1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2303
From Magong Port, Penghu to the next stop, Dinghai Port, Zhoushan, there is still a voyage of more than [-] miles.According to Li Yan's wishes, he even wanted to skip the arrangement of these stops on the way and go back to China directly.However, the voyage was arranged by Haihan, and it is said that it fully considered the possible risks at sea, so Li Yi and his party were not allowed to return directly to Seoul.

Although Li Yan was eager to return to China earlier, he did not dare to disobey Haihan's arrangement. He even wondered whether Haihan planned such a voyage intentionally to delay his return to China so that he could survive the chaos in North Korea. seek greater benefits in the bureau.

Of course, he didn't dare to say these thoughts, let alone question them face to face, even with his subordinates, he didn't dare to express such thoughts clearly. into an unmanageable situation.

So even though he was quite dissatisfied with Hai Han's attitude, Li Yan didn't dare to express it.Now he only hoped that his suggestion to Yu Yao would be quickly responded by the Haihan executive committee, and he could exchange it for Haihan's military support.

But Zhoushan was already the last stop on the way. If Hai Han's support could not be won, then even if Li Yan returned to North Korea smoothly, it would be difficult for him to have the confidence to quell the chaos in the country.

Zhoushan is one of the areas with the highest income in the overseas colonial areas currently controlled by Haihan. Because it is adjacent to the rich and prosperous Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the import and export trade is very prosperous, and the income brought to Haihan every year can be as high as millions of taels of silver. maintained an upward trend year by year.It is precisely because of such a good business situation that the governor of the Zhoushan Colonial Area, Shi Diwen, has won the trust of the Executive Committee. Since the occupation of Zhoushan five years ago, he has been in charge of the military and political power here. Zhoushan's days as the boss will continue for a long time.

As far as Zhoushan's current trade situation is concerned, the most important trade partner is of course Daming, followed by Ryukyu, Japan, Korea and other East Asian countries and businessmen from the West.North Korea's share in it is extremely small and basically insignificant, so it has always received little attention from the Zhoushan authorities.

However, after Haihan sent troops to North Korea last year, North Korea immediately agreed to the trading conditions proposed by Haihan, which made the trade situation begin to improve, and the number of North Korean merchant ships coming to Dinghai Port gradually began to increase.

When Li Yan went south via Zhoushan last year, there were already some bold and visionary North Korean businessmen who had started to set up shop here. Li Yan thought that he might be able to learn about the current situation in the country from some North Korean businessmen stationed in Zhoushan. News - of course, the premise is that he can have enough freedom of movement in Zhoushan.If he was still under strict protection by the local authorities under house arrest like Hong Kong and Penghu, then he would have no way to get in touch with these businessmen.

When he went south last year, Li Yan stayed in Zhoushan for a short period of time. Now that he has returned to his hometown, Dinghai Port still presents a prosperous appearance that makes him feel jealous. The density of ships entering and leaving the port is comparable to the port of Sanya. Gotta fight.

Like the first two stops on the way, Li Yi continued to enjoy extremely high treatment when he arrived in Hong Kong. Zhoushan Governor Shi Diwen came to the port to welcome him in person, and this time the fleet docked at the military port of Dinghai Port. , There are no ordinary people at all.

Seeing such a scene, Li Yan's mood is inevitably a bit complicated. On the one hand, Haihan has indeed provided comprehensive security measures, and the highest local officials personally greeted them, which can be said to be full of attention; on the other hand, these measures make Li Yan With no contact with the outside world at all, the channels he thought up on the way to inquire about news would hardly work in such a situation.

Going around, in the end, he could only return to the original point, honestly dealing with high-ranking Haihan officials.However, when Li Yan came to Zhoushan last time, he had contact with Shi Diwen, and he knew that this old man seemed to be a reckless man who could only lead troops to fight, but in fact he was very shrewd and shrewd.Li Yan felt that it would not be easy to get the required information from him.

But no matter what, Li Yan had to try it first.If at this time Haihan still said that there was no news from North Korea, or that it still did not have a clear attitude on whether to support Li Yi's restoration of the country, it would be too unreasonable.

"Regarding the situation in your country, there is indeed new news coming back." Shi Diwen's statement finally made Li Yan feel relieved.

Although no news is the best news in some cases, it is obviously not applicable to the current North Korea. Li Yan must know who is leading the rebellion and the current situation of his family, so that he can plan the next restoration of the country and the chaos in a more targeted manner. plan.

"Then General Laoshi has to express it!" Li Yan hurriedly urged.

"As far as we know so far, there is more than one force in your country, but several forces. For some reason that we don't know at the moment, they started in succession in a short period of time, and then There was a scuffle in Seoul that lasted for several days."

"But so far, it seems that this scuffle has not decided a winner, at least we haven't waited for any party to declare itself the winner." Shi Diwen paused, and added: "The parties involved in the war I mentioned are also Including the royal family."

"Then there is news about my father?" Li Yan asked anxiously.The news given by the Haihan people only said that Li Ji's life and death were unknown, which made him uneasy for many days. If Li Ji was gone, his hope of returning to the country would be greatly reduced.

Shi Diwen shook his head and said: "The information we have is very limited. We only know that the king was injured on the first day of the rebellion. Later, because many palaces in Seoul were on fire, the city was full of rioting soldiers, and the whereabouts of the royal family members were unknown. There is no way to trace it. But thinking in a good direction, this may be the king who disappeared for safety reasons, and he may have escaped from Seoul during this period and hid in a hidden place."

"But it's been so many days since the incident happened, and my father hasn't contacted you all the time, it's inevitable..." Li Yan couldn't continue when he said this.

Of course, he had imagined that his family members escaped from Seoul during the war, but if that was the case, then Li Ying should contact Hai Han immediately after he escaped, and ask Hai Han to send troops to help him quell the chaos.But there is no news from Li Zhen so far, which seems to be more ominous.

Shi Diwen said: "You don't have to be so pessimistic. From my outsider's perspective, the chaotic situation in Seoul at that time may also interfere with the king's judgment, making it impossible for him to know who he should trust. Maybe Even we will be regarded by him as objects that need to be guarded against, so we have been hiding our tracks until the situation subsides."

"Which people are causing chaos in Seoul, do you have any news from your country?" Li Yan knew that the possibility mentioned by the other party was unlikely, and the purpose was just to appease his emotions, and he didn't want to ask this question any further. , simply turned the topic back to business.

Shi Diwen was silent for a moment before responding: "Many people, it is said that almost all civil and military officials in your country participated in it. But the problem is that we still don't know who is right and who is evil, and who is the culprit in this chaos."

Li Xun almost died of anger when he heard this answer. If it was true that all the civil and military forces of the Manchu dynasty participated in the chaos as the Haihan people said, then it would be difficult to distinguish who was loyal and who was traitor.Moreover, Shi Diwen said before that there were multiple forces participating in the battle, which must have been the result of these courtiers forming cliques.

Then I heard Shi Diwen go on to say: "Based on the information we have, we infer that although the chaos broke out from within, it is very likely that there was also the intervention of external forces."

"What did you say?"

"I'm talking about the Qing Dynasty and Japan, both of which are extremely suspicious." Shi Diwen's tone seemed to have become a lot more certain when he said this: "A rebellion requires a lot of funds and combat materials. Given the current situation in your country, it is difficult to raise these necessary conditions for the rebellion only by relying on domestic resources, and it is likely that there is support from abroad that makes those daring people dare to make trouble."

Li Yan thought about it, and had to admit that Shi Diwen's speculation made sense.When he went abroad, the North Korean military was basically out of control, and could not even raise the cost of sending more than a dozen officers to study in Haihan.If a large-scale armed rebellion is to be organized under such circumstances, the source of funding must be a huge problem.

Both Japan and the Manchu Qing had invaded North Korea in the past, so there were naturally many eyeliners in North Korea, and maybe some high-ranking officials secretly communicated with them.According to the Korean tradition, as long as the current king is overthrown, there is a great probability of being able to ascend the throne and become the king of a country. This is probably a temptation that is difficult to resist for careerists.

So are there such careerists in North Korea today?Li Yan's judgment is positive, and there are quite a few of them.It has only been more than ten years since Li Jing came to power by launching a palace coup, and he has been suppressed by his evil neighbors in the north during this period, and his ruling foundation is not solid.The reason why he took the risk to send Li Yan to study in Haihan was partly to cling to Haihan's thigh, and to use Haihan's power to maintain his family's rule when necessary.

But the crown prince has been away from the country for a long time, which is actually equivalent to losing a contender for the throne in terms of legal principles. If Li Yan can seize the throne before Li Yi returns to the country, the corresponding competitive pressure will be much less.In a country like North Korea, where the frequency of coups is frighteningly high, the officialdom and the public have a high degree of acceptance of changing the sky. If the action is fast enough and the process goes smoothly, then by the time Li Yi returns from Haihan, the day lily will be gone. It's cold.

But the problem is that there seems to be more than one force that wants to seize this time window to seize power. In the chaos caused by the simultaneous actions of various forces, no one seems to have gained a clear advantage, so so far there is still no one. Claim victory or gain control over the Seoul area.

Li Yan slowly savored the information contained in Shi Diwen's words, and gradually calmed down.Compared with the various situations he had imagined along the way, the news he knew so far was at least not the worst.What he is most worried about is that the rebels have already controlled inside and outside of Seoul, and someone has announced to replace Li Zhen as king, so it may take a lot of trouble to restore the country.

In order to confirm his guess, Li Yan asked again: "So, Seoul is still at war at this time?"

Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Not only in Seoul, but also in the entire Gyeonggi-do, as well as Chungcheong-do and Hwanghae-do on both sides of the north and south. Small-scale armed conflicts broke out. , Although Jeolla Province is peaceful for the time being, it is still impossible to judge whether it will be involved in this chaos in the future. Our country also considered the risks, so we did not allow the garrison to intervene rashly."

It is not easy for Li Yan to comment. He believes that with the combat effectiveness of the Haihan army, if he can intervene in time in the early stage of the chaos and directly send troops to Seoul to quell the chaos, he should be able to suppress the rebels quickly and prevent the situation from being thrown into disarray. out of control.But having said that, Haihan did not have the obligation to help North Korea maintain law and order, and to help Li Zhen maintain the rule. Besides, a coup d'etat is not necessarily a bad thing for Haihan. They have been watching, of course, waiting for the most favorable time for them. Take action.

It's just that the situation in Seoul is unclear, and no one knows whether the Haihan people intend to help the old master restore the country, or support the new king.And Li Yi is also in this delicate environment, if he makes a wrong operation, he may become Hai Han's abandoned son.

Li Yi also thought about whether he could have avoided the current situation if he hadn’t left North Korea last year, but the answer is not certain. His study abroad should only give the rebels a better chance to act, but it is not the root cause of the rebellion. .If he stayed in the country, he might be lost in the chaos of war just like his father and two brothers.Although the current situation is difficult, at least there is no danger of life for the time being, and diplomatic mediation can be used to win the support of the Haihan people.

He believes that Shi Diwen has more information than the senior Haihan officials he met before, so the attitude Shi Diwen showed can more truly reflect the views of Haihan's senior officials on the North Korean situation.Then the question arises, has there been any response to the proposal put forward by Yu Yao to the Haihan Executive Committee in Penghu a few days ago?

"The executive committee has not given me any specific order on intervening in North Korean affairs. The order I have received is still only to provide necessary supplies and security measures in Zhoushan for the son's return trip." After listening to Li Yan's question Afterwards, Shi Diwen gave a very official answer.

Li Yan can only interpret this as the fact that the Haihan Executive Committee has not yet made a decision on the exchange terms they proposed. Perhaps they are still discussing whether such conditions are worthwhile, or they still intend to continue to wait and see the development of the situation in North Korea.But one thing should be certain, that is, the quid pro quo proposed by Li Yi is not as effective as he expected, and it seems that it is not easy to change the attitude of the Haihan executive committee.

(End of this chapter)