Chapter 2301
The study abroad team headed by Li Zhi only has a few dozen people, and there are only a dozen officers among them. However, even if they return to North Korea, they will not have military power at their disposal, and it will be difficult to mobilize troops to restore order in a short period of time. . Moreover, they have been away from North Korea for a year, and they know almost nothing about the military and political changes in the country. It is difficult for them to make clear decisions about who they should trust and who they should be wary of.
With such strength, it is naturally difficult to stage a drama of returning from thousands of miles away and arming King Qin. Therefore, whether it is Li Zhen or his subordinates An Daoshi and others, they all have a clear understanding after receiving the news, that is, they want to pacify In the domestic chaos, it may be difficult for our group of people to solve the problem alone. In the end, we must rely on Haihan's intervention.
Li Zhi believed that no matter whether there was a palace coup or some other disturbance in the country, anyone who wanted to replace his father would probably not be able to bypass Haihan. If he fails to gain Haihan's recognition and support, he will not be able to secure his throne even if he launches a coup to rebel.
This is actually very similar to the situation in North Korea over the past two hundred years. Even if the new ruler has taken control of the military and political power, he must be recognized and canonized by the sovereign Ming Dynasty before he can legitimately sit on the throne. More than ten years ago, Li Zhu launched a palace coup to seize the throne. At first, he was not recognized by the Ming Dynasty. It was not until two years later that he finally obtained the official canonization from the Ming Dynasty and officially became the king of North Korea.
Nowadays, North Korea has basically broken away from the control of the Ming Dynasty and has subtly subordinated itself to Haihan, an emerging power. If someone wants to replace Li Zhu's dominance through abnormal means, they must win Haihan's approval.
Li Zhi believes that as of now, Haihan has not made a clear choice on relevant issues, otherwise the official attitude would not be so vague, and did not provide clear support for Li Zhi's succession to the throne, but only sent warships and armed forces to escort him. He returned to North Korea.
This is not bad news for Li Zhi, at least it means that the regime change recognized by Haihan has not been completed in the country, otherwise there would be no need to send him back to the country. But this is not good news. You must know that just over a month ago, he represented North Korea at the international military competition held by Haihan and was the heir to the throne recognized by the Haihan Executive Committee.
Now that Haihan's official attitude has changed subtly, Li Zhi feels that this is because the other party is still waiting to see the situation in North Korea and is unwilling to bet all the chips on himself prematurely. Facing the current unfavorable situation, how to win as much support as possible from Haihan is probably a problem that he must solve as soon as possible on his way back home.
So even though he was not in the mood to deal with local officials like You Yihan who were far away from North Korea on his way back home, he still had the patience to meet and talk with him, hoping to leave a calm and steady impression on the Haihan people. These good impressions would be reflected in the future. All of them may become a weight that is beneficial to the Haihan people when weighing the pros and cons.
But what made Li Zhen slightly regretful was that officials like You Yihan who were stationed in Haihan's overseas colonies were far away from Haihan's center of power and did not have as much information as he did. Moreover, he was a civil servant who only knew how to manage politics. It's hard to get valuable information from him.
Li Zhi also noticed the strict security measures when he arrived in Hong Kong, and even temporarily blocked the port for this purpose. According to You Yihan, this is a request from the executive committee. It seems that Haihan thinks that he may be in danger on his way back, which is also a not good signal.
Also aware of this is his subordinate Ando Shi. As an elite member of the military who could be selected to study in Haihan, Adoshi certainly understands what the security measures in Hong Kong mean. The same measures did not appear when Li Zhen went south last year. This is most likely because Haihan was aware of the risks involved in Li Zhen's return journey and made such arrangements in advance.
Although Ahn Do-seok was not very clear about the power disputes in the country, he also knew that the prince he was loyal to was the future king of North Korea. If something happened to the prince, he would no longer want to have glory and wealth in the future. Therefore, no matter what the current situation in the country is, we must first protect Li Xie's safety and ensure that he returns to the country safely before we can have any hope of quelling the civil unrest.
At present, there is no news about the king and the two brothers Li Zhi. If the king is gone, then Li Zhi will become the new king in law. If he can be helped to ascend to the throne, it will be through the merits of the dragon, and he will be promoted to a noble position. None of them can run away.
Therefore, the current chaos in the country is certainly not a good thing for the country, but for people like Andao Shi, it may not be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get ahead.
However, whether this is an opportunity or a crisis, because there is too little information obtained so far, it is difficult to make a conclusion for a while. All Andao Shi can do is to try his best to protect Li Xian Zhouquan on the way and prevent him from returning to the country. Something happened before.
Fortunately, Haihan warships were escorted along the way, and they would only stop at ports controlled by Haihan for rest and supplies. Outsiders did not have many opportunities to come into contact with Li Xie. Andao Shi only needed to strengthen security measures during the port calls. That’s it. And according to You Yihan, the ports to be docked in the future should also adopt strict security measures similar to those in Hong Kong. The Haihan Army will be dispatched to provide protection wherever Li Zhi goes, and there will be no security loopholes.
Shortly after setting off from Hong Kong, Andao Shi received a summons from Li Xie. He arranged the security measures on the ship in a few moments, and then immediately rushed to the cabin where Li Xie lived.
When Andao Shi entered the cabin, he found that in addition to Li Xie, there was also a civil servant present. Among the people who went to Sanya to study with Li Zhen last year, in addition to more than a dozen military attachés headed by Andao Shi, there were also several civilian officials, and Pu Hongye in front of him was one of them.
An Daoshi has been training in the military since he arrived in Sanya, so his friendship with Mr. Park was limited to a few interactions during the voyage south from North Korea, and they were not very familiar with each other. However, he had heard that Pu Hongye and Li Zhen had studied under the same great Confucian scholar, and could be regarded as brothers. Therefore, they were quite trusted by Li Zhen, and they had a vague leadership style among these civil servants studying abroad.
On the way back to China this time, Pu Hongye was always by Li Xie's side, giving him advice. It seemed that he had become a think tank that Li Xie relied on.
"I summoned you two because I want to hear your views on the current situation and what we should do next. You two don't have to be shy and can speak freely." Li Zhi explained the reason for summoning them concisely.
An Daoshi was the first to respond: "Your Majesty, although the domestic situation is still unclear, I believe that the situation has not completely deteriorated, and Haihan has provided escorts all the way, which shows how much they attach importance to the safety of the Crown Prince. Maybe when we get to the next port, we You can get the latest news in the country, and it will not be too late to plan the next action.”
"What Lieutenant An said makes sense...Hongye, what do you think?" After listening to An Daoshi's opinion, Li Yan turned to ask Pu Hongye for his opinion.
Pu Hongye responded: "Your Majesty, your view of humble position is slightly different from Mr. An." "Oh? Then tell me!" Li Xie responded.
Pu Hongye said: "There is chaos in the country and the situation is unknown. If the Haihan people think that the crown prince is in danger, it means that the troublemakers in the country may send people overseas to assassinate the crown prince in order to seize power. There are not many people who have such ability, and they do this Regardless of whether it succeeds or not, it will definitely anger Haihan. As we all know, Haihan always responds to provocations, and doing so will actually do more harm than good to the perpetrators. Therefore, I believe that Haihan takes strict security measures in addition to protecting the safety of the prince. In addition, there may be other purposes.”
Pu Hongye paused for a moment when he said this. Seeing that Li Xie did not refute what he meant, he continued: "During our stay in Hong Kong, except for people from the Haihan officialdom, it can be said that we did not have the opportunity to contact anyone from the outside world. All the information available came from Mr. You, which made Beizhi wonder whether Haihan was really worried about the prince's safety."
Li Zhen frowned slightly and said: "You mean, Haihan is providing protection under the pretext, but in fact he wants to cut off our connection with the outside world?"
Pu Hongye nodded and said: "Your Majesty, we went all the way north and only stopped at ports controlled by Haihan. This is for safety reasons, but isn't this the same as being isolated from the world? Even if there is real chaos in the country. If the Haihan people do not provide us with relevant information, we will not be able to obtain the information through other channels.”
Andao Shi obviously did not agree with this statement. He shook his head and said, "What good will this do to the Haihan people?"
Pu Hongye said: "Haihan's current affairs require us to obey the arrangements and control the news channels so that we cannot know what is happening in the outside world and have no way to transmit information to the outside world. Then we will completely become a slave in Haihan's hands. We are just a chess piece, they can put us wherever they want, which is not a good thing.”
Li Zhen said thoughtfully: "Chess pieces... are sometimes used for sacrifice!"
Ever since Wang Tom invited Li Zhi to study abroad in North Korea last year, Li Zhi has always received extremely high courtesy in his contacts with the Haihan people, and all his requests have been basically met. He can't fault this. What's wrong? However, after this incident, the return journey arranged by Haihan did have a strange flavor. Now after listening to Pu Hongye's opinion and comparing it with Haihan's approach, I really feel that something is wrong.
An Daoshi said: "Your Majesty, the current situation in the country is still in chaos and there is no news about His Majesty. Then after you return to the country, you can take charge of the power in the name of the Crown Prince and quell the civil strife. Choosing to support you at this time is undoubtedly the safest choice. Haihan people will not fail to do so. Do you understand this? ”
Li Xie shook his head slightly and said: "Captain An, you still don't understand. The information we know now is provided by the Haihan people. The actual situation in the country is also the word of the Haihan people. We have no way to verify the truth. Since even the We don’t know whether it’s true or not, so how can we judge their true purpose?”
Andao Shi opened his mouth, not knowing how to respond to Li Xie's statement. In his heart, he didn't actually think that the Haihan people would harm Li Xie, but after hearing Pu Hongye's statement, he couldn't refute it for a while.
Andao Shi was not a person who was good at debating. He muttered for a long time before finally speaking out: "If we don't rely on Haihan, how can we return to our country to quell the chaos?"
The question raised by An Daoshi was obviously more powerful. Li Xie and Pu Hongye looked at each other and were equally unable to respond.
The only people Li Zhi can use now are the dozens of people on the ship. He doesn't know if he can use other people after returning home. Maybe when they rush back to the country, the new king will have already ascended the throne, and will he still be willing to stand up and speak for this wasted prince? Even if the emperor and his ministers have this intention, they may not have the courage.
The history of North Korea in the past few hundred years has been composed of continuous coups. Members of the royal family, ministers and officials, and ordinary people are all accustomed to this. When such a situation occurs, as long as there is no too determined resistance, the new king will usually take over. There will be no mass killings for purges, so in theory there is a possibility that the rebels will quickly come to power and seize the kingship after overthrowing Li Jian's rule.
In a situation that is not conducive to Li Zhi and Li Zhi's father and son, the only force they can rely on is Haihan. Li Xie himself knew this very well. He was just a little shaken after listening to Park Hongye's words just now. However, An Daoshi's words once again brought his attention back to his situation. There are no other options now. He can make a choice. If he doesn't cooperate with the Haihan people, let alone return to the country to quell the chaos. Whether he can return home safely is another matter.
Thinking of this, Li Yan had actually weighed his priorities and sighed: "Colonel An is right... Hongye, even if the Haihan people have other plans for me, there is no room for bargaining with them now. Except Cooperation, we have no other choice. For the current plan, we can only think about things in a good direction. Haihan has invested a lot of resources in our country. If the country is in chaos, it will also cause great losses to them. I think the consistent approach of Haihan people is to put interests first and ensure the peace of our country.”
Pu Hongye said: "I hope it will be as expected by the Crown Prince. Captain An should also step up the protection of the Crown Prince, and don't rely entirely on the Haihan people."
Andao Shi responded in a deep voice: "I despise my position and swear to protect the crown prince's safety to the death!"
Li Zhen nodded and said: "I have always seen Captain An's loyalty. After you return to the country and gather military power, I will promote you so that you can have a greater use!"
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"Thank you, Your Majesty!" An Daoshi understood that this was Li Yan drawing a pie for himself. Although he didn't know when he would be able to eat it, having such a pie hanging in front of him would always give him a little more motivation. Having said that, the only people Li Xie can currently use are those on the ship. If he doesn't trust them, who can he trust?
(End of chapter)