Chapter 1502: Going against the current
Just as Jin Sangxian feared, he brought Ludxian into the palace and failed to immediately convince the indecisive king Li Zhu. Instead, he quickly summoned the opposition of the Lord and Pai Cui Mingji.
The "peace" advocated by Cui Mingji is not to surrender blindly, but to try to avoid armed conflicts with other countries. This low-key strategy is not because of how peace-loving he is, but because he has a relatively clear understanding of North Korea's armed strength. After all, North Korea has almost never achieved a decent victory in independent foreign wars. If it were not for the protection of Ming Dynasty, The country has probably been destroyed several times. After being beaten once, he was fucked once, and then there were endless surrenders and compensations. Cui Mingji realized that this situation could not continue, so he advocated avoiding armed conflicts with other countries as much as possible.
According to Luo Dexian, the Haihan army was a powerful presence that could crush Houjin on the Liaodong battlefield, and hoped to become an ally with North Korea. However, Haihan State did not use normal diplomatic channels to send envoys to contact North Korea. Instead, it directly sent a fully armed fleet. Cui Mingji believed that this approach was unusual, so he asked the Haihan Fleet not to enter the Han River. The generals or envoys can lead a small number of subordinates into Seoul to avoid being taken advantage of by the Haihan people with ulterior motives to break into the city.
Cui Mingji's worries are not unreasonable. After all, the North Korean army's defense capabilities are limited. If the Haihan Army is as powerful as Luo Dexian described, the risk of letting its army approach Seoul will be too great. For safety reasons, he could not agree to the plan proposed by Kim Sang-heon's group to let the Haihan fleet enter the Han River.
Kim Sang-hyun's view is somewhat different. He believes in the causes and consequences mentioned by Lud-heon. He believes that Hae-han's intention is not to invade, but to fully demonstrate force to North Korea in order to overwhelm the North Korean government and opposition in the shortest possible time, and then form the alliance needed by Hae-han. anti-gold alliance.
Kim Sang-hyun believes that peace cannot be achieved by praying, but rather by taking the initiative. It is impossible to expect evil neighbors like Hou Jin to repent one day. We can only hope for strong support to solve this foreign trouble for North Korea. In the past, North Korea naturally relied on the Ming Dynasty, but now the Ming Dynasty is unable to protect itself and has no time to look around. Not only can it not help North Korea, it can only pretend not to know about North Korea's tribute to the Jin Dynasty.
And Haihan is not a country in this region. No matter what their purpose is in starting a war with Hou Jin, the result is objectively beneficial to North Korea. In line with the diplomatic principle of distant friendship and close attack, North Korea should also have a good relationship with Haihan. Of course, Kim Sang-hyun automatically ignored the national strength required for the strategy of distant diplomacy and close attack, and forcibly put North Korea on an equal footing with Hae-Han to view this issue.
One side argued that the Haihan Fleet, which had come from afar, should be given a chance to show force, while the other side believed that it was too risky and could not allow the Haihan Fleet to approach Seoul. However, when King Li Zhu asked Cui Mingji if there was any way to ensure that the Haehan Fleet could stay on Ganghwa Island, he still couldn't help but hesitate and couldn't come up with a specific plan. After all, the North Korean navy was weak and the largest ship was only three. With hundreds of materials, how can it compete with the kind of cannon giant ship described by Luo Xian.
In the end, King Li Zhu chose the side of Cui Mingji, who tended to be conservative, but found a balance and asked Kim Sang-heon to draft a diplomatic letter to put forward his own demands. But even though Kim Sang-heon tried his best to be precise in his wording, he could not compromise on requiring the Hae-Han fleet to give up entering the Han River.
Having stayed in Liaodong for so long, Luo Dexian naturally knew how the Haihan people behaved. If this thing was sent to Ganghwa Island, it would most likely be thrown away as waste paper by the other party. But he was a soft-spoken person in front of these big shots. He was not qualified to give advice at all, so he could only obey the arrangements. He originally wanted to apply again to negotiate with the Haihan people, but Cui Mingji decisively rejected the request on the grounds that he needed to stay in Seoul to continue providing information about Haihan.
Of course, Luo Dexian understood that this was just an excuse. Cui Mingji was preventing the rebukes and factions from getting in touch with Haihan through him. For the first time, Luo Dexian felt that this kind of intrigue in the domestic political arena was so childish and ridiculous. In the face of an absolutely powerful armed force like Haihan, these calculations were simply in vain. But he knew that even if he said it, the big shots in front of him wouldn't believe it. After all, before seeing it with their own eyes, who could imagine that there is such a thing as Hai Hanjun in the world?
But even Luo Dexian could not have imagined that after receiving the letter sent from Seoul, the Haihan Army immediately broke camp and sailed into the waters of the Han River. This was inconsistent with the information he had received beforehand. At that time, the Haihan people told him that they would negotiate with North Korean officials and obtain permission before allowing the fleet to sail into the Han River. Luo Dexian also believed that he had gained great support for North Korea. Wiggle room. However, Wang Tom had no intention of fully respecting this agreement and launched a backup plan without hesitation.
The Hangang River is formed by the confluence of the Nam Han River originating from Daedeok Mountain and the North Han River originating from Mount Kumgang in Gyeonggi Province. It flows through Seoul and then flows into the Yellow Sea at Ganghwa Bay. In various dynasties in Korean history, the Han River Basin was an area that rulers fought to control because it was the starting point of the maritime trade route to China. After entering the reign of the Lee Dynasty, the Han River became the main waterway connecting the capital with the outside world.
The Haihan fleet sailed on the river without encountering any obstacles. Although it was going upstream, it still maintained an average speed of about four knots thanks to the advanced sail design on the ship. Although these warships are designed to fight at sea, a river surface several miles wide like the lower reaches of the Han River can fully meet the navigation needs of warships. Moreover, Wang Tom had sent a clipper into the Han River the day before. In addition to being on guard against the troops that North Korea might send from the waterway, another important task was to inspect the waterway conditions of the Han River from Seoul to the outlet.
Of course, the information provided by Luo Dexian before this is also very important. After all, in unfamiliar waters like the Han River, it is difficult to find out the conditions of its channel in a short period of time. The two clippers entering the Han River also The main purpose is to verify whether the conditions of the Han River provided by Luo Dexian are true.
The Haihan fleet arrived on the river less than ten miles away from Seoul, and finally aroused North Korea's alert. Fireworks and warning signals began to be set off along the river to indicate the invasion of foreign enemies. But the Haihan fleet obviously would not regard this reaction as a threat, and still headed upstream unhurriedly.
After traveling for a few more miles, several sailboats with North Korean military flags finally appeared on the river, but their tonnage was much smaller than that of the Haihan battleship. Wang Tom ordered the deck gun to remove its gun jacket, all lower gun portholes were opened, and all personnel entered combat positions. Although these North Korean sailing ships were not enough to threaten the safety of the Haihan fleet, Wang Tom still asked the fleet to enter a combat state. If the other party showed hostility, he would decisively warn with artillery fire.
Haihan actually has rich experience in fighting in rivers and waters. In the early years of the Annan Civil War, Haihan's few warships at that time entered the area controlled by the southern court from the sea, and went deep into the inland rivers to fight many surprise battles. Last year, Haihan used the Hangzhou fire incident to deliberately create tension. The Haihan fleet entered the Qiantang River from Hangzhou Bay and went straight to the city of Hangzhou to block the river. It was also an extremely sharp waterborne armed operation.
Although the environment of the Han River waters is relatively unfamiliar, the river surface here is wide and the water channel is deep. In addition, North Korea's surface armed forces are really weak, so Wang Tom can lead the fleet into this water area with great arrogance. Seeing the several Korean sailing ships continuing to sail towards this side, the leading ship "Majesty" fired the bow cannon first. The shell hit the water about ten feet away from the opponent's ship, causing a splash of water. Then the ships fired almost at the same time. He turned for a moment and headed towards the north bank of the Han River. He was obviously frightened by this shelling.
"Ignore them and move on!" Wang Tom gave the order very decisively.
At this time, Seoul finally received news that a foreign armed fleet was sailing upstream from the Han River and was about to arrive in Seoul. According to the description in the witness report, the red and blue flags were uniformly hung on the masts of this fleet. It was obviously the Haihan fleet that Luo Dexian mentioned.
"Didn't you say that the Haihan people will not take actions at will?" Jin Sangxian was anxious when he heard the news. Although he supported Luo Dexian's idea, if the Haihan people really took the initiative to use force in Seoul, the nature of the matter would change. .
Luo Dexian was naturally more excited than he was. He did not expect that the Haihan people would break the contract. Whether this action beyond his expectation was to come to Seoul to show force or to take further military measures, he had no idea what would happen next. What's up. But Luo Dexian knew that if he wanted to save his life, he must try his best to prevent an uncontrollable armed conflict between the two countries. Once a war broke out, he, the only insider, would probably be treated as a traitor with foreign ties.
"Master Jin, the purpose of the Haihan people is not to attack Seoul. Please give the order quickly, Master Jin, to restrain the defenders and not to engage in any form of fighting with the Haihan people. Even the hostility should not be too obvious, so as to prevent the other party from causing unnecessary hostility." Misunderstanding!" Luo Dexian knelt down in front of Jin Sangxian and begged him: "I am willing to guarantee with my life that Haihan people have no ill intentions."
Jin Sangxian actually regretted having listened to Ludexian before and took him to the palace to meet the king. Now the situation is on the verge of getting out of control, and he is afraid that the king will not trust him no matter what he says. But as a high-ranking official, he also knew that the more this happened, the more he had to try to save himself. If Haihan really used force, it would prove that all his previous views were wrong, and he would no longer have to hang out in official circles in the future. Therefore, although what Luo Xian said was unpleasant, it was indeed a measure that he must take now. Armed conflicts must be prevented first, and then there will be an opportunity to resolve problems through negotiations.
"This is the capital of North Korea!" Wang Tom couldn't help but sigh as he observed the city not far from the river bank through the telescope.
This city has been designated as the capital of the Lee Dynasty of Korea for more than 240 years. During this period, it has been repaired and expanded many times. The entire city wall is nearly 30 miles long. Just looking at the appearance of the city tower, it is considered majestic, at least worthy of the Ming Dynasty. The construction level of a general prefectural city is high, but the city wall is very low, at most the level of Daming County. Seoul is divided into Heunginmun, Sungnyemun, Donuimun, and Sukjeongmun in the southeast and northwest directions. In addition, there are four smaller gates such as Gwangheemun, Hyehwamun, Sodeokmun, and Changuimun. They are located at the center of the city. On the four corners, there are a total of eight city gates, four large and four small. There is also a small river named Gaecheon, later known as Cheonggyecheon, which runs through the city from west to east and is responsible for discharging urban domestic sewage.
However, from Wang Tom's perspective, the city's periphery did not fully utilize the water sources of the Han River to build a large moat, which was really a major failure in defense. The city wall is short and there are no defensive fortifications within the moat. It is no wonder that when Hou Jin attacked, it hardly took much effort. The princes and nobles in the city had already abandoned the city and fled. Even the Koreans themselves understood that this The city cannot be defended during the war.
Shen Zhixiang has dealt with North Korea a lot, and he can roughly imagine what Wang Tom thought when he saw Seoul. He explained next to him: "Joseon is a vassal state and cannot overstep its regulations on city walls. In addition, its engineering capabilities are poor and it cannot even bake bricks and stones." They are all difficult problems. It is really a huge burden to build such a wall to surround the entire city. Therefore, without urgent defense needs, they can only build the city wall shorter to reduce the amount of work."
Wang Tom asked: "Don't Koreans even know how to bake bricks?"
"North Korea's brick-making technology is extremely poor, and most of the houses where people live are thatched houses with mud walls. Moreover, firing city wall bricks is different from ordinary bricks, and it still requires some skills." Shen Zhixiang explained: "If the chief has the opportunity to go there in the future, If you walk around the walls of Seoul, you will find that almost all of their walls are made of stones, and only the battlements are made of bricks. ”
"This is quite backward!" Wang Tom couldn't help but muttered, and he underestimated North Korea's military strength. If this kind of city waterproofing is placed in front of the Haihan Army, it will only take an hour or two to destroy the city. Even if the Marine Corps is not equipped with large-caliber siege guns, it should not be difficult to break through such a low city wall.
Liu Shang also saw the scene of Seoul in the telescope. He did not look down on North Korea's fortifications. Whether a country is strong or not cannot be judged simply by the height of the city walls. Sanya, the capital of Haihan, has many places except Victory Fort. There is no city wall, but which country's army can invade Sanya? It was only after hearing Shen Zhixiang say that Korea's brick-making technology was not perfect that Liu Shang couldn't help but have thoughts similar to Wang Tom's. How can such a backward country compete with Haihan?
(End of chapter)