Chapter 335: Nicholas I

Liang Yao took the wine from Vanderbilt and clinked glasses with him.

Vanderbilt was born a sailor and drank like water. Liang Yao could not compare with Vanderbilt in terms of drinking capacity.

Liang Yao wanted to just show his appreciation, but after seeing Vanderbilt drink the wine in the glass, Liang Yao had to bite the bullet and finish the full glass of brandy.

"I have talked with Chinese people doing business in New York. Many of them are from your hometown. I heard that in your China, a gentleman family like yours will be engaged to other local gentleman families of equal status when their children and grandchildren are very young?

Even when the child is still in the belly and the gender is not clear, they will be engaged? Do you have such an engagement?"

Vanderbilt said, playing with the wine glass in his hand.

"That's true, but before I came to California, my family changed from a gentleman family to a criminal family, and many of the engagements I made at the time were cancelled." Liang Yao put the wine glass on the table and said.

"As for my engagement, my position in the family is not very important, and I am not the first choice for marriage."

"So there is no such thing." Vanderbilt seemed a little happy, and then asked curiously, "In China, rich and powerful men can have many wives?"

"In America, it is also possible." Liang Yao thought for a while and said.

"China is a monogamous system with multiple concubines. Just like many congressmen, although they have families, it does not prevent them from having many lovers outside. Monogamous system with multiple concubines is only enjoyed by the privileged class in China. Ordinary people still live a plain life with their wives, and even do not have a wife in person, and stay single for life."

Liang Yao is a wise man. Vanderbilt came to him not to discuss business, but to ask questions about Chinese marriage. It is likely that he came to propose marriage.

"Look into my eyes!" Vanderbilt suddenly raised his voice.

The two looked at each other, Vanderbilt's expression was very serious. He looked directly into Liang Yao's eyes, as if he wanted to see through Liang Yao's inner thoughts: "Do you like Elizabeth Yin?"

Liang Yao looked at Vanderbilt frankly, without any intention of avoiding it. He replied very seriously and affirmatively: "I like it, but I will not be your assistant like Clark and others for Elizabeth Yin."

If Liang Yao did not make it in California, it would be a good choice for him to be a son-in-law and assistant to Lao Fan like Clark.

But now he has made it, there is no need to be inferior to others and rely on others.

Vanderbilt took another full glass of wine and sighed: "Why should I let the general of the US Army and the speaker of the California State Assembly be my assistant."

This is what Vanderbilt said in his heart. He did have the idea of ​​letting Liang Yao be his son-in-law and assistant.

But he also knew that Liang Yao was not like Clark. Relying on the Vanderbilt family, Clark could be among the celebrities in New York, but Clark's upper limit was limited to this.

As for Liang Yao's upper limit, it seems that there are still unlimited possibilities.

In terms of wealth, Liang Yao's current wealth may not be less than Vanderbilt's. In terms of status, Liang Yao's current status in America is much higher than Vanderbilt's.

Seeing that the brandy he brought was finished, Vanderbilt took a bottle of wine from the wine rack and opened it. While pouring the wine, he continued to talk.

"Yin Lizabeth's mind is all on you. If I give her to someone else, she will hate me for the rest of her life." Vanderbilt drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, pursed his lips and said.

"I, an unqualified father, have been envied by my three daughters. I don't want my most beloved little daughter to envy me again. This time I will be a qualified father to help you two couples."

"So you still have self-knowledge." Liang Yao teased.

Vanderbilt's children, who were good at business but neglected family, did not have a good relationship with Vanderbilt. When Connie was Liang Yao's assistant, he often complained about his father in front of Liang Yao.

"Propose to Elizabeth Yin." Vanderbilt patted Liang Yao on the shoulder, "According to your customs, do what you should do."

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In the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg, the capital of Tsarist Russia.

Nicholas I, the emperor of this expansionist country, a bald, fat, and middle-aged man with a mustache, was waiting for the British envoy Hamilton Seymour.

He was going to explain to the British envoy Hamilton Seymour his wishful thinking of dividing the spoils and the new order in Europe dominated by the two superpowers of Britain and Russia in the future.

In 1453, after the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire, the last princess of the empire, Sophia Paleolog, married the Grand Duke of Moscow Yinfan III.

Since the last emperor of the Byzantine Empire, Constantine XI, had no children, Princess Sophia was the only legitimate heir, so the Principality of Moscow began to claim to be the successor of the Eastern Roman Empire and called itself the Third Rome.

The Third Rome also provided the Principality of Moscow and subsequent Russian rulers with a ridiculous expansion logic of expanding territory in all directions.

To their east were the Mongol Khanate of Kazan, the Khanate of Astra, and the Khanate of Siberia. These pagans from the eastern steppes had invaded and enslaved Christians in Europe.

Russia attacked these Mongol pagan khanates, occupied their lands, and enslaved their people to avenge the Christian world.

To their west are the Poles. Poland invaded Russia many times at the beginning of the founding of Russia, arbitrarily replaced the tsar, and played with the Russian government. It was not until the establishment of the great Romanov dynasty that the nightmare of the Russians ended.

Poland had done evil before, and Russia divided their territory and destroyed their country, which was a just revenge.

To their south is now the Ottoman Empire, and there is even more reason to attack the Ottoman Empire.

When the Ottoman Empire rose, it not only blocked the trade route from Europe to the East, but also threatened the security of the Christian world in Europe for a long time. In the Ottoman Empire, there was the old capital of the Roman Empire and the holy land of Christianity: Constantinople.

Most importantly, there is also the Black Sea outlet that the Russian Empire has long dreamed of.

To their north are the Swedes and the Nordic pirates. These Nordic pirates have invaded and robbed us in history, so there are naturally reasons to attack them and occupy their territory.

In short, the expansion of the Russian Empire in any direction is reasonable and just, and it is all for the good of the Christian brothers in Europe.

Nicholas I looked at the huge map on the wall with his hands behind his back.

The map takes Russia as the center of the world. In the background of the huge Russia, the surrounding countries, except for the Qing Dynasty in Asia, all seem so small and pocket-sized.

The huge map makes Nicholas I excited. His ancestors seized land from these evil neighbors one by one, and created the Russian Empire, which has the largest territory in the world today.

The Kazan Khanate, Astra Khanate, and Siberian Khanate in the east no longer exist, and Poland in the west is now part of the Russian Empire.

As for Sweden in the north, the land under his feet: St. Petersburg, the first seaport that Peter the Great, the holy emperor of the Romanov dynasty, seized from the Swedes.

Now, it is the turn of his great talent and strategy, Nicholas I, to include the weak and vulnerable Ottoman Empire in the south into the territory and recover the capital of the former Eastern Roman Empire.

He wants to become the third great emperor of the Russian Empire after Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, not the emperor whose territory has changed the least during his reign in history.

"Your Majesty."

Hamilton Seymour, the British ambassador to Russia, took off his hat and bowed to Nicholas I.

"The British Empire and the Russian Empire are the most powerful countries in the world. Britain has the most powerful navy in the world, and we in Russia have the most powerful army in the world. The order and rules of this world are made by the strong, and the strong in this world are us."

Nicholas I did not beat around the bush, but went straight to the point. He was a straightforward person, and he would not beat around the bush, let alone hide his ambitions.

Nicholas I's remarks made Seymour frown. In his mind, Seymour was organizing euphemistic but decent words to answer Nicholas I, the arrogant Tsar.

After organizing the words, Seymour was about to speak, but Nicholas I pulled Seymour to the map, raised the scepter in his hand, used the scepter as a brush, and pointed at the huge map on the wall.

"For half a century, the Eastern Question has been unresolved. This is a major security risk on the European continent. Now that the Ottoman Empire is weak, it is the best time to solve the Eastern Question." Nicholas I said in the tone of an arbitrator.

Nicholas I's inflated mentality comes from the anti-French war half a century ago.

The French Emperor Napoleon I, who once swept across the European continent, was so arrogant that he almost occupied the entire Europe, making the entire Europe shrouded in clouds, and the royal families of European countries trembled with fear, did not fall to the Austrian Empire, did not fall to the Kingdom of Prussia, but to the Russian Empire.

It was the great Russian Empire that defeated the arrogant French Empire.

The empire with the most powerful army in the world was defeated by the Russian Empire, so the army of the Russian Empire is naturally the most powerful army in the world. This is the logic of Nicholas I.

Who is the hegemon of the world today, except the British Empire and the Russian Empire?

The anti-French war brought the Russian Empire's influence in Europe to an unprecedented peak. After the war, the rulers of the Russian Empire were very concerned about the affairs of the European countries, actively participated in and intervened in the affairs of the European countries, and regarded themselves as the arbitrator and European gendarme of Europe.

Just five years ago, Nicholas I enthusiastically sent Field Marshal Paskevich to lead 100,000 troops into Hungary to suppress the revolutionary movement in Austria-Hungary for Franz Joseph, the 18-year-old Emperor of the Austro-Hungarian Empire who had just ascended the throne.

Tsarist Russia's excessive enthusiasm for European affairs naturally aroused the vigilance of Britain, which has always pursued a continental balance of power policy.

Britain would never sit idly by and watch any powerful country break the balance of power on the European continent, not France under the rule of Napoleon I, and even less the Russian Empire under the rule of Nicholas I.

It's a pity that the arrogant Nicholas I did not clearly realize this. He believed that this reliable ally who had been in the anti-French alliance with him would stand with the powerful Russian Empire this time to solve the Eastern problem together, that is, to divide the Ottoman Empire in the Near East.

As for the Anglo-French alliance? Nicholas I thought it was a huge joke. How could these two old enemies with a feud cooperate?

This year, Napoleon I's nephew Napoleon III just ascended the throne in France. Has the British forgotten the fear that Napoleon I's First French Empire brought to them? Do you want to face a Second French Empire that is as powerful and as martial as the First French Empire?

The British will definitely cooperate with the powerful Russia. This is what Nicholas I think now.