As the Russian Privy Council Minister Vitaly Savelyev said, the Daqin Mission, led by Cui Zuyao, the deputy assistant to the cabinet and a scholar of Wuyingdian University, has been stranded in Russia for as long as half a year, and has also stayed in St. Petersburg for almost three months, because of the Russian government's outrageous administrative inefficiency, or they have devoted more energy to dealing with more urgent military crises, and have not yet received a formal diplomatic reply from the Tsar and the Privy Council, so that Cui Zuyao has to negotiate with the Russians frequently. Request for another audience with His Majesty the Tsar to finalize the alliance between the two countries.

You Rakshasa barbarians, you can't keep hanging the envoy of my Heavenly Empire like this, without officially replying to it!

It's so rude!

Vulgar!

Rude!

Barbarous!

That's right, as a cabinet assistant from a large Eastern country, a Confucian scholar with noble qualities, Cui Zuyao had 10,000 reasons to despise this vast but crude and barbaric Western power.

Because my Great Qin was at war with the Dzungar Khanate entrenched in Moxi and Central Asia, Cui Zuyao and his delegation to Russia traveled all the way north from the Mongolian steppe Kobdo, entered Russia, and then arrived at the Russian fortress of Ust-Abakanskoye on the Yenisei River (now Abakan, the capital of the Republic of Khakassia, Russia), and then came to the location of the Tomsk Governor's Military District under the escort of a group of Cossack cavalry sent by the Russian side.

After spending a long and harsh winter in Tomsk, after the spring flowers bloomed and the ice and snow melted, the Daqin mission, under the relay support of the Russians, went through Omsk, the Urals (now Yekaterinburg), Perm, Kazan, and then along the Volga River, all the way down the river, to Novgorod, and finally escorted by the Imperial Guards to Moscow. After a half-month rest, he finally came to St. Petersburg, a journey of more than 20,000 miles and a full year and four months.

In addition to being shocked by the vastness of Russia's territory, he also secretly felt contempt for the desolate, backward and barbaric social and human geography he saw along the way.

Those Russian serfs with low status, lack of food, and poor clothing are no different from beggars calling flowers, and even the aristocratic officials, landlords, and farmers in various places often display a vulgar and barbaric image without manners. Greedy and devouring eyes, unkempt clothes, messy hair and beards that look like savages, as well as their habit of being greedy for wine and cups, and the banquet entertainment without any etiquette, all made the members of the Great Qin Mission from the land of wealth and culture frown secretly.

Can this barbaric and rude Western country really form a military alliance with our Great Qin and jointly kill the Dzungar Khanate?

If the Mongols were slaughtered and there was no strategic buffer, would they have to face this opponent who was more powerful and difficult than the Dzungar Khanate?

The old events of the Song and Jin Dynasty and the Song and Mongolia encountered by the Han Dynasty hundreds of years ago are only a few hundred years ago.

The war between the Great Qin and the Dzungar Khanate has been going on for more than 40 years, and the two sides have been fighting and fighting in Mobei, Moxi and the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains.

The Mongols were dormant for several years, and after a period of recuperation, they were like Xiaoqiang who could not be killed, wrapped in sheepskin jackets, riding horses, and carrying knives, once again stirring up side affairs and stirring Mobei.

The situation in the Western Regions was still good, and the Great Qin had gradually gained the strategic initiative, successively building several cities such as Gaochang (now Turpan), Luntai (now Urumqi), Ningbian (now Changji), Yanbo (now Wusu), and Jinghe (now Jinghe County, Xinjiang), firmly controlling the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains with abundant water and grass and fertile land, and at the same time dividing the Yarkand (now southern Xinjiang region) and Kazakhstan of the Dzungar Khanate into two parts, and constantly depleting and encroaching on the strength of Dzungaria by virtue of fortified cities.

But in the Mobei and Moxi regions, Daqin and Dzungaria formed a tug-of-war, both sides fought with cavalry, in the vast grassland and the Gobi kept going around in circles, you fight over, I attack the past, in addition to the countless Mongolian tribes suffered, no one can help the other party, so that Daqin can never find the opportunity to annihilate the main force of Dzungaria, so as to completely solve the northern trouble.

Great Qin did not think of imitating the model of the Western Regions and building several fortresses in Mobei and Moxi to control and compress the space for the Mongols' activities. However, the vast Gobi steppe, the terrain is flat, the Mongols go back and forth, there is no fixed oasis and marching supply route like the Western Regions, although a few fortresses have been built at a high cost, but they have never been able to lock the Mongols' movements, but because of the long distance, they waste money and food in vain. What's more, when encountering the White Plague, because of the poor supply, there were also tragic incidents of garrisons and immigrants being wiped out in the city (fortress).

Some officials in the DPRK and China were also criticized for this, claiming that it would be better to abandon the Mobei and Moxi regions, abandon those bitter cold lands to the Dzungar Khanate, and maintain the limited military strength of our Great Qin in Monan, so as to alleviate the huge financial pressure.

In the pre-Ming Dynasty, the Yongle Emperor conquered Mobei seven times, and could not completely clear the northern border troubles, our Great Qin has done a good job, and finally seized Wusizang, the northern part of the Western Regions and Monan, and after decades of immigration to the real border, has actually controlled these border lands that even the Song and Ming dynasties have not touched.

It's almost over, the main energy of the imperial court should be put on developing the people's livelihood, and don't blindly redeem the army and waste the national strength in vain.

However, Emperor Qianyuan scoffed at this, and the idea of destroying the Dzungar Khanate was extremely firm, claiming that throughout thousands of years of history, if he did not take advantage of the pioneering and brave spirit that only had during the founding period of the dynasty, he would solve the northern border troubles in one go, in case the descendants of later generations were fond of leisure and hard work, greedy for enjoyment, so that the Mongols could be integrated into a powerful country and recreate the momentum of the Mongol Yuan, how could it not be a big trouble for the Central Plains Dynasty!

The founding emperor of the former Song Dynasty still said that the side of the couch would not allow others to snore, but my Great Qin is more powerful, the armor is sharper, and the guns are more fierce, how can it be inferior to the ancients hundreds of years ago, allowing the Mongols to unify and grow in the north?

More than ten years ago, the wool spinning industry was introduced from Qi State, and the wool was stripped from the south and north of the desert, and it was exported to the land of Denglai and Susong, making a huge profit, which has covered part of the military expenses. If the Dzungar region could be completely wiped out and the Mongolian plague could be eradicated, wouldn't it be possible to control all the steppes in the north, where there would be no shortage of cattle, sheep, and horses, and wool would also flow into the woolen mills in a steady stream, so as to prosper the local economy.

Emperor Qianyuan has been in power for more than 40 years, and his prestige is very long, although the ministers have whispers in their hearts, they dare not speak of a truce and stop the war.

This emperor clearly wants to establish the great cause of the Tang Dynasty, and leaves the name of the emperor in the history books!

However, it is not a matter to always consume my Great Qin troops in Mobei and Moxi, but they have never been able to completely defeat Dzungaria. More than 20 years ago, someone put forward a series of proposals to contact the Rakshasa Kingdom in the west, advance east and west with our Great Qin, and squeeze the rotating space of the Dzungar Khanate together, and then put it back on the imperial case of the Wuying Hall in the Forbidden City of Nanjing.

It may be that thinking that the Great Qin alone cannot completely deal with the grassland regime of Dzungaria, since this is the case, then contact the Rakshasa country in the west, and the two sides will meet to fight Dzungaria together to prevent future troubles.

Therefore, Cui Zuyao, the deputy assistant of the cabinet and a scholar of Wuyingdian University, was ordered by Emperor Qianyuan to set out from Nanjing in August of the 42nd year of the Qianyuan Dynasty (1724), and traveled all the way, which took more than a year, and came to St. Petersburg, the capital of the Rakshasa Kingdom 20,000 miles away.

Hearing the arrival of the envoys of the eastern powers, the ministers of the Rakshasa Kingdom were also very enthusiastic at first, and the female Tsarine Catherine I, the powerful minister Menshikov, as well as the ministers of the Privy Council and the nobles of the court all rushed to receive them, and held several grand welcome banquets for the delegation.

During their stay in Russia, especially during their months in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Cui Zuyao and other members of the delegation gradually gained a certain initial understanding of this Western power through the accompanying interpreters.

In his opinion, this Rakshasa country is no different from barbarian countries such as the Dzungar Khanate, the same poverty, vulgarity, barbarism, and even some absurdity.

I heard that a few decades ago, there were two tsars in this country, and one of them, the tsar with the title of Ivan V, was still mentally retarded, well, just a fool, with swollen feet, difficult to walk, and slurred speech, low intelligence.

This is simply a ridiculous joke!

There are no two days in the sky, and there are no two lords in the people, how can this make two emperors?

Well, after all, this strange behavior is an old thing more than thirty years ago, so don't mention it.

But their Tsar today is a woman!

And this female tsar is also the wife of the previous tsar, this is clearly the Rakshasa version of the martial queen of the dynasty!

What is this called?

A woman takes control?

Troubled Dynasty?

Let's go! This barbarian country, the matter of ethics of the court, and it is not up to us foreign envoys to comment on it. We waited for us to arrive at the capital of the Rakshasa Kingdom after carrying the holy order and going through a lot of hardships, but we still had to talk to them about business and discuss how to form a military alliance to attack Dzungaria together.

The Rakshasas were somewhat interested in jointly fighting the Dzungar Mongol forces, and engaged in active discussions and consultations with the mission. Although the population of Dzungaria Mongolia is small, the land area is extremely vast, almost millions of square kilometers. If you include the nominal vassal state of the Kazakh Khanate, the territory is even larger, bordering many powers in Central, West and North Asia. Not only did they compete directly with the Russian Empire in this land, but in many cases they broke directly into Russian territory, raiding villages and towns, plundering people, and looting property, which gave the Russians quite a headache.

Now the Qin State in the east proposes that the two sides jointly attack the Dzungar Khanate, which is actually in the hands of Russia, and it is better to take this opportunity to weaken this steppe empire. Therefore, the two sides quickly reached a consensus on this point, and heated discussions began on how to coordinate the timing and direction of each other's troops.

The Russians hoped that the Qin state would take the initiative to attack Dzungaria, and they would use fortresses and fortifications, supplemented by a small number of musketeers, to block the Dzungar northward or westward escape roads at the junction with the Dzungar forces.

How to put it, it is your Qin State that is responsible for dispatching a large army to disperse Dzungaria, and we Russians are responsible for intercepting and killing the fish that slipped through the net in the back, so that they do not have a chance to make a comeback.

Nima's, these Rakshasas are really cunning, they want to take advantage of them, and they don't want to make a big effort!

Qin and Russia had a dispute over their respective obligations to send troops and the size of their troops, and neither of them wanted to be the head of the injustice and make wedding clothes for others. The two countries even engaged in fierce arguments over how to divide their territories after the defeat of Dzungaria, both wanting to obtain the greatest benefits after the war.

While negotiating an attack on the Dzungar Khanate, the Rakshasas also demanded that a mutual market be launched in the border areas between the two sides, in order to obtain Qin tea, porcelain, silk, jewelry, medicinal herbs, and other oriental goods.

When the Rakshasas talked about the reciprocal matter, they were obviously much more interested in discussing how to attack the Dzungars, and the eyes of all the negotiators and nobles also glowed with gold.

In fact, as early as more than 60 years ago (1661), the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (the father of Peter I) sent a delegation of more than 40 people to Beijing to visit the then puppet Qing regime and put forward a demand for trade between the two countries.

However, at that time, Emperor Kangxi, who had just succeeded to the throne for less than two years, had not yet taken the throne in person, and several auxiliary ministers such as Sony and Ao Bai were also busy rectifying the chaotic government and dealing with the aggressive offensive of Nanming Sun, so they did not pay much attention to Russia's trade requirements.

In the course of communicating with the Russian envoys, the Auxiliary Minister of the Qing Dynasty also proposed that Russia provide them with some craftsmen and managers who knew how to make industrial manufacturing and development, so as to help them develop and improve their industrial capacity in the pseudo-Qing Dynasty.

Faced with this request, the Russians were immediately confused and at the same time stumped.

You know, at that time - well, including now, Russia is an extremely wild and backward region in the whole of Europe, not to mention that they Russia does not have too many craftsmen and managers who understand industrial manufacturing and development, even if there is, it is estimated that their tsar will never send these "high-level talents" to the far east in order to achieve oriental trade, to help the puppet Qing establish and upgrade the system of industry.

As a result, the head of the Russian mission at that time, Le Izmaylov, could only make false promises to the puppet Qing officials, and promised to come down in advance to promote the realization of trade in the East.

However, with the rapid collapse of the puppet Qing regime on the Shenzhou mainland, trade between the Russians and the East also came to an abrupt end. At the same time, the Bohai and Dongdan kingdoms, with the support of the Qi state, continued to advance north and west, and drove the Russians out of the Far East and Siberia little by little, so that the fur business that the Russians had once enjoyed in the European market was almost wiped out, and almost lost more than eighty percent of the supply.

It can be said that at this time, Russia had nothing but a huge territory, and it was so poor that it was really clanging, so it would sharpen its head and arch to the seaside, hoping to open a window to obtain foreign wealth. If it weren't for the eloquent Peter the Great, who started a period of fruitful reforms, how could he beat Sweden and provoke the Ottomans with Russia's despicable appearance?

Otherwise, Russia would not have been willing to roll up its sleeves and use knives to rush into the Caucasus for their thugs, with less than half a million pounds of financial support.

As a result, he met the Qi State there, which strongly supported the Persians, and was beaten violently, and his nose and face were swollen and retracted back to the northern foot of the Caucasus.

To put it bluntly, there is still no money to make trouble. Obviously, it is twice the enemy's strength, and it is still waiting for work, garrison defense, and even more accepting many local Orthodox believers, looking at the time, place, and people, but under the attack of the opponent's superior firepower, the Russian army, armed with half firearms and half cold weapons, is simply difficult to parry, it can be said that it will collapse at the touch of a button, and it is a completely unequal battle.

In the past, the Russians relied on their advantage in firearms to bully the natives of Siberia, pinch the Kalmyks in the Volga River valley, that is, to expel the Crimean Tatars who came to fight the autumn wind, which is completely fine, and it is a dimensionality reduction strike.

However, when encountering the Qi people with more advanced technology and sharper firearms, the Russians' little force is obviously not enough.

Say a thousand, say ten thousand, in order to expand the territory, in order to obtain the hegemony of the Baltic Sea, and even more so to consolidate the rule of the empire, then you have to make money first, and you have to make a lot of money.

Look at the Dutch people, through the sea, the Qi country and the Oriental goods are continuously transported to Europe, making a lot of money, even if his own force is not strong, but he can't stand the wealth of others. In the wars of Europe, as long as the Dutch opened their money bags, there were German mercenaries who worked for them.

Now, the Qin State in the East took the initiative to come to the door, so he didn't take the opportunity to deal with trade and trade with them. Although the distance is a little far from the land, and the freight volume is relatively small, the good thing is that the two sides are in direct trade, and there are no middlemen to make the difference, and the profit is still guaranteed.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Russians, whether or not to fight Dzungaria is actually secondary, and the key is that you Qin must trade with us Russia!

——

(End of chapter)