New Shun 1730

After four inferences, the answer is ready to come out.

Elizabeth subconsciously shouted: "Holland!"

Hannibal subconsciously muttered in Chinese: "Nanyang?"

Bestuyev's reasoning sounds very reasonable, especially in this era.

Because in Europe in this era, soldiers from many countries were like slaves to the monarch and could be rented out to make money.

Just like when the War of Austrian Succession reached its later stages, the former elector of Poland and elector of Saxony rented out his soldiers to make money. The price of a soldier was 15 taels of silver, which directly increased the income of the family by 500,000 taels.

And now that flintlock guns have become popular, if a peasant is captured and trained in a barracks for three to five months, he can become a soldier.

As long as you have money, you can fight. Moreover, all countries can find mercenaries, and even organized field troops of various countries can become mercenaries.

In some countries, they are not afraid of spending money, but they are afraid of having no place to spend it.

As for Russia, except for a few short decades, the problem it has always faced at this time and will face in the future is lack of money.

poverty.

Bestuyev could think so, not only because he could get inside information from Hannibal about Liu Yu's contemplation of a coup more than ten years ago, and first-hand information about Dashun's foreign war, but he also had been with him all the time. related to the diplomatic way of thinking since then.

Historically, Bestuyev has been trying to sign a "Subsidy Treaty" with Britain.

Britain provides Russia with 300,000 taels of silver every year for at least five years.

Russia, on the other hand, has organized at least an army of 50,000 people to provide help to Britain when it needs it.

If Russia can send troops to Hanover to protect the British King's Longxing Land, Britain can pay an additional 1.2 million taels of silver per year.

If Britain and Russia reach an alliance and Russia promises to fight Britain's enemies and it is impossible to make peace alone, Britain will pay an additional military expenditure of 18 million taels of principal and interest, which will be paid in six years.

This is the reason why he is "pro-British". In order to use British money to cure Russia's poverty disease, the soldiers raised by British money can be used to eat the surrounding land at any time.

Moreover, in terms of grand strategy, there are no major conflicts between Russia and Britain. On the contrary, they can have a common enemy.

Of course, the historical subsidy treaty was not ultimately signed.

Because the British felt that there was something wrong with their brains if they gave the Russians money to raise troops during peacetime.

When we were waiting for the war to begin soon and wanted to sign with Russia, it was too late.

However, Bestuyev's thinking mode has already existed.

So he immediately thought of this situation, and immediately thought of another country that was rich and might have conflicts with Dashun.

Netherlands.

Bestuyev was the minister to the Netherlands. When he was in the Netherlands, the country was not as bad as it is now, and it was still very wealthy.

The Netherlands has always liked throwing coins. Throwing coins can solve many problems, especially when they are beyond their reach.

After finishing this imminent inference, Bestuyev added: "The situation in China is very different from that in Europe. Once attacked, full retaliation is likely to be carried out. In fact, even if what I guessed is true, , it is impossible for us to accept this money and go to war with China.”

"That's why he hopes that a more rational monarch will become the tsar. Because only irrational people, people who do not consider Russia's interests, can make actions that violate rational reasoning, such as going to war with China."

"This is also in line with what he told Lieutenant General Hannibal. He hoped that the Tsar of Russia would be a rational person who put Russia's interests first."

"Perhaps it was Lieutenant General Hannibal's introduction to His Majesty, or perhaps some of the intelligence he collected, that led him to infer that Your Majesty is a rational and perfect monarch who considers the interests of Russia. That's why he tried his best to participate in this A coup?"

Elizabeth solemnly said: "Of course I will inherit my father's will and put the interests of Russia first."

Saying this, I also have my own considerations in mind.

As for now, Elizabeth believes that Russia only needs to continue fighting against Sweden and wait for other countries to give Russia a price. As a force that can sway the balance, only when both parties are exhausted can the highest price be sold.

She directly appointed Bestuyev as Prime Minister of the Privy Council, just to allow Russia to take advantage of the fact that the Russian-Russian war has not yet ended, leaving a convenient door for both sides.

On the French side, there are the Marquis of Lachetadie and the Count of Lestock, both the French ambassador and the French nobles who followed her in the coup and had the merit of being supported by the dragon.

On the British side, there is Bestuyev, who served as a minister to King George II of Hanover for several years when he was studying abroad for training, and his pro-Britishness is almost written on his face.

As the two sides fought with each other, she, the czar, could strike a balance. She could not only prevent the pro-French faction from completely controlling the court, but also ensure that it would not slide too much towards the British.

Russo-French alliance?

Russo-British alliance?

One must choose between the two, because only by reaching out to Europe can one be qualified to share the spoils and become a big country that cannot be looked down upon and can be recognized.

If you don't reach out, you won't have any chips.

Only by extending your hand can you create chips out of thin air.

As for who to choose, it is not the time to place a bet. Moreover, Russia now has an almost perfect reason to drag it out, that is, "It's not that I don't want to participate in the war in Central and Western Europe, I am very interested. But the most urgent thing is that I have to deal with Sweden first."

The current situation in Central Europe is still unclear.

News just came from the front that the French army captured Prague and its momentum is strong.

The Franco-Prussian alliance really has no rivals in Europe at this time. The French army is traditionally very good at fighting. Prussia is also unexpectedly very good at fighting, and Bavaria is not bad either.

Austria is holding on again and not giving up Silesia, but it feels that if it holds on any longer, Vienna will soon be taken down.

Although both Elizabeth and Bestuyev have no good feelings towards Prussia and are extremely vigilant.

Also, although Bestuyev believes that France is the ultimate enemy of Russia's hegemony.

But in the current situation, standing on the side of the anti-Franco-Prussian alliance is to replace reason with emotion, which is purely a brain problem.

If Austria is dismembered, Russia can of course sign an alliance with France immediately and take a bite. Instead of foolishly going against the whole of Europe and fighting the Franco-Prussian alliance that has already dismembered Austria.

But as long as Austria is still breathing and the situation is not completely clear, don't easily destroy the relationship with Austria.

After all, the two countries still have to deal with the Ottoman Turkey together, and the two sides also have common interests in the Balkans. In addition, Turkey is still a long way from the so-called "sick man of West Asia". It looks scary after just beating Austria, so it is better not to turn against Austria.

Moreover, absolute rationality is a requirement for the "philosopher king". As long as a person is not absolutely rational.

In fact, Elizabeth hates Britain and Austria in her heart, because the forces of these two countries have firmly opposed Elizabeth's accession to the throne in the previous chaotic political situation in Russia.

The reason for opposition is also based on the fact that Elizabeth is the successor of Peter the Great's policy, or the representative of the Russian New Party.

An absolutely rational monarch may eliminate the influence of the previous succession palace fights after ascending the throne.

But this is not something that everyone can do. It is also understandable for Dashun: a certain prince was involved in the struggle for the throne, and some ministers opposed this prince. When this prince really ascended the throne, how many people could treat him like Li Shimin did to Wei Zheng?

However, in dealing with Dashun, both emotionally and rationally, Elizabeth tended to sign a non-aggression treaty with Dashun immediately.

Emotionally, Liu Yu was indeed "a timely help", almost single-handedly sending her to the throne of the Tsar.

Although it would not be difficult for her to stage a coup without Liu Yu, no one could see before and after, and this trick of turning icing on the cake into timely help was exactly what Liu Yu was very good at.

Rationally, there was no benefit in going to war with Dashun.

The most valuable thing about those barren lands to Russia at that time was the furs; and for Dashun, the most valuable was the farmland and the northwestern frontier.

There was no irreconcilable contradiction between the two countries.

Places suitable for farming do not produce sables, and places that produce otters are not suitable for farming; Junggar believes in the Yellow Sect, and the Lama class is very disgusted with Eastern Russia; Dashun wants a stable northwest frontier to prevent the emergence of another Wala.

As for Bestuyev's speculation, even if the speculation is true, Elizabeth does not think that this matter has anything to do with Russia.

This is different from taking money from the British to fight a war. Taking money from the British can occupy the surrounding land by the way.

If you really take the Dutch to go to war with Dashun, there will be no benefit at all.

Europe has European rules, such as hiring mercenaries from other countries, or even hiring organized field troops from other countries, which does not count as declaring war.

There are also treaty checks and balances between countries, because there is no power that can break the treaty, and there are unspoken diplomatic rules between each other.

But Dashun does not recognize these unspoken rules.

Even if Russia says that those Cossacks were hired by the Dutch and just set out from Russia. If this happened in Europe, it would not be considered a declaration of war by Russia against Dashun. But for Dashun, which does not follow European standards at all and has its own set of standards, this statement is no different from bullshit, and it will definitely retaliate by any means.

Once Dashun chooses to retaliate by any means, Russia will be very uncomfortable.

In Dashun's hands, there is always a problem that Russia is extremely worried about - the Torghut tribe on the Volga River.

Dashun certainly does not like the Torghut tribe. Historically, the Torghut tribe returned to the east, and it was originally planned to take advantage of the fall of Junggar to come back and grab territory.

However, if a war breaks out between China and Russia, according to Liu Yu's diplomatic methods, it is very likely that the Torghut tribe will be greatly supported, with money, guns, and instructors, which Russia can't stand.

Elizabeth glanced at Hannibal and Bestuyev, and said firmly: "For the sake of Russia's interests, I will never consider going to war with Dashun. No matter what conditions this hypothetical third party offers. We have no way to attack their hinterland, but there is still a group of Mongols on the Volga River. Compared with our compulsory military service requirements, Dashun's rule is more attractive."