The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

Khmelnitsky couldn't help but want to sing a song, but the picture before him changed again. Then, he saw a big lonely figure on the grassland. Because of the distance, Khmelnitsky couldn't really see it, but he instinctively felt that it was himself. But when is this? where? Khmelnitsky can't remember very clearly.

The figure was wearing a tatar sheepskin coat turned out, without a hat on his head, and a lock of hair hung between the eyebrows, oily, and it looked like it hadn't been combed for a long time.

The figure is so lonely, so lonely, he hunched over his waist, like a defeated feat.

"Almighty God, where should I go? Where should I look?"

Khmelnitsky heard the figure talking to himself.

"what!"

Khmelnitsky shouted. He remembered, remembered, yes. That's me, the me after the defeat in the Battle of Berestečko.

In that battle, because he was taken captive by Muhammad Glyy, a heretic and perfidious person, during the battle, he did not fight with his Cossack comrades to the end. At this time, he had just been released by the Tatars and was walking on the road to Peleyaslav.

At that time, I was really hesitating. The power gap between the Zaporozhye Cossacks and the Republic of Poland is beyond my imagination. Even if I have defeated the army of the Republic repeatedly, when this country truly awakens, those nobles whose interests in Ukraine have been damaged will let go of their conflicts with the king. The contradictions are united, even if they unite with the Tatars, they are not their opponents. What's more, the Tatars betrayed themselves halfway through.

Khmelnitsky heard himself talking to himself: "Yuri, my son, how are you? My clerk (referring to Ivan Wigowski) are you still alive? Baohong, Shirko, Popovich...you guys are all cats, you should be all right."

While he was talking to himself, Khmelnitsky saw the person he was talking about appeared in front of him.

"Father, you are back! We are all waiting for you!"

Yuri Khmelnitsky exclaimed his son happily. The son's face was full of gunpowder smoke, his coat was black, and there were still blood stains on his chest and arms.

"Warchief, this scepter is too heavy, you should hold it."

Bao Hong handed the black staff to himself.

During his absence, Bao Hong, this Cossack eagle was elected as a temporary warchief. It is precisely because of his bravery and wit that the Zaporizhia Cossack's insurgents were not annihilated by the Poles and were retained. Tinder continues to fight. And now, the Cossack, who was born for freedom, has returned the scepter to himself, not greedy for power at all.

"Warchief, everyone has withdrawn to Peleyaslav. Comrades are waiting for you."

Ivan Wygowski, the little nobleman who came from a Cossack leader, kept things organized as always. Although he tended to negotiate peace with the Republic on the issue of Poland, and was not treated by other leaders in the Cossacks, his loyalty to himself was beyond doubt.

"Warchief, our blood is still hot, our gunpowder bags are not empty, our horses can still run, and we are all waiting for you to lead us and the Poles to continue fighting!"

Shirko, the legendary Cossack, once carried five small boats. A hundred Cossacks sailed down the Dnieper River and attacked the warriors on the outskirts of Istanbul, although the gap cut by the Polish saber on his face was still flowing. Blood, but the fighting spirit to fight has not diminished in the slightest.

Popovich just smiled foolishly. Popovich is his most loyal comrade-in-arms and his most trusted Cossack.

Khmelnitsky hugged them one by one. From their mouths, Khmelnitsky knew the extent of the crisis in the Cossack emirate.

Kiev, Chernigov, and other important Ukrainian towns have all fallen. The army of Yanush Laziviu who occupied Kiev burned, looted and looted the city, almost destroying the city. And the 120,000 insurgents, after the heavy damage of Berestekko, only less than 30,000 were left, and everyone was wounded. And the army of the Republic of Poland is coming in several ways.

Where should the Cossacks go? This question is again before Khmelnitsky.

"Warchief, warchief, I'm back."

At this time, the Archbishop of Jerusalem who he had sent to Moscow sent West back.

In fact, as early as the beginning of the Zaporozhye Cossack uprising, he let Pessi establish contact with Tsarist Russia. It was just that the Tsarist government at that time had not yet emerged from the shadow of its defeat in the Russian-Persian Morensk War from 1632 to 1634. At the same time, it had doubts about its own strength, so it did not respond immediately.

At that time, he successively won the battles of Corson and the Yellow River, and with the help of the Crimean Tatars, he thought that he was full of wings, so he did not actively strengthen the relationship with Moscow.

At the end of the siege of Zbarazh, the Tatars once again betrayed him, and Khmelnitsky finally understood that the pagans were unreliable, and he reconnected with Tsarist Russia.

After several twists and turns, Pessi brought back the message that the Russian Tsar and Duma were willing to form an alliance with the Cossacks. Previously, the difference in asking prices between the two parties was too great, and there has been no agreement.

"Great!" Shirko exclaimed happily. He is an active pro-Russian faction among the Cossacks, and this will finally get what he wanted.

Ivan Wigowski was silent. Bao Hong asked bluntly: "What are the conditions for the czar?"

Pessi glanced at Bao Hong~www.readwn.com~ and then at Khmelnitsky, and then came up with the agreement.

The content of the agreement includes: Ukraine recognizes the supreme power of the Tsar, but at the same time retains all the rights of an independent state;

Keep the Ukrainian Cossack system, Radha remains the highest authority in Ukraine;

The Cossacks have the right to choose Geitman, but they need to inform the Czar;

Retain the administrative agencies of the Cossack Legion, as well as the local administrative agencies elected by the citizens and peasants;

Retain Ukraine’s original fiscal and taxation system; retain Ukraine’s independent judiciary;

The Cossack privileges and all the rights of farmers and citizens are reserved. The Cossack army is not included in the Russian army, but is still under the command of the Great Chief, and the Cossacks are 60,000 people...

The agreement looks loose, but it hides two fatal points, that is, the highest authority in Ukraine must recognize the tsar; Geitman needs to inform Moscow of the visiting foreign missions and the results of the negotiations.

This will cause the Ukrainian people to lose their country and national independence.

Hearing such an agreement, Shirko, who didn't realize the seriousness of the problem, showed joy, and Bao Hong immediately walked away. Before leaving, he dropped a sentence: Whoever signs such an agreement is the sinner of the Cossacks.

But what could I do at the time? Without the help of Tsarist Russia, the Cossacks would be exterminated by the Poles.

The agreement of Tsarist Russia is like throwing a life preserver on the drowning man, saving his life, and at the same time waiting for him is an uncertain future.

Looking at the signing of the agreement and the bright red seal of Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Khmelnitsky took off the ring and stamped it on his name.

Contracting parties: Ukrainian Cossack leader Hemelnitsky and Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

The agreement is complete.