Kowloon wins

Chapter 941 "Sino-Russian Ili Treaty" ([-])
"Guarantees? Your country's guarantees have always been worthless. In the 27th year of Kangxi, after the two battles of Yaksa, your country made guarantees many times. What happened? This time you have raised more than [-] troops, and you have fought against the rebels. Allah Butan colluded with each other and brazenly invaded our Qing Dynasty. How can a misunderstanding be explained away? Of course, if you insist on saying that it was a misunderstanding, it is up to Er and others to talk to themselves, but anyway It is a fact that your side invaded our Qing Dynasty after all, and the losses caused must be borne by your side. Since Your Excellency the Grand Duke mentioned compensation, then everything will be paid according to the price, Minister Zong, let it go."

The Russians have always been brazen masters, rather than reasoning, they are just playing the piano to the cow. Hong Qing knew this very well, so she was too lazy to get involved with it, and disparaged Petrovich unceremoniously. After Dagong communicated, he took advantage of the situation and turned to the topic.

"twitter!"

Hearing Hong Qing's order, Zong Da, the Minister of Li Fan Yuan sitting beside him, did not dare to be negligent, and hastily and respectfully agreed, then shook his hand, and took out a booklet from his wide sleeve, The stall will be opened, and he preached sternly: "Here, I have used a total of 17 taels of grain and fodder during this westward expedition. Together with the transfer fee, the total value is 520 a tael; the total value of ammunition and baggage consumed is 33 taels." 820 taels; the pensions for disabled soldiers who died in battle totaled 450 taels; the silver taels needed to rebuild various places were 520 taels; 950 taels were spent on rewarding soldiers of the three armies, and 320 taels were spent on other miscellaneous expenses. The total expenditure is 8705 taels of silver."

"Your Majesty, you should have heard everything clearly. Due to your country's brazen invasion, our country had to spend such a huge amount of money to put down the chaos. This loss must be borne by you. There is no room for discussion on this point, of course. Well, for the convenience of calculation and the consideration of the friendship that you have always declared, the fraction will not be counted. If you compensate my country with 700 million taels of silver, our country can consider exempting your country from the fault of starting the war without authorization. If not, my lord I can only personally lead the soldiers to your country for a while."

The Qing army's western expedition went extremely smoothly, and they quelled the rebellions in various places within one year. The military expenditure was actually not too much. Even if the post-war reconstruction costs were included, it was only more than ten thousand taels of silver, but what? Since they wanted to claim compensation, they had to pay the expenses to Gaoli, and Hong Qing would not be very polite about this.

"His Royal Highness, it is a pity that the conditions you proposed are too harsh, please forgive me for disagreeing."

After listening to the interpreter's report, Grand Duke Petrovich's expression became a little uncomfortable. Nothing else, the Russian Empire seems to have a huge territory, but the economy is very backward, and the total annual fiscal revenue is only 2000. About 500 taels of silver. After deducting various expenses, the annual financial balance has never been more than 100 million taels. Most of the years are deficits. Lina I specially approved 700 million taels of silver to redeem the captured army of more than [-]. There is no doubt that Grand Duke Petrovich would not be able to get [-] million taels of silver. Apart from biting the bullet and protesting, there is really no other way to think about it.

"Harsh? If Your Excellency the Grand Duke thinks it is harsh, then please go back. There is no need to continue the so-called peace talks. The king will send troops to Ufa Fort tomorrow morning, and there is nothing wrong with going to collect the indemnity by himself." .”

As soon as Grand Duke Petrovich raised his objection, Hong Qing unceremoniously waved the big stick of military threat, not caring at all whether the negotiation would break down because of this.

"His Royal Highness, please calm down. It's not that we are insincere. It's because your request is far beyond our ability to bear. Please, Your Highness, please bear with us for the past friendship between your two countries. "

Facing Hong Qing's "despicable" tactics of playing military blackmail at every turn, Grand Duke Petrovich was really angry and anxious, but he didn't dare to act capriciously, so he could only plead bitterly.

"Sorry, the amount of compensation we proposed is the minimum, not a penny less. Of course, this king is not an unreasonable person. Since Your Excellency the Grand Duke mentioned friendship, this king can consider a workaround. , if you continue to say that it cannot be done, then don’t blame me for not thinking of friendship.”

Looking at Grand Duke Petrovich's low-pitched appearance, Hong Qing was very relieved, but he didn't insist on being tough to the end, but changed the subject, showing a hint of compromise.

"I also ask His Highness the Prince to say clearly that if it can be done, I will definitely do it."

Grand Duke Petrovich was really afraid of Hong Qing's tough attitude. Hearing that Hong Qing said that there was a workaround, his heartstrings were relaxed, but he didn't care about it. .

"It's very simple. You can't pay it in one lump sum. Can you pay it in three years? I'll suffer a little bit, and I won't charge you any interest. The 900 million taels of silver per year must be delivered on time. Otherwise, I will I will definitely send a large army to your country to extract it by myself. Your Majesty the Grand Duke will not even be able to implement such a flexible plan? If so, I will have to wonder if the purpose of your visit this time is to pretend to be a negotiation , in order to secretly mobilize troops to invade our country again."

"His Royal Highness, I think you have misunderstood. We have no intention of fighting again. I can guarantee this with my life, but the 900 million repayment plan for this year is still far beyond our plan. Acceptable bottom line, we express that there is nothing we can do about it, and please forgive me, Your Highness the Prince.”

Grand Duke Petrovich originally had great hopes and hoped that Hong Qing would come up with a plan that suited his own interests, but when he heard that it was an installment payment model, he felt very disappointed in his heart, but there was nothing wrong with it. It may be that he spread his hands and expressed his position helplessly.

"Hey, Your Majesty, you can't do this, and you can't do that. I don't know what your sincerity is? Don't talk about it anymore. Come and see off!"

Hongqing has always focused on collecting information. Although she is not very clear about Russia's economic data, she still has a relative concept in general. She knows that the Russians can't get 700 million taels of compensation. The reason why she insisted The claim for compensation is not for the compensation itself, but for another purpose. Of course, the heat is not enough at this time, and Hong Qing will not show her hole cards at this time, but slapped the table in feigned anger, and said sternly. The order to chase away guests was issued.

"Your Highness, you can't..."

Grand Duke Petrovich could not understand Chinese, but when he saw Hongqing's angry expression, he knew that something might be wrong. Inexhaustible, he stood up hastily, and opened his mouth to explain.

"Your Excellency, please!"

Before Grand Duke Petrovich could finish speaking, Ding Song led more than a dozen palace guards and strode up from the side, unceremoniously putting on a posture of chasing people away.

"Ugh……"

Grand Duke Petrovich didn't even finish his explanation, but when he saw that Hong Qing had got up and left, he felt helpless. He had no choice but to shake his head with bitterness on his face, and led the two assistants, Escorted by Ding Song and others, he walked out of the camp gate resentfully...

"My lord, I don't know if I should say something or not?"

The negotiation started at the third quarter of the hour, and came to an abrupt end at the quarter of the clock. Zong, the servant of the Lifan Academy, didn't care. As soon as Hong Qing left, he left in a hurry, but Wang Yan, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, was full of enthusiasm. Thinking, followed Hong Qing into the big tent of the Chinese army, saw that no one was around, immediately walked a few steps, rushed to Hong Qing's side, and opened his mouth in a low voice.

"Oh? If you have anything to say, Mr. Wang, just say it straight. This king is listening."

Speaking of which, Hong Qing and Wang Yan are old acquaintances, not to mention that they have dealt with each other a lot in the past, and have cooperated many times in foreign negotiations, but the relationship between them is actually a gentleman The acquaintance is as light as water, there is nothing else, Wang Yan is an old school figure, although he has been under Emperor Chengde for many years, he has never participated in party disputes, no matter whether it is with Emperor Chengde or Hongqing, there is no special friendship at all. When getting along, they have always been businesslike, and because of this, seeing Wang Yan's expression was different, Hong Qing frowned unconsciously, but there was no other expression, just The voice calmly agreed to what he asked.

"My lord, please forgive me for speaking bluntly. The fact of this negotiation should not be delayed for a long time. I am afraid that something will change. Please think twice, my lord."

Wang Yan took a deep look at Hong Qing, and made a meaningful point. Although the words were cryptic, the meaning was clearly expressed. Obviously, what Wang Yan was worried about was not the negotiation itself, but the weirdness in the court. situation.

"Well, don't worry, Mr. Wang, this king knows it well."

Hong Qing was very shrewd, so she understood what Wang Yanzhi was referring to, but she didn't comment on the situation in the court, but just gave a reply calmly.

"That's good, I will take my leave."

"Ah."

Seeing that Hongqing obviously didn't want to talk about it, Wang Yan didn't delay any longer, and after bowing respectfully, he withdrew from the Chinese army tent.

"Ah."

Hong Qing didn't say anything to keep Wang Yan, nor did she send him off, she just frowned slightly and looked at his Shi Shi's walking back, but she was thinking quickly in her heart, but it was hard to conclude Wang Yan for a while. Is Yan Yan's warning this time out of good intentions, or is it a temptation with ulterior motives? However, no matter what it is, it doesn't make much difference when it comes to the plan. Because of this, Hong Qing didn't care too much. He smiled lightly, shook his head, and completely forgot about this matter...

(End of this chapter)