In Hampton Court Palace in London, Ignashevich, the Russian ambassador, stood nervously in front of Cromwell's foreign secretary, humbly bent forward.

Cromwell's foreign secretary was called Sinclair, a shrewd white-haired old man with a pair of reading glasses on the bridge of his nose. He looked up and down at the Russian ambassador standing in front of him through his transparent reading glasses.

Taking a closer look at the Russian's straight black hair, Sinclair smiled somewhat arrogantly.

"My honorable Russian guest, we don't have advanced weapons, you are mistaken. If you want to buy front-loading rifled guns and new guns, you should go to Amsterdam. Or Lisbon, if you can get on good terms with Li Zhi in the Far East. ”

"But you shouldn't come to London anyway."

Ignashevich bowed slightly to Sinclair and said, "Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, I think you are underestimating our Russian intelligence capabilities. We know that you are making new rifles on a large scale, and you have 4,000 craftsmen in the London borough of Woolwich working hard to make guns, and you can produce 5,000 new rifles and a considerable number of new guns every month. ”

Sinclair heard Ignashevich's words and raised her eyebrows slightly.

The Russians knew about the output of the London Arsenal. Have Tsarist spies infiltrated London's arsenal? No, they apparently just got some rumors. If they could really infiltrate the arsenal, they would undoubtedly crack the secret of the Formosa rifle immediately, and they would not have to come to London to buy it.

Sinclair laughed, "We don't have the new weapon you said, Mr. Ignashevich. Only the Dutch have it! You should go to Amsterdam. ”

Ignashevich slammed his arms outstretched, trying to impress the British with his enthusiasm, and said: "Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, there is no contradiction between the expansion of Britain at sea and the expansion of our Russia in cold Siberia. And we have a common enemy, we are all attacked by Li Zhi! We should help each other. ”

"Let's be honest, the reason why we need new weapons so desperately is that we hope to defeat Li Zhi in Asia! Our weapons in the Far East are too backward. ”

After a pause, Ignashevich said: "Sell the new weapons to Russia, we are willing to pay a large price." ”

Sinclair smiled arrogantly and said, "We don't have a new weapon. We Europeans will not believe hearsay, Mr. Russian Ambassador. ”

As if saying the wrong thing, Sinclair slapped his forehead exaggeratedly and said: "I'm sorry, Mr. Ignashevich, I forgot that you Russians also consider yourself Europeans, I offended you!" ”

The Russians, located in the easternmost part of Europe, intermarried with the Mongols for hundreds of years, and were eager to call themselves Mongols. In the eyes of Western European countries, the Russians are the descendants of the Mongols, and they are no longer considered Europeans of pure blood.

But since the 16th century, Europeans have continued to expand abroad. The Russians saw the strength of Europe, but they desperately wanted to be active on the world stage as a European country. Russia desperately tried to learn the court etiquette of France, the culture of Spain, and only wanted to be recognized by Europeans.

So Sinclair's words are undoubtedly a blatant sarcasm of the Russians.

Ignashevich laughed awkwardly and stood up helplessly.

Instead of groveling, he began to speak some biting vernacular.

"In any case, should the English always be the followers of the Dutch?"

Sinclair frowned, and looked the Orthodox Christians in front of him up and down again.

Ignashevich exclaimed: "Britain is a latecomer country, desperately expanding all over the world. But unlike the Netherlands, which controlled the world's commercial trade, Britain did not benefit enough from its colonies. ”

"Britain is growing fast, faster than any other European country. But in the British colonies, it was Dutch merchant ships that sold goods. Even the fish in the London market were brought in from the sea by Dutch fishing boats. ”

Looking at Sinclair, whose face was gloomy, Ignashevich sneered and said: "If Britain wants to rise, it will have to break with the Netherlands one day." Britain could only truly profit from its rich colonies if it drove out all the Dutch merchant ships. There will eventually be a big war between England and the Netherlands. ”

Hearing Ignashevich's words, the attendants in the reception room were a little surprised.

Now that the Anglo-Dutch alliance is in the honeymoon period, the two sides are advancing and retreating together on the whole planet because of common interests, and Ignashevich dares to provoke this seemingly unbreakable Anglo-Dutch alliance.

Sinclair frowned and said coldly, "Black-haired Asian, do you think you can achieve your goal by sowing discord?" ”

Ignashevich showed no stage fright: "May I say bluntly, if poor Britain and rich Holland go to war, the British will not be able to attack the Dutch mainland, and the war will turn into a protracted maritime tug-of-war." The end result was undoubtedly the loss of the national strength of both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. ”

Ignashevich pointed to the world map on the wall and said loudly: "If the British are willing to form an alliance with Russia, they are willing to sell the most advanced weapons to Russia." Russia would not only attack Li Zhi to the east, but also pin down the Netherlands to the west. If the Anglo-Dutch go to war, we will attack the Dutch mainland by land. ”

Sinclair snorted coldly and was about to taunt the Russians, but saw that next to his office, Cromwell's attendant opened the door to the consul's office.

The attendant politely saluted Ignashevich and said, "Mr. Russian Ambassador, the consul invites you and the Foreign Minister to come to the office for a detailed discussion. ”

Ignashevich's eyes lit up, and it was clear that what he said about the Anglo-Russian alliance moved Cromwell.

He strode into Cromwell's office.

Cromwell sat behind his desk and looked at Ignashevich.

After a long time, he said lightly: "Mr. Ambassador, how are you going to attack Li Zhi?" ”

Cromwell did not discuss the alliance with the Russian ambassador. At this stage, the sudden alliance between Britain and Russia is too abrupt to make the Netherlands feel uncomfortable. What Britain and Russia should do now is to develop good relations between the two countries.

If there was a real war between Britain and the Netherlands, the good relations between Britain and Russia would quickly turn into an alliance.

Ignashevich waved his hand and replied, "Your Excellency, we will move south from Siberia to attack the three northeastern provinces of Li Zhi. ”

Cromwell said expressionlessly: "Those soldiers and horses of yours in the Far East are not Li Zhi's opponents. ”

Ignashevich exclaimed: "That's right, Archon. But we Russians are not acting alone, and the Jiangbei Army of the Ming State will attack Li Zhi at any time. The Dutch supported the Mughal emperor in the Far East to regain control of India, apparently hoping to attack Li Zhi from the west. ”

Cromwell was stunned, he didn't expect the Russians to even know about India.

After thinking about it, Cromwell said: "Next month, we can sell 30,000 front-loading rifled guns and 2,000 mortars to Russia." But we need a big price, we want 300,000 pounds. ”

One pound is almost equal to four taels of Dominic silver, and three hundred thousand pounds is a big number.

Ignashevich made a curtsy to Cromwell and said: "Your Excellency, I think the Tsar will grant you a generous offer!" ”