After dinner, Georgiana returned to the cabin alone, while Bonaparte went on attending to his "great affairs."
Career-driven men were like that. They did not have so much time to keep women company.
She had just sat down at the table when, in a daze, she seemed to see someone else sitting opposite her. His greasy hair hung down like curtains, concealing most of his face.
He certainly had plenty of time to read with her.
She had only just turned to the page she had been reading when Layla came in carrying black tea.
"Madam, shall I read it to you?" Layla asked softly.
Georgiana handed her the book, then cradled her tea and reclined sideways on the chaise lounge.
The seventeenth century was an era of rapid development in Europe, because of the Age of Discovery, because of the Industrial Revolution, and because of advances in science and technology.
By comparison, although Russia possessed vast territory, it remained a highly isolated serf state. At the beginning of Peter the Great's reign, Russia and the Qing Empire at the start of Kangxi's reign were essentially at the same stage. But as Peter the Great attempted to establish ties with Europe, Russia's industry developed rapidly. Whether tsar or ordinary merchant, all needed new markets. This was where the Russian Empire's overall interests lay.
Siberia stretched west from the Ural Mountains and east to the Yenisei River. It would not be an exaggeration to call it a vast uninhabited region stretching thousands of miles. Its backward way of life, sparse population, and bitter climate made it one of the least developed regions in the world, while tea from China ultimately became the key to developing Siberia.
Kyakhta meant "the place with tea" in Mongolian. After China and Russia signed the Treaty