Seeing that Yishan agreed so readily, Yi Quezuo felt a little foolish. However, he didn't think much about it. As long as there was a gold mine, he didn't care. He took out a cigarette and ordered one of his own, handed the cigarette box to Sushun, and said slowly: "Tsarist Russia not only gradually erodes us in the northwest, but also pressed us step by step, but also in the northeast.

We suffered a great loss when we signed the Treaty of Nibchu. Now Tsarist Russia has opened its borders that were drawn up that year and entered my country frequently, especially at the estuary of Heilongjiang and the area around Sakhalin Island. We have established outposts and surveyed hydrology. Does the court know this situation?"

Seeing that no one said anything, Su Shun pondered for a moment and said, "Because of limited troops and harsh climate, Heilongjiang has no garrison in remote areas. The court is not clear about Tsarist Russia's establishment of outposts in the estuary of Heilongjiang and the Sakhalin Island area to survey hydrology. The court is not sure about the northeast being a place of Longxing, and the court will definitely not indulge it."

The Land of Dragon Xing? Yi Zhizu sneered, got up and took out a map of Northeast China from the drawer, signaled Feng Renxuan to hang it up, and then pointed to the map and said: "You have a good look. This is the estuary of Heilongjiang and Sakhalin Island. If this area is lost, it will lose its estuary for the northeast border."

As he said that, he looked at Zai Zhao and said, "The Beiyang Navy was not treated as a decoration by the imperial court, right? If the Beiyang Navy was just to protect Tianjin and Bohai Sea, the Nanyang Navy would not mind sending a fleet north to establish bases at the estuary of Heilongjiang and Sakhalin Island to guard the border!"

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but look at each other. The court could not tolerate the Nanyang Navy's expansion of its sphere of influence to the Northeast. Zai Zhao pondered for a while before saying: "In the current situation, even if the court is willing to take care of the Northeast, it is still willing but not capable."

Yi Zhizu stretched out a finger and said, "In one month, within one month, if the Beiyang Navy does not go north to patrol Sakhalin Island and establish a naval base, the Nanyang Navy will go north! In addition." After a pause, he continued, "This matter must be raised in this negotiation with Tsarist Russia, and a solemn warning is that within one month, the Russians who cross the border in the northeast will not evacuate and will be killed without mercy!"

After leaving Zhenhai Duke's Mansion, Yishan invited Sushun attentively and Zaizhao to visit his place. Sushun and the others also wanted to negotiate with him on negotiations with the Russians, so they naturally would not shirk responsibility.

The place where Yishan is staying is not far from Zhenhai Gong Mansion, just a street-facing garden on Zhenhai Road. There are many such gardens on Zhenhai Road, mostly for rent, and are specially rented to officials and merchants who come to Zhenhai Gong Mansion to visit. Although the price is expensive, the business is excellent, especially when Yi Zhizu is not in Shanghai, which is even more popular.

Walking slowly along the way, Yishan couldn't help asking: "Yuan Qi was stationed in the northwest, and immigrated to the Nanyang and the northwest to provide relief to the victims and donate river labor. There are still tens of thousands of navy troops in Dinghai. Now he is clamoring to establish a naval base on Sakhalin Island. Even if the mountains of gold and silver are not enough, how rich is Yuan Qi?"

After hearing this, Bu Yantai said with a deep feeling: "Yuanqi seems to have endless money to spend, but what is going on in Yuanqi Bank not making money?"

Sushun has been asking in Shanghai for a lot of time. He couldn't help but smile and said slowly: "Yuanqi does not rely on banks to make money. Not to mention the others, now there are five ports in trade, but in fact, the trade between tea and raw silk is monopolized by Yuanqi, and Yuanqi is not only the trade in raw silk, but the entire silk reeling industry. The pricing power of raw silk is in Yuanqi's hands. With only raw silk, the profit per year is at least tens of millions of taels of silver.

Furthermore, the trade in the East, South and Western countries are now monopolized by Yuanqi. The factories in Guangzhou and Shanghai are either opened by Yuanqi or acquired by Yuanqi. The extremely popular pocket watches, bicycles, soaps, soaps, glass, cigarettes, gunpowder, etc. on the market are basically Yuanqi, not to mention that Yuanqi also has many mines, such as Qiongzhou, Taiping iron ore, Hongji coal mine, and Yunnan copper mine.

In addition, the sugar industry, machinery, railways, ship manufacturing, sea transportation, inland transportation, etc., no one does not make money in any business that Yuanqi intervenes. Even if it is conservatively estimated, Yuanqi can earn 40 to 50 million taels of silver a year, which is only a lot more than the annual income of the imperial court."

Yuan Qi was so rich! Yishan was so shocked that he could not help but say, "Can the court not be able to curb it?"

"Contain?" Su Shun shook his head slowly and said with a wry smile: "Don't hold it, it's like pulling it all over. Yuan Qi is not as simple as it's too big to lose its tail. To put it bluntly, if Yuan Qi doesn't cause trouble, the court should burn the incense!"

Zhenhai Gong Mansion, study room.

"The two gold mines in Tacheng were originally prohibited by the local governments." Feng Renxuan said slowly: "Last year, in order to assist the court in paying silver, Yishan ordered the gold mine to be lifted and allowed people to mine. However, Tsarist Russia interfered violently, saying that all other than Karen belonged to Kazakhstan, and submitted official documents to Yili General Yishan. This move is likely to threaten disputes by force. Yishan ordered the closure of the mine and did not allow people to go to mine gold.

Yishan was timid and fearful. He used the excuse of not being prosperous in gold and prohibiting the people from going to mine gold. However, many people still went to the gold mine to mine gold despite the ban. Mainland merchants Liu Guanghe, Bian Jiming and others set up camps in the gold mine, and there were thousands of people, and the mining tax was almost not paid."

After hearing this, Yi Zhizu smiled and said, "I said I would send troops to the Tacheng Gold Mine. Why did Yishan agree so readily? It turned out that it was because of this." After a pause, he asked, "Is the gold mine production large?"

"I'm not very clear." Feng Renxuan said: "No, I heard that the local turf produced in the country is of high quantity and good quality."

"The quantity is high and the quality is good." Yi Zhizu nodded and said, "Send two groups to station in two gold mines and allow the people to mine. However, all the gold obtained must be exchanged with Yuanqi for silver, and the mining tax must not be reduced. In addition, take this opportunity to take root in Tacheng. As for the Russians, if you dare to come, you will destroy it. Don't be afraid of causing trouble! The chaos will be more conducive to your expansion of territory in the northwest."

"I understand." Feng Renxuan quickly said loudly, paused, and then said, "Can the shopkeeper equip us with more artillery?"

"No problem." Yi Zhizu said without hesitation: "The mountain howitzers and 6 war artillery suitable for cavalry are officially equipped for you, and you will bring them with you when you return."

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

Yi Zhizu looked at Zuo Zongtang and said, "Why did Ji Gao come back together?"

After pondering for a moment, Zuo Zongtang said straight: "There is no use in the northwest, so I'm here to come and resign from the shopkeeper."

Hearing what he said so directly, Yi Zhizu couldn't help but smile, "Is Ji Gao unwilling to surrender to others? Or is he unwilling to surrender to Ji Rong?"

After looking at Feng Renxuan, Zuo Zongtang said truthfully: "Brother Ji Rong has a broad vision and a big picture. He can be both a general and a commander. Why bother to go to the northwest to get involved?"

"Ji Rong, since he formed the Yuanqi regiment, joined the army, fought against the British and conquered Annan, and the Yuanqi was too impressed by the imperial court, so the court was also very cautious about Ji Rong, which was not conducive to large-scale immigration and large-scale expansion of troops in the northwest." Yi Zhizu did not hide it and told his own plans truthfully, "But Ji Gao is different. You have a great reputation among the scholars in Hunan and have a close relationship with the officialdom. If you enter the northwest, you will be highly valued by the imperial court. With Yuanqi and the court's support, you can quickly open up the situation in the northwest.

What is the current task of the Northwest? Immigration, farming, and expanding the army! The war between Tsarist Russia and Turkey will break out next year and next year. The most likely one is that it will break out next year. What does this mean? At the latest, a war will break out in the Northwest year and it will take no time to wait!"

As he said that, he got up and went to the drawer to take out a map for the two of them to hang it on, and then pointed out: "This is a map of Central Asia, West Asia, and South Asia." After drawing a circle in Central Asia, he slid his fingers to the Persian Gulf and pointed hard.

"We want to send troops to the northwest to take away the chestnut from the fire. We not only want to regain 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 groups of troops! The troops are at least 50,000 or more than 60,000!"

Speaking of this, he glanced at Zuo Zongtang, "Time is tight. If Ji Gao is not interested in the Northwest, I will change someone else."

Zuo Zongtang smiled and said, "The shopkeeper has been so open and honest, so he won't have to go this extra trip."

"Ji Gao doesn't know much about Yuan Qi's situation, and he may not believe what he said earlier." Yi Zhizu said slowly: "At present, large-scale immigration to the northwest has begun. At least within five to ten years, immigration will be continuously transported to the northwest. You must properly resettle along the way. Don't be afraid of spending money. You should make a good decision."

"I understand."

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

After knocking the two away, Yi Zhizu followed out of the study and walked into the yard, thinking about the negotiations with Tsarist Russia, and trading in Yili, etc., he didn't care, and it didn't matter if he allowed trading. Next year, the Crimean War will break out, and he will also break up with Tsarist Russia. Any trading agreement is nonsense.

He was thinking about the arms trade with Tsarist Russia. He knew very well that the Crimean War, known as the first modern war, ended with Tsarist Russia's defeat. The reason was that Tsarist Russia's weapons were behind. He planned to sell large amounts of Minni guns to Tsarist Russia to extend this huge casualties as much as possible. Of course, the defeat between Tsarist Russia and Britain and France in Crimea was the best outcome for the Qing Dynasty.

However, in order to ensure the expansion of the northwest, he had to grasp this measure. The end of the war would not be changed. What he hoped was that Tsarist Russia would be defeated more tragic. In this way, he would take advantage of the situation in the northwest to rob. In addition, this arms transaction would be carried out secretly, or in advance, otherwise it might cause fire. It would be absolutely unwise to sell a large number of Minnie guns to Tsarist Russia during the war. This is also the reason why he insisted on letting the Tsarist Russian delegation come to Shanghai for negotiations.

Baoshan Military Factory, simple shooting range.

After a series of dense gunfires, Lieutenant Colonel Kovalevsky, the Russian plenipotentiary, put down the telescope in his hand with shock. He could not believe or could not accept the facts in front of him. He shot three times a minute, had a long range of at least four hundred to five hundred yards, excellent accuracy, and a hit rate of 80%. He dared to bet that this is definitely the weapon that can sweep the world and overwhelm all the six armies in the world, and is the most classic musket - the Minnie gun!

What he could not have imagined was that the ancient Eastern Empire of the Qing Dynasty could actually produce Minnie guns! Kovalevsky was not unfamiliar with Minnie guns, but due to the limitations of Russian machine tool processing levels, they could not produce in large quantities. After all, this rifle had too high requirements for the accuracy of mechanical processing and could not be made by trying to make it.

Shocked, Kovalevsky said in disbelief: "Is this your own creation?"

Listening to the translation, Yi Zhizu, who was holding a cigar in his mouth, raised his chin slightly, "You can sell it to you in large quantities."

Kovalevsky asked quickly, "How large is it?"

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

After hearing this, Kovalevsky hesitated. He knew very well that the Minnie gun was expensive, ten thousand pieces, and it was at least hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. How could he make the decision? However, he still asked: "What price?"

Yi Zhizu stretched out a slap and shook it, "The best price is fifty silver dollars per branch."

To be fair, this is a very fair price. Kovalevsky was very moved and pondered for a moment before saying, "I'm sorry, we don't need to purchase a large amount of Minnie guns for the time being, but I will convey your wishes truthfully upward."

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

Kovalevsky frowned, "Ili's new army is equipped with Minni guns?"

Yi Zhizu was too lazy to answer such idiotic questions, so he turned around and said slowly: "I will sign the treaty tomorrow and return to China as soon as possible. I'll wait for your news."

Seeing that he was leaving, Kovalevsky was anxious and said quickly: "Your Excellency, our brigadier general and Foreign Minister Earl Putiyatin led a diplomatic mission to Shanghai soon, with four warships accompanying him. I also hope that you will allow them to enter Shanghai for supply and repair."

Brigadier General, Foreign Minister, Puti Yating? Yi Zhizu's expression turned cold, "Your country's warships entered the Qing Dynasty's territorial waters without authorization. Is this a deception to the Qing Dynasty without a navy?"

"The warships escorted diplomatic missions." Kovalevsky quickly explained.

"Foreign warships are not allowed to enter the Yangtze River Estuary." Yi Zhizu said coldly: "However, we warmly welcome your diplomatic mission to visit."
Chapter completed!