Chapter 2334
"Your Majesty, to be honest, with your country's current social conditions and production levels, it should not be easy to significantly increase your country's fiscal revenue in the short term by collecting taxes from the private sector and operating monopoly businesses such as salt and iron. . If you want to improve your country's financial situation, you still have to find ways to open up other channels." Wang Tom took his time to test Li Shi's attitude.
Li Zhi felt that there was something different in Wang Tom's words, and quickly asked: "General Wang, do you have any good ideas? Please give me your advice!"
"I can't give you advice, but I can make some suggestions to Your Majesty." Wang Tom saw that Li Xie was quite anxious, so he stopped hiding it and came up with his own method: "Your Majesty, our country's demand for population, especially the labor force, is Great, I believe you know this very well. If your country can continue to provide more people to our country, then maybe we can negotiate suitable conditions and use the population to offset your country's borrowings."
< br>
Li Zhi frowned and said: "I'm afraid this move is not appropriate! The new treaty signed with your country this time has already relaxed restrictions on immigration. If the government still wants to organize people to immigrate to your country, then... ”
"Your Majesty has misunderstood!" Wang Tom quickly explained: "What we advocate in the treaty is that citizens can move freely between the two countries, rather than treating people as commodities and selling them at a price. Of course, what I mean by continuing to provide people is not The people of your country.”
"General Wang, doesn't he refer to the people of our country?" Li Zhi couldn't help but wonder when he heard this answer: "Then where will our country obtain the population to provide to your country? Isn't it possible to rob foreign countries?"
Li Zhi originally just wanted to ask Wang Tom in return, but when he saw Wang Tom's meaningful expression, he instantly understood that the other party was not just joking, but that he really planned to let North Korea send troops to plunder the population of other countries as he had guessed. .
But there is a very obvious problem with this plan. North Korea has long been the target of plunder by other countries. The neighboring countries are more ruthless than the other, and all of them are much stronger than North Korea. If not for Haihan's help, we might not have been able to withstand the wave of Qing invasion last year.
Li Zhi didn't understand for a moment, who could North Korea send troops to fight? The Ming Dynasty, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, Japan, any neighboring country you pick can make North Korea miserable. Even if Li Zhi now has a strong desire to improve his financial situation, he will not be so stupid as to challenge these powerful opponents regardless of his own strength.
"General Wang, with our current military strength, I'm afraid it will be difficult to use troops abroad!" Li Zhi finally felt embarrassed and said that he could not defeat his neighbors, and reminded Wang Tom in a more tactful way not to overestimate North Korea. The strength of the army.
Tom Wang nodded and said: "Of course there are difficulties, but this matter is not as difficult as His Majesty thinks. As long as we choose the right direction and goal, the operation will be feasible."
Li Xie listened to what he said easily, but still didn't believe it: "But there seems to be no suitable direction and goal around our country, right?"
Tom Wang said seriously: "Although the range of choices is limited, there are still suitable targets. Although His Majesty was in Sanya in the first half of the year, he should have heard the news that our country sent troops to attack the Hirado Domain of Japan, right?"
Regarding the Haihan Army's expedition to attack Hirado, Japan, Li Zhi actually only learned the ins and outs from newspapers after the war ended. However, because of his special status, he learned some inside information about this war through the Haihan military.
At first, Li Zhi didn't know why Haihan suddenly sent troops to attack Japan. Later, after reading the information provided by the military, he realized that it was the Hirado clan who took the initiative to provoke Haihan. How could a boss like Haihan, who didn't suffer any loss, swallow his anger and just knock on the door?
Of course, Li Zhen didn’t have that much time to slowly understand the old events related to Shiba Shiba in this process, as well as the actions of the Hirado clan’s deployment of hidden stakes on the southeast coast. He only wanted to know about Haihan How the army went on an expedition to Hirado, and then defeated the Hirado navy fleet, known as Japan's strongest navy.
The more relevant information he learned, the more Li Zhi was in awe of the combat capabilities of the Haihan Army. After all, the cross-sea expedition to Japan was able to defeat the opponent without the ability to fight back. It is estimated that only Haihan has such an impressive record. Only the military can do it. Although North Korea did not directly send troops to participate in the war, it also provided a large amount of materials and a supply port on Jeju Island for the Haihan Army. Afterwards, North Korea also deserves a share of the credit.
So when Wang Tom mentioned this, Li Zhi nodded without hesitation and said: "Regarding this battle, I went to the Ministry of National Defense to read the relevant battle reports, and I admire the performance of the Haihan Army very much! Wait... …General Wang, the target you want to talk about is not Hirado, right?”
Tom Wang nodded and said, "Your Majesty must not be kind to the Hirado clan, right?"
Li Xie shook his head and said: "Of course not. The children of the Li family will never forget the blood feud between our country and Japan!"
During the Imjin Japanese Rebellion forty years ago, the Hirado clan, which was quite close to Korea, was one of the main forces that sent troops to invade Korea. In this war that lasted for seven years, Japan's military advantage was very obvious. If the Ming Dynasty had not sent troops to assist, North Korea would have been destroyed by that time.
But even so, North Korea suffered heavy losses in the Imjin Japanese Rebellion. The population of Seoul alone dropped from 90,000 households before the war to less than 40,000 households after the war. As a result of this war, the country's population was reduced to one-sixth of what it was before the war, and hundreds of thousands of people were plundered by the Japanese army in a few years. After the war, all industries in North Korea were depressed, agricultural production almost stagnated, and the entire society was on the verge of collapse for a long time.
After the war broke out, North Korea severed diplomatic relations with Japan. It was not until the signing of the "Treaty of Treaty" in 1609 that the two countries officially declared the end of the war.
This war can be said to have interrupted North Korea's national destiny. For a long period of time afterwards, North Korea could only survive and barely maintain social operations. For North Korea, the hatred towards Japan cannot be resolved just by signing an armistice agreement. This debt has always been recorded in North Korea's history books. As long as the right time comes, it will definitely avenge it.
This year Haihan sent troops to attack Hirado, and North Korea was willing to cooperate. This was partly due to this old grudge. Although North Korea itself does not have the ability to send troops to participate in the war, it is no problem to help Haihan, and at the same time, it can also take pleasure in watching the excitement of the Japanese.
Of course, if the person in power at that time was Li Zhi, he might really be unable to hold back and organize his troops to directly participate in the war. Anyway, there shouldn't be much risk in drinking some soup behind Hai Hanjun. As for the armistice agreement signed with Japan that year, since nearly thirty years have passed, who cares about this thing that has been buried in the pile of old papers. But when it comes to sending troops alone to compete with the Japanese, Li Zhi may not have the courage. He was well aware of the strength of his country's military. He might be able to make do with a local defensive war, but he had never thought of such a bold idea of going on a cross-sea expedition to Japan.
Wang Tom said: "When our country attacked Hirado this year, it had already wiped out all the local troops. Even if the Japanese reorganized their army after the war, it was only a few months ago and was far from enough to form a combat effectiveness. In Taking action against the local area at this time should not encounter much resistance.”
Li Zhen asked tentatively: "If it is so easy, why don't the Haihan army dispatch on their own?"
Wang Tom smiled and said: "The cost of one dispatch of our army is only ten times that of your army. Even if we can plunder some people locally, we will still be losing money. But if your country sends its army to harvest in Hirado, There should still be good profits.”
When Li Zhi thought about it, it seemed that this was indeed the case. He had stayed in Sanya for a year and had a good understanding of the Haihan Army. In addition, he had paid a large amount of military expenses to the Haihan Army last year and knew that its combat expenses were very high. If Haihan sent his own troops to Hirado to rob people, it would indeed be better to spend money to buy people from North Korea.
Of course, Wang Tom actually has another unspoken reason, that is, after the Haihan Army captured Hirado this year, they looted the local area. In addition to taking away thousands of people, the local people Almost all the wealth was taken away by the Haihan Army, so in the end there was still a surplus from the conquest of Hirado. But now if we send troops to pacify households, the local area will be in ruins, but there will be no profit and water to speak of. Taking into account the high military expenditure, there is a high probability that we will lose money.
Wang Tom continued: "There are no defense methods in Hirado anymore. It is just suitable for the new army formed by your country to practice and gain practical experience. All the people snatched back can be used to offset your country's borrowings. This will also The troops will not be sent out in vain.”
Li Zhi was quite moved when he heard this, but he was still a little undecided, so he asked tentatively: "Then if our country sends troops, do your troops plan to send not even a single soldier?"
Wang Tom said: "Your Majesty should still remember the Joint Operations Command I mentioned a few days ago, right? For operations like this, this organization can come in handy. We will send a small number of officers who participated in the war in the first half of the year to serve as Military advisor to assist your country’s military in combat operations”
Li Zhi smiled bitterly and said: "So the first task after establishing this headquarters is to loot the Hirado Domain?"
Wang Tom said: "Your Majesty, you don't need to think too much, just think of it as training. With such an opponent and such a combat environment, this kind of training opportunity is not always available. If your army can fight overseas alone, It’s only a matter of time before the big revenge is taken.”
Li Zhi thought for a while and finally made up his mind: "Okay, then follow General Wang's suggestion and send troops to Pinghu!"
Li Zhi was not a fool. He actually knew that there wouldn't be much money to be made in Hirado after being looted by the Haihan people. The only thing he could do for this job was to capture some Japanese and hand them over to the Haihan people to offset the loan. But such an overseas expedition is rare, and it can be regarded as a good opportunity to train troops.
After the end of last year's anti-Qing war, North Korea had established a new army of thousands of people with the help of Haihan. These soldiers received three months of training at the Datongjiang base, mastered basic musket tactics, and received a batch of standard muskets provided by Haihan. After nearly a year of training, this unit has basically taken shape. What it lacks is actual combat experience.
According to Qian Tiandun's opinion, if this new army can exert its due combat effectiveness normally, it can at least deal with enemies with two to three times the strength using traditional weapons. After the local army in Hirado was wiped out by the Haihan Army, it was indeed difficult to reorganize and form combat effectiveness in a short period of time, so the new North Korean army should have considerable advantages.
The only big variable is on the navy side. It is difficult for the strength of North Korea's navy to be significantly improved in a short period of time. The reliability of its ability to transport army troops to overseas campaigns is very limited. Fortunately, the famous naval fleet of the Hirado Domain has been destroyed by the Haihan Army. Even if it is reorganized, it will take a long time, so the current risk is relatively low.
Since Li Xie nodded, the matter was considered a done deal. However, Tom Wang does not intend to personally handle this matter. He mentioned the Joint Operations Command just now and is not just talking about it. He is really planning to leave this job to the young staff to plan. He only needs to check the combat plan. .
According to the standards of the Haihan Army, this kind of combat operation is very limited in terms of risk and difficulty. Even if it is implemented by the North Korean army, there should not be too many problems. Of course, this can also be regarded as a test for North Korea's new army to examine their actual results after being trained for such a long time.
Not only did Wang Tom care about this, but Li Zhi also wanted to know how strong this army that his country had invested so many resources in building was. If this unit performs well in actual combat, it will have more confidence and confidence to expand the size of the new army in the future.
The newly established Joint Operations Command had not even arranged its office space before it received its first errand after its establishment, and it was a direct order from King Li Zhi. This made Shen Xueyi and An Daoshi, who had just been transferred to this department, They were all excited.
"Regarding this combat mission, let me explain the situation first." Takahashi Minami said to the two of them: "This combat mission will be carried out by your country's army, so the formulation of the combat plan will also be left to you. We will Provide relevant navigation and geographical information, and assign several officers who participated in the attack on Hirado to assist you.”
"General Takahashi, what is the goal of this mission?" Andao Shi asked excitedly.
Takahashi South Road: "The mission goal is very simple, which is to seize as many resources as possible, including the population, from the local area."
(End of chapter)