Chapter 2316

Since Taizu Li Chenggui moved the capital from Kaijing south to Seoul in 1394, the city has been the political, economic and cultural center of Korea for more than 200 years. Although Seoul is located in the hinterland of the central Korean Peninsula, it is said to be relatively safe.

, but it also experienced many wars and devastation during this period.

Among them are the atrocities committed after the Japanese invaded Korea in 1592 and captured Seoul, as well as the civil strife caused by multiple palace coups in Korea. From the perspective of bystanders, war has become a must-experience for every generation here.

suffering, a special "historical tradition".

Many people believe that after last year's anti-Qing war ended, Li Zhu's rule over North Korea was effectively consolidated. Especially this year, Haihan sent troops to teach Japan, another evil neighbor of North Korea, a lesson, which further eliminated North Korea's external threats.

, this country will usher in a relatively long period of safe development.

Including Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun, who have been stationed in North Korea since last year, also hold similar views. But it turns out that they were all wrong, and they were very wrong. North Korea's tradition of palace coups has not stopped here.

Instead, it suddenly appeared at unexpected times as always, and then caused chaos in Seoul.

Of course, compared to the many palace coups in history, the level of chaos this time was not too serious, and not many people died. But in terms of the impact, it was no less than the past history of this country.

Any palace coup in the coup was even worse in some aspects. For example, after the coup, foreign troops were attracted to intervene. This is a new situation that has never happened in the past.

For the people who instigated this coup, how to deal with this situation that has never happened before is really a very difficult problem, so much so that the Haihan Army has already arrived at the city, and they still seem to be unable to come up with an effective solution.

way.

Cui Mingji sat quietly in the study, without lighting a lamp, seeming to be thinking about the problem silently in the darkness. Of course, it may also be that he did not want his subordinates who kept coming in to report the news to notice the fatigue on his face.

Cui Mingji was appointed by Li Zhu this year as the leader of the government. This position is equivalent to the Prime Minister of North Korea. One person is less than ten thousand people. It is already the pinnacle of his personal career and his status is extremely respected.

Although Cui Mingji succeeded in defeating his old rival Kim Sang-heon as the leader of the political council, Cui Ming-gil was not excited about it for long. Kim Sang-heon's position was only the second-rank Grand Secretary, but his influence has long been lost.

This official position was limited, and his strong opinions during the Anti-Qing War last year greatly increased his reputation. Many court officials followed him and believed that Kim Sang-heon's political views were the hope for the future development of North Korea.

Liucao Yamen, Si Xianfu, Si Jianyuan, Chengzhengyuan, Clan Palace, Sungkyunkwan, many of these large and small yamen are controlled by Kim Sang-heon's anti-peace faction. In addition, all the various bureaucracies across the country

There are countless supporters of Jin Shangxian in the government, animal husbandry, county, and county levels of government.

Everyone knows that Cui Mingji is Kim Sang-heon's political opponent and lifelong enemy. Even though Cui Ming-gil has reached the pinnacle of power and has become the country's highest and most powerful official, there are still many people who side with Kim Sang-heon and do not agree with Cui Ming-gil.

This has led to Cui Mingji's policy measures after taking office being stumbling, and the effect has naturally been greatly reduced.

Cui Mingji certainly knows the root cause of these problems, but he cannot order the removal of Kim Sang-hyun from his official position, or simply arrest him and kill him on charges. He does not have that much power, and even if he does, he still has to worry about Kim Sang-heon.

The influence will bring terrible backlash. Of course, the most important reason is that King Li Zhu will not agree with him to use such methods to deal with Kim Sang-heon.

When Kim Sang-heon's reputation increased significantly last year, the king did not promote Kim Sang-heon but instead placed him in the position of leading the government. The purpose was of course very simple, that is, to use him to check and balance the disapproval that has become the mainstream opinion in the court.

But checks and balances are not suppression. The king just hopes that Kim Sang-heon's faction will not be too popular, but he does not want Cui Mingji to eradicate him from the officialdom. If Cui Mingji plans to do this, I am afraid that the first person to jump out and stop him will be the king himself.

But Kim Sang-hun only has different political views from Choi Ming-gil, but they are far from being sworn enemies. Moreover, they actually share common views in some aspects, such as being wary of external forces intervening in North Korea.

Whether it was Japan and the Qing Dynasty who tried to invade North Korea with force, or the Ming Dynasty and Haihan who faced North Korea as a suzerain and issued orders, in their view, they were all objects that should be excluded, so that North Korea could maintain its due autonomy.

But the king did not seem to view the problem in this way. After introducing the Haihan army to fight against the Qing army last year, Li Zhu seemed to have tasted the sweetness and began to open the door to Haihan and introduced various new systems from Haihan.

and new things, and finally even sent the crown prince to study abroad in Haehan, apparently in the hope of binding the future of North Korea to Haehan.

Cui Mingji believes that there are only two possible results of this. One is to completely turn North Korea into a vassal state of Haihan. From now on, it will provide the necessary natural resources, labor and sales market to Haihan as a vassal, and accept Haihan's influence in the country.

All-round control in the political and military fields; secondly, just as Haihan promised, North Korea will rapidly grow into a regional power in the future and be able to talk to other countries on an equal footing internationally without fear of military invasion by any country.

Asylum from other countries is no longer needed.

Although the latter situation looks very good, Cui Mingji believes that the possibility of realizing it is very slim. Of course, a country as smart and realistic as Haihan cannot provide support and assistance to North Korea to get North Korea out of its control as soon as possible.

reasons to promote the occurrence of the second scenario. Everything they do has only one purpose, which is to grasp the North Korean country more tightly.

Now that one of the only two possibilities has been rejected, the only remaining possibility, although it seems a bit dark, is the reality that North Korea will face next. As a patriot, Cui Mingji cannot accept such a result calmly.

, it is even less likely that after realizing such a result, he would still push his country down this path without conscience.

Cui Mingji believed that he was not the only one in the court who had such an idea. He hoped that more senior officials could join forces with him to reduce and eliminate Haihan's influence in North Korea as much as possible.

Even if ordinary officials are powerful in a certain field, Cui Mingji, who has a high self-esteem, does not look down on him, and does not even bother to lower his stature to cooperate with them. He is now the leader of the North Korean government, and the entire government and the public, except the king, can

There is only one person he can face seriously, and that is his old rival Kim Sang-hyun.

This matter seems ridiculous. The two have been fighting in court for decades. Now that Cui Mingji has finally gained the upper hand in official positions, why should he lower his head and seek cooperation with his old rival? But only Cui Mingji knows that his old rival

, is actually a very simple patriot. Although the two have different political views, their goals are the same, which is to make North Korea strong.

However, Kim Sang-hyun has always been supportive of cooperation with Haehan, and even sent his trusted subordinates to the Daedong River to help the Haehan people. Therefore, Cui Mingji was not sure at the time whether he could persuade his opponent to change his mind. Moreover, Cui Mingji was not sure at the time.

This kind of thing must not be known to the king, otherwise he will lose his role of checking and balancing Kim Sang-heon, and his position as leader will naturally be unstable.

The fact is that Cui Mingji did not misjudge the person. Kim Sang-heon's support for following Haehan does not mean that he is willing to see the first result. Like Cui Mingji, he can only accept the second result - although at this stage it seems that

There seems to be little hope of success.

The two secretly arranged several interviews, and then quickly reached an agreement. Of course, this agreement did not mean that they shook hands and made peace, but some assumptions about North Korea's future development path. For example, it would be independent and free from other countries in the future.

control and threats.

But how to realize these ideas, the two people have very different ideas. Cui Mingji is more inclined to be self-reliant and rely on his own efforts to realize the process from weak to strong, while Kim Sang-heon believes that relying on the various learning opportunities provided by Haehan,

can help North Korea achieve its goals faster.

Yes, on this issue about the fate and future of the country, the two men once again had differences of opinion, and it was difficult to convince the other party to accept their own views.

Kim Sang-heon, a representative of the peace-denying faction who is known for his tough foreign policy, now strongly advocates cooperation with Hae-han. However, Choi Ming-gil, who has always advocated resolving disputes through peace talks, now suggests keeping a distance from Hae-han.

The positions of the two people seemed to be suddenly reversed, but in fact they both knew in their hearts that this was the case. In the final analysis, it was forced by the situation. Kim Sang-heon needed to use Hae-han to enhance his reputation and further increase his influence, while Cui Ming-gil could only stand.

Only when opposite Kim Sang-heon can they reflect their value in the court. Of course, they believe that their ultimate goal is to make the country strong, and there is nothing wrong with them taking some detours and doing some things against their will in the process.

.

Kim Sang-hyun hopes that Cui Ming-gil can wait until the crown prince returns from studying abroad in Haehan before making a conclusion. At that time, they can understand Haehan’s attitude towards the future of North Korea through the crown prince’s experience in Haehan and what he has learned. If the crown prince’s attitude towards Haehan is

Han has not become dependent on Han and has the intention to govern independently, so there is no need to adopt a tough attitude to separate from Hai and Han at this stage.

But what Cui Mingji was worried about was not the Crown Prince, but His Majesty the King.

After he was promoted to the position of chief councilor, he had many opportunities to discuss privately with the king, and thus he also understood some of the king's ideas. The king hoped that North Korea could follow Haihan's example and copy Haihan's strategy of strengthening the country. To this end, he even

The crown prince was sent to Haihan to study. These were not big problems in Cui Mingji's view, but this year the king began to seek his advice on whether officials from Haihan could be introduced to assist in handling government affairs and foreign affairs.

Cui Mingji didn't know whether such an idea was instilled into the king by Wang Tom and others, or whether the king himself was confused and whimsical, but he knew that he must not let this idea go, otherwise he would completely hand over the power of the country to the hands of the Haihan people.

He tried to persuade the king to give up such ridiculous ideas, but failed. Instead, Li Zhu warned him not to forget where his status came from.

Cui Mingji knew that he could not handle this matter alone, so he still informed Jin Shangxian and hoped that he could work with him to persuade the king to give up this idea - in this matter, their interests should be the same.

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Jin Sangxian couldn't keep calm after learning about this. He could also think of the problem Cui Mingji thought. If the Haihan people were allowed to serve as officials in the court, it would only be a matter of time before they, the local officials, would be sidelined. Whether it was the chief minister or the chief minister

Xian, by then it will be nothing more than a decoration placed in the main hall.

So the two went to see the king together, but Li Zhu seemed to be obsessed at this time and dismissed their persuasion. He still insisted on his own opinion: "We have spent so much trouble sending officials to Haihan for training. Then

Why not just invite a few Haihan officials to come and serve as officials in our country for a few years, and teach everyone how to do things here?"

This may seem reasonable at first glance, but Kim Sang-hun and Cui Ming-gil knew that doing so would be an act of national subjugation and should never be carried out.

When they came out of the royal study after talking that day, both of them had dark faces. They left the palace and returned home, and then met in secret again that night.

"Hunjun."

"Discard it."

So after a period of dispute, the two reached an agreement again under the push of the king. But what they wanted to do was very dangerous, and it was far from as simple as purging political opponents in the past.

To ensure political stability and for the country to develop smoothly without being controlled by external forces, there seems to be only one way left for them.

But even if they agreed on their attitude towards the king, they still had different opinions as always on how to achieve their goals.

It is not difficult to launch a coup, and there are many successful examples in North Korea's history that can be followed. What is difficult is how to control the situation, prevent it from getting out of control, and how to end it after it is completed, so as to complete the transfer of power as smoothly as possible.

Each link can be handled in many different ways, and all are worthy of debate. And the most controversial topic is the last link, the transfer of power. Who will take over?

Is it the crown prince supported by Kim Sang-heon? Is it the second prince Bonglim Dajun supported by Choi Ming-gil? Or is it a separate king? Or even one of them to temporarily take over the king's power?

This involves the interests of all aspects, and there is no real foolproof strategy. Both parties hope to get the most beneficial results for themselves, but how difficult is it to convince the other party?
Chapter completed!