Chapter 2314
"Ten bags of rice, totaling eight hundred kilograms." Mei Baiji reported the number loudly and made notes on the book in front of him.
Every ten bags of rice will be written with one stroke, and the page in front of him has already written two characters, which is eight thousand kilograms of rice. These brown burlap rice bags have a dark green word "military" on them, indicating that these rice are all military rations.
These rice are not produced locally in North Korea, but are high-quality rice purchased from the land of fish and rice in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. After being packed on ships in Zhoushan, they were transported to the Taedong River base. During this operation, they were transported all the way to Ganghwa Island and then transferred to this place outside Seoul. Haihan stronghold.
After all this, the value of this rice is not low. The shipping cost alone is estimated to be enough to buy another quarter of the rice in its place of origin. However, this expense is not a problem for the wealthy Haihan, not to mention that this expedition to Seoul has been approved by Li Xie, and all related expenses will be reimbursed by North Korea, which naturally includes the food and freight. Inside.
Since someone is paying for it, the standards for the usage of various combat supplies will definitely be slightly relaxed. This time, a hundred thousand kilograms of military rations of rice alone were shipped, basically preparing for one month's wartime consumption.
Of course, neither Li Zhi nor Haihan thought that the rebels in Seoul could hold on for a month after Haihan's army arrived at the city. It takes three days, five days, or seven days to break the city. It all depends on the sense of urgency on the part of the Haihan Army.
Mei Baiji, who was counting on the Haihan Army to be able to evacuate after arriving here, was finally retained and worked part-time as a temporary warehouse manager, responsible for counting the many materials that had just been shipped here.
This job is not complicated for him. He is just responsible for recording data on site. As for the specific matters of inventory and inspection of materials, his subordinates will do it, so he does not need to do it himself.
This kind of work reminded Mei Baiji of many years ago when he was still working in a trading company. He had worked as a warehouse manager for a period of time. What he did at that time was pretty much the same. He didn't expect that he would still be in a foreign country today. Return to old business.
When Mei Baiji did this job, his income was only two taels of silver a month. Now it has increased dozens of times. Moreover, the Haihan Army now keeps him here part-time, and his salary is calculated according to wartime treatment. At least double that. Of course, all expenses, including his salary, will be borne by North Korea afterwards.
However, Mei Baiji doesn't care much about wartime treatment, because he also knows very well that as long as the Haihan army arrives, the chaos in Seoul will not last long. He can enjoy the extra salary increase for only ten and a half days. Just a month. It doesn't matter whether he has money or not. He just hopes that this chaos can end soon.
Fu Li is still nominally in charge of this stronghold, but now the military has taken over it as a frontline headquarters. Like Mei Baiji, he can only listen to the military's command for the time being.
Fu Li had actually planned to join the army in his early years, but later he accidentally joined the judicial department as a clerk, and the idea was shelved. But he didn't expect that many years later, he would be able to fulfill his dream of joining the army on an overseas battlefield, and work beside senior generals like Wang Tom Qian Tiandun.
Of course, even so, Fu Li was not qualified to directly participate in combat command matters. He could only serve as a consultant who was more familiar with the local situation in Seoul, and worked with Mei Baiji to provide intelligence information for the staff to formulate action plans.
After Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun arrived at the stronghold, they immediately listened to Fu Li's explanation of the current situation in Seoul. However, because the military has not made special arrangements for this work before, its surveillance of Seoul is limited to the area from outside Chongli Gate to the bank of the Han River, and it does not know the situation in other surrounding areas of Seoul.
Based on the limited information, Wang Tom made a judgment on the situation: the turmoil in the city has basically subsided, but the various forces involved in the chaos may not have reached a consensus on the change of power. The rebels did not start a dialogue with Haihan and did not dare to show a confrontational attitude. This was probably because their internal opinions had not yet been unified.
If the rebellious parties in Seoul want to mobilize troops from areas outside Gyeonggi Province to consolidate their existing achievements, they must have sufficient logistical material support capabilities and financial support. No matter which of these two conditions, Wang Tom I think it is difficult for any chaotic party to achieve this. Of course, looking at it conversely, armies from other regions will face the same problem if they want to enter King Qin near Seoul.
To realize the deployment of troops across regions in a short period of time like the Haihan Army, most of its counterparts in this era cannot do it, let alone the already weak North Korean Army. Wang Tom believed that even if the rebels had prepared for this for a long time, it would be difficult to gather a sufficient force near Seoul to resist Haihan's intervention.
To take a step back, even if the rebels really mobilized tens of thousands of troops to ambush in Seoul, they would probably be overwhelmed by their own logistics system before the Haihan Army showed up.
What Wang Tom was worried about was not how the rebels inside and outside the city would resist, but what the political situation in North Korea would be like next. After removing all stumbling blocks, this strategy sounded very happy when it was proposed, but it was just to put pressure on Li Xie, and all aspects of the specific implementation process still had to be taken into consideration.
All military attack methods ultimately serve political purposes. What Haihan wanted to achieve was to help Li Zhi, who was pro-Haihan, to gain power, and take this opportunity to clean up the uneasy forces in North Korea's upper class society.
So who will be the next targets that will receive special care from the Haihan Army? Li Zhi gave a partial list, but Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun had already read it carefully and found that the officials on the list were not too high-ranking. Those big figures who really had the ability to influence the government were not included in this list.
"Li Zhi still has reservations. Among the people on this list, no one has the strength to cause the current situation!"
The temporary meeting in the stronghold did not involve Li Xie. For safety reasons, he was left on the warship on the riverside, so there was nothing taboo about Wang Tom's speech.
"I can't bear to smash the jars!" Qian Tiandun was also slightly dissatisfied with Li Xie's conservative attitude.
The military's opinions were clearly stated to Li Xie when he was on Ganghwa Island, and they hoped that he would take this opportunity to eliminate all the opposition in the DPRK and clear the obstacles for future governance. But for some reasons, Li Zhi did not do things to the extent that Haihan expected, and still had reservations in the list given.
Wang Tom said: "What Li Zhi is unwilling to do or dare not do, we can only do it by us." "Li Zhi's mind is smart enough, but his courage is still a bit lacking. From now on, leave this country to him. I'm worried that there will be many problems that I can't see now." Qian Tiandun said it very tactfully, but he only meant one thing, that is, he is not optimistic about Li Zhi.
Li Zhi's personal conditions are actually good, otherwise Wang Tom would not have selected him as Haihan's key training target last year. However, in some aspects, he has always fallen short of Haihan's requirements and lacked the skills needed by a ruler. Tenacity and determination.
Wang Tom sighed: "He should have been allowed to stay at the Datongjiang base for a year or two before being sent to Sanya. Maybe the situation would be different."
Wang Tom's view is consistent with Qian Tiandun's. He believes that Li Xie's main problem is that his character has not been tempered enough, so he will appear indecisive and not strong enough at certain times. To correct this problem, the best way is probably to let Li Xie enlist in the army for a period of time and have a good training in the military camp.
But the problem is that there is not that much time. Both Haihan people and North Koreans are full of urgency to change the current situation in North Korea. Although the starting points and interests of the two sides are completely different, their goals are relatively consistent. A stronger North Korea than the current one will be more in line with the interests of both parties.
To achieve this goal, the country must be run by a ruler who fully accepts Haihan's philosophy. The consensus reached by both parties on the candidate is Li Zhi, and the shorter the training transition period, the better. But being too eager will inevitably lead to failure to achieve perfection, and now Li Xie's shortcomings have begun to be exposed.
Haihan hopes that the future ruler of Korea can maintain a tacit understanding with him on major decisions, but the current Li Zhi is not doing an ideal job in this regard. To completely solve Li Zhi's problems, it seems that he can only be sent into the army. It took me a lot of time to do it, but now I obviously don’t have enough time to do it.
After the civil strife was settled, Haihan was not prepared to let Li Yi continue to be in power, regardless of whether he was still alive or not. Since someone rebelled under his nose, it meant that his ruling power was seriously flawed. If Li Yi was replaced, Haihan would be in trouble. It will be more convenient for Han to intervene in North Korea's political situation in the future. However, after Li Zhen ascended the throne, he naturally could not continue to train in the Haihan Army for a long time, so this seemed to be an unsolvable situation.
Moreover, there is currently no more suitable candidate in North Korea than Li Zhi. Although Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun are not very satisfied with his performance, it is still within a tolerable range. It's just that some fine-tuning may need to be made in Li Xie's subsequent training so that Haihan's will can be more resolutely reflected in him.
At this time, new news came from the tower. Many people appeared on the top of Sungnyemen. This was obviously the arrival of the Haihan Army that attracted their attention.
The Korean refugees near the stronghold had been driven to the riverside by the Haihan Army for resettlement, and then two battalions of the special operations group began to camp in this area. Of course, many private houses near the stronghold were temporarily requisitioned, but no one dared to complain, and there were no setbacks during the period.
But such a big movement will inevitably attract the attention of the defenders on the city wall, so the news of the Haihan Army's arrival outside the city will soon spread locally. Even if the rebels have taken control of the situation in the city, I believe they will not be able to stop the spread of this news.
As for the reaction of the rebellious parties after this, whether they will jump over the wall or try to start negotiations, Haihan has not been able to make a clear judgment on this. They can only prepare for war and wait for the situation to change.
If the people in the city plan to do nothing and continue to delay, the Haihan Army will not mind using force to solve the current situation. In fact, waiting for Li Zhi to come back before taking action means that he has the intention to use force to solve the problem. Even if the people in the city want to solve the problem through negotiation, they may eventually resort to force.
Most of the liquidation targets given by Li Zhi were only mid-level officials, and these people were obviously just party members and were unlikely to be the real masterminds of the rebellion. Of course Li Zhi had his own reasons for doing this, but Haihan didn't want this matter to end hastily, so there was a need to further expand this list.
If Li Xie doesn't want to be added to this list, then the Haihan Army can only supplement it.
Wang Tom said: "Then let's count from the beginning and see who will lose their heads!"
The design of official positions in North Korea is also based on the Ming Dynasty and is divided into nine ranks. From the first rank to the ninth rank, there are a total of eighteen ranks. Among them, the third rank is divided into two levels, the lower rank and the upper rank. Officials of this class from the first rank to the third rank are called Tang. Shangguan, who is qualified to wear red robes and discuss affairs with the king in the court, is a real big shot. On the list given by Li Zhi, there were very few names of Tang Shangguan, which was obviously not so logical.
Under the king is the administrative affairs, which are jointly responsible by three officials of the first rank, the chief official and the left and right officials. This yamen also has the left and right counselors of the first rank, the left and right counselors of the second rank, the minister of the fourth rank, and the inspector of the fifth rank. , official positions such as Director of the Eighth Grade.
Under the administration are the six departments of officials, households, rituals, soldiers, workers, and punishments, which are equivalent to the six ministries of the Ming Dynasty. The person in charge is the judge of the second rank, the deputy is the judge of the second rank, and below there is the third rank of the chief minister. The counselors, counselors, Zhenglang who is in the fifth rank, Zuolang who is in the sixth rank, etc.
The Si Xian Mansion and the Si Jian Yuan, which are responsible for supervising the admonitions, are another major power department. Although the leaders of these two academies have the highest rank of only the second grade, they are not subject to the jurisdiction of the dean and the six ministries and are directly responsible to the king. So the influence is quite large.
The military service organization is composed of the fifth military camp, the third inner department, the training institute, the Zhenfu camp, the robbery department, the Longhu camp and other departments. The Korean state implemented a civilian-run army, with soldiers and generals separated, no generals and no fixed soldiers, and the scale of the standing army was very limited. After last year's war ended, Li Zhu accepted Haihan's suggestion and planned to form a new army with stronger combat effectiveness.
At present, except for Shen Jingzhen, the military judge, almost all the civilian officials are in the city. Although the military attachés include military and horse military commanders, naval commanders and other high-ranking officials outside, due to the unique military system of Korea, they have not received any orders. With orders from the imperial court, it would be difficult to mobilize a large number of troops to return to Beijing for King Qin.
Of course, there was an opportunity to resolve this issue. After Li Xie returned to North Korea, he issued orders in the name of the Crown Prince to various counties and garrisons, asking them to terminate their ties with the rebellious parties and no longer accept any requests from them. The chaos in Seoul and helped him put down the rebellion.
(End of chapter)