Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2196

On February 1693, 2, the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the Forbidden City.

Yelizary Yelizaryevich Izbrandt was sitting at a square table, receiving a banquet from Bogd Khan.Below him, there are several officials in his entourage, namely his deputy and interpreter Semyon Poletsky, officers Ivan Kramar and Peter Rambach, medical officer Christopher Carstens, treasurer Officer Ivan Sumarodsky.

From these names, it can be seen that none of the six main officials of the Russian mission was a pure Russian, and they were basically so-called "new Russians" who served the tsar.Some of these people used to be Lithuanians, some were Swedes, some were from Central Asian nomads, and there was even a Polish. Now they are all naturalized in Russia and serve the Tsar. This shows the intensity of Czar Peter’s reforms. The importance of introduction.

It can also be seen that Tsar Peter's current position is very stable and his authority is getting stronger.Otherwise, relying on the large number of foreign talents flooding Russia's military, government, industry, agriculture, and business circles, it will inevitably arouse the dissatisfaction of the native Russian aristocracy.But now there is no such dissatisfaction, or dissatisfaction has been resolved, which is very powerful. Peter's performance is indeed better than that of the previous czars.

Izbrandt set out from Moscow.Before leaving, the foreign affairs yamen issued orders to him. There were many orders, more than ten in total, but the most important ones were actually two.The first is to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries and jointly combat the Junggar and Mongolian forces.However, there are also differences between the two sides on this point. The Russians pay more attention to the Central Asian region, and want to attack Tservan Arabtan and his servants, Kazakhs, Uzbeks and other tribes, to ensure the security of their own frontiers, and at the same time wait for an opportunity to invade the hinterland of Central Asia.

But Kangxi is obviously unwilling to do so now.To some extent, Cewang Allah Butan is his ally. They all have a common enemy, Galdan. But now is not the time.Their current main energy is still on the tens of thousands of horses in Galdan who are tossing around on the Mongolian grassland.

This is where the difference between the two parties lies!Kangxi and Peter couldn’t find a common ground on this point, and even had contradictory demands. For example, Kangxi asked the Russians to stop attacking Allah Butan, but the Russians refused to agree, or if they wanted the other party to agree, they might have to pay. It is not a small price, and it is estimated that there will be very tortuous negotiations in the middle.

However, Izbrandt was not very optimistic about the outcome of the negotiations. The reason was that the Qing people were a little arrogant. They only wanted to ask the Russians to do this and that, and they took it for granted, which was really annoying.Izbrandt recalled the scene when he first came here and lived in the Lifan Courtyard. At that time, the officials of the Qing Dynasty asked them to hand over the Tsar’s credentials and gifts to Bogd Khan, but Izbrandt thought that According to tradition, he had to hand it over to Bogd Khan.

The people of the Qing Dynasty were very unhappy when they heard the words, as if they had no chance to do something about it—don’t doubt that in history, the officials of the Lifan Academy embezzled countless gifts from foreign envoys to the Qing emperor, and they were very bold—so They cut off the rations of Izbrandt and others, and then imprisoned them in the affiliated hotel of Lifanyuan, with a very bad attitude.

In the end, Izbrandt and others had no choice but to compromise under the threat of hunger and let the officials of the Qing Dynasty take away the gifts—in fact, there were not many things, including two large refined glass chandeliers and four amber candelabrums. Yes, six amber bottles, four amber-framed mirrors, twenty mink furs, and thirty other variegated furs—most of these gifts were given to Bogd Khan, but some of them were used for their negotiations in Beijing The gift-giver was confiscated all at once, which made Izbrandt very helpless. Now he only has two thousand rubles of silver coins to use.

The arrogance of Qing officials in asking for gifts reminded him of the Baikov mission to Qing decades ago.At that time, a Manchurian official of the Lifan Academy demanded that they hand over gifts immediately like a robbery, but Baykov argued that "handing over gifts before meeting the emperor is unprecedented in the diplomatic history of all countries." As a result, the Qing Dynasty People forcibly snatched the gift.In addition, Qing officials also asked them to hand over their credentials in advance. Baikov said angrily, "He did not come to see these ministers, but to see the emperor. He should bring the credentials to the emperor, otherwise it would be a serious disrespect." The Qing people threatened him with the death penalty and were finally forced to submit.

The brutality of the Qing people shocked all Russian missions.In the past 40 years or so, Russia has sent many missions, and some missions were forced to return without even seeing the emperor.Thirty years ago, a mission was repatriated because it was unwilling to bow down to a temple and hand over its credentials in advance during the rehearsal.Qing officials said to them, "Since you don't want to kowtow, and you don't want to hand over your credentials and gifts, then go back. You have no chance of seeing the emperor." They were locked in an apartment during the entire trip, and they even suspected Qing Did the emperor know they had been there.

Of course, there were also some cunning envoys who violated the orders of the foreign affairs yamen, bowed down to the temples and emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and handed over gifts and credentials in advance, which saved them from making things difficult, and many things could be completed in the end.But if the tsar knew the truth, he would certainly have seriously pursued their faux pas, which is chilling to think about.

This time the Qing people also asked Izbrandt to kneel and kowtow. This may have been a difficult problem in the past, and it was up to each envoy to decide whether to kneel or not.But Tsar Peter personally cared about their mission this time, and gave clear instructions that he could bow down to Bogd Khan himself, but he was not allowed to bow down to any temples, portraits, stone idols, etc., which made Izbrandt feel relieved. Take a breath.

Bogd Khan entertained the Russian mission in his palace today, and many officials came, especially Soetu, a power minister who has been in charge of negotiating with Russia.Izbrandt's original credentials and a translation are being presented to Bogd Khan by an official (actually a eunuch) over his head.

Izbrandt was sitting in front of the square table filled with exquisite wine and dishes. He had kneeled down three times and kowtowed nine times to Bogd Khan according to the rehearsal process.But when Qing officials asked him to drink a bowl of milk tea, he refused because it was the Lent period.Fortunately, Bogd Khan was more reasonable and forgave his rudeness, which made Izbrandt feel a little bit rejoiced, when did the Qing people become so reasonable?Could it be that their emperor is actually very reasonable, but the officials are too bad?Izbrandt decided not to express any opinions for the time being, and focused on observation.

"Yerizari, I appreciate your coming here to pay tribute and say hello. They asked me in the preface if I would agree to join them in annihilating Tsevan Allah Butan. Now I will give you an answer. Tsevan Allah Butan replied to me. He is very kind-hearted, and often sends envoys to the court to greet him, and I have repeatedly bestowed gifts to show my kindness. Although the plan is arrogant and domineering, I will never conquer. Therefore, although the lord of the country intends to ask me to do this, I will only If you can use mercy as a mercy, I hope that all people in the world can enjoy peace, and you should know my heart." After chatting with the left and near officials, Kangxi turned his head and said to the Russian envoy Izbrandt.

Kangxi's words basically rejected the request of the Russians.He said just now that Tseng Arabutan often sent envoys to the DPRK to greet him, not only to put gold on his face, but also to show the state of frequent interaction between the two sides, which made the Russians give up the idea of ​​​​continuing to attack Central Asia.In fact, Izbrandt didn't have much hope for inviting the Qing army to attack Cewang Arabutan. After hearing the translation from his deputy Poletsky, he thanked Kangxi and said nothing more.

Then Kangxi talked with Izzy Brandt about some business matters.Izbrandt cordially invited merchants from the Qing Dynasty to go to Russia for trade, and said that the Tsar had given special approval to allow each merchant to take [-] poods of silver from Russia at a time to promote trade between the two countries.Kangxi expressed his gratitude for this and said that he would send businessmen to Russia for trade, but now the two countries are separated by the power of Galdan, and the transportation is inconvenient. We can only discuss it after Galdan is wiped out.

The banquet ended more than an hour later, and Izbrandt and others returned to the Lifan Academy, while Kangxi left Suo'etu to discuss with him about going to Russia.Yes, you heard it right, Kangxi planned to respond to the tsar's invitation and send his confidant minister Suo'etu to Russia.As for where to leave the country, I basically thought about it, so I went north from the Mongolian grassland and entered the Russian-controlled area.Recently, Kangxi repeatedly mobilized troops, and more than [-] elites assembled on the Mongolian grassland, which has forced Galdan back to the western part of the grassland. The eastern half is temporarily very safe and can pass normally.

"Suo'etu, when meeting with Tsar Peter, if he asked about the way that China respects, he would answer: Our country is based on loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, and faith, advocating obedience, and regardless of governing the country and self-cultivation, this is the foundation. Although the interests are at present, they still adhere to these creeds, and they are not afraid of danger and do not change their ways. People in various countries in the world today believe in and worship different gods, but if they do not take benevolence, righteousness and loyalty as the foundation, what good is it to do good deeds even if they pray. And our country enjoys peace In a prosperous age, you can live and work in peace and contentment, don’t do battle, and don’t impose severe punishments for a long time.” Sitting behind the throne, Kangxi told Suo’etu who was standing there the precautions for going to Moscow.

"If you ask how your livelihood is, whether you are rich or not, you can say that all countries are the same, the rich have it, and the poor have it." To be honest, Kangxi was a little too concerned about face, and what he said at the moment was a bit too mother-in-law, but Suo'etu didn't If you dare to make any changes, you can only continue to listen to Kangxi's instructions: "If it is convenient, you can still declare: Many years ago, I heard that Russia and its neighbors were at odds and fought with each other. It is not unreasonable to do so. You can tell Peter frankly that if there is a place to call frontier soldiers, you can call them with confidence, and don't have doubts about me."

Hearing this, Suo'etu really felt a little slandered: My lord, don't you know that there is no border between China and Russia?Maybe there is a border after conquering the Mongolian tribes in Mobei, but this border is not very stable. Galdan's people may come back at any time. Even if the Russians have a good relationship with Galdan and often communicate with each other, they will not It is possible to transfer all the people and horses away, not to be on guard.

Of course, Suo'etu's knowledge is also limited. Although he may be a little higher than Kangxi, he has no concept of the hugeness of Russia.The tsar mobilized troops with the Poles and Turks in Europe, often dispatching 10,000+ troops. How could he value such troops in the Far East?Moreover, the distance is so far away, and the soldiers from the Far East and Siberia walked all the way back to the European part.

"You must know that the customs in Russia are boastful, the customs are corrupt, and there are many women who are misbehaving. Your followers must not be rude and reckless, and must be strictly restrained. When you go to Russia, you may see women or encounter things that you can laugh at. , you must act solemnly, and avoid frivolity. If you give something to you, you must not accept it, and you must refuse it again and again.” Kangxi stood up while talking, paced up and down in the hall, and only heard him continue like an old farmer. Rubbling: "Russia's laws are strict. If the servants of that country treat you a little bit badly, you must not show the slightest bit of anger, in case your superiors find out, you must always be cautious and lenient. By the way, During this trip, the livelihood of the people of Russia, how they treat people, and the geographical situation, etc., must also be carefully checked.”

After talking awkwardly, Kangxi finally finished speaking, and Suo'etu also felt his brow sweating, his heart was very complicated, and he didn't know what to say.My Holy Son of Heaven, this is a bit—well, not a bit, is it because I value Russia too much?Suo'etu had known earlier that he was "probably" going to Russia as an embassy, ​​and had already made mental preparations, but it was more or less embarrassing to hear Kangxi say such a lot of precautions.

"It seems that the emperor is still a little anxious about the protracted war on the grassland!" Suo'etu thought in his heart: "But the emperor rejected the offensive plan proposed by the Russians to attack Arabutan, so it is impossible for the Russians to Help me attack Galdan in the Qing Dynasty. And the relationship between the Russians and Galdan is not bad now. It is said that Yeri Zari came from the Mobei grassland. Galdan did not hurt them at all, and may have secretly sent troops to escort them Now, the possibility of counting on the Russians to help attack Galdan is too small. Well, it seems that I have to go out with my old bones. When I arrived in Moscow and met Tsar Peter, I had to find a way to persuade him to wave The soldiers went south and flanked Galdan. I heard that the Russians are greedy for money and profit, and they don’t keep promises when they come quickly, but our Qing Dynasty is the most wealthy in the world, with all kinds of goods. If we think of a way from this perspective, we may get miraculous results.”

"Anyway, we have to give it a try. If Galdan is not dealt with, the Han forces in the court will become more arrogant, which is not good." Suo'etu finally made up his mind secretly.

(End of this chapter)