Speranski understands English, which solves the problem of direct communication between him and Zhou Lang.

Before Speransky came to China, his information Zhou Lang had already obtained, but he did not expect to be a very influential person. Known for his intelligence, work ability, and outstanding management skills, he became the de facto prime minister of Russia.

The reason for adding "de facto" is that he is not a real prime minister, but serves the tsar as an adviser and realizes his ideas through the tsar, so he is not a powerful minister who directly holds power.

Because of this, Zhou Langcai has never grasped the information of this person, not because the Chinese intelligence agencies are too backward, but because of the communication barrier with Russia, it is impossible for the intelligence agencies to pay attention to a tsar's adviser, because the tsar's various advisers are too many.

It was only after Perm released Speransky from exile that Zhou Lang received information about him. He came from a poor rural clergy family, which made him not a big nobleman, but he could still own serfs. Because serfdom in Russia was so common, many classes could have serfs. The state has state serfs, the nobility has landlord serfs, the court has court serfs, the church has church serfs, as long as you are a free identity, you can buy and sell serfs. There were even serfs who had their own serfs, but they were not protected by the law.

Speransky's background prevented him from thinking like the aristocracy, brought him closer to the serfs, and at the same time his birth allowed him to be well educated, and various opportunities brought his worldview into line with that of the bourgeois elites that were taking place in Europe, believing that the West was advanced, and that this idea had a wide market in Russia.

Therefore, Tsar Alexander began to strictly investigate the flow of European books into Russia ten years ago, and the punishment was very severe, and the smuggling of certain books could be directly executed.

Zhou Lang did not see anything special about Speransky's educational background, which he completed at the St. Petersburg Theological Seminary, where he became a lecturer in mathematics and physics. Those who can stay as lecturers at the university often have a strong learning ability. But he was not educated at a Western university, and it is difficult to explain the evolution of his worldview.

Then because of his talent and qualities, he came to the attention of the government and was recruited by Prince Kulagin as a secretary. It wasn't long before Speransky became the most talented imperial official. This shows that this person was indeed administratively gifted, and entered political activities by befriending the powerful, which was not difficult for an intellectual elite who came from a clergy family and taught at universities, and after the Renaissance, making friends with scholars became a way for the European aristocracy to advertise themselves.

Being able to enter a political circle is completely different from showing ability. It can only be said that Speransky is really talented.

Speransky's fortunes changed after 1808, when Alexander I took Speransky with him to the Erfurt Conference and sent him to direct talks with Emperor Napoleon I. Legend has it that Napoleon praised Speransky as the only shrewd man in Russia, but in fact this is a curse, and Napoleon also praised Catherine the Great as the only person in Russia who understands, in fact, he is satirizing the lack of sober people in Russia.

At the insistence of Alexander I, Speransky was sent to hold several discussions with Napoleon about the reform of the Russian administrative system.

It is not known whether it was from this time that Speransky embraced the ideas of the French Revolution and tried to promote a political system based on the principle of separation of powers in Russia. He envisaged a constitutional system based on a series of Duma, with commune or town legislative assemblies (Duma) electing members of the district legislatures, members of the district legislature electing members of the provincial legislatures, who in turn elected members of the imperial legislative assembly (State Duma) or the National Assembly.

To balance the power of the emperor with the power of the Duma, Speransky also planned to establish a Council of State. The institution formally imitated the **** of Napoleonic France, in which Speransky served as secretary of state. The members of this expert body were appointed by the emperor to assist the emperor in his legislative work, but had no power to limit the principles of an autocratic government.

After the Revolution, France has become the object of reform that European countries are competing to imitate, and from this point of view, it is not that the upper echelons do not have the will to reform, but they need to weigh it, and the argument that the upper echelons really think that they are obstructing reform because of their personal interests is too low.

Therefore, the tsar also wanted to learn something advanced from France, after all, France was too strong at this time, so he ended his meeting with Napoleon and signed some treaties with France. At the end of 1808, the Tsar authorized Speransky to draw up a number of reform documents, including the 1809 Introduction to the Law of the State and the Draft of the 1809 Code of the State.

Speransky hopes that the State Duma, the King, and the Senate will balance the state power system and create a system of separation of powers similar to that of France. Although these reforms limited the Tsar's power, the Tsar did not discourage Speransky, what really brought him down was that he offended too many nobles, and he was seized by the nobles.

Speransky wanted to change the status quo of the Russian aristocracy holding power and let the truly talented people run the country. From Catherine II onwards, the nobility of the court had official titles, which would increase with age. Most of these nobles are idle, stretching out their hands for clothes, opening their mouths for food, and living a leisurely life. The imperial history proposed that nobles with palace titles and titles should have their own actual jobs, rather than corpse vegetarian meals, and do nothing just by having an official title.

His reforms created obstacles to the advancement of the nobility and changed the course of their lives, which was naturally frowned upon. Speransky also suggested that all official titles should be examined before those who pass can be qualified. This made the nobles need to study hard and work hard if they wanted to keep their original position, and this sudden change in life status was unacceptable to the nobles.

Speransky began to carry out grand reforms in 1809, and in October 1810 the Council of State was established, but nothing more, most of the reforms were not implemented, and too many people were offended; The Tsar, for the sake of the bigger picture, agreed that Speransky's Free Peasants' Law should be included in the constitution and that it would be tried in Poland and Finland. However, the scope of the Russian mainland is too extensive to be implemented for the time being.

Although most of the measures opposed by the aristocracy were not actually implemented, the aristocracy generally resented Speransky, who regarded him as a lackey of the French, which was not the case in Russia's alliance with France, but when Napoleon invaded Russia, Speransky was unlucky.

The nobles portrayed him as a spy and accused him of secretly reading confidential court documents in order to deliver news to Napoleon.

Tsar Alexander may not have known that this was slander, but he still exiled Speransky, just as Emperor Wen of Han knew that Chao Cuo was a loyal minister, and Kangxi knew that Suke Saha was a loyal minister, but in the end they both killed Chao Cuo and Suke Saha, this is dirty politics, and the tsar must calm the anger of most of the nobles so that they do not side with Napoleon.

So Speransky was exiled.

And the greatest achievement in the history of this man was actually the compilation of the All Russian Code, and the Tsar also released him from exile in the name of compiling the Code.

But can such a person be used by Zhou Lang?

Zhou Lang did not report confidence in this, but he decided to dare to talk to Speransky in person.

This person arrived in Nanjing three months later, took the fastest military passage along the way, and was allowed all the way.

The two men had been talking for a long time, and it was evident that he was very knowledgeable, especially in law, from world history to European culture. It seems that the reformers are all Legalists, and this is true in China and the West.

"I have great admiration for your knowledge. I'm sorry for what happened to you. Why don't you try to put your ideas into practice? ”

Zhou Lang finally looked at him and said temptingly.

Speransky's expression moved, then he shook his head.

"Russia must be a rational change under the leadership of the tsar!"

He insisted.

A person who has reached this level does not need to break many things directly, he can easily guess what Zhou Lang wants.

Zhou Lang shook his head and sighed: "Maybe you misunderstood. I'm also a person who is always making changes. Knowing the difficulty of the change, I feel sorry and unfair for what happened to you, and I also want to do an experiment in Russia. See if the principle of separation of powers applies to all nations and states. And don't you think that Russia is too backward, do you want to keep going like this? ”

Speransky remained unmoved.

Zhou Lang continued: "There is nothing evil in the ancient system of serfdom, but it is really time for him to get rid of it. Slavery was no longer available in China 2,000 years ago, and serfdom was being abolished in Europe, with only Russia still clinging to it. I am afraid that in a few years, Russia will be eliminated by world civilization. ”

Speransky was displeased: "You are saying that slavery is not the same as serfdom. Serfs were not slaves, serfs were simply legally bound by feudal obligations. ”

Zhou Lang said with a smile: "Slaves are also legal identities, and biologically, everyone is a human being. I'm not arguing with you about academic issues, I'm trying to talk to you about social issues. There is no serfdom in the legal sense of the word in our country, but our peasants are also bound to the land, pressed by clan concepts, family affection, and urban risks. That's why I sometimes think that people are not bound by laws or systems, but by their own hearts. So I have a different understanding of your reforms, and maybe you were wrong from the beginning. ”

Speransky thought for a moment and said, "It's not right for you to explain politics in philosophical terms. Europe has opened a door to us, and they have proved that the legal abolition of serfdom is feasible. ”

Jurists always believe that all problems can be solved by law, but unfortunately it is difficult to establish a culture of the rule of law, without which everyone does not respect the law, and it is impossible to talk about legal reform.

Zhou Lang encouraged: "Maybe you're right. Your idea is really worth checking out. I suggest you can give it a try. Also, I don't want to use you to rule Russia. Sooner or later, the war between our country and your country will end, and Russia's will still be Russian's, and our country's will still be ours. Would you like to give it a try? Establish a government that works your way in our military-controlled areas! ”