Chapter 2668
Li Zhi had some guesses about Haihan's real purpose of using Zhu Zian, but he never had a chance to verify it.
Gyeongbokgung Palace has always been one of the most loyal subscribers to the official Peninsula Times, which is affiliated with Haehan. From the first issue, Li Xie never missed an issue, using it as a window to understand the political trends of Haihan. Of course, he had also carefully read all the recent series of reports about Zhu Zian in the Times.
From the beginning, Li Zhi did not think that Zhu Zian's appearance was just a small probability event that was purely coincidental. Even if the Ming Dynasty had seriously lost power, how could a young man who might be named the next vassal king give up what was so easily available to him? Rich and prosperous, he traveled all the way to Hangzhou to participate in the provincial examination held by Donghai Region.
If this wasn't a carefully planned move by Haihan, then this person was pretending to be Zhu Zian from Prince De's Palace and was cheating in Hangzhou.
Later reports in the Times claimed that this person actually ranked first in the imperial examination and high school, which made Li Zhi even more confused. If this person doesn't have excellent real talent and knowledge, then it is a shady arrangement deliberately arranged by Haihan.
It wasn't until the subsequent report that Zhu Zian had been hired by the Donghai Region Administrative Committee as an official accompanying the mission to North Korea that Li Zhen realized that the background of the matter might not be simple. Haihan's appointment of this person should be It has a deeper meaning.
But until this time, Li Zhen still had doubts about Zhu Zian's identity, and he couldn't understand how the prince brother of the Ming Dynasty could be related to the Donghai Region thousands of miles away, and how the two sides had reached mutual trust and cooperation. Later, it was not until the mission arrived in Jeju Island that it was confirmed that Zhu Zian was indeed among them. After receiving the news, Seoul hurriedly arranged for people to find ways to verify Zhu Zian's identity in Shandong.
After Zhu Zian arrived in Seoul with the envoy, Li Xie met him once when he received the envoy at Gyeongbokgung Palace, but there was no direct communication between the two, and he really couldn't express his feelings. However, at this time, Li Zhi had already realized that Haihan's appointment of Zhu Zian was partly for the purpose of showing off and demonstrating to North Korea - even the children of the Ming royal family could only serve Haihan obediently.
But precisely because of this, Li Zhi didn't want to have too many interactions with Zhu Zian. In his opinion, Haihan's move was to test the stability of his position. Paying too much attention to Zhu Zian, or even giving him excessive courtesy may cause Haihan's dissatisfaction. The safest way is to keep a distance, ignore Zhu Zian's special status, and don't mention anything about him to Haihan at all, so as not to cause complications.
However, Li Zhen was still worried about someone in the court, so he specifically told Pu Hongye to keep an eye on Zhu Zian and pay special attention to whether any court officials came to visit him.
After briefly explaining Zhu Zian's affairs, Li Zhi still had to hand over some government affairs that needed to be followed up to Pu Hongye, because in the next few days, he will set off with the Haihan Fleet to the waters near the mouth of the Han River to observe the joint efforts of the two armies. Military exercises.
For Li Zhi, the significance of this joint exercise is not only to enhance the combat effectiveness of the country's elite troops, but he also wants to take this opportunity to prove to the people that he is the only Korean ruler recognized by Haihan.
The current North-South division of Korea was intentional by Haihan, but as a ruler, Li Zhi was unable to resist this arrangement and could only try his best to win Haihan's trust and support.
Fortunately, most of the new armies established in recent years are under Li Xie's control, so there is no need to worry about the northern brotherhood surpassing him in terms of military strength for the time being. But at the same time, there is also a problem that is not easy to solve, that is, Haihan's main garrison base in North Korea is located on the bank of the Datong River in the north. This has resulted in the personnel training of the New Army and joint exercises having to involve personnel. Being sent to Li Hao's territory made Li Xie very uncomfortable. Later, Li Zhi simply chose to go far away from the nearby and sent the officers to Zhoushan for training and further training, as far away from Li Hao's territory as possible.
Although this will be a little more troublesome, Li Zhi must maintain his dominance regardless of the cost, and the difficulties are not difficult to overcome. Li Hao in the north was naturally well aware of his brother's methods. With the support of the Northern Region and a large number of industrial units on the territory, he didn't have to worry about the economy and military, so he began to concentrate on cultivating his own power.
As time passed, the current situation was formed in which the two imperial courts in the north and the south relied on the Northern Region and the East China Sea Region respectively. Li Zhi knew that no matter whether it was politics, economy, or military, it would be difficult to use ordinary means to suppress his brothers in the north, so in the end he had to work hard to build relationships with Haihan. As long as he is recognized by the Haihan Executive Committee, he can still safely continue to be the king of North Korea, while Li Hao in the north can only continue to be a tool.
The visit of the Haihan delegation and the joint military exercises were a rare opportunity for Li Xie to perform. His decision to attend the military exercise in person was also to draw the people's attention to Haihan's visit to North Korea, thereby declaring his orthodox status.
Haihan's high-profile arrangements for this visit to North Korea also coincided with Li Xie's ideas, whether it was a new round of trade negotiations around commodities, gossip about the children of the Ming royal family in the mission, or the fleet held recently The open house activities have all attracted great attention from the public. Although the attention is limited to the Gyeonggi area for the time being, he is confident that it will quickly spread to the whole country in the near future.
The joint military exercise is the last hot spot of the Haihan delegation's visit to North Korea. Compared with the significance of this move to the military cooperation between the two countries, Li Zhi actually valued its political value and propaganda effect more.
After all, the biggest threat to North Korea at this time is no longer military pressure from the outside, but the stability of the royal power and the stability of the domestic political situation. He also looks forward to getting more clear support from Haihan through this military exercise, which may be more valuable than the improvement of the military strength of the participating troops.
While Li Zhi left Seoul, Pu Hongye, as the chief minister, had to temporarily take on the responsibility of handling the government affairs of the court. It took Li Xie a full two hours to explain everything.
By the time Pu Hongye took the order to leave, it was already late at night. Although he had a meeting all night, Li Zhi was completely sleepless. He picked up the latest issue of Peninsula Times again and browsed the news that the two countries would cooperate in mining two copper-iron mines in northern North Korea.
The exploration work led by Haehan made great progress last year, respectively in the copper mine in Hyesan County, North Hamgyong Province and the iron mine in Musan County. It is said that these two mineral deposits not only have high ore grade, but also have huge reserves that cannot be fully exploited even if they take a hundred years. But what makes Li Zhen uncomfortable is that both of these mineral deposits are located within Li Hao's jurisdiction, and are located in inland mountainous areas. Development is much more difficult than the mineral deposits in the Datong River Basin.
(End of chapter)