The Imperial Age with the Resurgence of Han Style

Chapter 145 Da Qin’s Mission to Russia ()

As Vitaly Savelyev, Minister of the Privy Council of Russia, said, the Daqin delegation headed by Cui Zuyao, the deputy minister of the cabinet and a scholar of Wuyingdian, has been stranded in Russia for half a year, and has also stayed in St. Petersburg. For almost more than three months, because the Russian government's appallingly inefficient administrative capabilities, or that they devote more energy to dealing with more pressing military crises, they have not yet received a formal diplomatic reply from the Tsar and the Privy Council. As for Cui Zuyao, he had to negotiate frequently with the Russians, requesting to see His Majesty the Tsar again to finalize the alliance between the two countries.

You Rakshasa barbarians can't keep letting our envoy from the Heavenly Kingdom hang around like this without giving a formal reply!

How rude!

vulgar!

rude!

brutal!

Yes, as a cabinet minister from a large Eastern country and a Confucian scholar with noble qualities, Cui Zuyao had ten thousand reasons to despise this vast but crude and barbaric Western country.

Because our Daqin State is at war with the Junggar Khanate that occupies the western desert and Central Asia, Cui Zuyao and his delegation to Russia went all the way north from Kobdo on the Mongolian grassland, entered Russia, and then arrived in Yenisei, Russia. Ust-Abakanskoye Fortress on the riverside (today's Abakan City, the capital of the Republic of Khakassia, Russia), and then escorted by a team of Cossack cavalry sent by the Russian side, they arrived at the location of the Tomsk Military District.

After spending a long and harsh winter in Tomsk, the flowers bloomed in spring and the ice and snow melted. Under the support of the Russian relay, the Daqin delegation traveled to Omsk, the Urals (today's Yekaterinburg), Perm, and Kazan. From there, they followed the Volga River all the way down to Novgorod, and were finally escorted by the Imperial Guard to Moscow. We stayed here to rest for half a month, and finally came to St. Petersburg. The entire journey was more than 20,000 miles and took a full year and four months.

While I was shocked by the vastness of Russia’s territory, I also had a secret contempt for the remote, backward and barbaric social and cultural geography I saw along the way.

Needless to say, those Russian serfs with low status, lack of food and clothing were no different from beggars. Even noble officials and landlords and farmers in various places often showed vulgar and rude images of barbarism. . Their greedy and devouring eyes, slovenly clothes, messy hair and beards that made them look like savages, as well as their habit of drinking and drinking, and the banquet reception without any etiquette, all made the Daqin envoy from a country with natural treasures and prosperous culture... The members frowned secretly.

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

If the Mongols are wiped out and there is no strategic buffer, will they have to face an opponent that is more powerful and more difficult than the Junggar Khanate?

The events between Song, Jin and Song and Mongolia that the Han Dynasty encountered hundreds of years ago were only a few hundred years ago. Was it too hasty to join forces with Russia to attack Mongolia?

The war between the Qin Dynasty and the Junggar Khanate has lasted for more than 40 years. The two sides continued to fight in Mobei, Moxi and the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains. Although Junggar was severely damaged several times during this period, they could never be completely defeated.

The Mongols had been dormant for several years, and after a period of recuperation, they were like an invincible strongman, wrapped in sheepskin coats, riding horses, and carrying knives, and once again stirred up trouble in Mobei.

The situation in the Western Regions is still good. The Qin Dynasty has gradually taken the strategic initiative and successively built Gaochang (today's Turpan), Luntai (today's Urumqi), Ningbian (today's Changji), Yanbo (today's Wusu), Jinghe (today's Xinjiang) Jinghe County) and several other cities firmly controlled the northern foothills of the Tianshan Mountains with rich water, grass and fertile land. At the same time, they also divided the Yarkand (today's southern Xinjiang region) and Kazakhs of the Junggar Khanate into two parts. And relying on strong cities and fortifications, they continued to consume and erode Junggar's strength.

But in the Mobei and Moxi areas, Great Qin and Junggar formed a tug-of-war. Both sides fought with cavalry, constantly circling in the vast grasslands and Gobi. Despite the disaster, no one could do anything to the other, which made it impossible for Da Qin to find an opportunity to annihilate the main force of Junggar and thus completely resolve the Northern Troubles.

It's not like Da Qin never thought of imitating the model of the Western Regions and building several fortresses in Mobei and Moxi to control and compress the Mongolian activity space. However, the vast Gobi grassland has a flat terrain, and the Mongols travel freely and horizontally. There are no fixed oases and marching supply routes like the Western Regions. Although several forts were built at a high cost, they were never able to lock the Mongols' actions. Instead, because The journey is long and wastes money and food. What's more, during the White Disaster, there was a tragic incident in which the garrison and immigrants in Hecheng (fort village) were wiped out due to poor supplies.

Some officials in the DPRK were also criticized for this, saying that it would be better to abandon the Mobei and Moxi areas, abandon those bitter and cold places to the Junggar Khanate, and maintain the limited military strength of our Great Qin in Monan to reduce the financial burden. huge stress.

During the pre-Ming Dynasty, Emperor Yongle's seven expeditions to Mobei were still unable to completely eliminate the border troubles in the north. Our Qin Dynasty has already done a good job. At least it captured Uzang, the northern part of the Western Region and Monan, and after decades of immigration to the border areas, it has Actually controlled these border areas that even the Song and Ming dynasties had not touched.

That's almost it. It's time for the court to focus its main energy on developing people's livelihood, instead of just wasting the country's power by simply using up troops to redeem them.

However, Emperor Qianyuan sneered at this and was extremely determined to destroy the Junggar Khanate. He claimed that throughout thousands of years of history, if he did not take advantage of the pioneering and brave spirit that existed only in the founding period of the dynasty to solve the northern border troubles in one go, what would happen to future generations? The descendants are indolent and greedy for enjoyment, so that the Mongols can be integrated into a powerful country and recreate the power of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. How can they not be a serious problem for the Central Plains dynasty?

The founding emperor of the former Song Dynasty still had something to say: How could he allow others to snore and sleep on the side of his bed? However, our country, the Qin Dynasty, was more powerful, had better armor, and more powerful guns. How could we be inferior to the ancients hundreds of years ago and allowed the Mongols to unite in the north? grow?

Furthermore, the northern expedition to Mobei was not completely unprofitable. Did you not see that more than ten years ago, the wool spinning industry was introduced from Qi State, and wool was stripped from Monan and Mobei and exported to Denglai and Susong. Land, huge profits, covering part of the military expenses. If the Dzungars could be completely wiped out and the Mongolian troubles eradicated, wouldn't it be possible to control all the grassland areas in the north? There would be no shortage of cattle, sheep, and pack horses in the country, and wool could continuously flow into the woolen spinning factories, which would lead to a large-scale agricultural production and thus prosper the local economy.

Emperor Qianyuan had been in power for more than forty years and had accumulated great power. Although the officials had some complaints in their hearts, they did not dare to talk about a cessation of the war.

This emperor clearly wanted to establish the great cause of the Tang Dynasty and leave his name as a great emperor in the history books!

However, it is not a matter of always consuming our troops of Great Qin in Mobei and Moxi, but never being able to completely defeat Junggar. More than 20 years ago, someone proposed a series of proposals to contact the Rakshasa Kingdom in the west, move east to west with the Qin Dynasty, and squeeze the turning space of the Junggar Khanate. The memorial was once again put on the agenda of the Wuying Palace in the Forbidden City in Nanjing. On the case.

It may be that the Qin Kingdom alone cannot completely defeat the grassland regime of Junggar. If this is the case, then contact the Rakshasa Kingdom in the west and the two sides will agree to attack Junggar together to avoid future troubles.

Therefore, Cui Zuyao, the second assistant to the cabinet and a scholar of Wuyingdian, was ordered by Emperor Qianyuan. In August of the 1724nd year of Qianyuan (), he set out from Nanjing and traveled all the way. It took more than a year to arrive at Wanli—— Oh, it should be St. Petersburg, the capital of the Rakshasa Kingdom, miles away.

Upon hearing the arrival of the envoys from the great Eastern countries, the officials of the Rakshasa Kingdom were very enthusiastic at first. Tsarina Catherine I, powerful minister Menshikov, as well as ministers of the Privy Council and palace nobles all rushed to receive the envoys first and held several meetings for the envoys. A grand welcome banquet.

While in Russia, especially during the several months they stayed in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Cui Zuyao and other delegation members gradually gained a certain preliminary understanding of this large Western country through the accompanying translators.

In his opinion, this Rakshasa country is no different from barbarian countries such as the Junggar Khanate, equally poor, vulgar, barbaric, and even a little absurd.

I heard that decades ago, there were two czars co-ruling this country. One of the czars, named Ivan V, was mentally retarded. Well, he was just a fool. His feet were swollen, he was struggling to walk, and his speech was unclear. low IQ.

This is simply the most ridiculous thing in the world!

There are no two days in the sky and no two masters among the people. How can we have two emperors?

Well, after all, this weird behavior happened more than thirty years ago, so it’s okay not to mention it. But their current tsar is actually a woman!

Moreover, this female tsarina is the wife of the previous tsar, so she is clearly the Rakshasa version of Empress Wu coming to court!

What is this thing called?

Si Chen?

Bring trouble to Chao Gang?

Stop it! In this barbarian country, our foreign envoys are not allowed to comment on the ethics of the court. Carrying the sacred mandate, we have gone through untold hardships to arrive at the capital of the Rakshasa Kingdom, and we have to talk to them about business and discuss how to form a military alliance to attack Junggar together.

The Rakshasa people were somewhat interested in jointly attacking the Mongolian forces in Dzunggar, and started active discussions and negotiations with the mission. Although the population of Junggar Mongolia is not large, the land is extremely vast, covering millions of square kilometers. If you include the nominal slave state of the Kazakh Khanate and other places, the territory is even larger, bordering many forces in Central Asia, West Asia, and North Asia. Not only do they directly compete with the Russian Empire on this land, they often break into Russian territory directly, attack villages and towns, rob people, and rob property, causing the Russians quite a headache.

Now the Qin State in the east proposes that both sides jointly attack the Junggar Khanate, which is actually playing into Russia's hands. It can be used as an opportunity to weaken this steppe empire. Therefore, the two sides quickly reached a consensus on this point and launched a heated discussion on how to coordinate the time and direction of sending troops.

The Russians hoped that the Qin State would take the initiative to launch an attack on Junggar. They used fortresses and fortifications, supplemented by a small number of musketeers, to block Junggar's northward or westward escape at the junction of the Junggar forces.

How to put it, you, the Qin State, are responsible for dispatching a large army to disperse the Junggars, and we Russians are responsible for intercepting and killing the fish that slip through the net, preventing them from having a chance to make a comeback.

Damn it, these Rakshasa people are really cunning, they want to take advantage, but they don't even think about using force!

Qin and Russia were at loggerheads over their respective obligations to send troops and the size of their troops. No one wanted to be taken advantage of and used as a wedding dress for others. The two countries even had a heated debate over how to divide their territory after the defeat of Junggar, both wanting to obtain the maximum benefits after the war.

While negotiating to attack the Dzungar Khanate, the Rakshasa people also proposed a mutual trade in the border areas between the two sides, hoping to obtain Qin's tea, porcelain, silk, jewelry, utensils, medicinal materials, and other more oriental specialty commodities.

When the Rakshasa people talked about reciprocity, they were obviously much more interested in discussing how to attack Junggar, and the eyes of all the negotiators and nobles also glowed with golden light.

In fact, as early as 1661 years ago (), Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (father of Peter I) sent a delegation of more than people to Beijing. He visited the then puppet Qing regime and proposed trade between the two countries.

However, at that time, Emperor Kangxi, who had just succeeded to the throne less than two years ago, had not yet taken charge of the government, and several auxiliary ministers such as Sony and Obai were also busy rectifying the chaotic government. At the same time, they had to deal with Sun Kewang's aggressive offensive in Nanming, which had a negative impact on Russia's trade. I didn’t pay much attention to the request.

During the exchange with the Russian envoys, the Qing auxiliary minister also proposed that Russia provide them with some craftsmen and managers who understand industrial manufacturing and development to help them develop and improve their industrial capabilities.

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

You know, at that time - well, including now, Russia was an extremely barbaric and backward region in Europe. Not to mention that Russia did not have many craftsmen and managers who knew how to manufacture and develop industry. Even if there were, It is estimated that their tsar would never send these "high-level talents" to the distant east in order to achieve Eastern trade to help the puppet Qing Dynasty establish and improve system industries.

Therefore, Le Izmayilov, the head of the Russian mission at the time, could only make concessions to the pseudo-Qing officials and agree in advance to facilitate the realization of Eastern trade.

However, with the rapid collapse of the puppet Qing regime in China, the trade between the Russians and the East also came to an abrupt end. At the same time, with the support of Qi, the Bohai Kingdom and the Dongdan Kingdom continued to move northward and westward, driving the Russians out of the Far East and Siberia bit by bit, which made the Russians' once-famous fur business in the European market also expand. It was disrupted and almost lost more than 80% of its supply.

It can be said that at this time, Russia had nothing but a huge territory. It was so poor that it was so poor that it headed towards the seaside, hoping to open a window to obtain foreign wealth. If Peter the Great had not initiated a period of fruitful reforms, how could Russia defeat Sweden and offend the Ottomans with all its poverty and despicable appearance?

People are poor and have short ambitions, their horses are thin and hairy, and they don’t have many steel coins in their pockets. Otherwise, Russia would not be willing to roll up its sleeves as their thugs. The Kingdom of England only provided financial support of less than half a million pounds. , picked up the knife and rushed into the Caucasus region.

As a result, he met the Qi State there who strongly supported the Persians. He was beaten violently and retreated to the northern foot of the Caucasus with a bruised nose and a swollen face.

To put it bluntly, I still don’t have the money to make trouble. It was clearly twice as many troops as the enemy, and they were still waiting for work. They were stationed for defense and even surrendered many local Orthodox believers. It seemed that they had taken advantage of the right time, place, and people. However, under the opponent's superior firepower, they used half firearms and half The Russian army armed with cold weapons was simply unable to withstand it. It could be said that it was on the verge of collapse. It was a completely unequal battle.

In the past, the Russians relied on their superiority in firearms to bully the natives of Siberia and pinch the Kalmyks in the Volga River Basin, just to expel the Crimean Tatars who came to fight the autumn wind. That was completely fine and was a form of dimensionality reduction. blow.

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

To expand the territory, to gain hegemony in the Baltic Sea, and to consolidate the rule of the empire, one must first make money, and a lot of money.

Looking at the Dutch, they continuously transported Qi and Oriental goods to Europe through the sea and made a lot of money. Even if they were not strong in force, they could not stand up to others' wealth. In all the previous European wars, as long as the Dutch opened their money bags, there would be German mercenaries working for them.

Now that the Qin State in the east has come to visit us, we should not take the opportunity to establish trade with them. Although the distance is a bit far by land and the freight volume is relatively small, fortunately, the two parties trade directly, and there is no middleman to make a difference in price, so profits are still guaranteed.

Therefore, in the eyes of the Russians, whether to attack Junggar or not is actually of secondary importance. The key is that your Qin State must trade with Russia!
-

(End of this chapter)