Three weeks after the last breakfast conversation with Peter, Catherine finally had the opportunity to see her son Paul again, because there was a gala dinner in the palace.

Near the village of Jagelsdorf in Allenburg, East Prussia, the Russian army broke the Prussian army, 8,000 Prussian soldiers were killed, 2 generals were killed, and the commander Lewald was seriously wounded and carried away from the battlefield under cover, while the losses of the Russian army were 9,000 people.

It is said that this fierce battle lasted from the early morning to the afternoon, and the soldiers on both sides basically did not have time to eat lunch, and the battle was extremely tragic, and finally turned into a bloody white-knuckle battle for the hill position where the Prussian army was located.

Of the Prussian army of 25,000 men, more than 10,000 were captured, and the rest broke down and fled without a trace.

In comparison, only 9,000 of the 55,000 troops dispatched by Russia this time were killed, which is not much of a attrition. What's more, the middle and high-ranking officers did not suffer major losses, and they also received all kinds of artillery and equipment and supplies discarded by the Prussians, which is the most important thing.

In this battle, Guards artillery lieutenant Grigory. Orlov was seriously wounded, but he made a great contribution in the battle and became a hero of the war.

There is another named Nikolai. Colonel Rumyantsev, brigade commander, led the Cossack cavalry to successfully carry out a reverse assault operation against the Prussian army, completing the encirclement of the Prussian army.

With up to three-fifths of the East Prussian garrison annihilated, seriously wounded, or captured, and even the commander, Field Marshal Lewald, almost hung up, the remnants of the Prussian army had to flee westward overnight, giving almost the entire area of East Prussia to Russia, with the exception of the Königsberg fortress, where 9,000 men were still stationed.

The outstanding performance of the Russian Imperial Army in this battle is already comparable to the classic sneak attack battle 'Battle of Hokzi' commanded by Field Marshal Daun of Austria in the Seven Years' War.

"Your Highness, this is the Portuguese adventurer Francisco whom I spoke to you last time. Morality. Oliveira, this time he came to St. Petersburg with his own sailboat"

On the morning of the dinner, Deputy Prime Minister Volyntsov entered the palace with a foreigner of about thirty-five or sixteen years of age, with black curly hair and a slender beard.

"Oh, it's Mr. Oliveira, I'm glad I'll be there."

Peter smiled and stepped forward to shake hands.

The arrival of this Portuguese adventurer was the beginning of Peter's long-awaited plan to colonize Africa.

After some pleasantries

"So, I would like to ask Mr. Oliveira, which areas would you most like to explore right now?"

"Haha, the Grand Duke's question is really broad."

Oliveira replied with a smile as she stroked her slender beard.

"As an adventurer, there are still so many unknowns to explore in this world. For example, although we Portuguese have been on the continent for more than 300 years, we have not even set foot in all the coasts of the continent, let alone deep into the interior of Africa. For example, at the source of the Nile in Egypt, no one has so far sent out anything of a written or pictorial nature to prove that anyone ever arrived. In fact, what I want to say is that as long as I can be given the opportunity to explore and sufficient materials and personnel, I am willing to venture to any place in the world that no one has ever visited before! ”

Oliveira is also said to be a well-known explorer in Portugal, but the Kingdom of Portugal has no money and no one, and is only willing to do things that can make money immediately, such as setting up various trading companies, selling slaves, ivory, spices, coffee, sugar and other colonial specialties, and extracting gold, silver and expensive precious stones. For Oliveira, who is willing to devote his life to exploring the unknown world, which is a great but difficult thing to return, he is not treated well by the Portuguese authorities. But fortunately, he learned through a friend's introduction that there were people in the Russian Empire far north who were willing to pay for an expedition fleet, so he spent his savings to save a new ship and crew to St. Petersburg, hoping to hit the ground running.

"Hehe, forget about the Nile, now it is the territory of the Ottoman-controlled Egyptian governor, and the Europeans can't go at all"

Seeing Oliveira's unusually excited expression, Peter continued with a smile.

"However, places like the Congo River, the Niger River, and the Senegal River basin should have been rarely visited so far, right? I think it's a relatively safe adventure route to go up the river."

"The Grand Duke knows that I have been to the Vetta River on the Gold Coast (now Ghana) and the Kwanza River in Angola, both of which have been colonized by Europeans for more than 200 years at their mouth and downstream. But even then, expeditions to the midstream and beyond had to be accompanied by a sufficient number of men, weapons, supplies, and horses, as well as the consent of the local indigenous chiefs. Otherwise, the local indigenous guides are likely to secretly unite with some indigenous tribes who are at odds with the colonial authorities, or simply kill people for the sake of looting. In that kind of wild land, only a musket in hand, a strong physique, and courage in the heart can keep the expedition going. Because even if you don't encounter any poisoned arrows, midnight terrors, or native hunters' traps, the hot, humid, and unbearably hot weather and the ferocious beasts and poisonous insects can kill a brave man at any time, and this is a valuable experience that has been exchanged for the blood of those who have fought for it for many years. If the Grand Duke thinks that I have gone too far, then I will apologize now. However, the situation will only be worse than what I have just said, because the territory that my predecessors have set foot in is only an extremely limited area, and I am afraid that it will take a few hundred years before it is possible to really set foot in the interior of the continent, which also shows that what I am about to explore is a place that my predecessors are completely unknown, a gap that no experience can follow, and therefore there are all kinds of uncertain possibilities. Of course, I am very grateful to the Grand Duke for giving me the opportunity to explain my aspirations, so I have nothing to complain about."

Obviously, the adventurer named Oliveira was a very upright and outspoken man, and he did not try to change the tone and tone of his speech after seeing Peter and Volyntsov's faces change.