Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 498 The visit of the Jews
After defeating Yeniseysk, Zhao Xin did not return to Beihai Town, but stayed.Of course, if he really wanted to go back and see his wife and children, it wouldn't be a problem, and it would only take two or three days to sneak back and forth.

Unlike the last time when only a piece of the Transbaikal region was missing, the result of the "Battle of Usolye" this time will cause Tsarist Russia to lose tens of millions of square kilometers of territory east of the Yenisei River, let alone Zhao Xin's next step. Engaging in the "Siberian Cossack Kingdom" will push the borders of Tsarist Russia back to the Ural Mountains.

You must know that starting from Ivan IV in the sixteenth century, Tsarist Russia spent nearly 200 years gradually occupying a vast area from the Ural Pass to Lower Kamchatka.Countless Cossacks' painstaking efforts to expand eastward have been completed in just two years. No one can accept this change!
Not to mention the Ural Mountains, even if the middle line of the Yenisei River is used as the border, Catherine II and the Russian Senate will never agree.

Although Rumyantsev's 60 troops failed, the core military strength of the Tsarist Russian Empire was not hurt.Not to mention the 10,000 standing army of the Tsarist Russian Empire, the Ekaterina Army and the Ukrainian Army under the command of Potemkin alone have a total of [-]+, and they are all elite troops that have fought against Turkey for many years.

According to the history of another time and space, the sixth Russo-Turkish war is still more than a year away from the end.This year's Izmail battle is already imminent, and it will definitely be fought.The question is whether the next step for the Russian army is to forcibly cross the Danube and continue to expand the results of the battle, or to turn around and fight the North Navy to the death?
If the Russian army stops at the Izmail Fortress and then ceases the war with Turkey, then Crimea and Georgia, which are already at your fingertips, and the outlet of the Black Sea will all be given up. Ekaterina II never forgets to dominate Heihai can only wait until the outcome is determined with Beihai Town.

If the old lady insisted on finishing the war with the Turks, then Beihai Town still had more than a year to prepare.How about inciting Turkey to stir up again?However, Beihai Town has no contact with Turkey at all, and needs to establish contact.

The old lady in history died of illness in 1796 at the age of 67.The death of Potemkin next year will deal a heavy mental blow to her.But now Zhao Xin is not sure whether Potemkin will die due to a relapse of his old illness. After all, if the Russo-Turkish war is not fought, Potemkin may not go to Iasi, and he will not die suddenly of a fever.

Considering Siberia's water and land transportation routes, the Russian army will definitely build an advance base based on the Ob River more than 600 kilometers away. In this way, Krasnoyarsk will be the first front line, followed by Yenisesk.

Did not say, preparation is the first.However, the Yenisei River Basin is not the vast and sparsely populated Transbaikal close to Khalkha. Russian settlers from Yeniseisk or Krasnoyarsk must be blasted away to prevent military secrets from being leaked.

As a result, Zhao Xin and Jiu Zang started their operations almost at the same time.They first checked the population and housing situation of the residents in the city, registered them one by one, and then planned to expel the residents in the city.

During the sweeps of the two towns, a special group emerged.They sent two representatives to the military control committee to ask Zhao Xin, and offered to serve for the Beihai Navy as long as they could stay.

"Are you all Jews?" Zhao Xin looked at the two bearded men standing in front of him, thinking that this is really troublesome.

"Yes, Your Excellency." The two wearing white hats bowed to Zhao Xin at the same time, and then one of the elders introduced himself: "I am Rabbi Ilya Rosner, this This is Joseph Bowie."

Zhao Xin showed a surprised expression, thinking that a rabbi also came.He casually pointed to the two chairs opposite and said, "Please sit down and talk."

Ilya and Joseph looked at each other in surprise. They were not qualified to sit in front of Tsarist Russian officials before.So Ilya said with some embarrassment: "Your Excellency, let's talk standing up."

A sneer appeared on the corner of Zhao Xin's mouth, and he continued: "But I don't want to talk to you with my neck up."

As soon as this remark came out, the two Jews had to carefully sit next to the chairs, not even daring to lift their heads.

"Tell me, what do you want from me?"

As a rabbi, Ilya hesitated for a moment, and said, "Actually, we are here today to represent the local Jewish settler group. I hope, no, I beg you not to deport us."

"Oh?" Zhao Xin was stunned for a moment, thinking that his plan had been exposed?He asked calmly, "Where did you hear that I was going to expel you?"

"In the city, people in the city say so," the Jew named Joseph stammered with a sad face, "They used to do this in Lithuania. First, they counted the population, checked their properties, and then expelled them." leave the country."

His voice became smaller and smaller, until he could hardly hear him in the end, but Zhao Xin still understood.

"Your Excellency," Ilya thought for a while and explained, "My friend in Irkutsk wrote to say that you are all Chinese who call themselves Seres, and he told me that under the Chinese rule, there is no discrimination against Jews. .”

"Indeed, we do not discriminate against anyone. There are many ethnic groups and different religions under the rule of Beihai Town. Except for those deceitful sects, we all treat them equally." Zhao Xin changed the subject and reminded: "But for those who collude with foreign enemies, We will never forgive anyone who sells information on the garrison. Not only will their property be confiscated, but their entire family will also be deported.”

As soon as this remark came out, Ilya and Joseph quickly shook their heads and said no.

"What's your friend's name?"

"Basin Levertov. He's a respected businessman."

"So it's him! We're old friends." Zhao Xin laughed, and then asked the guards to bring cups of tea to the two guests.

After hearing this, Ilya said with a smile on his face: "Your Excellency, are you familiar with him? It seems that we came today at the right time. You see, we just want to get a place to stay. If you can provide us with shelter, I will On behalf of all the Jews in Yeniseysk, we promise that we will never provide information about the garrison to the Tsarist Russian government, and we will cooperate with you in the management of the local area.”

Zhao Xin was shocked when he heard this, and unconsciously narrowed his eyes.He showed a curious look, and asked with ease, "Can you tell me about the situation of the local Jews?"

"Of course, this is also the purpose of my visit to you. What do you want to know, Your Excellency?"

Zhao Xindao: "Tell me from the beginning, how did you get here?"

Ilya took a sip of tea, moistened his somewhat parched throat, then praised the tea in the cup, and said in a deep voice, "Excuse me, do you know anything about the Russian-Polish War?"

Zhao Xin shook his head, he had no interest in that bad thing about Poland.Wait a minute, don't you...?

Sure enough, Ilya continued: "Actually, both Joseph and I are descendants of Polish prisoners of war, and some of us are from Lithuania."

According to Ilya, the Jews first appeared in Siberia in the seventeenth century. They were prisoners of war in the two Russian-Polish wars. They were sent to this "farmland" at the beginning. After the war, according to the peace concluded between Russia and Poland Treaty, Tsar Mikhail also promised to "unconditionally release everyone", of course this is impossible.

By 1721, Tsarist Russia officially implemented an anti-Semitic policy.At that time, as long as the Russian army captured a Polish town, all the captured Jews were immediately executed.Even in a time when Jewish policies were relatively lenient, they were deported.In this way, by 1727, there were no Jews in Little Russia (Ukraine).

Of course, it is impossible to kill all of them. Many Jews were exiled to Siberia. They engaged in business, farming and handicrafts as "exiles, convicts, and illegal residents".As for the Jews who came to Siberia as free people, there were also "brewers" among them. They were experienced and highly skilled, so they became useful to the Tsarist Russian government.

According to Ilya, there are more than 700 Jewish groups in Yeniseysk, and there are less than [-] households in total.

After listening to Ilya's narration, Zhao Xin nodded slightly, and then asked the guard to get some snacks for them to enjoy.Seeing that Zhao Xin was in a good mood, Ilya and Joseph talked more.

"What do you do with your wives? Do you marry a Jewish girl or a native?"

Joseph smiled bitterly and said, "Who doesn't want to find a girl from our own clan? But faith. The local government has a law that those who don't join the Orthodox Church cannot marry a Russian girl. What can we do? We can only save a sum of money and ask a matchmaker to go to the west of the Ural Mountains to marry a girl. One came back. To be honest, the fee is not low."

Zhao Xin asked curiously: "Could it be that you can only marry a Jewish girl? What if you can't save money?"

Ilya, who is a rabbi, said: "It is not impossible for other ethnic groups. The Jews in Kainsk asked the authorities to allow them to buy Kalmyk women trafficked from the border like Siberians did, and then according to Jewish law Marry them, and the authorities agreed. But here in Yeniseysk, there are not many Kalmyk women, only a few."

Zhao Xin laughed when he heard this, and the two people opposite him also laughed.However, Zhao Xin suddenly asked abruptly: "How many local loan sharks are there?"

Joseph blurted out: "Fifteen."

In the blink of an eye, Ilya's complexion changed suddenly, and he immediately touched him with his toe. Joseph immediately changed his words, "No, it's Shijia. Look at my memory."

"Huh?" Zhao Xin narrowed his eyes, slapped the table and asked, "Is it fifteen or ten?!"

The back of Joseph's neck began to sweat immediately, and Ilya said it was terrible!
It is said that there is a very important reason why the Jews have been excluded repeatedly in European history, that is, many of them are usurers.

The reason why Zhao Xin asked this question was because he had this question in Irkutsk before.The Five Great Masters not only monopolized the local business, but also controlled the city's economy by means of usury.Those who borrowed usury were not only Buryats who drank their meager fortunes in taverns, but also peasants, and even some ex-government officials and Cossack garrisons also borrowed from the Five Greats.In this way, they will inevitably control the parliament and make the borrowers their vassals and their mouthpieces.

Beihai Trading Co., Ltd. has spent a lot of effort this year. By subsidizing the Buryats and those farmers who are honest in farming, and at the same time, the civil affairs department also provided people and supplies to support them, which helped them repay the usury. Get rid of the control of the five masters.

In fact, not only Irkutsk, but also other large towns in Siberia have this problem.The small Jewish brewers engaged in wine sales in Siberia opened taverns, and after they made their first pot of gold, they quickly invested the money in the usury industry.

The ruler of no country would hope that the usury industry will prosper under his own rule, so what are you waiting for if such behavior is unscrupulous?

According to the history of another time and space that Zhao Xin learned, when Polish Jews became subjects of Tsarist Russia in the eighteenth century, almost all of them were small merchants, renters, brokers, intermediaries or tavern owners.Among these people there are neither big bourgeoisie nor agricultural laborers and landowners.

However, 100 years later, the situation has completely changed.As of 1917, almost all important industrial and commercial sectors in the "Jewish Ghetto"—to some extent, even the entire Russian industry and commerce—were either completely controlled by the Jews or were under the strong influence of Jewish capital.Even the development and operation of the Russian banking industry is closely related to the Jews.

Under such circumstances, which regime's ruler is not afraid?

Zhao Xin didn't really care whether he believed in Christ or not.Chinese people believe in everything, and they don't believe in anything. They just hold their feet for a while, and if it works, it will work, and if it doesn't work, just go away.

However, the behavior of the Jews to control the commercial economy is really hateful.It is precisely because of this that Zhao Xin dislikes the five great masters.If the Jews in the Yenisei River Basin continued to do this under the rule of Beihai Town, it was obvious that they were playing against the regime, and Zhao Xin would not tolerate it.

When Ilya and Joseph were sweating profusely, Zhao Xin said coldly to them: "Go back and pass on my words to your community. I know that the Tsarist Russian government does not allow you to obtain land or be a farmer. But I don't have this problem here. , the right to use [-] acres for a family, no tax for five years, you can plant whatever you want. Beihai Town currently only collects taxes for commercial transactions."

"Honorable Your Excellency, this is really good news! I will tell the people in the club as soon as I get back."

"I warn you, don't think about getting rich from usury. If I hear that you are lending usury and controlling the city's economy, I will confiscate all your illegal gains and get out of here!"

Ilya's face changed when he heard this, and he hurriedly explained: "Your Excellency, how can this be illegal? Borrowing money is also a business."

Zhao Xin interrupted the other party with a wave of his hand, and said in a decisive tone: "You are wrestling with the government, understand?! Anesthetize those honest peasants and Mongolians with alcohol and devour their property. What kind of business is this? Pure Cannibalism does not spit out bones!"

He slowed down his tone, looked at the two Jews with a sneer on his face and said, "Don't think we don't understand finance, you have been doing this trick in Europe for hundreds of years, why don't you have a long memory! You don’t need to pay taxes. If you sell alcohol, you should go to the tax collection agency to report taxes honestly. The tax rate for what kind of alcohol will be clearly stipulated. Whoever dares to evade taxes will be punished by [-] times the tax amount, and they will also go to prison. As for commercial credit, it will be issued by a special agency set up by the government in the future, and what you do in Europe will not work here. Do you understand?"

Ilya and Joseph's faces turned pale when Zhao Xin said these words, and they kept wiping the sweat from their foreheads with silk scarves.The two hurriedly nodded in agreement, thinking that they had to go back and call other people to discuss countermeasures.

After the two Jewish businessmen were reprimanded and left, Zhao Xin got up and walked to the window, watching the Jewish community not far away in silence for a long while.

Unlike the previous tsars, the era of Catherine II was the era with the best living conditions for the Jews in Tsarist Russia.In the early days of the queen's reign, because the policy at that time was "embracing Europe and flaunting liberalism", Jews gained equal rights with Christians.

Moreover, because the Queen encouraged the development of industry and commerce, she formulated a one-, two-, and three-level merchant guild system, which broke the Jewish ethnic isolation and shook the compulsory binding force of Jewish associations. Many Jews made full use of their right to register as merchants and joined the bourgeoisie .

The "Regulations on Municipal Autonomy" promulgated by the Tsarist Russian government in 1785 gave Jews the right to participate in local management and hold public office.For example, three of the five families in Irkutsk are Jewish. They control the city council, and Sibyakov even became the mayor.

But the good times of Tsarist Russian Jews are coming to an end.If nothing else happens, Tsarist Russia continues to participate in the partition of Poland, and then there will be nearly a million Jews in Lithuania, Podolia, and Warren becoming subjects of Tsarist Russia.As a result, the Tsarist Russian government imposed restrictions on a series of issues such as the right of residence, property rights, industry and commerce, and the right to education of Jews.Jews will have strict restrictions on residency and movement rights, they can only live in 15 provinces, and they cannot live in rural areas.

Do you want to keep these people and let them play for Beihai Town?Zhao Xin couldn't make up his mind for a moment.

(End of this chapter)