Chapter 2303

There is still more than 1,500 miles between the journey from Magong Port in Penghu to the next stop Dinghai Port in Zhoushan. According to Li Zhen's wishes, he even wanted to skip these stops along the way and return home in one go.

However, the voyage was arranged by Haihan, and it is said that the risks that may be encountered at sea were fully considered, so Li Zhen and his party were not allowed to return directly to Seoul.

Although Li Zhi was eager to return home early, he did not dare to disobey Haihan's arrangements. He even suspected that Haihan was deliberately delaying his return in planning such a voyage so that he could survive the chaos in Korea.

Seek greater benefits from the game.

Of course, he didn't dare to speak out these thoughts, let alone question them face to face. Even to his subordinates, he didn't dare to express such thoughts clearly. If someone leaked the news to the outside world, it would probably change.

It becomes an unmanageable situation.

Therefore, although he was quite dissatisfied with Haihan's attitude, Li Zhi did not dare to show it. He now only hoped that his suggestions to Yu Yao would be quickly responded to by the Haihan Executive Committee, and that he could use this to

In exchange for Haihan's military support.

But Zhoushan is already the last stop on the way. If he still fails to win the support of Haihan, even if Li Zhen successfully returns to North Korea, it will be difficult for him to have the confidence to quell the domestic chaos.

Zhoushan is one of the most profitable areas in the overseas colonial zones currently controlled by Haihan. Since it is close to the prosperous areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, the import and export trade is very prosperous. The annual income brought to Haihan can reach millions of taels of silver, and it also

Maintaining an upward trend year by year. It is precisely because of such a good situation that the local governor of Zhoushan Colonial Area, Shi Diwen, has won the trust of the Executive Committee and has been in charge of the military and political affairs here since the occupation of Zhoushan five years ago.

He has great power, and it seems that his days as the boss in Zhoushan will last for a long time.

Regarding the current trade situation in Zhoushan, the most important trading partner is of course the Ming Dynasty, followed by Ryukyu, Japan, North Korea and other East Asian countries and merchants from the West. North Korea’s share of them is very small and basically insignificant, so

It has always received little attention from the Zhoushan authorities.

However, after Haihan sent troops to North Korea last year, North Korea immediately agreed to the trade conditions proposed by Haihan, and the trade situation began to improve, and the number of North Korean merchant ships coming to Dinghai Port gradually began to increase.

When Li Zhen went south via Zhoushan last year, some bold and far-sighted North Korean businessmen were already starting to establish business stores here. Li Zhen thought that he might be able to learn about the current situation in the country from some North Korean businessmen stationed in Zhoushan.

News - Of course, the premise is that he can have enough freedom of movement in Zhoushan. If he is still provided with full and strict protection by local officials in a nearly house arrest manner like Hong Kong and Penghu, then he will have no way to contact these businessmen.

When he went south last year, Li Xie stayed briefly in Zhoushan. Now that he has returned to his hometown, Dinghai Port still shows a prosperous appearance that makes him jealous. The density of ships entering and leaving the port is comparable to that of Sanya's port.

Gotta give it a try.

Like the first two stops on the way, Li Zhi continued to enjoy extremely high treatment when he arrived at the port. Zhoushan Governor Shi Diwen came to the port in person to greet his arrival, and this time the fleet docked at the military port pier of Dinghai Port.

, there was no sign of ordinary people at all.

Seeing such a scene, Li Zhi's mood was inevitably a bit complicated. On the one hand, Haihan indeed provided comprehensive security measures, and the top local chief personally came to greet him, which was very impressive. On the other hand, these measures made Li Zhi

Completely unable to contact the outside world, the channels he had thought of to inquire about information on the way would be difficult to work in such a situation.

After going around and around, in the end, he could only return to the starting point and deal with the senior officials of Haihan honestly. However, Li Zhen had been in contact with Shi Diwen when he came to Zhoushan last time, and knew that this man seemed to be just a man.

He was a reckless man who knew how to lead troops into war, but he was actually extremely shrewd. Li Zhi felt that it was not easy to get the necessary information from him.

But in any case, Li Zhi had to try it first. If Haihan still claimed that there was no domestic news in North Korea at this time, or still did not have a clear attitude on whether to support Li Zhi's restoration of the country, it would be unreasonable.

"Regarding the situation in your country, there is indeed new news coming back." Shi Diwen's statement finally made Li Xie feel relieved.

Although in some cases no news is the best news, it obviously does not apply to the current North Korea. Li Zhi must know who is leading the rebellion and the current situation of his family in order to plan the next restoration of the country and quell the chaos in a more targeted manner.

plan.

"General Lao Shi has made it clear!" Li Xie urged hurriedly.

"Based on the information we currently have, there is not just one force that is causing trouble in your country, but several forces. For some reason that we currently don't know, they almost started one after another within a short period of time, and then

A melee broke out in Seoul that lasted for several days."

"But so far, this melee does not seem to have a winner, at least we haven't waited for any party to claim victory." Shi Diwen paused and added: "The parties involved in the war I mentioned are also

Including the royal family.”

"Is there any news about my father?" Li Xie asked anxiously. The previous news given by the Haihan people only said that Li Shu's life and death were unknown, which made him uneasy for many days. What if even Li Shu was gone?

, his hope of returning to the country has been greatly reduced.

Shi Diwen shook his head and said: "The information we have is very limited. We only know that the king was injured on the first day of the rebellion. Later, due to fires in many palaces in Seoul, the city was full of rioters, and the whereabouts of the royal family members were also unknown.

There is no way to trace it. But looking at the bright side, this may be because the king took the initiative to disappear for safety reasons. He may have escaped from Seoul during this period and hid in a secret place."

"But it has been so many days since the incident happened, and my father has not contacted you. This is unavoidable..." Li Zhi couldn't go on at this point.

Of course, he had imagined that his family would flee Seoul for refuge during the war, but if that was the case, then Li Zhu should have contacted Haihan as soon as possible after escaping and asked Haihan to send troops to help him quell the chaos. But Li Zhu arrived.

There's no news yet, which sounds ominous.

Shi Diwen said: "Your Majesty, there is no need to be so pessimistic. From my outsider's perspective, the chaos that occurred in Seoul at that time may have interfered with the king's judgment, making it impossible for him to know who he should trust. Perhaps.

Even we were regarded by him as something to be wary of, so we kept hiding our whereabouts and waiting for the situation to subside."

"So who are the specific people causing trouble in Seoul? Do you have any news from your country?" Li Zhi knew that the possibility mentioned by the other party was unlikely, and his purpose was just to appease his emotions. He did not want to pursue this issue any further.

, and simply changed the topic back to business.

Shi Diwen was silent for a moment before responding: "Many people, it is said that almost all the civil and military forces of your country and the Manchu Dynasty were involved. But the problem is that we still don't know who is righteous and who is evil, and who is the culprit of this chaos."

Li Zhi almost died of anger when he heard this answer. If it is true as the Haihan people said, all the civil and military officials of the entire dynasty were involved in this chaos, then it is probably not easy to tell who is loyal and who is traitorous. Moreover, Shi Diwen said before

There were many forces involved in the battle, which must have been the result of these ministers forming cliques.

Then Shi Diwen continued to say: "Based on the information we have, we infer that although the chaos broke out from within, it is very likely that there was also the intervention of external forces."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm talking about the Manchus and Japan. Both countries are extremely suspicious." When Shi Diwen said this, his tone seemed to have become much more certain: "Rebellion requires a lot of funds and combat materials. We believe that with

The current situation in your country makes it difficult to raise the necessary conditions for rebellion by relying solely on domestic resources. It is probably the support from abroad that allows those daring people to dare to cause trouble."

Li Zhi thought about it and had to admit that Shi Diwen's speculation made some sense. When he went abroad, the North Korean military had basically been unable to uncover the blame and could not even raise the expenses to send more than a dozen officers to study abroad in Haihan.

If a large-scale armed rebellion is to be organized under such circumstances, the source of funds must be a huge problem.

Japan and the Manchu Qing Dynasty had invaded North Korea in the past, so there were naturally many informants in North Korea, and there might also be some high-ranking officials who were secretly collaborating with them. According to North Korea's tradition, as long as the current king is overthrown, there is a high probability of it.

Being able to ascend the throne and become the king of a country is probably a temptation that is difficult for ambitious people to resist.

So are there such careerists in North Korea today? Li Zhi's judgment is yes, and there are quite a few. It has only been more than ten years since Li Zhi came to power by launching a palace coup, and during this period, he has been suffering from the evil neighbors in the north.

Due to the suppression, the foundation of rule was not solid. The reason why he took the risk and sent Li Zhi to study abroad in Haihan was actually partly to cling to Haihan's thigh, so that he could use Haihan's power to maintain his rule when necessary.

However, the crown prince has been away from the country for a long time, which is actually equivalent to one less contender for the throne in legal terms. If the throne can be seized before Li Zhen returns to the country, the corresponding competitive pressure will be much less. Coups like North Korea have a high frequency.

In a country that is scary, both the officialdom and the people are very receptive to changes in the weather. If the action is fast enough and the process goes smoothly, by the time Li Zhen rushes back from Haihan Kingdom, the day lilies will be cold.

But the problem is that there seems to be more than one force that wants to seize this time window to seize power. In the chaos caused by the simultaneous action of various forces, no one seems to have gained a clear advantage, so so far no party has

Claim victory or gain control of the Seoul area.

Li Zhi slowly savored the information contained in Shi Diwen's words, and his emotions gradually calmed down. Compared with the various situations he had imagined along the way, the news he knew so far was at least not the worst. He finally

The worry is that the rebels have taken control inside and outside Seoul, and someone has announced that he will replace Li Jian as king. In that case, it may take a lot of trouble to restore the country.

In order to confirm his guess, Li Zhi asked again: "So, Seoul is still at war at this time?"

Shi Diwen nodded and said: "Not only in Seoul, but also in the entire Gyeonggi Province, as well as Chungcheong Province and Hwanghae Province on both sides of the north and south, small-scale armed conflicts also broke out. Ping'an Province, Hamgyong Province, Gangwon Province, and Gyeongsang Province

, although Jeolla Province is temporarily peaceful, it is still unclear whether it will be involved in this chaos in the future. Our country also considered the risks, so it did not allow the garrison to intervene rashly."

It was difficult for Li Zhi to comment at this time. He believed that with the combat effectiveness of the Haihan Army, if they could intervene in time in the early stages of the chaos and directly send troops to Seoul to quell the chaos, they should be able to suppress the rebels quickly and avoid letting the situation deteriorate.

Out of control. But having said that, Haihan did not have the obligation to help maintain law and order in North Korea and help Li Zhu maintain rule. Besides, a coup is not necessarily a bad thing for Haihan. They have been waiting and watching, and of course they are waiting for the most beneficial solution.

It's time to take action again.

It's just that the situation in Seoul is still unclear. No one knows whether the Haihan people intend to help the old master recover the country or support the new king to ascend to the throne. And Li Zhi is also in this delicate environment. If he makes an operational mistake, he may become

Haihan's abandoned son.

Li Zhi also thought about whether the current situation could have been avoided if he had not left North Korea last year, but the answer is not certain. His study abroad may have only given the rebels a better opportunity to take action, but it was not the root cause of the rebellion.

If he had stayed in the country, he might have been caught up in the war like his father and two brothers and disappeared. Although the situation is difficult now, at least there is no fear of life for the time being, and he can still win the support of the Haihan people through diplomatic mediation.

He believed that Shi Diwen had more information than the senior Haihan officials he had met with before, so Shi Diwen's attitude could more truly reflect Haihan's senior officials' views on the situation in North Korea. Then the question arises.

, has there been a response to the suggestions made to the Haihan Executive Committee through Yu Yao in Penghu a few days ago?

"The Executive Committee has not given me any specific orders to intervene in North Korean affairs. The instructions I have received are still only to provide necessary supplies and security measures in Zhoushan for the crown prince's return trip." After listening to Li Shi's question.

Afterwards, Shi Diwen gave a very official reply.

Li Zhi can only understand this as the Haihan Executive Committee has still not made a decision on the exchange conditions he proposed. Perhaps they are still discussing whether such conditions are worth it, and perhaps they still intend to continue to wait and see how the situation in North Korea develops. But one thing should be certain.

Undoubtedly, the exchange conditions proposed by Li Zhi were not as effective as he expected, and it seems not easy to change the attitude of the Haihan Executive Committee.
Chapter completed!