Ortai was in a bad mood and the negotiations with Russia still did not make any progress. The other party insisted on the previous request and refused to make any concessions at all.

As time went by, Ortai clearly felt the crisis.

After the beginning of spring, the Ming Dynasty launched another military operation in Liaodong and continued to advance northward. Although Prince Yi had already prepared, it was no match for the powerful Ming and Qing troops.

Prince Yi also tried to use the terrain and the Manchus' advantage of being good at field battles, intending to defeat the Ming army one by one, trying to cut off the other's food routes to force the Ming army to retreat. Unfortunately, the Ming army had long thought of this. The Ming army attacked the north completely ignored the tactical changes of the Qing army and adopted the method of attacking you and I. The Ming army did not aim at eliminating the Qing army, but instead took step by step, occupied a piece of land and used it as a base to build a city to suppress the Qing army in the north.

This left Prince Yi helpless. He could not think of any solution to the Ming army's almost flat push tactic. In less than two months, the Ming army steadily advanced three hundred miles northward and built two cities at the same time. These two cities were as firmly stuck in the north like two nails, leaving the Qing army powerless.

Ortai's military vision is not comparable to that of ordinary people. He could see at a glance that the Ming army's tactical use of the Qing army in Liaodong did not want to completely solve it in a short period of time. After all, the area of ​​northeastern Liaodong is not small, and no matter how many Ming soldiers are, they cannot completely encircle and suppress the Qing army. Now the Ming army is doing this clearly to prepare for a long-term strategy and step by step to compress the living space of the Qing army.

Compared with the Ming Dynasty, the Qing army in Liaodong lived a very difficult life, especially the shortage of food and grass, which made the Qing army unable to fight for a long time.

If the Ming army only adopted the tactic of assaulting north, perhaps the Qing army could take preserving its strength as its combat goal and wait until the Ming army retreated before finding a way to survive.

But now the Ming army's tactics have caused the Qing army to lose their living space. In other words, the Ming army's tactics are equivalent to cutting off their flesh with a blunt knife, oppressing the Qing army bit by bit, and ultimately making the Qing army unable to survive.

Faced with this situation, let alone Prince Yi, even Ortai himself had no choice. If the Ming army completely resolved the Qing army in Liaodong that day and then used this move to deal with him, Ortai would probably be helpless.

When he thought of this, a sense of urgency arose from Ortai's heart. To ensure his safety, he must strengthen his strength. Ortai is very clear about this, which is also the reason for his negotiations with Russia.

"Master, General Berekov is here."

"Please come in." Ortai ordered, then reached out and rubbed his face. When he put his hands down, his previous sad expression had become energetic.

"Dear Marshal, my dear friend, hello!" Berekov walked in and greeted Ortai with a slightly exaggerated expression.

"Hello, my friend, hello." Ortai stood up and greeted him with a smile. Then the two hugged each other, almost as enthusiastic as brothers wearing pairs of pants.

"My friend, have you decided to invite me here?" She sat down and Ortai served tea. Although Russians are good at wine, tea is a good thing for Westerners. Compared with wine, Berekov, as a noble, prefers to drink tea.

In fact, the tea on Ortai is not a good tea. You should know that after the loss of the Central Plains, the Qing court cut off the source of tea. Ortai was brought by these teas when they retreated from Shanxi, and there are not many of them now.

In order to cover up the taste of bad tea, coupled with Mongolian habits, goat milk and other things were added to the tea. However, Berekov drank this milk tea with relish and felt that it was much better than the clear soup and poor water-free green tea I first drank.

"Garden bun!" Ortai said contemptuously, but did not show any sign of it. He said with a smile: "If you want to make a decision, you can say it, right, but in the end you still have to discuss it with you, what do you think?"

"My friend, we have talked about this topic countless times. I think our price is very suitable and there is no room for further discussion." Although I was very satisfied with the milk tea, Berekov did not give in at all. The Russians had already discussed this transaction, and it was clear that they wanted to cut a piece of meat from Ortai.

"If this is the case, it would be a pity." Ortai had guessed this result a long time ago, and was not surprised by the other party's answer. He sighed and said, "Mongolia is not as good as the Central Plains. I really cannot accept such a high price now. I originally thought we were friends and it was appropriate for friends to help each other. Unfortunately, if I still traded at this price, I could only refuse."

"Why? Are you not going to arm your own troops anymore? The current situation is extremely unfavorable for you! Without our Russia support, I'm afraid you will find it difficult to ensure the stability of Mongolia and your own safety."

Berekov was a little surprised. He originally thought Ortai would continue to bargain with him as before, but he didn't expect Ortai to plan to end the negotiations today, which caught him off guard.

Ortai sighed and said, "There is nothing I can do about this. For me, I hope to cooperate with Russia, after all, we are friends. It's just a pity that your asking price is too high, and I really can't accept it."

Berekov rolled his eyes and smiled, "My friend, you can actually accept my previous proposal. If that is the case, it is OK to sell it to you at a lower price. Why not do that?"

"I am an idiot, but I do that!" Ortai cursed in his heart. Berekov's so-called proposal was to ced Mongolia to a grassland near the northern desert to obtain price discounts. Ortai knew very well the purpose of the Russians doing this, but he could not agree.

If it was in the past, I would agree, just like the division of Mobei. But now it is different. Ortai is already the lord of Mongolia, and the Mongolian tribes were basically recovered by him. If the grasslands in Mobei were ceded to Russia at this time, it would be equivalent to betraying Mongolia.

By then, the Mongolian tribes would inevitably be dissatisfied with Ortai and would even oppose Ortai because of this matter. So the clear-headed Ortai knew that this condition could not be agreed to anyway.

But these words naturally cannot be said to Berekov. Ortai explained with a smile: "Actually, before considering cooperating with you was for the stability of Mongolia. Now the Ming Dynasty is willing to give me the title of King Shunyi and let me command Mongolia. Since this is the case, the threat from the Ming Dynasty will no longer exist. In order not to let the Ming Dynasty misunderstand, I have considered repeatedly that it would be fine if I didn't trade."
Chapter completed!