1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2301
The study abroad team headed by Li Yan only has a few dozen people, and there are only a dozen officers among them. But even if they return to North Korea, they have no military power in their hands, and it is difficult to mobilize troops to restore order in a short time. .Moreover, they have been away from North Korea for a year, and they know almost nothing about the domestic military and political changes. It is even difficult to make a clear decision on whom to trust and who to guard against.

With such strength, it is naturally difficult to stage a drama of returning thousands of miles away to arm the king, so whether it is Li Yan or his subordinate An Daoshi and others, after receiving the news, they all have a clear understanding, that is, to calm down In the chaos in the country, it may be difficult to achieve success only by our own group of people, and ultimately we must rely on Haihan's intervention.

Li Yan believes that no matter whether there is a palace coup or other disturbances in the country, anyone who wants to replace his father and king may not be able to get around Haihan.If he fails to gain Haihan's approval and support, even if he launches a coup, he will not be able to sit firmly on the throne.

This is actually very similar to the situation in North Korea in the past 200 years. Even if the new ruler has mastered the military and political power, he must be recognized and canonized by the suzerain country Daming before he can sit on the throne in a legitimate way.More than ten years ago, Li Zhen launched a palace coup to win the throne, and he was not recognized by Ming Dynasty at first. It was not until two years later that he finally obtained the official canonization of Ming Dynasty and officially became the king of Joseon.

Now that North Korea has basically broken away from the control of Daming, and is subtly attached to Haihan, a rising power, if someone wants to replace Li Ji's dominance through abnormal means, then he must win Haihan's approval.

Li Yan believes that Haihan has not made a clear choice on relevant issues so far, otherwise the official attitude would not be so vague, and did not express support for Li Yi's succession to the throne, but only sent warships and armed forces to escort He returns to North Korea.

This is not bad news for Li Yi, at least it shows that the regime change approved by Haihan has not been completed in China, otherwise there is no need to send him back to China.But this is not good news. You must know that just over a month ago, he also represented North Korea in the international military competition held by Haihan, and he was the heir to the throne recognized by the Haihan Executive Committee.

Now that Haihan's official attitude has undergone a subtle change, Li Yi feels that the other party is still watching the situation in North Korea, and is unwilling to bet all the chips on him too early.Facing the current unfavorable situation, how to win as much support as possible from Hai Han is probably the problem that he must solve as soon as possible on the way back to China.

So even though he was not in the mood to deal with local officials like You Yihan who were far away from North Korea on the way home, he still met and talked with him patiently, hoping to leave a calm and stable impression on the Haihan people. All of them may become a weight in favor of Haihan people when weighing the pros and cons.

But what makes Li Yi feel a little regretful is that officials like You Yihan who are stationed in Haihan's overseas colonies, because they are far away from the power center of Haihan, do not have more information than themselves, and they are civil servants who only understand politics. It's hard to get valuable information from him.

Li Yi also noticed the strict security measures when he arrived in Hong Kong, and even temporarily blocked the port for this reason.According to You Yihan, this is a request from the Executive Committee. It seems that Haihan thinks that he may be in danger on the way home, which is also a bad signal.

Also aware of this is his subordinate An Daoshi.As a military elite who can be selected to study in Haihan, An Daoshi certainly understands what the security measures in Hong Kong mean.The same measure did not happen when Li Yan went south last year. It is very likely that Haihan had already realized the risks that Li Yan would face on his way back to China, so he made such an arrangement in advance.

Although An Daoshi is not very clear about the power disputes in the country, he also knows that the son he is loyal to is the future king of Joseon. If something happens to the son, he will never want to have glory and wealth again.Therefore, no matter what the current situation in the country is, we must first protect Li Yan's safety and ensure that he returns to the country safely, so that there is hope of quelling the civil strife.

At present, there is no news of the king and Li Yi's two brothers. If the king is gone, then Li Yi will become the new king in de jure. They can't run away.

So the current turmoil in the country is certainly not a good thing for the country, but for people like An Daoshi, it may not be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get ahead.

However, whether this is an opportunity or a crisis, due to the lack of information so far, it is difficult to make a conclusion for a while, and all An Daoshi can do is to try his best to protect Li Yi's Zhouquan on the way, and don't let him return to China. Something happened before.

Fortunately, there are Haihan warships escorting them along the way, and they will only stop at ports controlled by Haihan for rest and supplies on the way. There are not many opportunities for outsiders to come into contact with Li Yi. Andorite only needs to strengthen security measures during the port of call That's fine.Moreover, according to You Yihan, the ports to be called later should also adopt strict security measures similar to those in Hong Kong. Wherever Li Yan goes, the Haihan army will be dispatched to provide protection, and there will be no security loopholes.

Soon after departing from Hong Kong, An Daoshi was summoned by Li Yan.He arranged the security measures on the ship in twos and threes, and then rushed to the cabin where Li Xi lived.

When An Daoshi entered the cabin, he found that besides Li Yan, there was another civil servant present.Among the people who accompanied Li Xuan to study in Sanya last year, in addition to more than a dozen military officers headed by An Daoshi, there were also several civil servants, and Park Hongye in front of him was one of them.

An Daoshi has been training in the army since he arrived in Sanya, so his friendship with Mr. Park is limited to a few times during the voyage southward from North Korea, and they are not very familiar with each other.However, he had heard that Pu Hongye and Li Yan had studied under the same great Confucianism, so they could be regarded as brothers. Therefore, he was quite trusted by Li Yan, and there was a faint sense of leadership among this group of civil servants studying abroad.

On the way back to the country this time, Park Hongye has always been by Li Yan's side, advising him, and it seems that he has become a think tank that Li Yan relies heavily on.

"The two of you are summoned to hear your views on the current situation and what we should do next. You don't have to be shy, you can speak freely." Li Yan explained the reason for summoning them succinctly.

An Daoshi took the lead in responding: "Senior, although the domestic situation is still unclear, I feel that the situation has not completely deteriorated, and Haihan provided guards all the way, which shows how much they attach importance to the safety of the prince. Maybe we will arrive at the next port. Then we can get the latest domestic news, and then it will not be too late to plan the next actions.”

"Lieutenant An is right... Hongye, what do you think?" After listening to An Daoshi's opinion, Li Yan turned to ask Pu Hongye for his opinion.

Park Hongye replied: "Your Majesty, the view of humble positions is slightly different from Mr. An's."

"Oh? Tell me about it!" Li Yan responded.

Park Hongye said: "There is chaos in the country, and the situation is unclear. If the Haihan people think that the prince is in danger, it means that those who cause domestic chaos may send people overseas to assassinate the prince in order to seize power. There are not many people with such ability, and they will do so. No matter whether it is successful or not, it will definitely anger Hai Han. As we all know, Hai Han always takes revenge on provocations, and doing so will actually do more harm than good to the troublemakers. Therefore, I believe that Hai Han has taken strict security measures, in addition to protecting the safety of the prince. In addition, there may be other purposes."

Park Hongye paused at this point, seeing that Li Yan did not refute his intentions, he continued: "During our stay in Hong Kong, except for the Haihan official, it can be said that we have no chance to contact outsiders, and all of us The information that can be obtained is all provided by Mr. You. This makes Beizhi wonder whether Haihan is really worried about the safety of his son."

Li Yan frowned slightly and said: "You mean, Haihan is providing protection under the pretext, but in fact he wants to cut off our connection with the outside world?"

Park Hongye nodded and said: "My son, we only stop at the port controlled by Haihan on the way. This is for safety reasons, but in this way, isn't it equivalent to being isolated from the world? Even if the domestic chaos is real If the Haihan people don’t provide us with relevant news, we won’t be able to get news through other channels.”

An Daoshi obviously didn't agree with this statement, he shook his head and said, "What good will this do for the Haihan people?"

Park Hongye said: "Haihan requires us to obey the arrangements of current affairs, and then control the news channels so that we cannot know what is happening outside and have no way to send information to the outside, then we will completely become a part of Haihan's hands." It's a chess piece, they can put us anywhere they want, which is not a good thing."

Li Yan said thoughtfully: "Chess pieces...sometimes are used for sacrifice!"

Since Tom Wang strongly invited Li Yi to study in North Korea last year, Li Yi has always received extremely high courtesy in contact with the Haihan people, and basically all the requirements he raised have been met, and he can't fault it. What's wrong.However, after this accident, the return trip arranged by Hai Han did seem a bit strange. Now that he listened to Park Hongye's opinion and compared with Hai Han's approach, he really felt something was wrong.

An Daoshi said: "My son, now that the domestic chaos is still uncertain, and there is no news from your Majesty, then after you return to the country, you can take over the power in the name of your son and quell the civil strife. It is undoubtedly the safest choice to support you at this time. Do you understand that?"

Li Yan shook his head slightly and said: "Lieutenant An, you still don't understand. The information we know now is provided by the Haihan people. The actual situation in the country is also the words of the Haihan family. We have no way of verifying the truth. Since even If we don’t know whether it’s true or not, how can we judge their real purpose?”

Andaoshi opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond to Li Yan's statement.In fact, he didn't think that the Hai Han people would harm Li Yi, but after hearing what Park Hongye said, he couldn't refute it for a while.

Andao Shi was not a person who was good at debating, so he hesitated for a long while, and finally choked out a sentence: "If we don't rely on Haihan, how can we go back to the country to quell the chaos?"

The question raised by An Daoshi is obviously more powerful. Li Yan and Park Hongye looked at each other, but were also unable to respond.

The only people Li Yan can use now are the dozens of people on the ship. It is not known whether he will be able to use other people after returning to China.Maybe when they rush back to the country, the new king has already ascended the throne, and then they will still be willing to stand up and speak for him, a ruined son?Once the emperor and the courtiers, even if they have the heart, they may not be able to have the courage.

The history of North Korea in the past few hundred years has been connected by continuous coups. Whether it is members of the royal family, ministers, officials, or ordinary people, they are all used to it. In the future, there will be no killings and cleansing, so theoretically there is also the possibility that the rebels have quickly ascended to power and seized the kingship after overthrowing Li Zhen's rule.

In a situation that is not conducive to Li Yan and Li Yan's father and son, the only force that can be relied on is Hai Han.Li Yan himself is very aware of this, but he was a little shaken after listening to Park Hongye's words just now, but An Daoshi's words once again drew his attention back to his own situation, and now he has no other options It can be given to him to choose. If he does not cooperate with the Haihan people, let alone return to the country to quell the chaos, whether he can return to the country safely is another matter.

Thinking of this, Li Yan has actually weighed the priorities, sighed and said: "Lieutenant An is right... Hongye, even if the Haihan people have other plans for me, there is no room for bargaining with them now. Except We have no other way to cooperate. For the current plan, we can only think about things in a good direction. Haihan has invested a lot of resources in our country. If the country is in chaos, it will also cause great losses to them. I think the consistent approach of the Haihan people must be to put interests first and ensure the peace of our country."

Park Hongye said: "I hope it will be as expected by the son. An Xiaowei should also step up his protection of the son. Don't rely on the Haihan people."

An Daoshi replied in a deep voice: "I will swear to the death to protect the safety of my son!"

Li Yan nodded and said: "I have always seen the loyalty of Captain An. After I return to the country and gather the military power, I will promote you so that you can have a greater use of your talents!"

"Thank you, son!" An Daoshi understood that Li Yan was drawing a big cake for himself. Although he didn't know when he could eat it, but with such a big cake hanging in front of him, it would always give him some motivation.Having said that, the only people Li Yan can use at the moment are those on board, if you don't trust them, who can you trust?
(End of this chapter)