At the beginning of the Great Northern War, there were three ambitious countries among the war. The first one was Augustus I, the Polish king who had already abdicated. He was the one who started the war and was then pressed to the ground by King Carl XII of Sweden.

The second is Carl XII. He ascended the throne at a young age. Faced with the siege of three powerful neighbors, he fought and fought left and right, forcibly transformed a Patriotic War into expanding territory. It was not enough to occupy Poland. He also had to conquer the entire Russia, and he was defeated by Tsar Peter.

The third is Russian Tsar Peter. He stepped on Carl XII to ascend to the throne of Eastern European hegemony, but facing a neighboring eastern country that was sitting on the mountain and watching the tiger fight, he could never accept Russia's violent expansion. In the end, he was forced to restrain his ambitions.

At this time, Tsar Peter had no ambition to dominate Europe and annex neighboring countries at all. Although he still maintained an offensive posture and used his huge army to continuously march towards Stockholm, he had essentially entered the stage of stopping as soon as possible.

The only thing Peter wanted was to swallow England, which had already eaten into his mouth, guard the fortress named after him, and the main transportation route to the Mediterranean.

Relatively speaking, the old William of Prussia, showed extreme restraint. His only purpose of participating in this war was limited expansion. Unlike other kings who invested all their own resources into the war, William of William, who had long raised a large amount of war funds in advance, used these resources carefully. He did not want to increase taxes to avoid affecting the booming industry and commerce in the country, nor did he want to mobilize comprehensively. In the past ten years, he has tried his best to stuff men into factories, but now he does not want to get them out because of a war.

Therefore, during the forty-two years of the empire, Prussia was half-hearted in attack. The Prussian army occupied Krakow and Warsaw, but did not show the intention to attack Russia, so that Peter could calmly attack Sweden and continue to deepen into its territory along the northern shore of the Baltic Sea.

On the contrary, after appearing in Warsaw, Old William began to use all his resources to contact the major nobles in northern Poland, releasing a large number of prisoners, hoping to form a friendly force in northern Poland. In the face of the rebels, he attacked hard without mercy.

The same is true for the new Ukrainian Federation. After a large rally of 100,000 people, I officially saw it in Kiev. The Ukrainian Parliament was established. The Ukrainian Federation planned to control its expansion ambitions, reviewed the aristocratic territories that joined the federation, the area where Ukrainians concentrated, and the aristocrats that could no longer coexist with Poland and Russia. Only such a territory could join Ukraine.

In June of the 42nd year of the empire, the Ukrainian Parliament held its first vote. Mazepa became the president of the Ukrainian Federation without any suspense. After the 100,000 people gathered, all the traditional nobles joined the Federation, so they naturally supported Mazepa.

But this was just an extraordinary meeting. Because the qualifications of representatives were not reviewed, and because the country had just been established and the census and tax payment were not done well, the earlier establishment program was not effectively implemented, and this was also agreed by Mazepa and Zelenko in actual operations.

In other words, Mazepa became president and got the approval of Zelenko. After becoming president, Mazepa appointed Zelenko as prime minister to deal with internal affairs and diplomacy, while Mazepa was responsible for military command. Mazepa, the interim president, only has three years term.

For some time after that, Zelenko truly showed his talents. He established a relatively complete new government and won consecutive victories in the diplomatic field. The Ukrainian Federation was recognized by a large number of countries such as Portugal, Genoa, and Venice. At the same time, the Ottoman Empire and Austria were also in contact with this country.

The Ottoman Empire welcomed the establishment of the Ukrainian Federation, because it undoubtedly meant that Russia had one more opponent, and this opponent happened to be between Russia and the Ottoman. The two sides did not immediately reach a diplomatic relationship because of some other factors, such as the Ottoman Empire hoped that the Ukrainian Federation would immediately send troops to annex Russia's small Ukrainian region, so that the Ottoman Empire would have no border with Russia, which meant that the Ottoman had one less enemy and could concentrate on dealing with Austria.

But this request was rejected because it was an imperial request, and Ukraine itself did not want to bear the pressure from Russia alone.

Another factor is the issue of diplomatic etiquette. As a big country, the Ottoman always showed superior attitude towards diplomacy in other countries except for empires and France. Treating the Ukrainian Federation more like treating the vassal states. This aroused dissatisfaction with the Ukrainian Federation, and even the empires that supported the establishment of the Federation were not so arrogant.

The attitudes of Austria and the Ukrainian Federation are very opposite. Austria hopes that the Ukrainian Federation can take Catholicism as the state religion, but this is absolutely unacceptable to the Cossacks. Similarly, Austria does not want the Ukrainian Federation to declare independence, but exists as a vassal state of Poland, nominally belonging to Poland, and in fact independent, but this is something that the entire Ukrainian Federation cannot accept.

Xijin.

At the intersection that was still far from Prince Yu's Mansion, Li Su's carriage was forced to stop because there were carriages in front of the palace. The carriages lined up to ship cargo boxes from the palace, and then rushed directly to the train station. Such a big move was because Prince Yu was going to inspect the remote and northern Kerry areas of the empire. It took at least three months, so the entire camp was busy.

"Li Su, aren't you going to Kiev? Why are you here?" Li Junwei was drinking tea and was a little surprised to see Li Su.

"I was supposed to take a boat this afternoon, but something unexpected happened. I'm here to ask Uncle Wang for advice." Li Su said.

Li Junwei said: "If you ask for advice, you can't ruin my itinerary. I'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Yes, yes." Li Su said.

Li Su took the tea handed over by the attendant and introduced the situation. It turned out that Tsar Peter sent a special envoy, who was the governor of the Russian Little Ukraine region and Lieutenant General Aprakhin.

Aprakhin is forty-four years old and is a confidant of Tsar Peter, otherwise he would not have held such a position. Moreover, he was not only a confidant, but also a brother-in-law of the former Tsar. It was precisely because of this relationship that the two met when Peter was young.

After the Three Kingdoms divided the Crimean Khanate, Russia established the Voronezh Fortress in the upper reaches of the Don River. At that time, Apraksin was the commander of the fortress and also served as the commander of the inland fleet on the Don River. Later, Tsar Peter took power, Apraksin became a naval general and expanded the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Odessa in the Little Ukraine region. Although it was just a fleet equipped with sail warships, it also laid the foundation for the Russian Navy.

"Apraksin arrived yesterday and wanted to see you."

"Then I won't see you. Didn't you have agreed to the matter here?" Li Junwei directly chose to refuse.

"Yes, so I took this matter over. I just couldn't figure out what he was going to do. I couldn't help but feel at a loss when I met, so I came to ask for advice in advance." Li Su said.

Li Junwei thought for a moment, then figured it out a little, and said, "The butt determines the head. What kind of official is the one who is going to do whatever he wants."

"The Russians have long wanted to build a Baltic fleet, and Aprakhin was the only choice, but the problem is..." Li Su had already thought so.

Two years ago, Peter sneaked into Inglia and established St. Petersburg, he was committed to establishing the Baltic Navy and fighting with Sweden. But the problem is that the Swedish navy was supported by the empire, with steam-powered ironclad ships and steam-assisted wooden battleships as their main forces.

With the technical conditions of other European countries, unless the Netherlands gives its own naval forces to Russia for free, there will be no chance. Therefore, Peter gave up. Li Suke did not think that at this moment, the Russians came to ask the empire to help establish the navy.

"That Apura... is pulling something. He has two butts. He is still the governor of the Little Ukraine region. This time, it must be this butt that determines his head." Li Junwei said.

Li Su thought about it and understood. After thanking her, she hurriedly left.

In the building of the Xijin Administrative Office, Li Su met Aprakhin in his office. Sure enough, he was not wearing military uniforms, but dressed up in an ordinary manner. While waiting in the office, he was fiddling with the huge copper globe.

"What, do you like this thing very much? Governor, I can give it to you." Li Su said.

After listening to the translation, Apraksin shook his head: "No, I just sigh that your country is really too big. I knew that your country was very big, but I didn't expect it to be so big. And you can only give me this globe. No piece of land on it will be given, so it means nothing to me."

"Okay." Li Su sat on the chair.

Apraksin said calmly: "Although you won't give me land, I want to give you a piece of land."

Li Su smiled slightly and thought that he was indeed guessed by King Yu. He said, "Okay, then sit down and talk about your little Ukrainian region. You probably don't want to give it to us, just let us take care of it, right?"

"How do you know I'm talking about the Little Ukraine region?" Apraksin asked in surprise.

"Just guess." Li Su said casually.

The so-called Little Ukraine area is the area between the lower reaches of the Kiev city of the Dnieper River and the Transnistria River.

When the Three Kingdoms divided the Crimean Khanate, the territory was divided by Li Junwei himself. He considered various situations and handed over the sparsely populated and fertile North Caucasus and the Crimean Peninsula to the empire. The more mature ones were developed, the land between the Dnieper and the Don Rivers was handed over to Poland, and then the Little Ukrainian area to Russia.

Moreover, the Don River, the Dnieper River and the Volga River are public waters open to the Three Kingdoms.

In this way, Russia can directly reach the Little Ukraine region through the Dnieper River. The reason for this division is to allow Russia to retain its power to explore the Balkans and also allow Poland to have land along the Black Sea coast. That is to say, Russia and the Ottoman Empire and the Austrian Empire are also directly bordered. If it is not divided in this way, all the land passages from Russia to Europe will be blocked by Poland, which is to dig a hole for the next Russian-Polish war.

At that time, the empire was still quite friendly with Poland.

Because of the fertile land in the Little Ukraine region, this area has been developed on a considerable scale in the past twenty years, and the nobles in Russia's previous wars were also enfeoffed here.

The Great Northern War and the establishment of the Ukrainian Federation changed the geopolitical pattern around the Black Sea. Although the empire prohibited the Ukrainian Federation from annexing the Little Ukrainian region, it is undeniable that Russia and this land were completely isolated. In addition, the Russian army retreated in Poland and the Little Ukrainian region became an enclave.

Although Tsar Peter regarded Inglia on the Baltic Sea as a necessary area for Russia's rise, the land on the Black Sea coast would not be given up if it could be given up. What's more, this actually concerns whether Russia can expand into the Balkans in the future and whether it has direct connection with the Slavic ethnic groups there.

Obviously, in the current situation, Russia cannot save Ukraine.

At first, Peter believed that this area would be annexed by the Ukrainian Federation, but found that the Ukrainian Federation had not been in trouble for a long time. At this time, Russia was even more worried because the Little Ukrainian region directly bordered the Ottoman Empire, and it is very likely that the Ottomans would annexed here. If that were the case, Russia might really lose this land forever.

After comprehensive consideration, Peter believed that if there was a country in this world who had the ability and willingness to preserve this land for Russia, then there was only an empire.

Only when little Ukraine is in the hands of Russia, Russia is the country along the Black Sea coast, a country directly bordering the Ottomans, and there will be competition for big powers along the Black Sea coast. In this way, Russia, as an imperial opponent, will have a strong competitor and find an opponent for the opponent. This is the usual practice of the Imperial Prince Li Junwei.

"We got news that the Ottoman Empire tempted the Ukrainians to attack the Little Ukraine. But obviously, the Ukrainians refused."

"Yes, this is His Highness Yu's request."

After hearing this, Apraksin looked delighted. The Tsar's speculation was verified. China was indeed willing to preserve this land for Russia. Apraksin continued: "Obviously, the Ottomans are ready to move. Russia needs your country's help in Little Ukraine."

"Tell me directly, your suggestion."

"Because of the war, many refugees and thieves came to the Little Ukraine area, which was full of chaos, and many of my troops were transferred away. With Russia's ability, it was no longer possible to fully guarantee the safety of the people here. Therefore, His Majesty of Russia's Tsar decided to invite your country's peacekeeping security forces to enter the Little Ukraine area."

"This is not all."
Chapter completed!