1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2311
On the banks of the Han River, a hundred miles away from Ganghwa Island, is Seoul, the capital of North Korea.However, Seoul at this time is no longer the bustling scene of the past. The city has been closed for 33 days since the day of the chaos. Today, only heavily armed soldiers pass through the four major city gates every day. There is almost no one outside the city. I know what the situation in the city is like at this time.

But even if there is no direct source of information, there will still be some clues revealed, and these traces will fall into the eyes of interested people, and more information will be deduced based on them.

Next to the official road not far from Chongli Gate on the south side of Seoul, there is a large very conspicuous courtyard covering an area of ​​[-] acres, with red walls and green tiles. The gate is very wide, allowing cars and horses to enter and exit directly. It is said that on the top floor, you can even see part of the palace in the city beyond the city wall, and you can also see the bank of the Han River a few miles away to the south.

The timber-framed tower is not an ancient building, but construction began late last fall and was not completed until the middle of this year.In North Korea, where construction technology is not developed, such a construction period is already very fast.A building of this height obviously violated regulations, but the government never made trouble for it. The reason is very simple. The owner of this compound cannot afford to be offended by the government.

On the day when the tower was built, a red and blue flag fluttered on the top of the tower, implying the true belonging of this place.This is not only the Haihan Diplomatic Office in Seoul, but also the location of the Seoul branches of Haihan Bank and Golden Shield Escort, two commercial organizations with official backgrounds.To this day, the two-color flag on the tower has not been lowered, but the entire organization has suspended its external operations due to the situation.

The commercial activities near Seoul have been greatly reduced recently, so naturally the bustling traffic of the past is no longer seen here. Although the gate is still open, few people come in and out, presenting a depressed scene.

However, this is just an appearance. In this place that seems to have stopped functioning, there are still many people staying behind for various reasons, and there are still many jobs that are still in progress.

Mei Baiji, the person in charge of Haihan Bank's Seoul Branch, did not evacuate the place immediately.It's not that he is bold and fearless, but that there are still a large amount of property and materials stored in the treasury here, and it will be difficult to transport them all away in a short while. If he evacuates without an order, he will give up before the battle with the soldiers. Running away from the battlefield is no different, and he can't bear the crime of running away.

But fortunately, it is not without means of defense. In addition to a platoon of troops stationed for a long time, dozens of armed personnel under the name of Golden Shield Escort also returned here immediately after the Seoul incident to participate in the defense.

Although such security measures may not be able to stop thousands of troops, it is not a problem to deal with some small groups of soldiers who want to fish in troubled waters.After the accident in Seoul, of course, some people focused on the treasure cave of Haihan Bank, planning to take advantage of the chaos to loot it.However, several groups of people came and went, but none of them could take advantage of it, and they didn't even rush in through the gate.

The armed personnel in charge of defending this place didn't have any intention of keeping their hands back. After firing a warning shot to the rioters trying to attack this place, they opened fire directly.

Using Haihan regular army to deal with these small groups of rebels who still use cold weapons as their main means of attack is basically cutting melons and vegetables. After killing more than ten or 20 people each time, these rebels will automatically flee.

However, there was one time when someone organized the command behind the scenes, three to five hundred people came all at once, and two tiger squatting cannons were brought in, as if to attack the courtyard by force.But before they calculated the position and mounted the gun, they got a round of shelling first.

Yes, Haihan's institution outside Seoul is not only stationed with armed personnel, but also equipped with heavy weapons.Of course, it is a heavy weapon, but it is actually the army's smallest caliber 85mm field gun. Although its power is not too great, it is more than enough to deal with these stragglers.

According to the agreement reached between Haihan and North Korea, Haihan is not allowed to station more than [-] formed troops within a hundred miles around Seoul during non-wartime conditions, nor is it allowed to deploy heavy artillery in these areas.The purpose of doing this is, of course, to give the Korean royal family a certain sense of security, but there is another reason that everyone understands but will not make it public, and that is to save face for the North Korean country.

Haihan has a lot of troops stationed in North Korea, but most of them are stationed at the Datong River base more than 400 miles away from Seoul. As for the permanent institution outside Seoul, it only deployed a small group of troops symbolically as a security measure. But I never thought it would come in handy within a year.And if it wasn't for Qian Tiandun's insistence, he probably wouldn't have transported a few small cannons to hide in this place.

With the sound of artillery, these North Korean rebels were naturally defeated again without any suspense.But the most panicked ones were not the scattered soldiers, but the people in the city who heard the gunfire.After learning that the sound of the cannon came from the Haihan institution in the south of the city, someone soon sent a message, promising that no more rebels would approach this place, and that they would provide the necessary living supplies here. The Han people should not rush to intervene in the current chaos.

So a new tacit understanding was quickly reached, and Haihan stuck to this stronghold to continue to observe the situation in Seoul, and slowly gathered those sporadic Haihan merchants who were released from the city.At this time, the navigation on the Han River has been closed, and they can't leave even if they want to. They can only temporarily settle down in this stronghold, and try to leave after the situation improves.

At this time, the person in charge of resettling these Haihan people is Mei Baiji.It was really helpless for him to receive this errand. The bank had already suspended its business, but due to his duties, he couldn't leave here, so he became an idler.And it happened that because of his work, he knew most of these Haihan businessmen who came to Seoul to do business from thousands of miles away, so he was assigned this job logically.

Although Mei Baiji is not a civil affairs official, but fortunately, this job is not difficult. He arranges accommodation and food distribution for these people, and goes around every day to understand their requirements and satisfy them as much as possible, and then report to the officials in charge of affairs here. Just look at the situation.He can arrange the rest of the time freely, but he definitely can't go outside in chaos, so he can only stay in this compound.

Although every time there was an attack by rebellious soldiers or refugees, they were easily repelled, but Mei Baiji felt that this was really not an interesting experience, and he couldn't even sleep well at night, lest some thieves would climb over the wall and sneak in in the middle of the night.It wasn't until the news came a few days ago that the two generals Wang and Qian had led their troops southward and the navy fleet had arrived at Jianghua Island, a hundred miles away, that Mei Baiji could finally sleep peacefully.

But after the two generals arrived at Ganghwa Island, they did not take any further actions, nor did they order the evacuation of the personnel in this stronghold outside Seoul.Although Mei Baiji didn't know what these big shots were thinking, he could guess that they were probably watching the changes in the situation in Seoul.

At this time, all the people in Haihan in the city had left, and the stronghold outside Sungli Gate became the closest observation post to Seoul, so naturally they would not receive orders to evacuate.Mei Baiji also knew that the four-story tower in the compound was not built for viewing the scenery, but a military watchtower. How could the military give up such a good place so easily.

All Haihan’s affairs in North Korea, including diplomacy, are managed by the Taedongjiang Base. Official and semi-official agencies must also obey the military’s orders in extraordinary times, so the military does not issue withdrawal orders. People like Mei Baiji People can only continue to stand on the front line.Unless a large-scale armed conflict with the rebels really breaks out, it is estimated that they will not be able to leave for a while.

Mei Baiji went to the warehouse of Xikuayuan, which was originally used to store goods for transshipment, but recently, no merchants have come here to transport goods, so the vacant space is used to accommodate the Haihan people who are stranded in the local area.

A few days ago, a boat came from Jianghua Island and took most of the people away. There were less than ten people left here. Mei Baiji showed his face and greeted everyone, and it was considered complete. Today's inspection mission.Then he went to the tower, and after greeting the soldiers on duty downstairs, he entered the building.

For Mei Baiji, who has a slight fear of heights, going up to a high place and looking into the distance is not a pleasure, but he still has to climb the tower once a day.There was no other reason. The person Mei Baiji wanted to report to was currently on the highest floor of the tower.

This official was transferred from the Datongjiang base in the middle of this year, and was directly appointed as the person in charge of this base. He is very young, but very capable. It is said that he was directly appointed by the executive committee, and his background is natural not simple.

After the accident in Seoul, the official moved his residence into the tower and personally monitored the movements inside and outside of Seoul.And Mei Baiji had to report to him face-to-face every day, so he could only endure the discomfort and climb the stairs.

Mei Baiji walked slowly to the highest floor, and saw a person leaning on the railing to look out, but he didn't just rely on his eyesight, he also held a telescope in his hand.He didn't seem to notice Mei Baiji's arrival, and he was still watching very intently.

Mei Baiji walked over slowly, keeping a sufficient distance from the railing so as not to accidentally catch a glimpse of the gap between here and the bottom of the building. After standing still, she coughed lightly twice.

This time the other party heard the noise, put down the binoculars, turned around, and greeted him: "The shopkeeper Mei is here. How is the situation today?"

Mei Baiji responded respectfully: "Master Fu has worked hard, everything is as usual today."

The young official Mei Baiji called "Master Fu" was Fu Li who was dispatched to the Datong River base last year.

During a major event last year, Fu Li had a serious loophole in the security work due to a work omission. Although his boss, Ren Liang, tried his best to keep him, the position of the director of the Special Operations Department of the Police Department could not be preserved at the same time.However, Fu Li was the first group of people to join Haihan, so the executive committee naturally wouldn't embarrass him, so he was transferred overseas. Firstly, he had the right to be punished, and secondly, it also allowed him to exercise his working ability in more environments. .

Fu Li didn't have any complaints about such an arrangement. He also knew that those big figures in the executive committee had no choice but to do so. Although there were no serious consequences at the time, someone had to take responsibility afterwards, and he happened to be the person in charge.It’s just that I didn’t expect that this journey would be thousands of miles away, and I came to the Korean Peninsula, which is completely different from my hometown, to settle down.

Fu Li was assigned to the Datongjiang base as his old man, responsible for local security management, but the target was not the Haihan people, but the North Korean people who gathered inside and outside the Datongjiang base for various reasons.

Some of them were laborers sent here by the North Korean state to help build the base, and some were refugees who fled here later to escape the war. At most, tens of thousands of people lived inside and outside the base.Although the military can also deploy troops to implement military control, there are many problems that need more professional personnel to deal with, and Fuli is here to do this.

Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun were quite satisfied with Fu Li's professional ability during his stay in the Datong River, so after the establishment of the permanent office in Seoul, the two of them jointly recommended Fu Li to be in charge of managing the Seoul side resident agency.

Fu Liben was a young official that the executive committee had carefully trained, and with the recommendation of the resident chief, the transfer was approved without any obstacles.As for Fu Li Zhineng Tubao, he was also very attentive after taking office. For example, after the accident in Seoul, Fu Li commanded it properly to keep the place in a relatively safe state.

The only thing that makes Fu Li feel more regretful is that he failed to install a reliable eyeliner in the city in advance. Now that the gates of Seoul are closed, it is more and more difficult to obtain news in the city.He can only watch the city from the tower every day, for fear of missing valuable information.

Fu Li handed over the binoculars to others to continue monitoring, motioned for Mei Baiji to sit down and talk, he took the teapot on the table next to him and poured out two cups of tea, Mei Baiji quickly thanked him.

"In the past seven days, there have been no fires in the city, and fewer and fewer corpses are transported out of the city every morning. I think the situation has basically subsided, and the end of this farce should not be far away." Fu Li While drinking tea, he shared the information he had observed with Mei Baiji.

Mei Baiji said: "If so, it would be the best!"

Fu Lidao: "But the results that those people in the city want may not be consistent with the results we want."

Mei Baiji sneered and said: "Even if it's up to them! Count the days, the son of Joseon will come back from Sanya, and it's almost here soon! Those who refuse to surrender at that time will all be rebels from the rebel party, and there will be more than one death!"

Fu Lidao: "How to deal with this matter will depend on the result of the discussion between the superior and the Prince of Korea. If there is a war, we will hand over this place to the army soon."

Mei Baiji thought for a while and said, "Your Excellency, you mean that this place will be requisitioned by the military?"

"There is no more suitable frontline headquarters than here." Fu Li responded, "This watchtower is actually prepared for commanding operations."

(End of this chapter)