On February 21, 1693, the Forbidden City Hall of Heart.

Yerizari Yerizarievich Izbrant was sitting at a square table and receiving a banquet from Bogde Khan. At his head, several followers were also among his deputy and translator Semyon Poletsky, officers Ivan Kramar and Peter Rambach, medical officer Christopher Kastens, and financial officer Ivan Sumarotsky.

From these names, we can see that among the six main officials of the Russian mission, there was no pure Russian. They were basically the so-called "new Russians" who served the Tsar. Some of these people were Lithuanians, some were Swedes, some were from Central Asian nomads, and even a Pole. They are now naturalized as Russia and serve the Tsar. This shows how strong the reform of Tsar Peter was and how strong the introduction of foreign talents was.

In addition, it can also be seen that Tsar Peter's current status is very stable and his authority is becoming increasingly important. Otherwise, the large number of foreign talents in the Russian military, politics, industry, agriculture, and business circles will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the Russian local aristocratic class. But there is no such dissatisfaction now, or the dissatisfaction has been resolved, which is very powerful. Peter's performance is indeed better than the previous Tsars.

Izbrant set out from Moscow. Before leaving, the Foreign Affairs Office issued him a number of instructions, with more than ten instructions in total, but the most important one is actually two. The first is to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries and jointly attack the Junggar Mongolian forces. However, there are differences between the two sides. The Russians are more concerned about Central Asia and want to attack Cewang Albutan and his servants Kazakhs, Uzbek tribes, etc., to ensure the security of their borders, and at the same time wait for an opportunity to invade the hinterland of Central Asia.

But Kangxi is obviously unwilling to do this now. Cewang Alabutan is his ally to some extent. They all have a common enemy Galdan. Although they will definitely launch all troops in the future to wipe out all the Junggar Mongolian forces, including Cewang Alabutan, it is not the time. Their main energy at present is still to focus on the tens of thousands of troops of Galdan who are struggling on the Mongolian grasslands.

This is where the differences between the two sides lies! Kangxi and Peter cannot find common ground on this point, and even demand conflicts with each other. For example, Kangxi asked the Russians to stop attacking Cewang Arabtan, but the Russians refused to agree, or if they wanted the other party to agree, they might have to pay a considerable price. This probably would have to go through very tortuous negotiations.

However, Izbrant was not 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 took it for granted, which was really annoying. Izbrant remembered the scene when he first came to live in the Lifan Courtyard. At that time, Qing officials asked them to hand over the Tsar's letter and the gifts given to Bogde Khan as soon as they came up, but Izbrant believed that according to tradition, he had to hand over to Bogde Khan himself.

The Qing people were very unhappy when they heard this, as if they had no chance to do it. Don’t doubt that the officials of the Lifanyuan in history embezzled countless gifts given to the Qing emperors by foreign envoys and were very brave. So they cut off the rations of Izbrant and others, and then imprisoned them in the affiliated hotel of the Lifanyuan, with a very bad attitude.

In the end, there was no way. Izbrant and others had to compromise under the threat of hunger and allowed the Qing officials to take away the gifts. In fact, there were not many things, including two refined glass branch chandeliers, four pairs of amber candlesticks, six amber bottles, four sides of amber framed mirrors, twenty minks, and thirty other variegated furs. Most of these gifts were given to Bogde Khan, but some were used as gifts for them during negotiations in Beijing, but they were taken away one by one, which made Izbrant very helpless. He now only had two thousand rubles of silver coins to use.

The arrogance of Qing officials in demanding gifts reminded him of the Baykov mission that was sent to the Qing Dynasty decades ago. At that time, a Manchu official in the Lifanyuan asked them to hand over the gifts immediately like a robbery, but Baykov argued that "the gifts were handed over before they met the emperor, which was unprecedented in the diplomatic history of various countries." As a result, the Qing people forcibly robbed the gifts. In addition, Qing officials also asked them to hand over the letter of the country in advance. Baykov angrily said, "He did not come to meet these ministers, but to meet the emperor. He should bring the country to the emperor in writing, otherwise it would be a serious rudeness." As a result, the Qing people threatened him with the death penalty and were forced to surrender.

The brutality of the Qing people shocked all previous Russian missions. In the past forty years, Russia has sent many missions, and some missions were forced to return without even meeting the emperor. Thirty years ago, an mission was deported because he was unwilling to kneel down to a temple and was unwilling to hand over his letter of abroad in advance. Qing officials told them, "Since you are unwilling to kowtow or hand over your letter of abroad and gifts, then go back, you will not be able to see the emperor." During the entire trip, they were locked in a residence, and they even doubted whether the Qing emperor knew they had been here.

Of course, there were also some sleek envoys who violated the orders of the Foreign Affairs Office, knelt down to worship the temples and emperors of the Qing Dynasty, and handed over gifts and letters of the country in advance, which saved them from making things difficult and many things could be finally completed. But if the Tsar knew the truth, he would definitely pursue their rude behavior seriously, which would make it chilling to think about it.

This time, the Qing people also asked Izbrant to kneel down and bow. This may have been a difficult problem in the past. All the envoys themselves decided to kneel down or not. But Tsar Peter personally cared about their mission and gave a clear instruction that he could kneel down to Bogde Khan himself, but he could not kneel down to worship any temples, portraits, stone idols and other items, which made Izbrant feel relieved.

Today, Bogde Khan was entertaining Russian missions in his palace, and there were still many officials coming, especially Soetu, a powerful minister who had always been in charge of negotiations with Russia. The original copy of Izbrant's letter and a translation were being held high above his head by an official (actually an eunuch) and presented to Bogde Khan.

Izbrant sat at a square table full of exquisite wine and food. He had already performed three kneelings and nine kowtows to Bogde Khan according to the pre-rehearing process. However, when the Qing officials asked him to drink a bowl of milk tea, he refused because it was during the Lent period. Fortunately, Bogde Khan was more reasonable and pardoned his rudeness, which made Izbrant feel a little confused. When did the Qing people make such sense? Could it be that their emperor was actually very reasonable, but the officials were too bad? Izbrant decided not to express any opinions for the time being, and focus on observation.

"Yerizari, I come to pay tribute and greet you. I am very grateful. I ask you if I ask you if I will share with you. I will give you a reply. Cewang Alabant is very kind to me and often sends envoys to the court to greet you. I have also repeatedly given me gifts to show my kindness. Although Cewang Alabant is a bit arrogant, I will never conquer you. Therefore, although the king of the country wants to ask me for this, I can only be merciful and merciful. I hope that all living beings in the world will enjoy peace. They should know my wishes." After talking to his close minister, Kangxi turned his head and said to the Russian envoy Izbrant.

Kangxi's words basically rejected the Russians' request. He just said that Cewang Albutan often sent envoys to the court to greet his worries, not only to put a gold on his face, but also to show that the two sides were interacting frequently, and to let the Russians give up the idea of ​​continuing to attack Central Asia. Izbrant actually had no hope of inviting the Qing army to attack Cewang Albutan. After hearing the translation of his deputy Poretsky, he thanked Kangxi and said nothing.

Next, Kangxi talked about some business matters with Izbrant. Izbrant warmly invited merchants from Qing to Russia for trade, and said that the Tsar had specially approved that each merchant would take 1,500 putes of silver from Russia every time to promote trade between the two countries. Kangxi expressed his gratitude to this and said that he would send merchants to Russia for trade, but now the two countries are separated by Galdan's power and have inconvenient transportation, so they can only discuss it after the extermination of Galdan.

The banquet ended more than an hour later. Izbrant and others returned to the Lifan Courtyard, while Kangxi kept Soetu and discussed with him about his envoyment to Russia. Yes, you heard that right, Kangxi planned to respond to the invitation of the Tsar and sent his confidant minister Soetu to Russia. As for where to leave, he basically thought about it and went north from the Mongolian grassland and entered the Russian-controlled area. Recently, Kangxi dispatched troops one after another, and more than 100,000 elite troops gathered in the Mongolian grassland, which forced Galdan back to the western part of the grassland. The eastern half was temporarily very safe and could pass normally.

"When Soetu met Tsar Peter, if you asked about the way that China respected, you will answer: our country is loyal, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, and faith, and advocates obedience. Regardless of governing the country and cultivating oneself, it is based on this. Although it is currently in the current situation, it adheres to these creeds, and does not fear in the face of danger, and does not keep its way. People in the world today believe in worshiping and praying for different gods. However, if benevolence, righteousness, loyalty and faith are not the basis, it is not beneficial to pray for good deeds. And our country has all enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous era, lived and worked in peace and contentment, and did not engage in heavy punishments for a long time." Kangxi sat behind the throne and talked about the precautions for Soetu who was standing there.

"If you ask how you livelihood is and whether you are rich, you just say that all countries are the same, and there are the rich and the poor." To be honest, Kangxi has taken face too seriously. At this moment, what he said is a bit too much than his mother-in-law, but Soetu dared not move, so he could only continue to listen to Kangxi's instructions: "If you have the means, you can declare: I heard that Russia and its neighbors are not harmonious and fighting each other many years ago. The Russian king needs to call border soldiers, or is worried, and he suspects that our Qing border troops have not been called later. This is not unreasonable. You can tell Peter that if there is any place to call border soldiers, you can call them with confidence and do not doubt me."

When Soetu heard this, he felt a little whispered: My Emperor, don’t you know that the Qing Dynasty and Russia have no borders? Perhaps there was a border after conquering the Mongolian tribes in northern Mobei, but this border was not very stable. Galdan’s people could come back at any time. Even if the Russians have a good relationship with Galdan, they often communicate with each other, and they would not be able to transfer all their troops and horses, and they would not be on guard against one's own actions.

Of course, Soetu has limited knowledge. Although it may be a little higher than Kangxi, he has no idea of ​​the huge Russian territory. The Tsar, with the Poles and the Turks in Europe, sent more than 100,000 troops to send out more than 100,000 troops. How could he be more likely to be the soldiers in the Far East? Besides, the distance is so far, the soldiers from the Far East and Siberia have all gone back to Europe, and they are probably beggars and even a fight!

"You must know that Russia is still boasting, and the customs are corrupt, and there are many women who are not upright. You must not act rudely and strictly restrain yourself. When you go to Russia, you may see women or encounter something ridiculous. You must act solemnly and avoid being frivolous. If you don't accept gifts to you, you must say no again and again." Kangxi said as he stood up and walked in the hall, only to hear him continue to talk like an old farmer: "The laws of Russia are severe. If the servants of that country are not inappropriate, you must not show any resentment, in case his superiors find out, be sure to be polite and generous. By the way, the livelihoods of the people of Russia, when dealing with people, geographical situations, etc. must also be paid attention to the livelihood of the people of Russia, when dealing with people, geographical situations, etc.."

After a big talk, Kangxi finally finished speaking. Soetu also felt sweaty on his forehead and felt very complicated. He didn't know what to say. I, the Holy Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, are a little bit - well, not a little bit, are you too much? Soetu already knew earlier that he was "very likely" to go on a mission to Russia and was mentally prepared, but now he heard Kangxi say such a lot of precautions, which is more or less awkward.

"It seems that the emperor is still a little anxious about the long-standing war on the grassland!" Soetu thought to himself: "But the emperor rejected the Russians' attack on Cewang Alaband, so the Russians would not be able to help me attack Galdan in the Qing Dynasty. Moreover, the relationship between the Russians and Galdan is not bad now. This Yerizari is said to have come from the grasslands in the north of the Mobei Province. Galdan did not hurt them at all, and might have sent them secretly.

The soldiers were escorted, and the possibility of expecting the Russians to help attack Galdan was too small. Well, it seems that my old bones must be done. When I arrived in Moscow, when I saw Tsar Peter, I had to find a way to convince him to rush his troops south and attack Galdan. I heard that the Russians were greedy for money and profit, so I came quickly and did not talk about faith. My Qing Dynasty was rich in the world, and I had all kinds of wealth. If I think of a solution from this perspective, I might have a miraculous effect."
Chapter completed!