1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 1776 Sincere thanks
Even though he knew that Haihan had the attitude of not letting the rabbits see the rabbits and not sending the eagles, and insisted on waiting for North Korea to agree to pay before sending troops, Li Xi could only pretend not to know, and offered to use economic compensation to appease and motivate the North Korean army The Haihan Army.It's just that Li Xi was not sure how much he should pay, so he could only call out the price of 1000 taels of gold tremblingly according to his prediction in advance, saying that the North Korean country would like to offer this as a reward to anyone willing to send troops to aid North Korea. Haihan troops.

After Li Xi made the bid, seeing Yan Chujie's expressionless face, his heart skipped a beat, thinking something was wrong.The Haihan country is rich and powerful, and a thousand taels of gold is certainly not a small amount for its own country, but for these high-sighted Haihan officials, it may not be enough to impress them.

Sure enough, Yan Chujie put down the teacup in his hand, coughed dryly, and said, "Master Li has intentions, but... our army only pledges allegiance to the Executive Committee, and it also obeys the orders of the Executive Committee when performing combat missions overseas. If such a bounty is made, then this matter will change the taste."

Li Xi was stunned for about two seconds, then immediately nodded in response: "The chief is right, but the wording of the subordinates is wrong! This is not a bounty, but a little gift from our country for your country's military assistance."

Yan Chujie expressed his embarrassment: "I can understand your country's difficulties, but if your country's gratitude is only this thing, I'm afraid my generals will mistakenly think that North Korea is deliberately humiliating our country, which will affect both countries. The relationship between the two countries and the fighting enthusiasm of the soldiers."

Li Xixin felt that the money was too little to be so high-sounding by you. He deserved to be a big shot in the executive committee with profound skills, so he had to be convinced.But now that people are required to do things, Li Xi dare not withdraw the conditions given, so he can only increase the price until Yan Chujie is satisfied.

Li Xi tentatively asked cautiously: "How much does the chief think is more appropriate?"

Yan Chujie waved his hands and said, "As Master Li said, this is a thank you gift from your country. The most important thing is sincerity, not the amount. Master Li can handle it himself."

Li Xi was so angry that his teeth were itching, but he still had to deal with Yan Chujie's deliberate embarrassment patiently. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then... 2000 taels of gold! I hope the chief will be considerate of our country. I really can't offer any more thanks! "

This number has actually exceeded Yan Chujie's expectations by a large margin, but it can also be seen that the North Koreans are really anxious about this matter, and they are so proactive even in paying the protection fee.If it is squeezed again, there may still be a little room for improvement, but if this method is used to the extreme, it may really hurt the relationship between the two countries. It is possible but not necessary, and Yan Chujie does not intend to do so.

"It's good if you want it, don't force it!" Yan Chujie accepted it when he saw it, and pretended to comfort Li Xi: "After the thank you gift from your country arrives, I think our soldiers will not have any complaints about going out."

Li Xi heard that Yan Chujie was still emphasizing the need to receive the money first, so he quickly explained: "The official left in a hurry when he went south, and he didn't bring so much money with him. At this time, he can only write a document to your country first. After that, transfer gold from the treasury as soon as possible!"

Of course, the money around Li Xi couldn't be as large as 2000 taels of gold. After the cowhide was blown out, he could only pay the IOU first.If it is an ordinary diplomat, this kind of promise may not be recognized and trusted by Haihan, but Li Xi's status is a little special. He is a member of the royal family of North Korea, and he can directly represent the attitude of the king of North Korea. Naturally, the condition also represents the North Korean country, which Yan Chujie agrees with.

"North Korea and our country are allies of each other, and it is reasonable to help each other in times of crisis, Lord Li, don't pay too much attention to such details." Yan Chujie comforted: "We are all from our own family, so there is no need to talk about each other. "

The attitude shown by Yan Chujie at this time made Li Xi unable to help but have the illusion that it was actually another person who had repeatedly hinted that he would exchange money for aid in the previous conversation.But he didn't dare to take Yan Chujie's polite words seriously anymore, and immediately responded: "Please wait a moment, sir, I will write down what I just mentioned, and please bring this document when your navy goes north." , to the king of our country."

Li Xi was afraid that the night would be long and dreamy, so he quickly spread paper and ink to write the IOU.Yan Chujie was polite, but he didn't really stop him, so he let him finish the paperwork.

After Li Xi finished writing, when the ink was slightly dry, he immediately offered it to Yan Chujie with both hands for him to review it.By now, Li Xi knew very well that if he didn't complete the previous procedures, he wouldn't expect Haihan to send troops to rescue North Korea in a short time.The longer this matter drags on, the more dangerous North Korea's situation will be, so he must get the Haihan Executive Committee and the military as soon as possible, so that he can hope to save the crisis before the Qing army attacks.

This task is not easy for Li Xi. Although he has been dealing with Haihan people for several months, he does not have any high-level contacts in Sanya. He can only test the senior officials of Haihan bit by bit. Attitude, try to persuade them to send troops to North Korea.But judging from the final results, the cooperation between the two countries is ultimately based on pure interests. If North Korea wants to obtain military aid from Haihan, it must show enough benefits to impress Haihan.

However, Li Xi didn't feel any resentment about this. After all, Haihan Kingdom and North Korea had just formed an alliance last year, and they had no obligation to send troops to fight for North Korea, let alone bear these additional military expenditures for North Korea.Haihan can even find any reason to refuse his request for help, and being able to offer conditions to North Korea is already considered a concession.Although this is a very helpless choice for North Korea, as long as Haihan sends troops to deter the Qing army and keep North Korea safe, let alone 2000 taels of gold, even if the price is higher, Li Xi will grit his teeth and agree first Come down and talk.

As for whether such an arbitrary decision would make the king furious, Li Xi could not care so much now. If Haihan didn't send troops in time to let the Qing army invade North Korea, the wealth in the national treasury would sooner or later benefit the enemy.As the saying goes, whichever is the lesser of two evils, sooner or later you have to sacrifice your money to save your life, so the most sensible choice is of course to give priority to using this money to win over allies and fight against enemies.He would not be too nervous if the king held him accountable because of this incident afterwards. After all, it was Haihan who was going to collect the money. Haihan in turn became his shield.

All Li Xi's efforts are to get Haihan to send troops to protect North Korea as soon as possible, but he has to say that his expectations for Haihan are a bit too high.Although Haihan's battlefield in the Liaodong Peninsula had severely injured the Jin people several times in the past two years, in fact, they could only maintain the control area in a narrow area at the southern end of the Liaodong Peninsula, and did not try to advance the actual control line northward.The military forces deployed by Haihan in Liaodong and Shandong are not enough to support military operations on a larger scale, and sticking to the existing control area is basically the limit.

And Haihan moved the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town from Pidao back to Jinzhou for resettlement. On the one hand, it was to use these populations to develop the occupied area. On the other hand, it was also because Pidao was too far away from Jinzhou. It provides timely reinforcements.As for North Korea, from the moment Haihan moved the soldiers and civilians of Dongjiang Town away, he has actually given up the possibility of providing comprehensive protection to North Korea to a certain extent.

It's just that the North Koreans themselves came too late to realize this crisis. They really thought that it was because Haihan wanted to transfer some troops to the south to change defenses, so they wanted to shrink the defensive circle in this way.When they realized that their country had been completely exposed to fierce enemies, and that the iron cavalry from the north might step over the border at any time, it was already too late to suggest to Haihan to garrison troops.

Li Xi tried his best in Sanya, which was actually a remedy for the dead, but the effect might not be as he imagined. As long as the Haihan army arrived in the northeast in time, it would be able to successfully stop the Qing army from invading.In fact, Haihan didn't intend to take North Korea as his home field and stop the Qing army on the frontal battlefield.However, no one will explain this kind of problem to him in advance. How the Haihan Army will behave in Liaodong at that time is not something that North Korea can dictate.

Yan Chujie took the documents from Li Xi, sent them out the door with his gratitude, and then returned to Victory Fort in a carriage, reporting what he had gained to his colleagues in the executive committee.

"2000 taels of gold? The North Koreans still have a lot of money!" Tao Donglai sighed at Li Xi's bid: "This is equivalent to the output of the Jinguashi gold mine for two or three years!"

The only gold mine currently being mined in the area under the Haihan rule is the Jinguashi gold mine located near Jilonggang on Taiwan Island. At that time, Haihan sent troops to drive the Spanish colonists out of this area, and one of the purposes was to occupy this gold mine. veins.However, gold mining is not comparable to other minerals. Even if Haihan is operating, the output is not much higher.

Of course, the gold reserves of Haihan's treasury don't just come from this place. In addition to trade income, a lot of gold has been confiscated into the treasury as reserves among the wealth looted by Haihan's foreign wars over the years.Even the gold snatched from the outside far exceeds that obtained through gold mining.After capturing the city of Manila at the beginning of this year, Haihan looted more than 200 kilograms of gold artifacts in the city, which is a real fortune.

But the "thank you gift" promised by Li Xi, even the rich and powerful Hai Han dare not underestimate it.Schneider smiled next to him and said: "It seems that the North Koreans are really anxious. If this money is recovered, it should be enough for the military expenditure to send troops to Liaodong this year!"

However, Yan Chujie still refused to let go: "The money is still on paper. It is still a matter of whether we can receive it or not. When our fleet has rushed over and the Qing army has not taken action, the North Koreans may not be willing to give the gold. We It is a little doubtful whether the North Korean state treasury can still get this money."

Of course, Schneider understood that the reason why Yan Chujie didn't let go was because he didn't want the money to be confiscated by the Ministry of Finance before it was handled, so he immediately persuaded: "Old Yan, when the time comes to receive the gold, the Ministry of Finance will also send someone to verify it. This is the rule, don't think about it if you have any small thoughts."

Yan Chujie glared and said, "Of course I understand the rules when gold enters the treasury, but the money was won by the military. The God of Wealth must allocate a temporary military budget for us to set off, right?"

Schneider glanced sideways at Tao Donglai, saw the other party nodded slightly, and then responded to Yan Chujie's request: "That's all right, it can be regarded as an advance payment for the next year's military expenses, and when you bring the gold back into the treasury, we will pay for it later." This part of the military subsidy will be reimbursed to the Ministry of National Defense.”

Yan Chujie is not very interested in these financial procedures, as long as Schneider is willing to pay, then everything will be fine.Although Yan Chujie's conditions for the North Koreans were a rip-off, from another perspective, how much movement the Haihan Army can make this time, is also affected by the military budget to a certain extent.If the funds are really sufficient, then the Ministry of National Defense may not be unable to arrange some big moves.

Yan Chujie has already started to think in his heart, with this sudden military expenditure, besides Wang Tom's Northern Fleet and Marine Corps, is there room for other means to be used.

At present, Haihan's strongest combat force, Qian Tiandun's independent regiment is also resting in Sanya, and it is basically fully equipped. If you really want to mobilize this army, it is not impossible.It's just that Qian Tiandun had already reported to the Ministry of National Defense before the Battle of Manila, hoping to change the garrison to a slightly southerly place in the future.After all, the team of his army is mainly composed of southern soldiers. They are stationed in the cold Liaodong area all the year round, which will actually have a certain negative impact on the combat effectiveness of the army. It is difficult for the soldiers to get homesick through ideological work and logistical support. ease.

The most important thing is that Qian Tiandun's original idea of ​​building this army was to target the mountainous jungle environment in the south, and the tactical framework and training content he formulated were based on this, and he was later sent to the north, in Liaodong. Acting as the main force on the frontal battlefield in the icy and snowy world, it really feels like rushing ducks to the shelves.Now that he has been in the north for more than two years, it is reasonable for Qian Tiandun to request that the troops be stationed back to the south.

The Ministry of National Defense had already agreed to this request, but judging from the current situation, it seemed that only Qian Tiandun's troops could handle the urgent mission in the north.

But where is Qian Tiandun, Yan Chujie suddenly realized that this is a problem.Qian Tiandun was on vacation after the military parade, so it might not be possible to find him right away if he is looking for him at this time.Yan Chujie hurried out of the conference room and asked his adjutant to try to contact Qian Tiandun.Whether the independent group is willing to take this job, they have to talk to Qian Tiandun before they know.How the situation in North Korea will develop next may depend to a certain extent on Qian Tiandun's attitude.

(End of this chapter)