Not long after the Chinese High Command had determined its strategy against Tsarist Russia, Queen Isabel's fleet arrived in Canton, and from the arrival of the Queen's fleet in Greater Aceh, it was accompanied by a Chinese armed fleet.

Li Hongzhang, Prime Minister and Vice Minister of the State Council, went to Guangzhou to accompany Queen Isabel to Tianjin, and the Imperial Empress personally greeted her in Tianjin, giving Queen Isabel a very high courtesy.

In the Beijing Yuewu Building, Ye Zhao and Queen Isabel inspected the Imperial Royal Guard, and in the next few days, Ye Zhao and several imperial concubines accompanied Queen Isabel to travel to Beijing and visit various royal gardens.

In the evening, after Ye Zhao and Isabel had dinner, they enjoyed the play in the small recital hall of Changyin Pavilion.

After watching the magnificent theatrical performances of the Changyin Pavilion Grand Theater, in this small hall, it is another flavor to enjoy the songs and martial arts that are close at hand.

In the last year, Ye Zhao had already abolished the opera troupe in the Forbidden Palace, and the original Forbidden Palace troupe became the Imperial Royal Troupe, which became a semi-official but self-financing art group, and its tours around the country also opened the eyes of the imperial people.

And this time the opera singing and dancing in the small recital hall invited many famous artists in the capital, when a martial artist turned over dozens of somersaults in a row, Bai Xiangyu, the "first flower of the empire", came out gracefully and sang the classic drama paragraph, she sang melodious and euphemistic, and it was beautiful.

It is an excellent pleasure to enjoy the performance of the servants at close range, but Bai Xiangyu may be too nervous, and she is not good at grasping the subtleties of several singing tones, and she is only three or five steps away from the emperor, this kind of pressure is not something that anyone can bear.

Queen Isabel naturally couldn't hear it, she kept applauding softly, and the oriental culture and art really opened her eyes.

If the neat infantry and cavalry phalanxes during the military parade made her feel the awe-inspiring majesty of this oriental country, the magnificence and nobility of the Oriental palace, the mysterious style of the royal family, and the subtlety of various operas made her deeply appreciate the elegance of the ancient country with a long history.

The oriental skyscrapers, electric lights, telephones, and locomotives and airships declare that this ancient civilization is gradually returning to the center of the world.

Now Queen Isabel is more eager to forge friendship with the Chinese, and although she has lost her privileges in Luzon and other places, the Chinese also allow the Spaniards to trade in Luzon, not to mention that the South American colonies are likely to prosper in trade with the Chinese and become the jewel in her crown.

In the words of the Chinese, this is the lost corner of the harvest.

Looking at this young and mysterious Oriental Emperor, Queen Isabel blinked her beautiful eyes and said, "Your Majesty, thank you very much for your kind reception to me in your busy schedule. ”

Although I heard that the Chinese were victorious, in the face of the powerful European military police, any country would walk on thin ice at war, and there were countless examples of Russians defeating and then winning.

Ye Zhao smiled and said, "It's my honor to be able to receive you. Ye Zhao has also taken time to learn foreign languages over the years, of course, it is more convenient to learn rather than considering the common surname, mainly learning Russian, Chinese and Central Asian languages, only German is he took the initiative to learn, and Spanish or French is not at all, so he needs to translate to communicate with Isabel.

At this time, a guard hurriedly entered and whispered a few words in Ye Zhao's ear.

Seeing this, Queen Isabel said, "Your Majesty, you can handle your affairs. ”

Ye Zhao smiled and waved his hand and said, "It's okay." "I touched the teacup, but I couldn't see anything.

Just after the urgent telegram from the front, in Petropavlovsk, the citizens launched an uprising, overthrew the Petropavlovsk municipal axe, proclaimed the "abolition of state oppression", and established the Petropavlovsk Free Commune Federation, the citizens elected eleven representatives of the Free Commune, and Mr. Bakunin, the originator of anarchic axeism who was close to Ye Zhao, was elected as the chief representative of the Free Commune.

This was not in Ye Zhao's plan, and Bakunin lost contact with Ye Zhao after returning to Russia.

Because of its butterfly wings, the Paris Commune did not appear as scheduled, but instead appeared in the cities of Russia, and compared with the Paris Commune, the Petropavlovsk Free Commune was more anarchic.

Petropavlovsk was at the forefront of the Russian front, and in fact, the Russian [***] team had relinquished control of it and retreated west to the Kurgan and Tobol rivers.

The Chinese did not advance westward because of the supply line problem, which caused a power vacuum in Petropavlovsk, which was exploited by the apolitical axeists and launched an uprising in Petropavlovsk.

How should I deal with it? Ye Zhao slowly picked up the teacup.

…… A few days later, when Queen Isabel went to the Mulan hunting ground in high spirits, accompanied by Rong'er, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs received a note from Prussia, in which King Wilhelm I of Prussia offered to mediate the Sino-Russian war, along with a long letter from Bismarck to Ye Zhao.

Looking at Bismarck's compliments to himself in his long letter, Ye Zhao couldn't help but shake his head, perhaps the current Oriental people are easy to give people a sense of arrogance, and they like to listen to hypocritical praise of this national surname seems to have been recognized in Europe.

Ye Zhao understood the Germans' mind, and the Franco-Prussian War was a critical moment, but the Poles, who ruled the eastern frontier of Prussia, began to launch an armed struggle to demand reading, which was caused by the Sino-Russian War, which caused the Russian corps in the west to be transferred to the front line, and a series of crushing defeats by the Russians, which made the Poles think that this was a golden opportunity.

In the land of Poland, which was divided between Russia, Prussia and Austria-Hungary, the call for freedom of reading never ceased, after all, Poland was once one of the first great powers in Europe, and even a rival feared by the Russians, and its national consciousness had long been formed, which was completely different from that of other ruled peoples.

Because the Russians' control over Polish territory weakened, the Poles' freedom movement grew to the point of **, which soon turned into an armed uprising.

The Germans naturally did not want the whole of Greater Poland to read, and the Germans probably did not want Russia to decline completely, speaking of which, the Prussian royal family and the Russian Tsarist royal family had a very close blood relationship, of course, the whole European royal family also had a common kinship relationship, and many times, these blood relations would have an impact on the political situation, and sometimes, it could be ignored.

Prussia offered mediation, and the Reich Foreign Ministry reluctantly agreed after many consultations.

In fact, Ye Zhao couldn't ask for it, the strategy against the Russians is a long-term process, which requires both armed struggle and political influence at the same time, and now even if the whole country is devoted to attacking Moscow and St. Petersburg, it will only appear in front of the Russians in the face of an invading army.

What's more, even if it pays huge sacrifices, most of the people in China today will not be able to completely defeat Russia.

It would also be unrealistic to hope that the Ottoman Empire would share the pressure of the war, and once it turned into a situation in which China and Austria declared war on Russia at the same time, the situation would become complicated, and a war that would completely change the balance of power in Europe would also provoke European intervention.

The best way to weaken Russia is to do everything possible to create contradictions in its own country, to dismember and disintegrate Russia, and to deprive it of the opportunity to develop as a unified power for a long time.

After more than a year of war, Ye Zhao's strategic thinking about the Russians has been clear, and he also hopes to temporarily end the war with the Russians or end the first Sino-Russian war to digest the land gained, and at the same time connect the territory actually controlled by China and the domestic territory by rail as soon as possible.

However, the Russians, although facing domestic turmoil and Turkish military pressure, are afraid that it will be difficult for them to sign a ceasefire agreement now, right? If we talk about a peace agreement for land cession and reparations, it is even more impossible.

As Ye Zhao thought, the Russians, who believed that China had occupied a large part of the territory, said that they would not sign an armistice agreement with the Chinese, but under the mediation of Prussia, Chinese and Russian diplomats in Berlin still sat down at the negotiating table, and the Russian diplomats took a tough attitude and proposed that the basis for the peace talks between the two countries was China's unconditional withdrawal from Russian territory.

The Chinese are much clearer, as is the propaganda in cities such as Novosibirsk, and Chinese diplomats have repeatedly said that the Chinese are friends with the Russians and have come to help the Russians overthrow the tyrannical rule of the Tsar. At the same time, we also welcome the awakened Russian Free Federation to become a member of the Chinese family.

In fact, the Chinese had already begun to push for migration to the southeastern plains of Western Siberia in the spring, and in Central Siberia and Eastern Siberia, expeditions were also looking for habitable settlements while exploring the map.

In the Eastern Theater of Operations, Han Jinchun has occupied all the Russian ports and settlements on the eastern coast, and the empire has even declared ownership of Alaska, but no Chinese [***] team has yet entered this area.

However, the Canadian Free Confederation, with the support of the British, began to send expeditions into Alaska, after all, Russia negotiated with the Americans to sell Alaska to the United States, and also because after the defeat of the Crimean War, they were afraid that the British would take Alaska away, so Russia would become a bamboo basket and a basket of water.

The colony, which borders the Canadian Union, is now a barren land of little interest from the British, but some Canadian federal officials see it as the best time to annex Alaska and discourage American ambitions in the region.

The empire now has no time to pay attention to Alaska, and although there is no basis for negotiations in Berlin, in any case, the Russian Western Front has gradually achieved a de facto ceasefire, the Russians are temporarily unable to counterattack, and the Chinese are keen to begin to digest the land they have encroached upon.

…… After reaching a series of verbal agreements with Ye Zhao, Queen Isabel left Beijing in early October and returned to China.

After bidding farewell to Queen Isabel, Ye Zhao went to Guangdong to inspect the implementation of the new tax system such as personal income tax.

When he returned to Beijing, Ye Zhao walked along the road to Wuchang to look at the Yangtze River Bridge that had resumed work at the beginning of this year, and the officials and experts of the Bridge Construction Bureau, who had accumulated a lot of failed experience and had been criticized by the outside world, were all holding back their strength, and heard that all departments within it had set up responsible persons, set up military orders, and worked hard to successfully erect the Wuchang Bridge.

Similarly, Ye Zhao also went to the Yellow River and Huai River basins after the diversion to inspect the embankment project.

Water control has been a top priority in all dynasties, and Ye Zhaozi is no exception, and he can't control water effectively, so that when waterlogging is frequent, he uses a hundred years and a thousand years to fool the people.

Walking around in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, Ye Zhao can be regarded as a real micro-service private interview, it has always been not that the micro-service private interview seems child's play, but the unspoken rules of Chinese officialdom will make it a child's play, and the officials who really micro-serve private interviews will destroy this unspoken rule, regardless of the past or the future, this must be a misfit in Chinese officialdom culture.

Although a sound system does not require officials to pay private interviews, is it not a sound system? The ruler from above came down and walked around, and truly understood the suffering of the people only for good.

Ye Zhao's identity doesn't have to care about breaking any unspoken rules at all, not to mention that there are a few people who like to go to the place to take a look, although these people are all "aliens", but they can't help but make local officials more careful.

Patrolling all the way, there were no obvious signs of corruption and perversion of the law, chatting with local villagers, even if the local officials had a bad political reputation, they did not bully men and women notorious, and even the folk bullies were greatly reduced compared with before because of the existence of the township-level political axe.

It's just that Ye Zhao's mood can't help but be heavy, compared with the prosperous life in the big city, the living standards of the farmers have not been significantly improved, worse than they expected, and most of them barely have enough to eat, of course, maybe this is also because the place visited is located in the lower reaches of the Yellow River, most of the areas where the Yellow River was diverted and flooded in the early years, and the normal life order has not yet been formed, and the villagers who have relocated are already poor people. Some people from the family naturally left this flooded place early.

This night, seeing that there was a village in front of him, Ye Zhaozheng ordered to go and stay overnight, but he might as well go to the outpost A few guards walked on the path, but a robber who cut the path jumped out of the woods on the side, a tall strong man, with a beard, holding a spear in his hand, and said loudly as long as the property does not hurt people's lives.

Needless to say, the guards subdued him by dividing them by two, but this man was very hard-mouthed, and he refused to report his name and hometown, so the guards had to tie him up, and when he passed through the township, he was sent to justice.

Robbers are not uncommon in this era, even in New China, after the reform and opening up, there is no shortage of "road robbers" in remote areas of national highways.

Now it is even more so, although the bandits in the hinterland of the empire are rare, it is not so easy for the single gang or the ringing horses of three or five to disappear, it is not a matter of whether they can eat or not, there are strong men who are delicious and lazy like to get something for nothing, and if they only rob the past merchants and do not harm the locals, the villagers will rarely report to the officials, and the township-level security team will not say that they will turn a blind eye, they will be lazy, and they will not be able to pay attention to them at all.

However, the robber hit the right thing today, and when he saw the dozens of people and a carriage behind him, he regretted it even more when he thought about it.

Lan Lingwei, who followed Ye Zhao, pretended to be an armed merchant group, and also got a special pass that the armed merchant group needed to hold in the inland of the empire.

This is Wuding Mansion, and further north, it will enter Zhili, which can go straight to Tianjin, and Ye Zhao is on his way back to Beijing.

caught the robbers, Zheng Aqiao couldn't help but worry, in case the village in front of him was a robber's nest, poor and remote, it was difficult to say.

When Zheng Aqiao cautiously said that he was worried, Ye Zhao frowned and said: "Then you have to go and see, it will not be that the township chief of Wuding Mansion has become an ornament." ”

The village is not large, 100 households, the whole village is black and hollow, it is estimated that many families have slept, and there are so many houses with bright windows, apparently kerosene lamps or candles.

Ye Zhao nodded slightly, although this was due to the rapid expansion of the petroleum refinery and candle factory, compared to many big cities in the past, it was pitch black, no matter whether this light was only a few minutes or half an hour, it could be regarded as a great improvement.

The guards lit the strong kerosene lamp for the railway at the front far from Ye Zhao, and now there is a flashlight in the empire, but the flickering light is extremely unstable, so the English flashlight transliteration has the meaning of flashing light.

The movement of the light and the guards alarmed the people of the village, and about a quarter of an hour later, an old man who claimed to be the head of the village and several young men hurried over.

Zheng Aqiao greeted the old man, took out the documents of the merchant group to show the old man, and said that he hoped to rent a family to cook and allow the employer to rest, and the rest of the people waited for the residence to bother the village chief.

The old man was relieved to see Zheng Aqiao's documents, and at this time the villagers ran out of their homes to see the excitement, and suddenly heard a woman exclaiming: "Dog, is it you?" How did you get tied up by them? ”

A young woman in a coarse cloth shirt rushed to the kidnapping robbers, but was quickly stopped by the guards, Zheng Aqiao said with a calm face: "Is he your man?" Armed robbery is not a light crime, and it is clearly said that it will be sent to the official for investigation. ”

The young woman was stunned, her face turned pale immediately, and she said continuously: "No, he won't." ”

The village elder and the villagers looked at each other, and the old village chief took two steps up and said, "Is there some misunderstanding?" The dog went to the county seat two months ago to do work, how did he become a robber? ”

Zheng Aqiao said: "We still blame him for so many pairs of eyes? Look, that's the murder weapon he used to rob. As he spoke, he pointed to the spear in the hand of one of the guards.

Goodbye "dog" bowed his head in shame, without saying a word, obviously not wronged him, the old village chief shook his head again and again, and sighed: "The sect is unfortunate, the sect is unlucky!" ”

The young woman stayed for a while, and said urgently: "Then, then you go to my house, I, I don't charge money......"

Zheng Aqiao saw Ye Zhao nodding slightly, so he said to the young woman: "It's okay, we are not unkind people, the government must send it, you can also talk." ”

The young woman's house was at the east end of the village, with a few mud houses, low earthen walls, and a few willow trees outside.

The location was quite good, with a dozen guards left behind, and the rest drove the carriage to set up tents outside the village to rest.

On the stove in the courtyard, Misaki quickly lit a fire, and the guards wanted to help her, but she didn't need it.

The young woman was startled when she saw this, to say that Ye Zhao changed into inconspicuous clothes when he inspected the river embankment, and now that he has returned to Beijing, he has already worn a satin dress, and he is a rich person at first sight, not to mention Misaki, a small and cute jewel black uniform coat, thin over-the-knee black cotton socks, black leather shoes, in the eyes of country characters, exquisite and indescribable, I am afraid that I will feel blasphemous when I look at it more.

Such a delicate little girl in the city did the rough work of burning firewood, which naturally startled the young woman, and hurriedly said, "I'll come, I'll come." He smiled and said to Ye Zhao: "Sir, your daughter is really sensible. ”

Ye Zhao couldn't help but be a little embarrassed, in fact, Ye Zhao's face had not changed from his youth more than ten years ago, but over the years, the power that he had naturally developed made people unconsciously ignore the age of his face, and it was natural to think that this big man was not young.

Ye Zhao's embarrassment is not because the young woman thinks he is old, speaking of which, he is already more than twenty years older than Misaki, and he is completely qualified to be Misaki's father, but what he is embarrassed about is that just a few days ago, he also had a small face from his relatives, and even took away Misaki's first kiss, and now he is regarded as Misaki's father, and he can't help but be ashamed.

Misaki secretly stuck out her tongue and grinned.

The guards brought water and polished rice, and Misaki made porridge over the fire.

The young woman couldn't intervene, and her eyes fell on her husband, whose hands were tied and pressed against the corner.

Seeing Ye Zhao's eyes, Zheng Aqiao said: "Just now, you ask him why he became a robber." ”

As if she had been pardoned, the young woman rushed to her husband's side and asked him repeatedly, "Tell me, dog, what is the matter?" You say! ”

At first, the dog just shook his head, but later, he drooped his head and said: "I lost all my wages, I pondered, it's almost the New Year, and I don't have money to buy you new clothes,...... When I get in prison and meet the right one, you will marry, I don't blame you......"

The young woman began to wipe her tears, Ye Zhao shook her head slightly, gambling is a word, it is not a small harm to the poor, and it is imperative to gradually ban gambling in the empire.

The dog muttered again: "I couldn't lose in the first place, I won more than a dozen in a row, and I wanted to leave, but the casino dealer was out of thousands, and we couldn't afford to provoke it, who called the casino opened by the prefect." ”

The young woman turned her head, looked at Ye Zhao with tears in her eyes, and said, "Master, let him go, you also heard it, he was just confused for a while, and he didn't hurt anyone, Master, you just spare him this time, I'm here, I still have some money here......"

Ye Zhao didn't squeak, Zheng Aqiao said: "If you violate the royal law, you will definitely be sent to the official, I will help your man intercede, but robbery is a felony, and the case record must be kept, and the judge has the final say on how to sentence it, which can be regarded as a lesson." ”

The young woman sobbed and wiped her tears, and Misaki felt that she was very pitiful, and whispered: "Sister-in-law, I'll serve you a bowl of porridge in a while, it's delicious." She could only comfort her so much.

(To be continued)