In August 1873, Han Jinchun was promoted to the second rank of Jingzhong Gong and was awarded the title of deputy marshal of the Royal Military Commission. At the same time, the empire abolished the Governor Yamen of Vladivostok and set up the Mobei Special Development Zone, the first Governor Ma Bowen, the Prime Minister of immigration and development affairs, in addition to the port waters of the navy, the Mobei Military Region stationed three border divisions to assist the Mobei Governor Yamen to naturalize the aborigines and expand the living space of immigrants.

The Mobei Special Development Zone is a vast area from the Far East coast of Siberia to the western Verkhniya Mountains, which is now extremely sparsely populated.

Harwich was promoted to the rank of Loyal Commander, and was awarded the rank of Deputy Commander of the Royal Military Council, commanding the Western Front Army.

Sunaphon, the second class, was the acting commander of the Eastern Front Army.

In addition, such as Shenbao, Ma Qingshan, Liu Quxiang, Pei Tianqing and other bigwigs in the army have their own rewards.

Han Jinchun and Harwich entered the central sequence of the Military Commission, representing the gradual disappearance of the local prince-like commander-in-chief pattern in the process of refinement of the imperial [***] region.

followed Ye Zhaonan's expedition to the north for nearly 20 years, and was finally promoted to deputy commander in the army, and the status of Harwich and Han Jinchun in the army has also reached the peak, while Shenbao has not really led the army to win a decisive victory with the Rakshasas, and his status and influence in the army gradually fell behind the second marshal of Ha and Han.

Because of the division of the Mobei Special Region, the Eastern Siberian Province, the Central Siberian Province, the North China Province (around Lake Baikal) and other immigrant provinces, the imperial political personnel changed greatly, and there were many more governors, which naturally represented the promotion of a large number of officials.

Of course, in fact, most of the provinces in the Northern Regions are in vain, and most of the provincial directors are newly promoted officials, so everything has to be done slowly.

At the same time, the Outer Mongolian Ministries set up special administrative regions, and the Inner Mongolian Ministries set up Heihe Province, in fact, with the beginning of the Siberian Great Migration and the Central Plains people becoming more and more dominant in Siberia, Mongolia will become the center of the empire.

Ye Zhao traveled with Li Hongzhang when he went to Yekaterinburg.

Travel by car from Novosibirsk to Omsk, then by boat across the Irtysh River, to the temporary railway station on the other side of the river, where a special train to Yekaterinburg is waiting.

Ye Zhao and Li Hongzhang sat by the window, under the iron wheels of the train was Russian land, and on both sides of the railway, Chinese soldiers with loaded guns and ammunition could often be seen standing guard, which made people unconsciously feel strange.

In bridges, tunnels, and other railway sections that are vulnerable to resistance attacks, the [***] team has strengthened its guards.

In fact, with the upcoming Petersko Peace Conference, the Chinese and Russian republicans have declared a ceasefire, and most of the attacks on the Chinese are spontaneously organized rabble.

Ye Zhao's trip to Yekaterinburg naturally made many officials anxious and worried about the safety of the emperor, but Ye Zhaoxin said that the German emperor could swagger to Paris for the crown, so what did he have to do with entering Russia in a low-key manner?

Being able to go to Yekaterinburg to see the palace of the Russian Tsar, Ye Zhaozi will not let go of this opportunity, of course, the main reason is to maintain a smooth information channel with the mission, the imperial officials who have appeared on the world stage for the first time, in the face of these sophisticated opponents, Ye Zhaozi also has to make suggestions behind the scenes.

And waiting for an opportunity to announce that he is stationed in Yekaterinburg is not an extremely tough bargaining chip.

Of course, you can't go to Yekaterinburg without just guarding, on the train, there is an elite battalion of the Longxiang Infantry Brigade to guard it.

Moreover, Ye Zhao's confidential information stationed in Yekaterinburg had been conveyed to the officers at and above the regimental level at the front, and all departments had to step up their efforts to eliminate the resistance elements so that the bandits would not disturb the emperor.

In fact, in China, there is already news circulating that the emperor personally commanded the war against Russia, and when the opportunity arises, this news will surely be overwhelmingly reported in the empire.

Ye Zhao doesn't like the god-making movement, but in the current situation, deifying the emperor of the empire is also a shortcut to unite the hearts of the imperial people.

And speaking of which, there are not a few European emperors and kings who like to drive in person in this era, most of the commanders of the European legions are members of the royal family, and in the tenth Russo-Turkish war, Alexander II was with the entire court and commanded the Danube Army to fight. The French Emperor Napoleon was even more of a madman, who spent most of his life in the royal conquest, and King Frederick of Prussia? Wilhelm III and his court led an army against Napoleon, only to suffer a crushing defeat, and the couple were almost captured alive by Napoleon.

Napoleon III was also a master who liked to be conquest, but he was repeatedly attacked, and when he fought against Prussia, he finally became a turtle with a shrunken head in Paris, avoiding the fate of being captured, and France did not lose so badly, and the same defeated treaty was not so harsh.

For China, if Emperor Wen Taowulu had not commanded the most important war since the founding of the empire at the front line, I am afraid that the people would not believe it.

In fact, during the Napoleonic period, European monarchs liked to conquer in person, mostly because of the inconvenience of communication, and many of the countries were small, and they had the responsibility to defend the territory, with the huge territory of the current empire and the gradually maturing military system, there was no need for Ye Zhao to come to the front line to personally command the battle, but the current people's thinking, the emperor personally came to the front line to command and defeat foreign countries, for the morale of the army and national pride, will be the most powerful stimulant.

Therefore, in the Northern Regions, even if Ye Zhao is not a surname who likes to join in the fun, he will inevitably come and go.

"Your Majesty, it seems that this Russian train is not as stable as our subway." Li Hongzhang is the year of knowing the destiny of heaven, and his bearing is gradually graceful, as one of the big names in the imperial political arena, he is a popular candidate for the next first assistant in Ye Zhao's eye.

Ye Zhao nodded slightly, yes, the first underground railway track in the empire has been opened to traffic.

Li Hongzhang said: "The minister went to catch a fresh one and took the first trip." He smiled again: "The minister is also a vassal and elegant, I think if Your Majesty is in Beijing, I will definitely not have the share of showing off to you." ”

Ye Zhao smiled, "You, why don't you learn from me." However, if the officials of this dynasty are willing to experience innovation, it will also be a blessing for the country, but innovation and innovation will become blindly seeking innovation and retreating. ”

Li Hongzhang said: "Your Majesty taught. ”

Ye Zhao looked at him deeply and said, "Pay attention to safety." ”

Li Hongzhang nodded silently.

When the mission arrives in Yekaterinburg, it will be escorted by the guards to a small town in the west, where a special Russian republican train will meet the Chinese mission.

Speaking of which, in this era, the killing and seizure of the legations was not done in the previous dynasty, and the colonizers deceived and ensnared the leaders of the rebellion in the colonies.

But the so-called exchanges between the "civilized world", the national-level missions, Western countries still pay great attention to proportion, in the civilized world, only the former Qing Dynasty can do the dirty thing of arresting and killing foreign mission envoys, so the boss empire immediately became a barbarian country, however, because of Ye Zhao's butterfly wings, these possible tragedies have long been out of touch with the Chinese style.

If Li Hongzhang and the embassy encounter danger in Russia, not to mention the Chinese, it will be a great humiliation to the three great powers of Britain, Germany, and Austria who participated in the mediation.

At present, however, the Russian republicans have not yet been able to truly control the whole territory, and there are not a few local governors who are well-armed and do not sell Moscow's face, and they have the feeling of warlords to some extent, and it is difficult to guarantee the idea of some people with ulterior motives to attack the Chinese mission for various purposes.

What's more, the Russians are not so particular about the word faith.

Li Hongzhang and his entourage really have the possibility of encountering accidents, although this may be a very low surname.

…… After Yekaterinburg and Li Hongzhang broke up, Ye Zhao lived in the Ipachev villa on the outskirts of Yekaterinburg.

Villa Ipachev is a luxurious palace with rich Orthodox architecture, the whole villa is inlaid with white marble walls, beautifully carved, although the villa is tall and magnificent, but it is only one floor, there are dozens of houses, in addition to many basements.

The telegraph line was pulled in, and the villa was connected to the city headquarters by telephone, and within a few days, a high Chinese-style courtyard wall was erected around the villa, and the doorposts on both sides of the iron gate were hung with the sign "Yekaterinburg Security Council", in fact, the function of the city hall was temporarily carried out.

Before Ye Zhao came to Yekaterinburg, Yekaterinburg was under military control, and now it is barely half a civilian rule, and a group of old Russian bureaucrats and businessmen have been recruited, and the city hall has been built.

Jang Zhidong has been appointed mayor of Novosibirsk and a member of the Preparatory Committee of Shuanghe Province, so he has remained in the Southeast Plain.

The regular affairs of the Yekaterinburg City Hall were in charge of a secretary who was fluent in Russian in the Imperial Secretarial Office, and the secretary was called Zhang Peilun, who was just twenty-five years old, an official who had grown up under the influence of the new ideas of the real empire, shrewd and capable, Ye Zhao originally wanted to let him be the county and township magistrate, but now by chance, let him experience and experience.

Ye Zhao came to Yekaterinburg to investigate the state of the entire city.

Petersko, where is the bottom line of China's borders? Li Hongzhang and the embassy will definitely propose to use the Ural Mountains as the boundary first.

In fact, this is almost impossible, and it is unrealistic to use the border wherever the front line is pushed, especially since the Urals region is a gradually developing industrial zone of Russia, and the Russian republicans will never dare to sign such a peace treaty if the core interests of the country are ceded.

Moreover, the area between the eastern Urals and the Ob-Tobol is now extremely chaotic, and in the north, the members of the Free Communes overthrew the old political axe and formed a large and small commune alliance.

It was in Yekaterinburg that the members of the Free Commune were extremely active, and when the squadron entered the city, the members of the Free Commune organized citizens to welcome them, and because of the massacre of the members of the Petropavlovsk Free Commune by the Tsarist regime, the fighters of the Free Commune hated the aristocrats and the old bureaucracy of Tsarist Russia to the core, and carried out "liquidation" everywhere.

Most of the Yekaterinburg nobles fled to the western region of Ufa, where there were noble-controlled forces, and because of the armistice, the squadron did not advance further west.

How can such a chaotic region strive for China's best interests?

Sitting in the carriage going to the city, Ye Zhao silently closed his eyes and thought.

The carriage suddenly slowed down, and Zheng Aqiao's voice outside: "Master, there are chaotic people, and the slave will send someone to disperse them." ”

The sound of horses' hooves, from far to near, must be the sentry galloping in front of the guard to open the way, listening to the sentry dismounting, loudly announcing outside: "Your Majesty, there is a mob claiming to have captured the Russian empress and is about to execute her!" ”

Ye Zhao frowned slightly, are the barbaric Russians killing people indiscriminately everywhere on the grounds of liquidating the aristocracy? How to put the hat of the empress of Tsarist Russia on people.

"Check it out!" Ye Zhao got out of the carriage, and Zheng Aqiao hurriedly led a horse.

On the banks of the river outside Rich, fanatical Russians are waving their fists and shouting like beasts: "Kill her!" Kill her! Kill her! "The inner and outer three layers are surrounded by water.

Zheng Aqiao fired a warning shot, and the interpreter shouted loudly: "All stand up!" All stand up! ”

A noble woman in a red dress knelt in the yellow sand, her head pressed low, revealing a snow-white and delicate neck, and next to her stood a Russian who looked like an executioner, with broad shoulders and round waist, and a naked upper body, revealing the dark hair on her chest.

The rusty guillotine knife was bloody, and beside it, there was a corpse lying in a pool of blood, dressed as a maid, and its head was bloody.

The Russians in the inner circle were still shouting feverishly, waiting for the wonderful moment to see the guillotine slash into the snow-white neck of the aristocratic woman. There were also Russians who licked their lips, thinking that such a wonderful stunner could not be enjoyed and cut off their heads, which was a pity, but the executioner was extremely violent, and the whole family was killed by the Tsar's loyal troops in the massacre in Petropavlovsk, and when the empress was caught, he did not inform the members of the Commune Committee and did not inform the Chinese, so he was to be lynched, but no one dared to disobey.

Of course, most Russians certainly find it extremely exciting to watch a stunner beheaded, but to say that it is a shame to ravage this glamorous queen and think about her identity.

A "bang" gunshot, the Russian fierce man who was wielding a guillotine high was shot in the leg, staggered back, and fell to his knees.

The frenzied roars of the mob in the inner circle stopped abruptly, and when they looked back, they saw a circle of Chinese cavalry, and the muzzles of the black holes were aimed at them.

The interpreter shouted: "All crouch down!" Get down! Hold your head in your hands! ”

The fierce man suddenly howled, stood up with a guillotine, and then was shot in the chest, he was extremely fierce, but he still struggled forward, but he didn't take two steps, and fell straight into the yellow sand.

Seeing this, some of the Russians hurriedly crouched down, while several Russian men stood with their heads held high, staring fearlessly at the shining metal muzzles of the guns that threatened them.

The interpreter said loudly: "What the hell is going on, if there is no reasonable explanation, you will all face murder charges!" ”

Ye Zhao sighed in his heart, in the troubled times, what is justice and what is evil? said, "Let's take her to the car first." He was about to turn the horse around, but he saw the woman in the red dress looking up blankly, and Ye Zhao just looked at each other, and both of them were stunned.

Barbie's delicate and innocent face is none other than Catherine, but at the moment she is extremely embarrassed, the silk scarf and red dress wrapped in her hair are stained with sand and mud, her shoes are gone, and the snow-white lace socks are full of worn holes, as well as black mud.

Seeing Ye Zhao, Catherina's dull blue eyes suddenly became clear. After seeing the two attendants and maids selected for her by Mrs. Witt were killed by the mob, her mind became blank, just waiting for the last moment to come, who knew that after a long time, she seemed to still be conscious, and when she looked up blankly, she saw Ye Zhao.

At this time, Ye Zhao waved his hand, and one of the guards quickly dismounted and ran to help Ye Katerina.

"You can't take her!" The bearded Russian man tried to stop the guard, but then the butt of a gun was smashed on the back of the head, and he fell to his knees, his eyes were full of gold stars, and he couldn't stand up for a while.

Zheng Aqiao's face was translated, and he said word by word with a calm face: "Whoever dares to move again, don't be killed." ”

Looking at the cold gaze of the Chinese cavalry, the Russians knew that this was not a false threat, and the few Russians who originally wanted to stop the guards did not dare to move again.

Zheng Aqiao scolded in a low voice: "Damn the bullshit Free Commune, it's used to it!" ”

When the carriage came, Catherine did not dare to look at the mob, gently let go of the guards' support, bowed her head, and walked to the carriage, several Russians clenched their fists, breathing heavily, and their eyes were about to erupt with fire, most of them were members of the Free Commune whose relatives or friends had suffered in the Petropavlovsk massacre.

Ye Zhao got back into the carriage and ordered to go back to the palace, but Catherine sat with her head down and did not speak.

After a while, the sound of horses' hooves outside, Zheng Aqiao's voice: "Master, Miss Yeka's luggage has been found." ”

Ye Zhao snorted.

After a while, Ye Zhao asked, "Miss Catherina, did they recognize the wrong person......

Before Ye Zhao's words fell, Ye Katerina suddenly threw herself into Ye Zhao's arms, hugged Ye Zhao tightly, and cried loudly.

Ye Zhao was caught off guard, and frowned again and again, this is not a nephrite warm fragrance, Ye Katerina's skirt was stained with muddy water, and it smelled sour, it may have fallen into some stinky ditch, Ye Zhao hurriedly held his breath, and then felt that he was too unkind, but there were really no words to comfort her, except for a few kissing wives, he couldn't pull his face to coax people now.

Ye Katerina cried almost all the way until she fell asleep in Ye Zhao's arms, Ye Zhao was amnesty, hurriedly pushed her on the floor of the carriage, and went to the villa immediately anyway, and asked Mama Li to carry her.

Frowning and shaking the mud on his body, Ye Zhao suddenly felt that he was too bad? I don't know when the compassion seems to be getting less and less.

…… After dinner, after reading a book in the study of the palace for a while, Mama Li came to tell her, saying that Miss Ye Ka had woken up and had taken a shower and changed her clothes, Ye Zhao immediately got up and came to Ye Katerina's room, and now Ye Zhao has a lot of questions.

The bedrooms of Villa Ipachev are all in the style of the European court, with large beds with golden columns, large fireplaces with delicate carved patterns, bedroom furniture with gold carvings, drapery with a silky luster and a slight linen feeling, sheets, and flower pillows, which are full of aristocratic atmosphere.

Catherine changed into a court dress with pale green and pink flowers, and the thin ribbon pulled out small flowers on the chest of her snow-white neck, which looked extremely delicate, and it was obvious that she paid great attention to her appearance at all times.

Ye Zhao didn't pay much attention to how charming this innocent-faced Barbie doll was as a delicate woman, how exquisite her dress was, and she had an incomparably delicate sense of surname, he asked straightforwardly: "Are they telling the truth?" ”

Catherine's eyes flashed, stared at Ye Zhao, and asked, "If it's true, will you betray me?" ”

Ye Zhao couldn't say anything more, obviously, Catherine was tantamount to admitting her identity.

This sister of Mrs. Witte is none other than Empress Catherine? Mikhailovna? Dolgoruskaya.

When Alexander was stationed in Kurgan, Catherine met with friends in Petropavlovsk, not far from Kurgan, who wanted the front line to be unpredictable, when the Chinese achieved an overwhelming advantage on the Western Front, the Russian army retreated on a large scale, and Alexander II urgently telegraphed Catherine to retreat to Yekaterinburg to join him.

Catherine was not in a hurry, after all, the railway was sabotaged, how could the Chinese take ten days and a half to get to Petropavlovsk, and I heard that the Chinese had no intention of invading westward.

Who knew that on the same day that Catherine wanted to leave Petropavlovsk by train, the Free Commune movement broke out, because some people with ulterior motives participated, and the initial mild uprising quickly turned into killing and looting of nobles, Catherina's guards and maids were killed for covering her, and she had to flee to Omsk with the assistance of another nobleman, for whom the Chinese occupied areas were safer at that time.

Catherine and Mrs. Witte had known each other for a long time, and when she was interrogated by the Chinese in Omsk, she falsely claimed to be Mrs. Witt's sister, and was taken by Mrs. Witte to Novosibirsk.

She always wanted to return to her homeland, but Mrs. Witt, fearing that she would be discovered by the Chinese, persuaded her to stay. When she saw the newsprint that Alexander II had been assassinated and the Russian republicans were in power, Catherine did not believe it, could no longer endure this torment, and must return to Moscow to find out.

Madame Witte had no choice but to help her arrange, and sent a faithful maid and two former servants to follow, because the Chinese [***] team marched westward, and some of the fugitive members of the Free Commune also marched to the western cities in large numbers, so that Catherine, who had been hiding in the carriage and did not show her face, did not encounter any trouble.

Seeing that she had arrived in Yekaterinburg, from where she could find a way to leave the occupied area occupied by the Chinese by train, Catherine was relaxed for a while, and when she arrived in the suburban village, she got off the carriage and walked, and did not want to be recognized, once worked as a shoemaker in the court, but was driven out of the court after being flogged by Catherine because of her unclean hands and feet, and is now one of the members of the Committee of the Yekaterinburg Free Commune.

Two loyal retinues were the first to be killed, and she and her maid Lyubov were taken to the riverside, where they saw Lyubov die tragically under the guillotine, remembering that scene, Catherine's heart was like a knife, her blue eyes were soaked with tears, and she murmured: "Lyubov was killed, she was killed, she was killed to protect me......"

Lyubov? Ye Zhao realized that it was Mrs. Werther's maid who had taken care of her daily life, and she often ate her fragrant meals.

Slowly took out a cigarette, and Ye Zhao's heart suddenly became very blocked.

(To be continued)