St. Petersburg, although it is the capital of the Russian Empire today, is not a city of much power, but rather a terrifying young man - it is only twenty-three years old since Peter the Great expanded St. Petersburg in 1703.

Of course, St. Petersburg has always been extraordinary in the hearts of the Russians, it was developed on the basis of the original Peter and Paul Fortress, which was created as an outpost of the Northern War between Russia and Sweden, and was also the northern city built under the supervision of Peter the Great himself, and witnessed the grandeur of the Great Northern War here.

For Peter the Great, who was anxious to get rid of the old school within the empire, Moscow brought him only unbearable memories, so after the construction of the Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg was naturally developed, and in 1712 he chose to move the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg.

With the passage of fifteen years of wind and rain, Peter the Great has been in the soil for three years, and Catherine I, the heir of the Great, has also returned to the West, and now the owner of St. Petersburg has been replaced by Peter II, who is only eleven years old, and anyone in St. Petersburg knows that the real ruler behind the city is Marshal Alexander Danilovich Menshikov.

Marshal Menshikov, who is now the supreme ruler of the Russian Empire, has a legendary background and can be said to be the most typical case of civilian counterattack, and it is quite interesting that the deeds of this marshal are quite similar to Lord Wei, so it can also be said to be the Russian version of "Wei Xiaobao".

First of all, the backgrounds and opportunities of the two are very similar, they are both from extremely humble backgrounds, like Wei Xiaobao is the son of a prostitute, and Menshikov is a boy who sells cakes, both of them can be regarded as ninth-rate people at that time.

Wei Xiaobao made his fortune because he was brought to the palace by Mao 18, and he became a fake eunuch by mistake, so he met Emperor Kangxi, and Menshikov's experience is legendary enough, he was because he miscalculated when selling cakes, and when he quarreled with the soldiers of the Kremlin, he was seen by Peter the Great at that time, and then he was brought to the palace at first sight, and was also incorporated into the emperor's pro-army "Young Army", and since then he has started his career.

Secondly, the two are also very similar in their lustful personalities. Needless to say, Wei Xiaobao's experience is full of greed for money and lust, and this Marshal Menshikov is not far behind in this regard, he was ordered to build St. Petersburg from 1703 to 1712, he took advantage of his position to establish various enterprises such as brick and tile factories, wood processing factories, glass factories, salt works, fishing grounds, and wineries, and also supplied grain through the land he had embezzled.

Later, during the reign of Peter the Great, a special investigation team was set up to investigate Menshikov's corruption, and it was found that his assets amounted to more than 1.5 million rubles, equivalent to three times the total annual expenditure of Russia, and he could be called the richest man in the whole of Europe.

In terms of lust, Marshal Menshikov not only kept many mistresses, but also liked Peter the Great's wife, that is, Catherina, who was Menshikov's favorite military prostitute before meeting Peter the Great, so the relationship between the two was also quite complicated.

Of course, Wei Xiaobao is a fictional character after all, but Marshal Menshikov is a living person, and now he is not only a field marshal of the Russian Empire, nor is he just a count of the Holy Roman Empire, but also the actual ruler of the entire Russian Empire.

Now Marshal Menshikov has a monopoly on power and is full of ambition, so he himself awarded himself the highest military rank in Russia - Generalissimo of Russia, but even Tsar Peter II had to look at his face. Therefore, in some difficult corners of St. Petersburg, there are even many people who call him "half an emperor".

In the summer palace of St. Petersburg, young Peter II sat calmly in his high seat, while beside him sat another, slightly dwarfer chair, on which sat Menshikov, the current Generalissimo of the Russian Empire, with a smug expression.

As for the bottom of the palace, there are many important Russian ministers, who are basically members of the Supreme Privy Council, such as Field Marshal Duke Golitsyn, who served as the commander of the Ukrainian garrison, as well as Duke Dolgoruki, Foreign Minister Count Lizin and others.

The so-called Supreme Privy Council, the highest advisory body established by Empress Catherine I, usually has about seven to eight members, and now it has become the highest authority of the entire Russian Empire, deciding all major state affairs, and Marshal Menshikov is leading state affairs by dominating the form of the Supreme Privy Council.

As usual, the Privy Council ministers began to report on their work in turn, whether it was internal affairs, or foreign affairs, or the statutes of the various ministries, which were handed over and agreed upon by the ministers, while Menshikov made the final decision, but most of the people present were Menshikov's cronies, and many things had already been agreed upon, so it was just a passing motion, and the whole process seemed extremely monotonous and boring.

After a while, when the little emperor Peter II yawned, the old marshal Duke Golitsyn opened his eyes and said in a low voice: "I heard that the performance of the Governor of Eastern Siberia, Shaylov, has just arrived in St. Petersburg, and the minister has heard some of them in his heart, and it seems that there are some obstacles to the development of the Far East, but today it is not mentioned for some reason. ”

After the old marshal Duke Golitsyn said this, it was as if a stone was thrown in the silent summer palace, and everyone's attention was immediately concentrated, even the little emperor Peter II looked at Duke Golitsyn with great interest, and then looked at Marshal Menshikov, who was speechless, as if he was full of anticipation.

Everyone is like this, although they dare not look at the excitement as openly as the little emperor, but everyone understands a truth in their hearts, since the death of Peter the Great, many people have opinions about this Marshal Menshikov, among which the old Marshal Duke Golitsyn is one of them, he has just returned to St. Petersburg, he began to shoot at Marshal Menshikov.

Everyone knows that Count Sarafura, who is now in charge of Far Eastern affairs, was originally a young and strong officer from the Praetorian Guard, belonging to the direct forces of Marshal Menshikov, and later rose to prominence after being sent to the East, not only becoming the governor of the Far East in name, but also gaining full authority to dispose of Far Eastern affairs.

However, in this way, Count Sarahulla has become an excellent weather vane for attacking Marshal Menshikov, but whenever anyone wants to attack Marshal Menshikov, they will pull up Count Sarahura in the Far East and talk about it.

It's just that even so, the big guy was more or less surprised in his heart, judging from Marshal Menshikov's current power in the empire, even if the old Marshal Duke Golitsyn came to attack, it would be useless to be afraid - just in May, the little emperor Peter II had just held a wedding with Marshal Menshikov's daughter Maria.

Marshal Menshikov took a deep look at the old and sturdy Duke Golitsyn in front of him, and then said softly: "Shayalov's performance is indeed here, but it has been pressed back, and it has not had time to dismantle it. ”

Anatoly, who was also a member of the Supreme Privy Council, hurriedly rummaged through the box containing the Governor's recital below, and found a letter with Shayelov's name written on it.

“..... Mikhail Yuliev, the commander and general stationed in the Siberian border city of Nebuchu, recently set out to announce that the state of Chu would attack all parts of Mobei Mongolia in July, and although the land of conquest had not yet affected our department, it was necessary to beware of the state of Chu's deliberate surprise attack, if so, the safety of the Far East would be really difficult to guarantee, and the empire's eastward strategy would encounter a century-old setback, please deal with it at your discretion......."

After Anatoly read out all the words, everyone immediately looked at each other, and instantly looked at Marshal Menshikov, and it was clear that some of the things in this letter were not favorable to Marshal Menshikov.

Marshal Menshikov was not moved in the slightest, but sneered: "Don't get excited, why don't you finish reading it together?" ”

"Yes, Marshal."

Anatoly flipped over the other side of the performance and began to whisper, "........ The governor of Saragula has made relevant preparations, has built the fortified city of Vladivostok, and stationed more than 3,000 troops along the way, even if the Chu army marches on a large scale, it is difficult to completely conquer the fortresses along the way, and can hold on until next winter, and I also ask Your Majesty and the generalissimo to gather reinforcements as soon as possible to save the predicament of Siberia and the Far East. ”

After reading the letter, everyone's expressions changed slightly, and they really didn't expect that this letter was really not to attack Sara Mullah, but to get reinforcements to support the Far East?

The old marshal Duke Golitsyn snorted coldly and said: "If it weren't for the short-sightedness of Sara Gulla's strategy in the Far East, the empire would not have appeared such a big obstacle in the Far East, now that the Qing State has fallen, but the new Chu State is even more difficult to deal with, he still wants to let the empire put more forces into the Far East, but how can the empire's logistics keep up?" ”

To put it bluntly, the power of the entire Russian Empire in Siberia is still very fragile, and the support that can be provided to the Far East is at most tens of thousands of people, of which only 10,000 or 20,000 can afford to hold guns.

However, the words of the old marshal Duke Golitsyn are not destined to arouse everyone's consent, because in the current Russian Empire, the maintenance force for the eastward expansion strategy is very strong, after all, the vast land of Siberia and even the Far East is something that all Russians dream of, and they will defend it at any cost.

Therefore, the ministers of the Privy Council soon launched an attack on the old marshal Duke Golitsyn, and Duke Dolgoruki even thought that the old marshal Duke Golitsyn was already old, and perhaps he should go back to recuperate sooner.......

In this storm, Marshal Menshikov always squinted at everyone, he did not take this opportunity to mend the sword, but waved lightly: "Okay, reinforcements still have to be sent, I have decided to send a Cossack corps to the east, and they will cooperate with Sara Mula in the Far East to force the Tatars to sit back at the negotiating table." ”

After saying this, Marshal Menshikov looked at Duke Golitsyn with a smile on his face, but there was not much taste of a victor in his expression.

"Duke Golitsyn is also worried about state affairs, and his mood is understandable, not [military fo] at the moment, Ukraine still needs the duke to sit in the town, so let's go back as soon as possible."

"Yes, Marshal."

Duke Golitsyn was expelled from the Supreme Privy Council in this way, but he himself did not feel much loss, just squinted his eyes and slowly left the summer palace.

Everyone looked at Duke Golitsyn, who had been deposed as the Supreme Privy Council, and suddenly felt a chill in their hearts, maybe this kind of end could be regarded as the best.

But everyone didn't know that there were two other people at the scene who were also looking at all this with complicated eyes, one was Duke Dolgoruky, who had asked Duke Golitsyn to go home to recuperate, and the other was His Majesty Peter II, the current Emperor of Russia.

........

The temple has its own temple height, and there are rivers and lakes under the rivers and lakes. No matter how fierce the turmoil in the summer palace is, it can't be passed on to ordinary people after all, but in St. Petersburg, a rumor has recently begun to circulate, that is, Marshal Menshikov is no longer willing to be the supreme marshal of the empire, and he wants to seek to usurp the throne and become the emperor!

After all, when it comes to Russian politics now, it can be called a mess, and people still remember the coup d'état in the Praetorian Guard two years ago, and it was that coup d'état that made Catherine her highness the empress, and now Marshal Menshikov, who is in power, does not seem to be so difficult to become emperor.

What's more, at this time, Marshal Menshikov was also creating public opinion everywhere, and he also specially drew his own genealogy tree to prove that his ancestors were also a member of the Rurik family, as if he was clearing the obstacles of identity for the future ascendancy.......

Of course, for the people in St. Petersburg, it seems that whoever becomes the emperor will not affect anything, but because Marshal Menshikov's reputation is too bad, more people still hope that His Majesty the Emperor can punish the traitors as soon as possible and succeed in his own government.

It's just that the little emperor Peter II is only eleven years old now, and it will take at least five years to justify his own government, which means that it is not easy to eradicate the traitor Menshikov.

However, just as the gossip was spreading wildly, in a house in St. Petersburg, two Russians with high noses and eyes like blue beads were meeting in private, and the content of their conversation was enough to make the whole of St. Petersburg shudder-

Because they are doing one thing, and that is to subvert the Russian Empire!