New Shun 1730

"Great joy! Great joy, Duke!"

He rushed into the tent, bringing a gust of wind.

Fortunately, Duke Qi was not praying for the Seven Star Lantern, but was just flirting with a female slave sent by a Mongolian noble. It was obvious that he was really suffocating.

Seeing Liu Yu rushing in, Duke Qi clapped his hands and told the woman to leave.

"Why are you so happy?"

"The Russians are in a state of collapse! We have dragged them down! The scapegoat! The newcomer is the scapegoat!"

The excited words were a little difficult to speak, but Duke Qi keenly heard the familiar word "scapegoat".

He immediately asked people to guard the tent and not allow anyone to approach, and asked: "What's going on?"

When Liu Yu explained the general situation, Duke Qi immediately became energetic.

Although the tongue-twisting name of the Rakshasa people is difficult to remember, the court politics is not much different between the East and the West, and it is really "universal".

As a Duke, he naturally understood the key point.

Listening to Liu Yu's introduction of Peter, Duke of Qi was also quite impressed.

"It's like when Emperor Shenzong of Song Dynasty carried out reforms, he even made a will to ensure that the new laws would not be abolished: those who abolished the new laws would not be allowed to succeed to the throne. For this matter, Peter himself supervised the execution and killed his own son? He would rather a woman ascend the throne? This Peter... is indeed a hero."

Liu Yu laughed and said, "Whether he is a hero or not, this man is dead. The one who replaced Sava now is the one who captured the father of the current Little Rakshasa King and pronounced the death sentence. The meaning of letting him come here... Isn't it clear to the Duke?"

"Hahahaha! It couldn't be clearer!"

Duke of Qi laughed loudly, thinking that this kind of thing is simply obvious.

It's just a waste utilization. Anyway, this old man must be unable to make it, and he is old, so he is just here to take the blame.

Otherwise, Sava will definitely continue to talk here.

"Boy! That's right. His Majesty did not choose you wrongly. Otherwise, I don't understand the internal affairs of Luosha. Even if I know that there must be a reason for changing the general before the battle, I can't guess it. I'm afraid I will think that Luosha is going to go to war, so I changed an old general to the front line."

"These two hundred taels of silver are not wasted, and they are profitable. If it were someone else, who lacks understanding of Luosha, they would never know that there is such a big mess in Luosha because of the change of generals."

"Then can't this be dragged on? The longer it is dragged on, the better it is for me?"

Duke Qi was very happy, thinking that His Majesty really chose the right person this time. If he changed someone else, how could he seize such an opportunity?

But after hearing the Duke of Qi's statement that he wanted to continue to drag it out, Liu Yu shook his head and said, "I think we should stop dragging it out. Let's get down to business. It will be very disadvantageous to me if we drag it out."

"Huh?"

Liu Yu frowned and said, "This old man is over 80 years old. If we drag it out for too long, I'm afraid he will die. If he dies of anger, what if there is no one willing to take the blame for Luosha?"

The Duke of Qi thought about it and it was true. He was over 80 years old. He was negotiating in a place like this in the middle of winter. He must be ready to give in. It was very likely that he would die of anger.

"There is another thing. The one in power in Luosha now is a powerful minister who is not legitimate. The powerful minister sent this old man to take the blame. What I am worried about now is that the powerful minister cannot sit firmly. Once the powerful minister steps down, I am afraid it will be difficult to talk about it again."

"Duke, if we talk about it now, then the old man named Tolstoy will take the blame on the surface, but when the powerful minister dies, the real one will be the powerful minister Menshikov. In this way, the king of Luosha will also look good: it is not me who sells out the country, but the powerful minister who sells out the country. I am not a king who sells out the country, but the minister who sells out the country."

The face issue is still very important for a monarchy.

The Duke of Qi nodded, his expression turned serious, and asked: "Do you think that the man named Menshikov cannot sit firmly in his position?"

Liu Yu thought that history proved that he could not sit firmly.

But counting with fingers is easy to be regarded as a charlatan, so it is better to present facts and reason to prove that he is "strategizing and planning without omission".

"Don't worry, Duke. He can't hold on to his position. This man can't accomplish anything great."

"Didn't I say it before? In order to reform the law, Peter killed his own son and changed the inheritance law, preferring to let his daughter take the throne. The Rakshasa Queen who just died was his second wife, and Peter and his ex-wife had some daughters."

"I heard from the Rakshasa King's adopted son that this Menshikov and Peter grew up together, similar to Lu Bing of the previous dynasty? Anyway, when Peter killed his son, this man was the first to support him. The reason why he supported Peter's grandson to take the throne was because he had a daughter, and he wanted to marry his daughter to Peter's grandson, the current Rakshasa King, so that his grandson would become the Tsar in the future. But the elders of the previous dynasty all participated in Peter's killing of the deposed prince... So most of the elders still supported Peter's daughter to take the throne, fearing that Peter's grandson would settle accounts with them after taking the throne."

Hearing this, Duke Qi was so stunned that he almost choked on his own saliva.

You still want to learn from Cao Cao at this level?

The logical choice at this time is to support Peter's daughter to take power. After all, you have the blood of the deposed prince on your hands. If a woman takes power, her position will be unstable, and she will definitely ask you for help, and your position as a powerful minister will also be stable.

The old and new parties are fighting, and you should rely on the new party for support. The new party has the blood of the deposed prince on their hands, but you support the blood of the deposed prince to take power. It's really...

You are really blinded by power. If you do this, your ambition is obvious. Where do you put the old ministers who supported the killing of the deposed prince?

Your grandson will be able to inherit the throne in the future, what about the others? If there is no clique, how can you be a powerful minister?

I couldn't help shaking my head, thinking that the level of palace fighting in Luosha country is very average.

"Well, as you said. This person is really a short-sighted person. You are right, this person will not last long. We need to talk quickly. First, we cannot let the old man die, and second, we must live in that Myanmar. Let’s negotiate before Shikov steps down.”

Duke Guo of Qi made his own judgment. Judging from what Liu Yu said, Menshikov would never last long.

As Liu Yu said, once Menshikov steps down, no one, old or new, will be willing to take the blame for losing power and humiliating the country.

If it can be signed now, Menshikov can take all the blame. The Rakshasa Kingdom can't afford to send troops now, and they won't have a large army coming in a short time. They can only take advantage of the situation and admit the matter. We can also clean up Menshikov's remnant party.

Judging from the experience of Qi Guogong taking root in the court for many years, this is probably the case.

When Liu Yu saw that Qi Guogong also recognized his "inference", he thought that Qi Guogong knew in his heart that Dashun might not be able to take advantage if he continued to fight for a long time.

Taking advantage of this matter, he smiled and said: "So the terms of this negotiation have different rules. I have to ask the Duke for something."

"Tell me about it."

"Please write a secret letter to state the matter. Please allow your majesty to sign a secret agreement: 30,000 taels will be taken from your majesty's internal funds every year and given to the Rakshasa people. They will be kept secret for ten years. With these 300,000 taels, For the redemption fee, the Rakshasa people bought a fortress and a small village from the Shilka River to the Selenga River. There is no time to capture it, so it is better to buy it. Once Menshikov is removed, who will be the new king? If you don't want to take the blame, it will be difficult to give in. If we really fight, 300,000 taels won't be enough."

"What can I exchange for?"

"The entire river basin of Heilongjiang. All tributaries are the land of the country. Including the Jingqili River on the north bank. Three hundred thousand taels of silver, ten years, in exchange for a million miles of land on the eastern front, the Shilka River and the Onan River. In this way, there is no need for a map If you take a straight line, you can go directly along the watershed peaks. The watershed that flows to Heilongjiang and Whale Sea belongs to us; the watershed that flows to the north belongs to them.”

Taking out the map on which a straight line had been drawn before, Liu Yu pointed to the Waixing'an Mountains and other mountains on the north bank of Heilongjiang and stated the requirements for this negotiation.

Taking the mountains as a watershed and claiming the entire Heilongjiang tributary basin was the courage that Rakshasa's change of generals brought to Liu Yu.

The purpose of exchanging money for a small fort on the Shilka River was to complete the contract as early as possible before the New Year this year. Otherwise, if the Rakshasa Kingdom had another coup, no one would be willing to take the blame.

This opportunity is simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Duke Guo of Qi is also a person who knows the importance of things. The three hundred thousand taels he bought were for the Shilka River.

Originally, we could capture it without buying it and delay for a while, but now that there are changes in Rakshasa's country, Dashun should not delay any longer to avoid long nights and dreams.

Whether he agrees or not is a matter for the emperor. Although there was a bottom line before, but now the incident happened suddenly, but this kind of thing cannot be decided on the spur of the moment.

"Okay, I'll write a note right now and ask someone to send it back as soon as possible. If this happens, you will be the first to do it!"

Liu Yu smiled, and the Duke of Qi said again: "After this incident, diplomacy will really change in the future. Someone needs to be stationed abroad so that if anything happens, he will be informed. If it weren't for you this time, it would be so There is a good opportunity here, and no one else would be able to use it. Just prepare it and I will explain it to you."

…………

Old Count Tolstoy did not know Chinese.

If so, he must want to say that now.

"Shuzi! Inadequacy and conspiracy!"

The eighty-year-old body is aging rapidly in the severe cold of the Mongolian plateau, and the cough has not stopped since I passed Irkutsk.

The old earl knew that his life was short-lived and he might have to bear the infamy of losing his power and humiliating his country. What's even more hateful is that Menshikov, who is lacking in resources and plans, is simply dazzled by power, fame and fortune.

You Menshikov was the first to sign the execution of the deposed prince Alexei. You are so courageous. Just to make your daughter the queen and your grandson the tsar in the future, you even let the deposed prince's son ascend the throne. Do you dare to do anything?

Do you really think you know that the first person you signed to agree to the execution of the deposed prince is dead?

Most of the veterans hope to let Elizabeth, the daughter of Catherine I, ascend the throne because they are worried that Peter II will purge him when he comes to power, especially the many veterans who were involved in the case of deposing the crown prince.

The idiot Menshikov did not agree, so he dreamed of his grandson or granddaughter becoming the czar, thinking that he could at least deceive his daughter into marrying Peter II.

Tsarist Russia has a tradition of secret police. Old Count Tolstoy was the head of Peter the Great’s secret police and the “Commander of the Royal Guards” of Peter the Great.

This poisonous snake in the shadows will of course have a backup plan.

The old Tolstoy was convinced that Menshikov would fall soon, but it was a pity that he himself might not be able to see that day.

Even the infamy of losing power and humiliating the country is something he has taken responsibility for.

The veterans of the imperial court all believed that the war with China could not be expanded. This was especially true after learning that there were French officers on Dashun's side and that Dashun had adopted French-style siege methods.

Although Russia is large, it is unable to face the tripartite alliance of France, Turkey and China.

The interests of the Far East rank behind the Black Sea and Poland. Expanding the war against China at this time is tantamount to giving up the possibility of overcoming the shame of the third Russo-Turkish War and retaking Crimea; it is more likely to focus on the issue of the Polish throne. A backstab against China.

They had thought that the Eastern Empire knew nothing about the outside world. But now it seems that this is not the case. Not only did they know nothing, but they probably deliberately chose the time to start the war when Peter died and the government was in chaos.

Menshikov did not want to bear the reputation of losing power and humiliating the country. He was not Peter the Great, and he could not control the government after several defeats. Therefore, the old Tolstoy, who had lost power, was finally found from the scrap heap to take the blame.

The 130,000 troops left by Peter the Great were already dragging down Russia's finances, and 70% of the annual income was thrown into the army.

Now there is no financial resources to support a war of 10,000 people, and it is even more urgent to restore trade with China, get tea, rhubarb, and raw silk, in exchange for enough money to feed the army that made Russia a European power.

The speed of Dashun's advancement in the East was too fast, and several fortresses did not stop them at all. It was heard that the emperor of Dashun was at the front line in person, which was like Peter's visit to the Swedish front line, declaring that Dashun must take back Heilongjiang.

At least, most of the old officials in the court thought so: the cunning Chinese chose to start the war when Russia was at its weakest, and their French and Turkish allies must be eagerly looking forward to the continuation of the war between China and Russia.

Coughing, old Tolstoy looked at his negotiating opponent melancholy and sighed in his heart.

It can be seen that the young man of seventeen or eighteen years old was the one who really presided over the negotiations.

He was full of vigor, like the sun at seven or eight o'clock, hot and red, with a smile on his face, but when he smiled, his eyes were as sharp as a venomous snake, constantly using sarcasm to seize momentum.

He was like the sun that was about to set, trying to hold on as long as possible to set later, but it was painful to sit up straight, not to mention that the continuous coughing made every word he said lack momentum.

The Latin foundation when he studied naval technology in Venice was now suppressed by a young man and he couldn't say a complete rebuttal.

The duke who was drinking tea leisurely on the opposite side gave old Tolstoy endless pressure.

When the first Latin text of the formal negotiation conditions from Dashun was delivered, old Tolstoy glanced at it and could no longer hold on.

He coughed repeatedly in a fit of rage. Liu Yu was so scared that he flipped the table and jumped next to the old count, patting his back to let him breathe.

He thought: You better not die yet, wait two months. If you die now, who will take the blame?