Chapter 1505 The demeanor of a strong man

The absolutely powerful force makes it difficult for people to have the idea of ​​​​confronting it, and the ruthless destruction of the target ship by the Haihan fleet was to have such an effect. This old ship could not even sustain the entire fleet until it was completed

After a round of strikes, when the last few ships entered the shooting zone, less than one-third of the ship was still floating on the water. However, the Navy still strictly implemented the exercise plan and targeted the ships on the water.

The wreckage of the ship continued to pour cannonballs. Although some cannonballs inevitably hit the empty space, the high splash of water was more visually impactful for the audience.

It is not that the Korean monarchs and ministers have never witnessed naval battles, but the long-range firepower of the wooden house ships and turtle ships installed by the Korean navy cannot be compared with the Haihan battleship. In the Noryang naval battle in 1598, although the allied fleets of the Ming Dynasty and North Korea

Artillery and blunderbuss were also used as firepower output, but the tactics used during the battle were still based on boarding battles. The Korean monarchs and ministers had never heard of a strategy like the Haihan Fleet that bombarded the target from beginning to end.

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"It's really... amazing!" After watching this artillery drill, Li Zhu could only sigh with emotion. If North Korea had such a powerful fleet at the time, how could it have fought against the Japanese invasion more than thirty years ago?

In the two naval battles of Mingliang and Luliang, the Korean army would not have fought so hard.

The generals around Li Zhu saw more things. The astonishingly high speed of the Haihan fleet, the maintenance of the formation when traveling on the river, and even the very regular rhythm when firing guns, with each door firing in sequence.

The loud cannons all show that this fleet is well-trained. If it is inferred from this, Shen Zhixiang said that this fleet has very rich combat experience, and even wiped out Hou Jin's maritime armed forces, it is indeed not true.

Bragging.

As the general of the Ming Army, Shen Zhixiang admired this fleet so much, which also shows another thing. The strength of the Haihan fleet is higher than that of the Ming Navy. If it is more powerful than the Ming Navy, then it will not matter to North Korea.

For the generals, they can basically be equated with the strongest in the world.

Li Zhu's idea was very intuitive and simple. The tactical literacy and equipment level displayed by the Haihan fleet were indeed not showy. If the Haihan fleet could completely suppress Houjin at sea, their performance on land should not be much different.

According to the information brought back by Luo Dexian, the Haihan Army could defeat the Hou Jin Army in a fancy way on the Liaodong battlefield. Although the North Korean monarchs and ministers did not believe this at the time, after watching the drill of this fleet, everyone understood that Luo Xian

He probably wasn't bragging for Haihan on this matter.

"General Shen, since the Haihan people are so powerful, why didn't they start contact with our country two years ago? If we had contacted earlier, maybe we wouldn't be so nervous now." Li Zhu's seemingly regretful words were actually intended to pass.

Shen Zhixiang's relationship can ease the tension between the two parties. After all, when the Haihan fleet landed on the shore, it seemed that the countdown to the outbreak of war had entered. But now it is known that the Haihan people did not intend to go to war with North Korea. Li

He felt that it was necessary to restore the impression his country had left on the other party.

Shen Zhixiang responded: "Reporting to your Majesty, Haihan's move into Liaodong only started last winter, only about half a year ago. But at that time, if an alliance was proposed to North Korea, Haihan would not be able to show any record that could convince your country.

, I think most of them will be rejected by your country. Therefore, Commander Haihan decided to open up the situation in Liaodong first, and then discuss the alliance with your country. This is only safe."

This is of course just a high-sounding statement. In fact, when Haihan planned the Liaodong strategy, he did not consider the existence of North Korea too much. This is because Haihan’s senior officials are actually aware of the situation in North Korea and know that this country is actually a bit unreliable and is used to sitting on the fence.

The direction of the wind. At that time, Haihan's advance into Liaodong was still a highly confidential plan, but in order to recruit North Korea, the secret must be told to them, and the possibility of leaking military information would become very high. In addition to later Jin

In addition to the official envoys stationed in Seoul, there are also many private eyes and ears. Once they learn about Haihan's plans in Liaodong, the difficulty of the operation will be greatly increased.

The Ministry of Security also specifically warned the military not to take risks for temporary gain. Therefore, before advancing into Liaodong, the military did not try to discuss the possibility of military cooperation with North Korean senior officials at all. It also specifically warned Dongjiang Town

Several high-level generals who knew about it asked them not to reveal Haihan's plans in Liaodong to the outside world.

Of course Shen Zhixiang knew about this. The order he received at the beginning was to keep it secret from the North Koreans, so he naturally did not start any communication. The root cause of this matter was that the Haihan people did not trust North Korea. Considering its face issues, this kind of

Of course, the matter cannot be told directly to the King of Korea.

Li Biao suddenly realized: "General Shen's words are reasonable. In this way, General Haihan has considered it very carefully." As he spoke, he seemed not to be aware of the problem at all. Of course, even if he was aware of it, if Li Biao hadn't been

A fool would not express dissatisfaction in front of Shen Zhixiang. After all, Shen Zhixiang's position is obviously on the side of Haihan. His words and deeds will definitely be conveyed to Haihan later. Now the Haihan fleet is on the Han River.

You haven't left yet, so be careful with your words and deeds to avoid disaster.

Li Zhu's statement set the tone for the subsequent contacts between the two parties. Not only did Shen Zhixiang receive such a signal, but the civil and military ministers around Li Zhu also immediately understood what the king meant.

The Haihan people have already used their bargaining chips, and Li Zhu should be quite satisfied with this. After all, an army that can completely suppress Hou Jin on the battlefield is an existence that North Korea currently hopes for. If even Daming Ming

The military has endorsed the reliability of Haihan Army, so North Korea has no reason not to believe that Haihan can help North Korea get rid of the predicament of being enslaved by Hou Jin.

Of course, Li Jian and his ministers will definitely not accept all the logistical support Haihan asked North Korea to provide. There will inevitably be a bargaining process. But as long as North Korea relents, the remaining

The matter is relatively simple. Haihan is very good at this type of negotiation, not to mention there is an armed fleet waiting here. The pace of the next negotiations will most likely be controlled by Haihan.

An hour after Li Zhu made his statement, Wang Tom received the good news from Shen Zhixiang. Although this was the direction that everyone expected, being able to get the North Koreans to let go so smoothly can be regarded as a result of the military, intelligence, diplomacy, and logistics.

Waiting for the results of the coordinated cooperation of various departments. And if you want to seriously calculate it, the cost of this operation is also very considerable. The fleet almost concentrated more than 80% of the combat ships of the Northern Fleet, and the entire Marine Corps also accompanied it in case of emergency. All

The equipment and ammunition rationing, as well as the entire fleet's expenses during the operation, were all implemented in accordance with wartime standards. If an armed conflict really breaks out outside Seoul, Wang Tom is confident that he will teach the North Koreans a good lesson.

"Save money and trouble." Wang Tom gave a four-word comment on the North Koreans' compromise. Since the North Koreans understood the current affairs at the last moment, the expected armed conflicts and extraneous troubles should not occur. This is for Haihan

It is indeed good news. Although Haihan has already wiped out Hou Jin's water-based armed forces, the Northern Fleet's departure from Liaodong for too long is ultimately unstable. Wang Tom also hopes to deal with North Korea as soon as possible and let the Northern Fleet

Return to Liaodong to carry out real combat missions.

But before that, he had to be patient and settle the matters that needed to be dealt with with the North Korean monarchs and ministers first. After the two sides negotiated for a day and night through the intermediary Shen Zhixiang, they finally agreed on a certain location at the foot of Nanshan Mountain in the south of Seoul.

A meeting between the King of Korea and Commander-in-Chief Haihan was held in the palace courtyard.

Wang Tom was not worried about what tricks the Koreans could play. He only brought a platoon of men and horses ashore to attend the appointment. In order to show the magnificence of the Haihan Army, Wang Tom also specially applied for a group of war horses to accompany him this time.

Everything came in handy. When the Koreans saw that the Haihan Army actually took dozens of war horses from the ship and rode them, they even concluded that the Haihan Army came to Seoul this time with the determination to start a war if they could not reach an agreement. Otherwise, if

It was just a demonstration on the water, so there was no need to carry so many war horses. They were clearly used to prepare for landing operations.

Tom Wang’s own mount is a very strong and tall black Andalusian horse, which was introduced by the Portuguese from the Iberian Peninsula in Europe the year before last. After working as a stallion at the racecourse for a year, it was handed over to Tom Wang last year.

It’s a pity that Tom Wang spends more time at sea than on land. This precious mount was transported from Sanya to Zhejiang, and then from Zhejiang to Shandong and Liaodong. During this period, he didn’t spend much time riding. Halu

Gongdu scolded him for wasting his natural resources and planned to find a time to take the horse back and continue to be a stallion.

After Shen Zhixiang came to meet with Wang Tom, the group went to Nanshan under the leadership of the North Korean military attache. The highest point of this hill in the south of Seoul is only more than 200 meters, but it is already the commanding height near Seoul. Nanshan is surrounded by

Covered by lush vegetation, the foot of the mountain was used as a vacation hunting palace by successive kings of the Lee Dynasty, and a courtyard was built here to prepare for living at any time.

When Wang Tom was staying in Jiangnan, he had seen many courtyards of wealthy families in the coastal state capitals. However, the courtyards built by the Korean royal family were not really luxurious, nor did they have much artistic sense. They were basically ordinary Korean houses.

Just an enlarged version. According to Shen Zhixiang’s explanation, this is also because North Korea is relatively backward in architecture and it is difficult to design and build Chinese-style courtyards on its own. Even if you are a king, the layout of the palace courtyard is actually the same as that of the Ming Dynasty’s rural rich nouveau riche.

The yard is similar, just larger in area.

However, the King of Korea was still quite proud of his palace courtyard. He was very hospitable and introduced the origin of every brick, stone, plant and tree in this courtyard to Tom Wang who was meeting him for the first time. Although a rockery or a rockery was transported from a hundred miles away,

Moving a big tree from a certain mountain sounds very powerful, but in Wang Tom's opinion, this is simply child's play, and he doesn't have much of a pleasing impression on this kind of courtyard built like building blocks. Just standing in front of the guests

From his standpoint, he politely expressed his appreciation and envy for these details that the owner was proud of.

But in Li Zhu's eyes, he couldn't help but add some drama to Wang Tom. He believed that this was a manifestation of General Haihan's friendly attitude toward himself and North Korea. The next negotiation content between the two sides was exactly what should be established.

On top of this friendly atmosphere.

Of course, after he sat down and started negotiating with Tom Wang, he discovered that he was wrong. Tom Wang had no intention of being polite to him when it came to negotiating the alliance between the two countries and related rights and obligations.

"Food and manpower are two resources that your country must provide to Liaodong, and our country will have some specific requirements on quantity and supply time." Wang Tom unceremoniously reiterated Haihan's request to Li Zhu: "

In addition, we also ask your country to provide sources of supplies such as livestock and poultry, timber, iron, coal, and other daily necessities. We are not asking for them for free, but will offer you a reasonable price for the transaction."

Li Zhuo was not a monarch who was good at negotiating, but Wang Tom only talked to him by name, and Li Xiang couldn't even think about pushing out his ministers to fight on his behalf. In response to Wang Tom's aggressive demands, Li Xiang didn't seem to know what to do.

He had not yet found a suitable way to refuse. For the first time, he discovered that besides the envoys of the Ming Dynasty and the envoys of the Later Jin Dynasty, there were other people who could make him panic with just words.

"General Wang, these matters can be discussed later. I think that since your country wants to become an ally with our country and is willing to provide military asylum to our country, can you also consider training the army for our country or selling some performance capabilities?

Excellent weapons for our country?" Li Zhu decided to try to control the pace of negotiations in his own hands.

Wang Tom understood why Li Zhu had such an idea. One of Shen Zhixiang's tasks was to introduce to the Koreans the many supports Dongjiang Town received from Haihan, including training the army, training officers, providing new weapons, etc. His purpose was

We must encourage the North Koreans to seek military assistance from Haihan on their own.

Of course, the purpose of instructing Shen Zhixiang to do this is not really to help North Korea improve its military strength. The military just wants to find a place to dispose of the old weapons that have been eliminated or are about to be eliminated. People like North Korea are stupid, rich in money, and easy to bully.

The country is of course an ideal target. In the name of military assistance, the old matchlocks and flintlock guns in the warehouse are sold to North Korea at a "reasonable" price, or they are exchanged for what North Korea can provide at a discount.

All kinds of logistics services are a good business for Haihan with a sure profit and no loss.
Chapter completed!