The world of film and television begins with the God of Medicine.

Chapter 1670 Strength and Weakness
The war ended, and peace was restored throughout the land.

Elsewhere, perhaps due to a shortage of manpower, there hasn't been much movement yet, but in the capital and even throughout Zhili, a tremendous frenzy has already begun.

Spring has arrived, flowers are blooming, rivers are thawing, all things are reviving, and the frozen land is ready for work. The displaced people have been organized together and have begun a large-scale construction project.

Road construction, water conservancy projects, urban development, factory construction and production, as well as other agricultural, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery industries—everywhere is bustling with activity, and there are no idle people at all.

Wang Yan wasn't worried about having too many people. This place was in dire need of reconstruction and transitioning to the industrial age, so human resources were extremely important. There was no shortage of workers. Even if Zhili couldn't accommodate them all, they could simply continue expanding outwards.

Anyway, he printed the money himself, and he mobilized the resources himself. As long as the distribution was reasonable, even though everyone was starving, they could still keep working. As long as they could keep working, they could snowball their growth and naturally become stronger and stronger.

All of this was seen by the people.

This "people" includes people from the frontier, people from the plateau, people from the mountains in the south, officials with different motives, remnants of the former Qing dynasty in hiding, and people from Japan, Russia, the United States, Germany, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Austria...

There are so many foreigners who make a living in China that you can't even count them all.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was originally established after the Second Opium War, initially as the Zongli Yamen (Office for the Management of Affairs with Foreign Countries), which included institutions such as the Tongwen Guan (School for Combined Learning) to handle foreign affairs. Later, through institutional reforms, the Zongli Yamen was formally established as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Wang Yan has now established a Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of schedule, which is dedicated to handling foreign affairs, as well as various trade matters and so on.

The government offices were located outside the palace, along with the other six ministries. This was a time of great turmoil both internally and externally, involving numerous matters, making foreign affairs particularly important.

At this moment, there were three groups of people in the government office. One group consisted of people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, another group from the Ministry of Commerce, and the third group consisted of a large number of foreigners.

As a prime example of a businessman who successfully bet on a winning strategy, Li Wantang became the head of commerce in the new dynasty. He was responsible for a multitude of internal affairs, including trade, business rules, the formulation of various laws and regulations, tax-related matters, and the allocation of various resources. He held a high-ranking and powerful position, which would have been considered a meteoric rise in any dynasty.

In particular, Wang Yan's new dynasty did not allow people to buy official positions, nor did it issue many official titles in bulk. He also did not establish any rule of hereditary succession. Even the Heavenly King, or even Zhao Erhu and Jiang Wuyang, did not receive the privilege of hereditary succession.

He's even reforming himself, how could he possibly tolerate others? With absolute power in his hands, Wang Yan neither hears nor sees any discontent…

The atmosphere in the large room was rather oppressive, filled with the smell of cigarettes and cigars, which even made the room foggy.

"Now it's a new dynasty, and we've sunk all the English warships. The rules have to change. I believe you're aware of this, otherwise you wouldn't be sitting here."

Li Wantang paused, giving the translator time to speak, and glanced around. Seeing the unpleasant expressions on the foreigners' faces, he said, "We are developing and becoming stronger, changing rapidly. You can all see what the capital and Zhili are like. The people are living better and better lives, and their wealth is increasing."

"His Majesty has graciously permitted you to continue trade; these rules must be clearly established. The ports and customs duties that you previously forced the Qing Dynasty to recognize must all be changed."

These foreign devils all knew this day would come, and before they even wanted to see him, they couldn't. It was only after the affairs on the new dynasty's side were basically resolved that they began to reorganize foreign affairs.

Even if you're prepared, you still have to play the victim sometimes. It's a negotiation, after all; you have to talk first. Whether it's reasonable or not, it's always good to voice your grievances upfront, and then slowly negotiate the price.

Unfortunately, Li Wantang didn't tolerate their bad habits.

“You have no sincerity whatsoever in cooperating with my China. You previously bombarded our troops in Hong Kong, and recently I've heard that many merchants have been robbed by pirates overseas, with warships patrolling for the pirates every time. You've all been involved.”

He pointed to representatives from England, Portugal, and other countries.

The foreigners who were called out all had serious expressions.

“Li, you can’t wrong us. Piracy has been rampant for a long time, and many of them are even instigated by powerful families on your side. Perhaps our warships just happened to be passing by when your merchant ships were being robbed, and your merchants saw them.”

"We didn't steal the goods, and we are not supporters of those pirates. We were only ensuring the safety of our own country's merchant ships; we have no obligation to rescue yours."

The foreigners seemed very anxious to defend themselves, spitting as they spoke, their emotions running high.

Li Wantang sneered and cupped his hands in the direction of the palace: "Your Majesty is wise and mighty, and you have a keen understanding of the universe. We all know this perfectly well, and no matter how eloquently you speak, it is useless. In the past, when you attacked the Qing Dynasty, you dared to take action with any ridiculous excuse, and you never listened to the Qing Dynasty's explanations."

I'm sure you've done your investigations and are quite familiar with the Holy Emperor's temperament. Your flowery words are useless; do you really think you can keep taking advantage of us forever just because you have powerful ships and cannons patrolling our waters?

"You used to be able to reach the capital with 20,000 men, but now you have 200,000 and you still can't see a trace of it. Are you so sure we can't build warships? Let me tell you, we can build them in less than two years. If you're determined to prevent us from going to sea, then we'll fight once we've built them."

At this point, Li Wantang seemed to recall something interesting and burst into laughter.

"The Holy Emperor once told me a joke, saying that Third Master once thought that after the unification of China, he would form an expeditionary force and march 20,000 li westward from the border. I asked the Holy Emperor if we could fight now, and the Holy Emperor said we could fight 10,000 li now."

Gentlemen, do you really think 20,000 li is that far? At 50 li a day, it's only 400 days. Even with some flexibility, two years should be enough. Right now, there are refugees everywhere; conscripting a million people to find food elsewhere isn't a bad idea.

When this was said, no foreigners discussed whether it was feasible.

Because they had no doubt that Wang Yan would actually dare to do this. They also had no doubt that Shenzhou had the strength to mobilize a million people. With a million people going out, two hundred thousand troops, eight hundred thousand logistics personnel, plus the population and resources swept up from other regions along the way, it would truly be an unstoppable and powerful force.

There might be many problems during the execution, but getting through is definitely possible...

“Li, we have never doubted the Holy Emperor’s determination and the Empire’s strength. We have never wanted to be enemies with the Empire. We only want to trade peacefully with the Empire. We bring things that the Empire doesn’t have, and the Empire sells us things that it doesn’t have elsewhere.”

However, we have traveled a long and arduous journey across the ocean, encountering numerous hardships and incurring high costs. Therefore, we urge Your Majesty to grant us the grace to open more ports and offer certain tariff reductions. Only in this way can we engage in more trade and earn more money.”

Li Wantang shook his head repeatedly: "You have more products, they are fresher than ours, and the quantity is larger. There are many things we can't even produce. So you make too much profit when you sell them in, and then you drive the price down very low when you buy them. We work ourselves to the bone and you make all the profit. Do you think that's fair?"

"Li, you're being unreasonable! You can't produce it, and you're blaming us for selling it?" "No, what you're selling isn't something we absolutely need. Even though we don't have trouble selling it, we can choose not to. Do you understand?"

The foreigners weren't stupid. Li Wantang had already gone this far, so they knew perfectly well that he had brought Wang Yan's request.

So they asked, "Li, what do you want? Food?"

“Listen to this, who said these foreigners are inhuman? Aren’t they incredibly cunning? Otherwise, even the Holy Emperor would call them foreign devils.”

Ignoring the embarrassed expressions of the foreigners who could understand him, Li Wantang said, "Tariffs are not non-negotiable. As long as you bring grain, rubber, and other goods that China needs every time you ship goods to our land in the future, you can get a discount. At the same time, we will also raise prices appropriately to ensure that you make a profit."

The situation in China is currently very good. The machinery of development is running smoothly, roads are being repaired and houses are being built continuously. Various projects that benefit the people are being constructed in cities, and new products are being produced in factories.

But one problem was particularly prominent: people were not getting enough to eat or wear.

There are too many people, and the production technology of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery cannot keep up. In addition, natural disasters and man-made disasters are frequent. It is already extremely rare for people to avoid freezing and starving to death. Wanting to be well-fed and warmly clothed is a distant and unattainable luxury.

After all, even in the 21st century, people still freeze to death in some places, and there are places experiencing chronic famine. Not to mention the difference of more than a hundred years, spanning three eras: steam, electricity, and information.

Although Wang Yan had developed fertilizers, summarized planting experience, and cultivated superior seeds long ago, he had only been able to cultivate crops in his own territory. The only land he could cultivate was the Sichuan Basin and the Guanzhong Plain, and the grain produced was not enough to feed the people in those territories, let alone now that the whole country was interconnected. Droughts, floods, and plagues had not yet subsided.

Wang Yan has also restructured agriculture, and in addition to the original Central Plains region, he has begun to develop the Northeast region. The Qing government had previously carried out immigration, but later restricted it for a period of time. However, due to the previous war and famine in Shandong, many people ventured to the Northeast.

He was even more straightforward, sending the refugees directly to the Northeast to reclaim wasteland. They could keep as much land as they wanted without paying taxes.

However, it is still in its early stages; the cultivated land is insufficient, the supply of fertilizer is inadequate, and the food shortage remains significant. Since internal resources are insufficient, external resources must be sought.

But this leads to today's large-scale meeting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The foreign devils have disgustingly restricted China's maritime trade. If we want to go abroad to purchase food or trade other goods, we have to rely on luck to go to sea.

After all, although the ocean is vast, the safe shipping routes are basically fixed, and Wang Yan currently does not have the ability to sail far out to sea. Even when trading in Southeast Asia, the destinations are fixed.

That's all foreign territory. They've been scrambling to acquire land for two hundred years. It's like waiting for a rabbit to run into a tree stump...

Of course, the domestic merchant caravans that went overseas were not organized by Wang Yan; they were merchants who spontaneously went out to transport grain back to buy favorability.

Problems keep arising, so of course they need to be addressed. It's not that Wang Yan is incompetent; it's just that feedback takes time, which led to today's threatening and intimidating foreign affairs meeting.

Fortunately, the outcome was good; they all agreed to the demands, reluctantly accepting the situation and swallowing the bitter pill.

After all, China's market is indeed huge, capable of absorbing a lot of goods, and it also has a considerable number of domestically produced goods that are very popular in the Western world, such as tea, silk, and porcelain, which are quite high-end...

"The foreigners basically agreed to all our demands and signed new trade treaties with representatives of 26 countries. At the same time, they also provided a new interpretation of the treaties signed by the Qing Dynasty, which the foreigners accepted and recognized."

Upon hearing Li Wantang's report, Wang Yan nodded with a smile: "Well done."

"Sir, what's the status of our warships?"

"It will take another two years. Building warships is quite difficult, and it's not certain that we'll be able to do it in two years. Besides, by then we'll only have one warship. Even if it's good, we won't be able to defeat them when they gang up on us. We can only stay in our coastal waters and rely on the cover of artillery fire from the shore to gain a foothold. Otherwise, they can concentrate their fire and sink our warship."

"Then we really have to go on a long expedition," Li Wantang said, his voice filled with murderous intent.

"In the short term, an expedition is ultimately a joke; the cost is too high, and this war would be a pure loss. However, we must have corresponding measures, otherwise, their ironclad warships can come and go freely at sea, and they can rob us whenever they want. What kind of situation is that?"

Without turning his head, Wang Yan raised his voice, "Pang Qingyun is back, isn't he?"

An official from the office responded from behind, saying that Pang Qingyun would enter the city the next morning.

So Wang Yan reserved dinner time for tomorrow night to have with Pang Qingyun...

"Is the old man about to deploy troops?"

"Twenty thousand li is too far, two thousand li is not a problem. Our land is too big, and there are many problems everywhere. We can't solve anything by talking. Look, this time Pang Qingyun went around the coast and came back. Putting aside the foreigners, the local big families are very honest. I heard they are all spending money to support the army. Our officials who are sent there will also be easier to do their jobs."

Wang Yan briefly revealed his thoughts, then asked with a smile, "I heard from Zixuan that quite a few prisoners have returned from the Northeast recently. Have you noticed?"

With the Qing Dynasty gone, the old laws no longer applied to those who had broken the law. In fact, this was a rather serious problem. During the upheavals, many prisoners paid their way out, not to mention those exiled to the Northeast.

"To be honest, sir, I sent people to the Northeast a long time ago. But things changed too quickly. The prisoners there all rebelled and then scattered. We can't find them now."

Li Wantang spoke with a wry smile, then suddenly realized that Wang Yan wouldn't have brought up this topic with him if there hadn't been definite information.

"Sir, could it be..."

"He's under Zixuan's command, currently helping to track down remnants of the Qing Dynasty."

Li Wantang stood there dumbfounded...

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　　(End of this chapter)