"Minister Li, you've done a good job lately!" On the corridor leading to Wei Ze's office, on July 3, Lei Hu greeted Li Xin, who was approaching.

Li Xindeng stood still and couldn't take a step. The land purchase bill that has been agreed upon was first proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the central government, perhaps because everyone initially thought that the Russians would not agree to this condition, and there were not many opponents who jumped out directly. Once the agreement began to be promoted, various objections emerged. The number of opponents of the Central Military Commission is the largest, and the reason for the opposition can be summed up in simple words: "It is really unjust to spend so much money on something that can be solved by fighting!" ”

If it weren't for Wei Ze's firm support for Li Xin, I am afraid that this matter would not be able to be promoted at all. Even so, Li Xin is still under tremendous pressure. Passing through the central office building, he always kept his head down and tried not to greet anyone. Not greeting people means getting as little cynicism as possible. In fact, Li Xin now can't imagine how he came up with such a figure as 100 tons of gold at that time. At that time, the accounting had an overall discussion plan, and Li Xin was justified when he took it out. I have been criticized a lot, and the psychological pressure has accumulated higher than the mountains and deeper than the sea, and the amount that seemed reasonable when I first studied it has become completely different at this time.

"Vice Chairman Lei......" Li Xin only said half a sentence, and he didn't know what to say next. In fact, Li Xin wanted to ask which aspect Lei Hu's praise was aimed at. There have not been many recent good things for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and these achievements seem to be nothing more remarkable than the huge costs.

Probably the biggest one is China's announcement of the "Golden Ship" route. China can transport gold by land and by sea. There are also three ways to take the sea route, taking advantage of the polar day in the polar region, taking the Arctic Ocean. Or go to the Indian Ocean, enter the Black Sea, send gold to the Crimea, give it to the Russians there. An even more ambitious route is to enter the Mediterranean, then from the Strait of Gibraltar into the North Atlantic, all the way north into the Baltic Sea, and finally unload the gold at the port of St. Petersburg.

The purpose of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to make the trouble known to everyone at this time, and the real route is not necessarily by sea. The Russian envoy has suggested to China that the real transport should be by land, and that Russia would send a special Janissary to receive and escort the gold. If China must send a ship, it will be good to go through the motions.

Britain and China are now in a truce, and there may be a chance for Chinese warships to pass through British-controlled waters and several important waterways. After the news of the golden ship leaked, it caused an uproar in Europe. The Netherlands has already announced that it will send its navy into the Mediterranean to capture the golden ship. France offered to send a navy to seize China's golden ships until China spits out what was once French Indochina.

It's okay with the Netherlands, no one really thinks that Dutch warships are capable of fighting Chinese warships. As soon as France openly shouted, Germany and Austria-Hungary, which had signed the Three Emperors Alliance, said that France would never allow France to move on the gold belonging to Russia.

This is also something that cannot be helped, Russia is a very poor country. After the Crimean War, Russia reformed serfdom when it found that the gray cattle of the serfs were at a great disadvantage in the face of the British and French subject armies. The reforms liberated the social system and gave Russian industry room to develop. Space alone is not enough without capital, and 100 tons of gold is very important to the banking system that Russia is trying to build. It's not just about the money, it's about bringing credit and confidence far beyond 100 tons of gold.

After the Crimean War, Russia not only made adjustments to its social structure, but also implemented large-scale military reforms. The army is a gold-swallowing beast, and Russia's financial pressure is huge. Knowing that China's proposed golden ship plan is a show, Russia can only cooperate slightly. The matter of the golden ship stirred up the troubled waters of Europe, and even if it failed to escalate the contradictions, it made the contradictions in Europe superficial, and also made the European countries with ghosts have their own ideas.

Russia's cooperation is not due to Russia's willingness to swallow its anger. As soon as the news of the imminent arrival of the gold ship in Russia came out, the price of the bonds issued by Russia in Europe was sharply raised. The credit of the Russian financial industry in Europe is not very good, and these 100 tons of gold can make Russia's low credit rating greatly overvalued in the market. If there were no such benefits, Russia would naturally not want to make such a fuss.

This is part of the overall plan for gold to buy land, and the Ministry of Finance and the central bank have also given a lot of suggestions during the discussion of the plan. Under Li Xin's rectification, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a general idea of world diplomacy, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself has also made deductions based on known intelligence, and there is already a verified sub-plan in the overall plan of this operation. Through the reactions of countries around the world to this matter, see if the judgment of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the world can be close to the truth.

Of course, Li Xin has said these things a long time ago, but in the face of huge costs, the harvest results have been completely ignored by many people. Li Xin personally suspected that Lei Hu was praising this matter. But he really didn't have the courage to ask. At this time, several government officials next to him heard Lei Hu's praise of Li Xin, and everyone looked at Lei Hu and Li Xin with surprise.

This is the status quo that Li Xin is facing, a rather helpless status quo.

Lei Hu didn't mean to support it with much fanfare, he had already walked to Li Xin's side at this time, stretched out his hand and patted Li Xin's shoulder, and Lei Hu went to do his own work.

When Wei Ze saw Li Xin coming in, he wanted to speak directly. Seeing Li Xin's expression, Wei Ze was stunned and didn't say anything.

Li Xin has been very sensitive recently, and he immediately asked, "Dudu, what's wrong." ”

Wei Ze smiled: "I see that you are quite happy now, which is different from the recent one." I wanted to cheer you up, but it seems that I don't need it for the time being. ”

Li Xin didn't want to say that Lei Hu's encouragement made him very happy, and at this time, saying that these things were not good would bring some unnecessary trouble to Lei Hu. Everyone is so busy with work, and many comrades are angry on weekdays. It's not a good choice to cause people trouble. So Li Xin smiled bitterly: "I am also used to being wronged." ”

Wei Ze laughed, "If you are wronged, then it's good to go out for a walk." ”

Li Xin hurriedly shook his head, "With so much work, where do you have time to go out for a walk." ”

Seeing that Li Xin said seriously, Wei Ze also put away his smile, "Well...... that's because I can't express it clearly." I don't actually have time for you to go for a break and visit abroad. ”

"Visiting abroad?" Li Xin was a little surprised by this arrangement.

Wei Ze leaned back in his chair and said slowly: "Yes, go abroad for a visit." From Siam to Turkey, to Austria-Hungary, to Germany, to Northern Europe, Russia, the United States. As a foreign minister, you should also go around in circles. ”

"What's the purpose of such a big circle?" Li Xin is interested, and it is indeed a good thing to be able to visit the world abroad.

Wei Ze said slowly: "The purpose ......, China has become famous in the world. When the foreign minister goes out for a visit, he can just coax this heat. Let the world know that China is not a closed country. ”

"Do you want me to persuade countries to continue doing business with China?" Li Xin asked.

Wei Ze shook his head, "Now the only countries in the world that continue to engage in free trade are Britain and France, and this Britain and France have such a big contradiction with us, and they will not reconcile with us for a while." Moreover, Britain only ceased war with us, not made peace with us, and I think Britain wants to continue to drag it on. Militarily we cannot win the war, at least force the rest of the world to abide by the neutrality treaty and not do business with our China. As for other countries, they are all engaged in high tariffs. It is already difficult for us to export to them. It doesn't make much difference to persuade or not to persuade. ”

"If you try your best to convince you......" Li Xin felt that this trip couldn't just run, but had to have some results.

"Actually, I personally hope that this situation can last for a few years." Weeser said his thoughts.

"Huh?" Li Xin was stunned.

"Just like this naval battle, we have our own ideas, we have our own equipment, and we can say that we have set the direction since ten years ago. After the war, our design ideas became known to foreigners, and they began to learn and catch up. All we have to do is to let the foreign devils take our ideas away in the process of our development. It's the same now, we have a lot of new technologies being developed, and I don't want our own immature ideas to be learned by foreign devils, who are ten years behind us, that's fine. They're only three or four years behind us, and that's the problem. So I think it's good to be locked down for three or four years. ”

Li Xin listened carefully, couldn't help nodding his head again and again, and after Wei Ze finished speaking, Li Xin thought for a while and said: "Governor, I will try to make contact with foreign countries, so that they feel that we want them to be able to get rid of their isolated status." After all, it would not be normal if I did not want to resume foreign trade at all. ”

Wei Ze replied with great satisfaction: "That's it, let the world know that China is not a country that is eager for success. Of course, let them go up to China and not be a lowly country. Look at who in foreign countries supports China and who opposes China. The more experience you have, the better you can do your job. ”

Li Xin was completely energetic at this time, and that kind of pressure and frustration were swept away. He said to Wei Ze seriously: "I must complete the arrangement of the governor." ”

"By the way, when you went this time, you spent more time in the Ottoman Empire. We do need chromite from the Ottoman Empire, and we really want to help the Ottomans develop their work and build more railways for them. The Ottoman Empire is a key target for Russia, and if the Ottoman Empire is stronger, we will be less pressured. ”

"I will first ensure China's status as a supreme country, and advance this matter on the basis of ensuring China's dignity and respect." Li Xin replied seriously.

Hearing this answer, Wei Ze nodded, "You do things, I don't worry." ”

Hearing this, Li Xin's depression was greatly dissipated, his eyes turned red, and tears almost flowed out.