The Beijing talks were suspended after the third round of talks, and Iranovichi had to wait for the decision in St. Petersburg before he could give a definite answer to the question of the negotiations - the appetite of the Chinese was too great.

In Siberia, they were to be demarcated by the middle line of the West Siberian Plain, with the eastern part of the country completely belonging to China, and the west of the country still belonging to Russia. This alone is something that St. Petersburg cannot promise. In Siberia, Russia's interests must ensure the integrity of the West Siberian Plain, that is, it is tolerable to use the Yenisei River as a border, and not further west. But the Chinese not only continued to believe, but also ate half of the West Siberian Plain in one bite.

At the same time, on the Central Asian issue, the Chinese demanded that the 70° east longitude line be used as the dividing line, which can be said to have split Central Asia in half. And this is still the appeal of the Chinese after shrinking their mouths, before a mouth had to take the Aral Sea as the dividing line.

Finally, in terms of war reparations, the Chinese demanded reparations of 500 million gold rubles, which made St. Petersburg too frightened. What is the concept of 500 million gold rubles? Four gold rubles can be exchanged for three internationally circulated silver oceans, which are worth 300 Chinese yuan in China, and 500 million gold rubles is by no means something that Russia can afford.

If St. Petersburg had promised all the conditions of China, Alexander III would have been able to learn from his grandfather.

So the negotiations in Beijing have come to a standstill for the time being, and St. Petersburg needs time for urgent consultations. The Chinese side does not care about the attitude of the Russians. The Kalmyk cavalry is still raging in the Volga River valley, what is Liu Xian afraid of!?

In addition, as the situation of the war has completely stabilized, the news has gradually opened up. Especially the prisoner of war camps. After the liberalization of press control for domestic and foreign journalists, reporters dispatched by foreign-funded newspapers were also allowed to enter the battlefields and prisoner of war camps to observe and cover news. This one was left aside to watch the play before is very different.

As a result, reports on the Sino-Russian war increasingly appeared on the pages of major newspapers at home and abroad. Among them are Russian newspapers. At the same time, it brought more pressure on Russia while bringing carnival to all walks of life in China.

Foreign newspapers and periodicals paid more attention to the state of the prisoner of war camps. Thousands of officers were pulled out to form half a company of generals [including brigadier generals]. These are no longer the 'unique secrets' of "Huaxia Daily" and "Ta Kung Pao".

Of course, along with this, foreign journalists were allowed to enter Tsaritsyn, Saratov and other places. It's just that many journalists want to go from Central Asia to the Volga and Ural valleys as soon as possible, but it takes time. The Kalmyk cavalry is hurrying up, and the Russian army on the west side of the battlefield is also hurrying to reinforce, which will take time.

Liu Xian waited for five days, and a large number of Russian reinforcements could already be seen on the virtual map, so he ordered the fourth division and ordered Shi Donglai to completely take Astrakhan. At the same time, make a big whole army to attack the Volga again!

He didn't believe that St. Petersburg wasn't nervous. For every day of this delay, the Volga region was ravaged and trampled by the Kalmyk cavalry. Could Alexander III not feel distressed?

And the fact is that St. Petersburg returned the news on the third day after Liu Xian made a posture of revitalizing the army and fighting again. On the same day, Ilamovich informed the Chinese Foreign Ministry of the request for the fourth bilateral talks to open tomorrow.

Russia showed its sincerity in the peace talks, and Liu Xian's troops continued to build, but the Kalmyk cavalry retreated. In these days, Wehrmacht sappers repaired the wires connecting the Ural and Volga rivers, and the telegraph was able to work again. Therefore, the bilateral contact was swift, and his instructions could reach the ears of the Kalmyk cavalry in less than a few hours, and Liu Xian also released his goodwill.

It's just that Russia can't win China's demands in its entirety.

They insisted on the Yenisei River as the dividing line in Siberia. In Central Asia, Semipalatinsk is the point, the Sayan Mountains are the demarcation line, and the land east of Semipalatinsk and south of the Sayan Mountains belongs to China. Perhaps many people don't know where the location of the Sayan Mountains is. But as long as you know that the Sayan Mountains are the northern boundary of the Tangnu-Uliang Sea, you will understand the location of this land. This is because the Russians are worried that China will not accept the division of Siberia, after all, almost all of the southern essence of the Western Siberian Plain has been conquered by the Wehrmacht, and now it is divided by the Yenisei River. The essence of the western part of Siberia has all returned to Russia. There is a high probability that China will not agree.

At the same time in Central Asia, a straight line was drawn between Semipalatinsk and Tashkent. The east is all Chinese. In the end, there is a compensation of 100 million gold rubles. As for 500 million, that's something that doesn't need to be talked about.

After Liu Xian got the minutes of the negotiations sent by Beijing, he felt that this should be the bottom line of St. Petersburg. But he didn't agree. In Central Asia. It is possible to draw a straight line between Semipalatinsk and Tashkent, but that can only be placed in Kazakhstan, and in the southern part of Central Asia, the area south of the Kizilkum Desert needs to be handed over to China.

After all, Tsarist Russia has been developing southward in Central Asia, and its biggest purpose is to gain access to the sea in the Indian Ocean, which is to threaten Britain's India. But with the current defeat, Britain has become one of the financiers of Russia, and the British hold Russia's creditor's rights in their hands, and if they knock lightly, Russia will tie their hands and feet. Unless they have to pay their debts, then the country's credibility will be ruined. At the same time, it is like being completely isolated! Russia still wants to rise again, and it wants to continue to mix in the world, and they can't do such a thing. Naturally, the area south of the Kizilkum desert is not important to him.

What Russia needs now is to hide in the shadows and lick its own bleeding wounds, not to continue to keep its eyes on India, Iran, and the Near East, to which the British are very sensitive. This piece of land is already of a very secondary value to Russia, and Liu Xian wants to take it!

At the same time in Siberia, the demands of the Russians to use the Yenisei River as a demarcation line are absolutely unacceptable. At least the southeastern part of the West Siberian Plain China needs to be taken. Otherwise, China would not be able to garrison troops on the Central Siberian Plateau, and there would be no way to talk about defense.

The amount of compensation was reduced to 250 million gold rubles. This is not mandatory, there is something to talk about. Anyway, in Liu Xian's eyes, land is far more important than compensation. The current China is not Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War in the original time and space, and the military expenditure of 20 billion Chinese yuan can be exchanged for so many achievements, which is enough to comfort the Chinese people.

St. Petersburg, Hermitage.

Quite unusually, His Majesty Alexander III walked out of the suburban palace and stayed here. If there had been no war, this would have been a good conversation point in the noble salons, balls, taverns below, and the mouths of ordinary people. His Majesty the Great Tsar was known as the "Hermit of Gatchina".

But no one knew that His Majesty the Tsar of Russia was now holding a very small vial in his hand.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived."

The voice of the attendant was heard outside the door, and Alexander III put the vial in a drawer.

His eldest son, the crown prince of the Russian Empire, Nikolai . Aleksandrovich. Romanov strode into the room in a military uniform.

22-year-old Nikolai. Aleksandrovich. Romanov was a very handsome young man, although his hair was closer to black, not in keeping with the Germanic blood flowing from the Tsarist family, and his gray-blue eyes were only haughty, but Alexander III was very fond of this eldest son, the future last emperor of Tsarist Russia, Nicholas II.

Nikolai. Aleksandrovich. Romanov did not have a wealth of reason and sagacity, but he attached great importance to his family. Alexander III was able to clearly understand this in his communication with his eldest son, and his beloved eldest son was always very obedient to listen to his teachings, demanding himself according to his wishes or correcting some 'shortcomings', which made the 'hermit' Tsar very warm.

Alexander III never thought that this was the reason for his son's soft ears. Liu Xian, who knows history, can say to Alexander III responsibly - your son is a more mediocre monarch than yourself. He believed that his kingship was "heaven-given" and that he was personally accountable to God. He did not like to have close contact with his subjects, and was more jealous of the great, capable, and assertive ministers, for he knew that their wisdom was superior to his own, and he was always afraid that the ministers would one day take away his power. Therefore, Nicholas II gradually abandoned the capable ministers who had served him in the first place. Some perfunctory but flattering people easily gain his trust. Such people who report certain false situations to him are often more likely to be praised by him than by official reports. At the end of Tsarist Russia, all kinds of swindlers and adventurers took advantage of Nicholas II's mediocrity and ignorance to mingle with the Tsar's court. It also gave birth to the 'magical man' of Rasputin!

"Nikolai, what do you think of the current situation?" Alexander III asked.

"Father, it's very bad that the interests of the empire, both in the West and in the East, are being challenged." Nikolai paused for a moment and added, "However, I think that when Russia's interests suffer a heavy setback, in order for us to contain the power of the Chinese, whether it is England or France, will no longer condone Austria-Hungary and other countries to make provocative actions in the Balkans." The danger to the empire still comes from the East. If there is a fourth war, and the empire is defeated again, Central Asia and Siberia will cease to exist. When the Chinese troops stop at the Urals, the whole of Russia will tremble......"

Nikolai said 'if' in his mouth about the Fourth Sino-Russian War, but his tone was unusually firm. That must be there. But even if he was full of resentment towards China in his heart, he didn't dare to say that the Russian needle would be able to win against China at that time.

So Nikolai was convinced that Britain and France, Germany and Austria, Turkey, and the whole of Europe would not come to Russia in the future. Because the whole of Europe needs Russia to point the spearhead at China, and Russia needs to lure China's spearhead to land.

"My father ...... and had a ...... for the terms of negotiation Decisive? (To be continued......)