"Old Ivan, I'm Antonov, I just came from Nanjing, and I've come to contact you on the orders of Shangfeng."

In the dim light, a strong Slavic man with a beard on his face was looking at another Slav with a solemn expression, and saw that old Ivan was an older Slav with layers of folds on his face and a faint smile on his face.

Yes, they were not really Russians, but Slavs whom the Shadow had been recruiting from the Far East and Europe in various ways four years earlier, most of whom had a deep hatred for the current Russian Empire, who were trained as secret agents of the Shadow in Nanjing, and then sent to St. Petersburg, the heart of the Russian Empire, before the war.

As the head of the shadow organization in St. Petersburg, he is called Old Ivan, of course, this is just his code name, and his real name is unknown, he is very cautious by nature, and has already established roots in St. Petersburg.

"Antonov, welcome to St. Petersburg!"

The smile on old Ivan's face bloomed slightly, he stepped forward and patted Antonov on the shoulder, and said with emotion: "In the past two years or so, the only thing we have done is to take root here. ”

Antonov nodded, although he had not experienced it personally, but he also knew the pain lurking in St. Petersburg, because at such a distance, old Ivan and his people could not get any help at all, not even instructions, in such days, they could only choose to integrate themselves deeply into the city of St. Petersburg.

"Old Ivan, this time I brought St. Petersburg on a major mission, and I can tell you very clearly that it is a direct order from His Majesty!"

"Your Majesty's direct order?" Old Ivan was a little strange, usually it was impossible for the emperor to bypass the headquarters directly to give them orders, and such a move was really extremely rare.

When Antonov talked about His Majesty's edict, his expression was a little more solemn, and he said in a low voice: "Your Majesty's edict is to start the 'Bear Hunt' plan, and Old Ivan is in charge, and I will be responsible for assisting and trying to ensure the smooth progress of the plan." ”

Old Ivan's eyes were slightly dark, but the emotions conveyed in them were extremely complicated, shock, excitement and a faint anticipation, because of the so-called 'bear hunting plan', that is, to split the Russian Empire.

The disintegration of the vast Russian Empire seems to be such an incredible thing that it almost makes people crazy to think about it.

But in fact, in today's Russia, there is a great opportunity to do this, because behind the appearance of the Russian Empire's power, there is a growing crack that has the ability to destroy the Russian Empire, and this crack stems from the struggle between reformers and conservatives.

If we want to talk about the struggle between the two factions of the Russian Empire, we have to talk about the reforms of Peter the Great, because the struggle between the reformists and the conservatives stems from the problems manifested and accumulated by this reform.

Before the reforms, the overall development of Russia was dominated by feudal serfdom production relations, and the level of economic development was very low, especially the infighting and wars in the upper echelons of the empire became more and more frequent, which led to the bankruptcy of a large number of peasants and even began to flee, which further led to the abandonment of land, that is, the peasants' arable land decreased by 20 to 30 percent compared with the past.

In order to have enough labor, the aristocracy began to choose to implement a system of forced labor, forcibly shackling the peasants to the land, so that the peasants lost their personal freedom and became serfs, and the population could not move freely, the development of the commodity economy became an empty word, so it is not an exaggeration to say that Russia was on the verge of crisis at that time.

Later, after Peter the Great ascended the throne, it was naturally intolerable to the status quo in Russia, and he resolutely abandoned the tradition of Russian arrogance and conservatism, personally led a delegation to study the relevant systems of Western Europe, and implemented a top-down, bold and decisive comprehensive reform, and after 20 years of all-round reforms, Russia was also reborn, and the entire empire began to become stronger.

But the problem is that the nobles, landlords and religious forces who were damaged in the reform of Peter the Great are naturally extremely dissatisfied in their hearts, and they always hope to regain power and restore the original old system, and in this process, like the eldest son of the emperor at that time, Alexei Petrovich became the object of use, and finally even forced Peter the Great to kill his son himself to show his determination to reform.

If that were all there was to it, the biggest problem with Peter the Great's reforms was that they were only half complete, and he was already dead before Peter the Great could purge the conservatives, and even after the reformer closed his eyes, the ministers began to expose the tragic consequences of Peter's indefinite work of the working people, that is, to start a counter-offensive.

Therefore, just after the death of Peter the Great, the conservatives secretly launched a seizure of power and supported Peter II to ascend the throne.

After Catherine ascended the throne, she couldn't wait to establish the Supreme Privy Council, kicking away the original Privy Council system and the Supreme Council of the Orthodox Church, of course, there is naturally a shadow of Menshikov behind this, but from this point it can be seen that the struggle between reformers and conservatives at that time has become more and more intensified.

The Governor of the Senate, Yaguzhinsky, urgently presented to the Empress a fiercely worded memoir, in which he described the poor harvests, starvation, and misery of the people, and the flight of a large number of people to Poland and the Don River, and even the phrase 'If this continues, every son of Russia should think with sympathy for the afflicted, and must not let my glorious country perish and fall into poverty due to mismanagement and dereliction of duty', with the aim of overthrowing the revolutionary achievements of Peter the Great.

In a programmatic edict issued on January 9, 1727, the Empress claimed that although Peter the Great's great undertakings had not yet been fully implemented, the affairs of the country had become so bad that reforms were needed, such as the reduction of the poll tax, the reduction of administrative expenses, and the abolition of the workshops and handicrafts.

And this change made it impossible for the Supreme Privy Council to solve the problem at all, and Peter the Great's reforms aggravated the old budget with a chronic deficit, and the increase in taxes to balance the deficit increased the outstanding taxes, and the collection of such arrears prompted taxpayers to flee, so that the whole Russian Empire became a mess.

Now, with the death of Empress Catherine and the accession of Peter II to the throne, the situation in Russia has changed again, and a large number of conservative nobles and religious forces have begun to look back at the power of the whole of Russia, and they need revenge, and they need to overthrow everything that Peter the Great had reformed before.

If the conservatives want to return to power, the first thing they need to deal with is the banner of the reformers, Marshal Menshikov, as long as he overthrows this person, then he can push the boat to completely purge the reformists and take over everything in the empire.

So is it possible to deal with this person?

Yes, it's still very likely!

The reason is very simple, Marshal Menshikov can be regarded as an excellent marshal, but he is not an outstanding conspirator, since Peter II came to the throne, he has full regent, and married his daughter to Peter II, which is enough to attract the attention of everyone in the court, if they understand the allusion from China, it is estimated that they will exclaim - this thing wants to be Wang Mang!

Of course, in the Russian Empire, betrayal and coup d'état are not uncommon, whether it is Peter the Great or Catherine's accession to the throne, it was done in a bloody coup, the big guys are familiar with this routine, and the estimates of Marshal Menshikov are also sufficient, and the conservatives are naturally unwilling to be captured.

Therefore, by the time the situation has developed to this point, both sides have reached the point of life and death.

Old Ivan analyzed the current situation in St. Petersburg in detail, and then said in a low voice: "Antonov, if nothing else, any day in the future may become the time for a decisive battle between the two sides, and the winner will get everything, even if there is chaos, it will only last for a short time, but this is not what His Majesty wants." ”

Antonov nodded, and then said with a smile: "What Your Majesty wants to see is not a complete victory on either side, but to be able to see that both sides are evenly matched, and then completely turn the other cheek, and then there will be a chance to split the Russian Empire." ”

"That's right, so if we want to implement the 'Bear Hunting Plan', we must first understand that in this game, who is the bear? We need to find the loser so that we can get him up and continue the fight before he is completely down. ”

A trace of hesitation appeared on Old Ivan's face, and he sighed deeply: "But the current situation in St. Petersburg is too chaotic, and Menshikov still has a monopoly on the surface, but in fact, since he got sick, many things have not been said well, according to our insider information, the conservative seems to be secretly plotting to do something, but his position is limited, and he can't get more information." ”

"Is it a plot for a coup d'état?" Antonov smiled dumbly, then shook his head again, but first vetoed: "It shouldn't be a coup d'état, after all, the Guards have always been under Menshikov's hands......"

Everyone in St. Petersburg knows that the best way to succeed in a coup d'état is to start with the Guards, because in all the coups that preceded it, the Guards came first.

"No, it's possible that what you're saying is true."

A trace of excitement flashed in Old Ivan's eyes, he stood in place and spun around twice, muttering to himself: "Before the death of the Empress, the Guards had undergone large-scale replacements, and many of them were pawns planted by other forces. ”

"However, this is not without success, at least one day it has become clear that the Guards system is no longer as safe as Menshikov thought...... Maybe we can do something ahead of time. ”

"Do something?" A hint of surprise flashed across Antonov's face, and he suddenly guessed what the other party was thinking.

"Help Menshikov and become the Emperor of Russia!"

.......

The intrigues and tricks that took place in St. Petersburg naturally did not affect the situation in the Far East, the smoke of the war on the Tumen River had subsided, and the Russian army had fully shrunk back to Vladivostok.

Of course, before marching into Yunchun, the metropolitan governor Ning Zuyi also issued an order, requiring the Russian army to be surrounded and driven from the periphery, so that the Russian army could retreat in Yunchun and Vladivostok, so as to complete the battle.

I saw that in the cold wind, a large number of refugees located outside Yunchun City, most of whom were banner people, began to flee towards Yunchun City, of course, everyone was not unwilling to surrender to the Fu Han army, but because before that, the Qing court had been creating rumors among the banner people, claiming that the Fu Han army wantonly slaughtered the Eight Banners, if it fell into the hands of the Fu Han army, not only would they die warped, but they would not even be able to keep a whole corpse, and they would suffer all kinds of torture before they died.

In the face of such a terrifying rumor, everyone said that the Fu Han army was the devil and would never surrender to the Fu Han army, so they could only continue to go north without hesitation.

Of course, these are naturally rumors, but for the flag people, they have no other choice, after all, they still know how to deal with the Han people back then, and now they will naturally think that the other party will retaliate like this, and subconsciously believe this rumor from the bottom of their hearts.

So, in this cold and biting winter, the flagmen once again put on a long march and began to walk step by step, and snow particles continued to fall on their bodies, and from time to time some people fell to the ground and could not get up again, and such a situation is not uncommon.

This wave of offensive by the Fu Han Army in the winter is naturally very uncomfortable for the Russian army, but for these people who have not yet entered Yunchun and Vladivostok, it is a real nightmare.

With no food, no cotton clothes, nothing, this winter has become the worst killer.

"Brother, brother, where did Ama and Eniang go......."

A child, probably seven or eight years old, wrapped in a cotton coat, leaned diagonally on a dilapidated cart, his eyes closed, his mouth muttering from time to time, and his red face was slightly streaked with tears.

Next to the cart was a young man in thin clothes, he was only fourteen or fifteen years old, but the whole person looked extremely vicissitudes, he pushed the cart while whispering: "Haiyin, you hold on for a while, and when you enter Yunchun, you can survive......."

It's just that before he finished saying this, a middle-aged man passing by next to him looked at it, but sneered, "Chang Bao, if you continue to take him on the road, you will definitely be caught up by the cavalry of the Fu Han Army, don't talk about him at that time, you won't be able to live, so let's let it go quickly!" ”