After Master Chengche and his disciples were brought back to Beihai Town, Chen Qingsong met with them in the evening of that day. After a conversation, Chen Qingsong was impressed by the old monk's conversation and knowledge, and agreed that the two of them would stay in Beihai Town for a while. Later, the civil administration was asked to arrange temporary accommodation for the master and apprentice.
Two days later, the Civil Affairs Bureau sent a clerk to accompany Master Chengche and his apprentice to visit the Beihai Town Central Hospital, and he was seen by Markarius.
When Father Ma saw the two Buddhist monks arriving, he thought they were specially invited by Beihai Town, and felt a little panicked. He thought that the Buddhist people had come to seize the territory before the orthodox religion had been established locally. This guy thought about it again and again, and decided to upgrade the prayers he recited to patients every time, and to flatter Zhao Xin at the same time.
"Lord, please save your people and bless your inheritance. Give the pious king Zhao Xinke victory over Yi Di..."
At the same time, thousands of miles away in St. Petersburg, because of a person and an unexpected letter, the Queen, who had no time to visit, turned her attention to the Far East.
Ivan Jacobi is really ambitious now. Sitting on the armchair of his official residence, he seems to have seen his future. The ladies in the Winter Palace will embrace him like stars and kiss the back of his hand; the dream of the Jacobi family will come true in his hands.
"Amur and Nerchinsk, those are the inherent territories of us Russians! Ivan, remember, one day you must take back the vast basin of the Amur River! Open a direct outlet to the Pacific Ocean for the Empire and the Queen .”
The words of his father Fjakobi have always been in Ivan's mind. Now is your chance! Ivan Jacobi seems to have seen that his name will resound throughout the Romanov dynasty, and at the same time, he will also adorn the queen's crown with a dazzling gem, the Amur River!
In August last year, the Qing emperor stopped the rhubarb trade in Kyakhta for the third time and banned smuggling, which caused huge economic losses to Tsarist Russia. Catherine II of Russia ordered Ivan Jacobi to negotiate with Qing officials in order to restore trade between the two sides.
However, Ivan Jacobi only wanted to wait for an opportunity to invade, and he did not care whether trade could be restored. By the end of August, a letter unexpectedly sent from Beijing to Irkutsk via Kyaktu made his eyes light up. Coupled with the mutual confirmation of the news from the Mongolian border residents, Ivan Jacobi felt that he The opportunity has come!
Two days later in the morning, Count Mujin led Ivan Jacobi to meet with Queen Catherine II.
Different from folk descriptions, Catherine II was not tall, just medium to short, with a slightly stout body, a ruddy complexion, and a pair of brown eyes with blue light. Because the Queen always holds her head high, has plump breasts, and combs her hair upward, people always overlook her height.
"Thank you very much for your invitation, my Majesty!" In the reception room, Ivan Jacobi bowed respectfully to Catherine II.
Catherine II's eyes were clear and she smiled: "Dear Ivan, I heard that you have something to report to me about the Qing Dynasty. Has Kyakhta's trade resumed? I hope what you brought is not bad news. "
Last year, in 1784, a group of Chinese merchants were trading in northern Xinjiang, but they were robbed by ethnic minorities on the Russian border and suffered huge losses. The robber was later arrested and brought to justice. China and Russia held a joint trial and decided to impose a fine ten times the amount of the goods. However, Russia later acted lightly without notifying China, and Qianlong ordered the suspension of Kyakhta trade last year. This period was the most profitable period for Tsarist Russia, with annual trade profits reaching millions of rubles, resulting in huge economic losses.
"Your Majesty, Bishop Joachim Shishkovsky, the head of our mission in China, has sent back a very important letter."
"Oh? A letter can make the governor of the imperial province rush back to St. Petersburg? Then I want to see it." Catherine II's eyes became a little sharp.
So Ivan Jacobi took out the letter sent by Joachim Shishkovsky to the metropolitan, and handed it to the empress by Count Mujin.
The content of the letter is not long. The first part is about Joachim Shishkovsky talking about his life in Beijing, and the second half is about reminiscing about the old days with the metropolitan. (See Chapter 213)
"Ivan, I really don't see what's important about this letter. Although at the end of the letter he mentioned the war between us and the Poles more than a hundred years ago." Yekaterin Na II threw the letter on the table, looked at Ivan Jacobi and said, "Can you explain it to me?"
Ivan Jacobi said respectfully: "Your Majesty, our spies in the Qing Dynasty have returned the news. Last year, the Qing Emperor fought two battles with a group of rebels entrenched in the Far East. They suffered heavy losses. Their garrison troops in the Far East have been destroyed." Run out."
"Oh?" Catherine II's eyes lit up, and she looked at Earl Gold.
Earl Mu Jin bowed and said: "There is indeed this rumor, but it has not been confirmed yet. My Majesty."
Catherine II nodded and motioned for Ivan Jacobi to continue. I heard the other party say again: "This letter was sent from the capital of the Qing Dynasty in September last year. The reason why the bishop mentioned the war more than a hundred years ago in the letter was actually to imply that the Qing emperor suffered a great defeat. , and at the same time lost territory in the Far East; and the Sweden mentioned in the letter, my Majesty, refers to the opportunity of the empire!"
A smile appeared on the corner of Catherine II's mouth. She thought for a while and nodded: "So Ivan, you came to me hoping that I would restart that plan?"
Ivan Jacobi said: "Your Majesty, I once wrote to the Privy Council, asking them to send reinforcements and transport a batch of weapons and equipment. However, I did not receive a reply."
Ekaterina got up and walked to the window, looking at the heavy snow outside the window. After a long time, she called out the door: "Olov."
As soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged officer opened the door and came in, bowed and said: "Please give me your orders, my majesty."
"Notify everyone on the military committee, as well as Miller, that we are going to discuss the plan he made."
Orlov was a little confused and immediately asked: "Miller? Is it the Miller from the Royal Academy of Sciences?"
"it's him."
"Where's the time?"
"Three days later!"
It is said that Catherine II, who came to power through a coup, never lacked a group of militants around her. Although the Russo-Turkish war is imminent, she is not afraid of launching another foreign war.
In 1763, the second year after Catherine II ascended the throne, this ambitious queen began to launch a military attack on the Qing Dynasty; and the cause of the attack was the interruption of Kyakhta trade.
At that time, a group of Cossack bandits fled into the outer northeast and entered the Karen area of Mongolia, burning, killing, looting, and conducting private trade. Qianlong was furious and shut down the Kyakhta trade. This was the first time the market was closed since Qianlong ascended the throne, and it lasted for seven years. It eventually led to huge losses in the fur and tea businesses of Russian merchants and nobles, and also caused a large number of merchants living in Siberia to go bankrupt, causing extreme losses. Big panic.
Catherine II decided to invade the Far East at that time. She changed the original border military system and authorized the Special Military Office under the Military Commission to handle China's border affairs. In the same year, she also ordered Harald Miller, a foreign academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences and a sixth-class civil servant, to draft an "Opinion on the War with China."
After more than two years of careful preparations for war, Russian spies discovered that the Qing Dynasty had no intention of using force against Russia, so the Privy Council asked the Queen to peacefully resolve the Sino-Russian border defense. In view of preparing for the fifth war against Turkey, Catherine II Having no time to look eastward, and considering Kyactu's huge income, he suspended military operations against China and avoided the risk of fighting on two fronts at the same time.
After the resumption of the customs policy seven years later, the trade volume between the Qing Dynasty and Russia showed a sharp increase. The average annual transaction volume was 2.3 million rubles, an increase of 70% compared with before the seclusion.
The time came three days later.
In a large conference room in the Winter Palace, more than a dozen people including Catherine II, members of the Privy Council and Military Council, Ivan Jacobi, the Governor of Irkutsk, gathered together. Miller, the historian from Germany, was describing the original plan.
"Your Majesty, gentlemen, the empire has been bullied by the Qing people for a long time and it is unbearable. If we want to launch a war to avenge our hatred, we must attack resolutely and decisively. I personally have no doubt that the empire will be able to win the war. Get the expected victory!”
The bullying Miller refers to is actually the fact that the Manchus regarded themselves as the supreme dynasty of heaven and never treated the Tsarist Russians with pretense.
(Don’t be surprised, this was how the Manchu Qing Dynasty was like in the early and middle periods. They punished Tsarist Russia through three Kyakhta trades, and at the same time used military means to deal with the Junggar tribe supported by Tsarist Russia.)
General Springer, who was in his fifties, stood up and said: "The so-called Treaty of Nerchinsk is unequal! The national boundaries between the two countries were drawn at that time because of the force of the Qing people. Their plenipotentiary minister came The number of troops brought to the meeting was as many as 30,000, and our ambassador only brought three regiments of troops. At that time, we were heavily surrounded and had to give in. This was really a humiliation for the empire! Nerchinsk and the Amur River We must take back the river basin!"
Catherine II nodded and said: "How has the Cossack Musketeers been doing over the years?"
General Springer said: "Your Majesty, our Transbaikal Musket Corps has recruited 25,000 well-trained warriors! At present, the horses have enough food and grass, and they only need to replenish weapons and ammunition to set off immediately!"
Count Mu Jin said: "Twenty thousand? No, General, I think ten thousand Cossacks are enough!"
Ivan Jacques stood up and said: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, I suggest that starting from this spring, the sixteen preparation plans in the plan should be immediately launched. Send personnel into the lower reaches of the Amur River and Ussuri River to fight against the rebels who have defeated the Qing army. Bandit armed forces are recruiting."
The sixteen preparation plans he mentioned include large-scale immigration to border areas; establishing military grain transportation channels and a series of large granaries; establishing a local food collection mechanism to provide nearby ships, salt, military uniforms, and fodder needed for combat wait. At the same time, they also wanted to win over the Mongolian princes, publish leaflets in Mongolian, instigate tribes to rebel and submit to Russia, and organize the Inner Mongolian and Tungus people into military organizations.
A Duke in the Privy Council frowned and said: "Then what is our main direction of attack? Is it Mongolia or the Amur River?"
"Pa!" Ivan Jacobi slapped the table excitedly. Then he remembered that Catherine II was present, so he bowed to apologize and said excitedly: "Amul! It must be Amul!"
Earl Mujin said: "I suggest that we use Nerchinsk and Selenge as the main attack directions, and at the same time launch an offensive in the spring, taking the occupation of the north bank of the Amur River as our main goal in the first step."
Having said this, Count Mujin spread out a map of the outer northeast on the table, pointed at it and said: "We need to gather ten regular regiments, two Cossack regiments and a large number of armed Tunguskas in Nerchinsk. people. This force will be divided into two groups, take boats all the way down the Amur River, wipe out all the Chinese villages along the way, and at the same time use siege artillery to destroy the city of Aihui, and then go straight to the mouth of the Songhua River. All villages along the way must also be destroyed.
After that, we will send troop transports to the mouth of the Heilongjiang River and sail northward by sea to Utiburg or Okhotsk. The main force will return to Yaksa City, while building fortresses, cultivating the land, and spending the winter there.
The other route will cross the Ergun River and go south, advance to the Hailar River, and use artillery to bombard the newly built Chinese city. Then we will set out from the city to occupy all the land up to the Xing'an Mountains and the Amur River.
In this way, we can also attract local border tribes to become Russian citizens, and then return to the Ergun River to spend the winter. "
Everyone thought for a while and nodded in agreement.
At this time, the German Miller said again: "What Earl Mujin said was just a tentative attack. Next, we will build a castle and station troops in Aihui, and build colonial settlements along the river. In the future, we should build a large number of colonies in the entire north of the Amur River. We chose suitable locations along the bank (from the mouth of the Ergun River and even all the way to the Zeya River) to build a number of forts and villages. This established our unyielding stance when concluding a peace treaty with the Qing Dynasty in the future, and we must make the Amur The river became the border between the two countries.”
Catherine II looked at everyone present with a smile and asked: "With the first and second steps, is there a third step?"
Ivan Jacobi bowed and said: "As long as we can get the mouth of the Amur River, we can open up the supply line to Kamchatka. Our spies in the Qing Dynasty once secretly inspected the waterway of the Songhua River. Take a boat up the Songhua River. Okay, go wherever you can and level everything there!"
Looking at the group of enthusiastic warmongers in front of him, the Duke of the Privy Council frowned and said, "What if the Qing Kingdom counterattacks?"
Ivan Jacques' eyes were as red as a hungry wolf, and he said resolutely: "It's impossible. As long as we can contact the rebels, the Qing's rule here will cease to exist!"
Zhao Xin, who was thousands of miles away at this time, could not have imagined that the emergence of Beihai Town would actually advance the time for Tsarist Russia to attack the Northeast!
