My father is Yongzheng, and I am Qianlong?

Chapter 267 The Fourth Prince's forceful nature is unsettling.

"What does Fourth Master mean?"

Tegut asked.

Hongli said, "It's not that we can't talk. Since our Court of Colonial Affairs has been ordered to discuss and reply, we must take responsibility for the fate of the Qing Dynasty in this negotiation!"

"First and foremost, we must require them to demonstrate their sincerity in wanting to coexist peacefully!"

"As for how they should demonstrate their sincerity, it is to hand over to our country the culprit who initiated the border conflict, massacred our people, and caused the negotiations to break down and the conflict to escalate—Korychev!"

"In this way, even the most bloodthirsty and shameless people in their country will not dare to offend our country easily, and that would be a sign of sincerity!"

After saying this, Hongli looked at Tegut and asked, "What do you think, sir?"

Tegut dared not have a different opinion.

As the Minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs, he knew better than anyone that the Fourth Prince in front of him was not only wealthy and powerful, but also willing to spend money to do tough things. He was willing to spend millions of taels of silver to buy the lives of Russians for the sake of the Qing Dynasty.

Tegut of Jigu knew that this kind of prince was someone he couldn't afford to offend.

Therefore, Tegut naturally chimed in, "Fourth Master is absolutely right! Without doing this, it certainly wouldn't be considered a genuine attempt to seek peace."

Hongli smiled slightly at this, and then continued to read the many memorials concerning the vassal states submitted by Tegut, the Minister of the Court of Colonial Affairs.

In the Qing Dynasty, all memorials concerning the administration of vassal states, as well as memorials from Mongol princes, Koreans, and even Russians, were first sent to the Court of Colonial Affairs through the Office of Transmission and the Grand Secretariat, where the Court of Colonial Affairs would then provide its opinion on how to handle them.

Logically, the final decision on what to do should be made by the Minister.

As the prince in charge of the Court of Colonial Affairs, he was naturally the final decision-maker regarding the handling of these memorials concerning the vassal states.

This can be considered a special phenomenon in the transition from feudal dynasties to the Qing Dynasty, namely, that there were also princes and dukes above the ministers of the relevant departments, and the leadership became increasingly large.

The ultimate goal was to centralize power.

Because both the Minister and the princes could submit secret reports, the princes, who represented the imperial family, and the Ministers, who represented the bureaucratic group, could supervise each other.

Hongli read it very carefully.

Because if he wanted to become a truly powerful emperor, he had to demonstrate outstanding ability in handling practical affairs.

Although Emperor Yongzheng believed that he could manage the Court of Colonial Affairs well and allowed him to run the Court, the majority of the princes and nobles had not yet recognized his ability to manage the Court and handle the affairs of the vassal states effectively.

Therefore, after taking charge of the regional administration, he had to achieve results and could not make any major mistakes.

Only in this way can he convince the world that he has handled the affairs of the vassal states well, and make the vassal princes and nobles respect him.

At the same time, Yongzheng would feel at ease letting him manage more powerful ministries and departments, so that he could accumulate greater prestige and virtue, and even, like the thirteenth prince, manage multiple ministries and departments, become a minister of the Council of State, enter the core decision-making level, and thus obtain the power to oversee the country, or even ascend the throne ahead of schedule.

Therefore, even in negotiations, Hongli did not intend to be perfunctory, disregard national dignity, or simply give up after reciprocating in kind.

Instead, Russia was required to hand over the culprits responsible for the killing of more than fifty captured Mongol civilians, in order to demonstrate that it was Russia that begged the Qing Dynasty to negotiate, not the Qing Dynasty that needed to make peace with Russia.

In short, the Qing Dynasty was tough; even when it came to negotiating borders, it insisted on doing so with a hardline stance.

However, Hongli's request only made the Russian envoys, Langk and Korychev, even more furious.

They were very uncomfortable with the Qing court's sudden and increasingly forceful approach.

Although they knew that this was because the Qing rulers had learned through channels such as the "Beijing News" that they also needed peace in the East and needed to re-establish trade routes.

Yet they still felt deeply humiliated by the Qing government!

This time, more than 500 Russian soldiers were retaliated against in kind. They have reported to the Tsar and requested that the Qing court be retaliated against.

However, the imperial edict sent by the Tsar by fast horse criticized his irrational suggestion, saying that he had not taken into account the ongoing war in the west and the empty treasury, and demanded that Langk continue to seek peace, but allowed him to act as he saw fit.

Langk knew that this meant the Tsar wanted him to make concessions, but he would have to take the blame and bear the wrath of the nobles and gentry in the country.

Therefore, Langke dared not easily concede, but instead proposed to the Qing court that he wanted to continue negotiations, and also took the initiative to say that as long as the negotiations were successful, they would sever all ties with the Dzungars.

To Kronk's surprise, the Qing court disregarded his threat to acknowledge the Russian Empire's dealings with the Dzungars and support their harassment of the Qing Dynasty's northwestern border, and still insisted on his handing over Korychev.

boom!
Therefore, Langk was furious, so furious that he threw the wine jug to the ground and looked at Kolychev at the same time.

While equally angry, Kolychev also asked him with some fear, "Are you really going to hand me over?"

Langke said, "If I report this to the emperor, Menshkov (the de facto ruler of Russia) will get His Majesty's approval."

"Didn't the Fourth Prince of the Qing Dynasty long for peace to come?!"

Korychev then rose in a fit of rage and roared at him. Langk spread his hands and said, "The problem is, he has to prove to the current emperor that he can bring about peace without the slightest loss of imperial power and prestige!"

"He cares more about the throne than about peace!"

"You should learn more about the rules of power in the East!"

Langk added.

Kolychev took a few steps back and gave a bitter laugh.

Then, Korychev looked up and asked him, "Is there really no other way?"

Langke said, "Now we can only pin our hopes on the Mongol princes!"

"Do they dare to oppose their Fourth Prince?"

“It’s not a question of whether or not you dare.”

"These Mongol princes are the direct victims of the deterioration of relations between the two countries!"

“As long as the negotiations remain unresolved, these Mongol princes will have to watch their herdsmen flee into our Russian territory to become free people who do not have to hand over their furs, and they will have to endure the Cossacks’ plundering for another day.”

"In addition, I already know that the main force now attacking us is Tsering's troops. He suddenly received a lot of silver, which encouraged many Mongols to dare to fight back."

"Many Mongols from other banners also fled there, and some Mongols who had already submitted to us even fled back, all for the sake of making money and driving us away!"

"And the fact that Celing has so much silver is obvious without even asking; it's all thanks to the Fourth Prince."

"Although the lower-level Mongols benefited and the Qing Dynasty maintained the dignity of the imperial power, the other Mongol princes suffered heavy losses. Their number of unregistered servants decreased significantly, and their fur income also decreased considerably."

"Therefore, as long as we threaten the Mongol princes that if they do not make every effort to bring the negotiations to a successful conclusion, our Russian Kingdom will intensify its plundering of their pastures and avoid Tsering's sharp edge, then the Mongol princes will probably be more eager to complete the negotiations as soon as possible than we are, and more willing to stop Tsering's actions that disrupt the negotiation process."

Langk chuckled sinisterly as he said this.

Upon hearing this, Kolychev's face darkened: "I'll go and talk to these Mongol princes."

"very good!"

"If we can't deal with the Fourth Prince, surely we can handle these Mongol princes?"

Langk sneered.

Korychev then met with Beizi Yanbuchubdorji, threw a bag of heads in front of him, and sat down imposingly in a chair:

“Yanbu Chubu Dorji Beizi, this is a gift I brought for you, the heads of the refugees from your tribe.”

"If you see that you cannot get the negotiations done and completed as soon as possible, then you will receive more gifts next."

"you!"

"It was the imperial court and Celing that provoked you, so why did you kill my people instead of sending them back?"

Yanbuchubdorji said, both angry and frustrated.

Snapped!
Kolychev slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and said, "You have no right to question us. All you need to know now is that this is the price of submitting to the Qing Dynasty rather than to my Russian Kingdom!"

"Okay, but you have to give me some time."

"Yanbu Chubu Dorji said helplessly."

Kolychev smiled smugly: "We need to hurry!"

It is no coincidence.

Many Mongol princes in the northern deserts were threatened in this way.

These Mongol princes from the northern deserts dared not vent their anger on the Russian envoys, but only on Celeng, and even complained about Hongli, who was in charge of the Court of Colonial Affairs.

"Your Highness, look at these heads, look at these people! Do you really want the killing to never stop?! Retaliation may frighten the Rakshasa people, but the only way to stop the killing is to be magnanimous and compassionate, and to reach a peace agreement!"

"Furthermore, Prince Consort, if you truly become the Fourth Prince's man, you should consider his well-being, not let him offend us Mongolian princes because of you!"

These Mongol princes therefore denounced Tsering, and Yanbuchubdorji gritted his teeth and said, "Your Highness, please think about it carefully. If the court disregards the losses of the princes in the vassal states, it will be difficult for us to show respect to Fourth Master."

"Furthermore, the Emperor and the people of the world will question the Fourth Prince's true ability to handle the affairs of the vassal states! At that time, perhaps the Han gentry in the south will no longer pay tribute to Jingyi!"

(End of this chapter)