Chapter 1506 Cooperation and Alliance
Judging from Li Zhu's initiative to bring this matter up, Shen Zhixiang's agitation work can be said to have been quite successful. Tom Wang did not even need to do any more work as he had already posted it himself. This is of course reasonable. Even with the Ming Dynasty's level of armament, Xu Xinsu was also very moved after seeing Haihan's weapons and equipment. After that, she took the initiative to apply for military consultants and weapons procurement from Haihan, and then gradually His destiny is bound to the ship Haihan. Of course, the quality of North Korea's military is far inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty, and there is a clear gap even compared to the Annan Army, which has gradually become Haihan-oriented armed forces. Directly purchasing weapons and armed forces from Haihan may be the fastest way for them to improve their military strength. .
Of course, with Li Zhu's perspective, which has not seen much of the world, he will definitely not understand that the most important factor in an army is not the weapons and equipment, but the people participating in the battle. Otherwise, how could the Ming Dynasty, which was superior in all aspects such as national strength, military strength, armed level, combat experience, command system, etc., fall into the hands of a group of Liaodong barbarians who were hunters, fishermen and herdsmen. The performance of Haihan's weapons and equipment does have advantages across the ages, but what is more important is that it is deployed in an army that can give full play to its power. Otherwise, even if the weapons of the Marine Corps are exchanged with the North Korean army, the latter will still be the same. Can end up defeated in a battle.
The military advisory services provided by Haihan to Annan, Champa, Daming and other countries are complementary to the arms export trade. However, the North Koreans do not seem to be aware of this at present. They are just thinking about taking advantage of the advanced technology in the hands of Haihan people. The weapons were bought, and it seemed that this would be enough to fight against the Hou Jin army, which they had always been afraid of. But things are never that easy. The Ming Dynasty's army, which was equipped with large-scale firearms, could not defeat the Jin Army, let alone the semi-professional armies of North Korea. If they really think they can defeat Hou Jin with weapons, they will definitely suffer big losses in the future.
However, Wang Tom would definitely not reveal the secret at the moment. Since the other party showed his intention to purchase weapons, he would naturally take the order. When Ji Ji ordered someone to get Haihan's current list of arms sales items and show it to Li Yan - this thing was forced on him by Bai Kesi before departure, hoping that he could sell some weapons and equipment to the North Koreans. But now it seems that the North Koreans may have been oppressed by Hou Jin for too long, and their attitude is far more proactive than imagined.
"We will sell everything on the list." Wang Tom introduced with a smile: "But I must remind His Majesty that only allies can enjoy our country's arms sales."
Wang Tom's words were undoubtedly a direct reminder to Li Zhu that if he wanted to buy weapons from Haihan, he should first take action and sign the alliance agreement first. Sure enough, these words were like a basin of cold water that woke Li Zhu out of his excitement. Only then did he realize that the other party was not a pure arms dealer, but represented the powerful Haihan State and was negotiating with him on the development of relations between the two countries. .
Forming an alliance with Haihan would mean falling out with Hou Jin and tearing up the peace agreement signed after Ding Mao's chaos. This is undoubtedly a very risky move. If there is a problem with the connection, and the purchased Haihan weapons have not yet been received, and Houjin comes to hold them responsible, North Korea will probably be beaten again.
Li Jingqian smiled and said: "Many details of the alliance will take time to be discussed slowly, but cooperation matters between the two countries can be implemented first without waiting for the signing of the agreement."
How could Wang Tom fall for his trick? He shook his head and said: "His Majesty the King does not know. Our Haihan State has a special agency to handle foreign arms sales. If the object is not an ally that has signed a cooperation agreement, Sanya will not let it go." The weapons and equipment sold are shipped out of the warehouse. I think in order for the cooperation to go smoothly, His Majesty the King should sign the agreement early, which is beneficial to both our countries.”
It would indeed be frustrating to stand in North Korea's position. Haihan did not leave any choice for North Korea, either to cooperate and form an alliance, or to fall out and go to war. Now, although King Li Zhuo is forced to choose the former due to the force of Haihan, he still cannot avoid being urged by the other party to sign a written agreement as soon as possible in order to implement subsequent cooperation projects.
Li Zhu couldn't help but feel a little confused for a moment. Who is asking whom to cooperate? Didn’t the Haihan people come to us in the beginning to seek cooperation? Why does this position seem to be reversed while talking about it, and it has become a situation where North Korea is asking Haihan for help.
Shen Zhixiang lost no time in chatting next to him: "Your Majesty, Haihan Kingdom does have this rule. At the beginning of our cooperation with Haihan, Dongjiang Town signed an alliance first, and then received military assistance from Haihan. Your Majesty, rest assured, Haihan is a country based on business, and the most important thing is credit. As long as this covenant is signed, the terms listed will definitely be implemented. ”
Li Zhu did not respond immediately. After a long time, he sighed and said: "The dilemma for me is not actually the issue of signing first and signing later, but whether this kind of alliance goes against justice."
< br>
Wang Tom thought to himself that the North Korean king was a man of many dramas, and even showed off his bitter feelings in front of him. Did it violate morality? Did North Korea consider this issue when they formed an alliance with Hou Jin? Raising this issue now is nothing more than an attempt to delay the alliance. After all, the suzerain state of North Korea is the Ming Dynasty. If we really want to follow moral operating procedures, we at least need the approval and permission of the Ming Dynasty court. Of course, an overseas garrison located in a corner like Dongjiang Town is not qualified to express its position on behalf of the Ming Dynasty on this issue.
Wang Tom said: "The Ming Dynasty's special envoy will arrive in Liaodong in the near future to discuss with our country the future ownership of the place and the future relations between the two countries. If your country really intends to obtain the official permission of the Ming Dynasty, then it is best to send another one with authority. The big shot will go to Liaodong to witness it. When the Ming Dynasty envoy nods, all you have to do is comply.”
Li Zhu didn't expect that Tom Wang would have such an arrangement, and he didn't know how to answer for a while. If the other party is not bluffing, then in order to resist Hou Jin and regain the lost territory outside the customs, it might not be a bad idea for Ming Dynasty to temporarily use North Korea as a condition of exchange for Haihan's support.
Shen Zhixiang watched secretly amused. As for the alliance negotiations, Wang Tom, the king of Korea, was not as well prepared as Wang Tom. Haihan had been preparing for this matter for a long time, and Li Zhu suddenly decided to hold talks with Wang Tom. Naturally, he was everywhere Being constrained, it is impossible to gain the upper hand in negotiations.
Moreover, Wang Tom was not an empty threat. The matter of contacting the court to report the merits was originally handled by Dongjiang Town through his relationship with the court. There has indeed been a response from the capital. It is said that the Ministry of War will send a minister to Liaodong for inspection. Military situation and combat situation to confirm that the battle report sent by Dongjiang Town to the capital was not false. Of course, this special envoy also has a special secret mission, which is to meet with the Haihan people who are leading the situation in Liaodong to discuss sensitive topics such as relations between the two countries and the future ownership of the Liaodong region. Judging by the time, the Ming Dynasty's special envoy should arrive in Liaodong in a few days. There is no need to worry about any changes in the middle, so Wang Tom can now confidently and boldly release the news to the North Koreans. He knew that Ming Dynasty was an irresistible existence for North Korea. If the Ming Dynasty envoy could be made to relent, North Korea would definitely choose to comply. Of course, how to convince the Ming envoy will probably be another difficult negotiation.
However, in this way, the time for Haihan to sign an alliance agreement with North Korea will definitely be postponed for a few days, which is detrimental to Haihan's plan to use North Korea as a logistics resource as soon as possible. If there were other ways to urge North Korea to sign the contract earlier, Wang Tom originally did not want to use this method.
The day's negotiations ultimately did not reach a substantive result, but Li Zhu hosted a banquet for Wang Tom and Shen Zhixiang after the talks. However, Wang Tom was used to big meals, and he was not interested in the shabby banquet where Koreans set a table with small dishes and small bowls. Too interested. After eating hastily and observing the etiquette, he said goodbye and returned to the fleet.
Of course, the two sides would not rest here. In the evening, they each recruited their own think tanks and began to analyze the negotiation situation, and each planned how to gain the initiative in the subsequent negotiations and achieve their goals.
The words are divided into two parts, each expressing one branch. When Wang Tom led the Northern Fleet to show off its power outside Seoul, North Korea, a team secretly sent by the capital had also arrived at Haihan's control area in the north. This team was led by Mei Shengchuan, the Minister of War, and its purpose was to verify the true battle situation of the coalition forces composed of Dongjiang Town and Haihan in Liaodong.
Mei Shengchuan and Shen Shikui, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town, were old acquaintances. The two got acquainted when Shen Shikui was still doing business in Liaodong, and they could be considered friends for many years. After Shen Shikui took over the mess in Dongjiang Town, if Mei Shengchuan hadn't taken care of it for him in the court, Dongjiang Town would have been destroyed long ago. However, after boarding the big ship of Haihan in Dongjiang Town, Mei Shengchuan's investment finally paid off. Shen Shikui sent large sums of money to Beijing every two months in order to officially establish the official relationship between Haihan and the Ming Dynasty. He made contact with the joints, and at least half of the money went into the pocket of Umeikawa, who was entrusted by him to handle this matter.
Of course, Mei Shengchuan is not a person who takes money and does nothing. In fact, he did a very good job in management. In addition, Dongjiang Town sent real enemy heads, flags, weapons, etc. to be captured as physical evidence of the Liaodong victory. Even the Ming Dynasty No matter how unfavorable the imperial court was to Haihan, it could no longer turn a blind eye to the situation in Liaodong. So in the end, with the help of Mei Shengchuan, Emperor Chongzhen decided to send people to Liaodong to see what was going on, and also negotiate with the Haihan people. After all, the Haihan country had snatched a lot of territory from the Ming Dynasty, although the Ming Dynasty had been withdrawing There is no need to take action against Haihan, but there must be an explanation for this matter.
Naturally, it was necessary to find a knowledgeable person to take charge of this matter. Emperor Chongzhen made many choices, and finally handed over the task to Mei Shengchuan. There are two reasons. First, as the minister of the Ministry of War, he went to the war zone to inspect, verify military exploits, and express condolences to the troops. These were all matters within the scope of his duties; second, Mei Shengchuan had an old relationship with Shen Shikui, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town, so he went to the local office. It might be more convenient.
Mei Shengchuan had originally intended to recommend himself. Since the emperor saved himself the drama, it would be better to obey his orders than to be respectful. Before setting off, Chongzhen met with him alone in the imperial study room. While encouraging him, he also gave special instructions, asking him not to let himself down in front of the Haihan people and to deal with territorial issues in a reasonable and well-founded manner. To resist, Haihan's power over the Ming Dynasty territory he occupied cannot be easily recognized.
This errand is actually quite sensitive in nature. After all, Liaodong is the territory of the Ming Dynasty in name only, but it was first occupied by Hou Jin's force. Now the Haihan people defeated Hou Jin in Liaodong and got a share of the pie. When the Ming Dynasty officials contacted Haihan at this time, they were undoubtedly suspected of choosing to compromise on the Liaodong issue. If the news spread, the prestige of the court would definitely be greatly affected. Therefore, for the sake of the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, Mei Shengchuan and his team could only leave the capital in a non-public manner, and the purpose of their trip was not allowed to be made public. For this reason, the Ministry of War personnel changed their identities and arranged their itinerary, which delayed some more time.
Mei Shengchuan's team consisted of only seventy or eighty people, pretending to be wealthy businessmen returning to their hometown to visit their relatives. After leaving the capital, they turned southeast and went all the way to Dagu Town at the seaside junction of Shuntian Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture. Three sailing ships were prepared to go out to sea. However, this fleet did not go directly to Liaodong. Instead, it first went to Dengzhou, Shandong Province and stayed at the water village outside Dengzhou city for one night.
That night, Mei Shengchuan met with Chen Zhongsheng, the prefect of Dengzhou, and Liao Jie, the commander of the Shandong Dusi, to learn about Haihan's situation in Shandong, and at the same time conveyed to them some of the court's arrangements. As for what was specifically discussed, outsiders do not know. The fleet only stayed outside Dengzhou City for one night, and set off the next day to continue eastbound, directly to Zhifu Port, Haihan's base in Shandong.
Since the agreement had been made through the middleman of Dongjiang Town beforehand, the secret visit of the Ming Dynasty official did not cause any misunderstanding. Hao Wanqing, the top official of the Ministry of Security in the north, personally met with Mei Shengchuan and communicated with him about Haihan's current almost abnormal occupation situation in Shandong.
Hao Wanqing made two demands to Mei Shengchuan. First, Haihan's rights and interests in Fushan County should be recognized, especially the ports, towns, roads, and mines invested and constructed by Haihan, which should be owned by Haihan. The second is to open up freedom of immigration and trade in Shandong, so that goods and people can circulate more freely. Of course, these two requirements are not put forward in isolation, but are parts of the package plan proposed in conjunction with the situation in Liaodong that are related to Shandong.
Of course, as for the ownership of Haihan's actual control area in Shandong and the relatively sensitive issues of maintaining garrison, Hao Wanqing was still very measured and did not raise it directly, so as to save some face for Mei Shengchuan, a senior official of the Ministry of War.
(End of chapter)