Chapter 2316
Since Taizu Li Chenggui moved the capital from Kaijing south to Seoul in 1394, the city has become the political, economic and cultural center of Korea for more than two hundred years. Although Seoul is located in the hinterland of the central Korean Peninsula and is supposedly relatively safe, it has experienced many wars during this period.
Among them were the atrocities committed after Japan captured Seoul when it invaded Korea in 1592, as well as the civil strife caused by multiple palace coups in Korea. From the perspective of a bystander, the war has become a hardship that every generation here must go through, a special "historical tradition."
Many people believe that after the end of the anti-Qing war last year, Li Jie's rule over North Korea was effectively consolidated. Especially this year, Haihan sent troops to teach Japan, another evil neighbor of North Korea, and further eliminated North Korea's external threats. This country will usher in a relatively long period of security development.
Including Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun, who have been stationed in North Korea since last year, also hold similar views. But it turns out they were all wrong, and very wrong. The tradition of palace coups in North Korea did not stop here, but appeared suddenly at unexpected times as always, causing chaos in Seoul.
Of course, compared to the many palace coups in history, the level of chaos this time was not too serious, and not many people died. But in terms of impact, it is no less than any palace coup in the country's past history, and in some aspects it is even worse. For example, after the coup, foreign troops intervened. This is a new situation that has never happened in the past.
For the people who instigated this coup, how to deal with this situation that has never happened before is really a very difficult problem, so much so that the Haihan Army has already arrived at the city, and they still seem to be unable to come up with an effective solution. way.
Cui Mingji sat quietly in the study, without lighting a lamp, seeming to be thinking about the problem silently in the darkness. Of course, it was also possible that he did not want his subordinates who kept coming in to report the news to notice the fatigue on his face.
Cui Mingji was appointed as the leader of the political affairs by Li Zhu this year. This position is equivalent to the prime minister of North Korea. One person is less than ten thousand people. It is already the pinnacle of his personal career and his status is extremely respected.
Although Cui Mingji's position as leader allowed him to successfully overpower his old rival Kim Sang-heon, Cui Mingji was not excited about it for long. Kim Sang-heon's position is only the second-rank Grand Secretary-Heon, but his influence has long been beyond the limit of this official position. His strong opinions during the Anti-Qing War last year greatly increased his reputation, and many court officials followed his lead. It is believed that Kim Sang-heon's political views are the hope for the future development of North Korea.
Liucao Yamen, Si Xianfu, Si Jianyuan, Chengzhengyuan, Clan Palace, Sungkyunkwan, many of these large and small yamen are controlled by Kim Sang-heon's opposition faction. In addition, there are countless supporters of Jin Shangxian in the government offices at the provincial, prefecture, pastoral, county and county levels across the country.
Everyone knows that Cui Mingji is Kim Sang-heon's political opponent and lifelong enemy. Even though Cui Ming-gil has reached the pinnacle of power and has become the country's highest and most powerful official, there are still many people who side with Kim Sang-heon and do not agree with Cui Ming-gil. governance philosophy. This has caused Cui Mingji's policy measures to be stumbling after taking office, and the effect has naturally been greatly reduced.
Of course Cui Mingji knew the root cause of these problems, but he could not order the removal of Kim Sang-heon from his official position, or simply arrest him and kill him on charges. He doesn't have that much power, and even if he did, he still has to worry about the terrible backlash that Kim Sang-hyun's influence will bring. Of course, the most important reason is that King Li Zhu will not agree with him using such methods to deal with Kim Sang-hyun.
When Kim Sang-heon's reputation increased significantly last year, the king did not promote Kim Sang-heon but instead placed him in a position of leader. The purpose was of course very simple, that is, to use him to check and balance the disapproval that has become the mainstream opinion in the court. group. But checks and balances are not suppression. The king just hopes that Kim Sang-heon will not be too popular, but he does not want Cui Mingji to eradicate him from officialdom. If Cui Mingji planned to do this, I am afraid that the first person to jump out and stop him would be the king himself.
But Kim Sang-hun only has different political views from Choi Ming-gil, but they are far from being sworn enemies. Moreover, they actually share common views in some aspects, such as being wary of external forces intervening in North Korea.
Whether it is Japan and the Manchu Qing who tried to invade North Korea with force, or the Ming Dynasty and Haihan who issued orders to North Korea as a suzerain state, in their view, they were all objects that should be excluded, so that North Korea could maintain its due autonomy.
But the king did not seem to view the problem in this way. After introducing the Haihan army to fight against the Qing army last year, Li Zhu seemed to have tasted the sweetness and began to open the door to Haihan and introduced various new systems from Haihan. and new things, and finally even sent the crown prince to study abroad in Haehan, apparently in the hope of binding the future of North Korea to Haehan.
Cui Mingji believes that there are only two possible results of this. One is to completely turn North Korea into a vassal state of Haihan. From now on, it will provide the necessary natural resources, labor and sales market to Haihan as a vassal, and accept Haihan's influence in the country. All-round control in the political and military fields; secondly, just as Haihan promised, North Korea will rapidly grow into a regional power in the future and be able to talk to other countries on an equal footing internationally without fear of military invasion by any country. Asylum from other countries is no longer needed.
Although the latter situation looks very good, Cui Mingji believes that the possibility of realizing it is very slim. Of course, for a country as smart and realistic as Haihan, its support and assistance to North Korea cannot be to get North Korea out of its control as soon as possible. Reasons to promote the second situation. Everything they do has only one purpose, which is to grasp North Korea more firmly.
Now that one of the only two possibilities has been rejected, the only remaining possibility, although it seems a bit dark, is the reality that North Korea will face next. As a patriot, it is impossible for Cui Mingji to accept such a result calmly, let alone to push his country down this path without conscience after realizing such a result.
Cui Mingji believed that he was not the only one in the court who had such an idea. He hoped that more senior officials would join forces with him to reduce and eliminate Haihan's influence in North Korea as much as possible.
Even if ordinary officials are powerful in a certain field, Cui Mingji, who has a high self-esteem, will not look down on him, and he will not lower his status to cooperate with them. He is now the leader of North Korea's political affairs. Apart from the king, there is only one person in the entire government and the public who can make him look squarely at him, and that is his old rival Kim Sang-heon.
This matter seems ridiculous. The two have been fighting in the court for decades. Now that Cui Mingji has finally gained the upper hand in official positions, why should he lower his head and seek alliance with his old rival. But only Cui Mingji knew that his old rival was actually a very simple patriot. Although the two had different political views, they had the same purpose, which was to make North Korea stronger.
However, Kim Sang-hyun has always been supportive of cooperation with Haehan, and even sent his cronies to the Daedong River to help the Haehan people. Therefore, Cui Mingji was not sure at that time whether he could convince his opponent to change his mind. And this kind of thing must not be known to the king, otherwise he will lose his role in checking and balancing Kim Sang-heon, and his position as leader will naturally be unstable.
The fact is that Cui Mingji did not misjudge the person. Kim Sang-heon's support for following Haehan does not mean that he is willing to see the first result. Like Cui Mingji, he can only accept the second result - although at this stage it seems that There seemed little hope of success. The two secretly arranged several interviews and quickly reached an agreement. Of course, this agreement does not mean that they shake hands and make peace, but some assumptions about North Korea's future development path. For example, to be independent and free from the control and threats of other countries in the future.
But how to realize these ideas, the two people have very different ideas. Cui Mingji is more inclined to be self-reliant and rely on his own efforts to realize the process from weak to strong, while Kim Sang-heon believes that relying on the various learning opportunities provided by Haehan, can help North Korea achieve its goals faster.
Yes, on this issue about the fate and future of the country, the two men once again had differences of opinion, and it was difficult to convince the other side to accept their own views.
Kim Sang-heon, a representative of the peace-denying faction who is known for his tough foreign policy, now strongly advocates cooperation with Hae-han. However, Choi Ming-gil, who has always advocated resolving disputes through peace talks, now suggests keeping a distance from Hae-han.
The two people's positions seemed to be suddenly reversed, but in fact they both knew in their hearts that one moment and the other moment, in the final analysis, it was still forced by the situation. Kim Sang-hyun needs to use Hae-han to enhance his reputation and further increase his influence, but Cui Ming-gil can only show his value in the court by standing opposite Kim Sang-hyun. Of course, they believe that their ultimate goal is to make the country strong, and there is nothing wrong with them taking some detours and doing things against their will in the process.
Kim Sang-hyun hopes that Cui Ming-gil can wait until the crown prince returns from studying abroad in Haehan before making a conclusion. At that time, they can understand Haehan's attitude towards the future of North Korea through the crown prince's experience in Haehan and what he learned. If the crown prince is not dependent on Haihan and has the intention to govern independently, then there is no need to adopt a tough attitude to separate from Haihan at this stage.
But what Cui Mingji was worried about was not the Crown Prince, but His Majesty the King.
After he was promoted to the position of Councilor, he had many opportunities to discuss matters with the king in private, and thus he also understood some of the king's ideas. The king hoped that North Korea could follow Haehan's example and copy Haehan's strategies to strengthen the country. To this end, he even sent the crown prince to study in Haehan. These are not big problems in Cui Mingji's view, but the king began to seek his advice this year on whether Haihan officials can be introduced to assist in handling government affairs and foreign affairs.
Cui Mingji didn't know whether such an idea was instilled into the king by Wang Tom and others, or whether the king himself was confused and whimsical for a while, but he knew that he must not let this idea go, otherwise he would completely hand over the power of the country to the hands of the Haihan people.
He tried to dissuade the king from such an absurd idea, but failed. Instead, Li Zhu warned him not to forget where his status came from.
Cui Mingji knew that he could not handle this matter alone, so he informed Jin Sangxian and hoped that he could work with him to persuade the king to give up this idea - in this matter, their interests should be the same. .
Jin Sangxian couldn't keep calm after learning about this. He could also think of the problem Cui Mingji thought of. If the Haihan people were allowed to serve as officials in the DPRK, it would only be a matter of time before they, the local officials, would be sidelined. Regardless of whether they are the leaders or the chief ministers, they will be nothing more than decorations placed in the hall.
So the two went to see the king together, but Li Zhu seemed to be obsessed at this time and dismissed their persuasion. He still insisted on his own opinion: "We have gone through so much trouble to send officials to Haihan for training. Then Why not just invite a few Haihan officials to come and serve as officials in our country for a few years, and teach everyone how to do things here?”
This may seem reasonable at first glance, but Kim Sang-hyun and Cui Ming-gil knew that doing so would be an act of national subjugation and should never be carried out.
When they came out of the royal study after talking that day, both of them had dark faces. They left the palace and returned home, and then met in secret again that night.
"Hunjun."
"Discard it."
So after a period of disagreement, the two reached an agreement again under the push of the king. But what they want to do is very dangerous, and it is far from as simple as purging political opponents in the past.
To ensure political stability and for the country to develop smoothly without being controlled by external forces, there seems to be only one way left for them.
But even if they agreed on their attitude towards the king, they still had different opinions as always on how to achieve their goals.
It is not difficult to launch a coup, and there are many successful examples in North Korea's history that can be followed. The difficult part is how to control the situation and prevent it from getting out of control, and how to end the matter after it is completed and complete the transfer of power in the smoothest way possible.
Every aspect can be dealt with in many different ways, all of which are worthy of debate. The most controversial topic is the last step, the transfer of power. Who will take over?
Is he the crown prince supported by Kim Sang-heon? Is it Lord Fenglin, the second prince supported by Cui Mingji? Or elect another king? Or even one of them taking over the throne temporarily?
This involves the interests of all aspects, and there is no real foolproof strategy. Both parties hope to get the most beneficial results for themselves, but how difficult is it to convince the other party?
(End of chapter)