Shen Yazhi looked at Zhao Liewen curiously, this girl felt strange, why was there suddenly an extra old man in the office?

In fact, Zhao Liewen is not old, he was born in 1832, and he is less than fifty this year, and he is talking to Wang Yi at this time. He's also a big businessman now. Wang Minyun was also shocked by Wang's quick move, and he was also surprised that Zhao Liewen actually agreed, this is a top strategist who assisted Zeng Wenzhenggong! …… But why didn't he become a strategist, but became Wang Yi's student. Although he didn't hold the disciple ceremony, he shouted one teacher after another, but if Li Hongzhang and others knew about it, they wouldn't be shocked to lose their big teeth!

Zhao Liewen himself doesn't care, he is not as good as Wang Yi in terms of knowledge, and he is not as good as Wang Yi in terms of ability, what he knows is the intrigue in the officialdom, but it is not the mainstream in big business. If he really wants to get the bureaucratic set of things into the big businessmen, Zhao Liewen has no doubt that Wang Yi can cut himself off.

"Brother Zhao, I have already got you a Chinese-style villa, if you want, you can move in at any time."

"Thank you, sir. In fact, I didn't bring a few people here, and the old family members all lived in Changshu Zhao Garden, and they wouldn't come. ”

"But you can't always live in the library's janitorial room!"

"It's all right, sir. I think it's good. Since agreeing to Wang Yi's request, Zhao Liewen moved out of Wang Minyun's house the next day, and chose to choose and choose, and chose the guard room of the library. When he had nothing to do, he was reading in the library, and once Wang Yi went out to inspect, he called him, and he could intuitively understand all aspects of Dashang. Of course, when he first arrived, Wang Yi would not arrange any work for him, just chatting with each other and exchanging opinions. If he encounters something he doesn't understand, he will ask directly, and sometimes he will help Wang Yi find out some questions and fill in the gaps. In terms of unique vision, he is worthy of being the main strategist that Zeng Guofan relied on, and he has a pair of fiery eyes.

At the end of June, Wang Yi once again recruited 5,000 cavalry from Daqing, and finally left more than 4,600 people after identity screening, and then began to train in the newly built lancer training camp in Daqing. Of the 3,600 people trained before, 3,000 were sent to Mohe to garrison, under the command of Zheng Haitao, to clear out the bandits in the Mohe and Huma areas. The remaining 600 people were mixed with the cavalry of the Wuxiao base, and the number was also 3,000 people, and with the infantry of the Great Shang and the newly formed artillery, they set out from Benxi and began to launch a bandit sweep from Phoenix City to Andong, and the goal was to open a land trade route to Korea.

Phoenix City is the Phoenix City of later generations, with placer gold and vein gold. However, it is not yet open, with wicker side walls and a Qing Imperial Phoenix garrison. Although Wang Yi didn't care too much, he didn't want to tear his face with them now, so the focus was on Anton.

Anton is the Dandong of later generations, Qi Ling (Qi three sounds, this Qi Ling is not the old age next to Zeng Guofan, that person died in 1863) is the current Andong County magistrate, his predecessor is named Zhang Yunxiang, because he saw the development of Yingkou and other places, he asked people to go to Dashang to say that he hoped that Wang Yi could go to Anton to invest. Anton's geographical location was extremely important, and Wang Yi agreed after thinking about it. Andong is rich in natural resources, in addition to gold, silver, lead, zinc, iron, coal, kaolin, magnesite, marble, and more importantly, a large number of boron ore resources, which are said to account for 95% of the country's reserves. Wang Yi wants to smelt a large number of various boron steels in Benxi, which is an important source of raw materials.

Today, Wang Yi invited the members of the Grain and Oil Price Alliance to come to the meeting, but he has too much face now, so the people who attended were the leaders of the major families. It's just that today's meeting place is more special, not a big businessman, but an Andong County Ya. Now sitting next to him is Anton Zhixian - Qi Ling, and on the other side is Zhao Liewen, who is chatting together. There were quite a few people in the middle who came to say hello, but here were some people who looked like people, so they wouldn't stay and talk to the three of them.

"Lord Zhixian, the conditions I want are very simple, a piece of land with a large enough area, and then we will build a power plant, as well as various factories, among which the main ones are silk reeling factories, silk factories, cotton factories and garment factories. As for security, our big business insurance team can take care of it. (In later generations, Dandong silk production accounted for 70% of the entire Liaoning)

Qi Ling nodded and said, "Then what do we need to do Anton?" ”

"Since we are investing here, we need to have raw materials, and this aspect needs to be solved by your county. Of course, this is not a one-touch thing, planting mulberry and silkworms, planting cotton, we can provide technical support, but farmers plant or not, this is the problem you want to solve. ”

"However, planting mulberry and raising silkworms is not immediately productive, and how to solve the ...... of farmers' livelihoods" Qi Ling has some doubts.

"It's simple, because Andong has abundant water, we use mulberry fish ponds for scientific use, and your county can also give farmers some subsidies so that they have the motivation to engage in this kind of production."

Wang Yi's meaning is very simple, you Andong County can't expect us big businessmen to do everything.

"But our Anton is originally short of people......

"If Andong County is underfunded, Dashang Silver Furnace can provide you with low-interest government loans, but we need to control the management of the funds here." Wang Yi could not trust the Qing court officials, and he was afraid that they would be in his hands.

"Yes!" The elder smiled.

Wang Yi continued at this time: "Then there is the need for people to work in every factory, and silk reeling, silk, cotton, and garment factories are best operated by female workers. ”

"Female workers?" The elderly were stunned, these days are not close to men and women, in case something happens to the factory, it will be very troublesome. "What ...... this?"

"Don't worry, the county magistrate, we will do strict separation in the factory, and there will be no scandals that undermine the defense of men and women."

Wang Yi promised for a long time, and the elderly reluctantly agreed.

The elder left to arrange the next work, and Zhao Liewen said at this time: "Sir, why do you have to gain a foothold in Anton? This place is separated from North Korea by a river, and the people are conservative. If you are for money, you will rely entirely on the skills and capital of the big businessmen to go to various places in the south to meet the British. ”

Wang Yi smiled slightly and said, "I set up a factory in Andong just to sell goods to North Korea." ”

"North Korea?" Zhao Liewen showed a puzzled expression.

Wang Yiyi: "Brother, do you know that since the Ganghwa Island incident in Korea, Japan forced North Korea to sign the Ganghwa Treaty. Since then, they have been dumping low-quality silk products into North Korea for a lot of profit, and at the same time they have begun to penetrate into North Korea's shipping, fishing, and financial sectors. Although the situation is not strict now, if it cannot be contained in time, Korea will become an important tax enclave and a puppet for Japan, which is not a good thing for our Qing Dynasty. ”

On January 8, 1876, Japan's Meiji government appointed Kuroda Kiyotaka as Minister Plenipotentiary and Inoue Shin as Vice Minister, leading eight warships to Ganghwa Island, North Korea to negotiate with North Korea on the "Unyang" incident, and their more important mission was to open the door to Korea. Because of the Qing court's inaction, on January 30, 1876, Joseon decided to send Shin Ji (櫶xian sansheng) and Yoon Zicheng to Ganghwa Island to negotiate with the Japanese. Although there were protests in North Korea afterwards, the Min Concubine group signed the "Ganghwa Treaty", and the door of Korea was opened.

Although Wang Yi returned to the Qing Dynasty at that time, his strength was not good, so he could only watch things happen, and there was nothing he could do.

"I see!" Zhao Liewen had long known that his chairman was extremely unfriendly to both Japan and Russia, and he now agreed with Wang Yi's views after reading Wang Yi's writings. "Sir, this is a plan to draw wages from the bottom of the kettle!"

Wang Yi smiled and said: "A few years ago, I didn't have this strength, but now the situation is different, Japan has cleared the opposition forces in the country through the Southwest War. Although it is unlikely that Korea will be invaded by force in the near future, it is conceivable that economic plunder will continue to increase in the next few years. This windfall is not so much in the hands of the Japanese as it is in the hands of our big merchants. And according to the efficiency of our big businessmen's use of money, Japan is one point less, and we may get three or four points, or even ten points! “

While the two were talking, Qi Ling announced the start of the meeting, and then Wang Yi came to the stage and began to talk about the entire Anton's concept.

Probably because of the relationship that was always by Wang Yi's side, the members of these price alliances also had very deep worries about Japan, and when Wang Yi made the purpose of the whole thing clear, the investment enthusiasm of each family was even more enthusiastic than Wang Yi thought.

As a Manchurian, who is also a scholar of this era, it is inevitable that he will have a contempt for businessmen in his heart. However, after listening to Wang Yi's heartfelt words today, his concept has finally changed slightly, and his impression of Wang Yi has also changed greatly.

After returning to Dashang, Wang Yi sent a telegram directly to Li Hongzhang. He demanded the right to trade freely with North Korea and changed the situation in which the Japanese were left alone in the Korean market.

Wang Yi is just going to be a way, if you Li Hongzhang don't talk about it, I will also go over. At the beginning, Japan could pry open the door of North Korea with a broken ship, but today, I can't afford to go back to this old path!

Li Hongzhang, who received Wang Yi's telegram, also took a long time, and then made a decision after consulting with his subordinates Zhou Fu, Zhang Peilun, Ding Richang, Sheng Xuanhuai and others, and agreed with Wang Yi's opinion. On the one hand, it is not only to prevent Japan, but also to prevent Wang Yi. Li Hongzhang is now most afraid that Wang Yiyi will stretch south, otherwise if he doesn't take care of the business under his command by special means, Wang Yi will have to go bankrupt.

Li Hongzhang made a decision and began to write to the Yi 60 of the Prime Minister's Yamen, stating the benefits and disadvantages, and then handed it over to the palace. After an exchange of interests, the matter was finally done.

Li Hongzhang then sent an envoy to Korea to discuss the matter. Concubine Min was originally inclined to be open, and now although she does not trust the Qing court, she does not dare to offend. As soon as I think about opening up and saving Japan from being the only one, I just don't know what the big businessman mentioned by Li Hongzhang is?

The attendants sent by Li Hongzhang also talked to Korea about guarding not only the Japanese but also the Russians. Although Maozi got Vladivostok, it freezes in winter, so he is always looking for a place in the south.

Concubine Min saw it, ah, the Qing Kingdom had changed, and after discussing with Li Yuyuan, she decided to take the opportunity to send someone to Tianjin to learn the method of training military weapons from Li Hongzhang's Beiyang. After the envoy returned, Li Hongzhang issued a "Proper Preparation for Korean Military Preparations", and the imperial court agreed to the Korean request.

On 16 September, the DPRK envoy Bian Yuangui came to Tianjin, where Li Hongzhang sent Zheng Zaoru of the Tianjin Customs and Yongding River to Zhikai, and Xu Qiguang, Liu Hanfang, and Wang Dejun, the Taoist officers of the various ordnance bureaus, received them, and guided them to visit the Machinery Bureau, the Manufacturing Bureau, the Ordnance Institute, the Firearms Depot, and the Gunpowder Depot, and presented 10 breech guns, gamete medicine, copper caps, etc., 10 Mauser breech rifles, and 2,000 rear doors. On 22 September, Li Hongzhang met with Bian Yuangui and said that Korea had been trading with Japan for several years and that taxes had not yet been collected.

Bian Yuangui said that the DPRK wants to build a fort at Deyuan Port, and it may be an excuse for Japan. Li told that there was no one in the trade ports of various countries who did not build forts. Bian seems to be unheard of, and the center is pleased. Li believed that Japan was scornful of Korea's insistence on refusing to open its port, and its intentions were ill-intentioned, and it wanted to put an end to the hidden plot of Russia and Japan, and that the only way to trade with the Qing Dynasty was to contain Korea and make Korea exist alone.

On 11 December, Li Hongzhang wrote a "Discussion on the Restoration of Mei Qizhao's Confessions," saying that Japan's long-distance relations and close attacks were even worse than those of Western countries, and that most of China's efforts to create sailors were aimed at controlling Japan, and that relations with Korea were particularly huge.

On the 12th day of the first month of 1880, Li Hongzhang met with the Korean envoy Li Rongsu, hoping that the people sent by the great merchants would temporarily take care of the Korean tax revenue, and then the DPRK could send young people to China to study. After completing his studies, he returned to China to take over the work of Dashang. In November, the DPRK sent Kim Yoon-sik to China with 69 apprentices, and Li Hongzhang assigned them to two bureaus, and the members of each bureau supervised the craftsmen and taught them wholeheartedly, in the hope that the skills would be quickly completed so that they could return to China and transfer them to the next generation.

On the issue of the big merchants being in charge of North Korea's taxation, Wang Yi provided Li Hongzhang with a ten-year interest-free loan of 600,000 taels of merchant silver dollars. Although the DPRK had misgivings, it still agreed to this request, and it was inevitably not in its plan to take the opportunity to provoke relations between the Qing and Japan.

After clearing out the bandits on the Andong Road, Wang Yi left behind 1,000 infantry, 500 horses, and three artillery companies to garrison the Andong New Industrial Zone, with a total of 1,800 people, and if you count the number of logistics personnel, it will be about 2,500 people, and the battalion commander is Hua Tianxiong. The armament includes infantry Bao 1 rifles, Bao 1 sniper rifles, and 50 Bao 1 general purpose machine guns (German MG42). The horse team is a Paula 1 carbine. Each of the three artillery batteries was a heavy artillery battery with 5 105mm guns and howitzers (two types of shells), and the remaining two artillery batteries used a total of 16 75mm field guns.

The elder has seen it from afar, although he knows that Wang Yi is an armed businessman, but he can be armed like this...... Forget it, no one is making trouble in the country anyway, just turn a blind eye.