559 Soetu is the Russian (III)

In June 1696, Soetu was once again received by Tsar Peter I.

In fact, according to the original situation, Soetu should have left after the spring of last year (1695). But the Tsar forced him to keep him because his brother Ivan V was terminally ill and was about to die. At that time, Peter would hold a grand ceremony to celebrate his becoming the "supreme single". Before Ivan V was the first Tsar and Peter I was the second Tsar. In name, the two ruled together.

Soetu had no choice but to stay. After sending two envoys to Beijing to inform the situation, Soetu lived in Moscow with peace of mind. During this period, he traveled through famous mountains and rivers nearby, inspected the situation of some nearby prefectures and counties, and also talked with other foreign envoys in Moscow. His vision and insight were rising rapidly.

Tsar Peter also attached great importance to the Soetu delegation. Not only did he invite him to banquets and dances held by the palace many times, but he also took him to the imperial village to hunt and inspect the army, making Soetu feel grateful.

This spring is coming soon, and Ivan V, whose vitality is unexpectedly strong, finally couldn't hold on and passed away suddenly on a snowy night. After holding his brother's funeral in "sad", Peter I summoned all the ministers, foreign envoys to Moscow and some foreign merchants who had worked for many years to hold a grand celebration at the Royal Village of Preobra-Zin Skoye in the suburbs. In this grand celebration that was said to cost 200,000 rubles, Peter

I became the "only" and supreme ruler of the Russian Empire. As a guest, Soetu naturally attended the celebration, but he did not have any good comments on it. After all, in his opinion, the fact that the two tsars were in power was too ridiculous. Even if Ivan V was a humble man, his actual power was all in the hands of Peter, but as the saying goes, it would be unpleasant if the name was not right. Such a situation would be too easy to give ambitious people a chance. Russia is indeed a barbarian!

After spending the entire spring in Moscow, Soetu passed away to Peter I and planned to return to Beijing. To be honest, he did not get everything he wanted during this trip. Tsar Peter I did not intend to support the Qing Dynasty's offensive in Heilongjiang, which greatly disappointed Soetu, who was on the mission. He once argued with reason and made great profits, but they were rejected by the Russians. He could see that Tsar Peter was not unhooked. In fact, he was interested in the trade promised by the Qing Dynasty and the land in the middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang. However, after comprehensive weighing, he firmly rejected this suggestion that seemed attractive but might cause the Russian Empire to suffer a great loss.

In comparison, the Tsar was very interested in jointly attacking the forces of Junggar Mongolia. Although the population of Junggar Mongolia is not large, its land is extremely vast, with a large amount of millions of square kilometers. If we include the nominal servant Kazakh Khanate (this servant also surrendered and rebelled repeatedly, and fought repeatedly...), the territory was even larger, bordering multiple forces in Central Asia, West Asia and North Asia. Not only did they form direct competition with the Russian Empire on this land, they often directly broke into Russia, attacked its villages, and plundered its people, which made the Russians extremely annoyed. Now Soetu proposed that both sides jointly attack the Junggar Khanate, which was actually exactly what Russia wanted. Therefore, the two sides quickly reached a consensus on this point and signed a relevant secret treaty.

Only one of the two main tasks was completed, which was undoubtedly unqualified for Soetu. But what can I do? Soetu is now a little bit about the situation in Russia, especially after spending money to bribe some news, Soetu already understood that the country has turned its attention to the west and planned to use troops in this direction. They even planned to use troops south last year. Tsar Peter, under the instigation of his generals, wanted to lead 46,000 new troops to attack Azov, but because he heard that there were ships of the East Coast Navy near the mouth of the Don River, Peter now understood that if he wanted to win the Azov Fortress, it would definitely not work to continuously eliminate its maritime foreign aid channels. Although the Russian Empire had built an inland fleet in Tambov, no one had the confidence to defeat the Ottoman and the East Coast Navy, so he had to give up in the end.

Now Russia has only one way to expand westward. If it goes east, it is sparsely populated and its opponents are strong, which is really difficult to do. Considering that their relationship with the East Coast has shown signs of easing in the past year, Soetu believes that it is basically impossible to let Russia go east. Poland, which is densely populated but loose in the west, Soetu, Sweden, has control of key sea outlets, has fully understood these places, and has asked his entourage to draw many European maps and record the genealogy of many European monarchs. He intends to bring back Beijing to Kangxi. What is the reason why Russia fights with the East Coast for the cold frozen soil in the Far East?

Therefore, Soetu has basically given up his efforts in this regard. A while ago, Peter agreed to this trip to the Tsar, and was preparing to send two thousand soldiers to each other to return to the east. These soldiers will be stationed in Central Asia in the future. This time, he suddenly summoned Soetu, probably because he wanted to give them gifts.

Soetu hurried to the Royal Village of Preobra-Zinskoy with the Russian guards. He met Peter I, who was wearing the uniform of an artillery captain, often conducted exercises with his soldiers, and took on his role in his role. Peter I left the exercise field, and then hosted Soetu and his entourage in a reception room.

"Your Excellency the Duke can come to Moscow and present a letter of nationality. This is an excellent sign that Bogde Khan expressed his eternal friendship to me. The peace between our two countries is sacred and inviolable. I have sent envoys to Tobolsk, Irkutsk, and Selengsk to prepare supplies and entertain them well to ensure that the envoys can return to Beijing safely. As for the entertainment of cities in the mainland, please don't worry, they don't need to prepare in advance." Peter I sat behind the desk, two important military officials, Romodanovsky and Menshkov, one left and one right. He only heard him continue: "Russia will prepare for the war with Gazan (Galdan), and ask your country to fulfill its promise. Please wait a moment, and I will write a letter of nationality and give it back to you."

After saying this, Peter I asked the guards to take the pen and ink, and wrote the letter of the country directly in front of Soetu: "I have inherited the supreme unparalleled, no beginning or end, no end, no view, and cannot be described, awesome and inaccessible, over the sky, living in an unattainable kingdom of heaven, governing the great wisdom of all gods, the only eternal son of our Lord Jesus Christ, created all tangible and invisible things, give them life and soul, and always look down on the great

The earth makes all things have their place, and we are the only one who gives humanity the kindness and love God, heaven, earth, and hell, who is extremely awe-inspired by the three, and is praised by Li Yuan, and worshipped by all sentient beings. With his grace and love, and by his power and will, I will be given the authority of the Orthodox Church, rule the Great Russian Empire and many newly accepted countries, and rely on God to protect him to be able to live in harmony and happiness forever, and be with the world, I, the Great Monarch Peter I, Ali

Kseevich, I would like to send this letter to the ruler of Khan Bali City, the sect leader of the countries of Greater Asia, the sacred Khan of the entire Chinese Empire, and my close friend Bogde Khan... I have ordered Lieutenant Colonel Prikov to lead 2,000 musketeers and 500 Cossacks to reinforce Toborsk and Tomsk, and to move 3,000 families to nearby farming. It is expected that the preparation will be completed next year. At that time, I hope the great monarch will assist and send troops together... Last year, my caravan did not complete it.

The transaction was forced to leave Beijing, causing a large number of unsold goods to be transported back to Siberia. I hope the great monarch will inform his subordinates and allow Russian caravans to trade freely in Beijing... The road to Beijing is difficult due to water shortage and chaos. If Russian merchants find a more convenient road to Beijing, I hope it will be allowed and do not stop it... I will send the monk Pratkov, the monk of the Ascension Monastery of Irkutsk, to preside over the divine affairs. Please help..."

It took Peter about half an hour to finish his book of the country, and it was obvious that he had already written the draft before. He did not mention the cooperation with the Qing Dynasty to attack the East Coast throughout the article, but only focused on the matter of destroying the Junggar Mongolian forces, developing more businesses, and assisting clergy. It was similar to what he had previously discussed with Soetu and others.

After Soetu received the letter of the country, he bowed to Peter I in accordance with the etiquette of reciprocity, and then said, "Thank you, the Great Khan. From the day my delegation arrived until now, Your Majesty has given me generous treatment, given banquets many times, and arranged many entertainments to play elegant music. I am really grateful. What we come to your country to do has also achieved great results. Now we will set off with satisfaction. After returning, we will report the situation to our emperor. When our emperor listens to this, we will be very happy and regard it as your unswerving friendship."

After saying a set of scenes, Peter asked the officials to send a gift to Soetu, which was a gift before parting. The gifts given to Kangxi were: three golden and silver blankets, one black sable (1300 rubles); four bundles of sable (2070 rubles); eighteen black and black-brown fox fur (730 rubles). The gifts given to Soetu were: seven bundles of sable (1870 rubles); seven bundles of fox fur (50 rubles); four bundles of silver rat skin (91 rubles). The gifts given to other members of the mission were: fifteen bundles of sable (1989 rubles). The total above was 8,100 rubles, not much, but it was definitely not a small one. Peter I was still particular.

After seeing off Soetu and his group, Peter did not leave the reception room, but several important officials discussed some related matters.

"China is not as powerful as people think. The current Chinese emperor did not satisfy everyone. He suppressed his own people more ruthless than Nero in Rome. He had persecuted thousands of people to death, and thousands of people were plundered, resulting in complete bankruptcy. In addition, although there were many people in the Chinese court and were extremely luxurious, the people lived in a difficult life. It seems that the Chinese people are neither strong nor wise nor brave, and in the same way they are all in the Chinese.

All activities are full of capriciousness, arrogance, treacherousness and timidity. In short, as long as our boundaries are well protected, everything can be done according to our will. They are good at boasting, and even if there have never been more than 20,000 people on the battlefield, they will say that there are 100,000, and 200,000 people. Of course, there are some questions about the border between us and them now, because the East Coast people occupied a large tract of land in the Amur River basin." Peter I stood up, paced in the room, and looked at

The left and right said: "But the Chinese have great commercial interests, so we have to devote our efforts and be cautious. We now have some textile factories that can be imported from the Chinese and processed into finished products. The British and the Dutch like these things very much. The gold price in China is relatively low, so you can make a profit from more purchases in Beijing. The gems of China are also very cheap, so you can find ways to purchase more and then sell them to Western Europe. The natives produced by the Chinese are very popular in Nerchsk, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Yenisesk and other places, which has caused our country to export a lot of gold and silver. You should think of ways. There are porcelain, tobacco, and Siberians like to consume these things very much. This is not good, so you need to restrict imports. Oh, by the way, you can buy more tea. I know that many people are used to drinking Chinese tea and it is difficult to quit, so just buy more and resell them to Europe to make up for the consumption of this part of the gold and silver."

Peter walked faster and faster in the house, as if he was thinking fiercely. Finally, he said: "About the things exported to my country, we cannot sell everything. Fur goods are the largest export commodity, but you have to learn how the Chinese can process them so that they can sell more money. Now the Chinese cannot buy these things from the Tungus people, so we can work hard on this. There are some factories in Siberia that produce oil-based leather, which has a good sales channel for the Chinese and Mongolians. This is very good.

, but we need to continue to strengthen, the current output is not enough. Large animals should be sold as little as possible. This may benefit the Chinese and strengthen their strength. The second is that it may affect the price of livestock in our country. I know that in Selengsk, Nerchinsk and other places, there is still a lack of a large number of farmers who voluntarily cultivate. Most of the people who go to are forced immigrants or criminal prisoners. Their enthusiasm is limited and they are usually poor. If the price of livestock is too high, the impact will be very bad."

"In short, it is a basic principle to minimize the output of gold and silver and increase the inflow of gold and silver. The country is not rich now, and it costs a lot to introduce technology and talents from the West, so we have to make careful calculations. Moreover, I have to reserve funds for the war. Do you understand?" Peter I said at the end.

"I understand, my Majesty." Several important officials bowed and replied.
Chapter completed!