Chapter 1869
The Prince's Mission
Chapter 1869 The Prince's Mission
The total number of these three types of personnel is less than 50. However, for North Korea, which is currently in deep financial crisis, it is very difficult to maintain the operation of various official agencies, and it is still possible to raise funds for studying abroad in such a short period of time. It is not easy for them to go out.Of course, this is thanks to those students with status and background. The family forces behind these people have more or less subsidized some expenses to the imperial court in private, which is used as part of the transaction conditions for these people to be selected for the study abroad list.
In the past, almost all the overseas students sent by North Korea to study abroad went to Daming, but now the direction of the wind has changed. The country that symbolizes advanced productivity, combat effectiveness, and economic strength is no longer Daming, but the upstart Haihan State that has only risen in the South China Sea in recent years. .Therefore, since the end of last year, North Korea has suspended the continued sending of overseas students to Daming, and has adjusted the direction to Haihan who has mastered more advanced technologies.
One is willing to teach and the other wants to learn. The only problem is the cost.In the past, North Korea sent people to Daming to study. In most cases, they only needed to pay for their own living expenses. There was no tuition fee, and Daming always disdained to charge such a small amount of money.But Haihan's rules are different. The fee is calculated very clearly, just like going to a private school, you can only learn something after paying the tuition fee, and the fee is really not low.
But according to the understanding of the Haihan people, good things should be valuable, and it is only natural for North Korea to learn advanced technology and pay some economic price for it.Besides, if it is not an ally relationship, even if North Korea is willing to spend money, it will not be able to find a way to learn these technologies, and this is an opportunity that cannot be missed for North Korea that wants to quickly improve its national strength.In this seller's market environment, North Korea doesn't even have room to bargain, and can only accept the conditions offered by Haihan.
Fortunately, Haihan's business reputation has always been excellent, and sending troops to North Korea to repel the invasion of the Qing army is also a real achievement. Therefore, the opinions of the Korean government and the opposition are very consistent as to whether they can learn real skills from Haihan after spending money. Han should keep their promise, and it would be worthwhile if the tuition can be exchanged for Haihan's technology.
Of course, in addition to these government-sponsored students, there is another important personnel arrangement in the study abroad arrangement that attracts great attention from the top officials of the two countries, that is, whether the king of North Korea will send a prince to study in Haihan.After this matter was proposed by Haihan, the North Korean side has not given a positive answer, but this time the two princes went to the Datongjiang base to inspect the training results of the new army and the progress of the cooperation project construction, and they both showed a strong interest in studying abroad.After the two princes returned to Seoul, the results of their discussions with King Li Ji on this matter were not announced at the same time as the news of the government-sent students studying abroad.
Tom Wang waited anxiously in Seoul for two days before Gyeongbokgung Palace finally announced the arrangements for the prince's study abroad: the king of Joseon will send his eldest son Li Mo to Haihan for a two-year study abroad.As for whether other princes will be sent to Haihan to study in the future, there is no plan for the time being.
This arrangement is consistent with Hai Han's expectations. In the original history, Li Jing sent his eldest son to the Qing Dynasty as a hostage, but now he just changed his name and changed his partner.However, Haihan has always emphasized that the nature of this arrangement is not for North Korea to send hostages, so the pressure on North Korea is relatively small, and this can be used as a benign diplomatic method.
As for how much real skills Li Min could learn from going to Haihan, the king actually didn't have much hope for it.Compared with the two sons who are not rich in political experience, he has a more thorough view of the relationship between the two countries and the future development situation.
In fact, Li Jing doesn't think that Haihan will really have no reservations about his country, and he will teach all the most advanced technologies. In his opinion, most of the suggestions for studying abroad put forward by Haihan people are mainly due to political considerations. Instead of simply wanting to pull North Korea as an ally.Especially for the so-called advanced weapon manufacturing technology, Li Yu does not believe that Hai Han really intends to transfer it to his country for free by studying abroad. You must know that the weapon manufacturing technology obtained by this arsenal by the Datong River has already been paid. After paying Haihan a lot of money, this group of extremely shrewd businessmen will not become philanthropists overnight.
Since it is a political transaction, it is necessary to consider how to arrange this matter from a political point of view is the best solution that is beneficial to the country.Li Yu believes that Haihan's purpose is to confirm the importance North Korea attaches to Haihan as an ally through the arrangement of North Korea sending a prince to study abroad.Especially the arrangement of inviting the two princes to the Taedong River base this time, and even took the initiative to "expose" many military secrets. It is enough to see that Haihan very much hopes that North Korea can send members of the royal family at the level of the prince to study in Sanya. It has political implications. very thick.
It is too risky for North Korea to send two princes to Haihan to study at the same time, and in the model of choosing one of the two, Li Mo, who has the status of the son of the prince, obviously has higher political value.Moreover, Li Luo is more familiar with government affairs, and representing North Korea as an envoy to Haihan, his performance on diplomatic occasions will be relatively more secure.
Therefore, the son of the Joseon Dynasty, Li Mo, finally became the representative of the Joseon royal family after repeated trials by the two sides. He will personally lead this group of overseas students to the distant South China Sea, and will live in Haihan for a period of time in the future. Learn various advanced knowledge skills.
This arrangement is more acceptable to both countries, and for Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom, it can be regarded as a great achievement no less than repelling the Qing army. After all, it can make the allies the next generation of rulers Sending them to Haihan to study abroad is a huge victory from the perspective of diplomacy and international politics.
After confirming the news with North Korean officials, Wang Tom immediately sent a telegram to Sanya, informing Victory Fort to make relevant preparations in advance.Regarding North Korea's dispatch of a study abroad team represented by Shizi, Haihan has too many things to do, and the sooner the arrangements are made, the greater the room for manipulation.
If it is just a study abroad team composed of military and civilian personnel, then three to five days of preparation time after the personnel are assembled is enough. After all, Haihan has everything as long as the money is in place, and it is not necessarily necessary to bring home from China. Moved all the way there.However, the eldest son will go abroad for two years, which is related to the face of North Korea. There must be some pomp and circumstance, and there are many things to prepare.
Just the entourage, servants, and guards serving Li Luo, Li Cao Yamen listed as many as a hundred people at the beginning, even including the washerwoman and the cook.When this list was reported to Gyeongbokgung Palace, Li Jing immediately killed him—now that even the expenses of overseas students have been saved and saved, why do they have to send so many idlers who can only spend money but can't learn anything?
Li Cao's yamen originally wanted to flatter the prince and make the scene bigger, but this flattering was obviously out of date.So the list of attendants was chopped and chopped, and only one tenth of the people were left in the end, and finally passed Li Zhen's review.
After all, he is the future heir to the throne, so he shouldn't be too shabby to make the Haihan people laugh at him. Since he doesn't have enough funds to arrange a large accompanying reading team for the son, at least bring more luggage to show his grandeur.So I brought five sets of formal dresses alone, but the ceremonial officer in charge of preparing the luggage didn't know that these heavy dresses basically wouldn't have too many upper body opportunities after arriving in Sanya, because the local area is not much higher than that of North Korea all the year round. If the temperature is too low, wearing these inner and outer three-layer dresses is like a cotton-padded jacket wrapped in dog days.
In addition, considering the son's eating habits, it is inevitable to prepare a lot of pots and pans.Wang Tom went to Gyeongbokgung Palace to discuss the itinerary with the court, and he couldn't help being amazed at the things prepared for the prince in the palace.
In order to show the importance it attaches to North Korean students, Haihan specially transferred two merchant ships from Zhejiang to serve as passenger ships.These two merchant ships are not ordinary cargo ships that carry cargo across borders, but are passenger ships built by Zhoushan Shipyard, which are specially used to transport important people.The ship not only has relatively comfortable and spacious cabins, but also provides enough fresh water for VIPs to take several hot baths during the voyage.Of course, not every guest who boards the ship can enjoy this kind of treatment. For example, among the group of passengers who are about to board the ship in Seoul, only the eldest son Li Wei can enjoy this high-level treatment.
Wang Tom himself will not personally accompany the North Korean study abroad team to the south, but he has made detailed arrangements for the entire itinerary.After departing from Seoul, Haihan will send six warships to escort the Koreans to Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, where they will join other fleets heading south before proceeding. During the period, they may stop in Penghu, Hong Kong and other places depending on the situation. Resupply before proceeding to Sanya.
The North Korean side has no major objections to this itinerary, but the eldest son Li Wei proposed to make the itinerary for the southward trip more substantial, not to rush all the way, and if possible, he would like to visit a few more Haihan ruled areas along the way.
In fact, this kind of arrangement was also conceived by Wang Tom, but he didn’t want the North Koreans to feel that the itinerary was too loose and purposeful, so he gave up the redundant arrangement. He didn’t expect the other party to take the initiative to propose this proposal, so he immediately agreed. down.Let Li Lu and his party visit the various colonies of Haihan on the way, but it can also show them the dominance of Haihan in various parts of East Asia.
When the North Korean side was preparing to study abroad, Wang Tom, as a high-level representative of Haihan, needed to communicate with the North Korean side about the follow-up arrangements at any time, so he could only wait here in Seoul.But for him, he didn't have much diplomatic and political affairs to deal with, and the officials of the Licao Yamen just went to the place where he stayed every day to ask if there was any need, and then informed him of the progress of the palace's preparations for the son's study abroad.
If sending troops to meet the Qing army's invasion is also such an efficiency, it is estimated that half of North Korea will be gone.Wang Tom guessed that the North Koreans probably had already picked a certain auspicious day, so they deliberately procrastinated the preparations.But he happened to be fine recently, the training of the new army is mainly the army, and Qian Tiandun's independent regiment is in charge. The North Koreans haven't even started to break ground for the shipyard, and it's still too early to train the navy.Wang Tom has ordered the naval forces currently stationed in North Korea to rest in rotation, and only a few ships are still performing daily patrols in the waters of the Yalu River.
And the other three fleets that participated in the anti-Qing war before have also returned to the Datongjiang base one after another, and are in a state of rest.However, these generals who led the army were all concerned about the business with North Korea, so they all came to Seoul with Wang Tom, and then discussed with North Korean officials about establishing a trade business.
This is probably the most intensive social banquet that Wang Tom received during his several trips to Seoul. Official and folk banquets from North Korea are held almost every day, not only for him, but also for Annan, Fujian Xu and others. The activities of the three Portuguese families, but they lived in the same house in Seoul, so the invitations were naturally packaged together, so Tom Wang couldn't run away.Then the three families returned to invite the DPRK to the banquet, and they also had to bring Wang Tom as a company, and he was in charge to facilitate communication with the DPRK.
So during this period, going to Gyeongbokgung Palace to discuss matters became the easiest task for Tom Wang, otherwise he would have all kinds of unavoidable social activities every day, which would really give him a headache.He is looking forward to the early departure of the North Korean study abroad team, so that he can get out of this environment.
Cai Jinmei, who came to Seoul to preside over the banking work, had returned to Zhejiang after she had completed her career. Before she left, she had successfully persuaded the king, Li Wei, to open a special study abroad account for Li Wei and others who were about to study abroad in Haihan. After depositing cash in the branch of Haihan Bank in Seoul, it will not take long for North Korean students to withdraw the money from their accounts in Sanya. It is much more convenient to transport it to Sanya in the South China Sea, which is thousands of miles away, because the remote deposit and withdrawal business opened by Haihan Bank.
This action undoubtedly means that the royal family has endorsed and guaranteed the reputation of Haihan Bank, and the advertising effect brought about by this is self-evident. Even if many North Korean dignitaries do not know the operating conditions of Haihan Bank, they still choose Follow suit and open an account in the bank first.Naturally, the bank does not reject anyone who comes, first open the account, and then send a special person to these dignitaries' houses to slowly publicize and explain.
And these allies who sent troops to North Korea together with Haihan have long known the reliability and convenience of Haihan Bank, and all their business in North Korea relies on the bank for payment settlement, which has also brought a lot of money to the bank invisibly. new customer.
With the gradual advancement of various tasks related to the DPRK after the war, the summer of 1637 finally came to an end.
(End of this chapter)
The total number of these three types of personnel is less than 50. However, for North Korea, which is currently in deep financial crisis, it is very difficult to maintain the operation of various official agencies, and it is still possible to raise funds for studying abroad in such a short period of time. It is not easy for them to go out.Of course, this is thanks to those students with status and background. The family forces behind these people have more or less subsidized some expenses to the imperial court in private, which is used as part of the transaction conditions for these people to be selected for the study abroad list.
In the past, almost all the overseas students sent by North Korea to study abroad went to Daming, but now the direction of the wind has changed. The country that symbolizes advanced productivity, combat effectiveness, and economic strength is no longer Daming, but the upstart Haihan State that has only risen in the South China Sea in recent years. .Therefore, since the end of last year, North Korea has suspended the continued sending of overseas students to Daming, and has adjusted the direction to Haihan who has mastered more advanced technologies.
One is willing to teach and the other wants to learn. The only problem is the cost.In the past, North Korea sent people to Daming to study. In most cases, they only needed to pay for their own living expenses. There was no tuition fee, and Daming always disdained to charge such a small amount of money.But Haihan's rules are different. The fee is calculated very clearly, just like going to a private school, you can only learn something after paying the tuition fee, and the fee is really not low.
But according to the understanding of the Haihan people, good things should be valuable, and it is only natural for North Korea to learn advanced technology and pay some economic price for it.Besides, if it is not an ally relationship, even if North Korea is willing to spend money, it will not be able to find a way to learn these technologies, and this is an opportunity that cannot be missed for North Korea that wants to quickly improve its national strength.In this seller's market environment, North Korea doesn't even have room to bargain, and can only accept the conditions offered by Haihan.
Fortunately, Haihan's business reputation has always been excellent, and sending troops to North Korea to repel the invasion of the Qing army is also a real achievement. Therefore, the opinions of the Korean government and the opposition are very consistent as to whether they can learn real skills from Haihan after spending money. Han should keep their promise, and it would be worthwhile if the tuition can be exchanged for Haihan's technology.
Of course, in addition to these government-sponsored students, there is another important personnel arrangement in the study abroad arrangement that attracts great attention from the top officials of the two countries, that is, whether the king of North Korea will send a prince to study in Haihan.After this matter was proposed by Haihan, the North Korean side has not given a positive answer, but this time the two princes went to the Datongjiang base to inspect the training results of the new army and the progress of the cooperation project construction, and they both showed a strong interest in studying abroad.After the two princes returned to Seoul, the results of their discussions with King Li Ji on this matter were not announced at the same time as the news of the government-sent students studying abroad.
Tom Wang waited anxiously in Seoul for two days before Gyeongbokgung Palace finally announced the arrangements for the prince's study abroad: the king of Joseon will send his eldest son Li Mo to Haihan for a two-year study abroad.As for whether other princes will be sent to Haihan to study in the future, there is no plan for the time being.
This arrangement is consistent with Hai Han's expectations. In the original history, Li Jing sent his eldest son to the Qing Dynasty as a hostage, but now he just changed his name and changed his partner.However, Haihan has always emphasized that the nature of this arrangement is not for North Korea to send hostages, so the pressure on North Korea is relatively small, and this can be used as a benign diplomatic method.
As for how much real skills Li Min could learn from going to Haihan, the king actually didn't have much hope for it.Compared with the two sons who are not rich in political experience, he has a more thorough view of the relationship between the two countries and the future development situation.
In fact, Li Jing doesn't think that Haihan will really have no reservations about his country, and he will teach all the most advanced technologies. In his opinion, most of the suggestions for studying abroad put forward by Haihan people are mainly due to political considerations. Instead of simply wanting to pull North Korea as an ally.Especially for the so-called advanced weapon manufacturing technology, Li Yu does not believe that Hai Han really intends to transfer it to his country for free by studying abroad. You must know that the weapon manufacturing technology obtained by this arsenal by the Datong River has already been paid. After paying Haihan a lot of money, this group of extremely shrewd businessmen will not become philanthropists overnight.
Since it is a political transaction, it is necessary to consider how to arrange this matter from a political point of view is the best solution that is beneficial to the country.Li Yu believes that Haihan's purpose is to confirm the importance North Korea attaches to Haihan as an ally through the arrangement of North Korea sending a prince to study abroad.Especially the arrangement of inviting the two princes to the Taedong River base this time, and even took the initiative to "expose" many military secrets. It is enough to see that Haihan very much hopes that North Korea can send members of the royal family at the level of the prince to study in Sanya. It has political implications. very thick.
It is too risky for North Korea to send two princes to Haihan to study at the same time, and in the model of choosing one of the two, Li Mo, who has the status of the son of the prince, obviously has higher political value.Moreover, Li Luo is more familiar with government affairs, and representing North Korea as an envoy to Haihan, his performance on diplomatic occasions will be relatively more secure.
Therefore, the son of the Joseon Dynasty, Li Mo, finally became the representative of the Joseon royal family after repeated trials by the two sides. He will personally lead this group of overseas students to the distant South China Sea, and will live in Haihan for a period of time in the future. Learn various advanced knowledge skills.
This arrangement is more acceptable to both countries, and for Qian Tiandun and Wang Tom, it can be regarded as a great achievement no less than repelling the Qing army. After all, it can make the allies the next generation of rulers Sending them to Haihan to study abroad is a huge victory from the perspective of diplomacy and international politics.
After confirming the news with North Korean officials, Wang Tom immediately sent a telegram to Sanya, informing Victory Fort to make relevant preparations in advance.Regarding North Korea's dispatch of a study abroad team represented by Shizi, Haihan has too many things to do, and the sooner the arrangements are made, the greater the room for manipulation.
If it is just a study abroad team composed of military and civilian personnel, then three to five days of preparation time after the personnel are assembled is enough. After all, Haihan has everything as long as the money is in place, and it is not necessarily necessary to bring home from China. Moved all the way there.However, the eldest son will go abroad for two years, which is related to the face of North Korea. There must be some pomp and circumstance, and there are many things to prepare.
Just the entourage, servants, and guards serving Li Luo, Li Cao Yamen listed as many as a hundred people at the beginning, even including the washerwoman and the cook.When this list was reported to Gyeongbokgung Palace, Li Jing immediately killed him—now that even the expenses of overseas students have been saved and saved, why do they have to send so many idlers who can only spend money but can't learn anything?
Li Cao's yamen originally wanted to flatter the prince and make the scene bigger, but this flattering was obviously out of date.So the list of attendants was chopped and chopped, and only one tenth of the people were left in the end, and finally passed Li Zhen's review.
After all, he is the future heir to the throne, so he shouldn't be too shabby to make the Haihan people laugh at him. Since he doesn't have enough funds to arrange a large accompanying reading team for the son, at least bring more luggage to show his grandeur.So I brought five sets of formal dresses alone, but the ceremonial officer in charge of preparing the luggage didn't know that these heavy dresses basically wouldn't have too many upper body opportunities after arriving in Sanya, because the local area is not much higher than that of North Korea all the year round. If the temperature is too low, wearing these inner and outer three-layer dresses is like a cotton-padded jacket wrapped in dog days.
In addition, considering the son's eating habits, it is inevitable to prepare a lot of pots and pans.Wang Tom went to Gyeongbokgung Palace to discuss the itinerary with the court, and he couldn't help being amazed at the things prepared for the prince in the palace.
In order to show the importance it attaches to North Korean students, Haihan specially transferred two merchant ships from Zhejiang to serve as passenger ships.These two merchant ships are not ordinary cargo ships that carry cargo across borders, but are passenger ships built by Zhoushan Shipyard, which are specially used to transport important people.The ship not only has relatively comfortable and spacious cabins, but also provides enough fresh water for VIPs to take several hot baths during the voyage.Of course, not every guest who boards the ship can enjoy this kind of treatment. For example, among the group of passengers who are about to board the ship in Seoul, only the eldest son Li Wei can enjoy this high-level treatment.
Wang Tom himself will not personally accompany the North Korean study abroad team to the south, but he has made detailed arrangements for the entire itinerary.After departing from Seoul, Haihan will send six warships to escort the Koreans to Dinghai Port in Zhoushan, where they will join other fleets heading south before proceeding. During the period, they may stop in Penghu, Hong Kong and other places depending on the situation. Resupply before proceeding to Sanya.
The North Korean side has no major objections to this itinerary, but the eldest son Li Wei proposed to make the itinerary for the southward trip more substantial, not to rush all the way, and if possible, he would like to visit a few more Haihan ruled areas along the way.
In fact, this kind of arrangement was also conceived by Wang Tom, but he didn’t want the North Koreans to feel that the itinerary was too loose and purposeful, so he gave up the redundant arrangement. He didn’t expect the other party to take the initiative to propose this proposal, so he immediately agreed. down.Let Li Lu and his party visit the various colonies of Haihan on the way, but it can also show them the dominance of Haihan in various parts of East Asia.
When the North Korean side was preparing to study abroad, Wang Tom, as a high-level representative of Haihan, needed to communicate with the North Korean side about the follow-up arrangements at any time, so he could only wait here in Seoul.But for him, he didn't have much diplomatic and political affairs to deal with, and the officials of the Licao Yamen just went to the place where he stayed every day to ask if there was any need, and then informed him of the progress of the palace's preparations for the son's study abroad.
If sending troops to meet the Qing army's invasion is also such an efficiency, it is estimated that half of North Korea will be gone.Wang Tom guessed that the North Koreans probably had already picked a certain auspicious day, so they deliberately procrastinated the preparations.But he happened to be fine recently, the training of the new army is mainly the army, and Qian Tiandun's independent regiment is in charge. The North Koreans haven't even started to break ground for the shipyard, and it's still too early to train the navy.Wang Tom has ordered the naval forces currently stationed in North Korea to rest in rotation, and only a few ships are still performing daily patrols in the waters of the Yalu River.
And the other three fleets that participated in the anti-Qing war before have also returned to the Datongjiang base one after another, and are in a state of rest.However, these generals who led the army were all concerned about the business with North Korea, so they all came to Seoul with Wang Tom, and then discussed with North Korean officials about establishing a trade business.
This is probably the most intensive social banquet that Wang Tom received during his several trips to Seoul. Official and folk banquets from North Korea are held almost every day, not only for him, but also for Annan, Fujian Xu and others. The activities of the three Portuguese families, but they lived in the same house in Seoul, so the invitations were naturally packaged together, so Tom Wang couldn't run away.Then the three families returned to invite the DPRK to the banquet, and they also had to bring Wang Tom as a company, and he was in charge to facilitate communication with the DPRK.
So during this period, going to Gyeongbokgung Palace to discuss matters became the easiest task for Tom Wang, otherwise he would have all kinds of unavoidable social activities every day, which would really give him a headache.He is looking forward to the early departure of the North Korean study abroad team, so that he can get out of this environment.
Cai Jinmei, who came to Seoul to preside over the banking work, had returned to Zhejiang after she had completed her career. Before she left, she had successfully persuaded the king, Li Wei, to open a special study abroad account for Li Wei and others who were about to study abroad in Haihan. After depositing cash in the branch of Haihan Bank in Seoul, it will not take long for North Korean students to withdraw the money from their accounts in Sanya. It is much more convenient to transport it to Sanya in the South China Sea, which is thousands of miles away, because the remote deposit and withdrawal business opened by Haihan Bank.
This action undoubtedly means that the royal family has endorsed and guaranteed the reputation of Haihan Bank, and the advertising effect brought about by this is self-evident. Even if many North Korean dignitaries do not know the operating conditions of Haihan Bank, they still choose Follow suit and open an account in the bank first.Naturally, the bank does not reject anyone who comes, first open the account, and then send a special person to these dignitaries' houses to slowly publicize and explain.
And these allies who sent troops to North Korea together with Haihan have long known the reliability and convenience of Haihan Bank, and all their business in North Korea relies on the bank for payment settlement, which has also brought a lot of money to the bank invisibly. new customer.
With the gradual advancement of various tasks related to the DPRK after the war, the summer of 1637 finally came to an end.
(End of this chapter)