1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2309
How to exercise indirect control over a country outside the region to the greatest extent is a very complicated subject, but for Haihan, who is constantly expanding its sphere of influence, it is a key project that must be studied with great effort.However, North Korea, whose national power is relatively weak and has been accustomed to clinging to the wings of the strong in the past hundreds of years, is just a very suitable experimental subject.

Haihan is best at dealing with it by exerting influence on other countries through trade, culture, military and other means.In the past two years since the establishment of diplomatic relations with North Korea, Haihan has used these methods in turn, and so far has achieved quite good results.

The resources, market, and manpower needed by Haihan are now offered by North Korea with both hands, and the country is opened to allow Haihan to station troops in the country all the year round, as if Haihan is respected as a patron and suzerain.Later, they sent civil and military officials led by Wang Shizi to study in Haihan, intending to gradually move closer to Haihan's governance strategy and bureaucratic system.

But is that enough?At least in the eyes of the Haihan executive committee, it is still not enough. North Korea’s domestic political situation is not stable, and there are still voices against the royal family’s complete surrender to Haihan for various reasons. These unstable factors will threaten Haihan’s interests in North Korea, and also It will affect Haihan's long-term planning in Northeast Asia.

The Executive Committee hopes that North Korea’s political situation will be more peaceful, its attitude will be more submissive, and it will be more open to Haihan. However, the study abroad training provided to Li Yi and others will not see immediate results. After all, except for These young and strong officials other than Li Yan have far from enough roots in the country, and it may take several years to slowly climb to the top of power.

But at this time, the internal crisis in North Korea that the executive committee had been worried about suddenly broke out without warning. The capital was in chaos. The king and some court officials were held hostage by the rebellious party. Change of power in the normal way.

This is a major crisis for North Korea and the diplomatic relations between the two countries that are just on the right track, but the Executive Committee also sees an "opportunity" in the crisis. Maximizing the benefits and trying to realize those requirements that were originally stumbling and not recognized by the North Korean government have become a major focus of the Executive Committee.

And how to solve this emergency satisfactorily seems to be less important.After all, the rebellious party did not attack the Haihan people living in Seoul, let alone touch Haihan Bank, Golden Shield Escort and other operating organizations with Haihan's official background. Get off the back road.

No matter how much trouble there is in Seoul, they will eventually have to face the thousands of Haihan troops who have arrived at Ganghwa Island.If the toss is too much, even if the rebels seize the throne, they will not be able to deal with the eager Haihan army.Therefore, both sides had a very tacit understanding and did not take further military actions, forming a confrontation with a distance of hundreds of miles.

The Haihan side still has a relatively high degree of confidence in controlling the situation, so they are not in a hurry to resolve the civil strife in Seoul. Now that the banner of the prince's son Li Yi is available, they can sit back and wait for the new ruler elected by the rebellious party to take the initiative to contact their own side. , no matter what, they are already invincible, it is nothing more than the difference of how much trouble they have in the process.

Bringing Li Yi back from Sanya, of course, would not expect him to lead his civil and military officials to turn the tide and quell the situation in Seoul on his own, but Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun needed the prince of North Korea to be in the army. If you want to take any action against Seoul, you can do it justifiably.

Of course, there is another reason, that is, when the life and death of King Li Ji are uncertain, and the rebellious party has not yet introduced a new ruler, Li Yi is the only one who can negotiate with Haihan about the conditions for quelling the rebellion.And taking Li Yi to Ganghwa Island, which is relatively close to Seoul, can not only keep him safe, but also make him feel the pressure of being away from home but having no way to get in. In such a situation, his patience will be worn down, and it will be difficult. It is more beneficial for Haihan to negotiate exchange terms with him, which also includes the things Tom Wang mentioned just now.

However, there was still a slight discrepancy between the matter and the executive committee's expectations. On Jianghua Island, Wang and Qian prepared a step-by-step pressure package for Li Yan, and finally forced him to give in and agree to the exchange conditions proposed by Haihan.But I didn't expect that Li Yi's patience and reserve had been exhausted on the way back to North Korea. After arriving at Ganghwa Island, he only wanted to use Haihan's armed forces to return to Seoul as soon as possible and regain the kingship. As for the conditions proposed by Haihan? It will harm the interests of North Korea. Even if he is aware of it, he can only forget it first.

Therefore, Tom Wang didn't spend too much time talking, and Li Yi had already agreed to the establishment of the special organization requested by Haihan, and the speed was much faster than they expected.A large number of pressure methods that were originally prepared have achieved their goals just after the first start, so all the ones that have not been used later are all scrapped.

Tom Wang even had a little doubt whether he didn't express his meaning clearly, so that Li Yan didn't fully understand what this request meant.

Such a special institution established by the Haihan organization, although it is nominally loyal to the King of Korea, Haihan's influence in it is obvious.This institution has great power. Its subordinates are in charge of the common people, and its superiors are in charge of the important officials of the court. It is possible that even some members of the royal family will be under its monitoring range. This is an unprecedented situation in North Korea.

Are these surveillance measures just to ensure the king's right to rule?That is of course more than that. According to Wang Tom's statement, in addition to reporting to the king, the various information obtained by this agency will also be reported to Haihan, and has the power to deal with those dangerous people who threaten the king's rule.

As for who is a dangerous person, not only the king has the final say, Haihan can also make a judgment, and it is even very likely that Haihan will make the final judgment most of the time.

Whether those who oppose the king will die is not certain, but those who oppose Haihan must be in bad luck.

The purpose of this organization is to serve Haihan, and by the way, to help the King of Korea maintain the stability of his rule.But this purpose can only be done, not said, otherwise it will affect the king's ruling position.So when it is said from Wang Tom's mouth, the meaning of this organization becomes a knife in the king's hand, and where the blade points is the king's will, it sounds very majestic.

Of course, Tom Wang understood the twists and turns, but he didn't know whether Li Yan understood after listening to his own statement.

Li Xun actually understands, but he can't show that he already understands, sometimes pretending to be confused is the best cover, not to mention that he is now the weak side, and he needs to rely on Haihan to regain the kingship, if he behaves at this time Being too smart may not be a good thing.

But no matter what, this condition is basically negotiated.For Li Yi, this was really a huge concession. If his father was still there, he probably would not agree to such an exchange to obtain Haihan's support.But Li Yi had no choice, if Hai Han could not be allowed to make a move, then he would soon become a worthless cripple.Compared with this result, even if he takes a few big steps back, he will grit his teeth and agree to speak.

"Can the two generals send troops?"

Li Yan didn't want to waste time on meaningless bargaining, so he quickly returned the topic to the current situation: "If the troops can be dispatched earlier, maybe the rebellious party in the city can save one day for preparing for war. , which can also reduce your army’s battle losses.”

Qian Tiandun had a half-smile on his face: "Your Majesty thinks that the rebellious party in Seoul dares to fight us by force?"

Li Xun thought to himself that there is nothing to be afraid of jumping over the wall in a hurry. Could it be that they would not be able to surrender voluntarily, but he was very polite: "I made a mistake, those rebels will definitely organize rebels to attack places that refuse to surrender to them. But if they want to fight against your army, presumably they should not have to seek their own death."

Of course, Li Yan did not dare to question the prestige of the Haihan army, so he could only forcefully explain it to show his position.

Qian Tiandun said: "Then, do you want to send troops to attack Seoul directly?"

Li Yan responded: "I am not good at military affairs, how dare I speak nonsense in front of the two generals."

Qian Tiandun said: "It's okay, the son grew up in Seoul, and he is much more familiar with the situation in the city and the government and the public than we are. Before taking any action, we certainly need to listen to the son's opinion."

Wang Tom also said: "General Qian's words are not polite. The information that the prince can provide is of great reference value to us. Especially for the civil and military officials who are still in the city, who can be trusted and who can't be trusted , who are the real dangerous people, I think Shizi must be clearer than us. If Shizi can provide some advice, it can also prevent us from accidentally hurting good people in our actions."

Tom Wang's words sounded right at first, but Li Yan felt a chill down his back.It was not the first time he had dealt with Tom Wang, and he knew that this Haihan general seemed careless and unrestrained, but in fact he was thoughtful, he spoke and did everything with a purpose, and he would never waste his saliva on a bunch of nonsense.

Tom Wang wanted Li Yan to provide information to avoid accidentally injuring good people. This can only show one thing, he is actually ready to use force, and he will take this opportunity to get rid of some specific targets by the way.As for who are the "dangerous people" who need to be taken care of, Tom Wang gave Li Yi a chance to name them.

In other words, this implied that Li Yan could use this opportunity to get rid of all those who might block his way forward in a reasonable and legal way.

No matter whether it is a senior official of the court or a member of the royal family, any object that is inconvenient for Li Ji or him to take care of, in the current situation, the Haihan people can easily place a charge of treason and then make it disappear from the world.

Does such an object exist?Not only are there, but there are many.

Counting from the founding of Korea in 1392 when Li Chenggui replaced the Wang family, the Li family has ruled Korea for more than two hundred years. one of these goals.And there are not a few people who tried to overthrow him and replace him after he ascended the throne, but so far there has been no real success.

However, most members of the royal family have no real power, and only have a title that is useful when receiving a salary. Even if they want to rebel, it is actually difficult to organize enough troops and logistical support on their own, and it is even more difficult to obtain the approval of senior officials of the imperial court. .

Therefore, the real threat is actually the conspirators who lurk above the court, ostensibly loyal to the ruler on the throne, but secretly collude and try to introduce a new ruler in order to make themselves the regent.

During the more than ten years of Li Zhen's reign, disgruntled members of the royal family and ambitious courtiers have continued to emerge.Li Jing killed many and exiled many, trying to prevent the tradition of coup d'état from happening to him, but this attempt failed in the end.

It's not that Li Jing is ignorant of some people's ambitions, but standing in his position, he doesn't mean that he can get rid of anyone he wants to get rid of. If some people are gone, they may cause more trouble than when they were alive.He needs these people to keep the balance of the various factions, and he needs them to govern the country.

But this kind of balance is extremely difficult to maintain for a long time. Before Li Jing could come up with a perfect solution, the balance he worked so hard to maintain had already collapsed.

In the past few years, Li Xuan assisted his father in governing the government, and naturally he also witnessed these overt and secret power struggles, and he also roughly knew who his father trusted, whom he hated, and who he feared.On the way back to the country, he recalled these lists in his mind no less than a hundred times, trying to figure out which daring people dared to commit such a treasonous act.

At the same time, he also secretly made up his mind that if he ascended the throne and took power in the future, he must not be indecisive and indecisive like his father. As long as he finds someone who is not good for him, he must be eradicated as soon as possible, and he must not sit back and watch it grow until it is too big.

But Li Yan didn't have much experience in how to do this kind of thing. The people his father killed and exiled were almost all people who publicly jumped out to rebel, and he didn't teach him any powerful methods.How to find a reason to arrange charges to get rid of those hidden dangers inside and outside the court, Li Yi actually has no good plan.

This may be one of the reasons why he agreed without any discussion after hearing Tom Wang's previous conditions.It may not be a bad thing to have such an institution dedicated to dealing with careerists in the future.

But the establishment of an institution is still far away, and Wang Tom does not seem to plan to wait until then to start dealing with dissidents in the North Korean royal family and official circles.As long as Li Yan speaks, the Haihan army will take advantage of this opportunity to quell the chaos, and help him solve those troublesome people inside and outside the court.

(End of this chapter)