The first half of the 17th century. A Great Troubles swept across Rus', and for a time it was even unclear whether the Russian state would remain on the map. But even in the hardest year, the new Tsar Mikhail Romanov and his closest circle never stopped thinking about the future of Muscovite Rus'. And they considered the most important matter to be the development of the richest region that lay beyond the Ural Stone. Armed detachments of bold Cossacks and trading expeditions went there. Fearless pioneers built forts and trading posts, charted routes, and founded cities. And the Russian state grew ever larger, acquiring new, wealthy Siberian lands. For centuries!...