According to the original plan, Empress Elizabeth was going to visit Donetsk and Luhansk, the border fortresses on the border with Crimean Tatars, but for security reasons, it was decided to return north from Kiev to St. Petersburg.

On the way, the Empress and her entourage visited the estate where Count Razumovsky's elder brother lived.

"Your Majesty, God bless you!"

"Your Majesty, our Mother!"

"Merciful Empress, our God, our Mother!"

After the carriage drove into the manor, all the serfs prayed respectfully, knelt down, and kept muttering about the empress's mother.

"These people don't seem to be in a normal state, right?"

In the carriage, Catherine frowned, and her expression was a little tense and stiff.

"These are serfs, the kind of guys in rags who hunted us down that day and held iron forks and wooden sticks"

Peter pouted as he stuffed nuts into his mouth.

"Don't scare me like that, Your Highness! I've had nightmares for days! ”

It felt as if Catherine was about to cry after hearing this.

"Okay, just kidding! Since I know that my aunt is coming, this place will definitely be carefully decorated, of course it will be fine."

"That can't be a joke, can it? I am always concerned about your safety, Your Highness! ”

Catherine clutched her chest with one hand and the edge of the window with the other, as if trying to control her emotions.

"Oh, don't worry about me, I've experienced it once, so naturally I won't make the same mistake again. It's good to be cautious, but don't show it in front of your aunt either, remember."

"Well, well..."

"Why don't I play a tune, I just wrote it these days"

Without waiting for Catherine to respond, Peter picked up the violin and played it.

After leaving Kiev, the convoy headed north, passing through Chernikov, Bryansk, Smolensk, Kholm and Novgorod back to St. Petersburg.

As soon as he returned, Peter could not bear to send someone to Holstein to recruit the guards.

Although Holstein is an inconspicuous small principality of the HRE, it is also of the German race, and culturally belongs to the West** lineage. Sandwiched between Denmark and the HRE, and connected to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, the location is very important, and it has historically been closely associated with the Hanseatic League, a famous commercial alliance.

Therefore, it is completely different from the Peter who can only play the game of horseback riding and fighting in history, Peter, as the core of Guo Zijing, who has the core of Guo Zijing, attaches more importance to the important role of Holstein in the future, that is, the Kiel Canal, one of the three famous canals in the modern world, can completely avoid the Danish strait blockade, and travel between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea along the European continental shelf, and is not affected by the ice of the Baltic Sea in winter. It will also be the starting point of the Russian Empire's ocean-going colonization of Africa and South America.

In fact, in addition to recruiting soldiers, Peter sent people on another mission to inspect the local shipbuilding industry and sailors. Due to its proximity to the famous Hanseatic commercial cities of Lübeck and Hamburg, Holstein was also home to many sailors.

Under the rule of her aunt Empress Elizabeth, the Russian Empire was vigorously strengthening the army, but did not pay much attention to the navy, and it was not until 20 years later that the Ottoman Empire's Mediterranean Fleet and Black Sea Fleet were completely destroyed, and the Black Sea Fleet was completely opened.

If Aunt Elizabeth's reign had been long, the navy of the Russian Empire would have been decadent for many years, and Peter could not afford to wait. For although he did not know in what year this aunt abdicated, he knew how the ancient East coped with the terrible problem of malaria that life in the tropics had to face, which would be extremely helpful for the future colonization of Africa, and could penetrate deep into the interior of Africa before other European powers. But in order to colonize Africa, the problem of ice-free ports must first be resolved.