Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1338 Russia's Decision

"What are my Cossacks doing now?" Tsar Alexei, who had just finished a political activity with the ministers and had been in charge of the country for many years, seemed to think of something, and asked casually.

His Majesty the Tsar's health is not in good condition. In recent years, he has been too busy with state affairs and wants to lead Russia to a more glorious peak, so his body has lost weight at a speed visible to the naked eye.In addition, he was frightened by the wars with Sweden, Poland and Prussia in the past few years, and he has been traveling all year round and has also fallen to the root of his illness. Therefore, Tsar Alexei only talked with ministers and nobles about the poor financial situation of the empire for a few hours. At the court meeting, his energy was a little low, so he had to temporarily interrupt the meeting and take a rest for a while before talking.

After rubbing a little cool oil on his temples from the envoy from the east coast, the Tsar felt a little refreshed, but it also reminded him of things about the far east. Baikov and Franzbekov gave themselves There hasn't been a new territory conquered in the memorial for a long time, right?This is really bad. The fur tax collected from the Tungus has now become an important fiscal revenue of the Russian Empire. Today, the war with Poland is still going on intermittently. The huge empire is already somewhat overwhelmed in order to support the same huge army Therefore, there is an urgent need for more high-grade furs to be sent back from the Far East to sell to the Ottomans, Dutch and English for profit, and to support the empire to continue the war.

Therefore, the conquest of the Tungus in the Far East will continue!

"Your Majesty, according to the latest information we have received, the Yakutsk Governor's Mansion's determination to expand its territory to the south has been strongly restrained by the people on the east bank, and even a few small-scale battles broke out, and our people suffered a lot. , Later, following your instructions, we did not expand the conflict with them, but demarcated the border with them, and turned to sort out the interior of the ruling area. Now more and more local Tungusic people surrender to your majesty's glory , presumably in the near future, our strength will grow even stronger." A court official replied cautiously.

"I heard that the mainland on the east coast is in the southern New World. How big is it? Compared with my empire?" Tsar Alexei sat on a chair and asked curiously: "The officers of the Shooting Army are very interested in the land produced in the East. The weapons on the shore are full of praise, and the officials of the Tula Arsenal also say that the quality of these flintlocks is far superior to that of the Dutch goods. They are even building fishing boats with us (Little Star Shipyard), and have found a The way out, then, can this east bank be considered a military power?"

"Your Majesty, it's obvious that they are a military power." The vassal replied without doubt, "They just defeated the Kingdom of Portugal. Everyone saw the sinking of the Portuguese ships off the coast of Cadiz, as did the Dutch merchants who came to St. Nicholas for trade. Speaking of which, their navy is very powerful, and from this perspective, they are indeed a military power."

"Now that I know the strength of their navy, how about the strength of their army, and how is it compared to my country? If I draw 2000 people from the elite shooting army, and then in Ukraine, Astra So what if [-] cavalry were conscripted from Khan and other places and transferred to Yakutsk and Albazin together? Can the people on the east coast withstand this offensive?" The Tsar continued to ask.

"Your Majesty, please don't try to do this, because neither Yakutsk nor Tobolsk can feed these four thousand soldiers who are not producing. They will starve to death. Yakutsk and the surrounding areas The food can barely support the 4000 Siberian Cossacks there, and the food production in Albazin and other places is also slow to recover. I think it is inappropriate to mobilize the army to the Far East at this time. Your Majesty, you are the ruler of the whole country. The supreme leader of Russia's more than [-] troops, [-] people are nothing in Moscow, Kiev, Smolensk, and Novgorod, but it is a disaster in the Far East where there is not enough grain "The close minister of noble origin said slowly, with his gray beard up and down, as if he was trying his best to persuade his monarch not to be dizzy. Now they haven't completely ended the war with the Poles, and the part of the Ukrainian land they occupied is still there. I didn't have time to digest it, and this time didn't seem like a good opportunity to fight on both sides.

What's more, is it really necessary to have a full-scale enmity with the East Bank?Is it really worth it?You must know that the commercial station and gun repair shop opened by the people on the east coast in Arkhangelsk, and the shipyard jointly opened near Severodvinsk have almost become the largest window for the remote and backward Russian Empire to contact the civilized world.Once this window is closed, the empire can only count on the Dutch—of course, there are also a large number of English businessmen introduced after the lifting of the ban last year—but whether it is the Dutch or the English, they undoubtedly have a hand in the Russian Empire , It is not generous enough, just look at the so-called "help" of the Dutch to Brandenburg-Prussia, they will not want Russia to be too strong, they will only do everything possible to search for Russia's wealth.

Therefore, it is really impossible to have a full-scale hostility with the people on the east coast, and we must continue to maintain the relationship carefully.As for the financial problems caused by this, there are other ways to solve it. Didn't many people put forward many useful suggestions at the meeting just now?Such as taxation, such as confiscating the wealth of foreigners or Jews, such as seriously considering the international trade in the Dnieper River and the Don River Basin proposed by the people on the east bank, etc.

Tsar Alexei pushed open a certain window of the Kremlin with some sighs, and then looked at the houses, streets and church spires in the distance. It is not easy to rule an empire with a vast territory and a large population, especially in the When the country was at war.If the number of furs from the Far East decreases, let’s just reduce it. As long as the so-called Black Sea trade promised by the people on the east coast can bring Russia the same commercial benefits, at least it will make the government’s income sufficient. If this can be done, then what will happen? Unpleasant things in the Far East are indeed trifles.

In fact, to a certain extent, the attitude of the Russians towards the people on the east coast is already the best.Not to mention the Swedish, Polish, and Ottoman envoys who had enmity with Russia, all they encountered were rude and rude Russians; and even the Dutch and British, who had frequent business contacts with Russia, were still restricted. For example, you are not allowed to go here, you are not allowed to see there, and Lutheran churches are not allowed to be built, etc. From time to time, there are rumors that merchants’ goods are confiscated by Russian officials, which makes people have a very bad impression of this Eastern European country.

Moreover, the residences of almost all foreign businessmen and their servants have strict restrictions, and the house type, area, and size have strict regulations. Russian soldiers will check regularly, and if they find anything abnormal, they will be ordered to move to the outskirts of the city immediately. , not at all sympathetic, foreign businessmen or envoys who commit serious crimes will even be sentenced or deported - of course, this is only a minority, most of the time the Russian government is still very tolerant to foreigners with skills, as long as you The value is large enough that even murder can be pardoned by the tsar-compared with these foreign businessmen or envoys who are closely monitored, the people on the east bank are really too loose and free. Real estate, the opening of commercial stations, and the establishment of Taoist temples in commercial stations, free belief, and even Russian officials rarely confiscated goods from people on the east coast.

All of this should be due to the fact that the people on the east bank provided a lot of technology to the Russian Empire, such as the Little Star Shipyard and the Archangel Gun Repair Shop, which made Tsar Alexei very satisfied.You know, the Dutch planned to build a shipyard in the port of St. Nicholas to produce sailboats, so as to bring Russia’s rich resources such as timber, masts, wood tar, honey, leather, flax, grains, etc. back to the United Provinces, but the Tsar still refused. The reason is that the Dutch did not agree that the shipyard was shared with Russia, nor did they allow Russian workers in the shipyard (the Dutch even planned to transport people from China to cut down trees, and did not allow the Russians to intervene in the shipyard).

But the Little Star Shipyard is different. The East Bank and Russia each hold half of the shares. The shipyard also employs a large number of Russian workers. Shipbuilding technology has made a lot of progress; the same is true for the gun repair shop in Archangel. The Russians have transferred a large number of technicians from the most advanced Tula Arsenal in the country to work with mechanics from the east coast. Although most of them use pedal machinery and hydraulic machinery from other parts of Europe, which are not advanced technology, the casual words of the workers on the east bank still greatly inspired the Russian craftsmen, and the technical level has improved. It is inevitable.

And it is precisely because of this that the Russians have frequently made concessions to a series of measures taken by the East Bank in the Far East. Even the East Bank people openly attacked the Cossacks and pushed their stronghold to a place not far from Albazin. This shows the degree to which the Tsar endured humiliation-who said that Russia was not civilized until the time of Peter the Great?In fact, the Russian government has been encouraging foreign military officers, craftsmen and other people who can help Russia to enter Russia, and the scale is quite large. According to officials from the General Intelligence Bureau, the Tsar is very interested in mathematics and machinery. If anyone can bring this new knowledge and new technology into Russia from the outside, then the Tsar will not be stingy at all with rewards. I am afraid that no other country can do this. , such as the Principality of Poland-Lithuania, such as the countries in southern Europe, they are as backward as Russia, but the conditions for accepting new knowledge are better, but they are all wasted.

"In two days, I will write an updated order to Baikov, asking him to be careful and restraint, and not to provoke the people on the east coast too much. We are not yet ready to fight against them, and everything must be the overall situation." Tsar Alexei turned and left the window, paced around the house, and said after a long time: "Yakutsk can continue to develop eastward, and look for new sources of fur from there. I will prepare a batch later. Give them new exiled prisoners to enrich their strength. However, it is best for them to win over more Tungus people. These people can farm, hunt, and fight. This is the best person to serve me Yes. In addition, looking for more high-grade furs is not only a matter of Yakutsk, Tobolsk, Yeniseysk and other places must also take action. I don't want to see any prevarication and timidity. "

The minister answered silently, then grabbed the quill pen, dipped it in the ink, and carefully wrote down this paragraph.And when he wrote these words, Liao Xiaoyao from the Far East had just set off from Udibao to the south with his people, and the Liao who made the policy of swallowing this vast land did not know that he was thousands of miles away. In the power center of the Russian Empire, a decision that is extremely beneficial to him has just been made, a major decision that is sufficient to determine the ownership of a large area of ​​​​land in the Xing'an Mountains-Amur River in the Far East, and a decision that determines the basic political and military forces in the outer Northeast. .

Having said this, the Tsar felt that he had almost rested, so he decided to have some lunch and check some of the princes' homework.If he had time in the afternoon, he decided to gather some of his most loyal military officers and listen to their latest views on the front line of the war. The situation in Ukraine has been delayed for many years. If Poland and Russia have basically become a stalemate, then the armistice negotiations will be launched along the way. It is a very natural thing. The left bank of the Dnieper River and famous cities such as Kiev and Smolensk must belong to their own rule, otherwise this war will continue to be fought. I believe the Poles will eventually succumb to it.

But the most hateful thing is still those Crimean Tatars who fall to the Cossacks, Poland, and anyone. In the previous war, if they hadn’t dispatched more than 2 cavalry to help , How could the Russian Empire be defeated by the Poles?It's really hateful!If a peace agreement is reached with the Poles this time, then I will have to recuperate for a few years, thoroughly digest the half of Ukraine I swallowed and the recovered homeland (Smolensk and other places), and then take care of Crimea The Asian Khanate, the feud of the empire, is the greatest scourge in southern Xinjiang.Of course, if their master Ottoman Turkey does not make a wise choice, then even they will fight together!The Russian Empire has never been afraid of war!

Before leaving this lounge, Tsar Alexei told his confidants again, only to hear him say: "Let the envoys of the people on the east coast come to see me, I want to hear their ideas about the Black Sea trade."

After speaking, he left in a hurry under the guard of his attendants.

(End of this chapter)