1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2349
Although the looting operation carried out by the North Korean side did not achieve a satisfactory result for Haihan, at least this can be regarded as a nomination certificate handed over by Li Yi after he ascended the throne. On Haihan's side, even if it had to turn against Japan for this, it would not hesitate to pay the price.

Of course, this is a great risk for North Korea. Once the Japanese shogunate regards this as a war provocation, then North Korea may have to face attacks from powerful foreign enemies for two consecutive years. Trust still does more good than harm to North Korea.

But even if the Japanese shogunate will respond to this, it should be in the coming year.An army as strong as Haihan will try to avoid organizing campaigns in severe winters, not to mention Japan, whose war mobilization ability is far inferior to Haihan.So at least this winter, Li Yi doesn't need to worry about Japan taking drastic retaliatory measures for the time being.

But Tom Wang doesn't plan to spend the whole winter in the Datongjiang Base. He hopes to take advantage of the suspension of all combat operations in the past few months to return to his old business and go out to complete an exploratory mission. sailing itinerary.

"Going to sea for a few months in winter, and you plan to go north, is that really okay?" Although Qian Tiandun also understood Tom Wang's professionalism, he was still a little worried about his bold plan.

Tom Wang laughed and said, "Actually, there is nothing serious except for the cold, as long as you have enough supplies and equipment."

"But you are going to explore unfamiliar sea areas this trip. Even if we have charts of those places, we still don't know the sea conditions at all. You have to think carefully about the risks of doing so!" Qian Tiandun had to remind Wang seriously. Tom.

"Don't worry, I cherish my life very much." Tom Wang nodded and said, "Even if it's for the country, I can't have an accident. Besides, I am not going to sea alone this time, and I will definitely bring a fleet with me. Related I've been preparing an action plan for a long time."

"It seems that there is no way to persuade you to give up your mind." Qian Tiandun said: "Then I wish you good luck!"

"Some things have to be led by someone. If I take the lead, I will be more confident in the end." Wang Tom replied: "If it goes well, I will be back before the spring."

The voyage plan that Wang Tom is going to implement is not within the scope of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, but in the Sea of ​​Japan east of the Korean Peninsula, and the Sea of ​​Okhotsk further north.If conditions permit, he even wants to go further north to the Bering Sea.

This kind of voyage of exploring unknown seas undoubtedly has a strong appeal to people like Tom Wang who dream of being a navigator, and it even excites him more than leading troops to fight.

Of course, such a voyage plan is not just for satisfying his personal interests, but for Haihan's objective need to expand his sphere of influence outwards.

Of course, Haihan Kingdom's expansion plan in Northeast Asia will not stop at the Korean Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula. Even if there is not enough troops to advance to the inland of Liaodong for a while, it is still possible to explore unknown areas from the sea.Wang Tom has been staying here in Liaodong for the past two years, partly because he is waiting for the right time to implement this plan.

However, Haihan had just captured Jinzhou two years ago, and it took time to consolidate its control over the area. Elite troops from both the army and the navy were deployed on the front line of the Jinzhou Isthmus to prevent the Qing army from counterattacking.At that time, Wang Tom naturally put the overall situation first, commanding the navy to provide cover for the army on the Liaodong Peninsula, and at the same time playing the role of a transport brigade.

Now that the defense line of Jinzhou is basically stable, even if the Qing army launches a large-scale offensive, it will be difficult to break through Haihan's carefully constructed defense line.The North Korean direction is guarded by the Datongjiang base, and the Qing army should not take the risk of invading in winter.Wang Tom made room for this, and finally he could start to implement his long-planned voyage plan.

Even if Haihan has the most advanced shipbuilding and navigation technology of this era, it is still very dangerous to go out to sea to explore unknown waters, and the cold winter weather will also bring a lot of trouble to the sailors on board. The spring and summer seasons are more suitable, but Wang Tom is worried that the situation in Northeast Asia will change after the beginning of spring, and the plan will have to be put on hold at that time.

As the commander of the navy, he also has to take into account the actions of the Haihan Navy in other sea areas. It is impossible to spend time in the north like this year after year. Get ready for expansion in this area.

Although there are satellite maps of these areas in Fort Victory's large database, as Qian Tiandun said, there are still great risks if you only have charts but don't know the sea conditions.Therefore, in Wang Tom's travel plan, the composition of the fleet will be mainly military ships with better sailing performance, and will bring sufficient supplies so as not to find a place for supplies in unfamiliar sea areas.

But fortunately, there are no Western colonists carrying out colonial activities in this area, and even Tsarist Russia has not yet expanded the scope of activities to this area, so Haihan's activities in this area should not need to worry about Western colonists. competitors emerge.

Wang Tom spent a long time planning this operation, and made more detailed arrangements for personnel, ships, and materials, so the progress was very fast after the start of preparations.The only thing that makes him a little uneasy is that the naval forces that will participate in this exploration mission have just completed the snow-walking operation. After returning to the base, it seems that they have not been fully rested, and they will start preparing for a new voyage plan.

However, this plan has the full support of the executive committee and the Ministry of National Defense, and the budget is very sufficient, so the personnel participating in this plan will also calculate their remuneration based on the standard of combat missions, and the income of a few months of going out will be enough One year's military salary is enough to cheer up the sailors to complete this task.

Wang Tom gave the troops involved in this operation a seven-day holiday, allowing the soldiers to freely arrange the time before departure.Even if they want to go out to the nearby casinos and fireworks venues run by North Koreans, they will be allowed at this time.After all, in the next two or three months, they will all have to spend in the closed space on the ship, and the entertainment of these few days may be the material they will use to savor slowly in the next few months.

For the North Korean merchants operating in the service industry near the Datong River, this sudden holiday arrangement is simply a windfall. Thousands of Han soldiers poured into these places and spent a lot of money without hesitation. There are rare times throughout the year.

Of course, there will be North Korean official eyes and ears in these places, but the news they can get is that the Haihan Navy will be dispatched in the near future.As for the destination and the content of the mission, only a very small number of senior military officers know the inside story, which is a military secret with a very high level of secrecy, and it is unlikely that the outside world will find out.

Seven days later, all garrison personnel stopped their vacation and returned to the base.The personnel involved in this operation will also undergo a three-day intensive training to help them calm down and return to a normal state.

In December 1638, just before the arrival of the New Year, a fleet quietly sailed out of the port of the Daedong River Base, and then headed south along the coastline of the Korean Peninsula after leaving the sea.

This fleet is composed of one Majestic-class warship, four Expedition-class warships, two Exploration-class warships, and twelve comprehensive supply ships. The dispatched force has exceeded 500 people, and the scale of the operation is not small. up.Even if there is a situation that requires the use of force during the voyage, the configuration of this fleet is sufficient to deal with any maritime armed force in Northeast Asia.

However, Wang Tom, who has always been warlike, does not want any war to happen during the voyage this time. He prefers to use the limited time to go to more places instead of fighting other forces encountered on the way.

Of course, within the scope of the Sea of ​​Japan, the only ones that can really pose a threat to the Haihan Fleet are probably the Japanese navy.However, the Hirado Fleet, known as Japan's No. [-] naval force, had collapsed half a year ago, and it would be difficult to pull out a second armed fleet of the same strength if it wanted to come to Japan.

At the request of North Korean officials, the fleet stopped for a while while passing through Ganghwa Island. Wang Tom went to the island to meet with North Korean soldier Cao Judge Shen Jingzhen, and handed over the captives that North Korea had snatched back from the Hirado Domain in Japan this time.

Originally, this group of Japanese captives had arrived at Ganghwa Island half a month ago. The reason why they were not transported to the Daedong River base was because the North Korean officials specially transported these captives to Seoul in order to show their merits to the public, and held a prisoner offering ceremony outside the city. Li Yi thus became the first king of the Li Dynasty to hold such a ceremony in Seoul.

Although such a ceremony is quite contrived, it is no different from a shot in the arm for the North Korean people.Especially in Seoul, where the turmoil has just ended, the new king has achieved such a "feat" as soon as he took the throne, which is enough to respond to those voices who questioned his courage.

After using these tool people, he happened to hear the news that the Haihan Fleet on the Datong River was about to dispatch again. Li Yan made a request to Haihan, hoping to complete it by the way when the Haihan Fleet passed by Jianghua Island. A formal captive handover procedure.

In fact, the reason for making such a request is purely because Li Yan wanted to take this opportunity to inquire about the Haihan army's movements through official channels.Although it was inconvenient for him to leave Seoul, he still sent Shen Jingzhen over to see if he could get some more specific news.

Wang Tom was already a little dissatisfied with the North Korean side's discounted way of action, and the number of captured Japanese was also small, so he didn't plan to personally handover with the North Korean side, but this time it was Li Yan's initiative, and Wang Tom thought about it again and again. It was decided to give Li Yan enough face and let the fleet stop at Jianghua Island for a day.

As for why Li Xuan had to arrange this handover procedure, Wang Tom had already expected seven or eight points when he learned that the North Korean official who came to meet was Shen Jingzhen, the military judge.So after meeting Shen Jingzhen, the questions raised by the other party were basically within his expectations.

"About the whereabouts of our army going to sea this time, is it Lord Shen who wants to know, or His Majesty the King?" Tom Wang did not answer immediately after listening to Shen Jingzhen's question, but asked a few questions first.

Shen Jingzhen smiled and said: "General Wang was joking, of course it is His Majesty's intention, the old man is just spreading the word."

Shen Jingzhen is well aware that Haihan people have a lot of taboos. As long as there is no initiative to report to North Korea, it must be a military secret, and even allies cannot casually inquire about it.Although he is the commander in charge of the North Korean military, it is still not enough to ask about the movements of Haihan's army. Only when the king Li Yi, who is deeply trusted by Haihan, makes a request, can he get a positive response from Haihan.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Wang Tom softened his tone a bit: "Since it is His Majesty's intention, it is okay to talk about it. In fact, our trip is only a part of winter training. Make a visit."

Shen Jingzhen said: "Then, isn't your country planning to go to war with Japan?"

Wang Tom shook his head and said, "I don't have such a plan for the time being. Even if I have such a plan in the future, I will definitely avoid winter. It's just a trip to the sea. Please tell His Majesty the King after Mr. Shen returns."

Shen Jingzhen said: "If this is the case, then it would be the best. Although our country is not afraid of Japan, but now that the domestic situation has just settled, it is really inappropriate to immediately join another big war. I hope General Wang can understand."

What Shen Jingzhen said was exactly the general anxiety in the North Korean court at present. Li Yi worried that Haihan's going south this time was because he was dissatisfied with the results of North Korea's actions in Hirado, so he was going to deal with Japan himself.And once the Haihan army is deployed in a large scale, I am afraid that the situation will intensify and develop in the direction of national war.At that time, North Korea, as an ally of Haihan, can't stand by and watch, but can only bite the bullet and join the war.

With North Korea's current financial situation, getting involved in this war will only make the already poor treasury worse, and it will have to continue to borrow money from Haihan for the war.Although Li Yan has become almost numb to the country's debt situation, he does not want the situation to continue to deteriorate.Take a ten thousand step back and say that even if we really want to go to war with Japan, it is best to get Haihan's confirmation as soon as possible, so that at least the response will not be too passive.

Li Yan arranged for Shen Jingzhen to meet Wang Tom, hoping to confirm this matter in person.If you really want to fight, you should try your best to avoid your country's army being pushed to the front line by the Haihan people as cannon fodder.

Wang Tom can roughly think of the scruples of the North Koreans, and he said that he still thinks Li Yi is a bit higher, thinking that since he has the courage to send troops to Hirado, he should no longer be afraid of Japan, but now it seems that Japan's accumulation of prestige is obvious. Still, even though North Korea had attacked the Goto Islands, Li Yi still wanted to avoid war with Japan.

Of course, from Li Yan's point of view, there is nothing wrong with making such a choice, and Wang Tom can only comfort Shen Jingzhen with a few words of comfort, making Shen Jingzhen convinced that Hai Han will not go to war against Japan at the moment.

(End of this chapter)