Russia. St. Petersburg, inside the St. George Hall of the Winter Palace.

On the seat carved with the emblem of the double-headed eagle, Tsar Alexander Nikolayevich sat quietly, facing several ministers with solemn faces, having read the newspaper handed by the tsar's maid, and already quite aware of what was happening in the distant Americas and the reaction of Europe.

Directly opposite the Tsar, sat four people.

At the head of the list was Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, who had many prominent statuses, such as Marshal of the Russian Imperial Navy, head of the Naval Reform Committee, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy, president of the Royal Russian Geographical Society, and, of course, his most important identity was the younger brother of the Tsar.

The other three were all related to foreign affairs, the older one was the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov, while the other two, one was the Governor-General of Siberia, Alexander Dugameli, and the other was Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev, the former Commissioner to the Chinese Empire, who had returned from the East more than a year ago, and was the same Ignatiev who had been driven out of the East after being beaten, tongue-cut, and almost killed by the British Minister to China, Sir Elgin Jr.

"Britain, France and other countries have already recognized the independent status of the Southern Confederate States of America, and we can only recognize it, otherwise we will be even more speechless in the international community!" The Tsar's voice was a little hoarse, "But it is necessary to expose the conspiracy of that eastern country, so that Britain and France and other countries know what a powerful and treacherous opponent they are facing, and it is also very beneficial to us in Russia." It's hard to believe that the country of the East has changed so much in just a few years? Ignatiev, Dugamel, tell me what you have learned. ”

Ignatiev grinned bitterly, and the voice he laboriously made with his severed tongue was still indistinct, but he still tried his best to make his expression understandable to the Tsar: "Your Majesty, that Eastern Emperor Feng Yunshan is a demon, and he single-handedly supports the revival and strength of the entire Eastern world. They imitated Europe to carry out the industrial revolution, and they had abundant funds and manpower, imported equipment and personnel from Britain, Prussia, France, and the United States, and vigorously developed military, industry, and trade.

And, it is unbelievable that at first their weapons and equipment were only purchased and imitated by Western countries, but now several of their rifles and Krupp guns are more advanced than the latest and greatest weapons in Europe......"

Ignatiev spoke with too much difficulty, after all, without a tongue, even speaking the already vague Russian, it was still too difficult, and if he hadn't spent some time in the Chinese Empire and knew it very well, the Tsar would not have listened to him so hard. But when he heard this, and the general situation was understood, the tsar interrupted his description with a wave of his hand, and motioned for the governor of Siberia, Dugameli, to speak.

"Your Majesty, as far as I know. The strength of the Chinese emperor is very strong. Nowadays, there are only a million army troops, and the navy is also vigorously developing, with four major fleets and no less than 100 large and small warships, among which the Siberian Fleet in the Pacific defeated its weakest Beiyang Fleet, which has several times the number of warships of our Siberian Fleet. The key is their artillery, which is really powerful. The Siberian fleet was unable to fight back, and the enemy attacked again, and suffered a devastating blow from the enemy while still in the harbor, and at this time, our naval guns did not have enough range to hurt the other side at all. Dugamery's speech was very clear, which made the Tsar much more comfortable, but the content of his words made the Tsar very uncomfortable.

"Their rifles are also much more advanced than ours. In my opinion, at least the new rifled rifles used by the British French ** team in the Balkans a few years ago are even more advanced than that, and the range and rate of fire are even better. Moreover, their soldiers were numerous and able to endure hardships, and they marched quickly, which made the Siberian Cossacks suffer. Dugamery said with some fear: "Your Majesty, without more than 100,000 troops, don't try to recover the Far East regions such as East Siberia occupied by them." The eastern country was not only militarily powerful, but also attached great importance to intelligence gathering and border supervision, and unscrupulous means, the original powerful Manchu army has now disappeared, and the tenacious Mongols have begun to become timid, and in the face of the powerful muskets and brutal repressive methods of the Chinese Empire, the Mongol tribes have surrendered to each other. I sent people many times to try to win over the Mongols, but they were either rejected by the Mongols who had become smart, or they were discovered by their spies and ruined the plan. ”

"I know a little bit about that!" The Tsar asked: "Do you mean that we in Russia will not be able to defeat each other and recover those territories in the East?" ”

"No, no, no, my majesty, I just said it was difficult. With the strength of our own Russia, it is indeed difficult. As I said earlier, in order to recover the East Siberian region, at least 100,000 troops will need to attack at the same time. But it is indeed very far away from our hinterland, and it is extremely desolate, and it is difficult to find supplies, even if it is to supply on the spot and grab all the food that can be found, it will not be able to bear the army of tens of thousands of people, let alone more than 100,000 troops! And we are also extremely short of funds for the war. Dugameli: "But it's not like there's no other way! Your Majesty, we can unite with the British, and even the French, to attack the Chinese Empire, disperse their forces, and then take the opportunity to recover Eastern Siberia. ”

The tsar frowned, did not think it was a good idea, and said: "Didn't we unite with the British once last time, they sent troops by sea, and we attacked from Lake Balkash and Siberia in the north, as a result, their combined fleet for the expedition to China was completely wiped out, and our tens of thousands of Cossack troops also fled back to Orenburg in a crushing defeat!" ”

"Your Majesty, that's because we didn't understand the strength of the Chinese Empire at the beginning, we underestimated the enemy too much, and sent too few troops!" Dugameli was still trying his best to persuade the emperor, "At least 100,000 troops in the north!" Besides, if Britain, France, and the Netherlands jointly attacked the southern part of the Chinese Empire, would the British be willing to lose the Straits Settlements and the Hong Kong Colonies? The French also coveted Indochina, and the Dutch had a long-standing grudge against the Chinese Empire for occupying their East Indies! As long as there is a suitable opportunity, we will show a certain amount of sincerity, and we will definitely be able to persuade them to send troops. ”

The tsar was silent.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Duke Ya Gorchakov, said: "Your Majesty, I think it is necessary to be cautious and cautious with regard to the Chinese Empire. This is a huge eastern hegemon, with a population six times the size of our Russia, fertile land, and an unknown number of times richer. In addition, now that they are not militarily weaker than us, to deal with them, it is indeed necessary to unite with the European powers, and to choose an excellent time! Now Britain is tired of dealing with domestic and colonial rebellions, and cannot afford to send troops at all, as can be seen from the events of the North American Civil War, they did not send troops to intervene in such a good opportunity. Therefore, this is definitely not an opportunity to deal with the East, to recover the Far East.

I suggest that we should base ourselves on the domestic market and strengthen our own strength. Isn't Your Majesty ready for change? In my opinion, it is better to maintain good relations with the European powers and talk about domestic development with peace of mind. ”

As soon as his words fell, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich also spoke: "Your Majesty, the words of Duke Gorchakov are very reasonable. At this time, when China's national strength is weak, it is time to recuperate and develop secretly, so as to wait for the opportunity. The reform of serfdom, which His Majesty had been preparing for a long time, had been postponed because of the opposition of many ministers in the country, and now I think it must begin. There is also the navy, the defeat of that war led to the total annihilation of the Black Sea Fleet, and the navy must be rebuilt. I am ready to revise the naval military law, vigorously develop the manufacture of warships, and introduce the naval training methods of Western Europe. ”

The tsar nodded, he had never been interested in the navy, and seeing that his younger brother was so concerned, he simply handed over the navy to him to take care of, anyway, the financial power was in his own hands, and there would be no chaos.

"It just so happens that today I brought everyone together because of the North American thing. First, it is to discuss how to curb the momentum of wanton expansion of the Chinese Empire, and second, by the way, I announce an important decision of mine! The Tsar looked at the people around him, these people were his closest people, except for his brothers and confidants, at least they were also members of their Romanov family, so it was not like a court government, but a family meeting.

When it came to the Chinese Empire, Foreign Minister Duke Gorchakov was the first to speak: "Your Majesty, for the Chinese Empire, its strength is growing day by day, and today, to be honest, we Russia are no longer its opponents. Unless they are divided internally, or we unite with other European powers to deal with it! And the root of their strength, I think, is the great monarch Feng Yunshan. As long as he is there, they will not be divided, they will only grow stronger. Therefore, your Majesty, my suggestion is that either he should be assassinated, or he should be attacked together with the other powers, even at the expense of some interests, as long as the vast territories of the Far East and the Kazakh Khanate can be recovered. ”

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich also nodded in agreement: "Your Majesty, the duke's words are very reasonable. The younger brother agreed. However, the assassination can be very difficult and difficult to succeed. Again, let's focus on the second response. ”

The Tsarist Duke Gorchakov bowed slightly: "Duke, you can talk about it in detail, the general strategy." ”

Duke Gorchakov said: "First of all, let's analyze the external environment and diplomatic situation of the Chinese Empire. As a powerful country in the East, the Chinese Empire itself was vast, and later occupied Korea, the Ryukyus, the Indochina Peninsula, the Philippine Islands and the East Indies, and now it has occupied our Siberia, the Far East and the Kazakh Khanate. Although the area is large, but because their annexation time is too fast, even if they hurry up the immigration, they can not digest it immediately, many places in the newly occupied territory have the original indigenous people, I heard that there are still many indigenous rebellions in the Philippine Islands, although they were suppressed, but also caused a lot of losses to the Chinese soldiers. This is an opportunity for us! Once the Chinese Empire is invaded by foreign enemies, these ruled natives will definitely not be reconciled, and will wait for the opportunity to rebel.

Precisely because they occupy too much land, they will infringe on the interests of many European powers. Among them, apart from us in Russia, the most hated of them should be Britain and the Netherlands. Britain fought many wars with it, but was defeated, not only suffered heavy losses in troops, but also invaded and occupied the Straits Settlements around the East Indies and Hong Kong Island in the Far East, and the interests of the entire Eastern world were wiped out. This was intolerable to the British Empire, the world's number one power. The East Indies, the largest and most critical overseas colony of the Netherlands, were occupied by them, and I am afraid that they hated it even more. And the occupation of the Philippine Islands in Spain and the Macao Island in Portugal is probably also a grudge.

As far as I know, the Chinese Empire seems to have had special relations with Prussia and France, and relations with the Kingdom of Sardinia, Austria, the Ottomans, Switzerland, and Sweden were extremely ordinary. Prussia was friendly with it because the other party could bring Prussia a lot of benefits. But the Kingdom of Prussia is more closely related to our country, and if we exert the slightest pressure, the Kingdom of Prussia will abandon them and throw itself into our arms. As for France, my relations with them have improved considerably lately, and since Napoleon III's aim has always been on the European continent, if we support them a little bit on the European continent, it will be a good lesson to teach Austria who betrayed us that it will not be difficult to alienate them from the Chinese Empire.

In this world, there is always interest in the supreme between countries, and the same is true of Napoleon III, as long as we show enough benefits, such as supporting the transfer of the entire Indochina Peninsula to him, or supporting him to seize the Suez Canal, and tacitly acquiesce in their expansion to Belgium and other northerns. Of course, this can only be a superficial acquiescence, but in fact, from our standpoint, we should prevent all European countries from becoming the great powers of the European continent, and the only land power in Europe can only be us, Russia.

And the American Federation, although it pursues a policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries, now it is clear that the Chinese Empire has intervened in the civil war in the United States, and we have exposed the conspiracy of the Orientals in the European newspapers, so the United States will also hold a grudge. In the future, there will be revenge.

It's just that the current situation is favorable to the Chinese Empire. As long as the rebellion within Britain is not quelled for a day, it will be difficult to free up troops to attack the East. So all we can do now is wait for the right time. It shouldn't be too long, I heard that the British have conscripted nearly 300,000 troops, and their civil strife should be about to subside. In fact, however, if they were willing to give up their direct occupation of Ireland, or to allow Ireland to be self-governing, they could have freed up a large number of troops to quickly quell the rebellion at home and in India. Then send troops to attack the Far East, this is the opportunity we have been waiting for. ”

After listening to Duke Gorchakov's tirade, the tsar understood what he meant, and said with some disappointment: "In this way, now I want to deal with the Chinese Empire, and there is really no way!" ”

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich was also quite helpless and said: "Your Majesty, it is true. If you want to defeat that eastern country, the most fundamental way is to rely on the strength of our Russia itself! ”

"That's true! Because of the war three years ago, Russia suffered heavy losses, and in the past two years, it has also suffered a lot in the battlefields of Siberia and the Far East. Or are we not strong enough! The Tsar said with deep feelings: "As I said just now, this king has an important decision, which has been delayed for a while, but now that it has reached this point, it cannot be delayed any longer. This king decided to carry out serf reform in Russia! ”

With the exception of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the rest of the ministers were taken aback and patiently listened to the tsar's next explanation.

However, the tsar did not explain, but said directly: "In order for Russia to become strong, serf reform must be carried out!" This king has drafted an edict officially announcing the abolition of serfdom! All serfs in the country were free, and in the future they could move freely, marry, choose their own property, enter into contracts, etc., and have the same rights as other freemen. In addition, although the land in the whole country is owned by us, the nobles, the liberated serfs are allowed to redeem a small piece of land according to the regulations, and the serfs can pay a part of it first, and the rest is paid by the local government in the form of paid bonds, and the peasants pay off the principal and interest within the specified time limit..........

Don't be surprised! Two years ago, the king had secretly carried out experiments in some areas along the Baltic coast, and the results were good, so everyone must support them unconditionally! Otherwise, don't blame this king for being ruthless! ”

After speaking, the tsar looked at Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich and said: "You want to vigorously develop the navy, and this king will promise you." You organize the development of submarines and the development of mines, and the Baltic shipyard wants to expand, no problem, the only condition is that you find your own funds........."