Petersburg, Winter Palace.
"Grand Duchess Natalie Pavlovna, Lieutenant General Menshikov, and Ming Dynasty Ambassador Wei Yuanda!"
Following an urgent and fast roll call in Russian, Natalie, Menshikov and Wei Yuanda, each dressed in costumes and uniforms, were led by a Winter Palace guard wearing a wig and walked into the splendid throne. hall.
Tsar Nicholas I, dressed in blue military uniform, was sitting on the throne. When he saw that the little sister who had been deceived by Zhuge Weidao finally came back, a rare smile appeared on his face that was always serious and a little scary. . Mikhail, who was wearing a navy marshal's military uniform, stood beside the tsar and looked at his favorite little sister with a smile.
"Natalie Pavlovna, are you okay? Is your life in the Ming Dynasty still happy?" The tsar spoke very quickly, which made it even more obvious that he cared about his sister very much.
Natalie lifted up her skirt and curtsied: "Your Majesty, thank you for your concern. Daozi and I are very happy together. We are both very grateful to you for recognizing our marriage as legal."
The Tsar said: "That is what Zhuge deserves for being a Taoist... A military advisor of the Zhuge family. According to the conversion standards recognized in Europe, the status of the military advisor of the Zhuge family is equivalent to that of a monarch of a small country or a prince of a large country. In order to protect Luo Regarding the relationship between Cha and Daming, I must recognize your marriage as legal."
Although the Zhuge family has always kept a low profile in the Ming Dynasty, but internationally, no one thinks that the dozen or twenty guys waving goose feather fans in the Zhuge Army Corps are ordinary people - they are members of the same official party as the Zheng family. A dozen or twenty people collectively control the Ming Dynasty, the world's largest industrial power and most populous country!
Therefore, every member of the Zhuge Military Division and the Zheng Family Official Party will be treated as a "His Highness"!
Natalie smiled and said: "Daozi is fully aware of your good intentions, so he also cherishes the friendship between him and you...Similarly, he also cherishes the existing relationship between the Ming Empire and the Rakshasa Empire A friendship of more than a hundred years. In today's complicated era, this friendship is an extremely precious treasure for both the Ming Dynasty and Rakshasa. In order to maintain this friendship, Daozi let me and Mian Xi Lieutenant General Cove took the train and airship together and traveled from Daming to Rakshasa as quickly as possible, hoping to convince you to make the most correct choice on the issue of warship procurement!"
"What is the right choice?" the Tsar asked, frowning.
Lieutenant General Menshikov took the question, took out a stack of documents and several photos from a briefcase he brought with him, and handed them to the Tsar himself.
"This is..." The tsar took the documents and photos and looked through them, and found that those photos were all of the battleship Hero and the armored cruiser Hero, front, rear, left, right, top...except there were no I took photos of the underwater part and other parts.
"There are so many turrets!" The Tsar couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the photo taken from the air of the battleship Heroes galloping through the waves.
Wei Yuanda, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, immediately introduced: "Your Majesty, the Hero has a total of 12 280mm main guns. If it faces the enemy from the bow or stern, there are six 280mm cannons that can fire at the same time. If it faces the enemy from the side, it will fire at the same time." , the number of main guns firing simultaneously is 8!"
The Tsar still didn't show much interest...perhaps because he wanted it very much, but he still had to maintain his dignity.
Natalie was the one who knew the Tsar the best among the three. She had no father since she was little, and her eldest and second brothers were too old to take care of her. So she followed Nikolay and Michail Yin'er around. Seeing Nicholas's appearance, we knew that he was just coveting Constantinople, but he had not yet made up his mind to capture the city.
Although there is an international situation in which the world's great powers are fighting against the Turkish Empire, it seems that except for Rakshasa, no great power is seriously preparing for war? What's more, the arms embargo against Turkey by the great powers has not been implemented seriously... After the South Asian power India "regained its sovereignty", Indian cargo ships loaded with "Indian arms" passed through Su Yinshi in a dignified manner. The canal broke through the blockade of the combined fleets of Britain, France, and Ossia, and sent tens of thousands of tons of arms into Constantinople.
In addition, there is intelligence that the ambassador sent by the Indian Empire to Turkey is mediating, hoping to avoid a full-scale war at the expense of Turkey giving up its sovereignty over Greece and guaranteeing autonomy in Wallachia and Moldavia.
Once Turkey makes concessions, countries such as the United Kingdom, Austria, Prussia, France, and Sweden may change their positions... Of course, the British position is the most critical!
In addition to the possibility that Britain would change its position after Turkey allowed Greek independence, the marriage contract between Grand Duke Alexander and Princess Victoria was also a reason for Nicholas I to hesitate.
"Nikolai Pavlovich," Natalie looked at her third brother and said the words she had prepared long ago, "As the D-Tsar of all Rakshasa, your determination is that of all Rakshasa nobles and The determination of the people, your will is the will of all the Rakshasa nobles and the people. You have the full trust of all the Rakshasa nobles and the people... However, please do not betray their trust. Because in this Behind the trust lies the tremendous suffering that the Rakshasa people are enduring and will endure!
After living in the Ming Empire for two years, I already somewhat understand the thinking of the December D people, although their actions are completely wrong and will only make things worse. But their ideas make sense... Our people, especially the serfs, are suffering unimaginable pain from people in other powerful countries. It is their suffering that gives you and this country the opportunity to make a choice at this critical crossroads! But in Rakshasa, you are the only one who can make the choice!
But there are only two options before you, either... take Constantinople and its surrounding areas at all costs, and restore the glory of Eastern Rome!
Either give up the idea of territorial expansion and focus on domestic reforms. Rakshasa has vast land, abundant resources, hard-working people, and outstanding noble elites. The Rakshasas could live quite happily without Constantinople, but only if drastic reforms were carried out. At least abolish serfdom and grant land to farmers, just like King Zhuge Wuzhong did over a hundred years ago! "
"Shut up!" The Tsar was angry when he heard this - how could he compare with King Zhuge Wuzhong? King Zhuge Wuzhong was a "demigod", and he divided the land between the Manchu lackeys and the Manchu nobles. The heroes who followed him and Zheng Chenggong, Li Dingguo, and Li Laiheng to fight against the Qing Dynasty and restore the Ming Dynasty were either pirates or bandits. He is a Western thief, where is the land? The aristocratic serf owners in the Rakshasa Kingdom are all Rakshasa dignitaries who support the Romanov family. It is already difficult to liberate the serfs in their hands, and their land must be divided...
"Then please make up your mind and lead the Rakshasa people into Constantinople, the most sacred place in their hearts!" Natalie said, "Daozi has prepared a plan for you with a high probability of success... .. Of course, this is also an arms sales package.”
"Oh? What plan?"
"A door-to-door delivery plan of 9.99 million plus 6.66 million!" Wei Yuanda took the question with a smile and said, "The Rakshasa Kingdom can purchase 5 top-of-the-range Hero-class ships and 5 ordinary version of the Haohan-class ships. But the first ship The delivered Hero class can be further discounted, only 9.99 million silver dollars, plus 6.66 million silver dollars to buy the first ship of the Hero, and Zhuge Daozi will take advantage of this opportunity to sail around the world to give you these two warships. Delivery to your door... In this way, you will be able to get these two ships this autumn, and the delivery will be in the Gulf of Riga. And we will not announce this delivery, and you people will be able to take advantage of the winter Riga Under the guidance of our personnel, we learned how to operate the hero ship and hero ship when the Gulf was frozen and banned from navigation.
By next spring, the Baltic Fleet of the Rakshasa Empire will be able to send an expedition fleet with these two battleships as the core to suddenly enter the Mediterranean..."
Upon hearing the "999+666 free shipping" plan proposed by Wei Yuanda, Nicholas I's eyes suddenly lit up!
When Natalie saw the change in her brother's expression, she knew there was something going on, and quickly hit the rails while the railway was hot: "Nikolai Pavlovich, and two fast passenger ships carrying 25,000 tons will also come to the Baltic Sea with Daozi... .They can transport a division of Rakshasa naval infantry to the front line of the Aegean Sea at one time, and then make a sudden landing to seize key locations! The selling price of these two ships is also 6.66 million each!"
