Chapter 1852
The Road to a Strong Country
Chapter 1852 The Road to a Strong Country
The Korean peninsula is located between the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan, and it happens to be sandwiched between the Ming Dynasty, the Later Jin Dynasty, and Japan, but it is also the weakest country in terms of national strength and combat power.If it wasn't for worshiping the top of the mountain early and finding Daming as a protective umbrella, the North Korean country would have been cold several times under the watchful eyes of powerful enemies.
Since Li Jing came to power in 1623, he has been looking for a way to strengthen the country that suits his country's national conditions, but this is not easy to do, and it can be said to be full of difficulties.First, in the second year after becoming king, Li Shi, a military general, raised his troops to rebel because he was dissatisfied with the rewards for his meritorious deeds.
Later, Li Zhen finally quelled the domestic rebellion, but it was only more than two years after the Dingmao rebellion broke out. The Jin army, led by the general Amin, went all the way to Keyizhou, Dingzhou, Guoshan, An Zhou, Pyongyang, Huangzhou, and Pingshan cities, and Li Zhen also evacuated Seoul and fled to Ganghwa Island to escape the war.The war finally ended with North Korea surrendering and negotiating a peace, opening the market to Houjin and paying the old coins.
The only good thing during Li Zhen's reign was that Japan, a powerful neighbor to the east, was closing the country at this time. The second-generation general of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Hidetada, who controlled Japan's ruling power, and his son, the third-generation general Tokugawa Iemitsu, were with Li Jing. The two generations of shoguns who reigned at the same time focused on the domestic centralized rule and the expulsion of Westerners, and had no time to take care of their neighbors to the west.Therefore, in the past ten years of his reign, he has not suffered a large-scale invasion by Japan. It is just that some Japanese pirates harassed the Tsushima Strait in the southwest from time to time. King Guanghai Jun Li Hun was much luckier.
The former king, who was still imprisoned by Li Jing on Jeju Island, was named the crown prince after the outbreak of the Japanese Invasion in Imjin, but this symbolized that the status of the heir to the throne was not recognized by Daming until 16 years later. For more than ten years, he first spent half of his time in court infighting, and then he was caught between Ming and Jin for several years, and finally he was kicked out of power by his nephew Li Ji in a coup and deposed the throne. bumpy.
Li Jing does not want to continue the decline of his predecessor. As a king who launched a coup d'état, he must make some achievements to prove his ability, and let his ministers and citizens know that it is destiny for him to be in power. Only by ourselves can we bring North Korea out of the decline and become a powerful country that no one in the region dares to underestimate.
However, after more than ten years, Li Zhen's ambition has not been realized. The economy continues to rely on the traditional agriculture that depends on the sky, and the military is crushed by the strong neighbors in the north. Little has been done on the political front, either.The only thing worth boasting about seems to be finding Haihan as a new backer to replace Daming, and relying on Haihan's protection to repel the invasion of the powerful neighbors in the north. Changing the suzerain state in a big way does not seem to be an honorable act, and naturally it is impossible to make a big deal out of the matter of wooing Haihan.
But even so, the dream of a strong country in Li Zhen's heart was not completely shattered. He believed that now is an excellent time. The Qing Dynasty in the north suffered heavy losses in this defeat, and Japan in the east has almost zero sense of existence in recent years. The Great Ming Mud Bodhisattva in the west can't protect himself from crossing the river, and now he can't care about maintaining diplomatic relations with North Korea, let alone restrain North Korea from choosing other backers.In other words, as long as the relationship with Haihan can be improved, North Korea can at least make great progress in the military field.
Li Jing was indeed a little wary of the industrial cooperation plan proposed by Haihan. He also worried that after Haihan intervened in these industries that involved the country's economic lifeline, North Korea's economic situation might become more severe.After all, with Haihan's strength, after controlling some key industries, it is not impossible to control the domestic situation in North Korea.
With this kind of mentality, coupled with the objections to this cooperation plan in the court, he didn't think about these details when he was studying Haihan's plan before, he just wanted to drag things down until Haihan himself until you give up.But today, after hearing Cui Mingji's detailed interrogation of General Haihan, Li Yu suddenly felt that this matter was actually profitable.If, as the Haihan people claim, according to their arrangements, the North Korean economy can be greatly stimulated, and the operating income can be enriched to the treasury that has bottomed out, then follow the development model of Annan and Fujian to gradually build a powerful The Chinese army also seems to have the possibility of realizing it.
Under Haihan's tireless propaganda campaign, ordinary people will still have the mentality of imitating successful people, such as "I can do it if I succeed", let alone a ruler like Li Yu who holds the power of a country.Even though North Korea is essentially a weak country, it does not prevent Li Ting from envisioning the future of North Korea as the current situation in Annan and Fujian—with a strong army and the ability to fight overseas, and it can cooperate with the Haihan army. Facing a powerful enemy like the Qing army, it also has the power to fight.
If there is a Haihan-style army... no, even if it is only half the strength of the Haihan army, no matter whether it is the Qing Dynasty in the north or the former suzerain Ming Dynasty, who would dare to treat North Korea with a condescending attitude?One day everyone in the world will realize that North Korea is not made of dough!
Tom Wang and Qian Tiandun didn't know that the expressionless His Majesty the King had already added a lot of drama in his heart. They took turns answering Cui Mingji's questions, and they felt more and more that this person was not simple.Before coming to Seoul, they also discussed the content of cooperation with Kim Sang-heon in advance, but Kim Sang-heon paid more attention to whether their cooperation method complies with North Korean laws and regulations, and whether they can ensure that the income level of these industries that were originally allocated to the state treasury will not be affected. influences.Cui Mingji's focus is on the feasibility of the cooperation plan and whether it can bring real economic benefits to North Korea. His way of asking questions is more sophisticated than his political opponents.
In other words, although Cui Mingji joined the negotiation halfway, his understanding of this cooperation plan has actually surpassed his political opponent Kim Sang-heon, and His Majesty the King who likes to simplify complicated matters.
Of course, having such a knowledgeable North Korean official come to negotiate is a mixed blessing for Hai Han. The good news is that he can finally sit down and discuss the differences in specific details instead of talking with each other, so as to promote cooperation. implementation of the plan.The worry is that since this old man has put in the effort and made more careful preparations, it is not so easy to fool him.
During the break at noon, Qian and Wang politely declined the invitation to have lunch with Li Ji. They needed a little space to reconfirm the negotiation situation and adjust their next negotiation strategy.And Li Zhen was not reluctant, so he could just ask Cui Mingji for his opinion, and see what kind of supplementary comments he had on Haihan's cooperation plan after the intensive discussions this morning.
"Weichen believes that the plan of the Haihan people...is feasible." Cui Mingji gave his answer at the dinner table. Contrary to his previous attitude of insisting against industrial cooperation, his view now is that this plan is not only feasible , but also beneficial to North Korea: "It takes months to a year for these industries to go from construction to production. During this period, they will feed thousands of people employed by them on behalf of our country. In the meantime, we will Save a lot of money for relief, and use this method to solve the domestic war refugee livelihood problem."
"But Master Cui didn't seem to have such an attitude before. At the beginning, he proposed to re-examine Haihan's cooperation plan, saying that this kind of cooperation is betraying the country. It should be Master Cui's remarks?" Jin Shangxian held back all morning, at this time Seizing the opportunity, he naturally wanted to attack Cui Mingji.
Cui Mingji said sternly: "The reason why I advised His Majesty at the beginning was because I saw some loopholes and shortcomings in this plan, so I took bold action. The whole process of questioning and answering with the Haihan people today is in the eyes of Your Majesty and Lord Jin. May I ask, how does this betray the country?"
Li Jing also felt that what Cui Mingji said was very reasonable. In fact, he didn't particularly care about what Cui Mingji's original position was like, but he finally grasped an excuse. Li Jing didn't want to make the negotiation atmosphere too much like before. stiff.
Li Zhen hurriedly spoke up and said: "Master Cui, tell me, what are the benefits of this cooperation plan?"
Cui Mingji said: "What the Haihan people mean is to implement the industrial cooperation plan first, and then talk about the deepening of military cooperation. Matters such as purchasing weapons and equipment, training officers, and training professional arms, etc., I am afraid that they will have to be carried away later. But once the discussion After deciding the front matter, they are willing to share with us the best resources in the military field."
Li Jing said: "The best resource...how should we understand this?"
Cui Mingji said: "According to the people of Haihan, it is to form a new army according to the standards of Fujian Ming Army and Annan Army, and sell more advanced weapons and equipment to the new army. In addition to personnel training, there will be a lot of participation Opportunities for overseas combat operations -- as much as coalition forces come to fight in our country."
This is undoubtedly a very tempting condition. Although there were provisions on military cooperation when the covenant was signed last year, including training of military personnel, sales of weapons and equipment, etc., the strength is not the same as what Cui Mingji asked today. "Comprehensive and in-depth cooperation" has a clear gap.However, if the North Korean army is to become a strong army, the existing weapons and training level are obviously far from enough. Haihan may be the only magic weapon to quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
Seeing Cui Mingji talking eloquently, Jin Shangxian already regretted that he should not cooperate with Li Zhen to delay the pace of the negotiation. Now the credit for this negotiation is probably to be snatched by the opponent.
And Li Jing doesn't care whether the final negotiation result is dominated by Kim Sang-heon or Cui Mingji, he is more concerned about how much he and North Korea can benefit from the result.If training a strong army for North Korea is also part of this cooperation, then Li Jing feels that even if there are any disadvantages, he can bear it for now.
In another part of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom were also discussing the progress of today's negotiations.Both believed that the addition of Cui Mingji brought great changes to this negotiation. Although this North Korean official is not an economist or military expert, his keen vision cultivated in politics for many years is already very powerful. The problems are also all punched to the flesh, so they must deal with them carefully.
However, the two are still very optimistic about the outcome of the negotiations. They also noticed that the North Koreans are far more interested in the military field than in industrial cooperation plans, so they also deliberately made some adjustments to the attitude of the North Koreans during the negotiation process. Combining military cooperation with production capacity cooperation, and distinguishing priorities, in order to induce North Koreans to approve industrial cooperation plans.
"This Cui Mingji is an interesting person... I was thinking, if we had contact with him when we came to North Korea, maybe many things would be easier to do." Tom Wang said thoughtfully.
Qian Tiandun also agrees with this point of view: "This Cui Mingji is smarter than Kim Sang-heon, but the political stance he chose before was too stupid. He always advocated negotiating peace with the Qing army, and gave Kim Sang-heon the opportunity to take power in vain."
Wang Tom said: "I think Cui Mingji is such a shrewd person, he must have more considerations when choosing a position. Maybe his proposition is not his own real idea, but just taking the blame for others."
"You mean..." Qian Tiandun also came to his senses all of a sudden.
"Look, an official who advocated negotiating peace with the Qing army was not demoted after the war to imitate others. On the contrary, he was still flourishing in the court and was allowed to participate in the negotiation. Why should he? Is it based on pushing Li Zhen in the coup more than ten years ago? That bit of incense, after so many years, should have been paid off by now, right?" Tom Wang provided further evidence.
In Wang Tom's view, there is only one reasonable explanation for Cui Mingji's seemingly stupid political views, that is, his voice is actually catering to the meaning of the king Li Zhen, and it may even be for Li Zhen, who is inconvenient to express his opinion. .It's just that the faction in North Korea, headed by Kim Sang-heon, had a clear upper hand, and later tried to get Haihan to send troops. The situation of Cui Mingji's faction was not so good.
But since he was doing his best for the king, Li Jing would naturally not add insult to injury, so after the war, Cui Mingji was still allowed to continue to participate in the decision-making of major national affairs-in this way, it seemed that all doubts were solved.
"Then if Cui Mingji also expressed his support for war at the beginning, or used war to promote peace in a more conservative way, the political situation in North Korea would be very interesting!" Qian Tiandun said playfully: "The two powerful ministers have unified positions, even if the king is different. I don't dare to show my thoughts... Tsk tsk, it's very interesting to think about this situation."
(End of this chapter)
The Korean peninsula is located between the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan, and it happens to be sandwiched between the Ming Dynasty, the Later Jin Dynasty, and Japan, but it is also the weakest country in terms of national strength and combat power.If it wasn't for worshiping the top of the mountain early and finding Daming as a protective umbrella, the North Korean country would have been cold several times under the watchful eyes of powerful enemies.
Since Li Jing came to power in 1623, he has been looking for a way to strengthen the country that suits his country's national conditions, but this is not easy to do, and it can be said to be full of difficulties.First, in the second year after becoming king, Li Shi, a military general, raised his troops to rebel because he was dissatisfied with the rewards for his meritorious deeds.
Later, Li Zhen finally quelled the domestic rebellion, but it was only more than two years after the Dingmao rebellion broke out. The Jin army, led by the general Amin, went all the way to Keyizhou, Dingzhou, Guoshan, An Zhou, Pyongyang, Huangzhou, and Pingshan cities, and Li Zhen also evacuated Seoul and fled to Ganghwa Island to escape the war.The war finally ended with North Korea surrendering and negotiating a peace, opening the market to Houjin and paying the old coins.
The only good thing during Li Zhen's reign was that Japan, a powerful neighbor to the east, was closing the country at this time. The second-generation general of the Tokugawa shogunate, Tokugawa Hidetada, who controlled Japan's ruling power, and his son, the third-generation general Tokugawa Iemitsu, were with Li Jing. The two generations of shoguns who reigned at the same time focused on the domestic centralized rule and the expulsion of Westerners, and had no time to take care of their neighbors to the west.Therefore, in the past ten years of his reign, he has not suffered a large-scale invasion by Japan. It is just that some Japanese pirates harassed the Tsushima Strait in the southwest from time to time. King Guanghai Jun Li Hun was much luckier.
The former king, who was still imprisoned by Li Jing on Jeju Island, was named the crown prince after the outbreak of the Japanese Invasion in Imjin, but this symbolized that the status of the heir to the throne was not recognized by Daming until 16 years later. For more than ten years, he first spent half of his time in court infighting, and then he was caught between Ming and Jin for several years, and finally he was kicked out of power by his nephew Li Ji in a coup and deposed the throne. bumpy.
Li Jing does not want to continue the decline of his predecessor. As a king who launched a coup d'état, he must make some achievements to prove his ability, and let his ministers and citizens know that it is destiny for him to be in power. Only by ourselves can we bring North Korea out of the decline and become a powerful country that no one in the region dares to underestimate.
However, after more than ten years, Li Zhen's ambition has not been realized. The economy continues to rely on the traditional agriculture that depends on the sky, and the military is crushed by the strong neighbors in the north. Little has been done on the political front, either.The only thing worth boasting about seems to be finding Haihan as a new backer to replace Daming, and relying on Haihan's protection to repel the invasion of the powerful neighbors in the north. Changing the suzerain state in a big way does not seem to be an honorable act, and naturally it is impossible to make a big deal out of the matter of wooing Haihan.
But even so, the dream of a strong country in Li Zhen's heart was not completely shattered. He believed that now is an excellent time. The Qing Dynasty in the north suffered heavy losses in this defeat, and Japan in the east has almost zero sense of existence in recent years. The Great Ming Mud Bodhisattva in the west can't protect himself from crossing the river, and now he can't care about maintaining diplomatic relations with North Korea, let alone restrain North Korea from choosing other backers.In other words, as long as the relationship with Haihan can be improved, North Korea can at least make great progress in the military field.
Li Jing was indeed a little wary of the industrial cooperation plan proposed by Haihan. He also worried that after Haihan intervened in these industries that involved the country's economic lifeline, North Korea's economic situation might become more severe.After all, with Haihan's strength, after controlling some key industries, it is not impossible to control the domestic situation in North Korea.
With this kind of mentality, coupled with the objections to this cooperation plan in the court, he didn't think about these details when he was studying Haihan's plan before, he just wanted to drag things down until Haihan himself until you give up.But today, after hearing Cui Mingji's detailed interrogation of General Haihan, Li Yu suddenly felt that this matter was actually profitable.If, as the Haihan people claim, according to their arrangements, the North Korean economy can be greatly stimulated, and the operating income can be enriched to the treasury that has bottomed out, then follow the development model of Annan and Fujian to gradually build a powerful The Chinese army also seems to have the possibility of realizing it.
Under Haihan's tireless propaganda campaign, ordinary people will still have the mentality of imitating successful people, such as "I can do it if I succeed", let alone a ruler like Li Yu who holds the power of a country.Even though North Korea is essentially a weak country, it does not prevent Li Ting from envisioning the future of North Korea as the current situation in Annan and Fujian—with a strong army and the ability to fight overseas, and it can cooperate with the Haihan army. Facing a powerful enemy like the Qing army, it also has the power to fight.
If there is a Haihan-style army... no, even if it is only half the strength of the Haihan army, no matter whether it is the Qing Dynasty in the north or the former suzerain Ming Dynasty, who would dare to treat North Korea with a condescending attitude?One day everyone in the world will realize that North Korea is not made of dough!
Tom Wang and Qian Tiandun didn't know that the expressionless His Majesty the King had already added a lot of drama in his heart. They took turns answering Cui Mingji's questions, and they felt more and more that this person was not simple.Before coming to Seoul, they also discussed the content of cooperation with Kim Sang-heon in advance, but Kim Sang-heon paid more attention to whether their cooperation method complies with North Korean laws and regulations, and whether they can ensure that the income level of these industries that were originally allocated to the state treasury will not be affected. influences.Cui Mingji's focus is on the feasibility of the cooperation plan and whether it can bring real economic benefits to North Korea. His way of asking questions is more sophisticated than his political opponents.
In other words, although Cui Mingji joined the negotiation halfway, his understanding of this cooperation plan has actually surpassed his political opponent Kim Sang-heon, and His Majesty the King who likes to simplify complicated matters.
Of course, having such a knowledgeable North Korean official come to negotiate is a mixed blessing for Hai Han. The good news is that he can finally sit down and discuss the differences in specific details instead of talking with each other, so as to promote cooperation. implementation of the plan.The worry is that since this old man has put in the effort and made more careful preparations, it is not so easy to fool him.
During the break at noon, Qian and Wang politely declined the invitation to have lunch with Li Ji. They needed a little space to reconfirm the negotiation situation and adjust their next negotiation strategy.And Li Zhen was not reluctant, so he could just ask Cui Mingji for his opinion, and see what kind of supplementary comments he had on Haihan's cooperation plan after the intensive discussions this morning.
"Weichen believes that the plan of the Haihan people...is feasible." Cui Mingji gave his answer at the dinner table. Contrary to his previous attitude of insisting against industrial cooperation, his view now is that this plan is not only feasible , but also beneficial to North Korea: "It takes months to a year for these industries to go from construction to production. During this period, they will feed thousands of people employed by them on behalf of our country. In the meantime, we will Save a lot of money for relief, and use this method to solve the domestic war refugee livelihood problem."
"But Master Cui didn't seem to have such an attitude before. At the beginning, he proposed to re-examine Haihan's cooperation plan, saying that this kind of cooperation is betraying the country. It should be Master Cui's remarks?" Jin Shangxian held back all morning, at this time Seizing the opportunity, he naturally wanted to attack Cui Mingji.
Cui Mingji said sternly: "The reason why I advised His Majesty at the beginning was because I saw some loopholes and shortcomings in this plan, so I took bold action. The whole process of questioning and answering with the Haihan people today is in the eyes of Your Majesty and Lord Jin. May I ask, how does this betray the country?"
Li Jing also felt that what Cui Mingji said was very reasonable. In fact, he didn't particularly care about what Cui Mingji's original position was like, but he finally grasped an excuse. Li Jing didn't want to make the negotiation atmosphere too much like before. stiff.
Li Zhen hurriedly spoke up and said: "Master Cui, tell me, what are the benefits of this cooperation plan?"
Cui Mingji said: "What the Haihan people mean is to implement the industrial cooperation plan first, and then talk about the deepening of military cooperation. Matters such as purchasing weapons and equipment, training officers, and training professional arms, etc., I am afraid that they will have to be carried away later. But once the discussion After deciding the front matter, they are willing to share with us the best resources in the military field."
Li Jing said: "The best resource...how should we understand this?"
Cui Mingji said: "According to the people of Haihan, it is to form a new army according to the standards of Fujian Ming Army and Annan Army, and sell more advanced weapons and equipment to the new army. In addition to personnel training, there will be a lot of participation Opportunities for overseas combat operations -- as much as coalition forces come to fight in our country."
This is undoubtedly a very tempting condition. Although there were provisions on military cooperation when the covenant was signed last year, including training of military personnel, sales of weapons and equipment, etc., the strength is not the same as what Cui Mingji asked today. "Comprehensive and in-depth cooperation" has a clear gap.However, if the North Korean army is to become a strong army, the existing weapons and training level are obviously far from enough. Haihan may be the only magic weapon to quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the army.
Seeing Cui Mingji talking eloquently, Jin Shangxian already regretted that he should not cooperate with Li Zhen to delay the pace of the negotiation. Now the credit for this negotiation is probably to be snatched by the opponent.
And Li Jing doesn't care whether the final negotiation result is dominated by Kim Sang-heon or Cui Mingji, he is more concerned about how much he and North Korea can benefit from the result.If training a strong army for North Korea is also part of this cooperation, then Li Jing feels that even if there are any disadvantages, he can bear it for now.
In another part of Gyeongbokgung Palace, Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom were also discussing the progress of today's negotiations.Both believed that the addition of Cui Mingji brought great changes to this negotiation. Although this North Korean official is not an economist or military expert, his keen vision cultivated in politics for many years is already very powerful. The problems are also all punched to the flesh, so they must deal with them carefully.
However, the two are still very optimistic about the outcome of the negotiations. They also noticed that the North Koreans are far more interested in the military field than in industrial cooperation plans, so they also deliberately made some adjustments to the attitude of the North Koreans during the negotiation process. Combining military cooperation with production capacity cooperation, and distinguishing priorities, in order to induce North Koreans to approve industrial cooperation plans.
"This Cui Mingji is an interesting person... I was thinking, if we had contact with him when we came to North Korea, maybe many things would be easier to do." Tom Wang said thoughtfully.
Qian Tiandun also agrees with this point of view: "This Cui Mingji is smarter than Kim Sang-heon, but the political stance he chose before was too stupid. He always advocated negotiating peace with the Qing army, and gave Kim Sang-heon the opportunity to take power in vain."
Wang Tom said: "I think Cui Mingji is such a shrewd person, he must have more considerations when choosing a position. Maybe his proposition is not his own real idea, but just taking the blame for others."
"You mean..." Qian Tiandun also came to his senses all of a sudden.
"Look, an official who advocated negotiating peace with the Qing army was not demoted after the war to imitate others. On the contrary, he was still flourishing in the court and was allowed to participate in the negotiation. Why should he? Is it based on pushing Li Zhen in the coup more than ten years ago? That bit of incense, after so many years, should have been paid off by now, right?" Tom Wang provided further evidence.
In Wang Tom's view, there is only one reasonable explanation for Cui Mingji's seemingly stupid political views, that is, his voice is actually catering to the meaning of the king Li Zhen, and it may even be for Li Zhen, who is inconvenient to express his opinion. .It's just that the faction in North Korea, headed by Kim Sang-heon, had a clear upper hand, and later tried to get Haihan to send troops. The situation of Cui Mingji's faction was not so good.
But since he was doing his best for the king, Li Jing would naturally not add insult to injury, so after the war, Cui Mingji was still allowed to continue to participate in the decision-making of major national affairs-in this way, it seemed that all doubts were solved.
"Then if Cui Mingji also expressed his support for war at the beginning, or used war to promote peace in a more conservative way, the political situation in North Korea would be very interesting!" Qian Tiandun said playfully: "The two powerful ministers have unified positions, even if the king is different. I don't dare to show my thoughts... Tsk tsk, it's very interesting to think about this situation."
(End of this chapter)