Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 16 016 There are some good goods at the trade port of Kyakhta

Since we are talking about Chinese culture, in fact, the biggest advantage of Russia compared to other countries is that they are directly the old neighbor of the Qing Dynasty. Before the Qing army entered Shanhaiguan, the Russian expedition team had already reached the Heilongjiang River Basin.

The northern border between the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia has been determined, and Kyakhta and Maimaicheng have been designated as the places for trade. The two countries are currently in a peaceful state. In the era of Catherine II, there were envoys from Kyakhta to China. As for the results, there were actually no results. For more than 20 years, although the two countries have been trading continuously, the annual trade volume has increased from 5 million rubles to 8 million rubles, which is probably enough to build dozens of factories in Solovyov. However, this is still the initial investment cost. In the future, it will be operated, and many preparations will be needed.

In Kyakhta, the commodities obtained by Russia were mainly tea, but also some other products. The main form of trade was barter trade, which did not involve monetary settlement at first. At the same time, Soloviev was not unaware of this on the Russian side. After returning to St. Petersburg from Upper Palen, he consulted a businessman and former military officer who had been to Kyakhta for exploration.

The other party actually said very clearly that during the reigns of Empress Anna and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the transfer of paper money between the European part of Russia and Siberia was still prohibited. The Russian government was worried that the high-ranking officials and governors hidden behind the commercial bill transactions could withdraw funds from Siberia and transport them to Siberia in cash. It was not until 1769, during the reign of Catherine II, that non-cash payments began to spread after the transfer of bills from the European part of Russia to Siberia was allowed, and paper money could also be used. The banking system began to take shape, and the offices of the State Bank responsible for credit and bill transactions were established in Tobolsk and Irkutsk in 1772 and 1779 respectively.

However, after 1796, the edicts issued during the reign of Tsar Paul began to restrict the direct use of cash at ports. Some special circumstances may occur in the future, which will lead to the appearance of precious metals in smuggling activities. However, these are all methods adopted by the Russian side, and there are rarely active smuggling activities on the Qing side.

As for some of the main goods in Russia's trade, the goods exported in the early days were livestock trade. After 1758, the export of horses once accounted for the bulk of Russia's foreign trade, and even caused the price of horses in the Krasnoyarsk area to rise from 5 rubles to about 15 rubles; although the Qing Dynasty exported tea to China, the lining of tea boxes often required tanned leather, and the packaging boxes required a large amount of raw materials. The current main supply relies on leather workers around Irkutsk; in addition, there are various furs. Although the Qing Dynasty was "richest in the world", some things were indeed scarce, and imports in this area were still on a certain scale. In addition, there is a small amount of food, iron, copper, paint, mirrors, carpets, honey, oil, frozen fish, candles, soap, iron products and hardware products. In addition to the local supply of food, they will be exported to inland areas of China.

Tea is the largest product imported from China. In recent years, the purchase of textiles has also increased. In addition, there are gems, pearls, porcelain, groceries, gold, silver and rhubarb-some Chinese medicinal materials will be stored in Irkutsk. This is still the official behavior of Russia.

What Solovyov wants is whether there are any Chinese books purchased from Kyakhta. Anyway, his level of classical Chinese is that there is no punctuation, but at least he can read it. There is no problem if he understands it.

This old man who has worked in Kyakhta and Irkutsk for many years said that this is also available, but the number is not large, and the translation level of Tsarist Russia is probably like the "Kyakhta Port Russian", and the level must be not as good as that of French missionaries.

That's it. You see, Voltaire created a play called "The Orphan of China", but there is not much Chinese cultural content transplanted from it. Even though the mysterious East set off a wave of enthusiasm in Europe during the Enlightenment, it was still like this.

It was not until around 1845 that the translation fragments of the Four Great Classics began to appear, and the full set of texts had to wait until the 20th century. The English version came out first, followed by the French and Russian versions. There are still many Chinese classical literature and various classics that have not been spread to the West. Even though they are neighbors on land, Russia has no content in this regard.

Solovyov wanted to use this to try to stir up some "China fever". Otherwise, with his family's status and economic strength, no matter whether he wants to move up or do business to make money, this cycle is too long.

Even if it takes a long time to go to Kyakhta, the round trip is extremely long, but it is always worth it. It is only 1797 now, and it is estimated that these books will not be sent back until 1798. They have to be sent by "express delivery" at that time, and sent to the post station in the heart of Russia.

As for what kind of translation to do, Solovyov thought very clearly. From the content point of view, the Ming Dynasty Jiajing version and Mao's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" are naturally more suitable for translation. The story content is also relatively easy to understand, which is much better than starting with monsters and ghosts.

As for "Water Margin", think about the fact that the old guys who suppressed the Pugachev uprising are still here, this is "good thing they surrendered", and the last one, he himself felt that he didn't have the level to translate it.

The reason is not anything else, this description of emotions is more troublesome, and the level of the translator is also required to be higher.

The trade between the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia in Kyakhta suffered a setback a few years ago. The reason was that among the people in the forest, that is, the group of Buryats, there appeared a bandit gang that united with the herdsmen of the Mongolian Tushetu Khanate on the border. They didn't dare to attack the Russian army and Cossacks on the side of the Governor of Irkutsk, but the repeated attacks on the Shanxi merchants on the Qing side would always attract General Uliastai's attention.

Finally, the Russian side captured the criminals, but the Russian side exiled them according to Russian law, but according to the Qing Dynasty law, they were to be beheaded. The two sides argued for several years. According to the reserved program of every argument between the Qing Dynasty and Tsarist Russia, these people died in exile, and the first stage was left unresolved.

When a similar case happened again, the Qing court was extremely angry. Emperor Qianlong sent an imperial envoy to the trading city-Kyaqtu to negotiate with the Tsarist Russian Governor of Irkutsk. Although Qianlong had a clear edict before the envoy left, he was still dissatisfied with the result of the handling-there was nothing else, that is, when the Qing Dynasty signed equal and unequal treaties, it always showed its cards for various reasons, such as Ma Zhongtang accepted Russian rubles, and He Da had a share in the Thirteen Hongs. This time was the same. The Qing Dynasty envoy finally decided to solve the problem according to Russian law, which made the old Qianlong very angry and directly dismissed him from his post, but did not investigate. Later, the "Kyaqtu Commercial Treaty" was signed by this person.

However, Russia was also afraid of causing a big incident. After all, the shipment volume of Kyakhta had dropped sharply in recent years, and the Russian emperor would be unhappy. So at that time, all the prisoners were beaten to death with 300 lashes. After all, the severity of the lashing depends on the severity. Although the Russians have not read the full version of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and have never heard of Pinghua, they are willing to be beaten and the severity of the lashing is measured. Similarly, at this time, the lashing should be severe. Even if the Qing emperor was beaten to death, there would not be too much complaint. In the end, a new treaty was signed, stipulating the trade regulations, which made the old emperor relatively satisfied. Although the "Rakshasa Kingdom" in the north has always been arrogant and unreasonable, it is more reasonable than the "British barbarians".

After that, the total transaction volume of the port of Kyakhta reached 24 million rubles (equivalent to about 12 million taels of silver) a year at its peak. It was not until the Qing Dynasty was opened to the outside world during the Opium War that it gradually weakened. In this era, sea transportation was always stronger than land transportation, and the British controlled the sea.

Until the end of Catherine II, the British were still regularly providing personnel training for the Russian fleet. During the Paul period, the situation changed a bit, and his attitude towards the British was more emotional.

And buying books is indeed Soloviev's main idea recently, but he himself has to return to Upper Palen to help Count Bobulinsky complete two things, factory and garden construction.

It is said that the count also had a whimsical idea to invite his royal brother to visit, but given the busyness of Tsar Paul's daily work, he should have little time to condescend to visit an inland manor on the Baltic coast.

At this moment, after he finished handling state affairs in the palace, he would find someone to play cards. People like General Kutuzov would always be called by him. Although the Tsar was moody and vengeful, and had a strong revenge mentality, he usually rewarded those who obeyed him.

Moreover, the Tsar himself was very happy that Kutuzov always lost to him in playing cards, but he felt that something was wrong.

"No, Count, you should try to win once. If I always win at cards, it's meaningless."

"Your Majesty, when you play whist, you are like a victorious general on the battlefield, like Caesar and Charlemagne, both emperors, and I always lose at the British Club."

"But, Mikhail Illarionovich, everyone knows that you lost to Prince Bagration at cards because the brave young man lost so badly to others, so you deliberately made up for it, so that the day is almost over and you can save a lot of trouble from fighting."

Rostopchin did not forget to complain in front of the Tsar. Sometimes he made some jokes and not-so-high-level jokes, on the one hand to highlight his "stupidity" in front of the emperor, and on the other hand to make the emperor happy.

"And so it was, Your Majesty. In order to let the young man win, our general lost a lot of his previous wins."

"Is that so? Mikhail Illarionovich?"

The Turkish captive Kutaisov, the favorite courtier who came to play cards with the Tsar, was very curious. Moreover, the four people at this occasion spoke Russian fluently, and they did not speak in private in court social circles, and always used long French. Of course, the Tsar himself also loved French culture. Although his taste was not high, he was also an enthusiastic sponsor.

Kutuzov looked at these two guys and knew that his trick of deliberately losing to the Tsar in playing cards had been exposed. Perhaps it was because he lost too hard today that Rostopchin was a little embarrassed, and the stakes were getting bigger and bigger.

"But Your Majesty, I am very happy when I win cards. Although I lost cards, if the Emperor is happy, I am sincerely happy for the Emperor from the bottom of my heart."

Paul I actually liked to hear flattery, and he was actually satisfied with Kutuzov's series of performances, but he always wanted to say more because of his temper.

"But what if I'm happy if I lose at cards?"

This question made Kutuzov's one eye look confused.

"But if you lose at cards, Your Majesty, generally speaking, people will not be happy if you lose at cards. As Count Rostopchin said, young people will be very impulsive when playing cards. But, Your Majesty, if you really I feel that I will feel happy when I lose a card, my lord."

"Well, my clever general, you can win cards tonight, as much as you want, or you will let Count Rostopchin lose all his money. Just like the kings of France said , l'etat, c'est moi (I am the country), you are all my good ministers and good generals. If you keep holding back your losses, I, the emperor, will not always be happy. "

Speaking of which, this czar was actually quite smart. Frederick the Great, whom he admired, was once described.

"Paul was a small man, and his features were ugly, except for his eyes, which were very beautiful; and when Paul was not angry, the expression of those eyes was infinitely kind and cheerful. His manner, though lacking in elegance, was far from it. His lack of solemnity, his decorous and dignified manners, and his courtesy to ladies made him appear to all who met him to be extremely elegant. He is well-read, has a lively and open mind, likes to joke and have fun, loves art, understands French language and literature, loves French culture, and incorporates the etiquette and taste of this country into his habits. His conversations are always fast. Changing the subject, he has some knowledge of subtle and delicate rhetorical devices, but of course his jokes are not very good.”

In the eyes of the outside world, the Tsar was a "German", but the King of Prussia himself thought that he was a "French".

But he himself wanted to play his cards to lose today. Rostopchin and Kutuzov were a little bit embarrassed about this matter.