Chapter 1869 The Crown Prince’s Mission
The total number of these three types of personnel is less than fifty. However, for North Korea, which is currently in deep financial crisis, it is already very difficult to maintain the operation of various official institutions and to raise funds for studying abroad in such a short period of time. It is not easy to send them out. Of course, this is also thanks to those students with backgrounds. The family forces behind these people more or less subsidized some expenses to the court in private as part of the transaction conditions for these people to be selected to study abroad.
In the past, North Korea’s government-sponsored overseas students almost all went to the Ming Dynasty, but now the trend has changed. The country that symbolizes advanced productivity, combat effectiveness and economic strength is no longer the Ming Dynasty, but the upstart Haihan Kingdom that has only emerged in the South China Sea in recent years. . Therefore, since the end of last year, North Korea has suspended its continued sending of overseas students to Daming, and has adjusted its direction to Haihan, who has mastered more advanced technologies.
One wants to teach and the other wants to learn. The only problem is the cost. In the past, North Korea sent people to study in the Ming Dynasty. In most cases, they only had to pay for their own living expenses. There was no tuition fee, and the Ming Dynasty never bothered to collect this small amount of money. But the rules here in Haihan are different. The fees are calculated very clearly, just like attending a private school. You can only learn something after paying the tuition, and the fees are really not low.
But according to the understanding of Haihan people, good things should be valuable. North Korea must learn advanced technology and pay some economic price for it. Moreover, if it were not for alliances, North Korea would not be able to find a way to learn these technologies even if it was willing to spend money. This is an opportunity that cannot be missed for North Korea, which wants to quickly improve its national power. In this seller's market environment, North Korea does not even have room to bargain and can only accept the conditions offered by Haihan.
Fortunately, Haihan's business reputation has always been excellent. He had previously sent troops to fight off the invasion of the Qing army for North Korea, which was a real achievement. Therefore, the North Korean government and the public had very unanimous opinions on whether Haihan could learn real skills from Haihan after spending money. Han should abide by their promise, and it would be worthwhile if the tuition can be exchanged for Haihan's technology.
Of course, in addition to these government-sponsored students, there is also an important personnel arrangement in the study abroad arrangements that has attracted great attention from the top leaders of both countries, and that is whether the King of North Korea will send a prince to study abroad in Haihan. After Haihan took the initiative to raise this matter, North Korea has not given a positive reply. However, this time the two princes went to the Datong River base to inspect the training results of the new army and the progress of cooperation projects, and both showed a strong interest in studying abroad. After the two princes returned to Seoul, the results of their discussions with King Li Zhu on the matter were not announced at the same time as the news about the government-sponsored students studying abroad.
Wang Tom waited anxiously for two days in Seoul before Gyeongbokgung Palace finally announced the arrangements for the prince's study abroad: the King of Joseon will send his crown prince Yi Bo to Haihan for a two-year study abroad program. As for whether other princes will be sent to study in Haihan in the future, there are no plans for the time being.
This arrangement is consistent with Haihan's expectations. In the original history, Li Zhu asked his eldest son to go to the Qing Dynasty to serve as a hostage. Now he just changed his name and changed his target. However, Haihan has always emphasized that the nature of this arrangement is not to allow North Korea to send hostages, so the pressure on North Korea is relatively small, and this can be used as a benign diplomatic method.
As for how much real skills Li Bo could learn from going to Haihan, King Li Bo actually didn't have high hopes for this. Compared with his two sons who have little political experience, he has a more thorough understanding of the relationship between the two countries and the future development situation.
In fact, Li Zhu didn't think that Haihan would really have no reservations about his country and teach him all the most advanced technologies. In his opinion, the suggestions for studying abroad put forward by Haihan people were mostly based on political considerations. , rather than simply wanting to win over North Korea as an ally. Especially those so-called advanced weapons manufacturing technologies. Li Zhu didn't believe that Haihan really planned to transfer them to his country for free by studying abroad. You must know that just for the weapons manufacturing technologies obtained from the arsenal on the bank of the Datong River, he had already paid After paying Haihan a large sum of money, these extremely shrewd businessmen will not become philanthropists overnight.
Since it is a political transaction, it is necessary to consider how to arrange this matter from a political perspective to be the best solution for the country. Li Zhu believes that Haihan's purpose is to confirm the importance North Korea attaches to Haihan as an ally through the arrangement of North Korea sending a prince to study abroad. Especially the arrangement of inviting two princes to the Datongjiang base this time, even taking the initiative to "expose" many military secrets, which is enough to show that Haihan very much hopes that North Korea can send royal personnel of the prince's level to study in Sanya, which has political implications Very thick.
Sending two princes to study in Haihan at the same time is too risky for North Korea. In the two-choice model, Li Bo, who is the heir apparent, has higher political value. Moreover, Li Bo is more familiar with government affairs, and his performance in diplomatic situations will be relatively more stable when he represents Haihan as envoy to North Korea.
Therefore, the crown prince of Joseon, Lee Bo, finally became the representative of the Joseon royal family after repeated trials by both parties. He will personally lead this group of overseas students to the distant South China Sea and live in Haihan for a long time in the future. Learn various advanced knowledge and skills.
This arrangement is relatively acceptable to both countries, and for Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom, it can be regarded as a great achievement as much as repelling the Qing army. After all, it allows the allies to control the next generation of rulers. Being sent to Haihan to study abroad is a huge victory from the perspective of diplomacy and international politics.
After confirming the news to North Korean officials, Wang Tom immediately sent a telegram to Sanya to inform Fort Victory to make relevant preparations in advance. Regarding North Korea's dispatch of a study abroad team represented by the crown prince, Haihan has too much to do. The earlier arrangements are made, the greater the room for maneuver.
If it is just a study abroad team composed of military and civilian personnel, then three to five days of preparation time after the personnel are assembled is enough. After all, Haihan has everything as long as the money is in place, and it is not necessarily necessary to bring home from home. Moved all the way there. However, the crown prince has to go abroad for two years, which is related to the face of North Korea. The proper pomp must be present, and there are many things that need to be prepared.
Just for the entourage, servants and bodyguards who served Li Bo, the list listed by Li Cao Yamen at the beginning was as many as a hundred people, even the washerwomen and cooks were included. This list was reported to Gyeongbokgung Palace and was immediately killed by Li Zhu - now that even the funds for overseas students have been saved, why do they still send so many idle people who can only spend money and cannot learn anything to wait there?
The Li Cao Yamen originally wanted to flatter the prince and make the scene bigger, but this flattery was obviously a bit inappropriate. So the list of followers was cut down again and again, and finally only one-tenth of them were left, and they finally passed Li Zhu's review. After all, he is the future heir to the throne, so he can't be too shabby to make the Haihan people laugh. Since he doesn't have enough funds to arrange a large escort team for the prince, he should at least bring more luggage to show his grandeur. So I brought five sets of formal dresses. However, the etiquette officer in charge of preparing the luggage did not know that these heavy dresses would not be worn much after arriving in Sanya, because the local climate is much higher than that of North Korea all year round. With the temperature so low, wearing these three-layered dresses is like wearing a cotton-padded jacket in the dog days of summer.
In addition, considering the prince's eating habits, a lot of pots and pans were inevitably prepared. Tom Wang went to Gyeongbokgung Palace to discuss the itinerary with the North Korean government. He was amazed when he saw the things prepared for the crown prince in the palace.
In order to show its importance to North Korean students studying abroad, Haihan specially transferred two merchant ships from Zhejiang to serve as passenger ships. These two merchant ships are not ordinary cargo ships that carry cargo for cross-border shipping. They are passenger ships built by Zhoushan Shipyard and specially used to transport important people. Not only does the ship have relatively comfortable and spacious cabins, it even provides enough fresh water for VIPs to take several hot baths during the voyage. Of course, not every guest who boards the ship can enjoy this kind of treatment. For example, among the group of passengers in Seoul who are about to board the ship, only the crown prince Li Bo can enjoy this high-level treatment.
Tom Wang himself will not personally accompany the North Korean study-abroad team going south, but has made detailed arrangements for the entire trip. After setting off from Seoul, Haihan will send six warships to escort the Koreans to Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, where they will meet other southbound fleets before continuing their departure. Depending on the situation, they may stop in Penghu, Hong Kong and other places. Resupply before heading to Sanya.
The North Korean side had no major objections to this itinerary, except that Crown Prince Li Bo expressed the hope that the trip south should be more substantial and not rush all the time. If possible, he would like to visit more Haihan-ruled areas along the way.
In fact, Wang Tom had also imagined such an arrangement, but he did not want the North Koreans to think that the itinerary was too loose and too purposeful, so he gave up the extra arrangements. He did not expect that the other party would take the initiative to propose this suggestion, and he immediately agreed. Come down. Let Li Pu and his party visit Haihan's colonies on the way, and they can also show them Haihan's dominance in various parts of East Asia.
While North Korea was preparing to study abroad, Wang Tom, as the high-level representative of Haihan, needed to communicate with North Korea about follow-up arrangements at any time, so he could only wait in Seoul. However, for him, there were not many foreign affairs to deal with. Officials from Li Cao Yamen only went to the place where he stayed every day to ask if there was anything needed, and then informed him of the progress of the palace's preparations for the prince's study abroad.
If troops were sent to meet the Qing invasion with the same efficiency, then half of Korea would probably be gone again. Tom Wang guessed that the North Koreans had probably chosen a certain auspicious day, so they deliberately delayed the preparations. However, he happened to have nothing to do recently. The training of the new army was mainly based on the army, and Qian Tiandun's independent regiment was in charge. The Koreans had not even begun to build a shipyard, so it was too early to train the navy. Wang Tom has ordered the naval forces currently stationed in North Korea to take turns to rest. Only a few ships are still performing daily patrols in the waters of the Yalu River.
The other three fleets that previously participated in the Anti-Qing War have now returned to the Datong River base one after another and are in a state of rest. However, these generals in charge all had the matter of trade with North Korea in mind, so they all came to Seoul with Wang Tom, and then discussed with North Korean officials about establishing trade relations.
This is probably the most intensive social banquet that Wang Tom has received during his several trips to Seoul. Banquets from North Korean officials and private people are held almost every day, not only for him, but also for Annan, the Xu family of Fujian, and The activities of the three Portuguese families, but they lived in the same house in Seoul, so when they invited them, they naturally packed them together, so Wang Tom couldn't run away. Then these three families would invite Wang Tom to accompany them when they invited the DPRK to a banquet, and he would be there to facilitate communication with the DPRK.
Therefore, during this period, going to Gyeongbokgung Palace to discuss matters became the easiest task for Tom Wang. Otherwise, he would have to have all kinds of social interactions every day, which would really give him a headache. He hopes that the North Korean study abroad team will leave as soon as possible so that he can escape from this environment.
Cai Jinmei, who came to Seoul to run a bank, had already returned to Zhejiang. Before she left, she successfully persuaded King Li Zhu to open a special study abroad account for Li Zhu and others who were about to study in Haihan, so that North Korean officials only needed to After depositing cash in the Haihan Bank branch in Seoul, North Korean students will be able to withdraw the money from their accounts in Sanya in a short time. Although there will still be a delay in the process, compared with transferring gold and silver from North Korea When it is shipped to Sanya in the South China Sea, which is thousands of miles away, the off-site deposit and withdrawal business opened by Haihan Bank is much more convenient.
This move undoubtedly means that the royal family has endorsed and guaranteed the credibility of Haihan Bank. The advertising effect brought by this is naturally self-evident. Even if many North Korean dignitaries do not know the operating conditions of Haihan Bank, they still choose it. Follow the trend and open an account in a bank first. Naturally, the bank would not refuse anyone who came. They would open the account first, and then send special personnel to the houses of these powerful people to slowly explain the matter.
The allies who sent troops to North Korea with Haihan have long known that Haihan Bank is reliable and convenient. The business carried out in North Korea also relies on banks for payment settlement, which invisibly attracts a lot of money to the bank. new customers.
With the gradual advancement of various post-war work against North Korea, the summer of 1637 finally came to an end.
(End of chapter)