Chapter 1505 The demeanor of a strong man
The absolutely powerful force makes it difficult for people to have the idea of confronting it, and the ruthless destruction of the target ship by the Haihan Fleet has exactly this effect. This old ship couldn't even hold on until the entire fleet completed a strike. When the last few ships sailed into the shooting area, less than one-third of the ship was still floating on the water. However, the Navy still strictly implemented the exercise plan and continued to pour artillery shells at the shipwrecks on the water. Although it is inevitable that some cannonballs will hit the air, the high splash of water will have a more visual impact on the audience.
It is not that the Korean monarchs and ministers have never witnessed naval battles, but the long-range firepower of the wooden house ships and turtle ships installed by the Korean Navy cannot compare with the Haehan battleship. In the Luliang naval battle in 1598, although the allied fleets of the Ming Dynasty and North Korea also used artillery and blunderbuss as firepower output, the tactics used during the battle were still based on boarding battles. Like the Haihan fleet, they fought from start to finish. The method of killing the target with a final bombardment was unheard of by North Korean monarchs and ministers.
"It's really... awesome!" After watching this artillery drill, Li Zhu could only express this emotion. If North Korea had such a powerful fleet, the North Korean army would not have fought so hard in the two naval battles of Mingliang and Luliang against the Japanese invasion more than 30 years ago.
The generals around Li Zhu saw more things. The astonishingly high speed of the Haihan fleet, the maintenance of the formation when traveling on the river, and even the very regular rhythm when firing guns, with each door firing in sequence. The loud cannons showed that this fleet was well-trained. If it is inferred from this, Shen Zhixiang is indeed not bragging when he claims that this fleet has very rich combat experience and even wiped out Hou Jin's maritime armed forces.
As a general of the Ming army, Shen Zhixiang admired this fleet so much, which also shows another thing. The strength of the Haihan fleet is superior to the Ming Navy. If it is more powerful than the Ming Navy, then for North Korea's generals, it can basically be equal to the strongest in the world.
Li Yan's idea was very intuitive and simple. The tactical literacy and equipment level displayed by the Haihan fleet were indeed not showy. If the Haihan people could completely suppress Houjin at sea, their performance on land should not be much different. According to the information brought back by Luo Dexian, the Haihan Army could defeat the Hou Jin Army in a fancy way on the Liaodong battlefield. Although the North Korean monarchs and ministers did not believe this at the time, after watching the fleet's drills, everyone understood that Luo Xian He probably wasn't bragging for Haihan on this matter.
"General Shen, since the Haihan people are so powerful, why didn't they start contact with our country two years earlier? If we had contacted earlier, maybe we wouldn't be so nervous now." Li Zhu's seemingly regretful words were actually intended to pass. Shen Zhixiang's relationship can ease the tension between the two parties. After all, when the Haihan fleet landed on the shore, it seemed that the countdown to the outbreak of war had entered. But now it is known that the Haihan people did not intend to go to war with North Korea. Li He felt that it was necessary to restore the impression his country had left on the other party.
Shen Zhixiang responded: "Reporting to your Majesty, Haihan's move into Liaodong only started last winter, only about half a year ago. But at that time, if an alliance was proposed to North Korea, Haihan would not be able to show any record that could convince your country. , it will most likely be rejected by your country, so Commander Haihan decided to open up the situation in Liaodong before discussing the alliance with your country. This is only safe."
This is of course just a high-sounding statement. In fact, Haihan did not consider the existence of North Korea too much when he planned the Liaodong strategy. Because Haihan's senior officials are actually aware of the situation in North Korea and know that this country is actually a bit unreliable, and they are used to sitting on the fence and watching the wind. At that time, Haihan's advance into Liaodong was still a highly confidential plan, but in order to get North Korea to join the group, the secret must be told to them, and the possibility of leaking military information would become very high. In addition to official envoys stationed in Seoul, Hou Jin also had many eyes and ears among the people. Once they learned of Haihan's plans in Liaodong, the difficulty of the operation would be greatly increased.
The Ministry of Security also specifically warned the military not to take risks for temporary gain, so in the end the military made no attempt to discuss the possibility of military cooperation with North Korean senior officials before advancing into Liaodong. He also specifically warned several high-level generals in Dongjiang Town who were informed about Haihan's plans in Liaodong.
Of course Shen Zhixiang knew about this. The order he received at the beginning was to keep it secret from the North Koreans, so naturally there was no communication. The root cause of this matter is that the Haihan people do not trust North Korea. Considering their face problems, of course, this kind of thing cannot be said directly to the King of North Korea.
Li Biao suddenly realized: "General Shen's words are reasonable. In this way, General Haihan has considered it very carefully." In his words, he seemed not to be aware of the problem at all. Of course, even if he was aware of it, if Li Biao hadn't Even a fool would not express his dissatisfaction in front of Shen Zhixiang. After all, Shen Zhixiang's position is obviously on the side of Haihan. His words and deeds will definitely be conveyed to Haihan later. Now the Haihan fleet is on the Han River and has not yet left. Only by being careful with words and deeds can we avoid misfortune. out.
Li Zhu's statement set the tone for the subsequent contact between the two parties. Not only did Shen Zhixiang receive such a signal, but the civil and military ministers around Li Zhu also immediately understood what the king meant.
The Haihan people have already used their chips, and Li Zhu should be relatively satisfied with this. After all, an army that can completely suppress Hou Jin on the battlefield is an existence that North Korea currently hopes for and cannot hope for. If even the Ming Dynasty's military has endorsed the reliability of Haihan's army, then North Korea has no reason not to believe that Haihan can help North Korea get rid of the predicament of being enslaved by Hou Jin.
Of course, Li Zhu and his ministers would definitely not accept all the logistical support Haihan asked North Korea to provide, and a bargaining process was indispensable. But as long as North Korea relaxes, the rest of the things will be relatively simple. Haihan is extremely good at this type of negotiation, not to mention there is an armed fleet waiting here, and most of the pace of the next negotiations will be handled by Haihan. Take control.
An hour after Li Zhu made his statement, Wang Tom received the good news from Shen Zhixiang. Although this was the direction that everyone expected, the fact that the North Koreans were able to let go so smoothly can be regarded as the result of the coordinated cooperation between the military, intelligence, diplomacy, logistics and other departments. And if you want to calculate it carefully, the cost of this operation is also very considerable. The fleet has almost concentrated more than 80% of the combat ships of the Northern Fleet, and the entire Marine Corps is also accompanying it in case of emergency. All equipment and ammunition rationing, as well as the entire fleet's expenses during operations, are all carried out in accordance with wartime standards. If an armed conflict does break out outside Seoul, Wang Tom is also confident that he will teach the North Koreans a lesson. "Save money and trouble." Wang Tom gave a four-word comment on the North Koreans' compromise. Now that the North Koreans understand current affairs at the last moment, the expected armed conflicts and extraneous troubles should not occur. This is indeed good news for Haihan. Although Haihan had already wiped out Hou Jin's water-based armed forces, the Northern Fleet's departure from Liaodong for too long was ultimately unsettling. Wang Tom also hoped to get rid of the North Korean side as soon as possible and let the Northern Fleet return to Liaodong to carry out the real operation. combat mission.
But before that, he had to be patient and deal with the matters that needed to be dealt with with the North Korean monarchs and ministers first. After the two sides negotiated for a day and night through the intermediary Shen Zhixiang, they finally agreed to hold a meeting between the King of Korea and Commander Haihan in a palace courtyard at the foot of Namsan Mountain in the south of Seoul.
Wang Tom was not worried about what tricks the North Koreans could play. He only took a platoon of people and went ashore to attend the appointment. In order to show the magnificence of the Haihan Army, Wang Tom specially applied for a group of war horses to accompany him this time, and now they all came in handy. Seeing that the Haihan Army actually took dozens of war horses from the ship to ride on them, the North Koreans concluded that the Haihan Army's coming to Seoul this time was determined to start a war if they could not reach an agreement. Otherwise, if it was just a demonstration on the water, there would be no need. Carrying so many war horses was obviously used to prepare for landing operations.
Tom Wang’s own mount is a very strong and tall black Andalusian horse, imported from the Iberian Peninsula in Europe by the Portuguese the year before last. After working as a stallion at the racecourse for a year, he was handed over to Tom Wang last year. It's a pity that Wang Tom spent more time at sea than on land. This precious mount was transported from Sanya to Zhejiang, and then from Zhejiang to Shandong and Liaodong. During this period, there was really not much riding time. Haru Gongdu scolded He is wasting his natural resources and plans to take the horse back sometime and continue to work as a stud.
After Shen Zhixiang came to meet Wang Tom, the group went to Nanshan under the leadership of the North Korean military attache. The highest point of Baohaihan, a hill in the south of Seoul, is only more than 200 meters, but it is already the commanding height near Seoul. Nanshan is covered with lush vegetation, and at the foot of the mountain was used as a vacation hunting palace by successive kings of the Lee Dynasty, and a courtyard was built here for living at any time.
When Wang Tom was staying in Jiangnan, he had seen many courtyards of wealthy families in the coastal state capitals. However, the courtyards built by the Korean royal family were not really luxurious, nor did they have much artistic sense. They were basically ordinary Korean houses. Just an enlarged version. According to Shen Zhixiang's explanation, this is also because North Korea is relatively backward in architecture and has difficulty designing and building Chinese-style courtyards on its own. Even though he is a king, in Wang Tom's opinion, the layout of the palace courtyard is similar to the courtyards of the old and wealthy wealthy people in the countryside of the Ming Dynasty, except that the area is larger.
However, the King of Korea was still quite proud of his palace courtyard, and he hospitably introduced the origin of every brick, stone, plant and tree in this courtyard to Tom Wang who was meeting him for the first time. Although transporting a rockery from a hundred miles away or moving a big tree from a certain mountain sounds very impressive, in Wang Tom's opinion, this is simply child's play. For this kind of courtyard that is built like building blocks, it is also a waste of money. There's not much that's pleasing to the eye. I just stood from the guest's point of view and politely expressed my appreciation and envy for these details that the host was proud of.
But in Li Zhu's eyes, he couldn't help but add some drama to Wang Tom. He believed that this was a manifestation of General Haihan's friendly attitude toward himself and North Korea. The next negotiations between the two parties should be based on this friendly atmosphere.
Of course, after he sat down and started negotiating with Tom Wang, he discovered that he was wrong. Tom Wang had no intention of being polite to him when it came to the negotiation of the alliance between the two countries and related rights and obligations.
"Food and manpower are two resources that your country must provide to Liaodong, and our country will have some specific requirements on quantity and supply time." Wang Tom unceremoniously reiterated Haihan's request to Li Zhu: " In addition, please provide us with supplies of livestock, poultry, timber, iron, coal, and other daily necessities. We are not asking for them for free, but will offer you a reasonable price for the transaction.”
Li Zhu was not a monarch who was good at negotiating, but Wang Tom only talked to him by name, and Li Xi couldn't even push out his ministers to fight on his behalf. Li Jie seemed to have not found a suitable way to refuse Wang Tom's aggressive requests. For the first time, he discovered that besides the envoys of the Ming Dynasty and the Hou Jin Dynasty, there were other people who could make him panic with just words.
"General Wang, these matters can be discussed later. I think that since your country wants to become an ally with our country and is willing to provide military asylum to our country, can you also consider training the army for our country or selling some capabilities? Excellent weapons for our country?" Li Zhu decided to try to control the pace of negotiations in his own hands.
Wang Tom understood why Li Zhu had such an idea. One of Shen Zhixiang's tasks was to introduce to the Koreans the many supports that Dongjiang Town received from Haihan, including training the army, training officers, providing new weapons, etc. His purpose was to We must encourage the North Koreans to seek military assistance from Haihan on their own.
Of course, the purpose of instructing Shen Zhixiang to do this was not really to help North Korea improve its military strength. The military just wanted to find a place to dispose of the old weapons that had been eliminated or were about to be eliminated. A country like North Korea, where people are stupid, rich, and easy to bully, is of course an ideal target. In the name of military assistance, the old matchlocks and flintlock guns in the warehouse are sold to North Korea at a "reasonable" price, or in exchange for various logistic services that North Korea can provide. For Haihan, They are all good deals with guaranteed profits and no losses.
(End of chapter)