The Russian mission led by Morozov also arrived in Beijing in April. The negotiating side on behalf of the empire was a delegation headed by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting.

The two sides were very divided at the beginning, and there was no progress in the negotiations. The Reich demanded that Russia retreat to the west of the Ob River and recognize its right to rule over the vast territories east of the Ob River, while the Russian side demanded that the Reich retreat to the east of the Yenisei River and return the newly occupied regions of Mangazzeya and Tomsk to the Reich.

"Now both the Russians and the Empire need peace talks to end this war, but the Empire will never spit it out again if it has eaten it, and although the Empire wants to reach a peace agreement with the Russians for five to ten years, if the Russians are unwilling to compromise, I don't mind continuing to consume with the Russians." Zhu Youxiao emphasized.

"Your Majesty, according to the information from the East Factory, the situation of the Russians is now more difficult than that of the Empire, and it is said that last year's salt merchants' riot was caused by the new salt tax decree, which was proposed by Morozov, the ambassador of the Russian mission, for the purpose of raising taxes and increasing the revenue of the Russian treasury." Chen Sidao.

"I believe that the empire should send more troops along the Ob River to put more pressure on the Russians." Zhu Youxiao suggested.

"Now supply is the biggest problem, the empire has 50,000 troops stationed in the Ob River, which is almost to the limit, and the consumption of these 50,000 troops is comparable to the consumption of the entire Shenyang Governor's Army." Sun Chuanting responded.

"Tuntian, can our army implement military tuning in the area of the Ob River?" Zhu Youxiao asked.

"There is a lot of arable land around Tomsk, but if the empire is unable to reach a peace agreement with the Russians, the difficulties for the military cantonment are great. Mangazzeya's tuntian is even more difficult, and even tuntian is difficult to meet the needs of the army. Hong Chengchou replied.

"The problem of Mangazzeya is easy to solve, Mangazzeya has always been the focus of trade in Northwest Asia, I have decided to vigorously develop the trade of Mangazea, once the commerce and trade are developed, the food problem can naturally be easily solved, you should not underestimate the ability of the merchants, if it is profitable, the merchants can send grain anywhere." Zhu Youxiao said.

"It is true that it is impossible for a businessman to go to Mangazya without a peace agreement." Sun Chuanting reminded.

"I can make a small concession based on the area actually controlled by the Russians in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli." Zhu Youxiao thought for a while and said.

"If this line is followed, the area between the Ob and the Yenisei rivers will be controlled by the empire about forty percent, while the Russians will control sixty percent." Hong Chengchou glanced at the map.

"Your Majesty, if you retreat to the line of actual control of the Russians in the twenty-sixth year of Wanli, it will have no impact on Tomsk, but for Mangazea, there is a great threat, and there is no danger between this line and Mangazea, and Mangazzeya is completely exposed to the threat of the Russian army." Chen Sidao.

"Chen Dudu, I don't think so, Mangazzeya is backed by Mengtian City, the two cities are horns of each other, Mangazzeya seems to have lost the barrier ahead, but in fact, the most reliable guarantee of Mangazzeya is Mengtian City, as long as Mengtian City is there, the threat of the Russian army to Mangazzeya will not increase." Hong Chengchou objected.

"The minister also agrees with what Governor Hong said that as long as the defense line from Mengtian City to Mangazzeya is well constructed, it will be difficult for the Russian army to take Mangazeya." Sun Chuanting said.

"Then do what I said before, this is the bottom line of this peace talks, and I will not make any concessions."

"No."

……

Both the Russians and the Ming wanted a peace agreement, and Europe was the place of greatest interest to the Russians compared to Siberia, and the Russians had always been very ambitious about Europe.

Tsar Alexei was a devout Orthodox Christian, and the Patriarch Nikon of the Orthodox Church proposed that the Russian Tsar should be the ruler of the entire Orthodox world, that the capital of Russia should be located in Constantinople, and that the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia should accordingly become the spiritual leader of the entire Orthodox world. This idea of Nikon was supported by Tsar Alexei.

The reason why the Russians were able to own Siberia was originally only for the fur business, and the tsar had no concept of distant Siberia at all, he only sent the Strogonov family, a merchant family who often dealt with the Siberian Khanate, to collect furs from the Siberian Khanate. The family's subordinate, the Cossack Yermak, led a small army of 840 men on the road, which took more than a decade to destroy the Siberian Khanate.

After the destruction of the Siberian Khanate, the Russians found that the local population of Siberia was outrageously weak, and in order to get more furs, Russian merchants continued to advance eastward, all the way through the Romanov Dynasty, until the Romanov Dynasty, the Russian government officially intervened in the affairs of Siberia, and it took only a few decades for the Russians to control the whole of Siberia.

The loss of Siberia was not a pain for the Russians, but once the Ming crossed the Ob River and entered the Volga River valley, the real danger came for the Russians.

The bottom line of the Russians this time is also to maintain the status quo on the Ob River, and they need time to build a defensive line against the Ming on the Ob River.

After several days of negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement, and the two sides agreed to take the Line of Actual Control of the Russians in the 26th year of Wanli as the provisional boundary, and the two sides signed an armistice agreement for 10 years.

It was not until after the two sides signed an agreement that Zhu Youxiao came forward to receive the Russian delegation represented by Morozov.

"The empire and tsarist Russia should be two countries that can coexist peacefully, tsarist Russia needs an outlet to the sea, a window to the west, and the empire needs to restore the glory of its ancestors, Xipol has been the territory of the empire since ancient times, if tsarist Russia is willing to cede the territory west of the Volga, the empire is willing to support Russia's westward expansion." Zhu Youxiao made no secret of his ambitions.

Zhu Youxiao knew that the West was in chaos at present, and not only were there constant wars between countries, but there were also constant conflicts between church and state, and even between theocracy and secular power, for example, Russia was about to fall into a fierce conflict between church and state.

"Your Majesty, I can't call the shots in this matter, I am only responsible for this negotiation between the two sides, and this matter needs to be decided by Tsar Alexei himself." Morozov refused with a smile.

"This is just a suggestion from me, I hope you can bring it to Tsar Alexei." Zhu Youxiao said disapprovingly.

(End of chapter)