St. Petersburg, on the Neva River, Hermitage.

Throughout the history of Europe, the name synonymous with extravagance and luxury was the Tsar.

The Winter Palace, owned by the Tsar, is actually more like a group of buildings, standing on the west bank of the Neva River and looking at them from afar, from north to south are the Hermitage Theater, the Old Hermitage, the Little Hermitage and the Winter Palace, and the New Hermitage and the Winter Palace form an L-shape, forming a huge palace square in front of the Winter Palace, where Alexander Column stands.

Hermitage comes from French, meaning secluded place, starting with Elizabeth I-Petrovna and continuing with Nicholas I, six generations of tsars built four Hermitage, except for the theater, the remaining three Hermitage palaces were specially built to house works of art.

Collecting art was an elegant thing, but it was necessary to name one's private museum after the old, the young, and the new, and suddenly the culture had the temperament of an upstart, and it became so vulgar.

Just when all the European aristocrats laughed at the vulgarity of the tsars of the past, the tsars decided to go down the road of vulgarity, so the words "big" and "expensive" are the best explanations for the establishment of the Winter Palace.

"Big", all the items in the Winter Palace are huge, when the European royal family chased the delicate and beautiful Chinese ceramic vase, the tsars chased the huge gemstone vase made of agate stone, malachite or obsidian, close to two meters, and not one or two, but hundreds, in order to highlight the temperament of the gem vase, a large amount of gold leaf was attached to it, and finally gold became the true color of the vase, and the color of the gemstone became an embellishment.

An oversized fruit bowl made of jasper would require a dozen attendants to move just an empty plate, and when the banquet is full of fruit, you can only describe it as a "mountain".

Crystal chandeliers, in addition to large, is bigger, in the European court the skeleton of the crystal lamp is usually black iron nature, in the Winter Palace is never allowed, must be silver and gold.

European aristocrats chased oil paintings, and so did the tsars, especially those giant oil paintings that were more than 5 meters or even 20 meters long. The French say that Leonardo da Vinci paints well, so I want Leonardo da Vinci's painting too.

The Louvre has the "Smiling Mona Lisa", and the Hermitage has "Madonna and Flower" and "Madonna and Child", these two paintings may not be as famous as the French collection, but I must surpass you in number.

With Leonardo da Vinci, how could Raphael, who was one of the three masters of the Renaissance at the same time, be missing? Let's start with Raphael on a long promenade! Yes, you read that right, not one or two, but one gallery.

As for the paintings of Rembrandt, Titian, Rubens, and other masters, the European aristocracy only dared to buy them by the piece, while the tsars always bought them by the type, at best, you Europeans only a few or dozens of oil paintings by the masters, and in the old, small, and new world, there are hundreds of such oil paintings.

You European aristocrats say that the statues of the Renaissance are good, and there is a Michelangelo among the three masters of the Renaissance, so the tsars will open their wallets and go to Italy and France to sweep Michelangelo's goods.

What do you say, there is no finished product of a master to sell, only a semi-finished product? I don't let go of semi-finished products, and the number of Michelangelo's works is not enough, so I will also sweep the works of his students! There are not many works of students, and the rich tsar, there are gods who sweep anything, even if they copy it.

When I came back from sweeping, I would place it in the Winter Palace as I liked, as long as there was a place there, what would not match, I would put a few seats just by mood. Anyway, I have a lot of statues, so I can be so capricious.

Tapestries, carpets, tapestries must be Persian, not only Persian craftsmanship, wool must be Persian, but also Persian Isfahan entertainers and wool, and most importantly, they must be larger, and those small ones are for the European aristocracy, not for the rich tsars.

As for "expensive", you look at the small royal family and aristocracy in Europe, who dare to use gold as decoration in their palaces on a large scale? Europeans use the natural color of stone or wood as the main color of the palace, while in the Winter Palace, gold is the main color.

The pillars are to be gold, the balustrades are to be gold, the lampholders are to be gold, the roofs are to be gold, the vases, tables, chairs, and picture frames are to be inlaid with gold, except for a small amount of red for the Romanovs, and the rest is probably the white of jade.

In order to express the worship of gold by the tsars, Catherine II specially built the Golden Hall in the Winter Palace, and only precious stones more valuable than gold are worthy of being placed in this room.

In order to reflect Russia, it should be said that the tsar was rich, and all the tabletops of the Winter Palace were made of gem-inlaid pictures, and it was not allowed to show a little wood.

How could the tsars let go of this important luxury, among all kinds of precious table clocks and wall clocks, the most outstanding and expensive representative of the watch industry in the eighteenth century, the famous peacock clock was placed in the hall of the Winter Palace.

In the Hall of St. George, Alexander II is seated on a golden throne sheltered by a marble relief of the victorious general Georgi. Behind his throne, on the red curtain embroidered with a double-headed eagle holding a sword and a crown of power, the gold thread that weaves the double-headed eagle has noticeably blackened due to age, Alexander II is holding his chin in his hand, thinking about when to replace it with a new tapestry embroidered with the double-headed eagle Isfahan.

And the ministers, standing in front of Alexander II, still staged the traditional repertoire of the Russian court, attacking each other.

The content of today's quarrel in the play is not the usual domestic affairs of Russia, but for a distant South American country, Peru.

The quarrel began when the German Junkers refused to pay for Russian industrial goods purchased by the Peruvian government, and Peruvian President Prado had to go to St. Petersburg to plead with the Russians to fulfill the contract.

Throughout the history of the Russian Empire, it was possible to lie, to murder, to be shameless, to be indecent, to do anything against God's will, but there has never been a precedent for giving away one's own things to others for free.

"Gentlemen, from the vast plains of Poland to the beautiful banks of the Yesenia River, great Russia has some of the best farmland in the world, and our peasants only need a little sweat and they will have a good harvest. I really can't think of any beneficial help that Peruvian filthy guano will do for the agriculture of Great Russia! "The Minister of Agriculture and State Resources, a non-famous Russian poet, Pyotr Aleksandrovich Voev, said in an exaggerated tone.

"Whew! Fart! A sneer rang out.

Minister Voyev did not have to guess to know that it was the taunt of the new Minister of the Interior of the Reich, Prince Lori from Georgia, who owned the fiefdom of the province of Lori, the noblest Melikov family, General Mikhail Lolis Melikov.

Minister Voev, who was born in the Moscow aristocracy, never had a good face for these country nobles, and covered his nose with a handkerchief in disgust, and scolded in a low voice: "Vulgar! ”

The reason why he did not dare to raise his voice was because the Georgian prince was a really ruthless man, and before he was promoted to Minister of Internal Affairs in November, as the governor of the Volga region, he once ordered the slaughter of tens of thousands of plague patients, and cleanly solved the plague that had been rampant in the Volga region for a long time.

In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, as a general of the Georgian army, after capturing Erzurum in Turkey, he directly slaughtered all the local believers, and was the most famous and feared religious butcher in the Russian army.

Although Minister Voyev did not dare to respond to General Melikov's ridicule, his remarks were supported by a part of the aristocracy, and the Minister of Transport, Maxim Binku, immediately chimed in: "At present, the empire is building a West Asian railway from Yekaterinburg to Tashkent, and it will cost more than 400 million rubles to build such a short railway, and the road from St. Petersburg to Chile is even farther than it." ”

"I don't need to say more about the amount of money it costs to build and maintain such a distant route." The shipping business of the Russian Empire had never been under the control of the Ministry of Roads of the Minister of Binku, and the budget of the Reich was so large that he did not want anyone to share his cake.

"! Falsehood! Admiral Stepan-Lesovsky, Minister of the Navy, slapped the table, "Shipping only requires ports and ships, not the damned rails you call it, without which your train can't go, but the ship has to have coal and can go wherever it wants, and I swear to God that the cost of maintaining a shipping route is far less than maintaining a railroad!" ”

It is the Admiralty that is in charge of all Russian maritime vessels, and Admiralty Lesovsky, as Minister of the Navy, certainly does not allow anyone to slander the maritime industry so blatantly.

"Don't you need a railroad in a port, do you want to use horse-drawn carriages to transport goods?" Minister Binku immediately retorted.

"You are sophistry, shipping refers to the transportation of goods by ships, which is a far cheaper mode of transportation than rail transportation!" General Lesovsky was not ready to back down at a moment.

"The cost of rail transport in the empire is high? Hum..... My dear general, how many ice-free ports are there in the entire empire? "Sochi, Novorossiysk and Sevastopol on the Black Sea, St. Petersburg in the Baltic, Murmansk and Severodvinsk in the Arctic Ocean, Rostov on the Sea of Azov, Vladivostok in the Pacific." ”

"Your Excellency Dear Minister, Vladivostok has a freeze period of 100 days every year, and it cannot be said that it is a natural ice-free port of the Empire." Reich Finance Minister Ivan Vishneggsky kindly reminded.

"Aha, yes!" Minister Binku slapped his palms in a sudden realization and said with a smile, "Thank you, dear Ivan Viktorovich. ”

"The Ottomans and the British choked the entrance to the Black Sea, the British and Danes blocked the Baltic Sea, the two small fishing ports of Murmansk and Severodvinsk hid in the Arctic Circle, where there is nothing but ice and ice, to be honest, I really don't know what the remote port of Lima in the mouth of Mr. Admiralty is, of any value to the Empire?"

"What is the cost of something of no value?" After that, Minister Binku took out his handkerchief, wiped the second-class St. George Medal on his collar, and after blowing a breath, he said indifferently, "Just like some people, they can't get the St. George Medal that can only be obtained by those who represent martial arts and are invincible in their lives." ”

Before Minister Binku's words fell, the face of the Minister of the Navy, General Lesovsky, immediately turned green, according to the medal system of the Russian Empire, the Order of St. George, the great martyr of the fourth degree and the invincible of the invincible, representing the military bravery, is awarded only to army officers and generals with military merits, and if it is a Russian naval officer who wants to receive it, in addition to military merits, he must also participate in at least 18 naval battles before he is eligible for it.

It was not until after 1905 that Russia added the Order of St. George for 25 years of perfect service to the Order of St. George of the fourth degree.

By 1879, the Imperial Russian Navy had engaged in decent naval battles, and the naval battles with the Ottomans were nothing more than sneak attacks by torpedo boats. Therefore, Minister Binku is blatantly and nakedly mocking the Minister of the Navy, who will never want to get the Order of St. George, which represents martial bravery, and as for the navy and shipping industry under General Lesowski, there is also no hope in this life.

Such unscrupulous ridicule is unacceptable to the self-esteem of any nobleman.

"Duel, I'm going to duel with you!" General Lesovsky threw the white glove in his hand in the face of Minister Binku.

"Duel? The noble Russian custom of dueling belongs to the nobility, and you, a Polish pariah, have only been mixed up in today's position by relying on women's skirts, what qualifications do you have to fight with me on the banks of the Klyazma River in Moscow, the great Binku family! Minister Binku swept the white gloves off his face in disgust with an arrogant expression.

General Lesowski's Polish ancestry, which has long been a laughing stock in the upper class of the Moscow aristocracy, today Minister Binku once again used this as an excuse to shamelessly shirk the duel.

"Maxim Binku of the Binku family on the Klyazma River." A cold voice sounded, "Then I, who have been canonized in the Melikov family in the province of Lori since the time of Peter the Great, Mikhail Lolis Melikov officially proposes a duel to you!" ”

Looking at the pale-faced Minister Binku, General Melkov gently wiped his thumb over the Order of St. Vladimir's Sabre of the Second Class on his collar, and raised the corners of his mouth with a contemptuous smile.

Another pair of gloves smashed into Minister Binku's face, which was so distorted with fear, to take it or not to take it, to live or to die, it was a question.

The atmosphere in St. George's Hall was instantly frozen.

Field Marshal Dmitry Alekseevich Milyutin, Minister of War and Minister of the Army, struck the scepter in his hand the ground and shouted, "Ladies and gentlemen, according to the provisions of the Imperial Military Law No. 139, the Reich strictly forbids officers to fight duels. Violators are to be put to death, regardless of whether they are killed or injured, and those who die in the duel are to be hung upside down. ”

After hearing this, Minister Binku's face finally turned on a human face, and he said with a dry smile, "My dear Prince Lori, Miha-Mihailovich, how can I let you disobey the military order?" This is so unfair to you that I can only refuse your request without dignity. ”

"Then, go find some unemployed people in Moscow, or the mafia, and shoot me and throw explosives?" General Melikov sneered and asked, "Just like your competitors in the textile industry, who were killed for no apparent reason?" ”

"As the new Minister of the Interior, don't let me catch you by the tail, Minister Maxim Binku on the banks of the Klyazma."

Minister Binku smiled, like a saint, turning a blind eye to this.

After reminding all the nobles and generals present to pay attention to proper manners and bring the Imperial Council back to the main topic, Field Marshal Milyutin stood in the perspective of the overall strategy of Russian expansion, and said, "At present, the strategic focus of the empire is Central Asia, and then there is the distant Qing kingdom and the damned Ottoman infidels, and Your Majesty has put forward the idea of Persia at the recent military conference. ”

"Today, the question of Peru that we are discussing is also part of the grand plan conceived by His Majesty against the British, and all we need to do is to work perfectly for His Majesty, and to think that it will always belong to His Majesty the great Tsar."

"So, gentlemen, all the affairs of the empire need to be carried out in accordance with the wishes of His Majesty the Emperor, not the careful thinking of you and me." Field Marshal Milyutin, an evergreen in Russian politics, always speaks without a drop of water.

At this time, Alexander II was thinking in his heart what pattern of Isfahan's tapestry should be added to the room of his little lover Dolgorukova in order to make her happy, and he simply turned a blind eye to the disguised flattery of Field Marshal Milyutin.

Not only did the tsar fail to see the sycophants of the old marshal, but the nobles and generals in the hall of St. George were equally dissatisfied with the empty remarks of the old marshal.

The arguments are still constant, but when they attack each other, there is a little less personal attack, but as time accumulates, the next round of conflict will break out sooner or later.

"Everyone." The chairman of the Reich Council of Ministers, General Shuvalov, who stood to the left of Alexander II, finally spoke up.

"You have been arguing for so long, and you have never understood the essence of your majesty's grand plan, but you have only short-sighted to fall on the possible colonies of Peru, on the pathetic and pitiful guano economy."

None of the nobles present dared to refute the taunts of the head of the Imperial secret police and the left hand of the king.

"Remember, Russia's natural thirst for territory determines that we will not think about any distant overseas colonies, lands that cannot be directly annexed, and which cannot be connected with Russia, will not arouse the desire of His Majesty and the great Russian people to conquer and expand."

"Even if Peru and Bolivia do send us a piece of land, His Majesty will sell it, just like he did with Alaska."

"If we don't seek land, we won't seek any guano, what guano is needed in the black soil of the vast plains of Russia? A most stupid serf can grow food to feed himself and rent for the old men. ”

"With such fertile land, we don't need guano." After glancing at the excited Minister of Agriculture and State Resources Voev, General Shuvalov came to a conclusion.

Faced with his own recommendation for the post of Minister of Internal Affairs, General Shuvalov, General Melikov could not hold back and did not speak.

"However, just looking at this, that insight is too shallow, everything the empire does in Peru is actually for Central Asia!" This sentence of General Shuvalov surprised many people.

"After the defeat in the Crimean War, according to that damned Paris Peace Treaty, the Reich was forced to give up part of its rights in the Balkans and the Black Sea, and our hegemony in Europe was undermined, so the Reich reworked the program of the "grand plan" for world hegemony. ”

"The object of this programme is aimed at Central Asia, because we believe that all the difficulties which are now encountered and may arise in the affairs of Europe come from the British, and if we can strengthen our power in Central Asia in time to threaten India, then we will be able to obtain all that we need in the Balkans, in the Near East and in the Far East, in all the places where there is a contradiction with the British."

"In addition to the threat to India, there is a more important reason for Central Asia's economy, the development of the empire's industrial industry is far behind Britain, France and Germany, in the trade with European countries, grain and raw material exports account for 96%, and only less than 4% of industrial products can be exported to Europe."

"And then in trade with Asian countries, especially Central Asia, 80% of Russia's industrial products are exported to these regions, and the remaining 20% is grain. Therefore, Asia, especially Central Asia, is an important market for the sale of Russian industrial goods! ”

"The gold and silver mines of the Ferghana region, the copper and iron mines of Namangan, Andijan, Chust, Bukhara, and the natural pastures for large-scale animal husbandry were all urgently needed by the empire."

"Speaking of Bukhara, I think Minister Binku, you, the largest textile merchant in Russia, should remember very well the trade war with British cotton cloth in Bukhara, when a large amount of cheap British cotton cloth squeezed Russian products out of Bukhara, the distribution center of Central Asian textiles." General Shuvalov stared at the embarrassed and greasy fat face of Minister Binku.

After the Crimean War, among the Moscow aristocratic forces that advocated the invasion of Central Asian countries, the Binku family was the loudest shout, and his family was also one of the most profitable families after the Russian invasion of Central Asian countries.

"But in the past twenty years, it is not so much that we have threatened the British in India, but to be honest, it is the British who have been harassing our interests in Central Asia all the time, and behind the conquest of the Bukhara, the Shiyiwa Khanate, and the Kokand Khanate, they are all wrestling with the British."

"This year, His Majesty personally drew up a new plan for Central Asia, which in 1880, that is, next year, was to begin the conquest of Turkmenistan, under the command of the brave Cossack General Skobelev."

When General Shuvalov was heard reading the name Skobelev, a sound of inhalation sounded in the hall of St. George.

Lieutenant General of the Infantry Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev, he had a better name than the title of the liberator of Bulgaria: the great conqueror of Central Asia.

In 1879, the 36-year-old Cossack general in white clothes and white horses killed 36,000 Turkish soldiers in one go in the Battle of Pleven in Bulgaria in 1877, sweeping away the Ottoman forces in Bulgaria, and was revered by the Turks as White Pasha.

During the conquest of the Kokand Khanate, nearly 500 rounds were bombarded with forty heavy artillery in the city of Anjiyan, and more than 20,000 *** were sent away, and all the religious leaders of the Kokand Khanate gave up resistance silently.

All of this is just a trivial part of the daily life of General Skobelev, who often told his Cossacks that if you find a Russian corpse in Central Asia, you should kill all life within a radius of 50 kilometers, even livestock.

Not only did he estimate that his subordinates were like this, but he was also trying to fulfill his promise, once in order to avenge his Cossack cavalry, after breaking the city, he killed more than 8,000 *** civilians within a radius of 50 kilometers in one go.

He famously said, "In Central Asia, the longevity or shortness of peace is directly proportional to the slaughter of your enemies, and I think this is indeed a truth, and the harder you strike them, the longer they will be at peace." "From the Russian Empire to the Red Empire, the Russians have always practiced this truth.

Therefore, the *** in Central Asia gave General Skobelev a more resounding name: "Eyes of Blood and Tears", which means that whenever they hear this name, they always have tears in their eyes.

Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev, the most fierce white Cossack general in the history of Russia, is not one of them.

From the mouth of General Shuvalov, it became known that Alexander II was ready to put General Skobelev, in charge of the war against Turkmenistan and the Pamirs, and everyone present understood that this time His Majesty the Emperor was serious.

"In the struggle for Central Asia, our enemies are only the British, and in order to ensure the final victory of the Empire in Central Asia, we must create trouble and create illusions for the British elsewhere."

"Through the troubles and illusions that we have carefully created, the British will ignore the conquest of Turkmenistan that we are preparing. If all goes well, we will raid the Pamirs, go straight to the Raval of the British, and make the British tremble under the long knives of the Cossacks! ”

Field Marshal Milyutin and Reich Finance Minister Vishneggersky were very satisfied with these words, General Skobelev was the number one man in the army, and his reuse meant that the position of the army would not be shaken, and the reason why Vishnegolsky was satisfied was that the capture of Central Asia meant that his treasury had a large amount of revenue, not expenditure.

"Now, Peru in South America is a perfect disguise for imperial intentions, and the British think that we are looking at distant South America.

"My lord, we are just selling industrial goods to Peru, how can we attract the attention of the British?" General Melikov couldn't help but ask General Shuvalov.

"Navy, the navy of the Empire." General Shuvalov glanced at General Melkov and said, "Two days ago, the secret envoy of the French government brought a secret agreement of their government, and the French invited us to send troops to Peru together to fight against the German war against Peru. ”

"For this, the French are willing to pay the corresponding fee." General Shuvalov deliberately accentuated the tone on the word expense.

Almost everyone present let out a knowing laugh.

"Inviting us to Peru, wouldn't that mean the Empire was going to declare war on the Germans?!" General Melkov, one of the few people who didn't laugh, asked calmly.

"Miha, listen to me first, the specific plan of the French is that they will send the French Navy to escort our Cossacks to land in Iquique, Peru, to help the Peruvian and Bolivian federal armies quickly defeat the Chilean army."

"The cost is 300 million francs, and the payment method is 50% before the action and 50% after."

"But the Reich is not ready to accede to this condition to the French, and yesterday, with the approval of His Majesty, we proposed new conditions, the total cost of which would be 600 million francs, and the payment method could be as required by the French, but the Cossack cavalry going to Peru would also have to be escorted by the Imperial Navy, after receiving a 50% advance." Admiral Shuvalov looked at the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Lesovsky, and said firmly.

"The ironclad fleet of the Baltic Fleet, in the name of escorting the Cossack cavalry, immediately rushed to Brest, France, to join the French fleet, and then stayed in Brest, no matter what the French said, to stay in the Brest military port."

"Your Excellency, aren't you going to Peru?" General Lesowski asked cautiously.

"No, I want you to be in Brest, pull the French Atlantic Fleet, and contain the British fleet in Portsmouth together." General Shuvalov stared at General Lesovsky and said, "Until the Reich has launched a war against Turkmenistan and won a decisive victory, you will return to St. Petersburg." ”

"During this period, the maritime defense of St. Petersburg will be handed over to your mine troops and torpedo boat units."

"Playing the French again?!" Minister Binku asked cautiously as he touched the sweat on his forehead.

"How to call it a joke, the empire is doing things in strict accordance with the treaty between Russia and France, the French invited us to act together with 50% of the payment, our fleet did act, the Cossack cavalry did not go to Peru, but we did not ask the French to pay the remaining 50%!" General Shuvalov said with an upright face.

Minister Binku's fat face squeezed out a smile vigorously, "Yes, Your Excellency, we are indeed strictly following the agreement, but there is still a small problem. ”

After receiving General Shuvalov's approval, Minister Binku said in embarrassment, "What should we do if the Germans are now refusing to pay for the Russian industrial goods purchased in Peru because Germany sent troops to Chile?" ”

"What to do, those Germans have a tripartite agreement with us and the Peruvians, there is money to pay, and there is no money to pay, and this is not a reason for the Germans to repent." General Shuvalov paused for a moment and sneered, "The money is paid, we will transport things to Germany by rail, and let the group of Germans transport things to Peru themselves." ”

"Tell the Peruvians and Germans that the empire is big, but not a penny is superfluous!"

"Yes, although the empire is large, but I have no money in the treasury, add a beautiful carpet to my little sweetheart!" Alexander II, who finally decided on the pattern of the Isfahan carpet, was moved when he heard General Shuvalov's words.

In such a magnificent Winter Palace, the tsar complained that he had no money.

Greed is indeed the truest poverty of the Romanovs, even if they sit on a mountain of gold and precious stones.