It was not the first time that the people of Korea had seen a car. They knew that this was a magical machine that only China had. In the past, there would be a lot of people watching by the roadside. There was no sign of livestock or human power, and the car just moved forward by itself. It was really amazing.
This kind of ostentation seemed a little inappropriate at this time. The people of Korea looked at China's cars with vigilance and uneasiness, completely without the envy and awe they had in the past.
Li Hongzhang did not care about this. What happened next was the key. The plans of the young people, such as Yuan Weiting and Wang Shizhen, were very different from the considerations of the old people. They were all focused on hitting the snake where it hurt. This was very different from the so-called "Confucian style" that appeared to be gentle and modest on the surface.
It was not until they entered Changdeok Palace that Li Hongzhang let go of these things. In any case, Li Hongzhang was the main person in charge of foreign affairs in Korea. Even if he did not remember some things clearly, it was not a problem. These could be carried out by the young people. At this time, what he needed to do was to show his attitude.
Daejin, who was back in power, looked far from ecstatic. After the host and guest sat down, Daejin asked directly, "Mr. Li, this time I invited you here to ask if the telegram can still be used."
Li Hongzhang smiled and said, "Some can still be used, but some are not so smooth."
Daejin quickly said, "Mr. Li, please pass the latest news to the various departments of Korea and let the officials know the situation in Jing City."
"This can be done," Li Hongzhang replied.
Before Daejin could completely relax, Li Hongzhang continued, "But do you think it is appropriate to do this?"
"What do you mean, sir?" Daejin did not understand what Li Hongzhang meant.
Li Hongzhang said slowly, "Our country has several ministries, and the Ministry of Railways and the Ministry of Telecommunications are one of them. As an outsider, I naturally have a lot of bias when looking at the political situation of Korea. But in my opinion, there is a big problem with the organization of the Korean Royal Court. Now, Daejin is back in power with the support of the people. I wonder what the Great Master thinks of this matter? "
Daoyaku understood what Li Hongzhang meant. China hoped that Daoyaku, who had regained power, would form a new Korean government in the way that China wanted. China's attitude did not make Daisuo-Kun feel particularly panicked. If they wanted to annex Korea, China had plenty of chances to do so. At this time, Daisujun's feelings turned into a complaint. "Why are you still thinking about such things at a time like this, Mr. Lee?"
Despite being contradicted, Li Hongzhang wasn't unhappy. He smiled and said, "Preparedness ensures success, and unpreparedness ensures failure. This time, if the Grand Master is still in power and only bans trade with Japan like before, how different can it be from before? "
Dao-Jun was sure that China was offering a price. However, this price was illusory. It looked like a bluff, but it was of limited practical significance. The most important thing now was to settle the internal strife in Korea as soon as possible and take control of the political power as soon as possible. At this time, he needed to rely on China's telegraph network. Daoyaku only controlled Han City, the capital of Korea. At this time, there were rumors everywhere outside of Han City. If he wanted the local officials to quickly receive the orders of the Korean royal court, he had to rely on the telegraph.
Thinking of this, Daoyaku was decisive. He said seriously, "Mr. Lee, since Shangguan has its own Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Telecommunications, Korea is a small country. Korea was a small country. How could they not learn from the bigger countries? I will now order the establishment of these two departments and invite people from these two departments to be the two ministers. "
Li Hongzhang was also very pleased that Daoyaku was so understanding. If this old man refused to agree, Director Li Hongzhang could only use the tactic of delaying and let Korea wait slowly.
However, it was difficult to be efficient in officialdom. Li Hongzhang and the Koreans, who were badly battered, talked for two days before they managed to settle the matter. Holding the letter of appointment, Li Hongzhang first sent a telegram to Nanjing, asking Nanjing to send people to take up these two positions.
"Is Li Hongzhang bragging?" Foreign Minister Li Xin had his own opinion on this.
Vézé didn't care what Li Hongzhang was thinking. What he cared about was the experience of controlling a foreign economy. Uncle Ma was a person who spoke the truth. As long as it was a capital operation, excess capacity was inevitable. In the 21st century, China didn't go out to burn, kill, and loot. It relied on the world economic order established by the Americans. The process of China's rise was the process of the production capacity of many countries in the world being ruthlessly eliminated. This was an inherent logic crisis that capital operation could not overcome.
Thinking of this, Vézé thought of this. Vézé said to Li Xin, "Discuss with the Ministry of Commerce and send a few people who understand finance and are very interested in the futures market to Korea to take charge of this work."
"Your Majesty wants to use Korea as an experimental field to accumulate for China?" Li Xin immediately felt the peculiarity of Vézé's order.
Vézé quickly waved his hand. "Korea's situation is different from China's. Korea's experience can't be used in China. China naturally has its own methods. Korea's experience is how we can use finance and capital to control other countries, make these countries' markets belong to us, and make these countries' labor force serve us. "
As the Foreign Minister, Li Xin could understand this to a certain extent. The traditional tributary system was no longer suitable for the current world. China must establish a closer relationship with these vassal countries. To avoid this relationship becoming a one-sided blood transfusion for China, there were too many things to study.
Li Xin did not spend too much time on this matter. He had plenty of time to think about it after leaving Vézé's office. Vézé's daily schedule was so tight that he did not have the time to discuss the specific details. Sure enough, Vézé did not continue to discuss the issue of China's economic expansion. He said, "Tell the French and the British that China has finished discussing with the local government of Madagascar. From now on, this place will be under our control."
Peace with the British did not mean that China had stopped expanding. In the Indian Ocean and in Africa, China had never stopped expanding. One of the most important areas was Madagascar.
"Your Majesty, if the British object, what's their reason?" Li Xin asked.
Vézé considered his words. "You know that we and the British are both designing and building battleships of more than 20,000 tons, right?"
"… I've heard a little about it." Li Xin hesitated for a moment before replying.
Vézé sneered. "The Suez Canal is certainly unable to transport battleships of 20,000 tons. If the British want to send their large fleet to the Indian Ocean, they can only go through the Cape of Good Hope. If we occupy Madagascar, we have a very reliable territory in the Indian Ocean, and the British fleet's mobility will also be limited by us. Of course, the British won't be willing. "
India was the "British hostage" in China's hands. The reason why the British were selling their land was not only because the country was short of money after the economic crisis, but also because India's hundreds of millions of people were Britain's largest market. If they lost this market, the British economy would immediately collapse. The stronger China was in the Indian Ocean, the weaker Britain's control over India would be. It would be strange if the British would happily agree to China's annexation of Madagascar.
Li Xin asked a military question. "Go through the South Atlantic, go through the Cape of Good Hope, and reach the Indian Ocean. This route is also very safe for the British, at least there will be no Italian threats along the way. "
Vézé didn't agree with this view. "Logistics is not only about providing food, adding water and coal to the ship. Maintenance and inspection is a very important part of logistics. Don't look at Hokkaido's industrial strength, it helped a lot when we went to North America. "
China's early personnel who went to North America used Hokkaido as a transit point. Sea transportation was very risky, and the physical and psychological exhaustion of the passengers was also great. It saved more than ten days of time. There was a transit point for everyone to board the ship, which was a great help to the transportation of personnel. The United Kingdom became the world's hegemon because of its ports all over the world. Although China's ports were limited, the ports had a certain degree of repair ability. Sailing ships were now obsolete, but it was of great significance.
One had to know that the British still couldn't repair their warships in India. After the warships were damaged, they could only do simple repairs and then sail back to the British mainland for overhaul. China was already able to carry out medium-scale repair of warships in the South China Sea. In comparison, the Indian Ocean was becoming more and more like China's home ground.
"How about I visit Europe again?" Li Xin put forward his own opinion.
Vézé nodded slightly. "That's a good idea. It's not a bad thing to see the current situation in Europe."
After Li Xin returned, he immediately began to discuss the main points of work in Korea with the Ministry of Commerce. Both sides, according to Vézé's instructions, felt that diplomatic agencies could be abolished in Korea. As a vassal state of China, Korea's political status was equivalent to a special administrative region with great autonomy, which was completely unsuitable for so-called diplomatic relations. There was no diplomatic relationship between superiors and subordinates.
Yuan Weiting's analysis at the time was very accurate. Even if China forcibly sent personnel to Korea as officials, as long as this was the order of Emperor Vézé, Korea must obey. China didn't do this before because it was afraid of pointlessly arousing the resentment and opposition of Korea. Now that the time had come, there was no problem doing this.
It was also at this time that Yuan Weiting sent a telegram from Korea. It said that the Korean Royal Court often asked the railway to help them get rid of "tens of thousands of negative merchants" who colluded with the Min Fei Group. Negative merchants were the term used for merchants in Korea's history, consisting of "negative merchants" and "negative merchants". "Negative merchants" referred to merchants who sold ornaments and other handicrafts, and negative merchants referred to merchants who sold daily necessities. Negative merchants came into being during the period of King Gongjang at the end of the Korean Dynasty. In the early Korean Dynasty, negative merchants had already formed an industry, and then gradually strengthened the industry organization. In feudal society, it played a certain role in the social economy and the exchange of goods between urban and rural areas. In 1866, when Bingyin invaded the foreign countries, negative merchants contributed a lot. At that time, the regent of the Xingxuan Imperial Court, Li Yingying, was the ruler. In order to reward negative merchants, he ordered the establishment of the Negative Merchants Office, with his eldest son, Li Zaimian, as the commander. After the Min Fei Group gained power, Min Yongyi became the "Duban" of negative merchants. In 1883, the "Hui Shang Public Office" was established as a special agency for negative merchants and was officially included in the system.
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