Ming Zuo

Chapter 1743 Russia's Response

When the willows began to sprout, the news from the Far East finally traveled thousands of miles and was sent to Moscow.

Tsarist Russia finally paid the price for their extreme expansion.

The distance is too far, so they do not have too strict control over the Far East.By the time Moscow heard the news, the Wehrmacht had resumed its offensive after a winter's rest.

The Wehrmacht that took Yakutsk traveled all the way down the Lena River and spent a month pulling Zhigansk.

The National Defense Forces in the direction of Okhotsk began to sweep the Arctic Circle area.

Silvesk was discovered and the local Cossack expedition was wiped out.

When the other Russians marched towards the Zhenping Strait (Bering Strait), they collided head-on with the Wehrmacht.

Fighting broke out between the two sides in Lower Kolymask, and there was no suspense about the outcome.

At this point, the Russians' exploration to the east of the Lena River was completely stifled, which also means that this vast land has nothing to do with them from now on.

And what scares the Russians the most is the vicinity of Lake Baikal.

After the ice and snow melted, the National Defense Forces that captured Barguzin crossed the lake in three groups and began to attack Irkutsk.

Lord Andrei in Kilensk had no choice but to call for help to the rear over and over again.But the journey was too far, and the distant water could not satisfy the near thirst at all.

gram palace.

Alexei I looked at the letters from the Far East and found that this spring was not very warm.

"The undeclared war by the Khitans is a serious provocation to us. The current market has been greatly affected, and the collection of fur tax has begun to be insufficient. Your Majesty, we must respond."

Treasurer Bezinski is worried.

The situation in Russia today is very bad.

After 30 years of war, the national treasury has already been wiped out, and it cannot be recovered in a short period of time. It all depends on the development of the Far East to provide wealth.

Now there is a problem in the east, and Russia will soon be unable to maintain it.

Alexei I looked very ugly.

He was an ambitious monarch who wanted to build the Great Russian Empire.

To this end, he actively participated in the situation in Europe and made Russia very active.

As a result, during the 30-year war, Russia was taught a bad lesson, and the idea of ​​westward was completely interrupted.

What's worse is that domestic reforms are also not going well.

When he first came to power, he realized that the country's economy was in crisis, so he hinted that his teacher Morozov would come up with a solution.

Under the auspices of Morozov, the State Duma passed a new salt tax decree, which imposed high salt taxes on salt merchants.

This annoyed the salt merchants.

In particular, the salt merchants were backed by top figures, who quickly took the most drastic measures to deal with it.

The riot soon swept through Moscow, not only ransacked Morozov's house, but also killed the Duma clerk and courtiers.

The salt merchants also asked Alexei I to hand over Morozov, otherwise they would not give up.

Alexei I had no choice but to issue an edict to exile Morozov, which quelled the riot.

But the reform of the salt industry came to an end without a problem, and Russia's finances were still deteriorating.

One plan failed, Alexei I thought of other ways.

He intends to start with religion.

In the same year, Nikon, a monastery abbot from near Arkhangelsk, came to Moscow and was received by Alexei I.

No one knows what the two talked about, but Nikon remained in Moscow and was appointed Grand Priest of the Novospasssky Monastery.

Nikon stepped onto the political stage and began to advocate the unification of church religious laws and regulations in various places, which made Alexei I very happy.

Just last year, Patriarch Joseph died of illness.

With the strong support of Alexei I, Nikon succeeded and began to carry out the religious reform.

However, the content of his reforms caused great panic among people.

Previously, it was agreed that Moscow was the third Rome, the successor to the Byzantine Empire, but higher than Byzantium.

But Nikon proposed that the etiquette of the Holy See in Moscow should be reformed in accordance with the Byzantine method.

Nikon also advocated that the tsar is the ruler of the entire Orthodox world, while the capital of Russia should be Constantinople, and the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia should be the spiritual leader of the entire Orthodox world.

This series of speeches and actions have caused chaos within the religion, which has reached the point of imminent tension.

Alexei I was full of confidence at first, and felt that the problem was not serious.

He originally planned to take advantage of the excellent opportunity of the great uprising against Poland in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River, and send troops to occupy this fertile land.

At the same time, leave the domestic religious reform to Nikon, accomplishing two birds with one stone.

As a result, everything was under preparation, but terrible news came from the Far East.

From Kuznetsk to Yakutsk, a huge area stretching tens of thousands of miles was attacked by the Empire, and many places that were finally occupied were lost.

How can this be tolerated by the Russians who regard the land as their life?

But how to deal with it, Alexei I was also scratching his head.

The Far East is just too far away.

If you really want to send troops from the country, the long distance and massive supplies, just imagining it makes one's scalp tingle.

The country's finances have already collapsed. If we really want to do this, I am afraid that there will be rebellion in the country immediately.

But if the Far East is not rescued, the fur tax will shrink significantly, which is still a major blow to the country's finances.

Especially the chaos in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River made Alexei I jealous. If he missed this opportunity, there would be no hope.

After thinking about it, Alexei I was not overwhelmed by anger.

Too far away, is the best cold water, enough to calm people down.

"Gentlemen, I suggest sending a mission to Khitan to declare our proposition and temporarily stabilize the Eastern Front. As long as we solve the problem of the Dnieper River, the little bit of trouble now will be resolved soon."

The ministers thought about it carefully and found that it could only be like this.

Russia's strategic environment is actually very bad.

Although the Thirty Years' War was over, hostilities with Sweden continued, so the North had to maintain a large army.

The Dnieper River Basin is close at hand and is the best grain-producing area.If you master this, you can solve the food crisis.

In comparison, the fur tax provided by the Far East is very generous, but it is too far away.

If you want to solve it properly, the only way is to get close first and then far away.

In the final analysis, the Russian high-level lacks the necessary understanding of the determination of the empire.

They only thought that the Cossack pioneers touched the border of the empire, which caused the empire to counterattack.

It is said that the Khitan people are better at farming than pioneering, and perhaps an expression of goodwill can stabilize the situation.

After some discussions, Russia sent Gudenov, the second minister of the diplomatic yamen, as a representative to the Far East to be in charge of negotiating with the empire.

Gudenov started with confidence.

He didn't know what kind of situation he would face when he arrived in the Far East.

(End of this chapter)