Russia used to be a pure land, and Petersburg was also a beautiful place. After Li Xin boarded the dock of Petersburg again, he found that his impression of Petersburg had changed dramatically. There were more chimneys, more coal, and there was a lot of coal ash on the dock. The clear sky of Petersburg was a bit gray, just like the changes in Nanjing and other industrial cities in China.
Russia's industrial development had been rapid in recent years, and the gold earned from selling land to China played a big role. The abolition of serfdom was another reason, and the third reason was the large amount of investment from France. France didn't have enough money to carry out a large-scale second industrial revolution, but France wasn't short of money, so French capital began to be invested in industrializing Russia. China also contributed to this, and now they obtained the rights to the Baku oil field, which satisfied Russia's oil supply.
Thinking of this, Li Xin couldn't help but be envious of Russia. There were amazing oil reserves in the prosperous areas of Russia. And China's oil supply relied on the South China Sea, relying on the huge oil shipping fleet. In the entire central government, the only one who had a reason to oppose the use of radio throughout the country was the military. The other departments supported the wider use of radio, which was beneficial to the national economy and the people's livelihood.
Collecting his thoughts, Li Xin took a car from the China Embassy to the Petersburg Russia Palace. The border issue between China and Russia had been settled, and in theory, the two sides were at peace. In this situation, visiting Russia was significant. China's main work in the near future was to integrate the 30 million square kilometers of land. At this stage, peace itself could bring huge dividends.
The Tsar's palace was magnificent. Along the way, these countries that weren't as powerful as China had more luxurious palaces than China, which made Li Xin a little unconvinced. China's architectural model was indeed different from Europe's, and the most important reason was that Vézé had no interest in building palaces. Vézé's words were full of his personal style. "Let everyone have it first, then there will be a foundation for beauty. Only then can designers have food to eat, and when the number of designers is large, there will be a master. Once we have a master, we can design it however we want. "
Li Xin could sense Vézé's philosophy of governance from Vézé's words. He also knew that a considerable number of people felt Vézé's opposition to the construction of the palace. No matter what, everyone obeyed Vézé's orders. Li Xin agreed with Vézé's attitude. Nowadays, there were more and more people engaged in interior decoration in the city. As long as they had a little financial resources, after purchasing those basic large items, most of them would pay more attention to decoration. She might hang some calligraphy or paintings or set up some flower vases. In the last few years, colorful room painting has become popular. Although white walls were still the mainstream, colorful wall paint, wallpaper, and wall cloth were also becoming popular.
In the early years, a nail or wire was needed to hang curtains. Now that the polished curtain rods and expansion bolts were becoming more and more popular. These changes had unwittingly allowed those who studied "art" to make a living. Li Xin used to think that these graduates were people with no future. He didn't expect them to be smart enough to find their "career" in the city.
On the way to the palace, Li Xin looked at the houses of ordinary people in Russia and noticed that there were curtains on the small windows of these houses. But on second thought, Li Xin felt a little relieved. During the Crimean War, the Russians faced the fierce attack of hundreds of thousands of British and French troops. Although they didn't win, they didn't collapse. During this period, more than ten thousand British troops forced the Manchu Qing Emperor to escape from the capital. At that time, Vézé also said that if the British were willing to send 200,000 British lobster soldiers into Guangdong, they could still win.
It had only been 35 years since Vézé joined the army. It had only been 15 years since the Min dynasty was officially established in 1869. It was less than three years since the Chinese Navy surpassed the British Navy. It was unrealistic to expect China to surpass Russia in such a short period of time. Not to mention that Petersburg was the capital of Russia. It was normal for the people in the capital to have a higher standard of living. With this thought, Li Xin felt a lot better. At least in the matter of curtains, the standard of ordinary industrial cities in China had reached the level of the capital of Russia. It was indeed a bit narrow-minded to complain that Russia had a higher standard of living.
He had a serious expression on his face, but in his mind, he was thinking about things that had nothing to do with the situation in Russia. This was indeed because in this era, China's in-depth exchanges with other countries were basically fighting. This also proved that Russia only occupied a small position in China's diplomatic philosophy. China cared about the war potential of Russia. As for the war that might erupt now, China was quite confident in itself. The central government's attitude was very consistent. China's population was more than ten times that of Russia. As long as China didn't have any problems, there was no possibility of losing the war in the future.
China and Russia had already notified each other about the content of the official exchanges. The first and second issues were security. Russia couldn't truly be at ease with China, just like China didn't think it was a good time to start a war.
Because of this, the two sides were very concerned about the negotiations. In order to win in the future war between China and Russia, both sides had tasks that must be completed. And in a sense, the border between the two sides was indeed peaceful. The ice field was only a transit zone from a strategic point of view. It was a terrible job to maintain a large force on the ice field. China was an agricultural nation. The army could also farm, raise livestock, build greenhouses to grow vegetables, reduce logistical pressure, and at the same time buy some time. The Russians in Russia didn't have this talent. They stayed in Siberia, where the difference between the highest and lowest temperature could reach 100 degrees Celsius. The Russians relied on the rear to transport food and supplies and hunt and fish locally. Those troops were not so much combat troops, but more like Siberian armed reclamation militia with the task of guarding the border.
Neither side thought that the war would be fought in Siberia. The real explosion might be in Central Asia. At this time, both China and Russia were committed to digesting the territory in Central Asia and didn't have the strength to fight a war. Based on the status quo of peace, the two sides discussed peace enthusiastically. They confirmed with each other whether there was a possibility of war between the two countries in the short term.
After these issues were discussed, the foreign ministers of the two countries began to discuss the international situation. China's Foreign Minister, Li Xin, was very interested in this. Russia was a big European country, and their diplomatic attitude had a great impact on Europe. What was the Polar Bear's plan for Europe?
"Your country gave the United Kingdom so much gold. What are your plans?" Russia's Foreign Minister finally asked this question.
Li Xin said seriously, "Our country is a country that values peace. If we can buy peace with money, we will not refuse it."
This made the Foreign Minister of Russia have a very complicated expression on his face. At least 30% of his expression was that he wanted to curse. If China really loved peace, they wouldn't have killed hundreds of thousands of Russians in the Far East and Alaska. Similarly, China's expansion in North America was carried out by stepping on the blood of the United Kingdom. As for the British Navy, it suffered a heavy blow on China's side, and China shelled the British's main port in India. No one would believe that China was peaceful.
The other 30% of their expressions were because of jealousy. Being able to take out so much gold was a great shock to the Russians and even the European countries. This meant that China's wealth was like Europe's dream, a huge gold mine.
The remaining 40% of their emotions were a kind of confusion. The Chinese dared to use force, but they also knew how to control it. If the Russians had gained such a great advantage, they would not have given up. How did the Chinese judge the limit of the use of this power? Russia did not discuss this with China before because the Russians believed that the British would launch a counterattack against China in a very short time. So far, Russia had not seen any signs of the British counterattack. This could probably only be explained by the fact that China had successfully grasped the strategic considerations of the British.
In response to these questions, the Foreign Minister of Russia cleverly raised questions. Li Xin only felt helpless in his heart. There were a lot of gold placers and mines in Alaska and Yukon. The gold reserves in the whole of North America were huge. With the power of the state, it was not a problem for China to mine gold.
The other was the free trade policy of the British. He did not know whether to say that the British were firm or that the British really had their own ideals. The British gold standard meant that they could exchange pounds for gold at the bank. In the last two years, Sino-British trade resumed. This kind of compensation explosion allowed China to get a lot of pounds. After exchanging pounds for gold and shipping it back to China, the British bank did not refuse. Although only a few tons of gold had been brought back so far, if the current situation continued, the gold that China gave to the British would sooner or later be moved back to China. This, of course, would lead to a war. The British were obviously not ready for war at the moment.
China's millennium-long history of coinage made China not too interested in the gold standard. There were too many problems with the gold standard itself. At least with the explosive growth of China's productivity, the implementation of the gold standard was more harmful.
Of course, these things about China's basic policies could not be told to the Russians. Li Xin smiled and said, "I believe that the British are working hard to build warships and try to fight with China."
Li Xin thought it was a joke, so he was waiting for the Foreign Minister of Russia to laugh. Unexpectedly, the Foreign Minister of Russia looked serious and did not take it as a joke at all. This caused Li Xin to be unable to laugh. This feeling was stifling in the middle of the journey, and it was really uncomfortable.
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