"The Russians are coming."

Cao Rulin said softly, and Fang Zida asked casually: "Come on, come. Anyway, our country has officially recognized the orthodox government of the Russian Empire. Of course, you, the diplomatic chief, are responsible for the diplomatic work of the two countries. Why bother to me..."

Having said that, seeing Cao Rulin's strange expression on his face, Fang Zida was slightly stunned and understood in a flash: "...Brother Runtian, is the person you are talking about in Russia referring to the guest from the west?"

"That's right!" Cao Rulin nodded and said, "Zhengming, you know that Cao has been in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since the Qing Dynasty. He has been engaged in diplomatic work since the Republic of China. As a neighboring country and one of the world's powers, Russia has known many friends. Last night, a Russian friend came to Cao's mansion. This person had been in the capital for several years before, and everyone had a few times of dealings, which is also familiar. Originally, Cao only thought that he came to our country to avoid disaster because of the unstable domestic situation in Russia. Who would have thought that after meeting, he realized that it was not the case at all."

"He is a Bolshevik?" Fang Zida asked with a frown.

Cao Rulin nodded and said, "This person joined the Bolsheviks a year ago and is now working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Soviet Government. This time he came to our country to negotiate diplomatic work. On behalf of the Soviet government, he hoped that the Republic of China would give up the recognition of the orthodox government of the Russian Empire and establish formal diplomatic relations with their Soviet government."

Fang Zida smiled and said, "Make friends with the Soviet government and give up the orthodox government of the Russian Empire? Haha, if Fang guessed well, they might have taken out a lot of bargaining chips?"

Cao Rulin laughed when he heard this, took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Fang Zida: "Of course, in order to facilitate this, the Soviet government has invested a lot of money. Zheng Ming, you can take a look at this thing first."

There is not much content on the paper, and it can be summarized into two items after careful consideration.

First: The Soviet government promised that all the treaties signed by the Russian government with China were invalid and waived a series of reparations against Russia and privileges in China.

Second: The Soviet government stated that it would abandon all Chinese territory and concessions it had seized before, and forever return everything the Tsarist government and the Russian bourgeoisie brutally seized from China to China for free.

These two contents are basically the same as Fang Zida's memory as the two Soviet government declarations to China. However, due to the changes in the situation and the emergence of the orthodox government of the Russian Empire, the Soviet government has tinkered with these two things in advance and wanted to use them in exchange for China's recognition and support for the new Soviet regime.

"Did Brother Dunchu know about this?" Fang Zida smiled without comment and asked instead.

Cao Rulin waved his hand and said, "My country does not have diplomatic ties with the Soviet government. Moreover, these things were delivered to Cao through private channels. Cao was worried that once it was formally submitted to the cabinet for discussion, it would cause unnecessary trouble. As for Brother Dunchu, Cao wanted to listen to Brother Jungming's opinions first before dealing with it."

Cao Rulin's words made Fang Zida very satisfied because he put Fang Zida above Song Jiaoren in his words. He also said that only Fang Zida agreed would he report this matter to Song Jiaoren. You should know that Cao Rulin was the first member of the Beiyang faction to surrender to Fang Zida, and this approach was also to express his loyalty to Fang Zida.

"It's okay to do this. After arriving at Xiangshan, Brother Runtian found an opportunity to discuss it with Brother Dunchu." Fang Zida said lightly. Seeing Cao Rulin breathing a sigh of relief, Fang Zida said again: "But in my opinion, these two things are just flowers in the mirror and moon in the water. The Soviet government has no credibility. It actually used this trick to break off diplomatic relations with the orthodox Russian government of the Republic of China and act as a target for them. It's really ridiculous."

"How do you say this? In Cao's opinion, this matter should be discussed. Why did Zheng Ming make such a statement?" Cao Rulin immediately didn't understand and couldn't help asking.

"Haha. Brother Runtian, I ask you, Russia has changed drastically. Now all factions in other countries are fighting for themselves. Both sides are trying their best to win over our country. Under such circumstances, can the previous peace agreement be counted? Moreover, since the European War, some of the original privileges have long disappeared during the two-year material exchange between our country and Tsar Nicholas II. Now, except for a small part of the compensation being temporarily held on the books, what remains are the original Tsarist Russia's concessions in various places and a large number of territories lost by our country. The compensation issue is easy to solve, and we can't do anything if we don't give this money to Russia. As for the concession issue, as long as our government proposes it to the orthodox government of the Russian Empire, it can achieve its goal."

After a pause, Fang Zida looked at Cao Rulin who was thinking, and said, "As for returning the territory, the Soviet government is giving it to others' wealth. Judging from the current situation, although the Soviet government has seized most of the Russian Empire's regime in Europe, it has no way to control Siberia and the Far East at all. These territories are still in the hands of the orthodox government of the Russian Empire or the former provisional government. Using uncontrollable territory as bargaining chips to demand that our country make such a statement? Isn't this ridiculous? Just like a person holding someone else's property to exchange for real money and silver with you, where is such a cheap thing in the world?"

Cao Rulin suddenly realized and nodded repeatedly. In fact, as the chief diplomat, he could think of these things even if he thought about it carefully, but he was very excited by the good news brought by the Soviet government's special envoy for a while. Before discussing with Fang Zida, Cao Rulin's mind was full of a large number of lands that were plundered by Tsarist Russia. If these lands could be brought back, it would be a more amazing event than the reclaiming of Qingdao incident. If he really did it, Cao Rulin was famous in history and would definitely be praised by future generations.

Now, Fang Zida's words were like a splash of cold water that pulled him back from his fantasy. After careful consideration, he couldn't help but feel shocked and sweated. If, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, he really broke off diplomatic relations with the orthodox government of the Russian Empire and signed the document to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet government, he may not only not be able to be famous in history in the future, but may not be well done and will be infamous for thousands of years.

You should know that at that time, Cao Rulin will not only not be able to explain to the parliament and the people, but will even make the Chinese government criticized by the Allies, which will affect China's foreign policy and cause a series of reactions. At that time, Cao Rulin may only be able to redeem his crimes by stepping down, and will even be cursed by thousands of people as incompetent bureaucrats and traitors.

After wiping the cold sweat, Cao Rulin secretly thanked that he had discussed it with Fang Zida first. Although Fang Zida had originally planned to please and get close to him, who would have thought that there would be such a reward. After thanking Fang Zida repeatedly, Cao Rulin quickly made a decision and knew what to do next.

Two days later, the cabinet discussed the proposal submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was specially written by Cao Rulin in response to the Soviet government's request. In the proposal, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs analyzed the pros and cons of various choices and proposed countermeasures to the current international situation. In response to this proposal, Prime Minister Song Jiaoren praised the meticulous work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the cabinet meeting, and at the same time agreed with the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet.

Since Cao Rulin made this proposal in great detail and listed all possible situations one by one, other members of the cabinet could not find any faults and were quickly approved unanimously. After the meeting, Cao Rulin specially found Fang Zida to express his gratitude. Fang Zida smiled and waved his hand. Since both sides were allies, it would be out of course to help allies. Sitting on the same boat, if the ship overturned, no one would lose any benefits.

Soon, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China announced to countries around the world that it would reaffirm that the orthodox government of the Russian Empire was Russia's only legal government. The Chinese government would continue to carry out normal and comprehensive foreign policy with the orthodox government of the Russian Empire, and call the Soviet government an illegal government. It also required the Soviet government to immediately implement the agreements obtained by the Russian Provisional Government and the Chinese government, and hand over Tsar Nicholas II and his family to the Chinese government for political refuge as soon as possible. At the same time, it warned the Soviet government not to act on its own. If the Tsar family was illegally tried and executed secretly on them, the Chinese government would respond strongly.

The Chinese government's statement was immediately supported by allies, and countries have issued similar statements one after another. At the same time, in view of the open letter from Nicholas II to the orthodox government of the Russian Empire some time ago, they accused the Soviet government of the despicable means of the resignation of the Tsar, and at the same time asked the Soviet government to publicly guarantee the absolute safety of Nicholas II and his family.

Because of the complex relationship between the European royal family, the Tsar's experience also attracted the attention of the German Emperor William. Although Germany is now in a honeymoon period with the Soviet government, the Soviet government's unlimited means also made the German Emperor uneasy. For this reason, through private channels, the German Emperor William reminded the Soviet government not to engage in reckless activities, so as not to arouse collective opposition from governments and royal families around the world.

These made the Soviet government very anxious for a while. It is said that because of the inconsistent private life in his early years, Comrade Vladimir Ilyic Ulyanov, who was undergoing recuperation treatment in the hospital after receiving the news, was furious and called Trotsky to scold him, demanding that he launch an offensive immediately, and that he must completely eliminate the Denikin-white bandits in the south within a month, and then advance eastward, tearing all these reactionaries to pieces.
Chapter completed!