Dominate the Country

In Jinling Theater, a Peking Opera, which represents the highest level of Chinese advanced drama, is being performed.

The scene of the four major Anhui troupes entering Beijing did not appear in Beijing, but appeared in Nanjing.

Chen Ming recruited all of them into the National Theater.

Coupled with his guidance as a "blind opera", Peking Opera has appeared in mainland China for more than ten years, although the taste is a little different from the Peking Opera in the previous life. After all, the "Mandarin" is different.

Watching the soft dancing on the stage and the singing that is very different from Western opera, Yegor Gaidar, although he could not understand any of the lines, even any word, but he, who was born in an aristocratic family and had a certain cultural literacy, also felt pleasing to the eye and was very happy.

It has been more than half a month since Yegor Gaidar came to China. In this short period of time, he has traveled to two prosperous and wealthy Chinese cities, Shanghai and Nanjing, and has seen what is a commercial area, what is an industrial area, and what is a residential area. I visited primary schools, middle schools, colleges, universities, and even schools for the deaf and dumb and charity welfare organizations, visited the military base on Chongming Island, visited the Boys' Camp, and saw hospitals and the naval and land garrisons at Wusongkou in Shanghai.

Whether it was Nanjing or Shanghai, the wide, clean and bustling urban streets, the clean and bright public hospitals, and the vast and beautiful university teaching areas that looked like gardens all made Yegor Gaidar and others deeply envious. Compared with them, Stockholm and St. Petersburg at this time were like two huge and smelly slums that were unbearable to recall.

Compulsory education has been implemented in Shanghai and Nanjing for several years. The number of schools and students here is beyond Yegor Gaidar's imagination. So much so that Yegor Gaidar would think about it in boredom, whether there are more people who can read and write in Nanjing, Shanghai, or any other city than in the whole of Russia.

You know, although the top Russian nobles pursue the elegance of France, many middle and lower Russian nobles are illiterate, not to mention the lower-level citizens and serfs.

In today's Russia, despite years of promotion of education by Catherine II, the number of high schools in Russia still does not exceed 300, and the total number of high school students in school is only 50,000 to 60,000, and the number of higher education is even pitiful.

The literacy rate of Russians was truly improved in the era of the Red Russian Empire.

And now there are still 120 years before the collapse of the Tsarist Russian Empire. In this era, there are really not many people in Russia who can read and write.

It's just that God is very kind to the Russians. Among those who may only have a total number of tens of thousands of people with higher education, a large number of top international talents have emerged, and they will continue to emerge in the next hundred years.

Although Russia's overall cultural level is far from that of Britain, France, Prussia and Austria, there are also Slavs in the top level of the scientific community in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Yegor Gaidar couldn't think of these at the moment. The scenes he saw were too stimulating to him, and he unconsciously turned his attention to the overall level to look at the problem.

The more he looked, the more he felt that the gap between Russia and China was too big.

In the magnificent industrial zone, tall chimneys spewed black smoke into the sky, like a terrifying devil descending from the sky; there were street lights and iron trash cans in the streets and alleys, but no one stole them, which was unimaginable in Russia; the intricate traffic tracks, like a spider web, the running public carriages and trams seemed to never stop. In Yegor Gaidar's eyes, it seemed to be in a different world from Russia.

There were also huge steam cranes and tower cranes on the neat port docks, super-large spinning mills with more workers than the population of a small Russian city, and furnaces of red-hot iron...

Visiting the cities of Shanghai and Nanjing only made them feel the richness of China; but after visiting the industrial zones of Chinese cities, both the Swedes and the accompanying Russians, while all of them were amazed, could feel the huge gap between them, like a natural moat.

Yegor Gaidar remained silent from beginning to end at these scenes that symbolized the great industrial power.

But he knew in his heart that when all the steel bases in the Ural Mountains, where Russia's industry is most concentrated, are gathered together, the number of workers there is not as much as any of the ones here.

Although Shanghai and Nanjing are also very important cities in China, their industrial zones must also occupy a pivotal position in China's industrial field.

China's diplomatic department has always been negotiating with the Swedes. Yegor Gaidar is the count of St. Petersburg, but it is useless. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not contact him at all.

Instead, he is arranged to "tour" in China again and again. It is said that soon, the Chinese are also preparing to take him across the Yangtze River to a city called Yangzhou, which is a famous city that has been prosperous for more than a thousand years in Chinese history and has a very ancient Chinese flavor.

And there are Suzhou and Hangzhou, the "paradise" of the Chinese.

The ancients of the Song Dynasty in China must not know the special meaning of the word "paradise", which is almost associated with monotheism in later generations.

This can only be said to be a clever coincidence in translation.

When Chinese people do translation, they always compare the most beautiful words and vocabulary with foreign languages.

‘Heaven’ is an example.

When Yegor Gaidar first heard of the reputation of Suzhou and Hangzhou, although he had important responsibilities, a glimmer of longing flashed in his eyes. What kind of beautiful scenery can make the rich and proud Chinese admire it for thousands of years?

Especially when you know that these two beautiful cities have a long history that St. Petersburg can't imagine - that is 2000 years.

Yegor Gaidar felt sad for his colleagues in his "hometown".

In Europe, rumors that the Chinese are clean and tidy and Chinese cities are beautiful and spotless have been circulated for a long time.

Jinghai, Singapore, Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shanghai..., cleanliness has become a mark of the Chinese, just like "porcelain".

The names of these coastal port cities are now familiar to tens of millions of Europeans. Even some Europeans who return to Europe will bring back pictures of these cities, which are contributed by both European painters and Chinese new painters.

However, most Russian officials firmly regard the urban environment created by China in coastal port areas as a face-saving project. What Yegor Gaidar saw now was the same in all the cities in this country. Although they only stopped at Nantong and Zhenjiang when they came to Nanjing from Shanghai, Yegor Gaidar and his companions all stayed on the boat instead of getting off the boat to play.

Although they all had eyes and telescopes in their hands, their eyes would tell them that the cleanliness and tidiness they saw in Shanghai was not fake, but the most common scenery in this country.

China's powerful national strength permeated these beautiful towns, the small ports and docks they passed along the way, the villages and towns along the river, and cities such as Jiangyin and Zhangjiagang. The arrogant pride of the Chinese people is really not based on falsehood.

Therefore, a tough attitude is absolutely undesirable for Russia's current prayer for peace. It seems to be a great victory to be able to divide the boundaries with the Chinese according to each other's control areas.

Yegor Gaidar knew that St. Petersburg was not interested in interfering in the Russian Revolution. In the Sixth Russo-Turkish War, the price Russia paid was too high and too heavy, and Russia must cultivate itself. Just like a hibernating bear, staying in a safe cave, quietly waiting for the winter wind and snow to blow over.

A few days later, Yegor Gaidar and his Russian delegation, who returned from Yangzhou, finally waited for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact them. Yegor Gaidar was red and had two blisters. Was he irritated by staying up all night? Or was he burned?

Dong Gao had no intention of knowing. He just had to complete his mission.

That was to have a good talk with Yegor Gaidar and exchange the conditions of both sides.

The Swedes were outsiders after all, and their identity was like a middleman who threaded the needle. The real talks were between China and Russia, otherwise Yegor Gaidar would not have followed the Swedes to China by sea.

As for how much the Russians paid for the Swedes' "threading the needle" this time, that was not something China needed to consider.

Yegor Gaidar's original plan was to "use the Yenisei River" as the boundary. The east of the Yenisei River belonged to China, and the west belonged to Russia.

In other words, the Russians knew that they could not keep all of the West Siberian Plain, but they still wanted to give it a try.

But now Yegor Gaidar changed his mind and directly retreated the "border line" to the Ob River.

And China's request was of course to use the Ural River ~ Ural Mountains as the boundary.

...

At the end of June, the Ottoman Empire's special envoy came again, and the visitor was still Selim, Selim bin Mohammed Murad.

At this time, the news about the Russian visit became the main focus of domestic media attention.

From "Zhongyuan Daily" to "Jinling News", from "Jinling News" to "Global Times", all began to report on this major diplomatic event in a row.

After the Ottoman Empire's special envoy, who can also be said to be China's old friend Selim, arrived in Nanjing, this heat broke out completely.

The whereabouts of the Russians after arriving in China were also reported. That was called "showing strength and expressing sincerity". Why did the three parties hold formal talks only after the Ottoman Empire's envoy arrived? This was called "maintaining the new strategic partnership between China and the Ottoman Empire", which made the relationship between the Russians and Austria look very bad.

These newspaper reports did not have much substantive content, but the reporters made the articles colorful, and even many officials in the officialdom were confused and confused.

But no matter how much they could understand, the attention of the Chinese people was brought back to the battlefield, which had been much quieter.

The fighting on the main battlefield between China and Russia had calmed down a lot. The Chinese could not fight anymore, and the Russians had no soldiers to fight back, so both sides stopped fighting. That is, the battlefield in the West Sea was very lively. The Russians gradually mobilized 20,000 to 30,000 troops to the West Sea, as well as a certain number of artillery. The Caspian Fleet also had many small-scale exchanges of fire with the surface warships of the National Defense Forces. Everything shows that the Russians cannot tolerate China driving a nail into the western coastline of the Caspian Sea.

Yegor Gaidar also mentioned the issue of the Western Sea when negotiating with Dong Gao. They cannot tolerate the Chinese retaining the Western Sea, and they can even make a guarantee that they will not retaliate against Baku Khan.

But when China and the West were negotiating, the port of Manzanillo was defended by the Chinese. Today, the West Sea is no less significant than Manzanillo. How could China give up easily?

And in this negotiation, the Chinese side was really frank. We are a military alliance with the Ottoman Empire and a strategic partner. We cannot and will not betray our friends and secretly reach an agreement with our enemies.

If China and Russia want to start negotiations, they must inform the Ottomans. If the Russians want to sign an armistice agreement with the Chinese, then you must also sign an armistice agreement with the Ottoman Empire at the same time.

When Yegor Gaidar heard this just now, his eyes widened like cow eyes, and he looked at Dong Gao as if he saw a fool.

This Chinese is completely pushing the benefits outward.

You know, although Yegor Gaidar's attitude towards China has softened, he also has the idea of ​​making up for the loss in the east and the south in his heart.

But the Chinese are so "loyal" and "friends" that they broke Yegor Gaidar's three views.

In the private sphere, keeping one's word is a great virtue; but in the diplomatic sphere, sticking to "keeping one's word" is the biggest idiocy in life, and it is a very inferior and immature performance of diplomats.

But the Chinese just did it.

- We are the heaven and the country, how can we do things that are not kept? !

Then do we still have face?

For China, whether in ancient times or later generations, "saving face" is a "virtue" that makes people difficult to talk about.

Well, for the current Ottoman Empire, this is indeed a "virtue".

Not to mention how the monarchs and ministers of the Ottoman Empire felt when Istanbul received the notice from China three months ago, just talking about Selim himself, he was grateful to China and shed tears of gratitude.

After Selim arrived in Nanjing, he first presented Chen Ming with a gift from the Ottoman Empire - a strange gem that can change color by itself.

It came from the Anatolian Mountains of the Ottoman Empire.

So far, this kind of gem that is "emerald during the day and ruby ​​at night" has only been found in the Anatolian Mountains.

Even the Sultan's palace is a rare treasure.

This time, the elderly Abdul Hamid I was really grateful to China.

In the cognition of the monarchs and ministers in Istanbul, no country has ever been able to achieve the "sincerity" of the Chinese.

So he did not hesitate to take out the rarest and most precious gem in his cognition as a gift to show his respect to the Chinese emperor.

Including the Ottomans, no one knew what this gem that can change color was. However, Chen Ming happened to notice this color-changing gem that is unique to Turkey - diaspore in his previous life.

This is a very rare gem, only found in the Anatolian Mountains of Turkey, and the production area has a very small output.

The name of diaspore was given by the last Ottoman Sultan, which is more than a hundred years away.