On the southern outskirts of St. Petersburg, a quiet and beautiful Tsarskoye Village, if Peterschu is the embodiment of Peter the Great's will, then Tsarskoye mainly reflects the ideals and tastes of Catherine II. In 1717, on the estate "Sally", about 30 kilometers south of Petersburg, was built for the wife of Peter I, Empress Catherine? Ground was broken for the summer villa built by Alekseevna. To emphasise the significance of the new royal domain, it was soon known as Tsarskoye Village.

In the following two hundred years, Tsarskoye not only developed into the largest palace of the tsars, but in the garden opposite the Catherine Palace, a school was built, and Pushkin was one of the first students here. Tsarskoye eventually became associated with the name of Russia's greatest poet, Pushkin, as the cradle of his career, a land of spiritual names that bathed the poet and gave him an endless source of inspiration.

For 200 years, many Russian aristocrats have visited the country with the mood of a pilgrim. Tsarskoye is not even more famous because it is the splendid Ekkajelina Palace; Not only because of the extravagant "Amber Room", but because of the village of Pushi, but, as the Tsar's palace, there are indeed magnificent palace buildings here, and the grandeur and reverence of the generals.

As it was said in the high-ranking aristocratic circles of St. Petersburg that "after the ceremony on January 19, the Tsar did not dare to show his face in his capital, or even stay in St. Petersburg", and the great fatherly Tsars, with his family, hid in the Tsarskoye Village.

"Immediately remove Kurobatkin from office on the spot! Succeeded by the commander of the 1st Army, Linevich! ”

As Witt entered the operational map room of the Ekaterina Palace, he heard the thunderous roar of Tsar Nicholas II, and he had every reason to be angry, because the defeat in the Battle of Mukden had dealt a heavy blow to him and to Russia.

"Yes, Your Majesty! I absolutely agree with your decision! ”

As soon as he stepped into the battle map room, Witte immediately followed the Tsar's words.

"But Your Majesty, while holding Kurobatkin accountable, we must see that it was his excellent work that enabled the main forces of the Manchurian Army to withdraw to the Tieling line, and it was precisely thanks to this that the North Manchurian and Far East did not fall into the hands of Yue! What do you think? Sakharov! ”

After Vit vouched for Kurobatkin's words, he put the question on Sakharov? Victor? Viktorovich, who was the Tsar's attendant general, Minister of War of the Russian Empire, chairman of the Military Council and a member of the Special Committee of the Far Race, was one of the Tsar's cronies and was able to influence the Tsar's decisions.

"Your Majesty, as Duke Witte said, it was Kurobatkin's haste and decisiveness to jump out of the encirclement of the Yue army that prevented the collapse of the entire Far East war situation!"

The Tsar, who was susceptible to his influence, pondered for a moment and asked.

"Ledigar, what do you think should be done about this?"

Ledigger? Alexander? Fedorovich first straightened up, then glanced at Werther before replying.

"Your Majesty, I think that Admiral Kurobatkin should be dismissed on the spot, and the commander of the First Army, Linevich, should take over the post of commander-in-chief of the Manchurian Army and commander-in-chief of the army and navy in the Far East.

"Alright! So do it! ”

After the initial outrage, Nicholas II replied that Witte was not surprised by this result, just as the former commander-in-chief of the Manchurian Army, Alekseev, who had abandoned his troops in the face of defeat in the early days of the war and fled all the way back to St. Petersburg from South Manchuria.

"Your Majesty, I think that with the defeat of the Battle of Mukden, it is necessary for us to recall the Second Pacific Fleet to return home."

Prince Mikhail spoke immediately after the Tsar made this decision, and almost at the moment when his voice fell, Prince Konstantin also hurriedly continued.

"Yes, Your Majesty, there is no need to send the Second Fleet to the Far East to die!"

Konstantin's words not only did not work, but they were counterproductive, and it was Tsar Nicholas II who initially insisted on sending a fleet to the Far East, not to mention that he was not willing to give up the war. Now he still has hope of salvaging the tide of the war, and he is undoubtedly more "optimistic" than these ministers and princes.

"Now the only one who can save the situation is the Second Pacific Fleet led by Royu Destvensky, and immediately ordered him to speed up his voyage to the Far East and defeat his own fleet! As long as we seize sea supremacy, we can cut off the supply lines of the army stationed in Manchuria, and Russia will be able to win this war again."

Sensing the surprise on the faces of Prince Constantine and most of the generals in the battle map room, Cygura II hurriedly explained.

"At least until that time we win the initiative on the battlefield, and then we will make a truce and peace with the "decent" one. ”

Whether it was to appease these generals, princes and ministers, or sincerely, the tsar finally revealed a hint of wanting to make peace.

"At the same time, we need to order Linevich to assemble and rest in the Songliao Plain around Siping, where the terrain is not conducive to the roundabout attack of the Yue army, and this area is rich in resources, it is a famous granary in Manchuria, and there is the Songhua River by water, and the Eastern Railway by land, so the transportation is extremely convenient, I think at least for now we need to hold there! What do you think? ”

In the following meetings, Nicholas II, while seeking the advice of the generals, kept giving orders, while Witte was more often a bystander, and he had to talk to His Majesty alone about the matter, as Zhang Hao said, China needed to stage a drama with Russia!

After an hour, Nicholas II, who had finished the meeting, looked up at Werther, who had stood there without saying a word, quietly watching the Tsar express his opinion there.

"Werther, what's the matter?"

Nicholas II did not seem to realize until this moment that Werther had been waiting for him here.

"Your Majesty, the weather is nice today, I think we should go for a walk in the garden, what do you think?"

After giving a salute, Witte put forward his own suggestion to avoid those generals, and the people who know about this matter must be controlled to the minimum, and he must not be like when he signed the secret treaty between Russia and Qing with Li Hongzhang, and he has already made a fuss before he signed it, and the more people who know about it, the better the effect.

"yes, what a great weather today! It's time to breathe! ”

As he spoke, Nicholas II walked towards the outside of the battle map, and Werther followed him, and when the two reached the garden, when there was no one around, Werther spoke.

"Your Majesty, according to the report of the Viceroy of Finland, Finland has been in a state of instability in more than ten foreign cities, and the "Active Resistance Party", with the support of the spies of the Army, has been provided with large quantities of explosives, rifles and bullets for its uprising, and now the Finns are changing from a docile subordinate people who are grateful to His Majesty to Dade to a dangerous, disgruntled, and reader-seeking people! ”

Witte looked at His Majesty's expression as if there was no change, he knew that the change in Finland might be more caused by the stupid policies of the Majesty in front of him, but in front of His Majesty, he could only blame it on himself, not on His Majesty's own mistakes, which led to the change in Finland.

"Due to the instigation and support of the spies, coupled with the instigation of the rebels, the current domestic situation is becoming unstable, and now Russia can no longer concentrate all its manpower and material resources for war as in the past, and the speed of sending troops to the Far East is much less than before, and the country needs more troops to maintain it!"

Of course, Nicholas II understood what Witte said, otherwise he would not have taken refuge in the royal village, and even now he was most worried about the domestic reaction caused by the news of the defeat in the Battle of Mukden. What the consequences of the defeat in the Battle of Mukden meant, Nicholas II knew very well, the defeat in the Battle of Arthur caused him to flee to Tsarskoye Village, and for Russia, if there was no victory, then every month the war dragged on, Russia fell deeper into a situation of total bankruptcy, which Nicholas II knew very well.

Fortunately! Fortunately! In this war, the Russians had become accustomed to the defeat of the army, and Nicholas II comforted himself in his heart that even as a tsar, sometimes he had to learn to comfort his wounded heart with a self-deprecating view.

"Your Majesty, I heard that the losses of the Manchurian Army are extremely heavy!"

"Lost almost 30% of the army, 40% of the artillery, 50% of the rifles, and 70% of the ammunition ......"

Nicholas II's words completely stunned Werther, who imagined that he would suffer heavy losses, but he did not expect such heavy losses.

"Your Majesty, if the Yue army continues to advance, will General Linevich have the ability to stop the attack of the Yue army?"

Silence, Nicholas II did not answer him, but looked up at the clear sky and said.

"What a beautiful weather today! Werther, do you want to go hunting tomorrow? ”

The Tsar's answer made Werther stunned, he looked at the Tsar in surprise, it was hard to imagine that he could say such a thing at this time, hunting, could it be said that in the eyes of His Majesty, this is the only thing that matters now?

"Your Majesty!"

Witt reminded him heavily.

"Werther, sometimes we have to face the facts, but life has to go on!"

Nicholas II looked at Witte with a smile, he already had the answer in his heart, the current Linevich could not stop the attack of the Japanese army at all, perhaps, soon, he would lose the whole of Manchuria, and even the Far East, but what could be done?

"They want me to call Ro Destvensky back, but how could they have considered that now for Russia, perhaps, our only hope is Ro Destvensky, and only if his fleet wins this naval battle, we may have a chance to end this war with dignity!"

At this time, the face of His Majesty the Tsar, a rare trace of heaviness, he never wanted to get this throne, until now, even ten years later, he was not ready to be a tsar, but he still wanted to be a good tsar, but this was too difficult, he had tried, but the cruel reality gave him a hard blow.

When the cold wind blew, the hidden pain in his neck reminded him of the knife cut by the man named Tsuda, and the knife he was cut by the man himself when he visited the book when he was the crown prince, as the outside world thought, Russia had to fight with him. But what about the facts?

Long before the outbreak of the war, not only did he not prompt Russia to declare war on Yuben, as the outside world speculated, but tried to avoid the outbreak of this war for Russia, and even did not hesitate to choose appropriate compromises, including accepting Yuben's request to withdraw troops from Manchuria, as a tsar, he knew Russia and understood Russia's strength, so he was not willing to fight this war.

But in the end, the greedy said that he ruined everything, and they used a sneak attack to prevent Russia from fighting a war for which they were not prepared. Now for Russia, it can only continue to fight, and only by winning this war can Russia have the possibility of recovering its declining fortunes in one fell swoop and reviving its declining national fortunes.

"Witte, do you know that the German General Staff has already formulated a plan to unite with Austria-Hungary to send troops to assist me in suppressing the revolution in the event of civil strife in Russia."

Mention this, Nicholas II said with a sigh.

"But in decades, Russia has been the gendarme of Europe!"

In his memory, the former Russia would make the whole of Europe tremble, and even after the Crimean War, those countries would respect the battered Russia, which was the steamroller of Europe. But now? An Eastern country can already challenge Russia's authority and brutally smash Russia's last glimmer of dignity to pieces.

"Your Majesty!"

Faced with the heaviness of His Majesty's tone and the sadness between his words, Witt bowed deeply and said in a low tone.

"Russia is no longer the Russia of half a century ago!"

Pulling Witt to look at the Tsar, he spoke.

"Your Majesty, we still have one more chance, yesterday the minister held a meeting with the special envoy of His Majesty the Emperor of China, Mr. Zhang Hao, and he conveyed to me a message from the Emperor of China, if it had not been for the defeat of Mukden, perhaps I would have thought it was an arrogant fantasy, but, Your Majesty, how could this not be a better choice for the Russian Empire now?"

In Witt's view, in any case, he must get His Majesty to accept the Chinese's proposal this time, which is the best choice to save Russia's face, at least in Witt's view, so as to avoid Russia losing the last bit of possessions.

"Oh? That usurper Chinese? What good advice does he have? ”

Nicholas II did not have much affection for the Chinese who relied on the "revolution" to become emperor in China, and in fact he even feared that there were people in Russia who did the same, like him, who relied on the revolution to overthrow the Romanov dynasty, and when the Chinese Empire was established, Russian newspapers reported it in only a few sentences.

"Your Majesty, the current Manchurian army is no longer able to stop the footsteps of Dashanyan, maybe he will not only attack from South Manchuria to North Manchuria, but may even attack from Korea to the Far East, and we in the entire Far East simply do not have enough strength to stop their attack! If the Far East falls, maybe a revolution will break out in the whole of Russia as a result of defeat! ”

Witte said worriedly that Zhang Hao had said this to him yesterday, but he also learned from his own channels that long before the Battle of Mukden, he had envisioned winning a "Sedang-style encirclement and annihilation war" to create an opportunity to seize the Far East, and it was for this reason that before the Battle of Mukden began, Witt had tried to end the war.

But the Tsar had to persevere, not just for the sake of an "illusory victory", but for the last effort of Russia, and if Russia conceded defeat, the price was not something the Tsar was willing to bear, nor was it something that the Russian Empire could bear.

"At that point, maybe I can only pray for the help of the Three Emperors Alliance!"

There was a hint of mockery in Nicholas II's words, if Russia was really defeated, a revolution would be inevitable, and then he would have to rely on his cousins to send troops to help Russia suppress the revolution.

"But, Your Majesty, if you are willing to end this war with dignity, we still have a chance to accept the conditions of the Chinese and let them end this war!"

"They...... Chinese, we have entered their capital, are they capable of ending this war? ”

Nicholas II asked rhetorically, five years ago, he or himself commander-in-chief, ordered hundreds of thousands of troops to occupy the entire Manchuria in just a dozen days, and finally fought all the way to their capital, then how could this Chinese have the ability to help Russia.

"What's more, Werther, if I'm not mistaken, haven't the Chinese always been half allies of Yu? How could they have fallen to us! ”

"Your Majesty, there are no eternal friends between countries, only eternal interests, and it is the predicament we are currently facing that will make the Chinese choose to be friends with us!"

In answering His Majesty's question, Witte also had a saying in his heart: "What you get from the loser who faces defeat may get more from the winner than from the winner", which is the root of the Chinese's willingness to take risks.

"Your Majesty, at least until Roydestvensky defeats the Ryben Navy and General Lynevich reorganizes the army, the Chinese can give us a respite, and for the losers, we don't have to abide by any treaties that have been signed!"

There was a sly look in Witt's eyes, and in fact the reason why he did not come to the Tsars' Village to meet the Tsar in the first place yesterday was that he was thinking about the feasible surnames in the proposal made by Zhang Hao, which, from that point of view, would be beneficial to the Russians.

"Oh? Witte, tell me what kind of conditions His Majesty the Emperor offered! ”

(To be continued)