On the third day of Lin Wei's army in Yekaterinaburg, the British and French ambassadors once again approached Prime Minister Chen Kejie in the hope of resolving the Sino-Russian dispute in Siberia through the mediation of the two countries.

In November 1856, diplomatic peace talks between China and Russia began in Beijing. Britain and France deliberately favored Russia and demanded that the imperial army withdraw to the east bank of the Ob River, but in fact, Russia could not basically fall in the whole of Siberia, and Alexander II was ready to give up the land east of the Ob River, so he asked the imperial team to retreat to the east of the Ob River.

It's a pity that Foreign Minister Zeng Guofan is not a fool, how can he give up the land he has occupied in vain? Zeng Guofan only said coldly to the representative of the Russian diplomatic corps, Werther: "The Urals are just a small hill!" This bold statement, which is listed as one of the world's top ten famous sentences, completely dispelled Werther's last illusions. Yes, the army of the Chinese will not see the Urals as an obstacle at all, they have advanced weapons and the largest population in the world, what else can defeat them?

On December 12, 1857, China and Russia signed the Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing in Beijing. First of all, the treaty clearly stipulated that all the lands of Siberia and Central Asia, which was bounded by 10 kilometers east of Yekaterinburg, and east of the meridian where it was located, were sacred and inviolable territories of the Chinese Empire, and Russia had no right to claim sovereignty in any name. Russians in the region will be repatriated to Russia within the next three years.

In other words, the Chinese Empire basically swallowed the entire Siberian region and Central Asia after this war, and the territory of the empire increased from the original 13.81 million square kilometers to about 20.31 million square kilometers. The Chinese Empire became the largest country in the world in terms of territorial area. Coupled with the size of the colony, even Britain where the sun never sets, is beyond the reach of the dust.

Except for land, the other items in the treaty were basically equal, after all, Britain and France could not be overly stimulated. In addition to redeeming prisoners of war, the empire also decided to provide Russia with a loan of 100 million in the name of the state, Lin Hong's purpose was to maintain the balance of power in Europe, after all, Russia declined, and Eastern Europe was probably going to be in chaos. Sweden, Prussia, Austria and other countries are not stupid, Russia is a quick fatten, of course, 100 million yuan is not a loan in vain, China and Russia have signed a series of commercial trade treaties on railways, machinery, agriculture, etc., so that the empire has opened up the huge market of Russia, and the import of China's industrial products can also limit Russia's domestic industrial potential to a certain extent, and this transaction is not a loss at all.

However, with the end of the war in the north, the country's focus will be shifted back to the construction and disaster relief of the newly occupied land in the country, although the Yellow River diversion in Lin Hong's advance precautions to the common people can be said to be much less than in history, but after all, the impact of the Yellow River diversion is too great, and the entire downstream will be rectified and planned. This time, the Yellow River was diverted to the sea in Lianyungang and returned to the north again, passing through the current river channel and flowing north into the Bohai Sea.

Before 1855, the Yellow River mainly swung in the south, although there were times to the north, but they were all forcibly blocked by manpower, and during the period when the south flow seized the Huai into the sea, the main stream of the Yellow River below Zhengzhou and above Qingkou was also uncertain. From Surabaya, or Bianshui or whirlpool into the Huai, or from the Yingshui into the Huai, or at the same time into several branches into the Huai. It was not until the late Ming Dynasty that Pan Ji tamed the river, and the Yellow River was basically fixed in Kaifeng, Lankao, Shangqiu, Dangshan, Xuzhou, Suqian, Huaiyin, that is, the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the water for 300 years.

In addition to controlling the Yellow River, what we need to do is to completely control Siberia and Central Asia, to control Siberia now in addition to the most important thing for immigration is to build a railway, the Siberian Railway built by Russia in history, also known as the Trans-Siberian Railway, is the longest railway in the world, connecting the Russian capital Moscow (usually Yaroslavl Station) and Vladivostok on the coast of Japan (now the North Sea), with a total length of 9,288 kilometers (if the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg, the capital of Tsarist Russia, is counted, the total length is kilometers), A total of 8 time zones were crossed, and the whole journey took 7 days. The railway allowed Russia to greatly strengthen its control over the Far East.

Since the 16th century, Tsarist Russia has frantically expanded its territory in Asia, seizing the entire Siberian region, which covers an area of more than 12 million square kilometers, accounting for nearly one-third of Asia's land area. It is a place of endless forests and grasslands, fertile soils, and rich mineral resources, which many people call the "Golden Cellar". However, Siberia was too far away from the European part of Russia to be developed for hundreds of years. Due to its harsh natural conditions, since the end of the 16th century, successive tsars have used it as a penal colony for hard labor. Historically, at the end of the 19th century, Russia began to enter a period of industrialization. In order to develop the domestic economy, the tsar began to pay attention to the Siberian region. More importantly, at that time, Britain, the United States, Japan, and other powers were fiercely competing on the international stage in the Far East, which highlighted Siberia's strategic position. In order to firmly occupy this land, far from Europe, and to implement the "Far Eastern policy" of Tsarist Russia to encroach on Asia, the tsar decided to build a large railway through the whole of Siberia.

Now Lin Hong also wants to build such a railway, and also plans to extend to the inland areas to weave a large network, but now the funds are used for disaster relief, and the technology of railway construction is not enough, and this plan can only be implemented in a few years.

In Central Asia, Lin Hong's decision was to learn from the policies of the Later Celestial Empire, implement a new pastoral policy, encourage these nomadic people to settle down, and the state will allocate land and make appropriate compensation.

In addition to the political and economic changes, Lin Hong has also redivided the military region, assigned the Central Asian region to the Northwest Military Region, and is in the process of establishing a North Asian Military Region; although the North Asian Military Region has the largest garrison area, it is currently the military region with the fewest troops under its jurisdiction among the military regions in the country in the planning of the General Staff.

As compensation for supporting the Ottoman Empire's strong support for the Russian war, the Chinese Empire formally requested the Ottoman Empire to include the Ottoman Empire's affiliated camel race country into the scope of the Chinese Empire's protectorate, which is the area of present-day Iraq and Kuwait (China loaned 100 million Chinese dollars to the Ottomans in the form of private loans, sent economic and military personnel to help the Ottomans complete the Tanzimet reforms they had been carrying out, and sold new warships to the Ottomans) decisively agreed to China's request for a Kuwaiti protectorate.

On December 30, 1856, the Chinese Empire and the Ottoman Empire formally signed the Treaty of Friendship and Mutual Assistance between China and Austria and the Kuwait Protection Agreement in Istanbul. You must know that Kuwait was rich in oil and gas resources, and there were 94 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, about 10% of the world's total reserves. It's a treasure trove.

The British could not bear this treaty, knowing that in 1822 the British governor moved from Basra to Kuwait. The British have always regarded Kuwait as their sphere of influence, and now China has stepped in forcefully, causing displeasure in the British.

Britain sent a note to the Chinese Empire and the Ottoman Empire, refusing to recognize the annexed protection agreement, saying that the Emirate of Kuwait was a ** country and did not have the need for protection as stated by the Ottomans. He also said that the Emirate of Kuwait was an ally of Britain and not a protectorate of China, and Britain demanded that the two countries revoke the annex and give the Emirate of Kuwait **sovereignty (in fact, Kuwait is nominally the territory of the Ottoman Empire, but in fact **exists).

As for the British demands, although the Ottomans were unhappy (can it be cool to directly divide the country), they had to turn to China for help. Lin Hong had already prepared for this.

The Emir of Kuwait, Mubarak bin Sabah, was the Emir of Kuwait (equivalent to the head of state), who had traveled to Europe, the United States and the East as a young man, and was also a very knowledgeable person, who was very angry and helpless about the struggle between China and Britain for the power of their own protectorate. After talking with Guo Songtao, the secret envoy sent by China, he made his own decision, just like Guo Songtao said, where the British will never get anything beneficial to him, the British want Kuwait's submission, and to China itself will be a friend of the Chinese, China only wants the exclusive right to exploit those black liquids and some commercial rights, China will help itself to train an army to protect Kuwait, the benefits are obvious.

Compared to the arrogance of the British, Mubarak felt that the Chinese were more reliable, at least as they seemed.

At the beginning of March 1857, the Emirate of Kuwait officially declared its submission to the protectorate agreement between the suzerain, the Ottoman Empire, and the Chinese Empire, and Kuwait officially became a protectorate of the Chinese Empire. At the same time, it announced that it would continue to maintain friendly relations with the United Kingdom.

On March 18, 1857, the Chinese Empire and the Emirate of Kuwait signed the Sino-Kuwait Treaty of Friendship and Protection, formally placing Kuwait under the protection of the Chinese Empire.

On October 10, 1857, the Indian Ocean Admiralty of the Chinese Empire ordered the formation of the Persian Gulf Fleet, and in November, the Persian Gulf Fleet, consisting of twelve wooden-hulled cruisers, was officially stationed in Kuwait Harbor.

The British had no choice, but at the end of the year announced the reorganization of the Indian Grand Fleet, sending six ironclads and fifteen cruisers to the Indian Ocean to completely replace the sail warships of the Indian Grand Fleet