Xinshun 1730

Chapter 304 This year, the axis of the world is in the capital

Is Russia Mongolia?Or Byzantium?Or the West Country that Peter dreamed of?In short it is not yet Russia.

This is the historical doubt facing Russia.

Should the East and Central Asia be the direction of Russia's expansion?
Although Russia is still very chaotic and still does not have an orderly strategic direction and diplomatic strategy, many ministers in the Russian court have begun to vaguely feel that going east is a wrong strategy on the issue of the East and Central Asia.

In the battle north of the Altai Mountains, the reformed Qingzhou Army did not frighten Russia, but Dashun's logistical capabilities, which made Russia feel hopeless, frightened Russia.

It is much closer from Moscow to Ili than from Beijing to Ili.

No matter how capable the Qingzhou Army can fight, no matter how powerful the new army reformed by the Dashun Army is, it is useless without logistics.

During the Battle of the Altai Mountains, what the Russian elites saw was that as long as Dashun had the will, a field force of 2 people could be assembled on the Irtysh River, which was enough to guarantee its logistical supplies.

Of course, this costs money.But Dashun seemed to be able to afford it. At least at this time, the Chinese Empire was the most magnificent and heaviest crown in the world, with the most gold and silver on it.

The few special envoys who went to China before were full of praise for China's wealth, but what they saw was only the capital, and they didn't even go to Suzhou and Hangzhou.

Under such circumstances, the attitude of advocating compromise with Dashun gradually became the mainstream of the Russian court.

Rather than losing the Irtysh River in a war with China, Buryatia Mongolia, the fur trade in Kamchatka, and the Sino-Russian trade in the Selenga River, which brings a lot of income to Russia every year... it would be better Take the initiative to make concessions and make concessions on the issue of boundary demarcation in the northwest.

Several forts were dismantled and assigned to a buffer zone where no troops were stationed on either side.

Or, the eloquent diplomat, Count Andrei Ivanovich Ostelman, led the disaster to the south and signed a Sino-Russian non-aggression pact, allowing Dashun to go to the Netherlands, Spain, Japan, etc. Toss to go.

At that time, Peter the Great was so ambitious that he personally interviewed the Japanese businessman Chuanbei who drifted to Kamchatka, and established a Japanese language school in Russia in order to open the mouth of the East to the sea in the future and carry out maritime trade with Japan.

But now, this ambition is impossible to realize, and ambition has become a delusion of the past.

Stop losses in time to end the Fourth Russo-Turkish War, and take advantage of Sweden’s lack of preparation to preemptively attack Sweden; or let go of the Swedish issue and wait for the ally Holy Roman Empire to win Turkey in the Balkan battlefield and sign a treaty that completely obtains the right of passage in the Black Sea Treaty... On these two matters, the Russian court has not yet reached a consensus.

But the decision to let Count Ostelman visit China as a plenipotentiary ambassador was quickly settled in the chaotic court.

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This year's February in the Western calendar is the time for Dashun to celebrate the new year.

When the monsoon blows, missions from several different countries head for the same destination on sea or land in Europe with different purposes.

France sent a group of good shipbuilders, several civilian officials and designers of the Admiralty, to China by ship.

There, they will complete the implementation of the terms of the Sino-French secret treaty and help Dashun build the most classic French 74-gun battleship in the history of the world sailing navy.

As soon as they are built, they gain access to the new rifled gun technology.

The dream of France was finally placed on the European continent.

They believed that once Dashun declared war on the Netherlands and cut off the trade of the East India Company, France would probably take the lowlands.Cut off the Netherlands' important source of income, the Netherlands will be vulnerable.

Ten India and ten Canada are not as good as the lowlands that many French people dream of. For that, they can give up everything overseas.

Although, the merchants don't agree, but that doesn't matter.

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Britain bought about fifteen thousand pounds of various gifts and sailed to China on a sailing ship.

There, they will justify the French's untrue slander against them, and hope to obtain the right to berth at the Dashun port in the upcoming Anglo-Spanish war. In theory, Dashun, as a neutral country, prohibits any party from Britain and the West berth.

But Dashun's special status in Asia can make international law fart.

The British hoped to fool the Chinese side, and allowed the British and Spanish to park in China for supplies during the war. It seemed reasonable, but in fact it was a sideways move.

Because the British were driven away by the Dutch long ago in Southeast Asia, and there is no port.Spain has the Philippines, so it doesn't need Dashun's port at all.

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Portugal also sent its own mission, but the Portuguese were smart enough to wish to reaffirm Portugal's status as a tributary rather than as a diplomatic state.

The tributary state may still occupy Macau.

But if it becomes a diplomatic country, it's hard to say whether Dashun will drive them away.The visit of the French envoys to China this time brought great shock to the Portuguese. They have been dealing with China since the Ming Dynasty, and the letter that pretended to ask the Holy See for help to be baptized by the court was also delivered by the Portuguese. They never thought that there would be One day China actually considered the word "diplomacy".

This change made the Portuguese panic.

Dashun's ban on religion is strict, and Portugal, as a Catholic country, is too active on the issue of missionaries.After Dashun banned religion, a large number of missionaries hid in Macau, and some "martyrs" continued to preach in Guangdong, Guangxi and Fujian at the risk of being arrested and tortured by officials. This also worried Portugal.

They were afraid that Dashun would vent his anger on Macao, especially Dashun's opening and closing trade policy, which made Macao, a special existence during the Ming Dynasty's closed state, extremely embarrassing.

For Dashun, trade is dispensable.The business houses of various countries in Ningbo, Songjiang, Fujian, Guangdong, do not need to start from Macau.

In terms of religion, Macau has become a heart disease of Dashun.The dispute over Catholic etiquette has completely outraged the emperor of Dashun and Confucian officials. They are not allowed to worship the ancestors, the emperor, or Zhougong Confucius... This is not only a declaration of war against Confucianism, but also a declaration of war against the secular emperor.

Dispensable in trade, prone to heart disease in religion, the Portuguese panicked.

Diplomacy or Tribute?

Benefits are the most important.

The Portuguese wanted to continue to maintain their status as a tribute, so they fooled Dashun. Anyway, Dashun never asked Portugal for tribute.

In fact, they don't understand the meaning of a tributary state at all. Even though Macau has existed for so long, they don't know that tributary means the same status as North Korea.The change of the Portuguese royal family requires Dashun to send the government to canonize it. Before, it was just pretending to be deaf and dumb and not asking, but if you really want to be serious, it is not the same thing.

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The Dutch did not send envoys to China, because the Netherlands is now in an interregnum period. There is neither a king nor a ruler, and each province is in charge of its own affairs.

However, the 17-member gentleman group of the Dutch East India Company was also concerned about Dashun's diplomatic situation. Under the influence of Batavia Governor's letter, they decided that Dashun would go to war with Russia.

From the perspective of the 17-member gentleman group of the Dutch East India Company, this was an excellent opportunity.

In their instructions to the governor of Batavia, they believed that they should seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to go to war with Russia, and completely solve the redundant and useless Chinese problem in Batavia before Dashun had time to respond.

It is best to quietly send them back to Ceylon, Ambon, Banda and other places, and let these Chinese go to Ceylon to build fortresses.

When Dashun was at war with Russia, these Chinese were eliminated.Because of the unprofitability of the sugar trade, these people are likely to become "unstable factors" in Batavia.

If it can be eliminated in time, even if Dashun reacts in the future, it is impossible to choose to attack Batavia.Because there are no more Chinese there, it is impossible to control it if it is defeated, and there is no possible Chinese to lead the way when Dashun attacks.

It's just that such instructions cannot be written too clearly. If something happens in the future, someone will have to take the blame.

Therefore, there was no clear instruction, but some cryptic words were used to support Governor Batavia's decision.

In particular, he praised Batavia Governor's proposal of "legalization of private goods", thinking that since corruption and private goods in Batavia are inevitable, if it is changed from illegal to legal, then there will be no corruption and private goods ?
Only in this way can we sever the close connection between the company's Dutch employees and the Chinese.

As long as private goods are illegal, smuggling and private goods are inevitable, and this will inevitably lead to a relationship between employees and Chinese sea merchants.

This is the first step to expel the Chinese.

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Naturally, the Swedes also sent their envoys.

However, as far as Sweden is concerned, this is not the first time that Sweden has sent a plenipotentiary ambassador to China. In fact, as early as six or seven years ago, when Colin formed the East India Company, Sweden authorized him to be the plenipotentiary ambassador for negotiations with China. .

It's just that it was just for trade at that time, and Dashun's trade environment is a special free trade, there is nothing to talk about, and there is nothing to talk about.

As for the last time you went to Guangdong, you wanted to meet the emperor as a plenipotentiary ambassador?Colin has experience working in other East India companies, so of course he understands that this is an unrealistic fantasy. Whether he can see the Guangdong Jiedushi is still a problem.

But this time it was different.

This time, it was really possible to meet the emperor, or at least senior officials above the earl level.

The conspiracy in Stockholm and Gothenburg was effective. Carl Girondberg was sure that he could run the Congress. As a non-Minister of State at this time, he gave Colin, the special envoy, a bottom line for negotiations that could only be authorized by the Minister of State and the king.

And to ensure that when he returns to Sweden, the parliament can pass the amendments to the bill.

Bribery and lobbying may not mean the same thing, but at least it is similar in Sweden at this time.

The Swedes were instigated with populist vengeance, and the East India Company's Swedish shares were not large.

The company's interests may not be Sweden's interests, but they can pretend to be the interests of the Swedish people.

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In the boundless Siberia, Russian envoys are walking.

This is not the first Russian mission. After the Battle of Heilongjiang a few years ago, Russia sent missions, and Dashun also came to attend the coronation ceremony of the Tsar.

But this time, something is different.

Count Ostelman is not a duke, but he is much more powerful than those dukes in Russia. He originally wanted to send a duke there, but now he is replaced by a count, which shows that he attaches more importance to it.

Historically, this person and her lover were present when Empress Anna left her alone before her death.

Whether it is the Westernization Party, the Conservative Party, or the German Party, this time they are surprisingly unanimous.

Whether it's the trade volume of the Selenga River, the military strength of the Dashun Army after the reform, or the failure of the war against Turkey, or the threat from Sweden...

All in all, regarding the attitude of the East, the Russians let go of their party disputes and confirmed that Peter's Eastern plan was bankrupt.

Unlike the old Count Tolstoy who was forced to death by Liu Yu last time, this time Count Ostelman did not take the blame, but did real diplomacy.

All parties in the Congress, as well as the Czar, had expressly authorized him to make concessions on the demarcation issue in exchange for peace in the East.

An unfavorable treaty is like having a baby.

The first time, it was extremely difficult and painful; the first time was born and the second time was cooked, and the life was much more, and it was extremely smooth.

This time, don't take the blame.

On the contrary, in the extremely bad diplomatic situation, if a non-aggression treaty between the two sides can be signed, even if some land is given up, it will be a huge credit.

(End of this chapter)