1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1520 Three Kingdoms Alliance
The alliance proposed by Haihan is actually a relatively general topic, which includes several different aspects such as establishing diplomatic relations, opening up business and immigration, and concluding military alliances.Among them, it is relatively easy to reach a consensus, and it is probably the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Even if Haihan did not resort to coercion and inducement, North Korea actually did not have much resistance to establishing diplomatic relations with him.Just follow the normal process, and it may take a long time for diplomatic exchanges as a foreshadowing, and it will never be as embarrassing as it is now.Issues such as commercial immigration are simple in the eyes of North Korea. In any case, Haihan, who pays attention to business reputation, is much better than Houjin's forced buying and selling.What is really more difficult is actually the establishment of a military alliance. On the one hand, they are worried that this will call for fierce revenge from Houjin, and on the other hand, they also feel that they cannot bypass Daming, the nominal suzerain country, to negotiate with a third country. alliance.Jin Shangxian claimed that the formation of an alliance depends on Da Ming's intentions, which is not entirely an excuse.

However, Daming's acceptance of this was not as high as that of North Korea. The Haihan people occupied a lot of Daming's land in the south, and they used it to establish a country and divide the territory. This is a de facto invasion for Daming.If it wasn't for the war in the northern frontier and the Central Plains that prevented Da Ming from taking action, how could Haihan make so many small moves in the south so easily.Now that Haihan is full-fledged, he can even beat Daming on the security issue of the northern frontier at the negotiating table, but how can the Ming court easily endure this tone?
Even if Mei Shengchuan, who had received benefits from Haihan, could bear it, he was afraid that he would not be able to turn over the court after returning. After all, the authority given to him by the court did not include so many alliance conditions.He agreed to all these conditions on his own initiative, and he was very worried that he would be beaten to the end after returning.Even though Haihan had promised him many personal benefits before, he was afraid that he would lose his official status and be of no value to Daming and Haihan. Whether these so-called promises could be fulfilled would be a problem.

But Mei Shengchuan also understands that if Daming rejects this alliance invitation, it is very likely that he will lose a powerful foreign aid that can really solve the threat to the north for Daming.This is only one aspect, if Haihan bypasses Daming and wins North Korea over, then Daming is likely to lose this vassal state, and this kind of loss is also unbearable for Daming.If you write a memorial to report back to the court at this time, and wait for a result to be discussed over there, it will probably take at least half a month to go there, and the Haihan people will obviously not have such patience to wait for the capital to come up with one. A solid conclusion.

According to the deadline given by Beks, if the envoys of Ming and North Korea cannot make a final decision within three days, the alliance negotiations will be terminated.And Haihan's military operations in the Liaodong area will also be suspended, all active military plans will be cancelled, and the possibility of peace talks with Houjin will be reserved.

The last item proposed by Bai Kesi is tantamount to a trump card for the envoys of the two countries. If Haihan negotiates peace with Houjin, let alone whether there is a possibility of an alliance between the two countries, even if Haihan has some considerations, Sell ​​some obsolete weapons to Houjin, and that will be enough for the two countries.When the time comes, I will regret not being in the same camp as Hai Han, but it will be too late.

In the end, North Korea was still the first to let go. After all, this country really cannot afford to lose.The Haihan people can slap their buttocks and evacuate Liaodong at any time, and the Ming family has a great career. Even if Houjin has the upper hand on the battlefield, it is impossible to destroy this huge empire in a short while.And North Korea's military strength is weak, if Da Ming and Hai Han don't lend a helping hand, then they really can only wait to die.And a suzerain country that can no longer provide asylum to North Korea, so what is the point of retaining its existence?

After weighing the pros and cons, Jin Shangxian finally chose to compromise, expressing his willingness to refer to the proposal proposed by Haihan and conclude an alliance with Haihan.However, out of Daming's awe, Jin Shangxian did not hide this decision from Mei Shengchuan, lest the other party develop hatred.If possible, he certainly hopes to keep the traditional friendly relationship between North Korea and Ming Dynasty.

Mei Shengchuan did not feel angry because of this, he could fully understand the thoughts of the North Koreans, after all the weak would always try to seek protection from the strong.Haihan Kingdom speaks Chinese in Chinese characters, and the people are no different from the Han people in Ming Dynasty. Naturally, it will not feel too strange to North Korea, and it is more like an enhanced version of Ming Dynasty, a Han regime with strong military and economic strength. , and is also willing to help North Korea resist foreign enemies.To establish diplomatic relations with such a country is naturally easier for North Korea to accept.

And Bai Kesi, who is good at using the situation to increase the bargaining power, hit Mei Shengchuan again at this time-if Daming wants to exclude himself from this alliance, then Haihan does not guarantee that he will not use force against Daming in the future.And the logical explanation is that after the truce between Haihan and Houjin, there is still the possibility of an alliance in the future.If such a cross-regional alliance is reached, then Jin Haihan, one north and one south, can completely start to plan how to carve up Ming Dynasty.

Of course, Mei Shengchuan also realized the horror of this assumption at the first time. Although he knew that Bai Kesi's statement was very likely to be just a verbal threat, Daming could not bear this risk.The military power of Houjin and Haihan is faintly higher than that of Daming. If the north and the south go to war at the same time, then the country of Daming may really be in jeopardy.

So the choice left to Daming, from whether to form an alliance with Haihan, has become inexplicably whether to let Haihan form an alliance with Houjin.In this way, it seems much easier to weigh the pros and cons of this issue. For the benefit of Daming, Mei Shengchuan must destroy the possibility of reconciliation between Hai Han and Hou Jin no matter what.On the multiple-choice question of friend or foe, the only choice left for Daming is the former.

After two days of detailed consultations, the representatives of the three countries finally signed a memorandum of agreement on the alliance agreement in a cottage south of the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line.Although this memorandum is not a formal agreement that will finally come into effect, the content of the final agreement will generally be based on this, and the matter can be regarded as basically finalized.

The relationship between Daming and North Korea was originally the relationship between the sovereign state and the vassal state, so the description of the relationship between the two countries in this agreement did not exceed the original scope, and it was basically based on the current actual situation.The focus of the agreement is naturally the relationship between the two countries and Haihan.

The first is Daming, which will formally establish diplomatic relations with Haihan, open the trade authority of several state capitals in the coastal areas, and allow Haihan to hire Ming people to work for him in the local area—this is actually allowing Haihan to work in Daming in disguise. Immigrants are recruited in the territory, because it is not stipulated that the workplace of the employees must be in Daming territory.But it took Mei Shengchuan a lot of effort to persuade Hai Han to accept this kind of oblique expression.

This is a political and economic arrangement, but the content of military cooperation needs to be more cautious. Mei Shengchuan didn't even dare to agree to use the word "military alliance" in the agreement, but carefully used "alliance", The term "alliance" was changed to "cooperation", and the scope was only temporarily limited to Shandong and Liaodong provinces.

The reason for this is mainly because Haihan's garrison behavior in Daming is too sensitive, and the place where Daming really needs Haihan's action is actually limited to Liaodong. Under Haihan's insistence, Mei Shengchuan Reluctantly agree to add Shandong, but still limit the scope of Haihan's activities in Shandong to Fushan County, Dengzhou, and Zhifu Port can only be used as a transportation port for personnel and material turnover, and cannot be built as a military base of Haihan Navy.

Of course, both sides are very clear that the restrictions on Zhifu Port are only for the purpose of allowing Mei Shengchuan to communicate with the higher authorities after returning. There is a certain size of troops stationed there.However, after Haihan occupied Lushun, a more ice-free port in Liaodong, the Haihan military did intend to relocate some military institutions and facilities originally deployed in Zhifu Port to Lushun to facilitate the military operations on the Liaodong front. scheduling.

As for Haihan's military operations authority in the Liaodong area and the ownership of the occupied area, this agreement is more vague and vague. The Ming Dynasty gave Haihan the right to "do things cheaply" During the post-Jin war, the governance of the area could be "handed over to the local garrison".The so-called local garrison naturally refers to the Haihan army fighting in Liaodong.As for how to deal with the sovereignty of these places after the war, there is not much to mention in the agreement.Thinking about it, it should be a few years later, Mei Shengchuan didn't want to find a burden for himself so early.

In the agreement, the benefits provided by Haihan to Daming, in addition to attracting post-golden firepower in Liaodong, another important part is to sell Haihan-style weapons to Daming, including flintlock rifles, large-caliber artillery, and even possible future weapons. There will also be warships.In short, Haihan will provide Daming with a package plan for forming a firearms unit, and can provide a complete set of officer training system and tactical system according to Daming's specific requirements.Of course, training programs other than arms sales are not completely provided free of charge, and the specific price depends on the status of military cooperation between the two parties.

Mei Shengchuan understood that this was the Haihan people's defense against Daming, and he would not train officers for Daming who mastered advanced tactics of firearms warfare in vain.Unless it is the Ming army in the coastal prefectures of Fuguang and Guangxi provinces or Dongjiang Town, which has semi-openly defected to Haihan, it is possible to receive military assistance from Haihan regardless of cost.As for the direct troops loyal to the Ming court, Haihan can set a threshold on the price of military training services, making it more expensive for Ming to form a new army, thereby slowing down the speed at which they form combat power.

But even if he knew that Haihan had arranged agencies in this regard, Mei Shengchuan could only bite the bullet and reach this agreement first. After all, this was a condition he had worked so hard to obtain. If he didn't get some decent benefits back, I'm afraid The imperial court will directly treat him as a traitor.

Compared with Mei Shengchuan's simplicity, North Korean envoy Kim Sang-heon was a little more relaxed. Since Haihan had already obtained the approval of King Li Zhen before that, there was not much pressure for him to fail to pay the job after returning. .As long as there is no obvious treasonous treaty, he can be sure that His Majesty the King will be very pleased to hear that Haihan will provide all-round military assistance to North Korea.

As for trade and immigration, Kim Sang-heon believes that these issues are easy to solve, and North Korea will also have significant economic benefits. He does not think that this will pose any substantial threat to North Korea's security.After all, in this era, very few people realize the dire consequences that an invasion of foreign capital backed by force would have on a country.

According to the content of the agreement, North Korea will provide a large amount of food, grass and military supplies to Haihan's troops stationed in Liaodong, and send civilians into Liaodong to assist Haihan in the development and construction of the occupied area.However, in order to protect the safety of the North Korean people, Kim Sang-heon specifically requested that civilian husbands who went to Liaodong should not be assigned to work on the front line, but could only be engaged in infrastructure tasks in the rear.

But Beks didn't express any objection to this, and he didn't trust the North Koreans who were never reliable in their work. In addition, the front-line projects often involved military secrets. He would rather leave this kind of task to the civilians in Dongjiang Town. I also don't want the North Koreans to have access to the deployment of the Haihan Army on the front line.

However, for Kim Sang-heon's cooperation, Beks still gave a very high evaluation, saying that Kim Sang-heon's negotiation task "should be recorded in the Korean history books", and said that he would ask for Kim Sang-heon in a personal letter to the King of Korea later. achievement.This statement made Kim Sang-heon very grateful, and he couldn't help wondering whether he should give in to Haihan's request that the navy be able to freely enter and leave North Korea's coastal waters.

In fact, the current negotiation results are better than Beks and others expected. At least Beks is prepared that neither of the two countries is willing to conclude an alliance in the end.But no matter how tortuous the process was, the three parties finally reached a consensus under the pressure provided by Hou Jin, a common opponent.Later generations will also refer to the secret tripartite meeting held in Liaodong in June 1636 as an important turning point that affected the international situation in Northeast Asia.

Beks, as the final decision maker of this negotiation, naturally deserves the greatest credit.After the victory telegram arrived at Fort Victory, the executive committee also gave a very high evaluation of the result of this negotiation.Especially the official establishment of diplomatic relations with Ming Dynasty can be regarded as the top political event since the founding of Haihan Kingdom. Many people have been working silently for this goal, and now their wish has finally been fulfilled.

(End of this chapter)