"I recently learned Russian with those Russians, and I talked to them every day......," Zheng Zhilong continued, "When I heard some words, I felt important, and I didn't know who to talk to, so I just came to report to the adults." ”

Zhang Han was a little surprised, he didn't expect the other party to actually come to talk about the Russians.

"They went north along the Yenisei River in that Tomsk settlement, and they reached an outlet to the sea. Listen to them, there is much colder than Datong here, almost all the year round snow does not melt, only in the summer when the warmest, the ice surface of the sea mouth freezes and melts, now Russia is still a landlocked country, lack of access to the sea, after the discovery of this sea outlet, these guys like a treasure, reported to the tsar of their country, by their center allocated a sum of money, in what they said is the mouth of the Arctic Ocean to the sea, now they gathered a large number of craftsmen in Tomsk, began to study shipbuilding......"

"The situation you are talking about is too important!" Zhang Hanmeng stood up and said to Li Mengnian outside the window: "Please Mr. Li, Mr. Sun, Mr. Li, and they all come over!" ”

"Yes, sir."

Li Mengnian agreed to leave, and Zhang Hancai smiled at Zheng Zhilong again: "This time, you can trap yourself yourself, brother Yiguan." ”

"Huh?"

Zheng Zhilong was a little puzzled, and his mouth opened to open the boss.

Zhang Han knew very little about the history of Russia, only the most famous historical points still vaguely remembered, the shelling of the Winter Palace, etc., he did not know much about the history of the expansion of Tsarist Russia, and later he did not read much when he read books.

But he vaguely remembered that Russia's pursuit of an outlet to the sea was very difficult, for example, Russia now actually has an outlet to the sea, called Astrakhan, which is a hard-won port obtained by Russia after annexing the Kazan Khanate, but this outlet can only reach Iran, which is almost useless.

Originally, at the beginning of the reign of Ivan IV, Russia still had access to the Baltic Sea, but in the Livonian War, Russia was defeated by Sweden, lost the Neva estuary, Yam, Ivangelodden and other important cities, and lost the Baltic Sea outlet.

Against this background, the Russians' desire for access to the sea is simply incomparably strong and fanatical, and even after they have found the outlet to the Arctic Ocean, even though it is not an ice-free port, they still immediately allocate funds to build ships!

Li Shenming, Sun Jingting and others arrived in a hurry, and Zhang Han told them what Zheng Zhilong said.

"It's important!" Although Li Shenming did not have a far-reaching view of sea trade, but going north and south were Zhang Han's two major decisions at the same time, of course he didn't want Zhang Han to fail, so he glanced at Zheng Zhilong with appreciative eyes and said: "In this case, I'm afraid I have to negotiate with the Russians." ”

Sun Jingting said: "Brother Yiguan, don't be annoyed, let me ask, could these words be deliberately leaked to you by the Russians?" ”

Zheng Zhilong hurriedly said: "What did Master Sun say...... It will not be annoyed under the ...... Probably not, they drink every day, and they are very distressed when it comes to the fact that trade negotiations with adults cannot be carried out. In addition, they also knew that Mr. Zhang wanted to cooperate with us to operate maritime trade in Nanyang, and they were still very jealous, and they inquired with me a few times about Taiwan and Nanyang, and I said some of them, which made them very envious. ”

The Russians did always want to make a road to the Pacific Ocean, and the ice-free port in the Far East has always been their top priority, but it was not until more than 200 years later that the lease of Port Arthur was obtained, and then it was operated into a very strong port.

Later, in the Russo-Japanese War, in order to keep Arthur, the main fleet of Russia did not hesitate to travel thousands of miles across the ocean to cross half the world to rush over to participate in the war, but was annihilated by the combined fleet in the Tsushima Strait, and the losses were very heavy.

Zhang Han tapped the table with his fingers, and the table top was knocked by him, and he made up his mind and said: "The southward journey is temporarily to set up camps and search for talents, and to manage contacts. In my opinion, we must not only go north to Qingcheng, but even prepare to go further north, at least to protect our trade route to the Chechen Ministry! ”

Li Shenming said: "Chechnya, Tushetu, Zasaktu, Chechen Khan has the least qualifications, and he also has the best relationship with Lin Dan Khan. Tushetu and Zasaktu are closer to the Tumut Mongols, but if we want to continue north, the trade route must be in the territory of the Chechen Khan, they are bordered by Tushetu to the west, and Buryat Mongolia to the north, which is now the territory of the Russians, and the two sides are in close contact, and they are also adjacent to the large Russian settlement on the shore of the Hanhai...... It's a hassle and can cost us a lot of energy and money. ”

"That has to be done." Zhang Han said in a firm tone: "I know that there are no major shipyards in the Taixi countries in the Nanyang Territory, at most they are repaired, and there are not many talents available. Whether it is shipbuilding or sailing, we have to take the road of strong ships and guns, Li Ye's side of the manpower is not very manpower, in order to find the eastern outlet to the sea, the Russians from the original Baltic Sea port place transferred a large number of craftsmen and technical personnel, as well as navigation talents, this is a ready-made set of things, if we can take it, our southern foundation will be established! ”

Zheng Zhilong listened on the side, and then he understood why Zhang Han was so excited after hearing his words, and why he said that he had trapped himself...... Originally, Zheng Zhilong was going to Nanyang to search for shipbuilding talents, since the Russians have ready-made ones, and he knows Russian, if you don't send him, who will you send?

At this time, Zhang Han also looked over, and saw that Zheng Zhilong had already understood, so he said bluntly: "Brother Yiguan, it's good that you understand, the shipbuilding of the Russians is in the same vein as the Taixi countries, even if there is a gap is not very big, not to mention that they can make progress slowly, these people in Tomsk, we must dig them all over!" ”

"Yes, I will do my best......" Zheng Yiguan felt a little heavy, and he could see how determined Zhang Han and the others were in this matter.

Zhang Han said again: "I know that this matter is difficult, the more difficult it is, the more you have to do your best, if this matter is successful, I will tell Li Ye and the eldest prince, you have to come over, in the future in the south, you Zheng Zhilong will be the number one person." ”

Zheng Zhilong bowed down and said: "Please rest assured, if you have ten points of strength below, you will definitely score twelve points." ”

"Okay, very good, now you go down first, and when we discuss the details, we will invite you over."

"Yes, sir."

After Zheng Zhilong retreated, Li Dongxue smiled bitterly and said, "Now it seems that the number of soldiers will be increased even more." ”

"Let's make a detailed budget for each department." Zhang Han stretched his body and said, "We will officially start going north in March!" ”

Li Shenming shook his head, and suddenly smiled: "If the old slave father and son knew that we spent so much energy going north instead of going east, would they be angry?" ”

……

In the evening, Petrin and Madoff and others all received Zhang Han's invitation.

The Russians were not happy, but on the contrary, they all looked solemn.

Their position here is more awkward, there is no progress in talking about commerce and trade, and Zhang Han has no desire to do business with the Russians at all...... The cost is too great, of course, there will be great benefits, but there are benefits in other places, and it doesn't take so much effort and effort, who will go far and near?

In Lizhuang, the Russians have also been working hard, and even they have more or less learned some Chinese, and there are many Mongolian speakers in Zhang Han's group, and after communicating with each other, these people are even more desperate.

In contrast, Li Guozhu's Nanyang mission is obviously more valued, and the Russians have inquired very clearly, Zhang Han will run the foundation of the Southern Sea on an island called Taiwan, and carry out larger-scale trade, Petrin and others also know that Zhang Han can earn more in Nanyang, the Dutch, the Spaniards, anyway, there is nothing to do with the Russians.

"It seems that Li Guozhu is leaving, and Master Zhang is also going to persuade us to return." Madoff punched the wall, his anger uncontrollable.

The people in the mission were all depressed, and the Russians at this time were not as confident as their juniors, and they were not so arrogant.

Especially after a short visit to Li Zhuang's firearms bureau, they felt that there was a big gap between the two sides.

The firearms of the Russians, whether in terms of design, workmanship, or speed of production, are far from catching up with the firearms department of the merchant group of Ming Kingdom!

Even the Dutch, the Duandians, the flintlock muskets they produced, seem to be much behind the muskets here in Lizhuang.

Arquebuses are still commonly used by the Russians, and tragically, the quality of their arquebuses is also much worse than those of Li Zhuang.

Petrin also lost his confidence at this time, and the treacherous aura in his eyes turned into panic, this time he took the initiative to ask for orders to come, if there was no result at all, his status would be seriously affected after he returned, and he would become a laughing stock.

With a nervous mood, a team of Russians slowly walked to Zhang Han's signing room with messy steps.

As soon as they saw that there were a lot of people in the house, Petrin and the others were almost certain that Zhang Han was going to chase people out.

"Mr. Special Envoy, please be seated." Zhang Han cut straight to the point, and said with a serious expression: "Mr. Petrin came from afar to discuss with us about the commercial trade and the opening of trade between the two sides......

Petrin jumped up and shouted, "Master Zhang, we still have room to work hard here, please don't drive us away!" ”

Zhang Han was stunned at first, and then laughed dumbly.

Petrin spoke in Mongolian, and everyone understood it, and at that moment Li Shenming laughed out loud, and Sun Jingting and others were also angry.

Zhang Han smiled, and then said: "After our meeting, the possibility of cooperation and trade with your country has been preliminarily approved......

"Huh?"

At this moment, Madoff also stood up, his eyes as wide as bull's eyes.