St. Petersburg, located in the Neva River Delta at the eastern end of the Baltic Gulf of Finland, is Russia's "window" to Europe. The city is made up of more than 40 islands, with more than 700 bridges connecting the islands. With a population of 2.13 million, St. Petersburg, including Kotlin Island, is the political, economic, and cultural center of Tsarist Russia. St. Petersburg is known as the "Venice of the North".

However, despite the pleasant scenery of St. Petersburg, Wang Chenhao is not interested in appreciating it at all, and the current Russian invasion of China has left him with no time for anything else.

St. Petersburg is mostly baroque architecture, and the royal street is flanked by the most magnificent and prosperous buildings in St. Petersburg, with tall and large buildings. However, there is a tall British building at 16 Street, which stands out from the surrounding Baroque buildings, where the British Legation in Russia is located.

Wang Chenhao, accompanied by Xu Jingcheng, arrived at the gate of the British Legation by carriage. The British security guard at the gate had already been notified and immediately led Wang Chenhao and Xu Jingcheng to see Sa Daoyi.

In the hall on the second floor of the British Legation, the British Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia, Sa Daoyi, met with Wang Chenhao and Xu Jingcheng.

As British Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia, he can deter the Russians and affect his political career in the future. At present, Britain is in a weak position in the Anglo-Russian struggle for hegemony in the Far East, and the Qing Empire has become the only British power in the Far East that can be used to confront Russia. Therefore, Sa Daoyi attaches great importance to communication with the Qing Empire, and Wang Chenhao is a heavyweight in the new rise of the Qing Empire, so Sa Daoyi attaches more importance to this meeting with Wang Chenhao.

Britain needed the Qing Empire to resist Russia, and in turn the Qing Empire also needed to use the power of Britain to counter Russia, and the two sides had common interests in resisting Russia, so the atmosphere of the talks between Wang Chenhao and Sa Daoyi was extremely harmonious, and the two sides soon reached a consensus on jointly dealing with Russia. However, Sa Daoyi seems to have reservations.

"Lord Wang, please forgive me for taking the liberty of not knowing if what you said can represent the attitude of your country's political axe?"

"Your Excellency, as the highest-ranking official of the Qing Empire in Europe, I have been authorized by the political axe to act as the sole agent of this matter, and the agreement or oral promise I signed has the force of law, so please do not worry about this."

At this time, the Qing government axe was bent on seeking the intervention and mediation of the foreign powers, and among the foreign officials, only Wang Chenhao had the highest official position, and Wang Chenhao was proficient in foreign affairs, so Guangxu had already ordered Wang Chenhao to be the plenipotentiary negotiator of the Qing Empire, responsible for negotiating with Russia in St. Petersburg, and granted him the privilege of mediating with other powers when necessary.

After Sa Daoyi received Wang Chenhao's positive confirmation, he said with a straight face: "Since Lord Wang has full power, then I will officially respond to your request on behalf of the British Empire." The British Empire would not sit idly by and watch Russia expand in the Far East, and could help in any way it could, if necessary. ”

Wang Chenhao asked, "Does what your Excellency said include sending combat troops?" ”

Sa Daoyi shook his head and smiled, "I can't give you this guarantee. At present, Germany, France and Russia are united, and the British Empire cannot give Germany and France an excuse to intervene with troops, and you must not want France and Germany to be involved, right? They have also been watching your country for a long time. If the British Empire intervened, France and Germany would inevitably intervene as well. ”

Wang Chenhao frowned and thought for a while, and said: "I think the Russians don't have the military capability to fully invade China now!" ”

"It's just a matter of time!" "We have learned that the Russian War Department has sent a large number of troops from Central Asia and Novosibirsk, which are closest to your country, to the Far East, and if I am not mistaken, the Russians' promise to negotiate is only a pretense. ”

Wang Chenhao also guessed that the Russians would be tired of playing tricks, but Sa Daoyi said this to mean that he was sincere in cooperation.

"Since it is impossible for your country's political axe to send troops to intervene, I don't know what help your country's political axe can give us?"

"Help as much as you can!" Sa Daoyi replied with a harmless face, and added: "I think the British Empire's high-level will have their reasonable arrangements!" ”

Wang Chenhao rolled his eyes, knowing that Sa Daoyi would fight with him. Speaking from the bottom of his heart, Wang Chenhao does not think that Britain will make great efforts to help, after all, the current international situation is extremely unfavorable to Britain, unless Britain abandons the glorious isolation policy they have been pursuing.

From Sa Daoyi's mouth, he learned that the Russian army has transferred troops from Central Asia and is expected to arrive in Northeast Asia to fight within half a year, and the Russian army will definitely take the next military action at that time. However, it is unlikely that the Russian army will be able to draw too many troops from Central Asia, where Russia will have to face military expansion from both the British and the Ottoman Turkish Empire. Wang Chenhao made a comprehensive judgment that with the current strength of the Russian army, they can only occupy the three northeastern provinces, and a full-scale war can only be fought after the Siberian Railway is completed.

What can you do with six months? After Wang Chenhao left the British Legation, he quickly calculated in his heart.

On the way, Xu Jingcheng asked, "My lord, what do the British mean?" What is reasonable arrangement? ”

Wang Chenhao snorted coldly and replied: "Obviously, the British are not resolute. The occupation of Heilongjiang Province by Russian troops was not in the interests of Britain in the Far East, but it did not allow a head-on conflict between Britain and Russia. The British will consider their own comprehensive interests every step they take, and at the moment our army is not conducive to the Russian army, and the British are not optimistic about us, so they dare not make affirmative commitments. ”

Xu Jingcheng said: "The Russian army easily occupied Heilongjiang, but what it encountered was only the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion under the Heilongjiang general, and the combat power was not even as good as the Huai Army and the Lian Army. My lord, the Beiyang Army you trained has not yet participated in the war, how can the British not be optimistic about us now? ”

Wang Chenhao smiled bitterly and said: "It is precisely because the British know that we still have the Beiyang Army, so they still have illusions about us, otherwise the British will definitely join the ranks of the great powers that carve up us." In the same way, the Russians were also worried about the Beiyang Army, so they negotiated with us after occupying Heilongjiang. If there is no Beiyang Army, it is estimated that the Russian army has already killed Yanjing City at this time. ”

Xu Jingcheng felt that what Wang Chenhao said was more reasonable, so he sighed: "Now that France and Germany are facing Russia, if the British do not give us strong support, I am afraid that the negotiations on the side of the Prime Minister's Yamen will not have any results." ”

Wang Chenhao said: "That's expected. It's better to rely on yourself than to ask for help, in this case we have to fight a war with the Russians, if we can't curb the pace of the Russian invasion militarily, no matter how much we negotiate, it will be in vain. ”

Xu Jingcheng asked, "Then the adult has a way?" ”

Wang Chenhao smiled bitterly and said, "There is a way, but I am afraid that the court will not allow it!" ”