New Shun 1730

"I think Russia is going to be finished."

Hannibal's first words were full of sadness.

Hannibal was unmoved. Like every day before, he sat quietly at the table writing in his brigadier general uniform.

He just raised his head slightly to see that the person coming was Liu Yu, and then lowered his head again.

Hannibal no longer had any trust in Liu Yu.

Protestants, merchants, heavy artillery, warships... all fake. He even humiliated him on the warship with the phrase "I come, I see, I conquer".

But now that he was captured, Hannibal knew that even if he wanted to duel, Liu Yu would not give him this opportunity. So he just thought Liu Yu's words were farts and didn't want to listen at all.

With a creak, Liu Yu moved a chair by himself, deliberately making a lot of noise, and sat opposite Hannibal.

Shaking his butt a few times, the chair made a creaking sound. Hannibal finally stopped writing and said with strong resentment: "Excuse me, what exactly do you want to do? You have trampled on my honor, do you want anything else from me?"

Liu Yu spread his hands and said: "Didn't I say it? Let me tell you, Russia is finished."

"No, it won't. That is the last refuge of Orthodoxy."

Listening to Hannibal's rebuttal, Liu Yu just wanted to laugh in his heart, thinking that you, who turned from Coptic to Green and then to Eastern Orthodoxy, are still so into the play.

Before, Liu Yu thought about how to pry open Hannibal's mouth and let Hannibal cooperate. After thinking for a long time, he felt that there were not many ways to use.

But people always have weaknesses, and people without weaknesses must be cold and ruthless. As long as a person has something he loves and cares about, the deeper the love, the greater the weakness.

He wanted to test what Hannibal really cares about. Perhaps, his spiritual motherland Russia is one of them?

"Mr. Hannibal, there is a piece of news that you may not know yet. Empress Catherine died. Peter II ascended the throne, Menshikov was exiled... and the Privy Council decided to move the capital from St. Petersburg back to Moscow. Do you know what this means?"

The previous few sentences seemed to be within Hannibal's expectations.

When it came to "moving the capital to Moscow", the quill pen in Hannibal's hand trembled involuntarily, and a look of shock appeared on his dark face.

Taking out the unofficial history of Dayuer persuading Hong Chengchou to surrender and become a traitor, seeing Hong Chengchou flicking the dust off his clothes, you know that this person must not want to die. Liu Yu has been staring at Hannibal carefully, wanting to see what he really cares about.

Where he cares is his weakness.

Seeing Hannibal excited because he talked about moving the capital to Moscow, Liu Yu had a general direction in his mind.

Peter spent decades to empty the treasury, and the reformed country was almost on the verge of collapse. It was difficult to move the capital to St. Petersburg, just to be closer to Europe and continue westernization.

Moving the capital to Moscow was equivalent to Peter's decades of hard work going to waste. Moscow was controlled by the old aristocracy, and those people would not continue to support Westernization.

Not Westernizing would mean the fall of Russia.

Since Hannibal cared about this, Liu Yu continued, "I have an inference, see if it is reasonable."

"Peter II is only 12 years old this year. But he is Peter's grandson after all, and perhaps he will take power back from the dukes of the Privy Council when he grows up. Perhaps he will die soon, from a strange disease or a hunting accident. Since you have traveled to the courts of various countries, I think this should not be surprising."

"Once he dies, the dukes and earls of the Privy Council will certainly not usurp the throne of the Tsar, but they can support someone they can control - for example, some women who marry foreigners have no roots in Russia. Do you think there is such a possibility?"

For Hannibal, the word "sudden change of face" is not used, because it is too dark. But Liu Yu's words made Hannibal's hands tremble slightly, which is a change that can be directly discovered.

Hannibal had been a slave in the Ottoman Empire and had followed Peter for a long time. These two heirs who "claimed to be Roman" had a tradition of coup d'état. He was sure that Liu Yu's words were not just nonsense, but were very likely.

If Peter II was full of malice towards reform because of his father's death, there would still be some variables.

If... if it was really as Liu Yu said, let Peter II die of a strange disease or hunting accident, and find a woman with blood from a foreign country, those people in the Privy Council would have a complete control over the political situation in Russia.

Let the Tsar be a mascot, and the real policy will be formulated by the Privy Council. Once the policy is formulated by the group of old party nobles in the Privy Council, all reforms will stagnate or even retreat.

Liu Yu had talked a lot about Russia with Count Savoy before and asked a lot. He roughly knew that Hannibal belonged to the West and France Party, but it was hard to say who Hannibal supported.

Hannibal was definitely loyal to Peter, but was he loyal to the descendants of Catherine I? After all, from the mouth of Count Savoy, we can know that the old party in Russia is not satisfied with Catherine I. They have no respect for her and call her a maid, a foreign cousin, a military prostitute behind her back...

Taking advantage of Hannibal's excitement, Liu Yu struck while the iron was hot and tried to test him: "Perhaps, the only successor who can inherit Peter the Great's will and lead Russia to reform is Princess Elizabeth."

Hearing Liu Yu mention that name, Hannibal was a little excited and took the initiative to echo Liu Yu's words for the first time.

"Yes, yes. Only she can inherit her father's legacy and lead Russia to glory as the orthodox heir."

Not only did Hannibal speak excitedly, but his eyes became much brighter and more lively than before.

Liu Yu heard that something was wrong, and thought to himself, don't you have any thoughts about your god-sister?

"I heard she is beautiful, is that true?"

A smile appeared on the corner of Hannibal's mouth that he might not have noticed, and his eyes squinted upwards into the void, as if he was caught in some kind of memory.

"Yes, she is very beautiful. She is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. The first time I saw him, His Majesty and I came back from abroad. Her Royal Highness the Princess came to greet her elegantly and lively in a gorgeous dress. If you see that scene, you will definitely be overwhelmed by her charm. She is so lively and she always shines the brightest at the dance, just like a candle burning by the Neva River in summer, surrounded by all the flying insects. Spin her..."

Hannibal was still describing the princess with various words. Liu Yu was quite disdainful of this, thinking of a "dragon cavalry" who could walk a horse on his arm and hold a thirty-pound marshal's scepter horizontally. What kind of daughter will a woman give birth to? There is definitely something wrong with your sense of aesthetics.

The more he listened, the more he felt that what Hannibal cared about... I'm afraid this god-sister would be ranked first in Russia.

So when Hannibal's memories reached their sweetest moment, Liu Yu also pretended to sigh and said: "What a pity. Such a beautiful woman, what a pity."

"pity?"

"Yes. Didn't I infer just now? The old parties in the Privy Council will probably let Peter II die in an accident, and then choose a woman who is easy to control and has no roots in Russia to ascend the throne. Because, Romano There is no more male in your husband’s family. Do you think the old parties in the Privy Council will choose Princess Elizabeth, who you think can continue to reform, to take the throne?”

Just recalling the most beautiful moment was interrupted by Liu Yu, and he talked about the dirtiest politics. Hannibal was a little sluggish.

"As far as I know, there are three people who have the right to inherit. One is Elizabeth, and the other is Elizabeth's sister. But I heard from the Count of Savoy that she is seriously ill and may have difficulty surviving this winter. After that, there are Peter's niece, The daughter of Ivan V and the widow of the Principality of Courland, do you think the Privy Council will choose Elizabeth, who has many people’s support? Or will they choose Anna, who has no roots in Russia and is only known by blood?”

Hannibal certainly understands this simple politics. Although the truth is cruel, Liu Yu's inference has to be admitted.

"I will choose Anna."

"Yes, Anna will be chosen. Anna is a widow. How will she treat Elizabeth, who has inheritance rights and is a threat to her position?"

Speaking of this, Liu Yu sighed and seemed to pretend to care.

"At that time, Elizabeth will definitely be imprisoned in the convent. Standing at the window every day, her only pleasure is to hope that a bird will fly to the window and chirp a few times to let her know that there is life outside; maybe she will also She retains the dress she wore when you first met her, but in the dark monastery, she has no one to dance with. She can only dance alone in that dress, and the black mice and bedbugs are her dance figures. The only audience."

"In the dark night, she would sing and cry alone. She would stir her hair in the candlelight, using her shadow as her only companion."

"In the dark and damp monastery, there was only the sound of mice. Maybe one day, the bird outside the window died, and her only connection with the living world outside..."

"No!"

Hannibal couldn't help but scream, the quill in his hand was broken, and the paper on the table was crumpled into a ball and held tightly in his hand.

"Please stop talking! Please stop talking!"

The rapid breathing made Hannibal scream a little hoarse. He threw away the paper ball in his hand and hugged his head tightly, his eyes were a little red.

But Liu Yu's mouth didn't stop at all. Rats, bugs, going crazy, watching, scratching the door with nails, nagging and waiting for birds to fly out of the window... Various scenes turned into language, and each sentence was spoken into Hannibal's ears. Drill.

Just when Hannibal couldn't help but clenched his fists and was about to fight Liu Yu. Liu Yu took advantage of the moment when Hannibal stood up and before he punched, and said calmly: "Let's make a deal."

The stunned Hannibal was stunned, and his clenched fists gradually loosened. The previous fanatical impulse gradually dissipated, and he also regained some clarity.

"Dashun is not Russia. Dashun is full of outlets to the sea. Therefore, the future of Dashun lies in Southeast Asia. There should be no desire for Siberia."

"Russia's changes are something Dashun is happy to see. Even if Russia becomes stronger, it will be difficult to resist the power of nature. It is impossible to send enough soldiers across Siberia to fight Dashun. The same goes for Dashun. Dashun hopes that a Russia retains its ambitions for Europe.”

After finishing the official business with a half-truth, he slightly dispelled a little bit of Hannibal's wariness after waking up, and then said: "The captured Cossacks, you can control them. If one day the time comes, we can release you back. And you , you can take these Cossacks to protect everything you want to protect, and even provide you with certain financial assistance when the time comes.”

"You can form your Order of Protectorate Knights to save your princess. It's like a story in a knight's novel."

After experiencing the nightmare described by Liu Yu, Hannibal felt a glimmer of hope in his heart, but he still kept his composure.

"So, what is the price?"

Liu Yu pointed at Hannibal's head.

"All this."

"Everything you learned at the French Military Academy."