And just a few days after these European countries gathered at the fortress of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula to coordinate the war, the Western Expeditionary Force of the Chinese Empire, stationed at the mouth of the Don River, the Azov seaport town of Azov, welcomed two groups. In fact, to be precise, it was two groups of people from a belligerent country, the Tsarist regime in St. Petersburg and the Tsarist regime in Moscow.

Shi Dakai looked at the two groups of people in front of him who were glaring angrily, all of them were foreigners who were a head taller than him, but when he looked at himself, he smiled humbly at himself with a respectful face, and couldn't help but sigh a little, this is a powerful prince of the country, it feels so good! In addition, he could not imagine that the tradition of infighting existed everywhere, even foreigners.

He knew that he was here today, just as an ornament, representing the highest level of the Chinese Empire, so that those foreigners could feel at ease, but in fact, it was Guo Songtao, the special envoy to Europe, who negotiated with the foreigners. Therefore, Guo Songtao rushed from here to Sevastopol only a few days ago, where he hurried back to Azov after meeting with the four countries that had divided Tsarist Russia, and participated in the formal armistice negotiations between the Chinese Empire and Britain and Tsarist Russia.

In fact, there is nothing to talk about, the basic framework and matters, both sides are very clear, that is, the content of the memorandum that has been finalized in Shengjing last year, this is the basic principle, it is difficult to change, in addition, there are some trivial things, these are important to Tsarist Russia, but for the Chinese Empire, in fact, they are already somewhat irrelevant.

When he learned that the two Tsarist regimes had sent envoys, Shi Dakai was stunned, but then there was a burst of amusement and a burst of joy. Shi Dakai and Guo Songtao discussed it yesterday, thinking that it would be more beneficial for their own side of the negotiations to let the two Tsarist regimes appear together, stimulate each other, and then negotiate separately. It's like having two buyers compete for the goods to auction out, letting them know that there are competitors, and they have to do it, but they don't know exactly how much the price is, so they have to coax them up.

Sure enough, the two groups of people quarreled over who came to negotiate first, and it was extremely intense, if it weren't for the fear of giving a bad impression to Shi Dakai and the others present, they might really fight directly.

St. Petersburg sent Tsar Mikhail Nikolayevich's envoy Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov, who had served as foreign minister in the tsarist government and was now a confidant of Mikhail Nikolayevich. On the other hand, Moscow sent directly a general in the Cossack army, Skobelev, because Moscow has a shortage of officials, so far, the Tsarist regime in Moscow has not had enough officials to be qualified for official positions in various government departments, but mainly in a state of war, many of which are temporarily served by generals in the army, so this time it was General Skobelev who came to participate in the negotiations as a special envoy.

In the face of the competition between the two, Shi Dakai and Guo Songtao were both funny and a little gloating. In the end, Shi Dakai opened his mouth directly, saying that the Chinese Empire has respected the elderly since ancient times, because the tsar of St. Petersburg is an uncle, who is older than the Tsar of Moscow, and Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov sent by St. Petersburg is also older than Skobelev on the Moscow side, so St. Petersburg will negotiate with his side first.

Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov, although he is in his old age, is still full of red light and energetic, he has been the foreign minister of Tsarist Russia since the Crimean War, and has been trying to re-establish the defeated Tsarist Russia in the international standing, although he has done a good job, originally began to get Britain, France and Austria to agree to Tsarist Russia to station a small number of troops on the Crimean Peninsula, but unexpectedly, it backfired, with the two wars of Tsarist Russia and the Chinese Empire were miserably defeated, Tsarist Russia's reputation plummeted, This is not all, but the tsar was assassinated and killed, which suddenly caused a complete split of the entire Tsarist Russia, not to mention the rebellion everywhere, even the orthodoxy of the tsar began to disturb the foundation, the tsar of St. Petersburg ascended the throne not long after, and the tsar also appeared in Moscow to ascend the throne, he did not have much interest in who became the tsar, but the capital of Tsarist Russia must still be in St. Petersburg, so that it can go to sea and better develop the Russian Empire. Therefore, Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov was worried about the turmoil in Tsarist Russia, and he felt that it was his duty to lead Tsarist Russia out of its current predicament. And this method, at present, seems to be the only way to negotiate peace with the Chinese Empire, and all you can do is to try to reduce some losses for Russia.

"His Royal Highness, and Envoy Guo, first of all, state that the only legitimate government of our Russian Empire is in St. Petersburg, and the only Russian Emperor is His Majesty Mikhail Nikolayevich. On this basis, we will be able to negotiate all diplomatic negotiations, otherwise we, the Russian Empire, will not recognize all treaties! Although Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov looked humble, what he said made Guo Songtao a little surprised, he did not expect that this old foreigner had the courage to treat the new tsar of St. Petersburg so loyally.

After listening to Guo Songtao's translation, Shi Dakai replied directly: "Mr. Envoy, you have to think clearly, our Chinese Empire has many choices!" First of all, it is not necessary to negotiate with you, Tsarist Russia, and secondly, to take a step back, it is not necessary to negotiate with you St. Petersburg! As you have also seen, our Chinese Empire has a strict military formation, and although we are reluctant to attack your country further, if we have not seen the sincerity of your country, we cannot rule out reluctantly continuing to march in spite of it. What's more, there are so many other European countries that are also attacking your country in the near future, and you really have no pressure on your country? What's more, the Moscow government next to it is still waiting to negotiate with us, and they should be able to agree to the conditions that you can't agree! There is no way, I can only admit that they represent the Tsarist government! ”

Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov's face changed greatly, he didn't expect the Chinese prince in front of him to be so sharp and direct, and a word would push him into a desperate situation. In desperation, he could only back down and said: "Your Royal Highness, I just beg Your Highness to recognize that our St. Petersburg is the only legitimate government of Tsarist Russia!" As for the conditions that Dugamery agreed to at the beginning, most of them were recognized and accepted! ”

Guo Songtao laughed and said, "This question doesn't need to be answered by our righteous king, I can answer you!" We, the Chinese Empire, cannot recognize you, St. Petersburg, as the sole legitimate government, and we only recognize the Tsarist Russian government, which is the most sincere to our Chinese Empire, the best in terms of agreement, and the most realistic in fulfilling the treaty, is the only government! In addition, the terms that your messenger Dugameli promised must be accepted in their entirety, and there is no such thing as a majority! ”

Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov is extremely conflicted!

As the foreign minister of the Russian Empire, he naturally hoped that a formal armistice treaty could be signed as soon as possible to quell the offensive of the Eastern Army, so that the Russian Empire could have the energy to concentrate on organizing troops to resist the partition of European countries, and to quell the rebellions that occurred everywhere in the country, which was in the best interest of the Russian Empire.

But as the envoy of the new tsar Mikhail Nikolayevich in St. Petersburg, he had to serve the new tsar. From the perspective of the interests of the new tsar, not signing a treaty and allowing the troops of the Chinese Empire to attack the adjacent Moscow region will damage the interests of the entire Tsarist Russia, but for St. Petersburg, there will be no damage to the St. Petersburg side, and the most damaged thing is the power of Moscow, so if it can prevent the signing of this armistice agreement, it will be beneficial to the St. Petersburg government. （）