Bringing the Railway to Daming

After recounting the great famine of 1601-1603 brought to Russia by the "volcanic winter" and the change of dynasties, the first segment of the video, "Fragile Agriculture," came to an end, and the uploader began to give a summary.

"Frequent natural disasters led farmers to spontaneously come together to assist each other in agricultural production and help each other in life, which eventually gave rise to the village community system of 'land ownership, collective management, and personal dependence,' thus cultivating the collectivist character of the Russians."

"There was no other way but to join a group so that we could survive in this poor and remote place."

"Since agriculture cannot provide enough wealth, Russia has no choice but to find another way to make the country bigger and stronger."

"Especially after this great famine, Russia was in dire need of money, so it set its sights on a big business: furs. This was also the first time Russia used a 'geopolitical breakthrough' to gain economic benefits."

"Don't be fooled by the criticism of fur today; before the 19th century, it was a big business."

"Because winters are very cold in most parts of Europe, fur is not only warm but also beautiful. It can even be used to show one's status based on the grade of fur. It can be said to combine practicality, aesthetics, and social functions, thus becoming an absolute necessity for Europeans."

"But after thousands of years of hunting, Europe's fur resources have been almost exhausted. Only the coniferous forests of Siberia can yield high-quality furs."

"The most precious of these is the sable—in the 17th century, a single high-quality sable pelt was worth ten years' income for a Russian farmer, hence it was also known as 'soft gold'."

Upon hearing the mention of "Siberia" in the video, Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and others immediately perked up.

They had all seen maps from later generations and knew that Siberia was now the northern part of the Ming Dynasty, namely the Beiting Commandery, Luohuang Commandery, and Jilin Commandery. Although the Ming Dynasty did not have a very large actual control over the area, the map included the vast land all the way to the Arctic Ocean, and even sent people to the edge of the Arctic Ocean to erect a boundary marker for the Ming Dynasty.

In other words, the vast expanse of Siberia in later generations is now considered part of the Ming Dynasty's territory!
The video then proceeded to discuss Russia's expansion in Siberia.

"Therefore, starting in 1582, Russia began its attack on the Khanate of Siberia, and continued until it was completely destroyed in 1598, thus removing the biggest obstacle to its eastward expansion."

"At that time, Russia was experiencing a three-year famine, and one or two million people were displaced. Many of them had no choice but to go to the eastern steppes to make a living and eventually joined the Cossacks, that is, the armed bandit groups of the steppes."

"The Cossacks were the main force in eliminating the Khanate of Siberia and developing the fur trade. Tsarist Russia also relied on the Cossacks to expand eastward, until 1650 when they reached Yaksa on the Heilongjiang River in order to purchase furs from the local people."

The video then shows scenes from period dramas, specifically the war between the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia during the Kangxi era.

Xu Da and Tang He had seen the Qing invaders of later generations before, but seeing them in videos again still filled them with disgust.

As for Lan Yu and Mu Ying, they disliked them even more since it was their first time meeting.

Lan Yu couldn't help but say, "So that's the Qing dynasty that replaced the Ming dynasty in history? How come they have such ugly queues? They're not even as good as the hairstyles of the Mongols."

Zhu Xiong Ying, standing nearby, explained, "The Qing barbarians are the Jurchens of today. The Duke of Liang should have seen them. Their braids are much thinner and uglier than those in this video."

Lan Yu said, "The Qing barbarians are actually Jurchens? Then why doesn't the court exterminate the Jurchens?"

Zhu Xiong Ying laughed and said, "The Ming Dynasty is so powerful now, how could it not tolerate a Jurchen tribe? Besides, after these years of migration, many Jurchen tribes in the Northeast have been broken up, and many Han Chinese and Koreans have also been mixed in. It is almost impossible for a Jurchen regime to emerge again that would threaten the Ming Dynasty, as in later history."

The video continued as the two whispered to each other.

"The actions of Tsarist Russia alerted Emperor Kangxi, so after suppressing the Three Feudatories, he launched the Battle of Yaksa and drove Tsarist Russia out of the Heilongjiang River basin."

"Fur contributed enormous wealth to Russia, reaching its peak in the mid-17th century—when revenue from the fur trade accounted for one-third of Russia's total fiscal revenue!"

"This is why Russia has been expanding eastward—since it cannot accumulate wealth through agriculture, it has to rely on animals."

"But no matter how many animals such as mink and foxes contributed their fur, they could not withstand Russia's years of hunting. Therefore, by the end of the seventeenth century, Russia's fur production had declined sharply."

"In order to supplement its fiscal revenue, Russia has once again embarked on the path of exchanging geopolitical breakthroughs for benefits, and has begun to look for a new geopolitical breakthrough, which is access to the sea..."

After the second segment of the video, "The Fur Trade Expands Territory," the video moves into the third segment, "Two Breakthroughs by Two Great Emperors."

This refers to the deeds of Peter I and Catherine the Great, the two Tsars of Russia, in leading Russia to expand its territory. Zhu Yuanzhang and others didn't think much of Peter I, regarding him merely as the powerful ruler of a barbarian state.

Throughout Chinese history, such powerful rulers were not uncommon among the nomadic peoples of the north and even in the Central Plains.

But when Empress Catherine of Russia appeared in the video, everyone's eyes lit up, from the elderly like Zhu De and Tang He to the young people like Zhu Xiong Ying and Zhu Yun Wen.

Because the video used many famous scenes from the TV series "Catherine the Great," it excited the men, and even the concubines and princesses watched with shining eyes.

Furthermore, during the narration breaks, the song "Hall om mig," the background music used by Empress Catherine for her entrances, was played.

"Following Peter the Great, Empress Catherine of Russia completed Russia's second geopolitical breakthrough."

"Through the three partitions of Poland, she seized the right-bank region of Ukraine. In 1783, she also took Crimea, gaining control of the Black Sea and thus laying the foundation for the current map of Ukraine."

"If Ukraine is taken over, it will solve a major problem for Russia: food. Ukraine possesses a quarter of the world's black soil..."

Seeing the video, which showed that Russia, which already had a considerable territory, expanded significantly to the west and south after Catherine came to power, coupled with the famous scenes of Catherine's appearance in movies and TV dramas, made everyone even more excited.

As for what everyone was thinking, those thoughts varied.

As Lan Yu thought: The Russian empress in this video is just as beautiful as the Western Region concubines of Emperor Yuan Shundi. I wonder what she thinks of her.

Zhu Biao thought to himself: I didn't expect there to be someone similar to Wu Zetian among the Western barbarians, and judging from his actions, he seems to be much stronger than Wu Zetian.

Zhu Xiong Ying thought to himself: "It's a pity that Catherine is a Russian woman from hundreds of years later; otherwise, after I ascend the throne, I could find a way to make her my empress..."
The video was nearly twenty minutes long, and then it played four more chapters in succession: "The Geopolitical Truth of Economic Backwardness", "Behind the Collapse of the Soviet Union", "The Power of Chips", and "The Stifled Recovery Strategy" before it was finally finished.

It can be said that it has covered most of Russia's past and present history.

Even though Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, and others had seen many videos, this one about Russia's rise and its inescapable predicament still captivated them, and they lingered in its aftertaste even after it ended.

Therefore, nearly half a minute after the video ended, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke first: "Liu Kuan, according to what the video said, it was almost inevitable that Kievan Rus' and later Russia would expand their territory eastward."

"In that case, wouldn't present-day Russia also expand eastward in two hundred years?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "If the development of the Ming Dynasty stagnates here, Russia will surely expand eastward as it has in history two hundred years from now."

"But I believe that the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which is the predecessor of Russia, may not be able to last until then."

"Even if it persisted until that time, even when faced with the Ming Dynasty, the Eastern behemoth and the British Empire of the time, Russia would never dare to have any thoughts of eastward expansion."

"Hahaha," Zhu Yuanzhang laughed heartily, "the way you're saying that sounds like flattery to me."

Liu Kuan said, "Every word I have said is true."

Xu Da, Tang He, Mu Ying, and the others exchanged glances and came to the same conclusion: No wonder the Marquis of Jiangning was so trusted by the Zhu family; it turned out that in addition to his identity as a descendant of a later generation, he was also very good at speaking.

I've seen it all.

At this moment, Zhu Biao said, "Counting from the end of the Ming Dynasty in history, Russia's territory has expanded more than three or four times in a hundred years. It has transformed from an ordinary Nordic country into a world power spanning Eurasia. It has also produced an empress like Wu Zetian, and in terms of military strategy, it has even surpassed Wu Zetian. It is truly remarkable."

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "In fact, many powerful countries in the world have had female emperors. Wu Zetian of the Tang Dynasty in China was one, Catherine II of Tsarist Russia was another, and Japan also had a queen and empress in earlier times."

"The country that produced the most queens and empresses was later Britain—during its so-called 'empire on which the sun never sets,' a queen named 'Victoria' reigned."

"At that time, she held not only the title of Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but also the title of Empress of India, reigning for sixty-four years, a period when Britain was at its zenith." (End of Chapter)