Seeing that Yishan agreed so happily, Yi Zhishu faintly felt deceived, but he didn't think much about it, as long as there was a gold mine, he didn't care about a loss, took out a cigarette and lit it himself, handed the cigarette case to Su Shun, and said slowly: "Tsarist Russia is not only gradually encroaching on us in the northwest, pressing step by step, but ......also in the northeast. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

We suffered a big loss when we signed the "Treaty of Nebuchu" in that year, and now Tsarist Russia has openly crossed the boundary drawn in those years and entered our country's territory with frequent activities, especially in the area of the estuary of the Heilongjiang River and Sakhalin Island, establishing outposts and surveying hydrology. ”

Seeing that no one was silent, Su Shun said in a slight silence: "Because of the limited number of troops and the harsh climate, Heilongjiang has no garrison for remote places, and the imperial court is not clear about the establishment of outposts and hydrological surveys in the estuary of Heilongjiang and Sakhalin Island by Tsarist Russia. ”

The Land of Dragons? Yi Zhizu sneered, got up and took out a map of the Northeast from the drawer, motioned for Feng Renxuan to hang it up, and then pointed to the map and said: "You take a good look, this is the estuary of the Heilongjiang River and Sakhalin Island, if this place is lost, for the Northeast Frontier, it will also lose the access to the sea." ”

As he spoke, he looked at Zaizhao and said, "The Beiyang Naval Division will not be used as an ornament by the imperial court, right?" If the Beiyang Navy Division was only to protect Tianjin and the Bohai Sea, the Nanyang Navy would not mind sending a fleet north to build bases at the mouth of the Heilongjiang River and Sakhalin Island to guard the frontier! ”

Hearing this, everyone couldn't help but look at each other, the imperial court would never tolerate the Nanyang Navy expanding its sphere of influence to the northeast, Zaizhao groaned for a while before saying: "In today's situation, even if the imperial court has the heart to take care of the northeast, it is still more than enough and not enough. ”

Yi Zhizu stretched out a finger and said, "Within a month, within a month, if the Beiyang Navy Division does not go north to patrol Sakhalin Island and establish a naval base, the Nanyang Navy will go north!" Other than that....... After a pause, he continued: "This time to negotiate with Tsarist Russia, this matter must be raised, solemnly warned, within a month, the Russians who cross the border in the northeast will not be evacuated, and there will be no forgiveness!" ”

Coming out of the Zhenhai Mansion, Yishan kindly invited Su Shun and Zaizhao to his place of residence as guests, and Su Shun and the two also wanted to negotiate with him about negotiating with the Russians, so naturally they would not shirk.

The place where Yishan stays is not far from Zhenhai Mansion, in a garden on Zhenhai Road, this kind of garden is a lot in Zhenhai Road, most of them are used for rent, specially rented to officials and businessmen who come to visit Zhenhai Mansion, although the price is expensive, but the business is excellent, especially when Yi Zhizhi is not in Shanghai, it is more sought-after.

Walking slowly all the way, Yishan couldn't help but ask: "Yuan Qi stationed troops in the northwest, and immigrated to Nanyang and the northwest, giving relief to the victims, donating river workers, there are tens of thousands of navies in Dinghai, and now he is clamoring to establish a naval base garrison on Sakhalin Island, even Jinshan Yinshan is not enough to toss so much, how rich is Yuan Qi?" ”

Hearing this, Bu Yantai also felt the same way: "Yuanqi seems to have endless silver, but I heard that Yuanqi Bank is not profitable...... What's going on? ”

Su Shun inquired a lot in Shanghai during this time, and couldn't help but smile when he heard this, and said slowly: "Yuanqi doesn't rely on banks to make money, not to mention the rest, now the five are in trade, but in fact, the tea and raw silk trade is monopolized by Yuanqi, and Yuanqi monopolizes not only the raw silk trade, but also the entire silk reeling industry, and the pricing power of raw silk is in the hands of Yuanqi, only raw silk, and the profit is at least 10 million taels of silver a year."

In addition, the Oriental, South Sea, Western trade, now are also Yuanqi monopoly, Guangzhou, Shanghai and the size of the factory, either Yuanqi opened, or Yuanqi shares, now the market is very sought-after pocket watches, bicycles, soap, soap, glass, cigarettes, gunpowder, etc., etc., are basically Yuanqi, not to mention that Yuanqi also has many mines, such as Qiongzhou, Taiping iron mines, Hongji coal mines, Yunnan copper mines .......

In addition, the sugar industry, machinery, railways, shipbuilding, maritime transportation, inland river transportation, etc., but as long as Yuan Qi intervenes in the business, there is no business that is not profitable, even if it is a conservative estimate, Yuan Qi can have forty or fifty million taels of silver a year, anyway, it is only a lot more than the annual income of the imperial court. ”

Yuan Qi is so rich! Yishan was secretly speechless when he heard this, and couldn't help but say: "Isn't there anything the imperial court can contain?" ”

"Containment?" Su Shun shook his head slowly, and said with a wry smile: "You can't pull it, it affects the whole body, Yuan Qi is now not as simple as a big tail, it's not good to say, Yuan Qi doesn't make a mess, the court should burn high incense!" ”

Zhenhai Mansion, study.

“...... The two gold mines in Tacheng were originally forbidden to be mined by the local government. Feng Renxuan said slowly: "Last year, in order to help the imperial court pay silver, Yishan ordered the lifting of the ban on gold mines and allowed the people to mine, but Tsarist Russia interfered, saying that all other than Karen belonged to Kazakhstan, and submitted official documents to the Ili general Yishan, which was easy to cause armed disputes and threatened, Yishan ordered the mine to be closed and the people were not allowed to mine gold.

Yishan was timid and fearful, and forbade the people to go to gold mining under the pretext that the golden sand was not prosperous, but there were still many people who went to the gold mines to mine gold despite the ban, and mainland businessmen Liu Guanghe and Bian Jiming set up camp in the gold mines, and there were thousands of people, and the mining tax was almost ..... not paid. ”

Hearing this, Yi Zhicontent smiled and said: "I said that I would send troops to the Tacheng Gold Mine, how could Yishan agree so happily, it turned out that this is the reason." After a pause, he asked, "Is the gold mine producing a lot?" ”

"Not too clear." Feng Renxuan said: "No, I heard that the amount of turf gold produced locally is of good quality. ”

"Quantity is good." Yi Zhishu nodded, and said: "Send two regiments to station in the two gold mines, and let the people mine them, but all the gold obtained must be exchanged for silver with Yuanqi, and the mining tax should not be less, in addition, take this opportunity to take root in Tacheng, as for the Russians, if you dare to come, you will destroy them, don't be afraid of causing trouble!" Chaos will be more conducive to your expansion in the northwest. ”

"My subordinates understand." Feng Renxuan hurriedly said aloud, and after a pause, he said, "Can the big shopkeeper equip us with more artillery?" ”

"No problem." Yi Zhicontent said without thinking: "The mountain howitzers and marine artillery suitable for cavalry are officially equipped for you, and you will bring them on the return trip." ”

Feng Renxuan said excitedly: "Thank you, shopkeeper!" ”

Yi Zhizu bowed slightly, then looked at Zuo Zongtang, and said, "Why did Ji Gao come back with him?" ”

After a slight sigh, Zuo Zongtang said straightforwardly: "There is no place in the northwest, so I made a special trip to ask the big shopkeeper for my resignation." ”

Hearing what he said so directly, Yi Zhixiang couldn't help but smile, "Ji Gao, is this unwilling to succumb to others?" Still unwilling to succumb to Ji Rong? ”

Glancing at Feng Renxuan, Zuo Zongtang said truthfully: "Brother Ji Rong has a broad vision and has the overall situation in mind, he can be both a general and a handsome, why go to the northwest to mingle?" ”

"Ji Rong has been practicing from the time of the formation of the Yuanqi regiment, fighting against the Yingyi, and conquering Annan, the imprint of Yuanqi on his body is too heavy, so the imperial court is also very protective of Ji Rong, which is not conducive to the large-scale migration and large-scale expansion of troops in the northwest." Yi Zhixiang did not hide it, and truthfully said his calculations, "But Ji Gao is different, you have a great reputation among Hunan scholars, and you have an inextricable relationship with officialdom, you enter the northwest, you will be reused by the imperial court, with the support of Yuanqi and the imperial court, you can quickly open up the situation in the northwest."

What is the current mission of the Northwest? Immigration, tuntian, army expansion! What does it mean that the war between Tsarist Russia and Turkey will break out next year, most likely next year? At the latest, a big war will break out in the northwest, and time is running out! ”

As he spoke, he got up and went to the drawer and took out another map for the two of them to hang up, and then pointed: "This is a map of Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia. After making a circle in Central Asia, he slid his fingers into the Persian Gulf and tapped hard.

"Sending troops to the northwest, we want to take advantage of the fire, not only to recover the territory occupied by Tsarist Russia, but also to expand externally, in addition to controlling Central Asia, we must strive to expand to the Persian Gulf! This requires two or even three ways of soldiering! The number of troops is at least fifty or sixty thousand! ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at Zuo Zongtang, "Time is pressing, if Ji Gao is not interested in the northwest, I will replace him." ”

Zuo Zongtang said with a smile: "The big shopkeeper has been so open and honest for a long time, and he won't make this trip more." ”

"Ji Gao doesn't know much about Yuan Qi's situation, and he may not believe what he said earlier." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Right now, the large-scale migration in the northwest has kicked off, at least in five to ten years, there will be a steady stream of immigrants to the northwest, and you must be properly resettled along the way, don't be afraid of spending money, you can sum it up." ”

"My subordinates understand."

"Lin Xiang is now blocking the Yellow River breach in Fengbei." Yi Zhishu looked at Zuo Zongtang and said, "Shanghai negotiations, don't get involved, go and meet Lin Xiang." ”

Sending the two away, Yi Zhizu followed out of the study and paced in the courtyard, pondering the negotiation with Tsarist Russia, Ili trade or something, he didn't care, it didn't matter if trade was allowed, next year, the Crimean War would break out, and Tsarist Russia would tear his face, and any trade agreement was nonsense.

He pondered the arms trade with Tsarist Russia, and he knew very well that the Crimean War, known as the first modern war, ended in a defeat for Tsarist Russia, because of the backwardness of Tsarist Russia's weapons, and he planned to sell a large number of Mini guns to Tsarist Russia to prolong the war with huge casualties as much as possible, of course, Tsarist Russia and Britain and France fought in Crimea and lost both sides for the Qing Dynasty.

However, in order to ensure the expansion of the northwest, he had to grasp this measure, the outcome of the war was impossible to change, what he hoped was that Tsarist Russia could lose more miserably, so that he could take advantage of the fire in the northwest to rob, in addition, this arms deal is also best carried out in secret, or rather, in advance, otherwise it may be burned, and sell a large number of Mini guns to Tsarist Russia during the war, which is absolutely unwise, which is why he insisted on letting the Tsarist Russian mission come to Shanghai for negotiations.

Baoshan Military Factory, improvised shooting range.

After a series of intensive gunfire, the Russian plenipotentiary -- Lieutenant Colonel Kovalevsky put down the telescope in his hand with a shocked face, he couldn't believe or said it was difficult to accept the facts in front of him, the rate of fire of three rounds per minute, the ultra-long range - at least 400 to 500 yards, excellent accuracy, up to 80% of the hit rate, he was willing to bet, this is definitely the one that can sweep the world, overwhelm all army weapons in the world, can be called the most classic musket - Minnie gun!

What he didn't expect was that the Qing Kingdom, an ancient Eastern Empire, could actually produce Mini guns! Kovalevsky was no stranger to the Minie gun, but due to the limitations of the Russian machine tool processing level, they could not produce it in large quantities, after all, this rifle required too high the accuracy of machining, and it was not intended to be made.

Shocked, Kovalevsky said in disbelief: "You made it yourself?" ”

Listening to the translator, Yi Zhifen, who was holding a cigar, raised his chin slightly, "I can sell it to you in large quantities." ”

Kovalevsky hurriedly asked: "How much?" ”

"Ten thousand, or twenty thousand." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "Including ammunition, it can be provided in large quantities." ”

Hearing this, Kovalevsky hesitated, he knew very well that the price of the Minnie gun was very expensive, 10,000 sticks, which was at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, how could he do it, but he still asked: "What price?" ”

Yi Zhizu stretched out a slap and shook it, "The best price, fifty silver dollars a stick." ”

In all fairness, this is a fair price, and Kovalevsky was so impressed that he muttered a little before he said, "I'm sorry, we don't need to buy Minnie guns in large quantities for the time being, but I will truthfully convey your wishes upwards." ”

Yi Zhishu nodded, of course he knew that this deal was not something that Kovalevsky could decide, "I hope to receive good news from your Excellency as soon as possible, in addition to trading in Shanghai and Guangzhou, we can also trade in Yili, of course, if you trade in Yili, you have to add freight." ”

Kovalevsky frowned, "Ili's new army is armed with Mini guns?" ”

For this kind of idiotic question, Yi Zhishu didn't bother to answer at all, turned around and said slowly: "The treaty will be signed tomorrow, return to China as soon as possible, I will wait for your news." ”

Seeing that he was leaving, Kovalevsky was anxious and hurriedly said: "Your Excellency, Your Excellency Your Excellency Count Putiyatin, Commodore of our Navy and Minister of Foreign Affairs, will lead a diplomatic mission to Shanghai in the near future, accompanied by four warships, and I hope that Your Excellency will allow them to enter Shanghai for supply and repair. ”

Commodore and Foreign Secretary? Putiyatin? Yi Zhicontent's expression was cold, "Your warship entered the territorial waters of the Qing Dynasty without authorization, is this to deceive me that the Qing Dynasty does not have a navy?" ”

"The battleship is to escort the diplomatic mission." Kovalevsky hurriedly explained.

"Foreign warships are not allowed to enter the mouth of the Yangtze River." Yi Zhizu said coldly: "However, we would like to extend a warm welcome to the visit of your country's diplomatic mission. ”