At Hampton Court Palace in London, the Russian Ambassador Ignashevich stood nervously in front of Cromwell's Foreign Secretary, his body slightly bent forward in humility.
Cromwell's foreign minister was called Sinclair. He was a very shrewd white-haired old man who wore a pair of reading glasses on the bridge of his nose. Through his transparent reading glasses, he looked up and down at the Russian ambassador standing in front of him.
After carefully observing the Russian's straight black hair, Sinclair smiled arrogantly.
"My respected Russian guests, we do not have advanced weapons. You are mistaken. If you want to buy muzzle-loading rifles and new artillery, you should go to Amsterdam. Or Lisbon, if you can have a good relationship with Li Zhi in the Far East.
.”
"But you shouldn't have come to London anyway."
Ignashevich bowed slightly to Sinclair and said: "Your Excellency, Foreign Secretary, I think you underestimate our Russian intelligence capabilities. We know that you are manufacturing new rifles on a large scale.
There are four thousand craftsmen in the Veitch district working hard to make guns, and they can produce five thousand new rifles and a considerable number of new artillery every month."
Sinclair raised his eyebrows slightly when he heard Ignashevich's words.
The Russians know the output of the London Arsenal. Have Russian spies infiltrated the London Arsenal? No, they obviously just got some rumors. If they can really penetrate the Arsenal, there is no doubt that they will immediately crack the Formosa
The secret of the rifle is that you don’t have to come to London to buy it in a lowly manner.
Sinclair laughed: "We don't have the new weapons you mentioned, Mr. Ignashevich. Only the Dutch do! You should go to Amsterdam."
Ignashevich suddenly opened his arms, trying to move the British with his enthusiasm, and said: "Your Excellency, Foreign Secretary, Britain is expanding on the sea, and we, Russia, are expanding in cold Siberia. There is no contradiction between us. Moreover.
We have a common enemy and we are both under attack by Li Zhi! We should help each other."
"To be honest, the reason why we need new weapons so urgently is because we hope to defeat Li Zhi in Asia! Our weapons in the Far East are too backward."
After a pause, Ignashevich said: "Sell the new weapons to Russia, we are willing to pay a big price."
Sinclair smiled arrogantly and said: "We have no new weapons. We Europeans will not believe hearsay, Mr. Russian Ambassador."
As if he had said something wrong, Sinclair patted his forehead exaggeratedly and said: "I'm sorry, Mr. Ignashevich, I forgot that you Russians also consider yourself Europeans, I offended you!
"
The Russians are located in the easternmost part of Europe. They have been intermarried with the Mongols for hundreds of years, and they wish they could call themselves Mongols. In the eyes of Western European countries, the Russians are descendants of the Mongols and are no longer considered Europeans with pure blood.
But since the sixteenth century, Europeans have continued to expand. The Russians have witnessed the power of Europe, but they also want to be active on the world stage as a European country. Russia desperately wants to learn French court etiquette and Spanish culture, and just wants to be
Europeans recognize it.
So Sinclair's words are undoubtedly a naked satire on the Russians.
Ignashevich laughed awkwardly and stood up helplessly.
Instead of being groveling, he started speaking some bone-chilling vernacular.
"No matter what, will the British always be the slaves of the Dutch?"
Sinclair frowned and looked up and down at the Orthodox Christian in front of him.
Ignashevich loudly said: "Britain is a latecomer country that is desperately expanding around the world. But unlike the Netherlands, which controls commercial trade around the world, Britain has not received enough benefits from its colonies."
"Britain is developing very fast, faster than any other European country. But in the British colonies, it is Dutch merchant ships that sell goods. Even the fish in the London market are brought from the sea by Dutch fishing boats."
Looking at Sinclair with a gloomy face, Ignashevich sneered and said: "If Britain wants to rise, it will have to break with the Netherlands one day. Only by driving away all Dutch merchant ships can Britain truly get rid of the rich colonies.
Profit. There will eventually be a war between Britain and the Netherlands."
Hearing Ignashevich's words, the attendants in the reception room were a little surprised.
Now the Anglo-Dutch alliance is in its honeymoon period. Both sides are advancing and retreating together around the world because of their common interests, but Ignashevich actually dared to provoke this seemingly unbreakable Anglo-Dutch alliance.
Sinclair frowned and said coldly: "Black-haired Asian, do you think you can achieve your goals by sowing discord?"
Ignashevich has no stage fright: "Let me put it bluntly, if the poor Britain and the rich Netherlands go to war, the British will not be able to attack the Dutch mainland, and the war will become a protracted maritime tug-of-war. The final result
, will undoubtedly damage the national strength of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom at the same time."
Ignashevich pointed to the world map on the wall and said loudly: "If the British are willing to ally with Russia and sell the most advanced weapons to Russia, Russia will not only attack Li Zhi eastward, but also attack Li Zhi westward.
To contain the Netherlands. If Britain and the Netherlands go to war, we will use land to attack the Dutch mainland."
Sinclair snorted coldly and was about to taunt the Russians when he saw Cromwell's attendant opening the door to the consul's office next to his office.
The attendant bowed politely to Ignashevich and said: "Mr. Russian Ambassador, the Consul invites you and the Minister of Foreign Affairs to come to the office for a detailed discussion."
Ignashevich's eyes lit up. Apparently, Cromwell was moved by what he said about the Anglo-Russian alliance.
He strode into Cromwell's office.
Cromwell sat behind his desk and looked at Ignashevich.
After a long while, he said calmly: "Mr. Ambassador, how are you going to attack Li Zhi?"
Cromwell did not discuss the alliance with the Russian ambassador. At this stage, a sudden alliance between Britain and Russia would be too abrupt and would make the Netherlands feel uncomfortable. What Britain and Russia should do now is to build a relationship between the two countries.
Develop good relationships.
If war did occur between Britain and the Netherlands, the good relations between Britain and Russia would quickly turn into an alliance.
Ignashevich waved his hand and replied: "Dear Consul, we will go south from Siberia and attack Li Zhi's three northeastern provinces."
Cromwell said expressionlessly: "Your troops in the Far East are no match for Li Zhi."
Ignashevich said loudly: "Yes, Consul. But we Russians are not acting alone. The Jiangbei Army of the Ming Dynasty will attack Li Zhi at any time. And the Netherlands supports the Mughal Emperor in the Far East to regain control of India. Obviously
I hope to attack Li Zhi from the west."
Cromwell was stunned. He did not expect that the Russians even knew about India.
After thinking about it, Cromwell said: "Next month, we can sell 30,000 muzzle-loading rifle guns and 2,000 mortars to Russia. But we need a big price, we want 300,000 pounds."
One pound is almost equal to more than four taels of Ming Dynasty silver, and three hundred thousand pounds is a big number.
Ignashevich curtsied to Cromwell and said: "Your Excellency, Consul, I think the Tsar will agree to your generous proposal!"
