New Shun 1730

The wooden house is leaky.

After Liu Yu pushed the door open and came in, the cold air brought made the fire in the fireplace scream, like the wild ghost fire in the cemetery meeting the Taoist priest's wooden sword.

The Duke of Qi followed closely behind, and the old Count Tolstoy was lying on the bed, covered with a fluffy and smooth fur.

After seeing Liu Yu, the old earl didn't even have the energy to greet Liu Yu with aristocratic elegance. He just rolled his eyes, pointed with his finger, and motioned to his entourage to take down the kettle that was burning on the fireplace and make two cups. Tea.

Before the tea was finished, there was a violent cough that sounded like it could tear out the lungs.

His red and white face was covered with sweat, and the sweat was running through the folds of his eighty-two-year-old face.

Every breath was like pulling an old bellows. The blacksmiths in the camp must be familiar with this sound. It looked like it was going to end.

Liu Yuxin said that this is not the case? So the thing I have in my hand can be regarded as an equality treaty. Is that all it takes to sign an equality treaty?

No, it's like it's your first time signing. Didn’t we just sign a contract with the Turks before and lost the mouth of the Don River? It seems that you were also fully responsible for Türkiye at that time, right?

Thinking about the old man's great-grandson, Liu Yu thought to himself that he might not know how Tolstoy would arrange himself in the future.

Youdao is the unfortunate poet family in the country, and the realist literature has a stone. Rakshasa has five buckets, Gaul chickens have three buckets, and the other countries share two buckets. Liu Yu feels that he can also be regarded as contributing to the suffering and salvation of Russia for future generations. The writer leaves behind a story. Maybe Repin can paint a famous painting in the future. Count Tolstoy’s reply to the Chinese?

In his confused thoughts, Qi Guogong took the lead in saying greetings, and Liu Yu could only translate Qi Guogong's greetings.

After being polite, I couldn't wait to take out the pieces of paper.

The old earl was neither surprised nor angry. He just blinked calmly and motioned Liu Yu to turn it over in front of him for one final confirmation.

Are there any mistakes or unclear areas?

The attendants and lieutenants were nearby, but the old count did not need their help.

Instead, let Liu Yuju stand in front of him.

After confirming the Latin version one last time, the hoarse voice uttered a single word.

Someone understood the word, took out a light red candle, and approached the fireplace. Pull out a burning stick from the fireplace and light the red candle.

The old arm stretched out tremblingly from the fur, and the seal ring, which represented his identity and mark, was hung on the withered finger like oak bark, trying not to fall off.

The guard took the whale oil, dipped some whale oil into a very fine brush, and brushed it on the ring engraved with the seal.

Tilt the candle and drip the melted wax onto the signature area.

The old earl tried his best to stretch his hand forward, trying to put the seal on the melted wax before it solidified, but he was too slow after all.

When I stretched it out, the wax solidified.

This happened three times, Liu Yu couldn't wait any longer.

The wax oil had just dripped down, so he grabbed the old count's wrist, turned it hard, and pressed the ring on his finger heavily onto the melted wax oil.

A clear mark appeared on the paper, next to it was Qi Guogong's seal and signature.

This almost barbaric behavior shocked the Russian guards, who were known as barbarians.

The old count looked at the clear wax mark, as if a fish out of water was thrown into a pot where the water was not yet hot, and it radiated its last strength.

Instead of blaming Liu Yu for being rude, he looked back and said another word to Liu Yu.

"Please hurry up. Thank you for your help."

This time my enunciation was very clear, but every word in my Zhongqi was weaker than the last, and it looked like I was going to die.

Liu Yu understood.

He reached out and grabbed the candle from the attendant's hand, held it in his hand, and lifted up his sable fur to block the wind from all directions and make the candle's flame burn brighter.

Repeating the actions just now, he felt that the old count's hand was getting stiffer and stiffer. Liu Yu grabbed his hand and pressed the candle mark on the remaining five pieces of paper.

After applying the wax oil, the old man still managed to squeeze out a little energy and nodded to Liu Yu to express his gratitude.

Then his brown eyes moved slightly and stared at the paper in Liu Yu's hand. Only then did Liu Yu understand and brought the six pieces of paper to the old earl in turn.

The old man carefully checked the seal one last time, used his last strength to show his final stubbornness, turned his head, and no longer looked at Liu Yu.

The old earl on the bed may have known that he had reached the last moment, and because of his excitement, he did not avoid Liu Yu. Perhaps he was afraid of running out of time, so he stretched out his finger to point to some papers on the table next to him.

There are only a few pieces of paper, and the words on them may only add up to two or three pages. The title is written on the first page.

Diplomatic Memoirs of Adrianople.

His last strength was not used to say his last prayers, but to say the last words of his life.

"Please take it back to Petersburg."

Then, his arms hung down, his chest kept collapsing downwards, and he made a slight sound of breathing out of his throat.

"Well……"

Liu Yu looked back at Qi Guogong, who was also looking at him.

The two stared at each other for a while, then took off their hats.

The deceased were the most important. Although the death of the old earl had no direct relationship with them, it had finally caught up.

According to the etiquette of the country, three sticks of incense should be offered. Now that you are standing outside the national border, you should follow the local customs.

He took off his hat, bowed, and quickly slipped away.

The guards did not stop it. It seemed that the old count had already guessed that such a scene would happen and made arrangements in advance.

It wasn't until he retreated into the boundary stakes that Duke Qi breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, still feeling frightened.

This was the first time Qi Guogong had seen forcing someone to death during a negotiation.

"Shou Chang, Shou Chang, you are really...hey, what should I say?"

Liu Yu said in astonishment: "Is it possible that the Duke shouldn't have said that it's a good thing I made the decision, otherwise I wouldn't have had the chance to complete the contract?"

"Having said that, but..."

"Don't worry, Duke. The old man was awake all the time, and there is no problem. Besides, when he was born, Taizu had not yet died in Jiugong Mountain. People are born, old, sick and die, and seventy can be said to be rare. He was already over eighty. Besides, this is not the first time he has signed this kind of treaty. This is considered to be for the sake of the Rakshasa people."

"How to say?"

"He is going to die. Who is willing to come as a Rakshasa? Peter is dead. If Peter is alive, anyone who loses can sign it. The worst is to fight back in the future. Since the prestige is there, no one dares to say anything. Now that Peter is dead, His wife has also died, and the Rakshasa courtiers are busy with party disputes. Who would come to this troubled water at this time? If he is dead, it will be too late for those in Petersburg to be happy. "

Duke Qi shook his head slightly. Although the truth was true, it was the first time I saw this fact.

Returning to his tent, he carefully put the three pieces of paper into the wooden box and kept them carefully.

When the paper was put into the wooden box and the lid was closed, Liu Yu and Qi Guogong let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

It's finally over.

It was like a dream. The bottom line of the imperial court was Heilongjiang, but the two of them blackmailed the border line thousands of miles north.

Now that the treaty has been signed, it is difficult to go back on it.

"In this case, we only need to wait for the Rakshasa to send a new envoy and follow them to the capital. I can just leave the remaining boundary stakes and others here to deal with them."

Duke Guo of Qi stroked the box again, as if playing with a rare treasure.

After a long while, he said: "Everything else is fine, but there is one thing I don't quite understand. Since we opened a port, isn't it to collect taxes? The tax rate is so low, how much money can we collect?"

The Duke of Qi didn't know yet that the emperor's internal funds were about to be used, so Liu Yu didn't say anything. He just smiled and said: "My lord, how can two companies selling the same thing not lower the price but increase the price? Tea, rhubarb, the Russians We can’t produce it, but in the future, the Russians may be able to produce cotton cloth themselves. Since the tariffs are low now, the Russians in Siberia will definitely use more Chinese cloth in the future.”

What does Russia have to sell to China? The guns from the Tula Arsenal were not enough for his own use. Liu Yu really couldn't think of anything that would require additional customs duties and taxes on the Russians' money.

Duke Qi still didn't quite understand this simple mercantilist tariff issue, and asked instead: "What benefit does it bring to the country if merchants benefit from this?"

"The country is not just a government treasury. If we trade with Westerners in the future, we will have to pay export taxes on raw silk, tea, etc. They can't produce them anyway."

"But other things cannot be subject to heavy taxes, and they need to be treated differently. For example, porcelain, the chaos in the late Ming Dynasty, and the turmoil in the south of the Yangtze River, I am afraid that Japanese porcelain will take the opportunity to export to the West, so it is necessary to examine and choose how much tax to charge in order to make Japanese porcelain It’s hard to compete for the benefit of our government.”

Liu Yu gave a rough explanation and then said: "Furthermore, if heavy taxes are imposed here, the Russians will not be able to benefit from traveling to Europe, and they will only fear that the border ports will become obsolete. Although less taxes are collected, merchants will come and go, and people will be stationed along the way. It is beneficial to the country. We can’t just count money. If we only count money, Beidi Extension will lose money.”

Duke Guo of Qi thought about it for a while, then nodded and said: "Well, that makes sense. The past dynasties can learn from the disaster of shrinking borders and should not just count the superficial money. However, the first merit that the dynasty sees must be the merit of expanding the soil. These Not that anyone cares about it.”

Liu Yu shook his head and said: "In terms of thirty years, the first achievement is to expand the soil."

"Based on a hundred years, I think sending envoys to each other is the first priority."

"If the military revolution is unfavorable and Western learning fails to flourish, even if we gain territory now, we will not lose it a hundred years later. Therefore, what I care most about in this negotiation is the exchange of envoys. I also ask the Duke to help me after he returns to the court. My nephew made this happen.”

Duke Guo of Qi knew that this was what Liu Yu had always cared about, and he had said "not enough sales" before.

Now that the treaty has been signed, it's done, and Liu Yu has contributed a lot. Since there was such a request, the Duke of Qi naturally agreed.

"Although I don't understand much, I can trust you. Since you care so much, I will try my best to facilitate this matter when I go back. Besides, there were barbarians in Chang'an during the Tang Dynasty. Since our dynasty wants to compare with the Tang Dynasty, it is not right to do this. No. You are weak and cannot bear it, so I will fight."

Liu Yu solemnly saluted, and Qi Guogong also accepted it, which was regarded as a silent contract.

In the next two months, until the New Year, the Count of Savoy who had previously negotiated on the Russian side finally showed up again.

Russia was indeed in great trouble. Not only was Menshikov, who had been in power before, captured, but the young tsar also decided to move the capital from Petersburg back to Moscow.

Duke Guo of Qi also told Liu Yu a lot about Rakshasa these days, and he was very happy: Peter moved the capital to Yongle to the north, and Zhao Kuangyin wanted to move to Luoyang. The Rakshasa reforms and the enriching the country and strengthening the army that Liu Shouchang had been worried about were over! The little tsar is only 11 years old, what does he know? The government will be controlled by the old party in Moscow, and the northern frontier of the country will be worry-free for decades!

The Count of Savoy did not mention the border treaty again, but sent the first official letter to the Duke of Qi after the two countries signed the treaty: Tsar Peter II will hold a coronation ceremony next year, and hopes that Dashun will fulfill the treaty and send an envoy to Moscow to watch the ceremony.

And he will also lead a large 1,500-member envoy and merchant group to follow the Duke of Qi and Liu Yu to the capital to discuss trade details, envoy stationing and other issues. The tea and rhubarb trade, which previously accounted for 5% of Russia's total import and export trade, must be restored as soon as possible. The government is in chaos, and this business that Peter originally took over as a government camp for military expenses is now being watched by countless dukes and earls.