Chapter 2303
There is still more than 1,500 miles of sailing distance between Magong Port in Penghu and Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, the next stop. According to Li Xie's wishes, he even wanted to skip these stops along the way and return home in one go. However, the voyage was arranged by Haihan, and it is said that the risks that may be encountered at sea were fully considered, so Li Zhen and his party were not allowed to return directly to Seoul.
Although Li Zhi was eager to return to China as soon as possible, he did not dare to disobey Haihan's arrangements. He even suspected that Haihan planned such a voyage intentionally to delay his return so that he could survive the chaos in Korea. Seek greater benefits from the game.
Of course, he didn't dare to speak out these thoughts, let alone question them face to face. Even to his subordinates, he didn't dare to express such thoughts clearly. If someone leaked the news to the outside, it would probably change. It becomes an unmanageable situation.
Therefore, even though Li Xie was quite dissatisfied with Haihan's attitude, he did not dare to express it. He now only hopes that his suggestions to Yu Yao will soon receive a response from the Haihan Executive Committee, and in exchange for Haihan's military support.
But Zhoushan is already the last stop on the way. If he still fails to win the support of Haihan, even if Li Xie returns to North Korea successfully, it will be difficult for him to have the confidence to calm down the domestic chaos.
Zhoushan is one of the most profitable areas in the overseas colonial zones currently controlled by Haihan. Since it is close to the prosperous areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the import and export trade is very prosperous. The annual income to Haihan can reach millions of taels of silver, and it also Maintaining an upward trend year by year. It is precisely because of such a good situation that Shi Diwen, the local governor of Zhoushan Colonial Zone, has won the trust of the Executive Committee. He has been in charge of the military and political power here since he occupied Zhoushan five years ago, and it seems that he has Zhoushan's days as the boss will last for a long time.
Regarding the current trade situation in Zhoushan, the most important trading partner is of course the Ming Dynasty, followed by East Asian countries such as Ryukyu, Japan, and Korea, and merchants from the West. North Korea's share of this is extremely small and basically insignificant, so it has always received little attention from the Zhoushan authorities.
However, after Haihan sent troops to North Korea last year, North Korea immediately agreed to the trade conditions proposed by Haihan, and the trade situation began to improve, and the number of North Korean merchant ships coming to Dinghai Port slowly began to increase.
When Li Zhen went south via Zhoushan last year, some bold and far-sighted North Korean businessmen were already starting to establish business stores here. Li Zhen thought that he might be able to learn about the current situation in the country from some North Korean businessmen stationed in Zhoushan. News - Of course, this is only if he has sufficient freedom of movement in Zhoushan. If he was still provided with strict protection by local officials in a nearly house arrest manner like in Hong Kong and Penghu, then he would have no way to contact these businessmen.
When he went south last year, Li Xie stayed briefly in Zhoushan. Now that he has returned to his hometown, Dinghai Port still shows a prosperous appearance that makes him jealous. The density of ships entering and leaving the port is comparable to that of Sanya's port. Gotta give it a try.
Like the first two stops on the way, Li Xie continued to enjoy extremely high treatment when he arrived at the port. Zhoushan Governor Shi Diwen came to the port in person to greet his arrival, and this time the fleet docked at the military port pier of Dinghai Port. , there was no sign of ordinary people at all.
Seeing such a scene, Li Xie's mood was inevitably a bit complicated. On the one hand, Haihan indeed provided comprehensive security measures, and the top local chief personally came to greet him, which was very impressive. On the other hand, these measures made Li Xie Completely unable to contact the outside world, the channels he had thought of to inquire about information on the way would be difficult to work in such a situation.
After going around and around, in the end I could only go back to the starting point and deal with the senior officials of Haihan honestly. However, Li Zhen had been in contact with Shi Diwen when he came to Zhoushan last time, and knew that this man seemed to be a reckless man who only knew how to lead troops in war, but in fact he was very shrewd. Li Xie felt that it was not easy to get the required information from him.
But no matter what, Li Zhi had to try it first before talking. It would be unreasonable if Haihan still claimed that there was no domestic news in North Korea at this time, or that they still did not have a clear attitude on whether to support Li Zhi's restoration of the country.
"Regarding the situation in your country, there is indeed new news coming back." Shi Diwen's statement finally made Li Xie feel relieved.
Although in some cases no news is the best news, it obviously does not apply to the current North Korea. Li Zhi must know who is leading the rebellion and the current situation of his family in order to plan the next restoration of the country and quell the chaos in a more targeted manner. plan.
"General Lao Shi has made it clear!" Li Xie urged hurriedly.
"Based on the information we currently have, there is not just one force that is causing trouble in your country, but several forces. For some reason that we currently don't know, they started to attack one after another within a short period of time, and then A melee broke out in Seoul that lasted for several days.”
"But so far, this melee does not seem to have a winner, at least we haven't waited for any party to claim victory." Shi Diwen paused and added: "The parties involved in the war are also the ones I mentioned. Including the royal family.”
"Is there any news about my father?" Li Xie asked anxiously. The previous news given by the Haihan people only said that Li Zhu's life and death were unknown, which made him uneasy for many days. If even Li Zhu was gone, his hope of returning to the country would be greatly reduced.
Shi Diwen shook his head and said: "The information we have is very limited. We only know that the king was injured on the first day of the rebellion. Later, due to fires in many palaces in Seoul, the city was full of rioters, and the whereabouts of the royal family members were also unknown. There is no way to trace it. But on the bright side, it may be that the king took the initiative to disappear for safety reasons, and may have escaped from Seoul during this period and hid in a secret place.”
"But it has been so many days since the incident happened, and my father has not contacted you, which is inevitable..." Li Zhi couldn't go on at this point.
Of course, he had imagined that his family would flee Seoul and take refuge during the war, but if this was the case, then Li Zhu should have contacted Haihan as soon as possible after escaping and asked Haihan to send troops to help him quell the chaos. But there has been no news from Li Zhu so far, which gives off a sense of danger.
Shi Diwen said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to be so pessimistic. From my outsider's perspective, the chaos that occurred in Seoul at that time may have interfered with the king's judgment, making it impossible for him to know who he should trust. Perhaps. Even we will be regarded as something he needs to be wary of, so we have been hiding our whereabouts and waiting for the situation to calm down. "So, do you have any news about who is causing trouble in Seoul?" Li Xie knew what the other party was talking about. It was unlikely. The purpose was just to appease his emotions. He didn't want to pursue this issue any further, so he simply changed the topic back to business.
Shi Diwen was silent for a moment before responding: "Many people, it is said that almost all the civil and military officials of your country were involved. But the problem is that we still don't know who is righteous and who is evil, and who is the culprit of this chaos."
Li Zhi almost died of anger when he heard this answer. If it is true as the Haihan people said, all the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty participated in this chaos, then it may be difficult to distinguish who is loyal and who is traitorous. Moreover, Shi Diwen had previously said that multiple forces participated in the battle, which must have been the result of these ministers forming cliques.
Then Shi Diwen continued to say: "Based on the information we have, we infer that although the chaos broke out from within, it is very likely that there was also the intervention of external forces."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm talking about the Manchus and Japan. Both countries are extremely suspicious." When Shi Diwen said this, his tone seemed to have become much more certain: "Rebellion requires a lot of funds and combat materials. We believe that with The current situation in your country makes it difficult to raise the necessary conditions for rebellion by relying solely on domestic resources. It is probably the support from abroad that allows those daring people to dare to cause trouble.”
Li Zhi thought about it and had to admit that Shi Diwen's speculation made some sense. When he went abroad, the North Korean military was basically unable to uncover the blame and could not even raise the expenses to send a dozen officers to study abroad in Haihan. If a large-scale armed rebellion is to be organized under such circumstances, the source of funds must be a huge problem.
Both Japan and the Manchu Qing had invaded North Korea in the past, so they naturally had many informants in North Korea, and there might also be some high-ranking officials who were secretly colluding with them. According to North Korean tradition, as long as the current king is overthrown, there is a high probability that he will be able to ascend the throne and become the king of a country. This is probably a temptation that is difficult for ambitious people to resist.
So are there such careerists in North Korea today? Li Xie's judgment is positive, and there are many. It has only been more than ten years since Li Zhu came to power by launching a palace coup. During this period, he has been suppressed by his evil neighbors in the north, and the foundation of his rule is not solid. The reason why he took the risk to send Li Zhi to study in Haihan was actually partly to hug Haihan's thigh tightly, so that he could use Haihan's power to maintain his rule when necessary.
But the prince's long-term absence from the country is actually equivalent to one less contender for the throne in legal terms. If the throne can be seized before Li Zhi returns to the country, the corresponding competitive pressure will be much less. In a country like North Korea, where the frequency of coups is frighteningly high, both the officialdom and the people are very receptive to changes. If the action is fast enough and the process goes smoothly, then by the time Li Xie comes back from Haihan Kingdom, the day lilies will have already been It's cold.
But the problem is that there seems to be more than one force that wants to seize this time window to seize power. In the chaos caused by the simultaneous action of various forces, no one seems to have gained a clear advantage, so so far no party has Claiming victory or gaining control of the Seoul area.
Li Yan slowly savored the information contained in Shi Diwen's words, and his emotions gradually calmed down. Compared to the various scenarios he had imagined along the way, the news he knew so far was at least not the worst. What he is most worried about is that the rebels have taken control of Seoul and beyond, and someone has announced that he will replace Li Zhu as king. In that case, it may take a lot of effort to restore the country.
In order to confirm his guess, Li Zhi asked again: "So, Seoul is still at war at this time?"
Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Not only in Seoul, but also in the entire Gyeonggi Province, as well as Chungcheong Province and Hwanghae Province on both sides of the north and south, small-scale armed conflicts also broke out. Ping'an Province, Hamgyong Province, Gangwon Province, and Gyeongsang Province Although Jeolla Province is temporarily peaceful, it is still unclear whether it will be involved in this chaos in the future. Our country has also considered the risks, so it has not allowed the garrison to intervene rashly. "
It was difficult for Li Zhi to comment. He believed that with the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army, if they could intervene in time in the early stages of the chaos and directly send troops to Seoul to quell the chaos, they should be able to suppress the rebels quickly and prevent the situation from worsening. out of control. But having said that, Haihan does not have the obligation to help North Korea maintain law and order and help Li Zhu maintain rule. Besides, a coup is not necessarily a bad thing for Haihan. They have been waiting and watching, and of course they are waiting for the most favorable opportunity for them. Take action.
However, the situation in Seoul is still unclear, and no one knows whether the Haihan people intend to help the old master restore the country, or support the new king to ascend to the throne. And Li Zhi is also in this delicate environment. If he makes an operational mistake, he may become Haihan's abandoned son.
Li Zhi also thought about whether he could have avoided the current situation if he had not left North Korea last year, but the answer is not certain. His study abroad should only give the rebels a better opportunity to take action, but it is not the root cause of the rebellion. . If he had stayed in the country, he might have been caught up in the war like his father and two brothers and disappeared without a trace. Although the situation is difficult now, at least there is no fear of life for the time being, and we can still win the support of the Haihan people through diplomatic mediation.
He believed that Shi Diwen had more information than the senior Haihan officials who had met before, so Shi Diwen's attitude could more truly reflect Haihan's senior officials' views on the situation in North Korea. So the question is, has there been a response to the suggestions made to the Haihan Executive Committee through Yu Yao in Penghu a few days ago?
"The Executive Committee has not given me any specific orders to intervene in North Korean affairs. The instructions I have received are still only to provide necessary supplies and security measures in Zhoushan for the crown prince's return trip." After listening to Li Shi's question After that, Shi Diwen gave a very official reply.
Li Zhi can only understand this as the Haihan Executive Committee has still not made a decision on the exchange conditions he proposed. Perhaps they are still discussing whether such conditions are worth it, or they may still intend to continue to wait and see the development of the situation in North Korea. But one thing should be certain, that is, the exchange conditions proposed by Li Xie were not as effective as he expected, and it seems not easy to change the attitude of the Haihan Executive Committee.
(End of chapter)