From the day the "Cossack Emirates" fabricated by Zhao Xin was born three years ago, Caterina II hated Zhao Xin. Therefore, when she prayed to the statue of the Virgin every morning and evening, she would always curse her.

After nearly four years of war, nearly 100,000 Russian officers and soldiers died in the sand, lost half of their territory, and more than 20,000 captured officers and soldiers served hard labor in the desolate Siberia.

The source of fur trade is gone, and the trade of tea and rhubarb in the East and West is interrupted, so it can only be smuggled; domestic finances are tight, ruble banknotes are depreciating, and serfs in the Ural Mountains are scrambling to escape... The situation in the Tsarist Russian Empire is now terrible.

However, as the queen of the supreme commander of the Tsarist Russian Empire, in her sixties, she would not roar at her ministers every day, and would swear like a shrew, but instead gritted her teeth and tried to calm the turbulent situation.

As an opponent he had never met, in order to study his enemies, Catherine II asked the court painter to draw a bust of Zhao Xin according to Suvorov's description, and put it in his study. He would look at it when he was fine. He would even take out the memories of Suvorov's only meeting with Zhao Xin and read it repeatedly, trying to explore the opponent's personality and inner world.

The reason why she spent so much time studying opponents far away in the East was that in addition to being an irreconcilable enemy, the incident that caused a sensation in Europe that happened in Paris two years ago, Louis XVI's sister, son and daughter were robbed from the Temple Tower Prison, and their whereabouts are still unknown. Coincidentally, the delegation of the Beihai Town was in Paris during that time.

Zhao Xin thought he was doing it without anyone noticing that, although all his luggage was checked by the French on the return trip, nothing was found. But the Russian side believed that this was done by the Chinese!

When all the impossible is excluded, no matter how unreasonable the rest is, it is the fact.

But why did Zhao Xin send people to Europe to save Louis XVI? There seems to be no other explanation except to interfere in European affairs. This speculation has made European countries nervous for a long time, especially Catherine II. Because she knew very well that the fastest way to go from the territory of Beihai Town to Europe was to go to land.

Zhao Xin told Tsarist Russian envoy that he would attack Kazan.

So while she was busy dividing Poland with Prussia and Austria, she transferred most of the domestic troops to the Ural Mountains, and at the same time sent envoys to try to find out the intentions of Beihai Town through negotiations again and again.

Last year, the Military Commission of the Tsarist Russian Empire submitted a detailed report to Catherine II in response to the two wars that occurred with Beihai Town. Not to mention whether the data on the Beihai Army were collected or imagined, the final conclusion was that it would be difficult to defeat Beihai Town unless more than 500,000 troops were invested at one time.

Five hundred thousand, that is the whole country's strength, and the total number of Tsarist Russian troops is this. After reading the report, Catherine II felt cold.

Now in 1794, the 33rd year of Catherine II's reign, the Queen knew that she would have no hope in her life if she wanted to take back Siberia. As for her successor... her useless son must not be able to count on.

After three years, internal and external sufferings from military and political aspects greatly changed her appearance. Although she still exuded vitality in public, the dentures in her mouth made outsiders mistakenly think that her teeth were still intact; she still maintained the nobleness and elegance of the king in every move, facing the public with a high head, nodding with friends, ministers and servants. However, her increasingly bloated body, completely white hair, and no longer bright and clear blue eyes were telling her that the queen was old.

Some people say that it was Po Jiangjin's sudden death that hit the queen deeply; however, those who are well aware of the inside know that the queen would become like this, in addition to Zhao Xin who was far away in the East, there was also the "Cossack Emirates" he supported, especially the fake "Son of Pugachev".

In fact, in the history of the Romanov dynasty, it is not uncommon for big liars to be mixed with fish. The turbulent history of the Tsarist Empire is often intertwined with the fake "tsar", and the people are very happy to accept these fake grand dukes because of their oppression.

For example, in 1605, an adult man claimed that he was Dimitri, the son of "Ivan the Thunder". In fact, Dimitri died before he could reach adulthood, but the guy still successfully completed the rebellion and even stole the throne of the Tsar for a year.

In 1725, Peter the Great passed away. Because the election of the Romanov dynasty was always shaking, there were endless fakes in Tsarist Russia, lying to be Peter II or Ivan VI. In the first decade of Catherine II's rule, some such liars also appeared, but they were arrested before they had a major impact.

Don’t be afraid of fakes, but what you fear most is fakes with strong external forces.

In the eyes of the old lady, the Krutogorov, who was pushed to the stage by Zhao Xin, was far more dangerous than Pugachev back then. That's right! Although he would do some facial disguise when he appeared in public places whenever he was fair, he was still recognized by his fellow villagers and sold the news to the spy for fifty gold rubles.

You should know that more than 20 years ago, Pugachev was just a bandit who was greedy for pleasure and illiterate, while the Cossack Emirates had a clear program and laws. Wherever they went, they liberated the serfs and distributed them to their land, and they would also execute public death penalty on the Cossacks who participated in the burning, killing, looting, to stabilize the people in the occupied areas.

To do all this, you must have an iron-fisted ruler who is well versed in politics, otherwise the free and casual Cossack would not become so disciplined. Catherine II did not believe that a Cossack who had once been illiterate had such great charm, and there must be someone to give advice behind it.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content later! Combined with the letters sent by the missionaries stationed in Beijing, she was sure that the only one who could make the Cossacks follow the order was the only cold-blooded pagan, the oriental man who was called "the highest honor attaman" by the Cossacks, Zhao Xin.

If Zhao Xin knew that Katerina II "praises" him so much, he would definitely give him a kiss to express his "Sen Sen's gratitude".

On August 27, 1795, at 6 a.m., the queen wrapped in a silk nightgown crawled out of the quilt. When she moved, three puppies sleeping on the pink satin lounge chair beside the bed woke up. When the owner got out of the bed, she gathered around her feet to have fun.

The old lady liked these three dogs very much and never used food and daily life. So she dragged her slow steps to the door leading to the garden and opened the door for the puppies to go out for fun.

After several maids helped her change her clothes, the old lady would drink four or five cups of coffee and then start processing official or private letters. Now her eyes are so dizzy that she must wear glasses when reading, and sometimes even use a magnifying glass.

At 9 o'clock, the queen put down her pen as usual, then shook a small bell on the table. The long morning began, and civil and military officials who had been waiting for a long time began to meet with each other.

When meeting two scientists from the Royal Academy of Sciences, the queen took off her glasses, rubbed her eyebrows and said, "Gentlemen, how are you studying the communication methods and machines used by the Chinese?"

"I'm about to report to you, my Majesty. This... I'm sorry, we have no clue yet. Unless... unless I can see it with my own eyes."

Since Caterina II ascended the throne, problems such as ignorance of government orders, poor communication with the bottom, and inability to receive timely feedback have been bothering her. This is also the most troublesome thing for every monarch who holds great power.

However, according to the reports of the spies sent by the Russian army to reconnaissance in the Siberian region, the government orders of Beihai Town can be quickly conveyed to every region. The most obvious example is that the notices signed by Zhao Xin in recent years appeared in more than a dozen towns such as Irkutsk, Yenisesk, and Tulun on the same day. If it was arranged intentionally, it would not be possible, but it would require a lot of preparations in advance. It was said once or twice, but it would be incredible that it would be like this dozens or hundreds of times.

Hard work pays off. After two years of investigation and losing several spies, the queen finally learned that Beihai Town has an extremely mysterious and special means of communication, an instrument. Through it, even if it is thousands of miles apart, the instructions can arrive on the same day, and it is word-of-mouth.

It’s so scary! There are those in the East, and there must be those in the Empire!

So she summoned scholars from the Royal Academy of Sciences to ask these people to conduct research. However, two years have passed, and the scholars have no idea except speculating that the instrument may be related to electricity.

In fact, it is not easy for these scientists to infer that "use electricity". You should know that electricity in the entire 18th century was still in its infancy, and its main research direction was electric charge. The most famous example is the story of Franklin's death on a thunderstorm.

In this year, the most advanced communication system in Europe was the "Chap Telegram System" invented by the Frenchman Abbe Claude Chape. The term "Telecom" in French and English came from then on. Later it was expanded to the field of railway signals.

The unit of the system is composed of a five-meter-high wooden frame. The fan-shaped swing arm set under the beam can be adjusted by pulleys, ropes and sandbags, thus forming 196 signal systems with word and sentence meanings. The distance between each signal tower is about 11 kilometers. The on-duty personnel observe the signal signs sent by neighboring stations through a telescope.

The Chap system was later introduced to the Navy, and the British were used until the late nineteenth century.

By the way, the railway signal system in Beihai Town currently uses the "arm plate signal machine" derived from this system.

At 12:30 noon, the last time the Queen met was Alexander Suvorov, who had just returned from Poland. Since Pojongjin's death, Suvorov, who had fought with the Northern Navy, has become her most trusted general.

When Suvorov walked into the room, he saw the statue of Zhao Xin placed on the easel to the right of the queen at first glance. He was arrogant and cold, and in the words of the old lady, he was a little handsome and cute. He quickly adjusted his eyes, bowed three times to the statue of the Madonna of Kazan hanging on the wall, and then knelt down in front of the queen, leaned down and tried to kiss the other party's hand.

"For God's sake, aren't you embarrassed?" Catherine II was always amused by the other party's pilgrimage behavior.

Suvorov calmly retreated to the opposite side of the table and sat down, saying with a sincere look on his face: "Little mother, please allow me to go to the eastern frontline."

"You just want to go back to Siberia?"

"No one knows them better than me." Suvorov's eyes were determined.

According to the recent intelligence received by the Russian Military Commission and the news sent back by missionaries in the Qing Empire, most of the Northern Navy's forces are currently concentrated in Central Asia and the eastern part of the Qing Empire. A war of unity that will affect the entire Qing Empire is about to break out. At present, the Northern Navy's total troops in Siberia are only more than 7,000, and they are also scattered everywhere.

In the view of Catherine II, this was an opportunity. She planned to gather forces to deal with the Cossack emirates of Western Siberia, and to fight back to the Ob River to gain more bargaining chips for the negotiating table.

Starting three months ago, the Military Commission began to secretly mobilize the "Yakaterina Army" and the "Ukrainian Army" to assemble to Tobolsk, where there are currently huge forces including 55,000 infantry, 6,000 cavalry and 217 artillery pieces.

"Okay, you have begged me several times, and if you don't agree, I'm too inhumane." After thinking for a while, the queen finally spoke.

"Thank you! Little Mother." Suvorov was overjoyed and stood up excitedly, trying to go around the table and kiss the other person's hand.

"Don't come here!" The queen's wrinkled face showed a fake boredom, then took a piece of white paper with the royal emblem and wrote the order.

After seeing Suvorov off, Katerina II left the office and returned to the locker room to change into a special gray silk dress for lunch. There were more than a dozen people who had lunch with her today, all of whom were her personal friends, nobles, senior officials and several of her favorite ambassadors to Russia.

For some reason, she had no enthusiasm for today's food and had no appetite at all. After drinking two sips of soup, she put down the tableware. She didn't eat it, and no one here dared to continue eating it, so the lunch ended early. After the queen left, the guests ran to the room of the servants living in the palace and continued to enjoy their own lunch.

The afternoon is the time to study, and the old lady has no habit of taking naps. She either read by herself or asked her servants to read a few paragraphs to her when she was a girl. When she was tired, she would go for a walk in the garden and have some afternoon tea when she came back.

But something sad happened during the walk today. Since the gardens of the Tsar Village were open to all well-dressed people, when Caterina II and the noble lady were tired of walking and resting on a bench, a passing man glanced at the two elderly women quickly. He did not recognize one of them as the queen, and whistled and left.

The female official was very angry about this, but Caterina II said calmly: "That would never happen twenty years ago, but now we are all old, so we can only blame ourselves."

The female official was a little surprised. This was the first time she heard such words from the other party, so she hurriedly said, "Little Mother, you are not old."

After hearing this, the old lady shook her head and looked at the sunset in the distance with a blank expression. For some reason, the female official felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

Because today is Thursday, as usual, there will be a small party at Hermitage Palace in Tsar Village that night. This is not a dance party, just friends with good relationships gather together to listen to music, watch dramas, or play Whist Bridge.

The old lady was very interested. During this period, a guy pretended to be a clown and made her fall back and forth. However, she surrendered before nine o'clock. She told everyone that she was laughing too hard and needed to go back and rest.

The next day, on August 28, Caterina II got up on time at 6 a.m. and drank two cups of coffee. At 9 o'clock, she told the waiter Qiuerning that she wanted to stay alone, and then went to the locker room. According to usual habits, she would be in the room for up to 10 minutes before she could come out, but she didn't see her coming out after half an hour today.

The attendant general Zotov felt something was wrong, so he went over and knocked on the door, and then entered the locker room. There was no one inside! After a while, he thought of going to the bathroom next to him to take a look.

When he knocked on the door and tried to push it, he found that the door was stuck from the inside and could only push it open for a crack, and could not see anything. Zotov called a maid, and the two of them worked together to push the door open, and then they were frightened by the scene in front of him.

The 65-year-old queen fell to the ground unconsciously, her body pressed against the door, her face turned purple, her eyes closed, and a squeaking sound came from her throat.

"Go and call someone! Let Qiuerning go and find Dr. Rosen!" Zotov said to the maid, then gently lifted the old lady's head, and then she heard her moan softly.

After a while, two close servants and palace maids came. Everyone was sweating profusely and finally moved Catherine II to the bedroom. Originally, Zotov wanted to carry the queen to the bed, but the old lady was so sank that he couldn't lift it at all. So he hurriedly pulled the mattress to the ground and dragged her up.

After a while, the court doctor from England arrived. He was listening to Zotov's panicked narration while doing a checkup. The situation was very unoptimistic, and the old lady's head was severely hit. The British doctor guessed that it must have hit the table in the bathroom first, and then hit the ground.

By the way, if someone trained as a "rural doctor" in Beihai Town is present, it will be easy to draw inferences from the other party's wet rhymes and inability to speak. Catherine II has had a stroke, an Angong beef yellow... By the way, it hasn't been there yet.

Then let’s take a bowl of Ditan Tang, use ginger to make Nanxing and soup to wash Pinellia 2 and a half qian each, stir-fry bran and citrus aurantium, 2 and a half qian peeled Poria cocos, 1 and a half qian orange red, 1 and a half qian each of Acorus granulated, 70 cents of bamboo fermented, and half qian licorice. Then use five slices of ginger as medicine to boil each other repeatedly on the fire of civil and military water. Boil two bowls of water into a bowl, and then pour it down OK!

The question is what is the current situation in European medicine? A barber who can’t bleed is not a good doctor!

Rumentsev was killed, and could Caterina II avoid it? The experience before Washington died a few years later made people feel even more disgusted.

So the blood vessels on the old lady's arm were cut open, and then the British doctor took out a medicine called "Spanish Flies" from the medicine box and took it. Don't be surprised by the name of the medicine, because there are really Spanish flies in the formula of this thing.
Chapter completed!