Chapter 2076

As exchanges between the two countries increase year by year, North Korea has gradually learned about Haehan's illustrious family history. For a country that mainly relies on force to expand its territory, North Korea's rulers can be said to respect and fear Haehan.

The territory was seized from various countries, mainly the Ming Dynasty. Even countries like Annan, which had been allied with it from the beginning, still contributed several ports to Haihan in the form of leases.

So far, North Korea has only set aside an area for Haihan in the lower reaches of the Datong River last year to build a defensive line to resist the massive invasion of the Qing army at that time. After the war, this area naturally became Haihan's military

The base was assigned to Haihan for implementation. So far, Haihan has not taken the initiative to request a certain place from North Korea.

But for North Korean officials, the string in their minds has never been loosened. According to Haihan's past operations, as long as it is a place that this country wants to occupy, no matter which country it belongs to at the time, Haihan will

Both Han and Han would try to get it. Even in Liaodong, which was thousands of miles away from its homeland, Haihan sent troops to grab a piece of territory from Houjin who controlled this area at the time. If Haihan came up with an idea

It seems difficult for North Korea to resist such a request if it obtains control of a certain area from North Korea.

Although Haihan was grateful to North Korea for sending troops to repel the Qing invasion last year, Li Jie was certainly not willing to give away his country's territory to Haihan in vain. After receiving the news from Wang Tom, he was not sure of the other party's intentions.

Why did he specially summon Kim Sang-hyun and Cui Ming-gil to the palace to hear the opinions of these two important ministers? The first reaction of these two people after hearing this was similar to his, thinking that they might be Haihan people.

In testing their attitude, if North Korea is not very sensitive to this, they may take further actions against Jeju Island next.

Sending naval warships to Jeju Island in the name of training seems a bit unfriendly to the North Koreans, because since Haihan reached a military cooperation agreement with North Korea, naval forces have never been arranged to operate in the waters near Jeju Island.

Conduct training. In the past, the Haihan Army's military operations and training arrangements, with or without the participation of the Korean Army, were mostly arranged in the Yellow Sea between the Korean Peninsula and the Liaodong Peninsula, so that it could be easily deployed at the Datong River base and Port Arthur.

The port is complete with supplies.

In the past two years, Haihan's main enemy in the area surrounding North Korea was undoubtedly the Qing Dynasty in Liaodong. Almost all of Haihan's military operations in this area were formulated and implemented against the Qing army. However,

The location of Jeju Island is about 1,500 miles away from the territory of the Qing Dynasty. In addition, the Qing army's current maritime combat capability is almost zero. This makes the Korean monarchs and ministers unable to think of a reasonable explanation for Haihan's presence in Jeju.

The reason for arranging sea training near the island.

After hearing the answers from the two men, Li Zhu felt more and more that his worries were justified, but the question was, could he refuse the request made by the Haihan military?

Li Jian couldn't think of a way, so he hoped that his ministers could give him some advice: "Two dear friends, do you have any way to dispel the idea of ​​the Haihan Army borrowing land on Jeju Island without causing it?

And offended them?"

Jin Sangxian and Cui Mingji looked at each other after hearing this, and both saw deep helplessness on each other's faces. They could clearly feel the arrogance of Haihan people in their daily contacts with senior officials of Haihan, no matter it was

Neither the Ming Dynasty nor the Qing Dynasty took it seriously. If someone dared to refuse Haihan's request, what awaited him in the end would often be a one-sided war.

After last year's war, North Korean monarchs and ministers have basically completely given up the idea of ​​competing with Haihan in terms of military strength. If before this, there was a debate in the North Korean court about whether to fight to the death or negotiate for peace when facing foreign enemies, but

When facing Haihan, there is basically no second voice. It is taboo to even publicly regard Haihan as an imaginary enemy. If today's discussion between the monarch and his ministers was in the court, then these two senior officials would probably not have any idea of ​​​​the discussion at all.

Haihan's request showed a skeptical attitude.

Li Zhu felt quite disappointed when he saw that the two people were silent and had no energy to fight in front of him, which would make them blush and thick-necked. He didn't know that the Haihan people couldn't afford to offend him, but he still refused to let the other party take advantage of them.

The government took away the land that belonged to them. However, civil servants like Kim Sang-heon and Cui Ming-gil who usually argued issues eloquently had no hope at all at this time, and they could not even think of a feasible solution for themselves.

After a long time, Jin Sangxian tentatively replied: "Then it would be better for the minister to go to the Datong River in person and ask what the Haihan people mean, so that your majesty can deal with it more easily."

Li Zhu thought that there seemed to be no other way to figure out the Haihan people's intentions at the moment, so he agreed to Jin Shangxian's offer and gave him a job as a labor force. In this way, it was no longer necessary to visit the Haihan people on the other side of the Datong River.

It would appear too abrupt.

Since he was a labor force, of course he couldn't go empty-handed. Kim Sang-hyun spent two days in Seoul to purchase a batch of livestock, medicinal materials, cloth and other daily necessities, and then loaded them on ships to the Taedong River base in the north.

The last time Kim Sang-hyun came to the Taedong River base was last year, so when the boat he was on sailed into the estuary of the Taedong River, he saw large salt fields under construction appearing on the originally barren river bank. These salt fields were built along the river bank.

Spread out and extend several miles to the north. According to the Haihan people, the production capacity of the Datong River Salt Farm after its completion is sufficient to supply the daily needs of the west coast of North Korea, and the huge profits generated from it are also conceivable.

"Mr. Cui thought that the commissioning of the Taedong River Salt Farm would make me jump in haste. What a short-sighted thing!" Kim Sang-heon was not disappointed when he saw the scene by the river, but was actually quite excited.

The Kim family was indeed involved in part of the operation of North Korea's official saltworks in the past. Cui Mingji's information on this point was accurate. But what he didn't know was a series of large-scale projects that Haihan and North Korean officials cooperated with in the lower reaches of the Datong River.

, Jin’s level of participation is also very high.

At that time, Kim Sang-hyun represented North Korea and Hae-han to discuss the content and implementation plan of the cooperation project. In this process, it was extremely easy to obtain some invisible benefits for his family. More than half of the construction funds for the salt farm came from the royal family of Lee.

, and Kim Sang-hyun’s family also holds a certain proportion of the remaining investment, so after the salt farm is put into operation, the Kim family will also be one of the beneficiaries.

Of course, as the person in charge of discussing these cooperation projects, Kim Sang-hyun rudely excluded the Choi family, so the person who really couldn't even drink soup was not Kim Sang-heon, but Choi Ming-gil and the family behind him.

Naturally, Kim Sang-hyun would not take the initiative to reveal these inside stories. Since Cui Ming-gil was self-righteous, let him continue to misjudge the situation. After a few years, Kim was involved in major projects such as salt production, iron smelting, shipbuilding, and military industry.

The effects of this will gradually become apparent. In addition to the considerable economic benefits, the political aspect will also help consolidate the influence of the Kim family in the domestic political arena. By then, it is estimated that Prince Zhaoxian will also return to China from studying abroad in Haihan.

Now, if I want to completely suppress the Cui family in the officialdom, it will be a natural result.

However, to achieve such a situation, Kim Sang-heon must continue to hold Hae-han's thigh tightly. Although he expressed his worries about Hae-han's ambition to Lee Seo in Gyeongbokgung Palace the day before yesterday, this was actually just to give

It's just a show for my boss and colleagues to watch.

During the battle with the Qing army last year, Kim Sang-heon spent almost the entire battle at the Haehan position on the banks of the Datong River. Probably no one in North Korea knew the terrifying strength of his teammate Haehan better than him. Fighting against Haehan?

He would not make such a stupid choice, not to mention that the Haihan people had hinted to him more than once that as long as they maintained a deep cooperative relationship, they would secretly support the development of the Jin family in the future.

The support mentioned by the Haihan people is not just verbal. In addition to allowing the Jin family to invest in these large-scale projects in the Datong River Basin, it also provides the Jin family with some overseas trade channels, such as being chartered to establish a Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang.

Shops to facilitate long-term cross-border trade. In addition, the Jin family can also select young talents with outstanding qualifications in the family to study abroad in Haihan Kingdom and learn various advanced skills and knowledge.

These benefits are by no means easily obtained by North Korean officials, and Kim Sang-hyun also understands that the reason why he has been favored by the Haihan people is that in addition to satisfying the other party with his performance in last year's cooperation, another very important point is that he has always been firm.

He strongly supports Prince Zhaoxian, and this choice of team should be consistent with Haihan's interests.

The Haehan people invited Crown Prince Sohyeon to study abroad. The purpose was of course to enable the future rulers of North Korea to continue their pro-Haehan political stance. During the period when the Crown Prince left North Korea, Haehan hoped that there would always be people loyal to him in the Korean officialdom.

To ensure that the crown prince can successfully inherit the throne after he returns from his studies, Kim Sang-hyun is one of the most influential officials in North Korea's political arena. Kim Sang-heon is undoubtedly a very suitable candidate for this task.

If Kim Sang-heon wants to ensure that his career will be smooth in the future, he will be able to enjoy prosperity and wealth, and the future development prospects of his family, he must tie his own interests to Hae-han. Of course, he does not want to betray his country for this, so

It is not easy to grasp this scale. Regarding the Haehan people's request to provide a military supply port on Jeju Island, Kim Sang-heon also hoped to get a reasonable explanation from the other party, so as to avoid him suffering from this.

Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom were not too surprised by Kim Sang-hyun's initiative to visit. They actually thought that the North Koreans would not readily agree to the conditions they proposed, and they would probably have to find another way to find out about Haihan.

True intention. Kim Sang-hyun arrived at the Taedong River base two or three days earlier than they expected.

"It seems that Li Zhu couldn't hold back his anger." Wang Tom joked: "It's probably the way we made the request that made him a little uneasy."

Qian Tiandun said: "When something goes wrong, there must be a monster. We didn't go to Jeju Island at all before, and now we suddenly have to send warships to station there. It's strange that the North Koreans don't panic. Li Zhu will probably think that we are interested in it."

That place in Jeju Island is planning to find an excuse to eat it alive. They don’t dare to reject us directly, so they can only send someone over to check on us first.”

Qian Tiandun's conjecture was basically correct, and he guessed the official mentality of North Korea very accurately. But they actually did not want to scare the North Koreans by pretending to be mysterious, but if they announced the purpose of the operation, it would be easy for the news to leak out in advance. Moreover, they

They really wanted to try their luck. If the North Koreans agreed immediately, they would save a lot of trouble, but now it seems that this expectation has not been realized.

Since Jin Sangxian came to the door on his own initiative, he must have come to ask for an explanation, and it was impossible for the two of them to close the door to him. Later, Jin Sangxian was taken to the base by carriage and met with Wang Qian and others.

"Master Jin is so polite. He brought so many things when he came to be a guest!" After Wang Tom read the gift list presented by Jin Sangxian, he also said a few polite words. Although the labor supplies sent by Jin Sangxian are not rare things.

, but the quantity is not small, and it will cost at least seven or eight thousand taels of silver to purchase.

Kim Sang-hyun said with a smile on his face: "The labor force this time is His Majesty's wish, and I am only responsible for handling it. The two generals stationed here will inevitably work hard, and these supplies are also a token of gratitude from my country."

After a few polite words, Wang Tom took the initiative to get down to the topic: "Master Jin, when you come here this time, you must have other tasks, right? If you have anything to ask, you might as well just say it."

Jin Shangxian laughed twice and said: "General Wang is really awesome, so let me tell you straight away. Your Majesty didn't quite understand the letter that the general sent to the palace the day before yesterday, so..."

"Then why doesn't your Majesty understand?" Wang Tom asked.

"Well... I just don't understand why your country arranges to conduct training near Jeju Island. It's a long journey, why not train here in the Yellow Sea, where supplies are convenient, and if you need actual combat training, you can also find opponents. Wouldn't it be a hundred times better than Jeju Island?

"Kim Sang-hyun had already thought of the words when he came, and he said them one by one immediately, hoping that Hae-han could give a reasonable reason.

Wang Tom said: "Most of the reasons mentioned by Mr. Jin are reasonable, but due to confidentiality considerations, the goals of military operations sometimes cannot be announced to the outside world in advance."

Jin Sangxian was very perceptive and responded immediately: "What General Wang means...is there another purpose for your army to take actions near Jeju Island?"

"That's right." Wang Tom readily admitted this, and then clarified: "But it may not be the same as the purpose of His Majesty the King and Lord Jin."
Chapter completed!