The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 548 Incompetence and Powerlessness
Spring of the fourteenth year of the Yongtai reign.

The anti-drug campaign, spearheaded by the imperial court, officially began on the second day of the second lunar month.

Where have the simple and honest people from within the Great Wall ever seen such a firsthand account?

The foreigners who were experiencing obvious withdrawal symptoms, their emaciated figures, and their frantic cravings for drugs truly frightened us.

Listen carefully to the introductions from my colleagues, Guan Jun and others.

Good guy!
The painkiller Aphrodisiac, which has been used for thousands of years, is actually a hidden poison!
What good could tobacco soaked in this poison possibly be?

The people were in an uproar:

"Good heavens! Those foreigners are too insidious! We absolutely cannot let them come to the interior of China and wreak havoc on us!"

"Foreigners are malicious, and the goods they make are no good either! Who knows what poisons are hidden in those glass, mirrors, and clocks?"

"Yes, yes, yes! What good things don't we have now? I think the mirrors, glassware, and clocks made in the workshops in Kansai are much better than foreign goods."

For a time, foreign goods were ignored by the public.

The merchants from Jiangnan were in a panic.

last of the last.

They even smeared the foreign characters on the product to pretend it was produced in a Kansai workshop, and managed to sell it at a price that was half the purchase price.

Of course, these are all for later.

Just as the foreigners were being displayed everywhere and their reputation was at its worst, Emperor Qianwu, citing the European barbarians' continued ambition to destroy the Han Dynasty, once again sent an additional 100,000 troops north of the snow-capped mountains.

The Beiting Protectorate was newly established near Antai Mountain.

This Protectorate, along with the Anxi Protectorate and the Guanzhong Protectorate, was subordinate to the Western Regions Grand Protectorate.

The bearded commander of the Imperial Guards transformed himself into the first Protector-General of Beiting.

at the same time.

The Beiting Protectorate took into account the previous immigration policies of the Guanzhong Plain and emigrated 500,000 people from within the pass to the territory (including military dependents).

With this labor force, the Beiting Protectorate reclaimed 10,000 mu of wasteland in late spring and planted early-maturing, high-sweet beets that Gan Minglan had secretly improved with her wood-based supernatural abilities.

While growing vegetables, the Beiting Protectorate also built five sizable sugar mills.

The decision to entrust the Beiting Protectorate and the sugar beet production project to the bearded leader was the result of Emperor Qianwu's careful consideration.

In terms of loyalty, no one can compare to the few personal guards who grew up with Emperor Qianwu.

Especially the big beard.

This person's family has been loyal to the Ningyang Marquis's mansion for seven generations.

of course.

Gan Minglan was quite satisfied with the newly established Beiting Protectorate and its leader.

They are all old acquaintances.

The bearded man is ruthless and doesn't talk much.

All his military achievements were earned through hard work and dedication.

His presence in guarding Beiting was like adding a safety net to the northern border of the Western Regions.

The Beiting Protectorate was located at the border of the three kingdoms, only a thousand miles away from Weilumu.

Half of the asphalt road has been completed, and the rest will be finished this year.

With the wide and straight highway, the fastest journey from Guanzhong to Beiting Protectorate took only seven or eight days. With the addition of 100,000 Guanzhong troops and 500,000 immigrants, Beiting Protectorate, which consisted of only a few dozen nomadic tribes, changed every day.

Meanwhile, Europe was in an uproar.

The first wave of foreign merchants has already returned to their countries.

What they saw and heard in Bagua City quickly spread within their circle.

After all, only a portion of the businessmen are involved in the tobacco trade.

The nobles behind these merchants from the Netherlands, Portugal, Great Britain, and France could no longer sit still.

The addiction to nicotine developed from smoking ginseng is much slower than that developed from opium.

They intended to boil the frog slowly.

They also plan to take eight to ten years to gradually capture the Southeast Asian market.

Now that the mystery has been so openly revealed by the Han Chinese from the East, what should be done about the large amount of opium they planted in the colonies?

"This Yongtai Dynasty is located inland, so it has no advantage in amphibious landing operations. How about a land offensive?"

The traveling merchants immediately began describing their experiences to the dignitaries.

"The journey is too long! How much food and supplies will be needed for an expedition that lasts more than half a year?"

"The checkpoints and outposts along the way are fortified with high walls and strong artillery. The local garrison numbers 300,000, and the population exceeds four million. Their horse farms house 100,000 warhorses capable of long-distance raids, as well as tens of thousands of camels."

"It is no exaggeration to say that the strength of the Kansai garrison could sweep across the whole of Europe."

The powerful and wealthy: "."

Three hundred thousand troops stationed there?

This level of skill is truly unmatched!
At its peak, the Ozman Empire didn't have this many people in its entire army.

"But if this news is allowed to spread, will the King of Nanyue also boycott Wuxiang medicinal smoke?"

"This is inevitable!"

In fact, the king of Nanyue had already received confirmation when their conspiracy was exposed last year.

At first, they were all quite startled.

Their imperial physicians also conducted various tests on the poison and explained its toxicity from a medical perspective.

The results of it?
Despite the king of Nanyue issuing a series of orders to ban smoking and drugs, the opium dens in the area remained popular.

It turned out that the wealthy merchants along the coast had been smoking black sesame tobacco for over ten years and couldn't live without it.

Quitting smoking is like taking their lives!

Moreover, the several maritime merchants of the Southern Yue Kingdom were actually front men for the powerful and wealthy of the Southern Yue Kingdom.

In fact, the ruler of the Southern Yue Kingdom himself held a stake in it.

Tell me, how should this detoxification order be carried out?

Despite knowing the drugs were toxic, they were powerless to stop them. Six months later, the drug market in the Southern Yue Kingdom was still spreading.

The above is the current situation of the Nanyue Kingdom.

The intelligence organizations of the three kingdoms of Beiyou, Nanyue, and Yongtai were mutually infiltrated.

Emperor Qianwu was deeply worried after learning about the situation in the country, fearing that the drugs along the border between the two countries could not be truly isolated.

There seems to be nothing that can be done except to increase the penalties for drug trafficking.