The territorial deal caused a huge shock in Europe, not only because it was the largest in terms of value and territory in history, but also because it was at a critical juncture when a large-scale uprising broke out in Poland and was likely to spread, and European countries were ready to intervene in Poland with armed force.

Russia obtained a billion silver dollars through this territorial transaction, which means that Russia has enough confidence to mobilize troops on a large scale into Poland to quell the rebellion! Naturally, this is not good news for European countries that are intent on armed intervention in Poland.

After all, the previous territorial transaction between Alaska and Kamchatka was only 20 million silver, but Siberia was a billion silver, although the territory of Siberia was four or five times that of Alaska and Kamchatka, but the difference in amount was too great.

However, even if the amount of this territorial transaction is watery, it is estimated that there is still a transaction amount of two or three billion silver, and Yuan Qi has made a lot of money in the European cotton market and financial securities market in the past two years, and he is indeed able to pay this silver, which no one doubts.

If European countries did not pay enough attention to the Qing State before, now they have to pay attention to it, and they attach great importance to it, and Yuan Qi, who has strong financial resources, not only extended his hand to the Americas, but also extended his hand to Europe, and it seems that he is deliberately opposing the European powers.

In the American Civil War, Britain, France, Spain, the Netherlands and other countries supported the Southern Alliance, while Yuan Qi supported the Northern Confederacy, and supported it with great fanfare, and it was also a trade in arms and medicines and the sale of warships, and the regular navy of the Qing State was sent to the North as mercenaries to directly support the Northern Union Navy.

Now that they are preparing to intervene in the Polish uprising with arms, and Yuan Qi is providing Russia with huge sums of money at this juncture, it is impossible to blame for this, and they buy Siberia to eliminate the Russian threat in the north, what can they say? Can you say that the transaction amount is too large? Or is the territory too large?

Thinking of Yuanqi stirring up trouble in the European cotton market and securities market, making a lot of war windfalls, and then using the money earned to make them unhappy, the politicians and financial forces of European countries are very tired in their hearts.

Some people are tired of naturally some people are happy, seeing the territorial deal between Qing and Russia, the United States is really turned upside down, with this territorial deal, Russia has enough financial resources to contain Britain and France in Europe, and furthermore, the alliance between the Qing and the United States and Russia will inevitably go very smoothly, which is tantamount to good news for the United States.

Jingshi, Military Aircraft Department.

Receiving a call back from Yi Zhicontent, Su Shun and other military ministers were overjoyed, Yuan Qi's move was tantamount to giving Siberia to the imperial court that he bought at a great price, and the telegram turned around in the hands of the military aircraft, Kuang Yuan said with a smile: "Su Zhongtang, although Siberia was bought with silver, but in fact it is more stable and reliable than the military conquest obtained by force, and this move is completely comparable to the military exploits of opening up the territory."

Although it is a bitter cold place, but it is tens of millions of square kilometers of territory, it should have a fold to ask the emperor to give a reward, this matter is the world's attention, if there is no reward, I am afraid that the court and the opposition will criticize the court rewards and punishments are unknown. ”

Su Shun's jaw head agreed: "This skill is indeed not trivial, Kuang Zhongtang intends to share the excerpt, let's play it jointly." ”

Hearing this, Wen Xiang spoke: "Everyone, this matter must be cautious, because of the huge amount of money spent on the purchase of Siberia, Yuan Qi complained a lot to the king of Zhennan, if we play again and ask the emperor to reward him, wouldn't it be embarrassing to the king of Zhennan?" Moreover, the king of Zhennan is already a vassal king, and he is hereditary, and he is already a rewarding ....... ”

Listening to this, all the military planes felt reasonable, they didn't want to do bad things with good intentions, if they provoked the king of Zhennan to complain, it would be even more uneconomical, Su Shun groaned slightly but said: "This matter, we should ask for a reward for Yuanqi, as for whether Yuanqi wants it, it is Yuanqi's business, we can't let the government and the opposition accuse the court of unclear rewards and punishments, as for saying that the reward is not rewardable, it does not exist, and the king of Zhennan is not without heirs." ”

Su Shun is not only the minister of Gu Ming but also the chief military aircraft, his insistence, other military aircraft will naturally not dismiss him, even Wen Xiang, who is not very good with him, did not say a word, after all, this is indeed reasonable, besides, this matter is related to Yi Zhixiang, he doesn't want to be misunderstood by Yi Zhixiang, after all, the relationship between Yixin and Yuan Qi is obvious.

Nourishing Heart Palace, East Warm Pavilion.

After the Empress Dowager Ci'an saw the excerpt, she pondered for a while before saying: "It is true that meritorious service should be rewarded, but Yi Zhishu is already a hereditary vassal king, how should he be rewarded?" ”

"Back to the Queen Mother." Su Shun said respectfully: "Because of the purchase of Siberia, the shareholders of Yuanqi have a lot of criticism of the king of Zhennan, and the court rewarded him, and Yi Zhizhi is very likely to shirk it. ”

Hearing this, Ci'an was silent for a long time, Yi Zhixin If it was to calm the criticism of the shareholders and wantonly protect it, the court would inevitably be passive, and it was not allowed, and it was not allowed, this was not a military merit after all, and besides, she still had a little resentment in her heart about preparing for the constitution.

What would be the result if you directly rewarded Yi Zhicontent? Will Yuan Qi complain? Thinking of this, a smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, it was good to be disgusting and content, "Yi Zhizhi is the big shopkeeper of Yuanqi, and the court reward can't miss him, how to reward him?" ”

"Back to the Queen Mother." Su Shun replied: "You can posthumously seal his ancestors, grace his son, and reward his double salary." ”

"Yi Zhizhi is not short of silver, so the double salary will be exempted." Ci'an said: "Posthumously seal his three generations, Enmeng's son." Speaking of this, she said with some curiosity: "Yi Zhi's children are all in Shanghai? ”

"Back to the Queen Mother." Su Shun said: "Yi Zhi's four sons and three daughters are all in the West, and they were all sent to the West since childhood. ”

All the children were sent to the West? Ci'an was a little surprised, and asked, "What about his wife and concubine?" ”

"There are two concubines to take care of in the West." Su Shun hurriedly replied, but his heart was secretly slandering women, and he was really curious.

Ci'an didn't ask again, but said slowly: "Just follow what this palace said." ”

Su Shun listened to a lot, and did not ask for the opinion of Yi Zhilu? Isn't this sincerity to embarrass the family? The problem is that the excerpt of this performance for the reward is still jointly performed by the Military Aircraft Department, and by the way, it embarrass all the military aircraft ministers!

Seeing that he hesitated and disobeyed the order, Ci'an said slowly: "If Yi Zhixiang resigns the reward, wouldn't it be to let the government and the opposition say that the court's rewards and punishments are unknown?" If Yi Zhizhi was content to appease the anger of the public and protect the public, wouldn't the imperial court be in a dilemma? ”

This is all an excuse, Su Shun has reacted at this time, this woman is definitely dissatisfied with Yi Zhicontent because of the preparation of the constitution, this is a sincere intention to embarrass the other party, thinking of this, he secretly regretted it, he really has nothing to do, it is not interesting to ask for it, it's just that, the left and right are not a big deal, there is no need to argue, first should come down, and then quickly inform Yi Zhicontentment,.

Su Shun bowed down to obey the order, and Ci'an directly ordered: "Kneel down." ”

When Su Shun retreated, she couldn't help but sigh secretly, this Yi Zhizhi children were sent to the West, and spent a huge amount of silver to buy Siberia and give it to the imperial court, the same is true for Alaska and Kamchatka, and its ambitions are already obvious! And Yixun and Su Shun and Yi Zhishu are also eyebrows, obviously unreliable, and they must cultivate their own forces as soon as possible.

Shanghai, Zhennan Wangfu, Changle Book House.

After receiving the telegram from Su Shun from Jingshi, Yi Zhishu was speechless for a while, and Yixun, who was at a loss, also said that this woman was superior to virtue and quite politically talented, which was too cautious.

After reading the telegram, Zhao Liewen said: "The big shopkeeper, this matter has to be stopped, otherwise Yuan Qi will not be able to avoid causing criticism and damaging the prestige and reputation of the big shopkeeper." ”

"How to stop it?" Yi Zhishu glanced at him and said: "Yuan Qi bought such a vast territory for the Qing Dynasty, and completely put an end to the border troubles from the north, the imperial court gave me a little reward to show the justice of the imperial court, which can be described as justifiable and upright, even if I refuse to accept it, that woman will be rewarded again and again." ”

"Since you can't refuse, why not hold on to it." Zhao Liewen pondered and said: "Siberia is big enough, and Yuanqi has spent enough money, so he simply raised dozens or hundreds of major shareholders to make the imperial court retreat." ”

Yi Zhishu shook his head slowly, "It's not so popular, and those who don't get the guarantee will inevitably have no complaints, and it is difficult to be fair in this matter." After a slight groan, he ordered: "Let the shopkeeper of Yuanqi come and buy Siberian silver, I will go out personally, and I will not go to the public account!" ”

"Huh?" Zhao Liewen looked at him in surprise, buying Siberia was 30 million silver dollars! Easy to know enough private pockets? How rich is this master? After a deep sigh, he said: "The big shopkeeper privately bought Siberia with silver, and no one believes it when he says this, right?" ”

"There are accounts to be checked, what else can they do if they don't believe it?" Yi Zhishu said nonchalantly, 30 million silver dollars is really not too serious for him, and the Townsend Company, which specializes in Hai Luoying, plus the private funds of his funds, the funds he currently controls are at least 200 million taels of silver.

After hesitating, Zhao Liewen said: "What about the mineral deposits and energy resources of Siberia......?" ”

Yi Zhishu really didn't take this question into account, it is said that he bought it privately with silver, and these resources should belong to him personally, but this is obviously a little inappropriate, and he is not willing to give it to the imperial court, and he is not comfortable with it to Yuan Qi, and he groaned slightly, and then he said slowly: "The large-scale mining of mineral deposits in Siberia is at least a matter of decades later, and I plan to set up a foundation to fund scientific research and education, and all mineral and energy resources will be included in this foundation." ”

After a pause, he continued: "This matter will be in charge of Huifu, first build the foundation shelf, and then sign an agreement with the imperial court to implement this matter, so as not to be entangled in it." ”

Zhao Liewen knew that he was not worried about others to set up this foundation, after all, Siberia's mineral resources and energy resources would be a huge wealth in the future, although he didn't know anything about what foundation to build, but he still readily agreed.

Two days later, the imperial court issued an edict to reward Yi Zhicontent, posthumously awarded his three generations of ancestors and a son, seeing this edict, Yi Zhixiang was a little crying and laughing, this meaningless and vain reward made him pay 30 million silver dollars, however, taking this opportunity to strip the resources of Siberia from Yuanqi, it is not a good thing.

As for the dissatisfaction of the shareholders in Yuanqi's provinces, he didn't bother to pay attention to it at all, and no one dared to mention this stubble in front of him anyway, he just had peace of mind.

In the blink of an eye, two months, when the territory of Qing and Russia gradually faded out of people's sight, another explosive news sensation the whole world, Russian Foreign Minister Gorchakov issued a statement in the "News" that the Russian fleet transporting silver was besieged by an unknown fleet on the west coast of Africa, and in the end only two merchant ships were able to escape, and did not condemn this bandit by name, condemn the privateer fleet, although not named, but everyone knows that the spearhead is directly aimed at Britain and France, In order to help the Southern Alliance break through the naval blockade of the Northern Union, Britain and France helped the South to form a huge maritime privateer agency.

Although Gorchakov did not say it explicitly, everyone knew that the silver convoy he was talking about was a huge amount of silver traded from the territory of Qing Russia in the Far East to St. Petersburg, which was a billion taels of silver!

Soon, newspapers in Europe published articles one after another, and more than a dozen ocean-going merchant ships confirmed that they had encountered a small unidentified fleet off the coast of West Africa, and some merchant ships confirmed that a naval battle of considerable scale had indeed broken out in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa, and several merchant ships were tragically sacked and sunk.

All the clues point to Britain and France, the two major maritime powers, both openly and covertly, and Britain and France did have motives for robbing the Russian silver fleet in order to intervene in Poland by force.

Russia did not denounce this matter too much, but directly sent its Baltic Fleet to the United States for a visit, and everyone with a little eye knows that the Russian fleet is afraid of the outbreak of war, fearing that it will be severely damaged by the British and French fleets, and at the same time, it is also a strong support for the Northern Federation, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

Russia's move was more powerful than denunciation, and many European countries, which were originally somewhat skeptical, are now almost always convinced that the Russian silver convoy in the Gulf of Guinea must have been carried out by Britain and France, or by the joint efforts of the two countries, or by one of them.

European newspapers condemned this banditry one after another, and public opinion was almost overwhelmingly sympathetic to Russia, and some newspapers called for the Polish uprising to be Russia's internal affair and that European countries should not interfere.

Looking at the telegrams sent back from European countries, Yi Zhishu secretly laughed in his heart, I don't know if Britain and France will suspect that Yuan Qi and Russia will jointly play this double reed, but even if they are suspected, there will be no evidence, and this matter will most likely become a world unsolved case.