Li Hongzhang is a very intelligent person who is very sensitive to the struggle between various forces. After taking charge of the work in Goryeo, he devoted himself to this work and provided many very insightful opinions to the country. The Foreign Ministry's handling of Goryeo is largely based on the analysis made by Li Hongzhang's team.

Although Li Hongzhang faced the Ministry of Commerce, he stood behind the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although Foreign Minister Li Xin has a good relationship with the Minister of Commerce, there are some things that cannot be resolved by personal relations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically disagrees with the Ministry of Commerce's predatory business operations in Goryeo, not because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has any support for Goryeo, but because the Ministry of Foreign Affairs believes that the result of the Ministry of Commerce's desperate efforts to suck blood will inevitably be the collapse of Goryeo's finances. The Ministry of Commerce can slap its ass and leave at that time, and then it is the turn of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to clean up the mess created by the Ministry of Commerce.

It wasn't until Wei Ze brought up the matter of the joint-stock company that Li Hongzhang's tragic mood of being regarded as a vanguard suddenly dissipated, and he saw the possibility of gently resolving the Goryeo problem. After all, the cooperation between the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is much greater than the dispute.

How could the people in the Ministry of Commerce be frightened by Li Hongzhang's trick, and they immediately put forward a rebuttal, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs still has to do business?" ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can not invest or share dividends. All we need is the power to guide. ”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs meant that "the oppression of the subject country should not be too ruthless, and if the local government of the subject country is crushed, the gain will outweigh the loss." The Ministry of Commerce meant, "Can we crush Goryeo without doing anything?" ”

Wei Ze can only temporarily suppress this very professional problem and wait until it is solved. As soon as this matter is pressed, nothing else is a big deal. As soon as the three sessions ended, the matter was officially discussed.

Li Hongzhang was very happy to be able to speak in front of Wei Ze. He confidently came up with data that from 1877 to 1882, China built thousands of kilometers of railways in Goryeo, which connected important cities and seaports in Goryeo. Whether the Koreans wanted it or not, they were swept into the tide of the industrial age.

With the railway came China's renminbi and China's bank, and the superb printing technology of paper bi was completely beyond the local imitation ability of Goryeo, and the strong national strength of China also made Goryeo dare not refuse this paper bi to become the settlement currency between China and Goryeo. China's industrial products were conquered all over Goryeo by railroads, and Chinese banks set up offices in each town and port, providing not only renminbi services, but also local currency storage services in Goryeo.

In order to make money, the Goryeo landlords exported grain to China and Japan at extremely low prices, and then used the money to buy various consumer goods. The export of large quantities of grain left the local farmers in Goryeo without enough to eat, and the import of cheap industrial products destroyed the local handicraft industry. The local people of Goryeo were all excited, and they saw that a rebellion was about to burn in Goryeo, which was full of dry wood.

After listening to Director Li Hongzhang and Director Li's introduction, Wei Ze felt that this was just a very classic performance of the invasion of agricultural countries by the commodities of industrial countries, and China's modern history is a history of how agricultural society completely collapsed under the invasion of foreign industries.

No matter how Li Hongzhang looked at Wei Ze with expectant eyes, he hoped that Wei Ze would immediately make a judgment favorable to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Wei Zedu looked at the representative of the Ministry of Commerce and signaled that the Ministry of Commerce could speak.

When Li Hongzhang gave an explanation, the representative of the Ministry of Commerce tried to interrupt several times, but Wei Ze ordered the representative of the Ministry of Commerce not to speak. At this time, when it was finally time to speak, Teng, the representative of the Ministry of Commerce, stood up, and the big man said in fluent Shandong dialect: "Your Majesty, what Director Li said is not right. We are really more wronged than Dou E! ”

Looking at the appearance of this Shandong man who was almost in tears, Wei Ze could only comfort him first, "Don't worry, don't worry, speak slowly." ”

"Your Majesty, our Ministry of Commerce has received instructions from Your Majesty not to excessively squeeze Goryeo. The Ministry of Commerce has also made comprehensive arrangements, and Director Li also said that it is the RMB and the banks that we will enter Goryeo first, and if we really want to make a lot of money from Goryeo, we will not be able to do this! ”

Full of anger after being "slandered", the Ministry of Commerce stated the version from the perspective of the Ministry of Commerce.

As Li Hongzhang said, China's first commodity to enter Goryeo was the renminbi, and the first to be perfected in Goryeo was the bank. This was due to the fact that China used a large number of local Goryeo laborers in the construction of the railway in Goryeo, and after using the renminbi as the payment currency, the Chinese merchants who followed up sold various goods to the Goryeo laborers at very low prices. In order to ensure that the renminbi had sufficient purchasing power in the Goryeo region, banks were developed along with the railways and telegraphs along the railways.

In the process of building the railway, the Chinese side has hired as many Korean laborers as possible. After the construction of the railway was completed, the railway employed a large number of Koreans as employees. These hiring activities created a huge number of jobs, and the Koreans were almost squeezed out of order to be able to compete for a job at a Chinese railway company.

As for grain exports, China's domestic grain prices are much lower than those of Goryeo, and Goryeo's grain exports to China do not have any competitive advantage, and their export direction is mainly aimed at Japan. China's railways and merchant ships, as well as the construction of a port in Goryeo, have caused the cost of transporting grain to plummet.

"What does the landlords' desperate export of grain have to do with our Ministry of Commerce? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can also officially issue some opinions to the small court of Goryeo, and the court of Goryeo must listen to whether it is sincere or false. They won't listen to what our Ministry of Commerce says. If it weren't for the efforts of our Ministry of Commerce, the cost of transportation and the waste along the way in Korea would only be more now, and they would have made less money than they do now. Without the Ministry of Commerce, there would be no current situation in Goryeo! Shandong Dahan, on behalf of the Ministry of Commerce, made a summary.

The information provided by the two sides can be said to be completely opposed, and in the description of the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Commerce is the savior of Goryeo, representing the most advanced productive forces of Goryeo and bringing Goryeo into the industrial age. In the description of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce desperately squeezed the local government of Goryeo and desperately extracted wealth from Goryeo, which directly caused the political turmoil in Goryeo.

Wei Ze did not make a direct decision on this, he asked: "Do both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce think that unrest will break out in Goryeo?" ”

Li Hongzhang and others basically agreed that the Goryeo landlords and local tycoons had no opportunity to engage in large-scale grain trading, and that China's intervention finally gave them the opportunity to engage in overseas trade. After receiving the grain, the landlords naturally had the right to dispose of the grain and turn it into cash. After depositing the cash in the Chinese bank in Korea, it can still eat interest, and it is easy to deposit and withdraw and even transfer money, and these powerful people naturally want to pursue their own best interests. As for whether people will starve to death if there is no food to eat in Goryeo, this is not the responsibility of the landlords at all.

Without evaluating right or wrong, Wei Ze asked, "Does the Goryeo court know that the country has reached such a state?" ”

The representative of the Ministry of Commerce hurriedly replied: "Your Majesty, we have also read the information collected by Director Li. Ten years ago, the king of Goryeo was in power, and Concubine Min forcibly forced Daewonjun to retire. Since then, the so-called Enlightenment Party members of Goryeo have colluded with Concubine Min. Although they did not dare to be disrespectful to China, they hooked up with Japan. This time it was more because Goryeo sold Goryeo grain to Japan at a low price in order to make money. If they did not export as much food, the Koreans would have been self-sufficient in food. ”

Where Li Hongzhang was willing to let the Ministry of Commerce gain the upper hand, he immediately retorted: "Your Majesty, it is better to deal with this matter diplomatically." As long as His Majesty ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform Goryeo that no more grain exports were to Japan. Even if the Goryeo court doesn't listen, I will definitely be able to propagate it in Goryeo. As long as the people of Goryeo knew about this, they could turn the situation around. And the situation at this time is so crisis, which is also related to the fact that Dayuanjun and others are behind the scenes. Your Majesty, it is true that the affairs of Goryeo are related to the economy, but it would be a big mistake to think that the Goryeo problem could be solved by economic means. I've been investigating in Goryeo for a few years, and it's not that simple. ”

Wei Ze finally spoke, "This matter will be handled in three parts, first of all, we must not let our country's personnel and property in Goryeo suffer losses. If there is unrest in Goryeo, will our banks and railways be safe? The second is to first find out whether Dayuanjun is ready to do it, and if he can get rid of the Min Fei group, what kind of attitude and policy Dayuanjun is ready to implement towards China. The third is to study the control of all the major commercial actions of Goryeo through the establishment of joint-stock companies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs cooperated with the Ministry of Commerce in the work of Goryeo. ”

"Your Majesty, I can understand the first two, but how to do the third one appropriately." Li Hongzhang hurriedly asked. The first two words are easy, but in fact they are a coup d'état. If Daewon-kun could fully throw himself into the arms of China and turn Goryeo into a more Chinese-speaking country, Weeze would support a coup d'état in Goryeo. Only the third article is somewhat beyond Li Hongzhang's comprehension. They have all decided to carry out a coup d'état, so why do they need to set up any joint-stock companies.

"If Goryeo's economy is not good, what is the point of Daewonjun being in power again. If we want to improve the economy of Goryeo, we need to implement many policies in Goryeo. If it was the state, the Goryeo commander begged us to help them. In the guise of a joint-stock company, Goryeo has to be in business. The capital operation is much stronger than the feudal system of Goryeo. Weser didn't want to play anything inscrutable, so he explained quite seriously. However, this explanation has left both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce a little confused. How to compare capital operation with feudalism? This is really a question that is rarely talked about.

Wei Ze didn't want to bother to talk anymore, it was always relatively easy to conquer by force, but economic control could be truly lasting and more efficient in the long run. But China has little experience in such things, and Goryeo is a good testing ground. So Wei Ze said: "Don't ask so much, let's do it first." ”