Chapter 2667
At the same time, in the Ideological and Political Hall of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul, King Li Zhen was reviewing the memorial sent by Park Hongye.
Pu Hongye sat on the chair opposite Li Xie's writing desk, looking at his nose and heart, as still as a statue. The content of his memorial was about the results of the talks with the Haihan mission. Although the general direction was in accordance with Li Xie's instructions, Park Hongye did not dare to ensure that the content of the final agreement would satisfy his superiors.
Li Xie suddenly raised his hand and rubbed his eyes. Pu Hongye, who seemed to be in a state of trance, immediately stood up and asked with concern: "Your Majesty, is the light a little weak?"
Li Zhi didn't respond, just nodded slightly with his eyes closed.
Pu Hongye quickly reached out his hand and operated the two oil lamps placed on the desk a few times, and the surrounding area immediately became brighter.
The two oil lamps on Li Zhi's desk are not traditional oil lamps, but gifts from Haihan when Li Zhi ascended the throne. They are fueled by kerosene imported from Taiwan. The lower half of the lamp body is a heavy brass base filled with kerosene, and the upper half is a crystal clear glass lampshade, which allows the light emitted by the oil lamp to illuminate the surroundings without any obstruction and is not affected by the surrounding air flow.
There is also a small knob on the base. You can easily adjust the length of the burning wick by gently twisting it to achieve the effect of adjusting the brightness.
Of course, if that's all, it's not much different from the high-end kerosene lamps you can buy on the market. The real special thing is actually the row of small characters engraved on the base shell - Haihanguo The Executive Committee presents it to the King of Korea.
Although there are more advanced and better-used windproof oil lamps on the market, Li Zhi has never planned to replace these two lamps. This may be a nostalgic plot, but it also reflects the importance Li Xie attaches to the relationship between the two countries.
Li Yan looked at the light for a while, then slowly put down the memorial in his hand and said softly: "It's been hard these days!"
"I don't dare to slack off in my responsibilities. Your Majesty has given me the reward!" Pu Hongye was not at all proud of Li Xie's praise, but still dealt with it extremely carefully. He has been working beside Li Xie for so many years, so he naturally knows that his boss's evaluation of such an important event will not just be a light "Thank you".
Sure enough, Li Xixuan continued: "The Haihan Kingdom's plan to move the capital actually requires our country to increase the supply of steel and coal. It seems that the project involved is very large. When this matter is over, you will arrange for someone to go to Hangzhou to visit carefully and collect information. , pay attention to the impact on our country, and don’t be passive in everything.”
Haihan's mission was actually to fulfill the signing of the agreement, and the real talks had lasted for several months. But for Li Zhi, Haihan's request still caught him off guard.
If the adjustment requirements for coal and iron production capacity allocation were placed a year ago, North Korea would still have sufficient time to coordinate its own needs. However, if it is only a few months in advance, it will inevitably affect many plans that are already underway.
Not to mention, the Han River Port under construction outside Seoul has been under construction for two years, and the construction period is expected to be at least seven or eight years. One of the main reasons why it takes so long is the insufficient supply of steel, which has caused some The main project is progressing slowly.
Now, Haihan has requested to adjust the steel production capacity quota supplied to North Korea by the Taedong River smelting base in the next few years, which will inevitably increase the steel demand gap of the project and also affect the construction period. This is not good news for Li Zhen, who wants to build the Han River Port as soon as possible and increase the scale of trade in Seoul. There are still many large-scale infrastructure projects like this. Once the steel production capacity quota changes, these projects will be affected to a greater or lesser extent. The losses caused by delays in construction of these projects are also difficult to simply measure in terms of money.
Due to the objective situation, Li Zhi was of course unable to resist the arrangements Haihan had already decided. He could only bargain as much as possible to obtain more compensation for himself. But if the relevant yamen paid more attention to Haihan's domestic trends, could collect relevant information beforehand, and could predict Haihan's intentions, they might not be in such a passive situation.
Things have already happened, and it will be useless for Li Xie to pursue the responsibility. Moreover, Park Hongye has too many things to take care of, and intelligence work is only one of them. Li Zhi has too many things to rely on Park Hongye, so he cannot be accused of not doing a good enough job in this area. He can only tell Park Hongye to work harder in this area in the future.
Pu Hongye said solemnly: "The Zhoushan embassy is not doing its job well. I think we should make adjustments as soon as possible and send more capable personnel to the local area to avoid making similar mistakes again."
Li Zhen nodded slightly and said: "You can make up your mind on these matters... Also, from now on, the news from Sanya, no matter how big or small, must be sent back to China as soon as possible, without delay!"
Pu Hongye responded quickly. If the work of the intelligence port is to be more solid, it will require doubled investment, but since Li Xie has given the order, Park Hongye will certainly follow it. Anyway, it’s not taking money out of your own pocket, and you can also take this opportunity to arrange a few more confidants, so that things will be more convenient in the future.
Li Xie changed his tone and then talked about another matter: "Zhu Zian from the mission, has his identity been confirmed?"
Park Hongye said: "According to the news coming back from Shandong, this person does exist in Prince Deok's Mansion, and he has not appeared in public in recent months. But whether he is the one who came to Seoul cannot be confirmed yet."
Li Zhen nodded slightly and said: "In this case, Haihan will not find another person to impersonate him."
Li Zhi still had doubts about the authenticity of Haihan's appointment of a descendant of the Ming royal family, so he asked people stationed in Shandong to investigate the relevant information. Although the two places are separated by the Yellow Sea, the distance is much closer than Hangzhou. In addition, when the news was sent back from Shandong, it was sent in code using Haihan official commercial telegram, so it only took a few days to complete it.
What Li Zhi was worried about was not actually that Haihan had someone pretend to be a descendant of the Zhu family, but that someone pretended to be a descendant of the Zhu family and cheated. However, such worries are obviously unnecessary. Haihan did not rely on similar investigation methods to verify Zhu Zian's identity, but went directly to Prince De's Mansion for an interview. There was no way it could be faked.
Pu Hongye asked tentatively: "Then shall we arrange for His Majesty to meet him alone?"
Li Zhi immediately shook his head and said: "No need. He is just a chess piece in the hands of the Haihan people. If I see him, the Haihan people will not know about him, but will be caught. And the people you sent to see him a few days ago, Isn’t it a failure? He is just a Haihan official. It’s enough for us to recognize this.”
(End of chapter)