Chapter 2348
From Haihan's point of view, the Ming Dynasty still lacked sufficient awareness of the danger of its own situation, and did not regard the Manchu Qing Dynasty as a huge threat to the annihilation of the country. It also believed that the purpose of the Manchu Qing troops was just to plunder the Ming Dynasty's wealth and Population, after obtaining these, they will automatically exit the customs.
Perhaps this was indeed the case in the early years, but with the ebb and flow of strength, the Manchu Qing's ambitions would not stop at robbery. They would seize more land from the Ming Dynasty and even replace the Ming Dynasty's rule over the Central Plains. Gradually became the target of the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
But at least at this stage, in the Ming Dynasty, Haihan is still regarded as a greater threat than the Manchu Qing. The Haihan Kingdom wanted money, technology, an invincible army, and brilliant strategies for governing the country. In the past ten years, it had occupied a lot of land along the coast of the Ming Dynasty through plunder and robbery.
The most important thing is that the Haihan Kingdom is also a Han government, and its language, culture, and living habits are similar to those of the Ming Dynasty. If it one day replaces the dominance of the Ming Dynasty, it seems that it will be easier to gain recognition from the people and will not be treated as a foreign race.
Based on this view, Ming Dynasty has always been very wary of Haihan. Even in the past two years, due to internal and external difficulties, it had to establish a so-called military alliance with Haihan. The diplomatic relations between the two countries are still far away. It is far from normalized.
Even though the war that took place in Korea last year has fully proved that the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army is far superior to that of the Qing army, as long as the Haihan Army is invited to take action, even Korea with weak military strength can defeat the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty still cannot Like North Korea, we are willing to lower our stature and ask for military assistance from Haihan.
Taking money to order weapons and equipment from Haihan is the best that Ming Dynasty can do at this stage. As for further military cooperation, Ming still thinks it is not necessary.
Of course, this attitude is not entirely out of arrogance. North Korea's request for Haihan to send troops to defend the enemy is not something that can be accomplished in one sentence, and the price paid for this is not a secret. Assuming that the Ming Dynasty wanted to ask Haihan to send troops to attack the Qing army in the same way, I am afraid that the price required would be several times that of North Korea. Moreover, if some important checkpoints and geographical points were to be guarded by the Haihan army, then It is very likely that it will become an act of luring wolves into the house, just like the Jinzhou area currently occupied by Haihan, and there will no longer be any hope of taking it back smoothly.
The Ming Dynasty's various fears about Haihan were not groundless, so it never took a more proactive attitude in military cooperation. It was not that Yue Yongshou didn't know the inside story, but he just deliberately concealed it so as not to anger Chen Yixin. But this information is not a complete secret to Haihan. Naturally, relevant information can be obtained through other channels. Haihan is by no means ignorant of Daming's mentality of worrying about gains and losses.
It is still unknown whether the emergence of Qing army musketeers will bring greater pressure to Ming Dynasty and force Ming Dynasty to change its attitude towards Haihan. The information Chen Yixin provided to Yue Yongshou must have been a little late when it was written into a memorial and sent back to the Ming Dynasty. It is hard to say how the Ming Dynasty will understand Haihan's belated warning. If someone deliberately misinterprets Haihan's intentions, Chen Yixin's good intentions may backfire and be regarded as intentional coercion.
Of course, Ming Dynasty may wake up to a certain point when it can no longer hold on and request formal military assistance from Haihan, but the price required at that time will be difficult to compare with what it is now.
When Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun led their troops back to the Taedongjiang base after the snow-walking operation, they received an action report about North Korea sending troops to raid the Hirado domain.
"The Koreans acted very fast this time!" Qian Tiandun was quite surprised at the time it took to receive the battle report. In his opinion, the Koreans should not have acted so fast.
Wang Tom quickly scanned the battle report and understood what was going on: "The North Koreans did not choose to send troops from Seoul, but gathered troops from the nearby areas of Jeollanam Province and Gyeongsangnam Province. And the place they attacked was not Hirado Island, but the Goto Islands, that’s why the battle report came out so quickly.”
If North Korea wants to organize troops to go on an expedition from near Seoul, the round-trip voyage will have to be increased by at least 1,500 miles, and the combat readiness materials required for this will also increase a lot. The expected benefits from this operation will inevitably be Big discount. After discussing with the ministers, Li Zhi decided to adjust the action plan and dispatch troops directly from the southern coast closer to the Hirado Domain of Japan. On the one hand, this can dispatch troops as quickly as possible, and on the other hand, it will also save a lot of materials required during the operation.
Although the troops drawn from the local area are definitely not as effective as the elite troops in Seoul, Li Zhi considered that the Hirado Domain was only attacked by the Haihan Army with thunderous means half a year ago, and it should not have recovered its strength so quickly, so he sent troops from the south. The troops should be competent enough to perform this task.
There is indeed nothing wrong with Li Zhi's judgment, but when he sent troops to the southern region, the generals who led the troops still had a lot of fear of the Hirado Domain. In the end, they did not attack Hirado Island directly, but chose to use a relatively stronger defensive force. The weak Goto Islands area is the primary target.
The North Korean army fought their way through cautiously, but did not encounter much local resistance. It took ten days to successfully complete the plunder of the Goto Islands. However, the harvest of the operation was not very satisfactory. Only less than a thousand people were captured in the area. Basically, all the fish that slipped through the net after the last raid by the Haihan Army were fished out.
After completing the looting of the Goto Islands, the North Korean fleet did not march to Hirado Island again, but withdrew directly. The Japanese captured locally have been transported to Seoul according to Haehan's request, and it is estimated that the handover to Haehan will be completed on Ganghwa Island in a few days.
Qian Tiandun shook his head repeatedly and said: "We asked them to attack Hirado Island, but they withdrew after robbing the Five Islands. How much oil and water can there be on those islands? How much money can we get if we just rob so many people?" The North Koreans are not sure whether they can cover the cost of sending troops by grabbing this little thing.”
Wang Tom said: "Li Zhen is not a fool. Even if this operation is a loss, it is still a loss and a profit for him."
Qian Tiandun was slightly moved and said: "You mean that the North Koreans compromised this action and it was actually Li Xie's decision?"
"At least he should be informed." Wang Tom reminded: "Don't forget, Li Zhi also specially sent Shen Xueyi to command this operation. Even if the generals in the south don't know Li Zhi's original intention of arranging this operation, Shen Xueyi is Could it be that the imperial envoy he sent to supervise the battle would turn a blind eye to this small action of paddling? "
When Tom Wang said this, Qian Tiandun immediately understood what he meant. Whether this operation can capture a large number of people as the Haihan people expected may not be that important to Li Zhi, but as long as the operation is successful, it will greatly enhance the personal prestige of Li Zhi who has just ascended the throne.
When North Korea suffered from the Imjin Japanese Rebellion, Li Zhi was not yet born. However, Li Zhi learned about the shadow of this humiliating history on North Korea from his father at a very young age. During his reign, Li Zhu also hoped that one day he could retaliate against Japan. However, because of his weak national strength, he did not have the courage to turn against Japan, so he could only continue to maintain superficial diplomatic relations.
Li Zhi had only been on the throne for more than a month, but he had already taken action against Japan, his old enemy, and was able to achieve good results. For him, the benefits of this operation were far more than compensating for the use of prisoners. Haihan just borrowed money.
Although the Hirado Domain was looted by the Kaihan Army half a year ago, the Hirado Navy was once the number one in Japan. If the Kaihan Army had not cleaned up the cleanup at that time, it would have been a direct attack on Hirado Island. A very risky move. The Goto Islands, which are relatively easy to attack, can be used for stability. Anyway, the Goto Islands are also the territory of the Hirado Domain. After the attack, there is nothing wrong with announcing that troops have been sent to clean up the Hirado Domain. Even if everyone knows that the attack on the Hirado Domain is guaranteed by Kaihan, as long as the battle report is released and the prisoners are transported back to the country, no one can question Li Zhen's wisdom and martial prowess. After all, this is a feat that no king in the past has been able to achieve. .
As for whether this kind of action will anger the Japanese shogunate and provoke war retaliation, that is actually not something Li Zhi needs to worry about. If such a situation really occurs, Haihan will definitely stand in the way. After all, senior officials of Haihan have made explicit statements in front of Li Zhi more than once, and they are worried that they can't find a suitable excuse to start a war with Japan.
After thinking about it carefully, it seems reasonable that this action against the Hirado Domain will turn out as shown in the battle report.
After Qian Tiandun figured out the reason, he was not angry. Instead, he commented with a smile: "Li Zhi went to Sanya to study for a year, and he really learned something!"
Wang Tom said: "It's okay for Li Zhi to be clever with us, as long as he clearly remembers how he got the throne."
Although Li Zhi was the heir designated by the late King Li Zhu, in the event of a sudden palace coup in North Korea, if Hae Han had not protected him and returned to Seoul to seize power, it is really doubtful whether he would have been able to take the throne. Easy to say.
From a certain perspective, the main reason why Li Zhi was able to successfully ascend the throne may not be that he was the designated heir of the late king, but that Haihan chose to support him in becoming the king of North Korea. If Haihan had chosen one of his two brothers as the new king at that time, then Li Zhi would probably have had no choice but to go into exile overseas and serve as a backup for Haihan to control the throne of North Korea.
Even now, if Li Xie's actions endanger Haihan's interests in North Korea, Haihan still has enough ability to change the candidate for the throne. There is no need for Hai Hanming to explain this, Li Zhi himself should also know it very well.
Wang Tom said: "Since we didn't capture many prisoners, I don't think there is any need to hold a handover ceremony. Later I will say hello to the North Koreans and ask them to send them to the Datong River themselves."
Qian Tiandun said: "Did the current situation of the Hirado clan be mentioned in the battle report?"
Wang Tom understood what Qian Tiandun was concerned about, and immediately handed the battle report to him: "You'd better take a look for yourself!"
Qian Tiandun took a moment to read the battle report. There was not much valuable information, especially the current situation of the Hirado Domain that he was concerned about, and it was hardly mentioned in the battle report.
"North Koreans are still not professional enough!" Qian Tiandun shook his head, secretly giving this battle report a failing grade.
In the first half of the year, the Kaihan Army carried out an all-round attack on the Hirado Domain. It not only annihilated the main armed forces of the Hirado Domain, destroyed the workshops where the Hirado Domain made weapons and warships, and kidnapped a large number of people. , when they retreated, they burned the entire Hirado city with fire. It can be said that they didn't spare any effort.
However, Tagawa Nanzaemon, the descendant of Zheng Zhilong, whom the lords of Hirado Domain, Tagawa Suke and Kaihan, wanted to catch, has never been caught. In theory, there is still the possibility of making a comeback. After half a year, the social order of the Hirado clan has been restored to some extent. Whether Tagawasuke has returned to Hirado Island and continues to preside over the overall situation, this is information that the Kaihan Army is very concerned about. If the North Korean army invades Hirado Island according to Haihan's suggestion, then this information will not be difficult to collect, and it will even be possible to capture important figures like Tagawasuke.
The North Koreans obviously did not understand Haihan's need for this intelligence information, so there was no reflection in the battle report. In fact, as long as the prisoners are carefully interrogated, some information can be obtained more or less.
Wang Tom said: "We will review it ourselves when someone sends it over. But don't have high expectations. People on the Goto Islands may not know the situation on Hirado Island."
Although the distance between Hirado Island and the Goto Islands is not too far, the journey from Hirado Castle to the Goto Islands is hundreds of miles, and ordinary people will definitely not travel between the two places frequently. These prisoners captured by the Koreans may only know about Hirado after it was looted by the Haihan Army in the first half of the year.
Qian Tiandun was silent for a long time, and then said: "If no information can be found through the investigation, it is best to arrange a reconnaissance operation and send people to see the actual situation on Hirado Island."
"You can have this." Wang Tom nodded to express his agreement with this suggestion.
The reason why they are so concerned about the situation in Hirado is that firstly, they want to eliminate the Eighteen Shiba Yu Party and prevent this hidden danger from continuing to cause trouble for Haihan in the future; secondly, they want to completely eliminate the weapons and equipment manufacturing capabilities of the Hirado Domain to prevent Hirado from following the Manchurian clan. Qing colluded to cause trouble.
Originally, they wanted to use the power of the North Koreans to achieve their goals, so that they would not have to take action themselves. But now it seems that the North Koreans' method of action is obviously unreliable. It is impossible to expect them to get things done. If necessary, the navy and Han army must take action on their own. If necessary, we would even have to send out a large number of troops again and use force to completely destroy the existence of the Hirado Domain.
However, Operation Snow has just ended, and enough time needs to be left for the troops to rest, so there is no need to rush to turn their guns and aim at the next target.
(End of chapter)