Chapter 2307

When Li Zhi heard the news, his eyes suddenly darkened and his body went limp. If he hadn't tightly grasped the armrests of the chair with both hands, he might have slipped to the ground.

Although he was mentally prepared for his family's whereabouts, he still couldn't help but feel sad at this moment, and a deep sense of powerlessness filled his heart.

If Li Jie can escape from Seoul in time, no matter how much trouble the rebels make in the city, Li Jie will be the ruler recognized by Haihan after all. Even if the situation is unfavorable, it will only be a temporary situation. He can rely on the Haihan garrison to reorganize his forces to clear up the chaos.

Counterrebellion. But if Li Jie, a symbol of royal power, is captured by the rebels, the forces loyal to Li Jie in the country will become scattered and it will be difficult to form a joint force.

This is not the worst case scenario. If the rebellious party coerces Li Shi to issue a false edict to the whole country, announcing that he will be succeeded by someone, then Li Shi's status as the crown prince will be immediately invalidated. He will have to regroup his forces to put down the rebellion after returning to China.

, it will inevitably appear to be somewhat unfair.

The rebellious party only needs to put another reward on the wanted list and label Li Zhi as a villain. By then, the person who rebels and rebels may not be the other party, but Li Zhi who is wanted by the court. Under such circumstances, how many people are willing to continue?

Are you loyal to Li Zhi, or even work for him to restore the country?

When Li Zhi thought about this section, he felt that his future was bleak, and it seemed that there was no hope of a comeback.

Then I heard Wang Tom say: "After we learned the news, in order to prevent the other party from jumping over the wall to murder the king, we temporarily stopped taking military measures in the Seoul area and immediately notified Sanya, asking the prince to return to the country as soon as possible to take charge of the overall situation!"

When Li Xie heard this, he cheered up a little. According to Wang Tom, it meant that the Haihan people still regarded him as the successor to the throne. This statement was an extremely important life-saving straw for Li Xie.

Calculating the time, when Li Zhen received the official notice from Haihan in Sanya, it almost coincided with the time mentioned by Wang Tom. However, Li Zhen's return trip also took more than half a month. During this period, Seoul

Whether the situation has changed again, this is very important for what response strategy to adopt next.

Li Zhi suppressed the sorrow in his heart and asked Wang Tom: "General Wang, if you count on your fingers, more than half a month has passed since I received the notice to set off on the return journey. Has the situation in Seoul improved?"

Wang Tom also understood what Li Xie meant by "getting better", and shook his head slightly and said: "So far, there is no news about the king and the two monarchs, but it seems that no one in Seoul has proclaimed himself king yet.

We believe that at this time, no news may be the best news. Seoul has not introduced a new king, perhaps because the rebels' internal opinions cannot be unified. Based on the historical evolution of your country, we think that before the new king can firmly establish his position,

, it shouldn’t be easy to hurt the king.”

There have been many palace coups in the history of North Korea, but there are very few cases where the new party directly executed the previous king. Including Li Jian, they basically exiled the overthrown ruler to a certain place-such as Ganghwa Island.

He once imprisoned Lord Gwanghae who was exiled by Li Zhu for a long time.

If the purpose of the rebellion is to fight for dominance, then according to North Korea's "tradition", it is unlikely that Li Jian and others will be executed directly. After all, the rebels know that once such a thing sets a precedent, they will not be able to say what they want in a few years.

and future generations will be deeply affected.

Of course, Li Zhi was no stranger to the history of his country. He understood what Wang Tom meant when he said it. After calming down for a while, he continued to ask: "Can General Wang tell you in detail, which ministers participated in the rebellion?"

After Li Zhen arrived at Jianghua Island, the only important official in the court he saw was Shen Jingzhen. He had to first figure out who were the troublemakers and who he could still trust.

Wang Tom said: "On the day of the incident, Mr. Shen happened to be on Ganghwa Island inspecting the security project of the palace on the island, so he was not involved in this chaos. We believe that Mr. Shen was far away from Seoul when the incident occurred and should be trustworthy.

As for the other adults, they basically didn’t have time to leave Seoul, and there are various rumors that we can’t verify at the moment, involving almost all important officials. It’s difficult to make a conclusion at the moment about who is loyal and who is traitorous.”

Qian Tiandun said: "Just the rumors about the establishment of two monarchs, we have heard no less than ten versions. Some said that the two monarchs each commanded part of the army to fight, and some said that Kim Sang-heon and Choi Ming-gil were the two kings.

Those who supported the two monarchs separately also said that the rebels were acting in the name of the two monarchs, but in fact they had secretly imprisoned the two monarchs... In short, there are too many rumors, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false.

We considered the risks involved and did not take any rash action."

Li Zhi was speechless after hearing this, but he felt that this was the objective fact. It is obviously unreasonable to say that all the civil and military personnel of the Manchu Dynasty participated in the rebellion. Some people should have failed to do so after the rebel party took control of the city defense.

Escaped. But a month has passed since the incident happened, and now there is no conclusion about who is the main messenger of this rebellion. This is too strange.

Li Zhi asked: "During this period, didn't anyone from Seoul take the initiative to contact you and ask you to send troops to help quell the rebellion?"

Wang Tom said: "Not only are there, but there are quite a few. They ask us for help in various names, asking us to send troops to destroy so and so. We receive such letters for help almost every day. Such means should be to interfere with our

Judgment makes it impossible for us to confirm who the real perpetrators are in a short period of time."

Li Zhen sighed: "These rogue gangs have planned so carefully. It seems they have been planning for a long time!"

In Li Zhi's view, if a rebellious party wants to seize power, it must ultimately seek a legitimate way to ascend to power. In the past, it was necessary to force the late king to abdicate, otherwise the change of power would be illegal and unreasonable. But now there is an additional condition, and that is

The successor must gain the recognition and support of Haihan, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public even if he forcibly takes the throne.

This is also different from the previous time when the North Korean king ascended the throne and sought the official canonization of the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty did not have much involvement in the change of power in North Korea, and basically just went through the motions. But now Haihan, who has replaced the Ming Dynasty as the suzerain, can

It’s different. There are heavy troops stationed in North Korea all year round, and the guards on the northern border also need to rely on the assistance of the Haihan Navy.

In addition, Haehan now operates many industries in North Korea. It can be said that the change of power in North Korea is directly linked to Haehan's interests. If you want to rule this country well, it will be difficult to do without Haehan's support.

If the new king fails to gain Haihan's approval, Haihan does not even need to use force directly. As long as he withdraws the naval troops that protect North Korea from the wind and rain in the Yalu River Basin, the Qing army can take action to teach the new ruler a lesson.

.

At present, the attitudes of the two generals stationed in Haihan are obviously more inclined to support Li Zhi's restoration of the country. Under such a situation, it will be difficult for the rebels to gain recognition from Haihan. Moreover, the Haihan Army has already arrived at Ganghwa Island at the mouth of the Han River.

It is possible to use force against Seoul at any time. It would be a lie to say that the troublemakers in the city are not panic about this.

In order to delay the actions that the Haihan Army may take, the most effective way is to make the situation as confusing as possible, disrupting the sight of the Haihan Army and making it impossible for it to judge its real opponent. Judging from what Wang Tom said,

, those who caused the rebellion were obviously fully prepared for this, so much so that the Haihan Army had been guarding the mouth of the Han River for so long, but still could not figure out the specific situation of the civil strife in Seoul.

Of course, Haihan's side is not in a hurry to calm down the situation. Although Seoul is in chaos, it is hundreds of miles away from the Datong River Basin where Haihan operates many large-scale projects, and the troublemakers dare not approach Haihan's army at all.

These areas are under direct control, so the impact on Haihan will not be too significant in the short term.

The Haihan people who settled in Seoul have basically evacuated safely. Although their business activities have been temporarily affected, their personal safety is not in danger. In addition, with the support of the Haihan Army, many people have not chosen to flee North Korea.

, but came to Ganghwa Island to live temporarily, and continued to wait and see the direction of the situation under the protection of Haehan Army. No matter whether Li Zhu and his family succeeded in restoring the country, or the rebels succeeded in seizing power, they would still have to continue doing business with Haehan in the end.

At that time, these Haihan commercial institutions will gradually resume normal operations.

Since there is no major incident on their side, Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun are happy to continue watching the theater on Ganghwa Island, while waiting for Li Xie to come back from Haihan. Regardless of whether Li Xie and his two sons are alive or dead, the Haihan Army has Prince Wang in their hands.

, he could use the banner of King Qin to attack Seoul and put down the rebellion at any time.

As for whether we really want to do this, on the one hand, it depends on the direction of the situation in Seoul, and on the other hand, it probably depends on Li Zhen's performance. If there are no sufficient benefits, the Haihan Army will definitely not take the risk to go to this place easily.

Beach muddy water.

But Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun were also very patient. They talked with Li Xie for a long time and disclosed to him bit by bit the information they had, but they did not put forward any conditions for war. They probably also wanted to see what Li Xie was like.

Is it someone worthy of support?

In fact, Haihan's investment in Li Xie was already considerable. All the expenses for his study abroad in Haihan were borne by the Haihan official. Various inspection activities were arranged during the period, including accompanying officials, escorts, and Li Xie's entourage.

, there is a large group of people as soon as you go out, and food, accommodation and transportation are all paid for at public expense. The cost of each inspection ranges from thousands to tens of thousands, which is not a small amount in a year.

As for this trip to escort Li Zhi and his party back to North Korea, the Executive Committee asked the navy to send warships and supply ships to escort them all the way, and strict security was provided at various places along the way. The cost of the journey of several thousand miles may be more than that of Li Zhi

The cost of studying abroad for one year is even higher.

The purpose of Haihan spending so many resources on Li Zhi is, of course, not just to help him sit on the throne of the king, but to ensure that Li Zhi will completely turn to Haihan after he ascends the throne, so that Joseon will truly become Haihan's.

The vassal state provided Haihan with the raw materials, manpower and market it needed.

In this process, in addition to continuously investing resources into Li Xie and instilling various ideologies that are beneficial to Haihan, it is also part of the entire plan to test Li Xie with different purposes under various situations.

Although the civil strife in Seoul was outside Haihan's plan, it was immediately regarded by the Executive Committee as an opportunity to test Li Xie's position and ability.

How Li Xie would react to such sudden bad news, whether he could weigh the interests and maintain unconditional trust in Haihan, were all areas that Haihan wanted to focus on.

If Li Zhen behaves weakly and helplessly in this process, has no opinion, deals with chaos, or even doubts Haihan's role in it, then the executive committee's evaluation of Li Zhen may be greatly reduced. If the situation is serious,

That may even affect Li Xie's right to inherit the throne.

Li Zhi's performance during this period will be continuously reported to Sanya through the intelligence system, and will be compiled by relevant departments and reported to the executive committee.

Fortunately, Li Zhi's performance in this exam was quite remarkable. He did not panic after receiving the news, and even in the face of a serious lack of information, he obeyed Haihan almost without hesitation.

Arrangements were made to leave Sanya and return to China on a fleet arranged by Haihan.

Li Zhi's behavior during his stay at several stops along the way was all recorded by the Haihan officials responsible for receiving him and sent back to Sanya. You Yihan, Yu Yao, and Shi Diwen all spoke highly of him and thought that although Li Zhi was worried,

Although it was heavy, he still showed great patience and did not question Haihan's itinerary.

Of course, the most critical test will come after Li Zhi returns to China. The Haihan garrison almost did not intervene in this chaos before his arrival, leaving him with a situation full of fog.

Of course, Haihan did not expect Li Xie to be able to solve the current situation entirely by relying on his own abilities. The next thing to see is how Li Xie expresses his position and then makes demands to Haihan.

In fact, before meeting Qian and Wang, Li Zhi had already been thinking about this matter. However, because the information he knew at the time was extremely limited, he did not know how much help he needed from Haihan to realize the restoration of the country. At this time,

While listening to the new information provided by the other party, he was already thinking about how to communicate with these two people so that they could mobilize the Haihan Army to help him regain power and quell the chaos.

Li Zhi said: "Two generals, it is really unfortunate that our country is in chaos. I believe that you two do not want to see our people fall into war again. As the crown prince, you should calm down the chaos and restore peace to the world."

This is a mission. Our country has an alliance with your country and we share the same hatred. Now that our country is in trouble, I would like to ask you two to send troops for the sake of our alliance to help King Qin suppress the chaos and recapture Seoul!"
Chapter completed!