I

  Chapter 897, 893 [To deceive the king, cut hands off]

   Baykov, who had been hungry all day, was finally taken to the emperor by the officer.

  He bowed his hands to the emperor as he did during training, but suddenly heard a loud shout: "Bastard!"

  The guards on both sides rushed over and instantly pushed Baykov to the ground.

  The clerk turned pale with fright, and quickly explained: "Your Majesty, this Raksha barbarian has a bad memory, it's not...it's not Honglu Temple's disorderly teaching etiquette."

   "Okay, let him go." Zhao Han raised his hand and said.

   Baykov thought he was going to be executed, and struggled desperately. He was let go again all of a sudden, which immediately made him confused.

  The official said with a bitter face: "How many times have I told you that you should keep your left hand out when bowing. Men left and women right is Jibai, and men right and women left is Jibai. Your etiquette just now is cursing the emperor."

   When hearing this statement, French and Persian envoys would feel that Chinese etiquette is complicated and changeable, reflecting the majesty and elegance of the Chinese court.

  But Baykov believed that the Chinese emperor was really a barbarian, and a small mistake would mobilize the army. He bowed again and said, "I'm very sorry, I misremembered."

  Zhao Han did not offer a seat, but asked: "The Rakshasa bandits in the north, have they also lost their way?"

  Baykov explained: "Your Majesty the Great Emperor, those robbers are called Cossacks. They were bandits who disobeyed the Tsar and were expelled to Siberia by the Tsar. The behavior of the Cossacks has nothing to do with Russia."

   Zhao Han was too lazy to debate this matter, and asked directly: "In Russia, what is the crime of cheating the Tsar? How should it be punished?"

   Baykov said: "It is a capital offense to deceive the Tsar."

   Zhao Han laughed and said, "It just so happens that cheating the emperor is a capital offense in China. You cheated me just now, how do you think I should punish you?"

  After the officer finished translating this sentence, Baykov was stunned for a moment, and explained bravely, "Your Majesty, the actions of those Cossacks really have nothing to do with Russia."

"Very well, you are continuing to lie to me. You are an envoy, and I will reserve some dignity for you," Zhao Han suddenly ordered, "All the other members of the Russian mission cut off their left hands so that the doctors can treat them well. The general officer , translate it to him. Tell him, you can continue to lie to me. If you lie to me again, your right hand will be cut off. If you lie to me twice, your feet will be cut off!"

  Baykov was wondering what was going on when he saw a guard leaving under orders, so the officer translated the emperor's words.

   Baykov immediately yelled: "This is an uncivilized behavior. Is China going to war with Russia?"

   "Didn't the two countries go to war?" Zhao Han asked back, "You can continue to deny it. After cutting off the hands and feet of the members of the envoy, it will be your turn to cut off your hands and feet."

  Baykov shut up immediately, he was just reckless, but he was not stupid, and a good man does not suffer from immediate losses.

Zhao Han said: "The two countries have nothing to talk about. I will ask Honglu Temple to write a letter of credence, written in Chinese characters and Latin, and you will bring it back to the Tsar. Those Cossacks will not leave Siberia for a day, and China and Russia will always maintain war State! I will order all vassal states to ban trade with Russia, including the Mongols you meet along the way!"

   Prohibition of trade between vassal forces and Russia is not aimed at Russia, but can launch war against vassals at any time.

  For example, the Durbert Department of Oirat Mongolia, if China plans to send troops to conquer in the future, the pretext for declaring war is to disobey the emperor's order and trade with Russia. The reason is very good, the suzerain country is at war, how dare you secretly support the enemy!

   "Take him down." Zhao Han waved his hand.

  Baykov was so hungry that his stomach hurt, he rushed back to Zhongshan Temple for dinner, but he heard groans from the room from time to time.

  He pushed open the door and saw that his regiment members were all lying on the bed, each with a linen bandage on their left hand. Obviously, the emperor did what he said, and more than a dozen hands have been cut off.

  When the members of the mission saw Baykov coming back, they all cast resentful glances.

  When the Chinese cut off their hands, they had already made it very clear. It was because Baykov lied to the emperor many times, and he refused to admit it when he was exposed face to face, so the emperor ordered their left hands to be cut off in anger.

  Why did Baykov cheat and anger the emperor, he himself had nothing to do, but we were all beheaded?

  In the evening, the envoys from various countries had dinner and wandered around in twos and threes.

  Hearing that the Russian envoy's hands were cut off, everyone came to watch, and then chatted and made fun of them in front of the Russians.

  In the eyes of the envoys from all over the world, the Chinese emperor is majestic and benevolent, and he has always treated them with great hospitality. For such a great emperor, the Russian envoy dared to deceive him many times, and he refused to admit it when he was exposed. Let alone chopping off a hand, even if he chopped off his head, he deserved it.

  The French envoys laughed even more. They had creative material, and they had something to brag about when they returned to Paris.

  In the future, in their novels, in the salons of Parisian ladies, there will be jokes about Russians. These savage and stupid Russians tried to deceive the clever Chinese emperor, and wanted to deny it after being exposed on the spot, so they quickly met the emperor's wrath.

   As for how they cheated, although they don't know, they can completely make it up.

  This story is enough to deduce dozens of versions, and it can be passed down from Louis XIV to Louis XVI.

  The French envoys ran to exchange views with the Persian envoys, and the Mughal envoys also came to join. They discussed the details of the story with each other. Don't ask how they knew it, but the Chinese officials revealed it privately.

   "Clang!"

  Baykov became angrier the more he heard, drew his knife out of its sheath and rushed into the courtyard: "Who dares to talk nonsense again, I will kill him!"

   Several Mughal envoys felt threatened and immediately ran back to their courtyard to get weapons. They surrounded Baykov without saying a word, their meaning was obvious, and they hacked him to death if they dared to bully him.

  If his team members are healthy, Baykov will definitely fight the Indians.

   But thinking about the group of wounded in the room, Baykov turned around angrily, and returned to the room, unwilling to see anyone again.

   "Haha, a strong and cowardly bumpkin." The French envoy gloated, and even looked at the Indians more pleasingly.

   They go to drink privately, of course, this will have to pay extra for the drink.

  Drunk to the brim, the Mughal envoy said that when they returned to Delhi, they would definitely ask the emperor to send an envoy to visit France. The French envoy also said that when they return, they will visit the Mughal Empire by the way.

  The more Baykov thought about it, the more annoyed he became. After a long time, he finally calmed down, took out a pen and paper and wrote:

   "Emperor Khitan was smart, irritable, and arrogant. He even cut off the left hands of the members of the mission because of a few diplomatic lies..."

   "The palace of Khitan is very large, it should be several times that of the Kremlin. The seat of the Khitan emperor is carved with pythons and leaves. The flag of Khitan also has pythons, which are four-legged pythons..."

"The capital of the Khitan people is not the legendary Khan Bali (Beijing), but a place called Nanjing further south. The city of Nanjing is very large, divided into outer city, inner city, imperial city and palace city. Listen to the **** French envoy It takes at least three days to walk around the inner city of Nanjing. It may take half a month to walk around the outer city of Nanjing..."

"The population of Nanjing City is said to be more than one million, which is one-sixth of the population of Russia. The Khitan Emperor announced in a newspaper that the population of Khitan has exceeded 100 million. Newspapers are very thin books. Every month Or published regularly in two or three months, with various news and literary works..."

"There is only one school in Russia, but in Nanjing, there are dozens of schools. The Khitan people here are very clean, and even the free people outside the city, many of them can read and write. I saw a farmer's son with my own eyes. Sit on the edge of the field and read while weeding and resting. I heard people say that a large part of Khitan's national taxation is used for education funds, regardless of gender, high or low, and all children must be forced to study..."

"In the city of Nanking, there are plenty of velvet, satin, corrugated wrought iron, precious stones, pearls, and silver. There are also all kinds of vegetables and fruits, including apples, pears, cantaloupe, watermelons, grapes, cucumbers, Greek nuts and Russian nuts, honey , beeswax and sugar are also abundant, and there are many other things that I can’t name. There is gold everywhere, so rich that it can flow fat. If Nanjing City is conquered, it can be enjoyed by nobles all over Russia for a hundred years..."

"The Khitan people in Nanking City, both male and female, are strong. Rich men always wear silk and satin, while poor men wear cotton clothes, and some people wear linen clothes when doing manual work. Women wear short jackets and skirts, and their hair They comb like Germans. Khitan people have very fair complexion, and their skin is delicate, and their pores are not large. Seeing foreigners, the eyes of the rich Khitans are full of contempt, while the poor Khitans are very curious about foreigners..."

"Many foreigners live in Nanjing, including French, Spaniards, Italians, Persians, Indians, Livonians, etc. It must be noted that the exiled British prince married his sister to the Khitan crown prince , the Khitan may support the restoration of the British prince. Also, the French king has a good personal relationship with the Khitan emperor. They maintain correspondence all year round and send artists and envoys to each other..."

  “There is a Buddhist pagoda outside the city of Nanjing. It is unparalleled in height, towering above the clouds, and it is hard to understand how it was built…”

"There is not only one city in Khitan that is as prosperous as Nanjing. On the way, I also passed Linqing, Jining, Xuzhou, Yangzhou and other cities, all of which have populations of hundreds of thousands or millions. According to the French envoy, they came from the sea. Yes, after passing through a series of big cities such as Guangzhou, Fuzhou, and Hangzhou. The size of each city is far larger than Moscow..."

"I bought a map of Khitan in the bookstore. This country is unparalleled, and what I have experienced is only a small part. Around it, there are dozens of hundreds of dependent countries, and Khitan often intervenes in the dependent countries wars, and always victorious. The powerful Spanish and Dutch fleets were defeated by the Khitan within ten years..."

"Khitan is invincible for the time being, but the distance from Nanjing to Siberia is comparable to the distance from Moscow to Siberia. Siberia is very cold, and the Khitan people who like warmth cannot invest too much troops in Siberia. I suggest to the Cossack expedition team, equipped with More powerful weapons, only in this way can we defend the Siberian territory of the empire, so as to obtain more fur..."

   "By the way, the Khitans seldom use gold coins. Their currencies are copper coins and silver coins, and the common people mainly use copper coins. This is a good economic policy. I suggest that the Russian Empire also issue copper coins to ease the financial crisis..."

   In fact, Baykov’s suggestion is not necessary. The tsar, whose finances have collapsed due to the long-term war, will issue copper coins across the country in a few years.

   Then, the inflation was dozens of times, and the citizens of Moscow launched a "copper coin riot". The tsar tried his best to suppress it, and ordered the abolition of copper coins the next year.

  (end of this chapter)