Li Mingxun looked at Li Decan and smiled and said, "Okay, after all, Is it my loyal minister? Is there an envoy in this Russian who is in Beijing?"

Li Decan said: "Your Majesty knows that Russia has been competing with the Empire for many years in the Far East. Because the population of the Empire is growing on both sides of Heilongjiang is growing, and fur merchants are also hardworking in the kingly affairs. Therefore, the Empire has turned defense into offensive. In recent years, the enemy retreated and we advanced, and the Empire has been able to go deep into the extreme north. When the Prime Minister was in charge of Yongning, he was preparing to defend against Japan and the Beiyang battlefields, so he had the intention of peace talks with Russia. However, for several years, the caravans and border residents on both sides have been constantly in conflict and could not be carried out. The two sides cut off their liaison. However, when the Empire revived the capital, it was very difficult to capture Russian priests and merchants in the capital.

"I know, you will choose one or two priests to go north to travel and find an opportunity to discuss peace, but why do you have to think clearly about the peace with Russia and why do you fight? Don't lose the watermelon and pick up the watermelon." Li Mingxun said, twisting his waist, and a few clicks. He waved his hand: "Let's go here today, go to Yongshou Palace for lunch, by the way, there is also this hat."

As he said that, Li Mingxun got up, put on the hat made by Li Xiangjun himself, and left the hall. Li Decan stood there, feeling his heart beating, his eyes staring at his toes blankly, and he didn't move. The attendant came and called out a few words. He had no reaction, so he had to push him. Li Decan was awake. The attendant smiled and said, "Sir, what's wrong? Are you feeling uncomfortable?"

Li Decan wiped the sweat from his forehead and shook his head: "After all, it's the emperor's dignity, I'm afraid in my heart."

"Oh, as long as you're fine, Lord President, Your Majesty has retired, are you......" the attendant reminded.

Li Decan nodded, took two steps out, came back, and asked with a smile: "During the accumulated memorials and documents from yesterday to now, Your Majesty has approved all the accumulated memorials and documents?"

The attendant smiled: "How can you do it? The Nanjing cabinet presented a draft on water conservancy, which was mixed with other thoughts. Your Majesty has put some effort into it. This morning, I've been busy with the cabinet. The President knows that Your Majesty has always been in the cabinet first and then the vassal court. You guys are probably going to be returned in the afternoon or evening."

"Hey, the president asked what this is for?"

Li Decan smiled: "Just remembering that the new people from Lifanyuan were Mongolian Taiji. They were unstable in their work and brought the memorial that they didn't have to submit to His Majesty. In order to avoid His Majesty's hard work, I wonder if it could be retrieved by my official. It was the one that came from the Heilongjiang Appeasement Zone and asked for credit for border merchants......"

Seeing that the attendant was a little embarrassed, Li Decan said again: "It doesn't matter if you don't take it, haha..."

The attendant was distracted and said, "Hey, what's the matter? Take this memorial back."

Li Decan was granted a general amnesty and suppressed the joy in his heart. After taking the memorial, the next sentence of the attendant made him fall into an ice cellar: "If you don't take it back, you will also send it to the Lifan Courtyard today. Your Majesty has already approved it."

When he opened the memorial, he saw a big quasi-character and a large vermilion seal. Li Decan's heart was cold. He didn't know how to go back to the office, and kept murmuring: "Fortunately, my master has made peace, and fortunately, my master has made peace."

Chang Audai saw Li Decan in the official room and hurriedly asked. Li Decan didn't say anything. Chang Audai picked up the memorial that had been approved by the emperor and understood it.

In fact, in the Siberian region, the empire gradually gained the upper hand in the struggle between the empire and Russia. The reason is actually very simple. The place where the two sides competed for power is closer to the core area of ​​the empire. Not to mention, along the downstream of Heilongjiang, there are two provinces with more than one million people, Haixi and Yongning, which means that merchants can provide cheaper goods, and the army can intervene in more manpower and resources. With the establishment of the Heilongjiang Appeasement Zone, the core area has once again advanced for hundreds of miles, and the advantage has become greater. Therefore, provinces outside the pass such as Yongning, Haixi and Liaoning are more inclined to continue war against Russia and seize more land. Of course, land is not valuable, but fur and sand are extremely precious.

Li Decan himself is also the main war. The reason is very simple. After he joined the empire, most of his official career was spent outside the pass, and the huge family behind him was the same. The large families in several provinces outside the pass, without exception, interfered in the two major industries of fur and ginseng and antler. As the empire began to authorize private mining to hunt for gold, this industry was extremely profitable.

Originally, Li Decan thought that the two countries had deep grudges and must be fought, so he followed the flow and promoted the development of this matter. Therefore, he not only instructed the fur merchants to talk to the palace of Empress Li, but also directed a drama of asking for merit. After all, the past wars with Russia were mostly between merchants and Russia, and at most the matter of Yongning Province. Li Decan hoped that through this matter, the emperor would speak out and determine the war relationship, and then he could promote the development plan, expand the country's borders, and make profits for both of them, killing two birds with one stone. However, he never thought that Tu Xietu's tribe suddenly collapsed, and it was a whole body.

"Sir, fortunately, you advocated demarcation of boundaries and peace in front of the imperial court, otherwise, this matter would be difficult to say." Chang Aday said with emotion.

"Yes, yes, you said, why are you so unlucky? As soon as I submitted the memorial, something happened in Mobei!" Li Decan hit his fist and kept calling himself unlucky.

"Sir, joking, if you are really unlucky, you will not be able to sit here and complain." Chang Aday responded casually, but this sentence really woke up the dreamer. Li Decan was sure that the emperor had already realized that he had instigated the declaration of war on Russia, but today he was in charge of peace in front of the imperial court. Although he had selfish intentions in front of him, he was also taking the overall situation into consideration. It was probably because of this, so there was no punishment. Since there was no punishment, this matter could be remedyed.

Li Decan coughed lightly: "You are right. The most urgent task is not to complain about yourself. I have to get the emperor's trust and have to think of a way to achieve the best of both worlds in relations with Russia."

Chang Aday asked: "Sir, I wonder what Your Majesty means?"

Li Decan repeated what Li Mingxun said, and he murmured: "Why do you fight with me? Don't lose the watermelon and pick up sesame seeds. I really can't understand it. Chang Aday, what do you think this means."

Chang Aday's eyes rolled, and after thinking about it, he suddenly said, "Sir, I think Your Majesty wants to negotiate peace, but I am afraid of losing money!"

Li Decan hurriedly asked, "Why do you say that?"

"Sir, think about it carefully. After this change in Mobei, the empire was willing to negotiate peace, but if it were not for this change, the Russians would really want to negotiate peace." Chang Adae reminded.

"Yes, yes, that's right." Li Decan nodded repeatedly. He had been working outside the pass for a long time and knew very well that fur merchants. Those guys went deep into Siberia in spring and returned only in early winter. Every time they rode horses and dogs, and the brigades were coming and going, ranging from dozens to hundreds. Not to mention those Russian merchants, even the Russian garrison had no choice but to use the fur merchant group at most. The empire was willing to accept surrender from the savage tribes, and merged households and people to enrich their military equipment. Those tribes of all ethnic groups were afraid of the power of the merchant group, and could not resist the temptation of various commodities, and were also effective. Therefore, Russia was worse than that of the Far East. Several times in the past, they also mentioned demarcation and peace. After all, only the empire could restrain the empire merchants.

But now the empire took the initiative to peace in order to avoid the remnants of the Manchu Qing Dynasty who supported the Russians in Mobei. You must know that the Manchu Qing Dynasty retreated to Mobei could bring with it a more advanced management system and mobilization system, but could not bring with it sufficient handicrafts and war resources. As long as the empire blocked it in Mobei, within five years, this quasi-firearmed army that had been in contact with advanced military will fall to the point of no difference from the Mongols three hundred years ago, but Russia can provide it with firearms and gunpowder to maintain the Qing Dynasty's combat capabilities.

From the perspective of the Russians, the best way is to argue with the empire and support the confrontation between the Qing Dynasty and the empire. Anyway, the empire has no way to block the transportation channels between the Qing Dynasty and Russia. This is also what Li Mingxun is most reluctant to see.

"Obviously, our emperor hopes to exchange peace for Russia to cancel support for the Qing Dynasty. For the Russians, there is a force in the north of the Mo River that is enemy of the empire, which can serve as a buffer zone between the two empires. This is the root of the problem and it is also the test of His Majesty the Emperor. I believe that if you solve this matter, the previous matter will be left unresolved." Chang Adayei promoted his own opinions and received Li Decan's praise.

Li Decan thought about it for a while and then smiled. Obviously he had an idea. Li Decan said: "The key to peace talks with Russia cannot be placed on demarcation."

"Oh? Why? I think both the other party and us want more territory." Chang Adayai was puzzled.

"Because this does not solve the fundamental problem, demarcation is not important, so we can talk about it slowly. The key to negotiations with Russia lies in the quality of the commission!" Li Decan was confident.

"Term the vassal? This is impossible, Russia cannot become a vassal of the empire." Chang Adei was incredible.

Li Decan explained: "Do you know that it takes about ten months to get from Moscow, the capital of Russia, to Beijing. In other words, we send envoys to contact Russia, and they ask their Tsar, and then send envoys to negotiate. When the result is achieved, it is very likely that two or even three years will pass, which is too late. Therefore, the negotiations with Russia must be practical and effective. Therefore, we can first truce and trade! In the process of trade, we can achieve the purpose of quota.

As far as I know, the Orthodox priests have special significance to the Russians, and Russia also has governors in the East. We can send envoys to Yakutsk, find the governor, truce with him, and then engage in trade, using the actual control area as the boundary in exchange for his promise to cut off contact with the Qing Dynasty."

"This is obviously not good for us. Even if we are demarcating the boundaries, we cannot use the actual control area as the boundaries, and the Russians' commitment is not worth mentioning at all." Chang Adei said.

Li Decan said: "You are right. In fact, it is meaningless to draw the boundaries wherever the boundaries are drawn. Fur merchants are armed caravans, while Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, so there is no way to establish boundaries. As for the guarantees of the Russians, hostages must be used as guarantees for their effectiveness. For example, we can only choose a trading port, and then we can choose Humal, the northernmost city in the empire. We can ask the Siberian Governor to send envoys, the priests are stationed in Humal City, and then let their merchants go to Humal trade once a year. The second wave of merchants arrives, and the first wave of merchants can leave. In this way, we will always have a group of merchants, priests and envoys as hostages. As long as we find any traces of Russia's support for the Qing Dynasty, these hostages will be executed immediately."

"What if the Russians don't agree?" Chang Aday asked.

Li Decan laughed: "If you don't agree, declare war. What else can I say? Your Majesty's purpose is to weaken the power of the Qing Dynasty as much as possible and avoid Russia's support. But it does not mean that Russia will give them support. We cannot destroy the Qing Dynasty. Chang Ade, you should know that the most support from the Russians is only a few thousand guns. This is not enough to change the power balance between the enemy and us."

"But your Majesty advocates..."

Lee Decan said: "Your Majesty is indeed a reconciliation, but he will not swallow bitter fruit. In fact, this is the best way I can think of. If the Russians disagree, it is to ignore our kindness. If they agree and go back on their word, it is to tear up the covenant. We can all give an explanation to the House of Parliament and the Senate."

"Maybe you are right, what Your Majesty asked for is an explanation." Chang Adei had no choice but to say.

Li Decan had no choice but to sigh that Chang Ade was still young. He signaled Chang Ade to sit down and said, "I remember that during the Shunzhi period of the pseudo-Qing Dynasty, Wei Lat, Yarkand Khanate, and Hoshuot Khanate all sent people to pay tribute and pay tribute. Now that the new dynasty is first established, the Central Plains are innovated, and most of the forces of all parties will also send people, especially the Western Regions. Whenever they come, whether they represent the Khan or the chiefs of each tribe, they will treat them well. Regardless of their tribes or religions, they will report them. They will not only encircle and suppress the Qing Dynasty, but also take action in the Western Regions, first establish vassal relations and isolate the Qing Dynasty."

"Yes, my subordinates will handle it with care." Chang Adae said.

Li Decan reminded: "You don't have to worry too much about contacting tribute. During this period, you have made people pay attention to whether there are any merchants from the Western Regions from Beijing, Tianjin, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu. If you send someone to Shanxi, you will find a competent businessman who operates trade in the Western Regions. Any related matters will be intercepted and listened to."

"Sir, this intercepting merchants is harmful to the imperial laws and regulations." Chang Adae reminded.
Chapter completed!