However, laughing and laughing, the royal sister is not without doubts.

"You say, is this Englishman reliable and trustworthy?"

Guan Zhuofan said: "Back to the Queen Mother, the minister thinks that the British are not reliable, believe it or not, not in the British, but in ourselves - we are fighting for ourselves, and the British are reliable and trustworthy; Let's not fight on our own, don't say anything about whether we can rely on it or not, believe it or not, even if the British hook up with the Russians and conspire with us, it is not unusual. ”

Cixi was silent for a while, and then said slowly: "What you say has a taste, and it means this - you have to take your own steps steadily and steadily, and people are willing to help you!" ”

Guan Zhuofan was very pleased and said, "Queen Mother Shengming! For example, in the rebellion in Xinjiang, we have flattened the rebellion one by one, and then tied up the fence of the entire Xinjiang, and the Russians naturally did not dare to provoke lightly when they saw that there was no gap to take advantage of. The British have confidence in us, and they are willing to put icing on the cake and help us; Maybe they'll turn around and beg us to help them deal with the Russians. ”

"Yo, that's the case—that's the dare!"

"Not only that, but since the British have asked for me, they will not be between China and India, and the situation in Tibet will be easy to settle down -- this is a chain of tricks, in the words of the foreigners, it is called a 'virtuous circle.'"

"'Benign...... Loop'? ”

"Yes."

The royal sister thought about it seriously, roughly understood the meaning of this word, was slightly excited in her heart, nodded again and again, and said, "That's the case!" ”

Guan Zhuofan said slowly: "As for the Rakshasa people who have swallowed it, there will be a day." Let them take one bite at a time. All spit out. ”

Cixi was stunned. Said: "What do you mean ......?"

Guan Zhuofan sighed secretly in his heart: If you are a modern Chinese, you definitely don't need to think about it, you know what you are referring to.

But here it is the sixties of the nineteenth century.

"Back to the Queen Mother, what the minister said is that in the eighth year of Xianfeng, the tenth year of Xianfeng, and the third year of Tongzhi, the treaties we signed with the Russians."

In the eighth year of Xianfeng, that is, in 1858. Treaty of Aihui.

In the tenth year of Xianfeng, that is, in 1860, the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing.

In the third year of Tongzhi, that is, in 1864, the "Sino-Russian Treaty on the Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary".

The dates and names of the three treaties jumped out of Guan Zhuofan's mind one after another.

When the "Sino-Russian Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary" jumped out, Guan Zhuofan's temples trembled slightly, and he seemed to hear the sound of blood dripping from his heart, and for a moment, his mouth was filled with a bitter and astringent taste.

this treaty. It was signed in 1864. At that time, he was on the sea route back from the United States. With the power of the great victory of the United States in countering the rebellion, the army is magnificent, the equipment is excellent, and the end is "looking up to China and foreign countries", and the scenery is infinite.

At that time, he had already traveled through four years.

However, history, with its strong inertia, still gave birth to this treaty on time. China is helpless, and neither is Guan Zhuofan.

At that time, Guan Zhuofan was deeply aware that the trajectory of history had not taken a real turn; China's destiny cannot be substantially changed by relying only on a victory in its own speculation in a foreign country.

What I want to do on this plane is just a small beginning.

At that time, Guan Zhuofan felt painfully: how easy it is to stay in the 21st century, facing the ancestors who have become ancient, and sing high-pitched songs; Really put yourself in the shoes of these great changes unseen in 3,000 years, how difficult it is to turn things around and change the number of fates.

"The Treaty on the Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary between China and Russia" is Yi? The decision was made, but when the rebellion broke out, the chaos raged, the entire northwest was full of smoke, and Xinjiang was in fact completely out of control, even if he changed his own government, could he really not sign this agreement?

Guan Zhuofan was not sure at all.

is not as strong as others, and everything is nonsense and empty words.

In the final analysis, it was not because of Zeng Jize's eloquence, but because the rebellion had been pacified at that time, and Zuo Zongtang's army was stationed in the northwest, looking at Ili.

Okay, it's time for the royal sister to speak.

"I don't know exactly what these treaties are about. Above the demarcation, we seem to ...... Suffered? ”

Seem?!

Fortunately, sister, you still know that I am talking about the "demarcation" thing.

It's no wonder that the royal sister "seems" -- after crossing over, Guan Zhuofan found out: The ruler at this time did not know that he had suffered a loss in the demarcation of the border between China and Russia, but he was confused, and he did not know how much he had suffered.

That is, there is no clear concept of "quantity".

Guan Zhuofan consulted the "Aihui Treaty", the "Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing", and the "Sino-Russian Treaty on the Survey and Demarcation of the Northwest Boundary", and there was one thing in common about the demarcation part: there was only a simple description of the names and directions of rivers, mountains, and Karen, and there were no specific figures for distance and height.

The crudeness is far from the accuracy of modern demarcation agreements.

In fact, the Chinese of this era lack the concept and means of "digital management", nor do they have the concept of territory in the modern sense. The borders of the distant northeast and northwest are very vague in theory and reality, and strictly speaking, there is no "line" in the geometric sense.

What is even more fatal is that China at that time lacked the concept of "actual control" of the territory in the public law of all countries -- this made China suffer a great loss in the conflict with Russia.

For example, the Russians insisted that the Chinese permanent "Karen" - that is, the outposts - should be used as the basis for the demarcation of the border, but many of China's permanent Karens were still very far from the theoretical national border. As a result, the territory within this distance was forcibly taken away by the Russians using the method of "first actually occupying it, and then sacrificing the public law of all nations".

The logic of the Russians goes like this: this place is my actual control area, not your actual control area - therefore, this place is my territory, not your territory.

Okay, it's time for Guan Zhuofan to answer.

He took a light breath and said, "Back to the Queen Mother, we have indeed suffered a loss." There is a very rough figure in the minister's hand: these several demarcations, added together, the Russians probably occupy more of us...... 1.4 million square kilometers -- well, 'square kilometers' is the term of foreigners, and one 'square kilometer' is about 1,500 acres of our land. ”

Seeing the slightly dazed look on Cixi's face, Guan Zhuofan added: "One million and four thousand square kilometers, which is about equivalent to ten places in Anhui Province. ”

The beautiful phoenix eyes of the royal sister suddenly widened.

Guan Zhuofan talked about Anhui because Cixi's father Hui Zheng died in Anhui Ningchi Guangtaidao. Anhui is one of the provinces that Cixi is most familiar with.

Ten Anhui?!

Cixi's face turned pale.

Halfway, she whispered, "This number...... No one has ever sued me. ”

That's because, in China in this era, no one really knows "this number".

Guan Zhuofan said: "The areas occupied by the Russians are all in the extreme Arctic West, and it is not easy to survey the size of the land and draw accurate maps. To tell you the truth, we don't have the ability to do it ourselves. The number that the minister said was calculated by foreigners. The people below did not give the Queen Mother a clear reply, and they ...... It's not surprising. ”

A small flame slowly burned in Cixi's heart, and soon, the burning made her cheeks hot and her eyes red.

"The first two treaties were signed by the first emperor; The latter treaty is in—"

Cixi couldn't go on.

She stopped, her full breasts rising and falling rapidly.

When he started again, he was already a little choked: "I lost such a large piece of land, and after a hundred years, I ...... How do I go to see my fathers and fathers? ”

Guan Zhuofan stretched out his hand and gently grabbed Cixi's hand. He could feel that the royal sister's hand was trembling slightly.

He said in a very calm voice: "The Queen Mother doesn't have to be too ...... Injury. This matter, just like the matter of the Old Summer Palace, is always our skills are not as good as others for a while, and we are helpless! However, if your skills are not as good as others for a while, will your skills be inferior to people for a lifetime?! As long as we are angry and strong, one day, we will be able to come from behind, overwhelm the Rakshasas, and make them vomit back all the food they eat and occupy! ”

Cixi's body was shocked, she turned her hand over, grabbed Guan Zhuofan's hand tightly, and said in a trembling voice: "Yes, you also said this just now - you say, what should we do to make the Rakshasa people 'spit it out one bite at a time'?" ”

Guan Zhuofan said: "Back to the Queen Mother, the Rakshasa is a tall and strong man, carrying an ax in his hand, our bodies are weak, and we only have a burning stick in our hands, so he snatched his belongings!" ”

"If you want to snatch your belongings back, you have to raise your body and bones stronger than him! We used to only eat whole grains, and we couldn't raise tendon meat, so we had to eat beef, mutton and pork instead! You have to boil your muscles and bones - you can't grow tendons and flesh when you stay in the house all day, without basking in the sun, blowing the wind, or raining! ”

"I've grown tendon meat, and I have to find someone to take advantage of it - I can't use the burning stick anymore! We also have to make the axe, sharper than the axe of the Rakshasas! ”

"With both of these things in place, we can get this field back!"

*(To be continued......)