Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1735 A new chapter in Russia

On August 1676, 8, the Russians visited the London Iron Mansion again.The head and deputy heads of the team this time are still Mirovanov and Kobyakov, and the number of entourage is slightly more than last time, reaching 1 people. It is said that they plan to discuss with the English to further deepen the trade between the two countries. .

Cai Zhenguo paused slightly when he heard this, the current policy of Tsarist Russia has finally turned the corner.I still remember that when the British bourgeois revolution cut off the head of King Charles I 30 years ago, the tsar who learned the news angrily ordered the termination of trade with the "Kingslayer Kingdom" England.You know, at that time, the Moscow Company and Eastland Company, which presided over the trade with Russia, had a huge trade volume with Russia, far surpassing the Dutch, and they were the number one foreign trading country of Tsarist Russia. In this era, regicide is really a very serious crime, and it is not surprising that it is hostile to the European continent-and the trade interruption by the monarchy of Tsarist Russia has indeed caused serious losses to Britain and Russia.

Today, 30 years have passed, and the trade between Britain and Russia has resumed for more than ten years. Now Russia has sent a mission to further deepen trade relations, explaining the relationship between the powerful industrial power of the Kingdom of England and the rich Russian Empire. The grievances between the two countries have been completely eliminated, and the relationship between the two countries has officially embarked on the fast track of development.

This time, Mirovanov brought Ambassador Cai Zhenguo the latest opinion of Tsar Alexei - Tsar Alexei died of illness in the first half of this year, and the newly succeeded Tsar Feodor respected his opinion. Father's opinion - intend to quickly reach a peace agreement with the East Coast people, because they seem to be troubled now and need to concentrate on internal affairs and some affairs in Ukraine.

Cai Zhenguo is not very clear about the current internal situation in Russia. He only knows that the third monarch of the Romanov dynasty, Fyodor III, is a very young tsar.For this young monarch, European countries lack sufficient understanding (of course, many countries are too lazy to understand), Cai Zhenguo only got some vague information from the Principality of Courland, knowing that the status of the new tsar is not stable, Much of the power has been shared by the aristocratic group, but nothing else is known, because the East Bank has not yet reopened its embassy in Moscow.

But to be honest, he doesn't care much about these things. He only cares about whether the behemoth of the Russian Empire can agree with the interests of the East Coast, for example, the two sides can reach an agreement on the affairs of the Far East as soon as possible.

"Dear Ambassador Cai, His Majesty the Great Tsar has given clear opinions on the part of the agreement reached by the two parties last time (last year), the general idea is as follows: [-]. His Majesty the Tsar invested [-] rubles to purchase equipment and hire personnel from your country, The production of the Small Star Shipyard will be resumed, and the shares will still be divided into half; [-]. His Majesty the Tsar will invest [-] rubles to purchase equipment and hire personnel from your country to upgrade the technology of the Arkhangelsk Gun Repair Factory. [-]. The Arkhangelsk Commercial Station and the Moscow Commercial Station in your country will be returned immediately. In order to compensate for the loss of goods, the treasuries of the two places will jointly compensate your country for [-] rubles; [-]. Your Majesty Personally approved a piece of land next to the Maxim Cathedral for your country to build an embassy, ​​and all the expenses required will be borne by the palace; [-]. For the naturalized technicians, His Majesty has decided to give them an extra chance to choose, and they can independently Decide whether to be a native of the East Coast or a Russian. The above five points are His Majesty Alexei's opinions on the old property disputes between the two parties. We have reached an agreement last time, and His Majesty the Tsar added an additional amount of compensation on this basis. , I would like to ask whether your envoy can accept it. If it is acceptable, then we can first sign this understanding agreement and cooperation agreement, and follow up the follow-up work according to the agreement, how about it?" Mirovanov, Kobyakov The two sat solemnly opposite Cai Zhenguo, and spoke in neither high nor low voices.

Cai Zhenguo glanced at them, and then ordered two translators (graduated from Bingtuanbao) who are proficient in Russian to go forward to take the documents, and quickly translated the contents of the documents on the white paper beside them.The translation process was very long, and no one in the room spoke, only the sound of the pen being scratched on the paper. Sir William Temple, as the witness in the middle, felt that the atmosphere was a little dignified, so he interrupted: "Fei Tsar Odor is really young and promising, I heard he is only 15 years old, is he married?"

"Your Majesty is not yet married, but there is already a candidate for queen. Thank you Sir for your concern. Miss Miroslavsky's family is dignified and beautiful, and she is the most suitable candidate for queen." Mirovanov said without expression.

William Temple smiled slightly after hearing this, and said nothing more.As an aristocrat and merchant family with many ties in Russia, William Temple knows a lot of inside information about Russia today. For example, he knows that the newly enthroned Tsar Fyodor actually has little power. Controlled by the Miroslavsky family and the Naryshkin family, they do not deal with each other, the contradictions are deep, and a bloody power struggle has already begun.

According to the latest news received by the Temple family, when the old tsar died of illness at the beginning of this year and the new tsar had just ascended the throne, the frail and sickly tsar Fyodor—it was said that his body was so weak that it seemed that the royal robe could crush him, the old tsar also Several children (he had five sons and six daughters with the first empress, three died young, Fyodor was weak and sick, and Prince Ivan suffered from epilepsy; he had one son with the second empress Naryshkina, namely Peter)—uncle and regent Miroslavsky has launched a purge of political opponents, the old tsar’s chief minister Matveyev was exiled to Siberia, and Prince Peter’s uncle Naryshkin was driven out of Moscow. Even Empress Naryshkina and Peter himself were sent to the Preobrazhensky Royal Estate outside Moscow, and the food was really ugly.

Of course, as long as he knows this kind of thing, there is no need to tell the people on the east coast, unless he needs to get some benefits from the people on the east coast.He and Cai Zhenguo have no relatives or reasons, so why should he tell the other party this kind of inside information? You must know that nothing in this world is free.

For the time being, Cai Zhenguo didn't delve into the meaning of Russia's internal affairs, because that was the job after the resumption of the Russian business station and embassy. He was only the ambassador to England. If he hadn't been entrusted by his superiors to negotiate with the Russians, he would not bother to go Talk to these bearded Slavs.

The two translators worked together in a division of labor, and it took more than two hours to hand over the carefully checked and transcribed translation to Cai Zhenguo, sweating profusely.Cai Zhenguo picked it up and read it word by word, and from time to time, he also inquired with the Russian envoy through an interpreter. After a long time, he approved the content of the agreement, and then asked the interpreter to carefully copy the three manuscripts, and exchanged them for preservation after signing. Rovanov and witness William Temple each had a copy.

After completing this part of the work, William Temple suggested that everyone take a break, then have lunch together, and then proceed to other parts of the discussion in the afternoon. Cai Zhenguo and Mirovanov had no objections, and then ordered the embassy to prepare lunch for everyone.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the talks continued.Mirovanov submitted a new document to Cai Zhenguo, most of which was the issue of the border division between the two countries in the Far East discussed last time. This time the tsar himself added some details, so Cai Zhenguo asked two translators to write manuscript.

At this time, Mirovanov also talked about some other things, emphasizing the positive attitude of the Russian Empire towards reaching a peace agreement with the East Coast Republic of China. He only heard him say: "Tsar Alexei heard the news Afterwards, envoys were dispatched to the Far East as soon as possible to deliver an order, in which Fyodor Ushakov of Selengesk was told to live in harmony with the Tungus people who surrendered to the East Coast people, and not to do anything to make them resentful Tolbuzin of Nerchensk was ordered to dismantle some field facilities near the city of Albazin as soon as possible, all wooden houses were to be burned, and all guns, ammunition, food and medicine, and military personnel were evacuated to the Nerchensk Fortress .”

"In addition, by the grace of God and the blessings of His Majesty the Tsar, we also sent troops to repel the Mongols who came to plunder the Buryat and Daur-inhabited areas of the land that will belong to your country. The brave Cossacks fought against them It took a long time to completely defeat this group of barbarians, and this is what we are obliged to do, so as not to cause misunderstandings with your country and delay the time for peace talks." Mirovanov added: " After the borders are demarcated in the future, if the two sides have no objections, they can also form a joint force to wipe out those greedy Mongolian horse bandits and ensure the safety and smooth flow of trade on their respective lands."

Cai Zhenguo nodded frequently after hearing this, and thought in his heart that if what Mirovanov said is true, then the Russians have indeed done enough in this matter, and they are full of sincerity.It seems that the work done last year and earlier has paid off. Now the Russians also realize that it is really meaningless to compete with the people on the east coast in the cold and uninhabited Far East. Sending troops from Moscow to Albazin has to go a long way. In a few years, if there were not many colonial towns and tsarist people in the area, the Romanov dynasty might not be interested in continuing to keep that piece of land. Although those Tungus people can provide a large amount of high-quality fur every year, earlier In [-] (when trade with Britain and the Netherlands did not develop), it even accounted for one-third of Russia's foreign trade revenue.

The current Russian Empire should have decided to shift the focus of expansion to the old land of the Principality of Lithuania and the South Russian Plain.In these two directions, they can get access to the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea respectively, but they don't know how to choose.It stands to reason that Poland is now in decline, and there is also a great hatred with Russia in history. It is the best target to use troops. However, the Cossacks on the Ukrainian steppe are really tossing. Doroshenko and Samoilovich Fighting and fighting, they all want to use the power of their respective bosses to unify the entire Ukraine, so that the situation is getting worse and worse, and there is a threat of a full-scale war-in the spring of this year (1676), Samoilovich Duke Romodanovsky, the commander of the Russian army, led an army of [-] to exchange fire with Doroshenko. Ottoman Turkey and the Crimean Khanate were shocked by this, and they began to dispatch troops one after another. An unprecedented scale A war could break out at any time.

Malati and Gao Wengang had already reported this situation to Li Qing, and Li Qing then copied a copy to Cai Zhenguo to let him understand the current situation.To be honest, Cai Zhenguo is also a bit troubled by this situation, because the people on the east coast are most willing to see the Russians going west. If they go south, they will inevitably conflict with Turkey and the Crimean Tatars. This will not only affect The trade on the Dnieper River and the Don River that people on the east bank have painstakingly managed will also make the situation more complicated-God knows that if the Russians lose their nerve and send 20 troops to the south, the Crimean Khanate will not be able to stop it what to do?You must know that people from the east coast have invested a lot in this country. Once the situation develops in a direction beyond their control, everything will be over.

But it's not Cai Zhenguo's turn to worry about these things for the time being, that's what Li Qing, who is in charge of the overall situation, should be busy with.Besides, the chaos in Ukraine, the two behemoths of Ottoman and Russia basically have their own long-term national policies. When it comes to their own strategic interests, they should not and cannot listen too much to the opinions of people on the east coast. Once the powder keg is detonated, no matter whether these countries or forces are willing or not, they will be involved until a winner is decided.

What kind of attitude the people on the east coast should adopt in this kind of war, how to communicate with Ottomans and Russia at the same time, and guide them to follow the route planned by the people on the east coast as much as possible is indeed a test of the skills of diplomats.Li Qing, Gao Wengang, and Malati, the three main organizers, should be very busy in the next few years.

After Cai Zhenguo thought about these things, his attention returned to the negotiation venue in front of him.After receiving the manuscript from the translator again, he announced the suspension of the meeting, and then called some professionals in the embassy to review with him every clause in the document given by the Russian until three days later (During this period, the Russians were asked countless times, and many details were revised), before finally signing the demarcation agreement.So far, the East and Russia have not only restored a state of peace, but also fixed the borders in the Far East.

Next, there are some business agreements left to be negotiated between the two parties, and overall this is the least disagreement and the most relaxed and pleasant, because it is beneficial to both parties.It is believed that after the final signing and implementation, the relationship between East and Russia will enter a brand new stage, as the so-called new chapter is.

(End of this chapter)