Chapter 2591
Although more and more businessmen and students from North Korea and Japan have appeared on Hainan Island in recent years, for a few young people who do not serve in the military, their understanding of North Korea and Japan mainly comes from written materials. , the information they have is far inferior to that of the military. Among these people, the one who knew the most about the situation in North Korea and Japan was naturally none other than Shi Chengwu. He immediately gave a brief explanation of the situation to everyone.
There is actually no direct conflict between Japan's Tokugawa shogunate and Kaihan. However, in the early years, the Hirado clan colluded with the remnants of Shiba Shiba to oppose Kaihan, which led to Kaihan sending troops to expeditions to Hirado and other places several times. As a result, Kaihan will be the ruler. The Tokugawa shogunate was also dragged into the water. Later, Kaihan organized a large-scale fleet to display force in Edo Bay, forcing the Tokugawa shogunate and Kaihan to sign the "Sea-Japan Commerce Treaty", allowing Japan to open designated trade ports to Kaihan and granting Kaihan preferential tariffs.
Japan's forced opening of ports not only brought huge business opportunities to Haihan, but also had a great impact on its domestic environment. In order to reduce the opposition of various domestic vassals to the conditions, the Tokugawa shogunate raised the emperor who had been ignored for many years as a shield. However, this gave the domestic opposition an opportunity to come forward. They took advantage of the opportunity in the name of saving the country and supporting the emperor. entered the political stage.
As of now, the domestic political situation in Japan is still in chaos. Due to the signing of the treaty, the prestige of the Tokugawa shogunate in the country was greatly reduced, and the domain where the trading port designated by Kaihan actually benefited from cross-border trade, and its economic strength grew rapidly.
Haihan Capital found every opportunity to secretly support a group of people in these vassals, use various means to recommend them to power, and then obtain more preferential business conditions through these people. After receiving the secret support of Haihan, these vassals naturally no longer obeyed the orders of the shogunate in Edo City so obediently. In many places, they began to make moves and seemed to have the posture of establishing their own sects.
As a result, the power gap between the various vassals became more and more obvious. Those places that did not benefit directly from cross-border trade became more and more resentful towards the shogunate. Many places simply raised their flags to oppose the Tokugawa shogunate. Continue to rule Japan.
There are also some forces who want to take advantage of the chaos and troubled waters, and some who overestimate their capabilities even organize Japanese pirate armed forces to try to rob Haihan's merchant ships at sea.
Different opinions in various places naturally led to constant friction, and armed conflicts between various vassals frequently occurred. However, due to their strength, the scale of most conflicts is not too large and will not affect Haihan's local interests for the time being.
"For our country, the civil strife in Japan has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, it can provide convenient conditions for us to support local forces, but on the other hand, it will also make some areas more resolutely stand against us. In general, We currently do not want a large-scale war in Japan, at least not to affect our country's normal local trade. The main mission of the Sasebo base is to maintain our country's military superiority in the Japanese archipelago and protect our interests in non-war conditions. , the East China Sea Fleet’s irregular visits to major coastal ports have become an effective means of deterrence.”
In a simple and easy-to-understand way, Shi Chengwu introduced the current situation in Japan and the significance of the East China Sea Fleet's patrol of the Japanese islands. Tao Hongfang asked: "If that's the case, why doesn't our country follow the example in North Korea and directly support a new ruler, whether it's the so-called emperor or the shogun? As long as he obeys our orders, won't many things be done? Is it much easier? ”
Shi Chengwu shook his head and replied: "The situation in Japan is much more complicated than that in Korea. The emperor has long been ignored by the shogunate, and the shogun can only directly control a quarter of the country. The rest of the area is controlled by various vassals. Separate rule. According to the division method of Japan's Five Territories and Seven Domains, there are as many as sixty-six countries. Many places only obey the shogunate in name. If we want to support a puppet to replace the current Tokugawa shogunate, we must invest a lot of resources. They also have to go to Japan to clear the way for the puppets to rule, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and may result in a loss in the end.”
Tao Hongfang suddenly said: "In this case, it is really better to invest limited resources in the country."
In the eyes of young people like Haihan, the Japanese archipelago is nothing more than an overseas island country that is short of supplies. If it weren't for the local consumer market of a certain size, Haihan would not have to spend more energy dealing with it. If it requires investing a lot of resources, or even launching a large-scale war, to achieve indirect rule over the local area, the price is really not worth it for Haihan. If these resources are invested in the area formerly ruled by the Ming Dynasty, the return they can get will definitely be much higher than that of the island country.
Next, Shi Chengwu introduced the situation in North Korea. Korea has always been a vassal state of the Central Plains Dynasty in history. However, due to the rise of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the east of Liaodong, in order to protect itself, Korea finally abandoned the Ming Dynasty, the Mud Bodhisattva suzerainty that could not protect itself, and took refuge in the more powerful Haihan. .
Facts have proved that this choice of team was quite smart. Just more than ten years after the two countries established diplomatic relations, the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty surrendered to Haihan one after another. Haihan became the most powerful country in East Asia. As a result, North Korea also rose to heaven. , for a time, its international status even surpassed that of the Ming Dynasty and the Manchu Qing Dynasty.
However, the situation in Korea was not as peaceful as it seemed. In the early years, Haihan believed that King Li Zhen's position was wavering, so he invited the then crown prince Li Zhen to study in Sanya, and then supported him to succeed to the throne. While Li Zhen was studying abroad, the traditional Korean palace coup broke out again in the country. Haihan sent Li Zhen back to the country and spent a lot of effort to send him to power.
After this incident, senior leaders of Haihan also realized that the situation in North Korea was not peaceful, and the tradition of palace coups would not die out. So in addition to garrisoning troops, Haihan took new measures and sent Li Xie's brother Li Hao to Pyongyang in the north, and asked him to manage the northern part of North Korea on his behalf in the name of "guarding the border on behalf of the king." If there is another palace coup in Seoul and something unexpected happens to Li Zhi, then Haihan will let Li Hao in the north inherit the throne, and those who initiated the coup will get nothing.
But in this way, North Korea actually formed a situation of dividing the north and the south. Although Li Zhi was very dissatisfied with this arrangement and raised objections to Haihan many times, he ultimately failed to make Haihan change his mind. Moreover, Pyongyang City is not far from Haehan's Taedong River base. If he tries to solve the problem through force, Haehan's army will inevitably intervene quickly as soon as possible.