"That afternoon, just as we were tired and ready to stop and set up camp..."

Click!

At this moment, Peter entered the room, and saw Catherine listening to the story of the Portuguese adventurer Oliveira.

"Good afternoon, Your Excellency"

"Good afternoon, Your Highness"

Catherine and Oliveira stood up at the same time and bowed to Peter.

"Ah, you keep talking, I'm just coming in and sitting"

Peter smiled and walked over to Catherine and moved a chair to sit down.

"Well, and then, oh, in the afterglow of the setting sun, I caught a glimpse of a great golden curtain in the distance, perhaps because I had been walking in the wet forest for two months in a row, and I was at first hallucinating, and then I screamed and ran towards the golden curtain wall despite the dissuasion. Ah... It's crazy to think about it now, maybe a few natives with spears will pop out from behind some big tree. Or when you run, you scrape a thick green rattan, which turns out to be a giant python with a camouflage-colored color. In either case, my life will be at risk. But, thank God, the curtain of light was as beautiful as the Holy Angels, and I couldn't help myself from rushing towards it... Of course, the end result was also beautiful, although we did not see the true body of the Holy Angel, but that night, we finally walked out of the nightmare rainforest, blowing a faint cool breeze from the savannah, lying on the soft grass, all fatigue and powerlessness disappeared, even the original wet clothes were air-dried... Oh my God, in retrospect, I think I may have actually met a holy angel! ”

Oliveira told the story of his adventures with emotion, and Peter and Catherine were fascinated by both of them.

"Thank God, oh my... Mr. Oliveira spoke so vividly that I want to follow you and set sail for Africa immediately! ”

Peter applauded excitedly.

"Isn't it, I've been bothering Mr. Oliveira to tell me adventure stories these days, I guess I've delayed him a lot, right? Please forgive me, sir."

Ekaterina also said apologetically.

"The Grand Duke and Madame are polite, I am just an ordinary adventurer, and I have not made any achievements worthy of being remembered by the world, but I just went and came back, where can I be called an adventurer"

Oliveira hastened to say humbly.

"Hey—Mr. Oliveira, don't be too modest, you're a rare and important talent to the Russian Empire, and I'll certainly fund your expedition."

Peter smiled and waved his hand.

"What? Is Mr. Oliveira leaving? ”

Catherine asked in surprise.

In order to avoid being frozen in the Baltic Sea, ships wishing to move west out of the Danish Strait had to leave St. Petersburg by late October at the latest.

"That's true, but it's a dream that I will never give up on the road of adventure again, thank you very much Your Highness for your support and respect, I will definitely live up to Your Highness's trust!"

Oliveira stood up and bowed deeply to Peter.

"Haha, let's talk about these parting words before leaving, I want to hear how Mr.'s expedition plan is being formulated."

"I see, this is Your Highness, after my many investigations and repeated research, I have drawn up several relatively feasible exploration areas, mainly in the area from West Africa to the Gulf of Guinea, and then south to the Congo, which is not very suitable for first-time explorers to Africa. Oh Your Highness, please see, the places marked on this map are the areas I have planned."

Oliveira brought an unfolded map to Peter.

"Hmm... That's good, it's very detailed, why don't you tell me and Ekaterina about it now? ”

"Tell... Oh ok, no problem. Well, I actually think like this, based on the existing ships in your country, the quality of the seafarers, the supply of supplies, etc., we can..."

Oliveira began to elaborate on his elaborate expedition.

A few days later, Volyntsov again came to Peter during non-meeting hours.

"Your Highness, news has just come from Kyakhta in the Far East, saying that the Eastern Empire is threatening us to stop supporting the king of Dzungaria under the pretext of closing border trade, and at the same time, the invasion of Dzungaria by the Kazakh Khanate must also be stopped."

"Huh? What does this mean? Is there anyone in Russia who is still supporting Dzungaria? The last time the Kazakh envoy came to St. Petersburg, the Empress has already ordered a ban on all support for Dzungaria, right? ”

"Well, I have sent someone to Astrakhan to confirm this matter, and if anyone dares to do it secretly against the orders of the Empress, it is probably a merchant in Astrakhan, after all, the luxury goods trafficked through Central Asia are quite profitable."

Volyntsov laughed.

"Tsk, there's such a thing... Hey, isn't that right? Why didn't the Eastern Empire allow Kazakhstan to fight Dzungaria? Didn't the Eastern Empire see Dzungar as an enemy? ”

"It's not clear yet, and I don't know much about the situation over there, so I'll have to wait for the people sent to find out why."

"Hmm... Winter is about to begin, and it seems that there is at least half a year to figure out the reason, but you can't wait like this, and now there is no breakthrough in the war in Europe, and the army is outside the borders, and there is no energy to deal with the affairs of the East. However, if the Kyakhta border trade is allowed to close, it will always be bad for the financial situation. Therefore, it is better to make some gains and limit the matter to the negotiating table."

"But Your Highness, the Eastern Empire obviously does not take our Russian Empire in its eyes, and does not leave room for maneuver!"

Volyntsov said contemptuously.

"Ouch, that's not going to be easy! Looks like we're going to have to find a way to create room for manoeuvre... Oh, by the way, I remember I also said that I bought herbs from the Eastern Empire, do you remember? ”

Peter asked suddenly, patting his head.

"Herbs? Oh oh – I remember I remember, uh that... However, it will take almost a year for the caravan to come and go, and I don't know when it will be back in St. Petersburg."

"Huh? Is it that slow? I want to buy rare herbs from the East for my aunt to heal her illness, what should I do if I am delayed on the way? ”

"So, then... I'll send someone to meet the caravan at once, and if it's not very heavy, I'll expedite it back through the official post station."

Volyntsov hastened to reassure Peter.

"Well, that's all it takes, but you won't be able to walk for another month, and most of the time you won't be able to catch up, right?"

"Please rest assured, Your Highness, I will mobilize more men to meet the caravan and strive to return to St. Petersburg by the end of October!"

"Well, I hope everything goes well"

, who cares about that old fat woman, the Artemisia annua that I specially requested to purchase from the Eastern Empire has not been shipped back, and the Nima adventure fleet is about to set off, doesn't this delay Lao Tzu's time! A bunch of waste, rice buckets, things that don't succeed enough and lose more than anything!

Peter was amiable to Volrentsov on the surface, but in fact he was beating his old fist and kicking him violently in his heart.