In 1861, many major events took place in the world.

The Second Yapian War broke out in Asia that shocked the world, and Britain, France, the United States, and Russia were involved in the war, which was unprecedented in scale, no less than the Crimean War. In the end, however, the Anglo-French forces suffered a crushing defeat and were forced to sign the Treaty of Peking, thus discarding all the benefits they had made in China since 1840.

A person's name is rising, illuminating the entire European and American Western world, his name is Li Weiguo, who slaughtered hundreds of thousands of British and French troops at one time, and became the big devil of the East in the hearts of European and American people.

However, Europe and the United States were soon attracted by a series of other major events.

In Europe, the Kingdom of Italy was first unified in this year, and the ambitious Italy quickly began to expand abroad. Not to be outdone, Wilhelm I ascended the throne in this year, taking advantage of the crushing defeat of Britain and France in Asia, and with the assistance of Bismarck, he also began the war of unification of the German Confederation.

In the Americas, with Lincoln becoming the new president, his policy toward the South instantly ignited the American Civil War.

All this touched the nerves of the two old powers, Britain and France, who originally wanted to conquer China and then order the army to intervene in the American Civil War and support the South to defeat the North. However, the fiasco in China cost them a lot of money.

Originally, Britain and France were unwilling, and in order to make an expedition to China to gain benefits, they spent hundreds of millions of pounds of money, but as a result, they did not gain anything, but lost Hong Kong Island.

It can be said that Britain and France were furious and clamored for another expedition to China. When the Beijing Peace Treaty was brought back to London and Paris after a half-year journey, neither the Queen of England nor the Emperor of France wanted to sign it.

But as Italy on the European continent completed its unification and began to expand abroad, Prussia followed suit. The War for the Unification of the German Confederation began, all of which took place in the heart of Europe, especially in France, and the original plan of the French Emperor Napoleon III to join the British to make another expedition to China was also shelved, and then Napoleon III signed the "Beijing Peace Treaty", which was equivalent to giving up his interests in China.

Britain was the side with the heaviest losses in the Second Hippoise War. Although Britain can still gather a million troops to expedition to China, no one dares to guarantee whether it will be victorious. With the outbreak of the American Civil War, the British government was preparing to intervene in the American Civil War and became more and more hesitant on the issue of China.

On the other side, the mouth of the Heilongjiang River. The East China Sea Fleet of the Shanghai Army escorted more than 12,000 officers and men of the Second Town to prepare for a military attack on Tsarist Russia.

During the Second Yapian War, Tsarist Russia took the opportunity to occupy a large number of territories in northern and northwest China, and Vladivostok, as the outlet to the sea in the Far East, has always been the most urgent place for Tsarist Russia.

It's just that the military, political and economic center of gravity of Tsarist Russia is in Europe, and the Far East is too far away for inconvenient transportation. It was difficult to transfer troops to the Far East, so it was not until the Anglo-French army suffered a crushing defeat. The Russian army in the Far East only had enough 30,000 men, most of whom were criminals exiled to the Far East and had little combat effectiveness.

When the second town of the Shanghai Army arrived at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River from the sea, the Russian army suddenly became nervous and warned along the way.

Knock knock......

Dozens of warships of the East China Sea Fleet of the Shanghai Army opened fire on the river and launched artillery shelling on the Russian coastal defense positions in Jiangbei. Carry out fire suppression.

The cannon roared, and the smoke of gunpowder filled the air.

The officers and men of the Second Town of the Shanghai Army quickly descended from the troop carrier to the boat along the rope ladder, and then quickly rowed to the north bank of the river.

The seizure of the beachhead was not met with strong resistance from the Russian army, perhaps because the Russian army was not prepared at all, after all, the Russian army had just occupied the north of Heilongjiang for a short time. The previous opponent was the vulnerable Qing army, so there were no decent fortifications.

Under the artillery fire of the Shanghai fleet, the Russian army quickly abandoned the Jiangbei line and withdrew to the rear.

The second town of the Shanghai Army immediately landed on the beach, quickly established a beachhead defensive position, and then a large number of military supplies began to be transported in a steady stream.

On the other side, in the Governor's Office of Zhili in Tianjin, the Russian Minister Ignatiev was negotiating with Li Weiguo.

It is obvious that Li Weiguo pursues the tactic of talking while fighting, which makes Ignatiev feel very annoyed, but also helpless.

"His Royal Highness King Wu, please immediately terminate the military operation in Heilongjiang, we are negotiating, there should be a truce."

"Your Excellency, if you agree to my terms, then I will stop the attack immediately!" Li Weiguo said with a smile, he was not in a hurry at all, with the fragile strength of the Russian army in the Far East, he was not the opponent of the second town of the Shanghai Army at all, and it was a matter of time before he lost the Far East.

However, Li Weiguo does not want to completely fight Russia, at least not yet.

Li Weiguo just wanted to get back the territories occupied by the Russians and talk to them about the purchase of Alaska by the way.

Ignatiev was very helpless, since the day he met Li Weiguo, he did not take any advantage, but was calculated by the other party everywhere.

"His Royal Highness King Wu, we can have a good talk about the issue of Alaska, but your price is too low for us to accept."

"Five million taels of silver is not low, you must know that Alaska is a barren land, and it has no value to you."

Li Weiguo was very worried that the Russians would sell Alaska to the United States, so he made a move ahead of time to buy Alaska. However, Li Weiguo is still half a beat slower, Russia has begun negotiations with the United States on the sale of Alaska, but so far, the US government has temporarily shelved due to the outbreak of the civil war, and the 10 million US dollars originally used to buy Alaska have been temporarily used to buy arms into the civil war.

Of course, Li Weiguo knew that the reason why the Americans prepared 10 million dollars to buy Alaska was because the Russians bribed American officials, but the Russians were still unlucky, and they caught up with the American Civil War and Alaska could not be sold. Historically, the United States would not buy Alaska again until 1867, when the American Civil War ended. But then it was not 10 million dollars, but 7.2 million dollars.

Li Weiguo took advantage of the fire to rob, and while taking advantage of the fact that the American Civil War could no longer have extra money to buy Alaska, he invested 500 taels of silver to buy Alaska with the Russians. On the other hand, Li Weiguo sent troops to attack the Russian Far East under the pretext that the Russian army had invaded Chinese territory, and forced the Russians to submit.

This tactic, while dishonorable, is the most effective. Ignatiev had to sit across from Li Weiguo and bargain with him.

"If Your Highness can give you ten million dollars, then we can promise to sell Alaska to you."

According to the current exchange rate, 10 million US dollars is equivalent to 20 million taels of silver, but Li Weiguo obviously likes to cheat people, and it is impossible to agree.

"Just five million taels of silver, if you don't want it, then I'm afraid you won't get a penny in the future, and not only Alaska will be mine. The whole of Eastern Siberia is no longer yours. ”

Ignatiev exclaimed: "Your Highness, what do you mean by this? I don't understand! ”

"Then I'll let you know better!" Li Weiguo smiled and said, "Do you think your country's troops in the Far East can beat us?" What do you think will happen if you seize the Far East and cut off your ties with Alaska? ”

Ignatiev, of course, understood that Li Weiguo's Shanghai army could easily defeat 200,000 Anglo-French troops, while the Russian army, which was less than 30,000 in the Far East, was certainly no match for the Shanghai army. Once the Shanghai army occupied Eastern Siberia, it was equivalent to cutting off Russia's ties with Alaska. Then a large area of land, including Eastern Siberia and Alaska, will be occupied by Li Weiguo.

"Our Russian Empire has an army of two million, are Your Highness sure that you want to go to war with us?"

Li Weiguo said with a smile: "I don't want to start a full-scale war with your country. But your country has just suffered a crushing defeat in the Crimean War, and the treasury should have been depleted by military spending, right? Presumably, you will not be able to send two million troops to the Far East to go to war, unless you don't want Europe. Also, I heard that the tsar of your country had to carry out serfdom reforms in order to solve the financial crisis, and you peddled Alaska to the United States. I'm afraid it's also because of lack of money, right? ”

Ignatiev gasped and looked at Li Weiguo with a shocked expression, never expecting that Li Weiguo would know so clearly about Russia's affairs, and he would grasp the key point.

True, Ignatiev is also well aware. Although the Russian army is very strong in Europe, the Far East is too far away, it is too difficult to transfer troops without railways, and Russia's finances cannot support that kind of attrition, not to mention sending the Russian army to the Far East to fight, and the cost of traveling to the Far East alone is enough to completely bankrupt Russia's finances.

This is an indisputable fact, Ignatiev lamented in his heart, since the other party knows these things, then it is impossible to give one or two more silver.

Thinking of this, Ignatiev retreated and said, "The price given by His Highness is too low, but if His Highness is willing to give us two things, then five million taels of silver can also be traded." ”

Li Weiguo saw that Ignatiev was relieved, so he asked, "Tell me about it!" ”

Ignatiev then said: "Your army's new weapons and equipment are really powerful, and I want to ask Your Highness for your army's technology for manufacturing patriotic rifles and Type 59 infantry guns." ”

Li Weiguo smiled, this Ignatiev is very smart, and he even thought of exchanging the technology of the Patriotic rifle and the 59 infantry gun, which is really clever.

It's just that the magic is one foot high and one foot high, and Li Weiguo is not worried about handing over these two weapons and equipment to the Russians, because this is the trend of the times, even if Li Weiguo doesn't give them to them, someone in Europe will develop them in a few years.

On the contrary, Li Weiguo can now hand over these two technologies to the Russians, but can get unexpected benefits.

"Technical information can be given to you, and even if you need it, I can also give you ready-made patriotic rifles and 59 infantry guns, of course, for an additional fee."

Ignatiev did not expect Li Weiguo to agree so happily, you must know that the advanced degree of the patriotic rifle and the 59 infantry cannon is completely ahead of the level of the European musket and artillery, and any country will keep it secret as a top secret, and it is impossible to sell it to the outside world, let alone sell it to a hostile country.

Obviously, in Ignatiev's mind, Russia and the Qing Empire were hostile.

He asked rhetorically: "Aren't you afraid that after we get the advanced rifles and artillery, we will use them against you?" ”

Li Weiguo smiled: "Why are you fighting me? Are your enemies not numerous and strong enough? Save your strength against the Ottomans, England, and France, they're your number one enemy, aren't they? ”

Ignatiev exclaimed: "Your Royal Highness King Wu, I have to say that your strategic vision is too high, even I have to admire you." You know everything about Europe, so I won't go around in circles with you. Yes, our center of gravity is in Europe, and Britain, France and Turkey are our number one enemies. ”

"So we made a deal?"

"Of course! I immediately report to the Tsar, and I also ask His Highness to order your army to stop attacking, we should not be enemies! ”

"You're right, from now on, we're friends."

Li Weiguo and Ignatiev reached a verbal agreement, one moment they are still enemies, the next moment they are friends, and sure enough, it is still the same sentence, there are no eternal enemies between countries, and there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests.

Alaska, the United States in history bought it for $7.2 million, and now Li Weiguo bought it for only 5 million taels of silver ($2.5 million).

Li Weiguo is very happy that he has completed another major historical event, the United States will no longer have Alaska, and Alaska will become a province of China.

"Lord, if Alaska is barren land, why did you buy it?" Chen Jingnan asked with some puzzlement.

Li Weiguo can't explain this problem for the time being, and he can't tell the other party that in a hundred years, the earth's warming effect, the melting of the Arctic Ocean will be navigable, and it will no longer be a glacier-covered snow country, but will become a new settlement area for human beings.

"This king recently dreamed that the gods said that it was a treasure land!"

“……”

Chen Jingnan smiled bitterly, since Li Weiguo didn't say it, he didn't want to ask, anyway, it only cost five million taels of silver, and for Li Weiguo's current family background, it was nothing.

"My lord, the British and French ministers have arrived, and they have brought back the Treaty of Peking, on which the Queen of England and the Emperor of France have signed and are ready to exchange the treaty with you."

"Deal with me? Why don't you go to Yixin? Li Weiguo had a question mark on his face.

Chen Jingnan said with a smile: "Lord, Britain and France respect the strong, and they know who is the first person in the current Qing Kingdom, so they ask to exchange contracts with you." Otherwise, like the last time, they exchanged the "Tianjin Treaty" with the imperial court, but you didn't admit it, wouldn't it be a toss in vain? ”

Li Weiguo immediately smiled.

"In addition, the British and French ministers have matters to discuss with the Lord!"

"What's the matter?"

"My subordinates inquired, it seems that Britain and France want to get our advanced rifle and artillery technology, and the other is the fact that the Lord and Erganti partnered together to trap the United States."

Li Weiguo immediately understood that this was exactly what he was going to do.

"Okay, arrange for them to come to see me, and then we should really discuss how to pit the United States!" (To be continued.) )