After a pleasant meeting, an exquisite banquet, and in the carriage back, Yang Rui asked Zhang Taiyan with a smile: "Uncle Mei, how is it?" ”

"Hmm!" Zhang Taiyan held the fan and said for a while, "A man is a strong man, it depends on the situation and his own luck, but in any case, if the Russian Revolution can succeed, he will at least have a place in the new government." ”

"Hehe, Uncle Mei," Yang Rui shook his head, "I see his comrades-in-arms, I mean the other two Russians, both of whom are post-80s, and revolutionary comrades of the same age and considerable qualifications as him have been driven out of the Bolsheviks by him." In the future, he will not only have a place in the new government, but will be a great leader and mentor. ”

"Will that happen?" Zhang Taiyan asked, he felt that Yang Rui was extremely overestimating this person.

"Look at how a person is, just look at the partner around him." Yang Rui said, I don't know if I was telling history or expounding the perception just now, "Anyway, I feel more and more that this treasure is pressed right, after the revolution, he will take the position, the shape of the whole world will change, this change is beneficial to us, if we want to get rid of the control of foreigners, then we must erect a terrible enemy for them." ”

Yang Rui is so confident, Zhang Taiyan can't say anything more, after all, millions of silver can be regarded as a gamble. He believed in Yang Rui, but Yang Zengxin, who had just arrived from Xinjiang and was dressed in filial piety, did not believe Yang Rui. The revolution that broke out in the middle of the year was also affected in Xinjiang, and the governor of Xinjiang, Yuan Dahua, and others wanted to resist, but the Manchu soldiers in Xinjiang had long been infiltrated by the Fuxing Society, and the Gansu Revolutionary Army was also rapidly approaching, especially Guangxu committed suicide, and the situation in the whole country was quickly calmed down. As a result, the Manchu officials who had been guaranteed security and forgiven for their sins were relieved to resist. After Guangxu's funeral, Governor Yuan Dahua resigned, and Yang Zengxin was appointed by the Fuxing Association as the governor of Xinjiang. When Yang Zengxin was wondering how his little envoy and Zhendi Daoyi could be reused by the revolution, a secret telegram from Beijing made him tremble, if it were not for the telegram signed by Yang Jingcheng, the president of the Renaissance Association and the actual controller of China, he would have thought that it was a call from a madman.

'Assess the ethnicity of the lands of Russian Central Asia; judging the reaction of the indigenous peoples in the occupation of Central Asia, as well as logistical obstacles; strategic points from Kazakh Balkhash to Aralsk; The supply of food and other combat materials in the province ...... these problems Yang Zengxin almost fainted when he saw it, but fortunately he didn't say that he was going to send troops, otherwise Yang Zengxin would have to pack up and go home. I have been inquiring about the telegram for more than a month, but I don't want the telegram from Beijing to come again. This time, he was asked to go back to Beijing to report on his work, and he didn't want to go halfway to the airship, so the officer found him and pulled him onto the boat without saying a word. Hurried to Beijing.

As a capable official, although he was pleased with the treatment of the airship going to Beijing, Yang Zengxin still did not forget the important things, after seeing Yang Rui and Zhang Taiyan. He kept telling the truth about small countries and widows. Yang Rui, who only listened, only laughed in his heart. "Brother Dingchen, whether to send troops depends on the situation, the General Staff is just making a plan, if you really send troops, you will definitely be informed, you are the governor of the Western Regions, the governor of a province, this decision must be made to seek your opinion, and there will really be a chance at that time." I'm afraid that if I don't say it, you will mention it. "Yang Rui doesn't call Lord Yang but 'Brother Dingchen'. Yang Zengxin was a little surprised, he understood that this was just a plan, and he breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, and said: "Your Excellency, then it is ...... to summon the officials this time."

Glancing at Zhang Taiyan and seeing him nodding, Yang Rui hesitated in his heart, and finally made up his mind, "What I said today is related to the national plan, if you miss half a point, then not only you, but the whole country will also be unlucky, Lord Yang knows?" ”

Glancing at Yang Rui and Zhang Taiyan in some surprise, Yang Zengxin secretly took a breath and said, "The lower officials know, swear to keep their secrets!" "That's good!" Yang Rui also knew that he was a steady person, and immediately said, "In less than six years, there will be a big war in Europe, which will last for several years, with tens of millions of casualties, and Russia will be shattered in this war, and it will be out of control." In this case, the areas that China had ceded earlier were to be reclaimed. In the absence of the khanates of Central Asia, what should we do best? It is necessary to occupy the territory and offend the natives less, and to border Persia, and even better to extend the territory to the shores of the Caspian coast......

Anyway, there are a lot of requirements, local forces are a danger, and Russia will be able to stabilize again in a few years is another danger, but you don't care too much about the threat of New Russia, as long as we don't occupy too much space and don't threaten the Kazakh hinterland, we will be able to negotiate diplomatically to solve most of the threats at that time.

There are less than two divisions on your side, which is far from enough, and with the vastness of Central Asia, it is difficult to control without five divisions, and if there is a war, the army will be even more. For this reason, the imperial court is ready to start from Xi'an, build a Western Regions railway, now the work of selecting the line is already being done, four years later will start, the railway will be built all the way to Alashankou, but after all, this railway is more than 4,000 miles, the road is rugged, how long it will take to repair, whether it can be repaired before sending troops to East Asia, I don't know. ”

If it weren't for being in the court, facing the interim prime minister, Yang Zengxin would only think that what he heard was a fantasy, a war in Europe, civil strife in Russia, did you not say that this European war, would there be civil strife in Russia if there was a big war in Russia? Yang Zengxin was retorting in his heart, and suddenly heard Yang Rui say that the construction of the Western Regions Railway would start in four years, and his heart settled down. "Your Excellency, is this Xinjiang railway really going to be repaired?"

"Of course it has to be repaired." Yang Rui is sure, "The first thing to ensure by the railway is national security, and the prosperity of the economy is the second." Full...... Cough...... The first railway built by the former Qing Dynasty was the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Line, and its purpose was not to develop the economy, but to focus on national defense. My Greater China government is not worse than the former Qing Dynasty, right? ”

Looking at the linen clothes on Yang Zengxin's body, Yang Rui had no choice but not to say that the Manchu Qing Dynasty said that the former Qing Dynasty, Yang Zengxin said in his heart, and said: "Xiaguan doesn't mean this, Xiaguan thinks that it is good and necessary to repair the Western Regions Railway, but this road stretches for more than 4,000 miles, Gobi, river beaches, wind sand, high mountains, these places are extremely difficult to build roads, such a project, the cost is very high, with the current national strength ......"

"Connecting the Western Regions is the top priority of many national tasks, and this road must be built with a bare ass!" Yang Rui waved his hand. "This is not only a problem of Central Asia, which sent troops, but also a problem of stabilizing the Western Regions. More than 4,000 miles, at most more than 100 million taels. If you don't have the money, or can't raise it in a short time, you can borrow it. Now the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is negotiating with the Russians that if the conditions are right, they can borrow money from the Russians to build roads. ”

As soon as Yang Rui said borrowing, Yang Zengxin's body seemed to jump, and the Russians had been bewitching the Qing court for a long time. If the Central Asian Railway is to be extended to Xinjiang, then Xinjiang will become a protectorate of Russia, like the Central Asian khanates. Now the focus of negotiations between Xie Jintai and the Russians is also here: the Lanxi Railway Russia wants to build from Central Asia to Xi'an. China wants to build from Xi'an to Central Asia, and the same is true for the Mongolian railway. Steady dìng before the country. Yang Rui may agree to Russia's condition of repairing from the Russian side. But now that the country is generally stable, it has stopped thinking that the construction of roads borrowed from Russia must start from the Chinese side.

Seeing his reaction like this, Yang Rui said with a smile, "The loan is not a loan like the previous Qing, if you can't talk about it, then don't talk about it." Anyway, the railway will have to be built for at least three or four years, and it will be completed around 1918. ”

"It's, it's been such a long road. I'm afraid it won't be good in three or four years. Yang Zengxin saw that Yang Rui didn't have to borrow, and his heart was a little relieved. But after three or four years to build the railway, he didn't believe it at all.

"With the strength of the whole country, even if you can't build the Alashan Pass in four years, you can still leave Gansu and enter the Western Regions Province. When the army fights, food comes first, ammunition comes second, and your side will prepare to build a small steel-making plant, a copper smelter, and a sulfuric acid and nitric acid plant this year, and when the war in Europe begins, an arsenal will be built, and then ammunition and rifles will be produced locally. Yang Rui pulled the topic away as he spoke, and he immediately corrected it, "That's all there should be said, let's talk about it, how to demarcate the border between us and Russia in such a situation?" ”

Yang Zengxin was clear-minded, and Yang Rui concluded that the war in Europe was equivalent to civil strife in Russia, which was suspected of China's support for the Russian Revolutionary Party; In such a hurry, he was asked to go to Beijing to report on his work just for this matter, maybe he was negotiating with the Russian Revolutionary Party, asking Shi Jingjiao in Russia to return all the lost territory of the former Qing Dynasty, and the places in Central Asia would also come over by the way. He didn't know what Yang Rui promised to give Shi Jingjiao, but no matter what he gave, China was sure to make money, and he was afraid that Russia's Shi Jingjiao would not succeed enough and lose more than anything, and when the time came, Russia would send troops in anger, and the war in Europe would not start, but the war between China and Russia would start. Thinking of this, he glanced at Yang Rui and Zhang Taiyan, and said stubbornly: "Your Excellency, is this matter safe, if it doesn't work out, then we will be the target of everyone." ”

Yang Rui and Zhang Taiyan glanced at each other, not only did they not get angry but laughed, Zhang Taiyan said, "Lord Yang, don't worry." It's a big deal to lose some silver, it's not very important. If Europe doesn't go to war, we won't bet too much. ”

Yang Rui also said: "Every step will be forward-looking, the cabinet and you will discuss with all their hearts, plan and decide, and will never be reckless." Central Asia is not a loss of territory, just do it, if it doesn't work, it won't work, and if you can't occupy it, forget it. But we still have to do the plan, those khanates are very chaotic, Persia and Afghanistan are involved in it, and the cabinet can't figure out the internal situation in a short time. This time I want you to come to Beijing to discuss how best to demarcate our national border with New Russia. ”

The meaning was explained, Yang Zengxin knew it in his heart, and immediately walked to the map on the wall and began to introduce the details of Central Asia, "Central Asia has always been in constant wars and wars. There were three khanates: Khiva, Bukhara, and Kokand, and the nearest to me was Kokand, followed by Bukhara and Khiva.

Kokand (the whole territory of present-day Tajikistan and the whole territory of Kyrgyzstan) and China have long had a territorial dispute, and 35 years ago, it was destroyed by Russia and became the Russian Viceroyalty of Turkestan. In the last five years, there has been a large number of Russian immigrants who have seized land and the people are deeply resentful, and now there is an anti-Russian organization called Al-Shabaab, but they are not exactly revolutionary, but reformist, hoping to change the status quo through the national parliament.

The other two existing Khiva and Bukhara Khanates (the territory of the two countries is about the same as the entire territory of present-day Uzbekistan), although they are states, in fact, they can only be said to be counties, but the position of county officials will always be occupied by the khan, and the minerals, land, and taxes in the country are also controlled by Russia, and they exist in name only.

This is the three khanates of Central Asia, these three countries go up, for Kazakhstan, there used to be three khanates, for the big Yuz, the middle Yuz, the small Yuz, the middle Yuz and the small Yuz were annexed by Russia a hundred years ago, and the remaining Great Yuz east and south of Lake Balkhash was first annexed by the Dzungar Khanate, but Dzungaria was pacified by our country. It also became a vassal of our country, and it was not until more than 40 years ago that the two countries were annexed by Russia, and it is now the Russian province of Seven Rivers. Of these three khanates, only the Great Yuz had the possibility of restoration. The other two khanates penetrated deep into the Russian hinterland, and they would not let it.

In Central Asia, in addition to the above-mentioned khanates, there were the Turkmen tribes west of the Amu Darya River and east of the Caspian Sea, and the Cossacks of this tribe were not their opponents, but there were no khanates there. At the same time, it has always been invaded by Persia, Vashi and other countries, and later the Russian army went south, its territory was occupied, and its people were slaughtered. It is now a province of Caspian Sea outside Russia.

If Russia continues to have civil strife in the future, our country's railways have been opened, diplomacy is effective, soldiers are killed, the homeland of Dayuz and Kokand, and the two khanates of Vashi and Bukhara. And the Turkmen land may be taken back to me. But it is easy to occupy an area, after all, the local people have been suffering for a long time, and it is difficult to belong to me for a long time. The people of these places were all Islamic, and they had deep ties to the Ottoman Empire, and Russia was now forcibly classified by race and immigrated to the area, with little success, and civil strife continued.

In the opinion of the following officials. If you want to stabilize the lands of Central Asia, you must either kill them all. and then move the Han people into the country, but if this matter is careless, it should be blamed by all countries, and the gains outweigh the losses; The best strategy is to divide and rule, in addition to the two khanates of Khiva and Buhanla, and then set up the two khanates of Dayuz and Kokand, after all, Turkmenistan is strong, can not establish a khan, each tribe can only fief, but whether it is a state or a fief, it is necessary to promote their lands to intersect with each other, disputes, and resentment against each other, so that the khanate tribes will be dependent on the imperial court. After stabilizing the situation, when the national strength is strong, the Western Regions Railway can be taken out of Alashankou and to the east coast of the Caspian Sea, which is the time for economic migration......"

After all, Yang Zengxin has been a country in the Western Regions for many years, and he does have the skill to govern the country, Yang Rui and Zhang Taiyan listened late at night, and they are no longer in the clouds about Central Asia. The Russians ruled by the nation, and China by the khanate, and these khans said to be kings, but they were only county governors and the like, and under the call of the king and not the call of religion, they would never be able to unite together and become Turkestan. With the king as the lead, stabilize Central Asia, and whether it is a palace coup d'état or a bourgeois revolution, anyway, what happens internally is enough for those who are well fed to toss.

After discussing with Yang Zengxin that night, Yang Rui also understood where the border between Central Asia and the Soviet Union should be demarcated. That is Lake Balkhash as the eastern boundary, the Aral Sea as the intermediate boundary, and somewhere on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea as the northern boundary. The more than one million square meters of land thus obtained are as extremely barren as the outer northeast, and they are not suitable for cultivation except for Da Yuzi, but the territory can be connected to the Caspian Sea, a land rich in oil and gas resources, and future generations will not have to go to such great lengths to build oil pipelines, and the Baku oil fields on the other side of the sea are under the danger of China, and Comrade Stalin should become an old friend of the people of Greater China. Yang Rui was slightly intoxicated with the new boundary map, and after giving a copy to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange the wording of the negotiation, a copy was hung on Yang Rui's bed.

After talking politely about life, ideals, and struggle, the great Comrade Lenin and the revisionist Yang Rui invariably peeled off their faces and began to enter the stage of substantive negotiations.

"Comrade Yang Jingcheng, I am very much in favor of the restoration of sovereignty in the Outer Northeast, but only if the tyrannical Tsar is overthrown, I propose to give the Bolsheviks three years to mobilize the workers and the people, after which, China under your leadership, must once again have a war with the Tsar in the Far East, similar to the Russo-Japanese War. We, the strong and courageous Bolsheviks, could certainly launch a revolutionary storm even greater than that of 1905, and the Tsar, as well as the shameless and decadent ruling class, would be swallowed up by this revolutionary storm. The question of belonging to the Outer Northeast and the freedom of the oppressed peoples of Central Asia can be resolved in this way. Comrade Lenin waved his hand vigorously, and his passionate words stirred up people's hearts.

"Comrade Lenin, you have a good point. It is our consensus that the only way to overthrow the rule of Tsarist Russia is to launch a revolution while Russia is in a war of aggression. But there is no need for another Russo-Japanese War, and the imperialists will kill each other in order to carve up the world colonial market. You've been in Europe all along, so you should know what's going on in Europe today, right? Yang Rui looked at Lenin, who was full of energy, and was very envious, he was forty years old, and his energy was no worse than that of a young man.

"A war between imperialists?" Lenin looked sideways and thought, "Yes, it will happen, but it may be years, maybe more than ten years......"

"No, Comrade Lenin. The imperialist war would have broken out in five years, because the arms race between Germany and Britain was running out of money, and so many warships and cannons had been built. But not to start a war, in the way that the capitalists think about the problem, it will be a huge loss. So. War will inevitably break out in a short period of time, and it is no longer a one-year war like the Russo-Japanese War, where the imperialist war begins lightly but is difficult to end unless one side falls completely.

The proletarians of Europe should rejoice in the outbreak of war, and even more so in the protracted nature of the war, because of this. The revolution will eventually be victorious, and Russia will be waged at the time when the tsarist government has exhausted all its efforts. The timing is too important, start early. The forces of the tsar and the bourgeoisie will strangle the revolution, launched too late, and the bourgeoisie has already taken control of the whole country, so Comrade Lenin. The Bolsheviks had to wait for the coming of war. The longer the war continues, the more likely it is that Europe will be liberated by the proletariat, and when the power of imperialism disappears, the European revolution will come.

Of course. The revolution will not be smooth, it will take time to eliminate the conciliators and traitors. I also need resources, and I can provide as much help as I can in the course of the revolution, as long as the sovereignty of the Outer Northeast can be restored, and the people of Central Asia can regain their freedom. Considering that the Russian people had invested heavily in the Far East and Central Asia, we would be able to pay for the railways and factories in Central Asia for the use of the revolutionary government at the beginning; In order to maintain our friendship and take into account the feelings of the Russian people, the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Vladivostok seaport in the Far East can continue to be used by the Russian people in the form of leased land, which can be returned to China at the end of the lease period. ”

Yang Rui's words in the first half are wise, because this is history. 'The Bolsheviks were to seize power before the Tsar was weakened and the bourgeoisie came to power...... The longer the war continues, the more likely it is that Europe will be occupied by the proletarians...... The revolution in Europe is coming'. Lenin was extremely excited after listening to it, he was clear about the atmosphere of war in Europe, but he was not as sure as Yang Rui thought, and now he was a little excited when he heard Yang Rui so sure.

The second half is brain-dead, not to mention Central Asia, how can there be a reason for the Far East to reclaim its territory and still use railways and seaports for Russia. After translating the second half of the sentence, Lenin was somewhat surprised. Because there are many ethnic groups in Central Asia, it is not difficult to hand over this land to China in the case of redeeming assets such as railways, as long as Yang Rui's territorial area is not too large and does not threaten the hinterland of Russia;

However, the Far East issue is a bit tricky, the Russians have spent a lot of effort in order to build the Trans-Siberian Railway and build the Far East, once these places are handed over to China, there is no access to the sea, Siberia will be a dead land, domestic nationalist discontent will continue to erupt, now Yang Rui only wants to restore the sovereignty of the Northeast region outside the country, and the key areas of railways and seaports are not handed over to China, which gives a great step, in other words, the actual control of the Far East is still in the hands of Russia.

Why? Lenin couldn't understand, with his understanding of Yang Rui in the past few days, he knew that this bourgeois must have a deep meaning, but what was the deep meaning? Are you worried that you won't sign the agreement?

Lenin thought sideways, Yang Rui was calm, holding Yuan Shouyi, just like talking about big business before, at this time he was very calm. It was a good thing to completely reclaim the Outer Northeast, but he knew it would be extremely difficult to do so. Historically, Lenin made a declaration for the return of the Outer Northeast, but it was a strategy to contend with the White Army, as evidenced by the fact that after the Russian Civil War, all the independent nationalities joined the Soviets; There is also the Brest-Litovsk Treaty, which was criticized as a traitor, most people understand that this is a measure of rights and interests, but in the current Yang Rui's view, this is simply a blood transfusion for Germany and Austria, so that the great powers can continue the war.

The Far East is such an important strategic point that does not leave room for the Soviet Union to operate, and even if Lenin agrees now, he will regret it afterwards, and maybe he will provoke China, Japan, and the United States to fight constantly. For World War I, China supported Germany with technology before the war, and the Soviet Union supported Germany and Austria with materials during the war, so let the First World War last a few more years.

"Comrade Yang Jingcheng, the main reference of the various nationalities in Central Asia is...... "Where is the Far East Lenin was well aware, but the Central Asia-Pacific is large, and he does not know where the border is."

"Oh!" Yang Rui smiled when he heard this, and immediately asked Liu Boyuan on the side to present the map, and said, "This is a map of Central Asia more than 40 years ago, in addition to forcibly occupying Chinese territory, Russia also annexed three khanates and many tribes in the next ten years, I think Russia only needs to return to the 1864 border, and the area south of the border is still left to the self-determination of various ethnic groups." What do you think, Comrade Lenin? ”

Yang Rui said that it was extremely high-sounding, but Lenin's eyes were still staring at the map handed over. Lake Balkhash to the west, through the Aral Sea to the Caspian Sea, such a division of Russia no longer with Afghanistan, eastern Persia, the road to India to the south blocked, although did not penetrate deep into the Kazakh steppe, the Volga Basin, the western section of the Trans-Siberian Railway is not threatened by China, but China's presence on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea makes him uneasy, of course, this uneasiness, is not entirely because of oil.

Yang Rui saw that his gaze stopped on the side of the Caspian Sea, and he had an urge to explain, but he still stopped, and only waited for Lenin to read the Russian explanations that Lenin wanted to close after reading the maps, and then listened to him: "Comrade Yang Jingcheng, I am sure that these peoples were enslaved and oppressed by the tsar, and I will be very happy if they can regain their freedom." ”

"I am of the same opinion, Comrade Lenin!" Yang Rui said unhurriedly. The negotiations have finally come to an end, and the next step is to talk about how to invest. (To be continued......)