Chapter 1521
Interest Exchange
Chapter 1521 Interest Exchange
Among the diplomatic relations that Haihan developed before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Daming has undoubtedly firmly occupied the most important first place, followed by Haihan's allies and partners in the South China Sea.After all, Haihan is also a Han regime like Ming Dynasty, and the rulers have very complicated plots for the sunset empire of Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, they need to absorb the wealth and manpower needed for Haihan's development from this empire; Try to maintain its dominant position on the mainland, and it cannot be destroyed as quickly as in history.Therefore, establishing a formal official diplomatic relationship with Ming has always been one of Haihan's established national policies. Only after taking this step first, can Haihan conduct open official exchanges with Ming and provide military assistance to it. And output values with Haihan characteristics.
Haihan has spent several years operating in the south. Although the coastal state capitals of Fuguang and Guangxi provinces have been included in Haihan's trade system, the desire to establish diplomatic relations conveyed to the Ming court through these local governments has never been obtained. agree.The reason is naturally the irreconcilable territorial conflict between the two countries in the south. Even Hainan Island, where Haihan made his fortune and where his lair is located, was forcibly plundered from Daming.Although the Ming court was temporarily unable to regain these lost territories, it was unwilling to pretend that nothing had happened and establish diplomatic relations with the invaders.
Haihan has even expanded northward step by step, and has almost completely controlled the sea area of Ming Dynasty, but it still cannot allow Ming to lower its high head, and the establishment of diplomatic relations and contacts between the two sides has also been at a standstill for a long time.If Liaodong's combined boxing still doesn't work, then the Haihan Executive Committee will really have to consider whether it is necessary to adopt more radical measures to force Daming to open the country.
Fortunately, the various departments of Haihan worked together and identified the line of the Ministry of War early on. They spent a lot of money to get through the joint of Mei Shengchuan, and finally got a very ideal result-the Ming Dynasty sent Mei Shengchuan to Liaodong and Haihan. Negotiate diplomatic matters.
The servant of the Ministry of War took the place of the Ministry of Rites, which is rare in the diplomatic history of the Ming Dynasty. If Haihan hadn't spent a lot of money in the capital at all costs, paving the way for this kind of acting service, then the meeting of the three countries in Liaodong might still be possible. will be more difficult.After all, Mei Shengchuan is still a "person of his own" who has received a lot of benefits from Hai Han. If another civil servant from the Ministry of Rites who does not have this relationship and does not understand military affairs comes over, Hai Han's method of coercion and temptation will probably not work well.
Although Haihan still spent a lot of effort to finally get Mei Shengchuan, but compared to the price paid, it is still very cost-effective.In addition to giving Mei Shengchuan a personal promise of repayment, he will need to spend a few more 10 taels of silver in the follow-up to settle the troubles that may arise between the DPRK and China for the agreement signed by Mei Shengchuan, and try to eliminate those voices who oppose the alliance.However, these expenses can be earned back through trade means after the two countries formally establish diplomatic relations, so the executive committee is not worried that this kind of investment will be nothing but meat buns and dogs.
The initialed memorandum will not take effect immediately, and most of the clauses still need to be brought back to the capital by Mei Shengchuan, and after being submitted to the imperial court for approval, a formal signing will take effect at an optional date.However, Bai Kesi is basically convinced that there is not much content that needs to be changed in this memorandum, but any content that violates Daming's taboo or is relatively controversial, he has tried every means to cover it up, and it stands to reason that it will not attract Daming again. fierce opposition.
Mei Shengchuan estimated that it would take at least a month for the imperial court to complete the negotiations and determine the person, time, and place to sign the agreement with Hai Han.And Mei Shengchuan hopes that during this period of time, Haihan can continue to maintain military pressure on Houjin, let alone a truce, and give Houjin a one-month respite in vain.
"Although what we have signed is not yet a formal agreement, our country will definitely not evade its responsibilities. Don't worry, Mr. Mei, we will not let the enemy relax." Qian Tiandun made a promise to Mei Shengchuan with confidence.
His confidence comes from this initialed memorandum. After Sanya learned of Daming's statement, he took out the Liaodong combat plan previously submitted by the Ministry of National Defense for discussion.The military hopes to open up the battlefield behind the enemy by projecting troops by sea in Liaodong, use more frequent raids to destroy the security and social production in the Houjin-controlled area, and take this action to rescue the enslaved Han people from the area under its control. In order to alleviate the labor force population demand pressure in Liaodong to a certain extent.
At that time, the combat plan proposed by the Liaodong Garrison was not approved during the discussion of the Executive Committee, but not long after the proposal was put into the archives, because the meeting of the three countries went smoothly, Haihan needed to maintain Strong enough military pressure, so the executive committee re-examined the plan.
Qian Tiandun had already received news that Sanya had come out, and the executive committee had in principle approved the combat plan proposed by the Liaodong Garrison, but it would take some time for the military expenses and equipment to be allocated.However, such details will not affect the preparations of the Liaodong garrison. After Wang Tom got the news, he simply ignored the alliance talks. He brought a group of staff behind closed doors and began to study the map. It seemed that he didn't want to let it go. Great meritorious service opportunity.
After finalizing the relevant agreement, Mei Shengchuan, who was eager to return to Beijing, quickly bid farewell to Beks, left Liaodong with his fleet, and returned to the Gyeonggi area by sea.However, Kim Sang-heon, the North Korean envoy, was relatively relaxed. He continued to live on the isthmus defense line for a few days. He was fortunate enough to witness an armed conflict with a scale of hundreds of people. The post-gold iron cavalry that made North Korea fearful.If he didn't want to rush back to Seoul to return to his command, Kim Sang-heon would like to live here for a while to see what kind of means the Haihan people have in Liaodong.
According to the content of the agreement, North Korea will provide the Liaodong region with various living materials needed by the Haihan army after the start of the contract, and send at least [-] civilians to the Liaodong region within three months to assist in the completion of Haihan's various local tasks. infrastructure projects.The number of dispatches may reach tens of thousands before the end of the year, and during this period, Haihan will also pay for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of these civilians during their hard labor, and pay a certain amount of remuneration.
Of course, North Korean officials will also get a lot of benefits from it. In addition to Haihan who will spend money to buy various daily necessities, the civilian husbands sent by North Korea will also receive organization fees paid by Haihan according to the number.However, it is very likely that these benefits will not be settled in cash, but will be deducted from the weapons and military aid provided by Haihan.At that time, in order to calculate these complicated accounts, the two parties may have to set up a joint accounting organization to complete this task.
As for Kim Sang-heon himself, of course he would not make this trip in vain, and Hai Han naturally prepared a considerable long-term income for him.Kim Sang-heon did not choose to accept a plantation industry in the far south like Mei Shengchuan did, but chose another form to receive the benefits delivered by Haihan.
Kim Sang-heon's family has a large amount of farmland growing rice in Hwanghae-do and Gyeonggi-do, and is one of the famous grain merchants in North Korea.Haihan promised to use it as the first purchase object when purchasing food from North Korea.In the administrative jurisdiction of these two provinces, Kim Sang-heon's family will also obtain the exclusive regional agency rights for various Haihan products for a period of three years.Considering that both Hwanghae-do and Gyeonggi-do are wealthy areas in North Korea, the three-year exclusive agency rights are enough for Kim Sang-heon's family to make a lot of money.
Of course, in order to deceive others, the Haihan Commerce Department will definitely hold a business promotion meeting in a decent manner according to the previous operation mode in Daming, and then give the agency right to Jin Shangxian's family in a semi-public way. Complete the transfer of benefits in a grandiose manner.
Jin Shangxian was dumbfounded when he first heard the explanation of the details of the operation. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart for the intentions of the Haihan people. Even bribery can be considered so meticulously and thoughtfully.Although he is an official rather than a businessman, he also knows that the economic benefits that this kind of transaction will bring to his family cannot be estimated immediately. If it is done well, three years is enough to make the family the richest man in North Korea. .And Haihan is undoubtedly an expert in this aspect, Jin Shangxian secretly made up his mind, and when he went back to settle the alliance, he took the initiative to contact Haihan and asked them to send a special person to North Korea to assist in the operation.
After the envoys from the two countries led their teams back home, the atmosphere at the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line finally returned to normal.The Haihan army launched a wave of offensive called "Tianlei" in mid-June, mobilizing more than [-] combatants, including the Dongjiang Zhenming army, and carried out an attack on the fortresses that were still extending southward. Clear action.
For this purpose, Haihan dispatched artillery units to try to use different calibers of artillery and different types of shells to bombard the target fortress at various shooting distances to observe which attack method can effectively destroy this kind of fortress in Houjin tactics.
But the results of the experiment are undoubtedly a little disappointing. Only the artillery using the flowering shells has achieved a relatively ideal bombardment effect, and it is very laborious for other shells to blast these adobe fortresses.However, the artillerymen inadvertently discovered a weakness of this kind of fortress, that is, Hou Jin deliberately cut corners when building it, and only built the earth wall facing the south to be thick enough, while the east and west sides were relatively weaker. The cannonball can directly blast a hole at a distance of one hundred feet.
"No wonder they built the fort so quickly!" Qian Tiandun couldn't help admiring the other party's cunning after receiving the report.The four walls of the fortress, as long as the wall facing the confrontation with the Haihan army is thick enough, this will naturally save a lot of manpower, thereby shortening the construction period of a single fortress and reducing the construction cost.Geng Zhongming's ability to come up with such a method also shows that he is a little clever.
But even after discovering this fact, it is still difficult for the Haihan Army to take advantage of it.Although the artillery can attack the sides of some fortresses through shooting angles, the angle between them is often too small to cause damage to the guys hidden in it.Moreover, the entrances and exits of this kind of fort are generally on the north side, and Haihan bombards them from the south, so the enemy troops hiding in it are still more likely to evacuate safely during the battle.
Of course, capturing these fortresses was not as difficult as Qian Tiandun's grievances to the envoys of the two countries. He only needed to use the superiority of weapons to form a situation of suppressing firepower, cover scattered infantry to break into the vicinity, and carry out blasting operations directly under the city walls.After removing the frontal barrier, the fortress basically lost its defensive function.But if the cost of the battle is considered, Haihan's side is undoubtedly at a loss, and he has to bite the bullet and continue this operation.Only through such a head-to-head confrontation can Haihan find out the weakness of this kind of fortress warfare, so as to formulate corresponding tactics to restrain the enemy.
"I have to make a report and dispatch a batch of cannons from the south as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too troublesome to demolish these bunkers." Qian Tiandun also had to admit that the current equipment status of the Liaodong garrison is not suitable for demolition tasks.
However, the Haihan Army did not actually install the latest breech-loading cannons in batches. Some time ago, they dragged a few of these new gadgets to Liaodong for field tests, and then sent them back to the south.If there were dozens of new cannons and enough ammunition, Qian Tiandun felt that it would not be impossible to dismantle Houjin's fortresses within ten days.
As the supervisor of Haihan Ordnance Industry, Bai Kesi immediately received Qian Tiandun's oral application.But even knowing the necessity of this new type of artillery for the eradication of the Golden Fortress, it would be difficult for Beks to provide so many artillery and ammunition to the military.
"Mass production has not yet been finalized, where can I get you a dozen new cannons!" Bai Kesi could only express his helplessness to Qian Tiandun's application, he could never conjure up so many cannons out of thin air.
"Is it going to be produced this year?" Qian Tiandun was still very unwilling to do so: "My army first needs a dozen of them to decorate their appearance and familiarize themselves with their performance. Isn't that too much to ask for?"
Beks laughed and said, "Even if I'm willing to give it, it depends on whether the manufacturing process is smooth. It's easy for you to say that there are eight cannons, but do you know how long it took for those experimental cannons to be built? It takes one month for the cannon! Even if it is mass-produced in the future, with the current production capacity of Haihan Ordnance Industry, I estimate that three to four cannons per month will be the limit."
"It counts as many as you have. In short, I will make a decision here." Qian Tiandun didn't want to hear so many convoluted reasons. He only cared about whether the special warfare battalion was the first to use new weapons in the Haihan Army. force.
"Then how do you plan to remove these fortresses in the north? Don't you just send engineers to blow them up?" Beks asked curiously.
"I won't pull it out. Let them fix it." Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "Let's just go around to the north and do what we should do. You hit yours, I'll hit mine, and see who can't hold it first! "
(End of this chapter)
Among the diplomatic relations that Haihan developed before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, Daming has undoubtedly firmly occupied the most important first place, followed by Haihan's allies and partners in the South China Sea.After all, Haihan is also a Han regime like Ming Dynasty, and the rulers have very complicated plots for the sunset empire of Ming Dynasty. On the one hand, they need to absorb the wealth and manpower needed for Haihan's development from this empire; Try to maintain its dominant position on the mainland, and it cannot be destroyed as quickly as in history.Therefore, establishing a formal official diplomatic relationship with Ming has always been one of Haihan's established national policies. Only after taking this step first, can Haihan conduct open official exchanges with Ming and provide military assistance to it. And output values with Haihan characteristics.
Haihan has spent several years operating in the south. Although the coastal state capitals of Fuguang and Guangxi provinces have been included in Haihan's trade system, the desire to establish diplomatic relations conveyed to the Ming court through these local governments has never been obtained. agree.The reason is naturally the irreconcilable territorial conflict between the two countries in the south. Even Hainan Island, where Haihan made his fortune and where his lair is located, was forcibly plundered from Daming.Although the Ming court was temporarily unable to regain these lost territories, it was unwilling to pretend that nothing had happened and establish diplomatic relations with the invaders.
Haihan has even expanded northward step by step, and has almost completely controlled the sea area of Ming Dynasty, but it still cannot allow Ming to lower its high head, and the establishment of diplomatic relations and contacts between the two sides has also been at a standstill for a long time.If Liaodong's combined boxing still doesn't work, then the Haihan Executive Committee will really have to consider whether it is necessary to adopt more radical measures to force Daming to open the country.
Fortunately, the various departments of Haihan worked together and identified the line of the Ministry of War early on. They spent a lot of money to get through the joint of Mei Shengchuan, and finally got a very ideal result-the Ming Dynasty sent Mei Shengchuan to Liaodong and Haihan. Negotiate diplomatic matters.
The servant of the Ministry of War took the place of the Ministry of Rites, which is rare in the diplomatic history of the Ming Dynasty. If Haihan hadn't spent a lot of money in the capital at all costs, paving the way for this kind of acting service, then the meeting of the three countries in Liaodong might still be possible. will be more difficult.After all, Mei Shengchuan is still a "person of his own" who has received a lot of benefits from Hai Han. If another civil servant from the Ministry of Rites who does not have this relationship and does not understand military affairs comes over, Hai Han's method of coercion and temptation will probably not work well.
Although Haihan still spent a lot of effort to finally get Mei Shengchuan, but compared to the price paid, it is still very cost-effective.In addition to giving Mei Shengchuan a personal promise of repayment, he will need to spend a few more 10 taels of silver in the follow-up to settle the troubles that may arise between the DPRK and China for the agreement signed by Mei Shengchuan, and try to eliminate those voices who oppose the alliance.However, these expenses can be earned back through trade means after the two countries formally establish diplomatic relations, so the executive committee is not worried that this kind of investment will be nothing but meat buns and dogs.
The initialed memorandum will not take effect immediately, and most of the clauses still need to be brought back to the capital by Mei Shengchuan, and after being submitted to the imperial court for approval, a formal signing will take effect at an optional date.However, Bai Kesi is basically convinced that there is not much content that needs to be changed in this memorandum, but any content that violates Daming's taboo or is relatively controversial, he has tried every means to cover it up, and it stands to reason that it will not attract Daming again. fierce opposition.
Mei Shengchuan estimated that it would take at least a month for the imperial court to complete the negotiations and determine the person, time, and place to sign the agreement with Hai Han.And Mei Shengchuan hopes that during this period of time, Haihan can continue to maintain military pressure on Houjin, let alone a truce, and give Houjin a one-month respite in vain.
"Although what we have signed is not yet a formal agreement, our country will definitely not evade its responsibilities. Don't worry, Mr. Mei, we will not let the enemy relax." Qian Tiandun made a promise to Mei Shengchuan with confidence.
His confidence comes from this initialed memorandum. After Sanya learned of Daming's statement, he took out the Liaodong combat plan previously submitted by the Ministry of National Defense for discussion.The military hopes to open up the battlefield behind the enemy by projecting troops by sea in Liaodong, use more frequent raids to destroy the security and social production in the Houjin-controlled area, and take this action to rescue the enslaved Han people from the area under its control. In order to alleviate the labor force population demand pressure in Liaodong to a certain extent.
At that time, the combat plan proposed by the Liaodong Garrison was not approved during the discussion of the Executive Committee, but not long after the proposal was put into the archives, because the meeting of the three countries went smoothly, Haihan needed to maintain Strong enough military pressure, so the executive committee re-examined the plan.
Qian Tiandun had already received news that Sanya had come out, and the executive committee had in principle approved the combat plan proposed by the Liaodong Garrison, but it would take some time for the military expenses and equipment to be allocated.However, such details will not affect the preparations of the Liaodong garrison. After Wang Tom got the news, he simply ignored the alliance talks. He brought a group of staff behind closed doors and began to study the map. It seemed that he didn't want to let it go. Great meritorious service opportunity.
After finalizing the relevant agreement, Mei Shengchuan, who was eager to return to Beijing, quickly bid farewell to Beks, left Liaodong with his fleet, and returned to the Gyeonggi area by sea.However, Kim Sang-heon, the North Korean envoy, was relatively relaxed. He continued to live on the isthmus defense line for a few days. He was fortunate enough to witness an armed conflict with a scale of hundreds of people. The post-gold iron cavalry that made North Korea fearful.If he didn't want to rush back to Seoul to return to his command, Kim Sang-heon would like to live here for a while to see what kind of means the Haihan people have in Liaodong.
According to the content of the agreement, North Korea will provide the Liaodong region with various living materials needed by the Haihan army after the start of the contract, and send at least [-] civilians to the Liaodong region within three months to assist in the completion of Haihan's various local tasks. infrastructure projects.The number of dispatches may reach tens of thousands before the end of the year, and during this period, Haihan will also pay for the food, clothing, housing and transportation of these civilians during their hard labor, and pay a certain amount of remuneration.
Of course, North Korean officials will also get a lot of benefits from it. In addition to Haihan who will spend money to buy various daily necessities, the civilian husbands sent by North Korea will also receive organization fees paid by Haihan according to the number.However, it is very likely that these benefits will not be settled in cash, but will be deducted from the weapons and military aid provided by Haihan.At that time, in order to calculate these complicated accounts, the two parties may have to set up a joint accounting organization to complete this task.
As for Kim Sang-heon himself, of course he would not make this trip in vain, and Hai Han naturally prepared a considerable long-term income for him.Kim Sang-heon did not choose to accept a plantation industry in the far south like Mei Shengchuan did, but chose another form to receive the benefits delivered by Haihan.
Kim Sang-heon's family has a large amount of farmland growing rice in Hwanghae-do and Gyeonggi-do, and is one of the famous grain merchants in North Korea.Haihan promised to use it as the first purchase object when purchasing food from North Korea.In the administrative jurisdiction of these two provinces, Kim Sang-heon's family will also obtain the exclusive regional agency rights for various Haihan products for a period of three years.Considering that both Hwanghae-do and Gyeonggi-do are wealthy areas in North Korea, the three-year exclusive agency rights are enough for Kim Sang-heon's family to make a lot of money.
Of course, in order to deceive others, the Haihan Commerce Department will definitely hold a business promotion meeting in a decent manner according to the previous operation mode in Daming, and then give the agency right to Jin Shangxian's family in a semi-public way. Complete the transfer of benefits in a grandiose manner.
Jin Shangxian was dumbfounded when he first heard the explanation of the details of the operation. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart for the intentions of the Haihan people. Even bribery can be considered so meticulously and thoughtfully.Although he is an official rather than a businessman, he also knows that the economic benefits that this kind of transaction will bring to his family cannot be estimated immediately. If it is done well, three years is enough to make the family the richest man in North Korea. .And Haihan is undoubtedly an expert in this aspect, Jin Shangxian secretly made up his mind, and when he went back to settle the alliance, he took the initiative to contact Haihan and asked them to send a special person to North Korea to assist in the operation.
After the envoys from the two countries led their teams back home, the atmosphere at the Jinzhou Isthmus defense line finally returned to normal.The Haihan army launched a wave of offensive called "Tianlei" in mid-June, mobilizing more than [-] combatants, including the Dongjiang Zhenming army, and carried out an attack on the fortresses that were still extending southward. Clear action.
For this purpose, Haihan dispatched artillery units to try to use different calibers of artillery and different types of shells to bombard the target fortress at various shooting distances to observe which attack method can effectively destroy this kind of fortress in Houjin tactics.
But the results of the experiment are undoubtedly a little disappointing. Only the artillery using the flowering shells has achieved a relatively ideal bombardment effect, and it is very laborious for other shells to blast these adobe fortresses.However, the artillerymen inadvertently discovered a weakness of this kind of fortress, that is, Hou Jin deliberately cut corners when building it, and only built the earth wall facing the south to be thick enough, while the east and west sides were relatively weaker. The cannonball can directly blast a hole at a distance of one hundred feet.
"No wonder they built the fort so quickly!" Qian Tiandun couldn't help admiring the other party's cunning after receiving the report.The four walls of the fortress, as long as the wall facing the confrontation with the Haihan army is thick enough, this will naturally save a lot of manpower, thereby shortening the construction period of a single fortress and reducing the construction cost.Geng Zhongming's ability to come up with such a method also shows that he is a little clever.
But even after discovering this fact, it is still difficult for the Haihan Army to take advantage of it.Although the artillery can attack the sides of some fortresses through shooting angles, the angle between them is often too small to cause damage to the guys hidden in it.Moreover, the entrances and exits of this kind of fort are generally on the north side, and Haihan bombards them from the south, so the enemy troops hiding in it are still more likely to evacuate safely during the battle.
Of course, capturing these fortresses was not as difficult as Qian Tiandun's grievances to the envoys of the two countries. He only needed to use the superiority of weapons to form a situation of suppressing firepower, cover scattered infantry to break into the vicinity, and carry out blasting operations directly under the city walls.After removing the frontal barrier, the fortress basically lost its defensive function.But if the cost of the battle is considered, Haihan's side is undoubtedly at a loss, and he has to bite the bullet and continue this operation.Only through such a head-to-head confrontation can Haihan find out the weakness of this kind of fortress warfare, so as to formulate corresponding tactics to restrain the enemy.
"I have to make a report and dispatch a batch of cannons from the south as soon as possible, otherwise it will be too troublesome to demolish these bunkers." Qian Tiandun also had to admit that the current equipment status of the Liaodong garrison is not suitable for demolition tasks.
However, the Haihan Army did not actually install the latest breech-loading cannons in batches. Some time ago, they dragged a few of these new gadgets to Liaodong for field tests, and then sent them back to the south.If there were dozens of new cannons and enough ammunition, Qian Tiandun felt that it would not be impossible to dismantle Houjin's fortresses within ten days.
As the supervisor of Haihan Ordnance Industry, Bai Kesi immediately received Qian Tiandun's oral application.But even knowing the necessity of this new type of artillery for the eradication of the Golden Fortress, it would be difficult for Beks to provide so many artillery and ammunition to the military.
"Mass production has not yet been finalized, where can I get you a dozen new cannons!" Bai Kesi could only express his helplessness to Qian Tiandun's application, he could never conjure up so many cannons out of thin air.
"Is it going to be produced this year?" Qian Tiandun was still very unwilling to do so: "My army first needs a dozen of them to decorate their appearance and familiarize themselves with their performance. Isn't that too much to ask for?"
Beks laughed and said, "Even if I'm willing to give it, it depends on whether the manufacturing process is smooth. It's easy for you to say that there are eight cannons, but do you know how long it took for those experimental cannons to be built? It takes one month for the cannon! Even if it is mass-produced in the future, with the current production capacity of Haihan Ordnance Industry, I estimate that three to four cannons per month will be the limit."
"It counts as many as you have. In short, I will make a decision here." Qian Tiandun didn't want to hear so many convoluted reasons. He only cared about whether the special warfare battalion was the first to use new weapons in the Haihan Army. force.
"Then how do you plan to remove these fortresses in the north? Don't you just send engineers to blow them up?" Beks asked curiously.
"I won't pull it out. Let them fix it." Qian Tiandun shook his head and said, "Let's just go around to the north and do what we should do. You hit yours, I'll hit mine, and see who can't hold it first! "
(End of this chapter)