The Tsar was stunned, not knowing what Speransky meant.

Speransky said, "Your Majesty." Austria took advantage of the fact that we were in trouble at war with China and invaded our territory. Now when they are in crisis, we cannot be naïve to help them, but a good opportunity to take revenge on them. Your Majesty, not only Austria, but also Prussia! We will not only take back Bessarabia, take back Livonia, but also take back Poland! ”

The tsars are all crazy, or maybe Speransky is crazy.

Provoking Austria and Prussia at the same time, just by virtue of the current Russia?

"Austria and Prussia are in trouble, but have you ever considered the attitude of Britain and China? Britain is trying to maintain stability in Europe, and Chinese diplomats are also active. Now that we start a war, what will be their attitude? ”

The Tsar asked.

The European revolution caused panic throughout Europe, and even the whole world was affected, mainly in other countries, the stock markets of the United States and China have fallen, the stock prices of European companies have fallen, and the government bonds circulating in the Chinese market of some countries have plummeted.

China and Britain, which were still at odds before, began to discuss how to quickly stabilize the situation in Europe.

In this European revolution, Britain and the Netherlands are the two most stable countries, first of all, they have long achieved commercialization, there is no problem of serfdom, the main contradiction in Britain is the contradiction between workers and capitalists, but the workers have not yet begun to become a major force, the aristocracy and the capitalist class that can really play the game are also the two leading forces that triggered frequent revolutions in Europe, in Britain and the Netherlands through a mature parliamentary system to ease the contradictions, everyone can distribute interests through parliamentary debates, and reconcile contradictions.

And those immature countries, even if they have a parliament, when the two factions are at loggerheads, in the end they do not vote to solve the problem, but resort to force. Even Switzerland had a war, not to mention the parliaments of other countries, most parliamentary countries, in which parliaments did not play any role in this revolution.

In fact, the parliament has no prestige over the people, the people do not trust the parliament, the people do not pin their interests on the mutual debate of those political groups in the parliament, they prefer to believe in their fists. The people are immature, and so is the parliament. This is the biggest difference between the UK and the Netherlands and other parliamentary countries.

Since European countries have a large number of bond issuances in both the UK and China, and if they go bankrupt, both China and UK financial capital will lose enormously, so the two countries have quickly stood together, at least in this matter.

The Tsar did not think that the two great powers of China and Britain were trying to restore stability in Europe, and at this time Russia sent troops to invade, and the tsar did not think that there would be a good result.

Speransky sighed: "Britain will definitely oppose it, and China will not support it." China, in particular, is a dangerous place to have a million-strong army stationed in the border area. ”

Alexander II smiled: "So, we should still help them." Prussia did not ask for help, so the Polish question had to be postponed. ”

Speransky shook his head: "Your Majesty, this is the best time. If the Polish problem is not solved now, it will pay an even greater price in the future. Maybe I won't see that day, but you will, Your Majesty, see it. So Your Majesty, don't miss the opportunity! ”

The tsar said: "So how to solve the diplomatic problem?" ”

Speranski said: "On the British side, we can tell them unequivocally that our reasons for demanding the recovery of Poland are justified and confined to Poland only. The British should be able to understand that if the British oppose it, we will have to stand on the opposite side of the British. I believe that we are strong enough to protect ourselves now. At best, Britain imposed an economic blockade on us, but we could at least trade from the Black Sea. As for China, Your Majesty may need to make some concessions. ”

The tsar frowned and said, "I will never sign a contract!" ”

Speransky sighed: "I understand what Your Majesty means. I personally also support His Majesty's actions, which are in the interests of Russia. But Your Majesty, this is only a loss of your personal reputation. China has already occupied those territories, sign it or not, those territories are under Chinese control. Whether these territories can be returned in the future depends not on diplomatic treaties, but on whether Russia has the strength to rival China! ”

The Tsar insisted: "No! I'd rather abdicate. ”

Speransky sighed: "Okay. I will do the work on the Chinese side, and if you are willing to cooperate, I may be able to hold China back for the time being. ”

The Tsar nodded: "How do you want me to cooperate with you?" ”

Speranski said: "Deceive them. You can pretend to express to the Chinese consul that you are considering signing a contract, and I will explain to the Chinese emperor the significance of our invasion of Europe. ”

The tsar thought for a moment and nodded: "I can accept this." ”

The attitude of the tsar soon spread to China.

The cabinet was very pleased with this, and the Tsar still refused to sign the land cession case that had been pending for five years, resulting in no legal basis for China to occupy Siberia and the areas west and south of the Vogar River.

There were also benefits, a million Russian prisoners of war were used as free labor, and they were constantly working various construction sites. The cost savings are hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and the Russians have no choice but to recruit people who are not paid more than 5,000 yuan a month for construction in the deserted places on the borderlands. One million people, saving 60 million thousand dollars a year, equivalent to 3 million taels of gold, equivalent to 15 million pounds sterling. They have been working for free for five years, and Zhou Lang is willing to let the tsar not sign for the rest of his life.

And these hard laborers have been told that it is their tsar who refuses to sign a treaty, refuses to make peace, so they cannot be let go back, and how much hatred these captives have for the tsar, I don't know, of course they hate the Chinese even more, hate those fierce overseers.

Free labor has already built the railway from China to Barnaul, and the Yekaterina, Chelyabinsk to Kurgan railway, which is now connected to the city of the Loop (Derzhavin) at the bend of the Ishim. Now they are building the last section of the line from Barnaul to Omsk to Kurgan, which may be completed in two years, and the Trans-Siberian Railway will be completed in its entirety. In addition, there is a journey from Omsk along the Irtysh River to Altay, between the Altai Mountains and the Sayan Mountains, connecting Kobdo in the south, Uriya Sutai in the north, and going east to Kulen, and continuing east to Hulunbuir, connecting with the railway network in the northeast.

In the past five years, the Russian prisoners have made outstanding contributions to China's railway industry, if it were not for them, the railway construction in the border areas would not only be costly, but the key is that the speed would be much slower, because there will always be a dilemma of lack of labor, and the prisoners have no choice, they can only go there to work. At least the labor force was guaranteed, and although the labor motivation of the captives was not high, there was always a way to solve it. The way of the railway company is that one is a woman and the other is a spirit. The punishment for those who work hard and are not lazy is often given liquor, as well as the incentives for allowing them to go to the mainland to visit prostitutes, are also very severe, and they are not given food, which is enough for them to suffer.

In the first two years, there was still trouble, and the leader pulled it out and tied it directly to the ice and snow to freeze to death. Reincarnated two or three times, basically these people are appointed.

There were also armed resistances, but the railway companies were composed of a group of people, a group of bloody capitalists, the outlaws they hired were not vegetarians, and there were outlaws in Siberia, barbaric Buryats, Cossacks, and fugitives from the interior, these railway companies dared to use them, hired tens of thousands of overseers to supervise them, whipped them at every turn, and even killed people. Those who do not appoint, only commit suicide. Over the years, the number of suicides has accumulated to more than 10,000. Later, even if he didn't commit suicide, in the name of suicide, he could get away with it, and the government didn't care much, which made the fate of these prisoners miserable.

The Russian consul protested many times, but the tsar did not sign, and the two countries were even at war de jure.

In recent years, several large-scale mineral deposits have been discovered in Mongolia and Siberia, such as coal and iron in Tomsk and copper ore in Mongolia, all of which are transported by rail, making the railway company make a lot of money.

"Do you think the Tsar has changed his attitude?"

At the cabinet meeting, Zhou Lang was quite skeptical.

"The consul reported that the tsar was very sympathetic to the fate of the captives."

Said the Minister of the Imperial Court.

Zhou Lang nodded: "Whether it's true or not, let's see what they want." ”

Zhou Lang soon knew what Russia wanted, and Speransky sent a telegram explaining Russia's decision to send troops to help stabilize the situation in Austria at the request of the Austrian Empire. And there is also a mention of the Polish Revolution, which Russia intends to preserve peace in Europe.

The situation soon became clear, the Russians wanted to send troops to Europe, and they estimated that China would contain them, so they wanted to win over China.

In fact, the biggest knot in the tsar's heart was only the land on the left bank of the Volga, if China was willing to accept only the cession of Siberia, the tsar would have signed it long ago, and Speransky mentioned the tsar's demands.

But China must guarantee a passage to Europe, so the Caucasus must be in its hands, and the lower Volga region must be in its hands, and these are not acceptable to Russia, so there is no need to make concessions.

The tsar has been dragging his feet for five years, and now he suddenly sympathizes with the captives? Zhou Lang did not believe that the Tsar's sense of morality had suddenly exploded, and could only say that they were stalling for time.

Zhou Lang informed the cabinet of these news and immediately replied to Speransky that China would fully support Russia's efforts to maintain peace in Europe.

Soon the news came that Russia had sent 150,000 troops into the Austrian Empire and signed an agreement with Austria to return the Russian territories annexed in the previous war.

Zhou Lang is not in a hurry, he is still waiting for news, and sure enough, it is not surprising that the Polish people have revolted again!