or GDP.
Then he received the joyful news that Russia and Scandinavia's naval expansions were almost complete. In a few months they would have medium navies! He just hoped that the overall quality wouldn't diminish due to the increased numbers. After all, he still preferred quality over quantity, with the Russian Army being the perfect mix of the two, huge but still well-trained.
Finally, he read through the new pact proposals and agreed to them. He also sent a message to China offering 100,000 Russian troops to guard China. They would act as mercenaries almost, but still have enough freedom that they would never have to do what they did in India or Scandinavia ever again. All China had to do was pay 50% of their wages. It was a cheap way for Nicholas to secure his eastern border, as those troops could quickly react to incursions against China or Siberia, and would have half their wages paid.
On top of that, Nicholas loved the idea of a peacekeeping force. He pledged 150,000 men to it to begin with, and 250,000 extra could be sent from Russia in the event of a crisis. Also, the Russian navy will pledge 5 ships, increased to 10 when it becomes medium. And in the event of a crisis, 5 extra ships would be made available when it was a small navy, changing to 15 extra ships when it was a medium one. That made 25 ships total, half of the Russian fleet, when there was a crisis and the navy was medium.
That would leave 750,000 men at home normally, and 500,000 at home in a crisis. And 20 ships at home normally, and 15 in a crisis, changing once Russia's navy became medium to 40 at home normally and 25 in a crisis.
More than enough, he smiled.