1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2668
Li Yan had some guesses about Haihan's real purpose of using Zhu Zian, but he never had a chance to verify it.

Affiliated to Haihan's official Peninsula Times, Gyeongbokgung Palace has always been one of the most loyal subscribers.From the inaugural issue onwards, Li Yan has never published an issue, using it as a window to understand the political trends of Haihan.Of course, he has read all the series of reports about Zhu Zian in the recent Times.

From the very beginning, Li Yan didn't think that Zhu Zian's appearance was purely a coincidence and a small probability event. Even if Daming had already lost power seriously, how could a young man who might be named the next vassal give up what was at his fingertips? Prosperous and wealthy, he traveled all the way to Hangzhou to participate in the township examination held in Donghai Region.

If this was not an action carefully planned by Hai Han, it would be that this person pretended to be Zhu Zi'an of De Wang's mansion in Hangzhou to deceive.

The Times later reported that this person was actually the first in the imperial examination, which made Li Yan even more puzzled.If this person didn't have strong real talents, then he was a shady plan deliberately arranged by Hai Han.

It wasn't until the following reports that Zhu Zian had been exceptionally hired by the Donghai District Management Committee and appointed him as an accompanying official of the mission to North Korea that Li Yan realized that the background of this matter might not be simple. Haihan's appointment of this person should It has another meaning.

But until now, Li Yan still had doubts about Zhu Zi'an's identity, and couldn't quite understand how the younger brother of the Daming Fan had anything to do with the East China Sea region thousands of miles away, and how the two sides reached mutual trust and cooperation.Later, when the mission arrived at Jeju Island and confirmed that Zhu Zian was indeed among them, Seoul hurriedly arranged for people to find a way to verify Zhu Zian's identity in Shandong after receiving the news.

After Zhu Zian arrived in Seoul with the mission, Li Yan also met him when he received the mission at Gyeongbokgung Palace, but there was no direct communication between the two, and he really couldn't express his feelings.But at this time, Li Yan had already noticed that Hai Han's appointment of Zhu Zi'an was more or less for the purpose of showing off to North Korea - even the children of the Ming royal family could only obediently serve Hai Han.

But also because of this, Li Yan didn't want to have too much interaction with Zhu Zian.In his opinion, Haihan's move is to test whether his position is stable, paying too much attention to Zhu Zian, or even giving him extra-standard courtesy, may cause Haihan's dissatisfaction.The safest way is to keep a distance, ignore Zhu Zian's special status, and don't mention anything about him to Hai Han at all, so as not to cause complications.

However, Li Xun was still worried that someone in the court would have trouble, so he specifically told Park Hongye to keep an eye on Zhu Zian, and pay special attention to whether any court officials came to visit him.

After briefly explaining Zhu Zian's affairs, Li Yan has to hand over some government affairs that need to be followed up to Park Hongye, because in the next few days, he will set off with the Haihan fleet to the waters near the mouth of the Han River to observe the joint military forces of the two countries military exercise.

For Li Yi, the significance of this joint exercise is not only to enhance the combat effectiveness of his country's elite troops, but also to take this opportunity to prove to the people that he is the only ruler of North Korea recognized by Hai Han.

North Korea's current situation of dividing the north from the south was intentionally created by Hai Han, but as the ruler, Li Yi was powerless to resist this arrangement, so he could only try his best to win Hai Han's trust and support.

Fortunately, most of the new armies established in these years are under the control of Li Yan, so there is no need to worry about the brothers in the north surpassing him in terms of military strength for the time being.

But at the same time, there is also a problem that is not easy to solve, that is, Haihan's main garrison base in North Korea is located on the banks of the Datong River in the north. Being sent to Li Hao's territory made Li Hao very uncomfortable all the time.Later, Li Yan simply chose to stay away from the near and far away, and sent the generals to Zhoushan for training and further study, keeping as far away from Li Hao's territory as possible.

Although it would be a little troublesome to do so, Li Xi wanted to maintain his dominant position regardless of the cost, and the difficulties were not difficult to overcome.And Li Hao in the north is naturally aware of his elder brother's methods. With the support of the northern region and a large number of industrial units on the site, he doesn't have to worry about the economy and military, so he began to concentrate on cultivating his own power.

Over time, the current situation in which the two imperial courts in the north and the south depend on the northern region and the East China Sea region respectively has formed.Li Yan knew that no matter it was politics, economy, or military, it would be difficult to use ordinary means to suppress his brothers in the north, so in the end he had to work hard to win over Haihan.As long as he is approved by the Haihan Executive Committee, he can still continue to be the king of Joseon in a stable manner, while Li Hao in the north can only continue to be a toolman.

The visit of the Haihan Mission and the joint military exercise are a rare opportunity for Li Yi to perform.He decided to attend the military exercise on the spot in person, and he also wanted to draw the attention of the people to this Haihan visit to North Korea, thereby declaring his orthodox status.

And Haihan's high-profile arrangements for this visit to North Korea also coincided with Li Yi's thoughts, whether it was the new round of trade negotiations around bulk commodities, the gossip of the children of the Ming royal family in the mission, or the fleet held recently. The open visit activities have all aroused great attention from the public.Although these attentions are only limited to the vicinity of Gyeonggi for the time being, he is sure that it will spread rapidly to the whole country in the near future.

The joint military exercise is the last hot spot of the Haihan delegation's visit to North Korea.Compared with the significance of this move to the military cooperation between the two countries, Li Yi actually pays more attention to its political value and propaganda effect.

After all, the biggest threat to North Korea at this time is not from external military pressure, but the stability of the royal power and the stability of the domestic political situation.He is also quite looking forward to obtaining more explicit support from Haihan through this military exercise, which may be more valuable than the military strength of the participating troops.

When Li Xuan left Seoul, Park Hongye, as the chief assistant minister, had to temporarily assume the responsibility of handling the government affairs of the court.It took Li Yan a full two hours to explain everything.

When Park Hongye took the order to leave, it was already midnight.Although he had a meeting all night, Li Yan was completely sleepless. He picked up the latest issue of Al Jazeera Times again and read the news about the cooperation between the two countries in mining two copper and iron mines in the northern part of North Korea.

The prospecting work led by Haehan made great progress last year, respectively in the copper mine in Hyesan County and the iron mine in Musan County in North Hamgyong Province.It is said that these two deposits are not only of high grade ore, but also have huge reserves, which cannot be fully mined even in the past hundred years.But what makes Li Yan uncomfortable is that these two deposits are located in Li Hao's jurisdiction, and they are located in the inland mountainous area, so it is much more difficult to develop than the deposits in the Datong River Basin.

(End of this chapter)