"To a certain extent, Russia must express its gratitude to Grand Duchess Mikhail, and if it were not for the help of Grand Duchess Mikhail, if there was no Grand Duchess to use her personal connections to lobby China, perhaps China would have rejected Russia's request for help in the same way that they refused to provide help to Britain and France. 1――

Although the nearly one million East Asian Expeditionary Force currently fighting on the front line is not a squadron, it should not be forgotten that the dispatch of the East Asian Expeditionary Force was facilitated by China with the help of Grand Duchess Mikhail, and the well-equipped and powerful East Asian Expeditionary Force is firmly guarding the defense line of thousands of versts.

Not only that, but just recently, at the lobbying of Grand Duke Mikhail, the Chinese government for the first time agreed to provide Russia with a loan of up to 500 million rubles for the renovation of the Siberian Railway, which had fallen into disrepair, for the first time, China agreed to provide loans abroad, and there is no doubt that this is a good start, you know, now China, like the United States, is the largest country in the world that absorbs foreign bonds.

In view of the present losses of the Russian Empire in this war, and the rapidly declining economic situation, we believe that the Government of the Russian Empire should consider visiting China with Grand Duke Mikhail and Grand Duchess as special envoys to discuss with China the issuance of bonds and the solicitation of further military and economic assistance. ”

News, October 17, 1916, "The Russian Empire Needs Thanks"

Tsar Alexander III of the Russian Empire, a republic of four sons and two daughters, one of whom died at an early age, one son died of tuberculosis at the age of 28, and only two sons survived, one is the current Tsar Nicholas II, and the other is Grand Duke Mikhail, who is nicknamed "Love Saint" by Europe.

"Love Saint", the reason why the Grand Guild of Mikhail got this name, is because when he visited France in 1904, at a ball, he unexpectedly met a very beautiful lady, that lady is like the fairy tale Cinderella, so that the Grand Duke Mikhail is obsessed, in order to inquire about the whereabouts of the lady, he even published a search revelation in the French newspaper, offering a large reward to find the mysterious "Cinderella".

But the "Cinderella", like that fairy tale, disappeared after a ball, and from then on Grand Duke Mikhail fell in love with the unknown lady, and it was not until the following year, during a visit to China to discuss with the Chinese government about the use of Chinese bases by the Second Pacific Fleet, which had been destroyed in the Tsushima Strait, that he met the "Cinderella" again at the Chinese Imperial Palace, and it was on that day that he launched a mad pursuit of him.

Half a year later, when the Chinese Lady Lisa married the Grand Duke of Russia, the whole of Europe was shocked, in fact, in Russia, there have always been voices against this "inappropriate" marriage, although Miss Lisa has the title of "Lord" given by the Chinese royal family, but among the European nobles of the "blood-only" theory, they are skeptical of their "blood", and some Russians even emphasize that "their marriage should be governed by the "Law on Marriage between Nobles", but in the end, at the suggestion of some ministers, in order to avoid "humiliating China" As a result, an unnecessary war broke out, and Russia finally recognized Miss Lisa's status as a lady.

Perhaps for some extremely traditional Russians, it was undignified for a Grand Duke to marry a Chinese "nobleman", but ten years later, almost everyone was convinced that Grand Duke Mikhail had made the right choice, and because of his choice, all of Russia benefited.

When Grand Duke Mikhail went to the front with his brother Emperor Nicholas II of Changsha, Lisa, like many noble ladies, joined the volunteer nurse corps of the Russian Red Cross, tending to the sick in the army hospital in Petrograd, and sometimes even taking her daughter, Princess Nasha, to the hospital to care for the wounded. …,

However, as a member of the "Sino-Russian Friendship Association", which was established only after the outbreak of the war, and also a "trump card" of the Russian Foreign Ministry in dealing with China, it is obvious that Lady Lisa cannot devote all her time to the army hospital, and more often than not, she needs Chinese diplomats and even businessmen to deal with.

Perhaps because of the fact that she lived in the "Chen family" in the Chinese royal family in the past, she got up early every day. She had risen as early this morning as she had ever been, and like the Queen, she had donated Princess Nasha's milk money, which was the estimated royal expenditure, to be donated to the government for the purchase of weapons.

However, because the manor is in the suburbs, with several cows on the estate, she naturally does not need to think about the source of milk, and of course she does not need to think about milk like ordinary housewives.

As in the past, after getting up, after an early morning walk, she sat in the dining room and drank milk while pondering all the details, to be precise, this morning's meeting with the Chinese Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the Russian Empire, which was one of the duties of her, the Grand Duchess Mikhail, whose husband was the Grand Duke of the Russian Empire, and her maiden family was China, to be precise, the Chinese royal family, because she was married as the emperor's sister-in-law.

It is precisely for this reason that those Chinese officials, in front of her, always need to show extreme humility, because to a certain extent, she is also a member of the imperial family, but as far as she is concerned, she is extremely reluctant to engage in this work, because she knows very well that those Chinese officials will never make any substantial concessions because of her royal family, and every concession is in fact a concession made by Nanking to "her" at the right time according to the need.

"It's just to boost your personal prestige."

She often said to herself in her heart that she was too impressed by that man, and that it was impossible for him to exchange the interests of the country.

So sometimes, when she learned that after a certain meeting, or during a meeting, the Chinese officials made huge concessions, she was surprised in her heart, but at the same time, she knew that behind such concessions, she really didn't know what the man's intentions were, and foreigners would never want to take advantage of him, and she was convinced of this!

"I haven't seen you in almost ten years."

Thinking of the man who had occupied her heart, she muttered to herself in a very soft and even somewhat wistful voice, even if she realized that he would never marry another wife, she still wanted to stay with him all the time, but later if it wasn't for him taking the initiative to persuade her and tell her that she hoped she could have a good home, perhaps, she would never have accepted Mikhail and finally married Russia.

Marrying away from Russia may be an escape! But as he said, Mikhail would bring her happiness, because Mikhail loved her so much that at first she did not get used to her current husband, but then she finally got used to it.

But no matter what, in her heart, there is still the shadow of that man, and some things are hard to forget even for a lifetime, at least for her.

"Maybe it's time to go home and have a look."

She whispered to herself in her heart, as early as last year, the queen had written to her inviting her to come home at the right time, and this year, Ji Li had sent several telegrams to invite her, and now ...... Looking at the newspaper, the enthusiastic hope that she could go to China to report.

Although she knew that the Russians were only in the interest of the country and hoped that she would go to China and use her relationship with the royal family to persuade China to provide comprehensive assistance to Russia, Lisa still hoped that she would have enough milk to go back, because she had not returned to China for ten years. …,

I really don't know about him......

"Good morning, Mom!"

Just then, an extremely beautiful girl walked in, and as she entered the dining room, she made a standard court etiquette to her mother.

"Nasha!"

Seeing her daughter, the corners of Lisa's lips rose slightly, and her daughter will always be her real concern.

"Mom, I've heard that you might be going to China, right?"

While waiting for the meal, Nasha raised her head and looked at her mother's extremely beautiful jewel-like eyes full of anticipation, when she was very young, her mother always told her how beautiful China is, not the national capital located on the riverside, but the scenery of China, the Yellow Mountain, the Yangtze River, the Three Gorges and so on.

It seems that in my mother's memory, that country is as beautiful as a fairytale kingdom, but in the mouths of some teachers, their impression of China is completely different, even extremely contradictory, and it is precisely because of this that she is full of curiosity about that country, and also full of curiosity about the "emperor voted by 450 million people".

If it were in Europe, perhaps His Majesty the Emperor, whom she might call "uncle", led an army to expel the alien race that ruled them, as was the case with Ivan the Great, though he would have been beloved. But he's just an ordinary person. In no other country in Europe could have accepted a commoner without noble blood as a king or emperor.

In Europe, kings can only be made by nobles, and it is for this reason that those "careerists" would invent a "republic" and then become president by virtue of their personal prestige, which in the mouth of some teachers at Tsarskoye Village was nothing more than "a compromise of politicians with the psychology of the people".

But in China, it was a completely different situation, when His Majesty the uncle led the army to liberate his nation, he left the choice of the future to each of the people, and it was up to them to choose whether China would become an empire or a republic as in history, and finally, after 45,000,000 people voted, they chose the imperial system, and China became an empire once again after gaining national freedom.

"This is the world's first "legal" empire! ”

Some European scholars have commented on the nascent China, arguing that the Chinese Empire was "a system of state chosen by hundreds of millions of people according to their own will, not by a few people, or by a group of people who think they are of noble blood", and what is even more surprising is that even the emperor was elected by voting.

His supporters say that he was elected emperor by virtue of his noble character and respectable prestige, while some opponents say that he came from the seizure of power by force, because there is a saying in China that "the emperor will be Xiangning has a kind of call", but in her mother's view, "a man who defeated the Manchurians and won the freedom of his own nation does have a reason to be enshrined as emperor!" ”。 In her mother's opinion, when he expelled the Tartars and saved China from the humiliation of the barbarians, she was indeed entitled to accept the support of the people of the world on that basis.

"An extremely ** empire was born in the most democratic way in the world, which cannot but be said to be a miracle in human history!"

That's why Nasha is curious about everything in that country.

Lisa, who reads her daughter's eyes from her eyes, shows a smile.

"Nasha, would you like to go to China with your mother?"

"Uh-huh!"

Nodding vigorously, Nasha would refuse.

"I'm willing, I'm willing, when are we going!"

"Soon,"

Looking at her daughter lovingly, Lisa replied softly.

"Soon? Mom, will it be tomorrow? ”…,

Looking at her mother with anticipation, Nasha even longed to go to China tomorrow and Nanjing tomorrow.

"Grand Duchess!"

Almost as soon as Lady Lisa's car stopped in the courtyard of the embassy, Liu Jingren, the ambassador to Russia, personally opened the door for her.

"Ambassador Liu!"

Nodding, Lisa calmly accepted the fact that Liu Jingren opened the door for herself, in fact, she had also objected, but her opposition never seemed to be meaningless, her opposition could not change Liu Jingren's determination, he always wanted to show respect for her through his own actions.

In fact, for Liu Jingren, when he served as the ambassador to the United Kingdom, he had great respect for the Grand Duchess, in his opinion, the Grand Duchess had given China and given him too much help in the past many years, and this alone was enough to win his respect, not the so-called aristocracy, in fact, Liu Jingren did not value the so-called aristocratic status, although to some extent, he also hoped to obtain the title of lifelong nobleman.

As in the past, after the two met, the issues they discussed were still predetermined issues, but those issues were often discussed in gossip, and according to the arrangement of the Russian Imperial Foreign Ministry, Lisa only needed to show due attention, just as every time she came to the embassy in the name of "teaching her daughter Chinese".

After more than ten minutes of conversation, Liu Jingren said.

"Ma'am."

He took a deep breath and spoke in a powerful voice.

"Your Majesty wants me to tell you personally!"

When mentioning this matter, Liu Jingren even took a few special glances at the lady in front of him, because His Majesty's request in the telegram was clear, and it was necessary to make Lady Lisa understand that his attitude was extremely sincere, and his tone was also earnest, and this kind of exhortation was extremely rare as far as he knew.

From this, he also felt for the first time that the status of the lady in front of him in the sparsely populated royal family was by no means comparable to that of a foreign minister.

"He and the queen hope you can come home and have a look at the right time......"

Your Majesty wants me to tell you personally!

When she heard this, Lisa was stunned, was he inviting herself back? She tried to imagine how difficult it must have been for him to make such a decision when the news came through the embassy.

“…… Your Majesty also wants me to convey to you that the furnishings of the Linglong Pavilion have not changed over the years......"

That's enough!

No need to go on!

"Ambassador Liu,"

When she heard that Linglong Pavilion was also a small courtyard in the palace where she once lived, and the furnishings in it had not changed, Lisa knew that there was no need for Liu Jingren to say any more.

"Please tell Your Majesty, and I will go back and have a look at the right time!"

"Your Majesty hopes that if possible, he hopes to have a reunion year this year!"

Looking at each other again, Liu Jingren sighed secretly in his heart, it is not easy for the lady not to return to her "home" for ten years.

"Hmmm......"

After thinking about it for a while, Lisa nodded and said.

"Okay!"

Thinking about her, she smiled again:

"I haven't given them New Year's money for a long time, and Your Majesty hasn't given Nasha New Year's money, Ambassador Liu, please tell Your Majesty that before the Spring Festival this year, I will definitely go to Nanjing!"

Thinking that she was mentioning the New Year's money now, Lisa laughed softly.

And her smile made Liu Jingren's whole heart confused, and then he finally understood why the Grand Duke Mikhail was infatuated with her only by virtue of the side of the ball, the lady was indeed the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and even the queen couldn't get along with her, no wonder, no wonder the queen would try her best to promote her marriage with Grand Duke Mikhail, otherwise that would ......

When he realized that he had such a disrespectful idea, Liu Jingren almost didn't want to give himself a mouthful, this kind of thing allowed him to speculate there, especially that kind of disrespectful idea.

"Yes, please rest assured, the people of the realm will tell Your Majesty the truth......"

In the next ten minutes, Liu Jingren didn't even dare to look up at the lady in front of him, for fear that he would not pay attention and think about those things that should not be thought about, and some things, the subordinates couldn't even guess!

But because of this, he didn't notice that the smile on Lisa's face was very different from before, that smile was from the heart, and even the look of anticipation was revealed in the charming eyes like sapphires. Finally, after Lisa left Liu Jingren's office, he breathed a sigh of relief, and even wiped the sweat on his forehead involuntarily.

wqe