1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2316
Since Taizu Li Chenggui moved the capital from the south of Kaijing to Seoul in 1394, the city has been the political, economic and cultural center of Joseon for more than two hundred years.Although Seoul is located in the hinterland of the central part of the Korean Peninsula, it is reasonable to say that the location is relatively safe, but it has also experienced many wars during the period.

Among them are the atrocities committed by Japan after capturing Seoul when it invaded Korea in 1592, as well as the civil strife caused by multiple palace coups in Korea.From the perspective of a bystander, the war has become an ordeal that every generation here must go through, a special "historical tradition".

Many people believe that after the end of the Anti-Qing war last year, Li Zhen's rule over North Korea has been effectively consolidated.Especially this year, Haihan sent troops to teach another bad neighbor of North Korea, Japan, and further eliminated North Korea's external threats. This country will usher in a relatively long period of security development.

Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun, who have been stationed in North Korea since last year, also hold similar views.But it turns out they were all wrong, and very wrong.The tradition of palace coups in North Korea did not stop there, but as always, they suddenly appeared at unexpected times, and then stirred up chaos in Seoul.

Of course, compared to the many palace coups in history, the degree of chaos this time is not too serious, and not many people died.But in terms of impact, it is no less than any palace coup in the past history of this country, and in some respects it is even worse.For example, after the coup, foreign troops were actually involved. This is a new situation that has never happened before.

For the people who instigated this coup, how to deal with this situation that has never happened before is really a very difficult problem, so that the Haihan army has already approached the city, and they still seem to be unable to come up with an effective solution. Method.

Cui Mingji sat quietly in the study room without lighting the lamp, as if he was thinking silently in the dark. Of course, it is also possible that he did not want the subordinates who kept coming in to report the news to notice the fatigue on his face.

Cui Mingji was appointed by Li Ji this year to be the leader of the government. This position is equivalent to the prime minister of North Korea. One person is less than ten thousand, and he is already at the pinnacle of his personal career, and his status is extremely respected.

Although Cui Mingji successfully overwhelmed his old opponent Kim Sang-heon in the position of leading the political affairs, Cui Mingji was not excited about it for too long.Kim Sang-heon's position is only from the position of the second-rank chief minister, but his influence has not been limited by this official position for a long time. Last year's tough claims during the Anti-Qing War greatly increased his reputation. Many court officials followed his example. It is believed that Kim Sang-heon's political views are the hope for the future development of North Korea.

The Six Cao Yamen, the Sixian Mansion, the Sijianyuan, the Seungjinwon, the Clan House, and the Sungkyunkwan, many of these large and small yamen are controlled by Kim Sang-heon's denunciation faction.In addition, there are countless supporters of Jin Shangxian in the government offices at all levels of government, government, animal husbandry, county, and county across the country.

Everyone knows that Cui Mingji is Kim Sang-heon’s political opponent and enemy for life, so even though Cui Mingji has reached the pinnacle of power and has become the highest and most powerful official in this country, there are still many people who stand by Kim Sang-heon’s side and disagree with Cui Mingji governing philosophy.This has led to Cui Mingji's administrative measures after taking office have been stumbling, and the effect is naturally greatly reduced.

Of course, Cui Mingji knew the root of these problems, but he could not order the removal of Kim Sang-heon from office, or simply arrest him and kill him on charges.He doesn't have that much power, and even if he does, he still has to worry about the terrible backlash that Kim Sang-heon's influence will bring.Of course, the most important reason is that the king, Li Ji, would never agree with him to use such means to deal with Jin Shangxian.

When Kim Sang-heon's reputation increased greatly last year, the king did not promote Kim Sang-heon but placed him in the position of leader of the government. The purpose is of course very simple, that is, to use him to check and balance the denunciations that have already occupied the mainstream opinion in the court. group.But checks and balances are not suppression. The king just hopes that Kim Sang-heon will not be too much in the limelight, not that Cui Mingji will eradicate him from the officialdom.If Cui Mingji intends to do this, I am afraid that the first person to jump out and stop it is the king himself.

But Kim Sang-heon differs from Choi Ming-gil in political views at most, but he is far from being an endless enemy, and they actually share common views in some aspects, such as vigilance against external forces intervening in North Korea.

Whether it was Japan and the Manchus who tried to invade North Korea by force, or Ming and Haihan who faced North Korea as suzerains and issued orders, in their view, they should all be excluded, so that North Korea can maintain its due autonomy.

But the king doesn't seem to look at the problem from this perspective. Since the introduction of the Haihan army to fight against the Qing army last year, Li Yu seems to have tasted the sweetness from it, and began to open the door to Haihan, introducing various new systems from Haihan. And new things, and finally even sent Wang Shizi to Haihan to study abroad. It seems that he hopes to bind the future of North Korea with Haihan.

Cui Mingji thinks that there may be only two results. One is to completely turn North Korea into a vassal state of Haihan. In the future, he will provide Haihan with the necessary natural resources, labor force and sales market as a vassal, and accept Haihan's vassal status. All-round control in the political and military fields; the second is that North Korea, as promised by Haihan, will rapidly grow into a regional power in the future, and can talk to other countries on an equal footing in the international arena. Asylum from other countries is no longer required.

Although the latter situation looks beautiful, Cui Mingji believes that the possibility of realizing it is very slim. Of course, a country as shrewd and realistic as Haihan, it is impossible to support and assist North Korea to get North Korea out of its control as soon as possible. Reasons to promote the occurrence of the second situation.Everything they do has only one purpose, which is to hold the North Korean state in their hands more firmly.

Now that one of the only two possibilities has been rejected, the only remaining possibility, although it looks a bit dark, is the reality that North Korea will face next.As a patriot, it is impossible for Cui Mingji to accept such a result calmly, and it is even more impossible for him to push his country on this path without conscience after realizing such a result.

Cui Mingji believes that he is not the only one in the court who has such an idea. He hopes that more senior officials will join hands with him to reduce and eliminate Haihan's influence in North Korea as much as possible.

Even if ordinary officials are powerful in a certain field, Cui Mingji, who has a high self-esteem, doesn't like it, and even disdains to lower his figure and cooperate with him.He is now the leader of the North Korean state, and apart from the king, there is only one person in the entire ruling and opposition parties that he can face up to, and that is his old opponent, Kim Sang-heon.

This matter seemed absurd, the two had been fighting in court for decades, now that Cui Mingji had managed to gain the upper hand in the official position, why should he bow his head and seek cooperation from his old rival.But only Cui Mingji knew that his old opponent was actually a very simple patriot. Although the two had different political views, they both had the same goal, which was to make North Korea stronger.

However, for the cooperation with Haihan, Jin Shangxian has always supported the attitude, and even sent his cronies to the Datong River to help the Haihan people.So Cui Mingji was not sure at the time whether he could persuade his opponent to change his mind.And this kind of thing must not let the king know, otherwise he will lose the role of checking and balancing Jin Shangxian, and the seat of the leader of the government will naturally be unstable.

The fact is that Cui Mingji did not misunderstand the person. Kim Sang-heon’s support for imitating Haehan does not mean that he is willing to see the first result. Like Cui Mingji, he can only accept the second result-although at this stage There seems to be little hope of success.

The two arranged several interviews in secret, and quickly reached an agreement.Of course, this agreement does not mean that they shook hands and made peace, but rather some assumptions about North Korea's future development path.For example, being independent and getting rid of the control and threats of other countries in the future.

But how to realize these visions, the two have very different ideas. Cui Mingji is more inclined to rely on self-reliance and rely on his own efforts to realize the process of transforming from weak to strong, while Kim Sang-heon believes that relying on various learning opportunities provided by Haihan, Can help North Korea achieve its goals faster.

Yes, on this issue of the future of the country's destiny, the two have disagreements again as always, and it is difficult to persuade the other party to accept their own views.

Kim Sang-heon, a representative of the denunciation of peace faction known for his toughness toward the outside world, now insists on cooperating with Haehan, while Choi Ming-gil, who has always advocated the settlement of disputes through peaceful talks, proposes to keep a distance from Haehan at this time.

The positions of the two seemed to be reversed suddenly, but in fact, they both knew in their hearts that this moment and that moment, in the final analysis, was forced by the situation.Kim Sang-heon needs to rely on Haihan to enhance his reputation and further increase his influence, while Cui Mingji can only stand opposite Kim Sang-heon in order to reflect his value in the court.Of course, they think that their ultimate goal is to make the country strong, and they took some detours and did some things against their will in the process, which is understandable.

Kim Sang-heon hopes that Cui Mingji can wait until the son returns from studying in Haihan before making a conclusion. At that time, they can learn about Haihan's attitude towards the future of North Korea through the experience of the son in Haihan and what he has learned.If the crown prince has no dependence on Hai Han and intends to govern independently, then there is no need to adopt a tough attitude to separate from Hai Han at this stage.

But what Cui Mingji worried about was not the son, but His Majesty the King.

After he was promoted to the position of leader, he had many opportunities to discuss privately with the king, so he also had some understanding of some of the king's thoughts.The king hoped that North Korea could follow Haihan's example and copy Haihan's strategy of strengthening the country. For this reason, he even sent his son to Haihan to study.These are not too big problems in Cui Mingji's view, but this year the king began to ask him for advice on whether it is possible to introduce Haihan officials to assist in handling government affairs and foreign affairs.

Cui Mingji didn't know whether Tom Wang and others had instilled such an idea into the king, or the king himself was just being confused and whimsical, but he knew that this idea must not be opened, otherwise he would completely entrust the power of his country to the Haihan people.

He tried to persuade the king to give up such a ridiculous idea, but failed.Instead, Li Jing warned him not to forget where his status came from.

Cui Mingji knew that he could not handle this matter alone, so he still informed Kim Sang-heon, and hoped that he could work with him to persuade the king to give up this idea-in this matter, their interests should be the same .

Kim Sang-heon couldn't keep his composure after learning about this, and he could also think of the problems that Cui Mingji thought of. If the Haihan people were allowed to serve as officials in the court, it would only be a matter of time before they were replaced by local officials.Regardless of whether it is the leader of the government or the chief minister, they will be nothing more than decorations placed in the hall at that time.

So the two went to see the king together, but Li Jing seemed to be fascinated by ghosts at this time, dismissed their persuasion, and still insisted on his own opinion: "We have spent so much time sending officials to Haihan for training, then what is the point of view?" Why don't you just invite a few Haihan officials to come to our country to serve as officials for a few years, and teach everyone how to do things here by hand?"

This seems reasonable at first glance, but Kim Sang-heon and Cui Mingji knew that doing so would be an act of national subjugation and must never be carried out.

When they came out of the imperial study after talking that day, their faces were all dark, and they went out of the palace to return to their residences, and then they met secretly again that night.

"Foolish gentleman."

"Dump it."

So after a period of disputes, the two reached an agreement again under the promotion of the king.But what they want to do is very dangerous, far from being as simple as cleaning up political enemies in the past.

To ensure political stability, the country can develop steadily and not be controlled by external forces, there seems to be only one way left for them.

But even if they agreed on what to do with the king, they still disagreed, as always, on how to achieve their goals.

It is not difficult to launch a coup, and there are many successful examples in North Korean history that can be emulated.What is difficult is how to control the situation so that the situation does not get out of control, and how to finish the matter after it is done, so as to complete the transfer of power in the smoothest possible way.

There are many different ways to deal with each link, and they are all worthy of debate.And the most controversial topic is the last link, the transfer of power, who will take over the big position?
Is it the prince supported by Kim Sang-heon?Is it the second prince Fenglin Dajun supported by Cui Mingji?Or choose another king?Or even one of them will temporarily take over the kingship?
This involves the interests of all aspects, and there is no real panacea. Both parties hope to get the most beneficial results for themselves, but how difficult is it to convince the other party?
(End of this chapter)