Chapter 1855 Learning and Imitation
As for how to make the country strong, of course Cui Mingji is not the only one who has spent time in this area. Kim Sang-hyun, who is regarded as a powerful minister by Li Jian, has naturally already worked in this field. In fact, when Kim Sang-heon strongly advocated the introduction of Haihan reinforcements to fight against the Qing invasion, he stated his position to the king, hoping to follow Haihan's example in the military and establish an elite new army after the war. As for the opening of ports and trade requests proposed by Haihan at that time, Jin Sangxian also believed that they were a win-win cooperation method, so he also persuaded Li Jie to agree to them all.
However, Kim Sang-heon's idea of strengthening the country is different from Cui Mingji. After frequent exchanges with General Haehan in the past few months, he placed more hopes on Haehan's guidance and arrangements, using some proven and mature methods. Plan to develop the country's economy and military, instead of trying to summarize and extract some empirical things from the development history of Haihan like Cui Mingji, and then apply it based on the national conditions of the country.
Of these two ideas, Cui Mingji's plan seems to be more proactive, but in actual situations, the efficiency and effect of his approach may not be as good as the seemingly lazy Kim Sang-heon.
The outside world often only notices Haihan's amazing achievements in the past ten years, but knows very little about the real advantages behind his success. Many people have not even fully understood Haihan's power structure. If you want to simply copy the successful experience of some Haihans to another country with such a little knowledge, it will often become a situation where you can't be a dog but a tiger, and you may not be able to achieve the desired results.
Kim Sang-hyun also made the decision after having a certain understanding of Haehan's history. He believed that many of Haehan's national policies are based on advanced technology and cannot be realized in North Korea in the short term. It would be better to let the Haihan people prepare some development plans suitable for North Korea's national conditions, and then select the most feasible ones for implementation.
There are successful examples like Annan and Fujian Xu's in the past. Kim Sang-hyun believes that Haihan is fully capable of tailoring a suitable comprehensive development plan for North Korea. Although Haihan will definitely put forward various conditions to North Korea to meet its interests and needs during this process, it is better to get the guidance and help of Haihan, a strong man, than North Korea's own blind man trying to figure out the elephant. If you want to raise your country's national power to that of its powerful neighbor in the north as soon as possible and achieve military self-protection in the foreseeable future, then there is probably no other way that is more efficient than cooperating with Haihan.
If the king had not been doubtful about the industrial cooperation advocated by Haihan some time ago, Kim Sang-heon would not have delayed the negotiation again and again, giving Cui Mingji a chance to intervene. But Cui Mingji was more proactive. Not only did he show Haihan his preparations in advance during the negotiation process, but he also met with General Haihan privately after the negotiation and asked for advice on how to govern the country. This gesture was indeed It is easier to win Haehan's favor than Kim Sang-heon's.
But neither Wang Tom nor Qian Tiandun are politicians or diplomats in the traditional sense. Cui Mingji's desire to ask them for advice on how to govern the country suitable for North Korea is indeed a bit of a trick. Qian Tiandun also began to have some doubts. Cui Mingji's Is this kind of question his own idea, or does it represent some important person who is inconvenient to speak directly.
Li Jian has not clearly stated his attitude during the negotiations. This may also be to leave enough room for maneuver and avoid prematurely expressing his position and putting himself into a passive situation. Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun had previously believed that Kim Sang-hyun's deliberate delay and Cui Mingji's cross-examination may have come from Li Zhu's instructions. Therefore, Cui Mingji's current question can be said to have exceeded the consciousness of a courtier. In their opinion, it may also be another matter. There is a deep meaning. So Qian Tiandun deliberately said that he had had relevant discussions with Kim Sang-heon before to see how Cui Mingji would react.
Cui Mingji was very calm and did not ask about the content and conclusion of the discussion with Kim Sang-hyun. Instead, he continued his own topic: "Then General Qian thinks, if our country wants to strengthen its national power, what aspects should we start with?"< br>
Qian Tiandun said: "Then we can only go back to the original issue, which is the industrial cooperation plan we prepared for your country. Your country's top priority after the war is to develop the economy. There is money in the national treasury, and the people don't have to worry about it. Only when livelihoods are concerned can the country be free to develop other areas, such as building the new army that you have been thinking about. These principles are very simple, and I believe Mr. Cui also understands them. ”
The industrial cooperation plan proposed by Haihan is essentially to use money to solve the many problems currently existing in North Korea, boost the economy and enrich the national strength, and then slowly plan the development of other fields. Similar plans have achieved excellent results in Fujian, Annan and other places, so the feasibility is extremely high. It only needs to make some local adjustments based on the situation in North Korea. But for this plan to be effective, it must receive full cooperation from North Korea. The current situation is that North Korea neither opposes nor is eager to promote its implementation. This makes the two generals Haihan, who are eager to complete the negotiation task, increasingly impatient. few.
Before this, they had been talking to the North Koreans for several days. In fact, these principles had been said over and over again many times. They had even discussed these topics earlier in the preliminary communication with Kim Sang-hyun.
Cui Mingji also felt the impatience in Qian Tiandun's tone, and said slightly apologetically: "I just want to further confirm that these measures can really bring about the expected changes in our country."
Qian Tiandun said seriously: "I can understand your country's caution, but we don't have that much patience to wait. If your country feels that cooperation is not appropriate, we have no intention of forcing it, but at least we must give an attitude. A clear answer, that’s all.”
Cui Mingji said: "Cooperation will naturally continue, but there are many matters to be dealt with after the war, so the relevant negotiations have been postponed. General Qian, don't worry, there will be results in the next few days."
Cui Mingji actually hopes to obtain more valuable information from the Haihan people through this private meeting, but to be honest, it has not achieved much so far. The two Haihan generals did not talk much about the differences in the national policies of the two countries. It is an effort to lead the topic to promote cooperation plans.
Judging from the limited content of the conversation, Cui Mingji believed that the other party was not optimistic about North Korea copying Haihan's development model. The Haihan people may be right, but it also means that North Korea cannot develop as rapidly as Haihan. What the king wants I am afraid that it will not be possible to catch up with Ming Dynasty and achieve ultra-high definition within ten or eight years. The most ideal result is probably to become a close ally of Haihan like Annan. In the future, if the neighbors to the north are dishonest, they will no longer have to worry about being alone and having no one to help.
As for what kind of development prospects there can be in the economic field, it is difficult to have specific goals based on Cui Mingji's knowledge. He only knew that Haihan was proficient in maritime trade, and that the country was extremely prosperous. The capital city of Sanya was known as the first free port in the South China Sea, but it was difficult for people who had never been to Sanya to imagine just how prosperous it was. The information Li Xi sent back from Sanya suggested that North Korea try its best to cooperate with Haihan in economic and trade aspects. However, it is only a written description, how can it reflect the true appearance of Sanya and Haihan's true national power.
After the three of them exchanged glasses, Wang Tom took the initiative to mention another topic: "His Majesty the King has arranged for three princes to observe the negotiation process in the past two days. It seems that he is sparing no effort to train them to handle government affairs! I just don't know. Which prince is more talented in politics? "In fact, among the three brothers, except for the younger Li Jun, the eldest Li Shu is already twenty-five years old, and the second brother Li Hao is also over eighteen years old, so he is fully qualified. Participated in the discussion of political affairs. Of course, the extent to which the princes can participate still depends on Li Jie's attitude.
Cui Mingji expected that the Haihan people would inquire about the three princes, so he answered this question in a flawless manner: "The prince is the oldest and has been exposed to government affairs for the earliest time, so he has the most experience; Lord Fenglin is smart, studious, and calm in dealing with matters; Lord Linping is still young and has a promising future. In terms of political talent, it is difficult to say who is strong or weak. ”
Cui Mingji's glib answer naturally failed to satisfy Tom Wang, and he immediately asked: "Then Mr. Cui thinks, which prince is more suitable for learning our country's cultural knowledge?"
Cui Mingji wondered: "What does General Wang mean?"
Wang Tom explained: "The thing is like this, I received a notice from Sanya. The executive committee hopes that your country can send a prince, with no limit on the number of places, to study abroad in Sanya for two years. During this period, we will provide the prince with opportunities to study in various fields." This is an opportunity to advance knowledge and arrange travels to various places under the rule of Haihan to gain knowledge. Regarding the governance mentioned by Mr. Cui just now, we can also arrange for the prince studying abroad to observe how the executive committee of our country handles government affairs in the Victory Fort. We believe this is the case. The arrangement will help increase mutual trust between the two countries and will be of great benefit to the future relations between the two countries.”
Cui Mingji did not respond immediately after hearing this. This matter did sound good, but he was not a newbie in the political arena, and he vaguely felt that this matter had other political implications.
Seeing Cui Mingji's silence, Wang Tom knew that he had thought of some issues, so he took the initiative and said: "Master Cui, I know what you are worried about. This is not asking for hostages from your country. It is completely voluntary. If your country feels it is not necessary, , you can also choose to give up this opportunity.”
Cui Mingji said: "I would like to ask, is there any precedent for this kind of arrangement of sending a prince to study in your country?"
Wang Tom said: "Of course, Zheng Zha, the young prince of the Wang family in Annan's Qingdu capital, and General Zheng Ting, who led the Annan fleet to North Korea this time, all studied in our country. There was also the Fujian navy who led the coalition this time. General Xu Yuzhuo also studied in Sanya for two years to learn the relevant skills and tactics of maritime warfare. If Mr. Cui is interested, you can find time to chat with them and learn about the situation of studying abroad in Sanya. "< br>
In fact, these situations were more or less mentioned in Li Xifa's report, but Cui Mingji obviously never thought of arranging for the prince of our country to study abroad in the capital of Haihan. Even though Wang Tom gave a very reasonable-sounding explanation, he still felt that the matter might not be that simple.
Wang Tom's words are certainly not bragging. These people have indeed studied abroad in Sanya. Young nobles like Zheng Zha who like novelty go to Sanya almost once or twice every year to deal with diplomatic and economic affairs. , I will also go to several universities in Sanya to listen to the courses I am interested in, and then go to the army and navy bases for a walk, shoot guns and firecrackers, see what new equipment I can buy, and place an order to buy some belts. Return home.
As for foreign military generals like Xu Yuzhuo, they are not uncommon in Sanya. Now Fujian sends a group of grassroots officers to Sanya for further training almost every year to ensure that the increasingly large Xu family army can not only be equipped with standard weapons, but also have unified military system and tactics.
Providing training and advanced training for civil and military officials for other allied forces is itself a means for Haihan to increase his international influence. It has been used for many years, and the results are quite good. Almost none of these foreign officials who had studied and lived in Sanya for a long time could resist the ubiquitous ideological indoctrination, and most of them became loyal fans of Haihan after that.
Although the North Korean envoy Li Xi who is currently in Sanya is also a member of the royal family and gets along well with the senior officials of Haihan, he is almost not qualified to be among the candidates for the successor, and he himself does not have much political power. Because of his ambition, it was difficult for Haihan to support him in fighting for the throne of the King of Korea. Therefore, Wang Tom hopes that North Korea can send a prince to study abroad in Sanya. Let alone two years of study abroad, even if it is only a year and a half, there is a way to turn his position into a firm Haihan Party.
Of course, to do this, you must first convince the North Koreans to accept this approach and make them realize that this is not a hostage-taking, but part of the in-depth cooperation between the two countries. But Wang Tom was not sure whether Li Zhu would have doubts about this. After all, Prince Zhaoxian, who was successfully brainwashed by the Qing court in history, ultimately lost his chance to succeed because of his political stance. Therefore, he planned to start with Cui Mingji to test the attitude of the North Koreans. If Cui Mingji was willing to cooperate, then having Cui Mingji come forward to persuade Li Zhu would obviously have a better effect than speaking on his own.
Cui Mingji was more cautious and did not express his position immediately. Instead, he said that he would tell the king about the matter when he went to court tomorrow to see what the king's plan was. Although Wang Tom wanted to facilitate this matter, he knew that pressing too hard would only make the North Koreans wary, so he did not rush for success at the moment, so he stopped the topic and raised a toast to Cui Mingji.
The two parties went back and forth to test each other at the banquet, but neither of them actually obtained much valuable information. However, Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun took action together, and they drank Cui Mingji to the ground without any suspense.
(End of chapter)