Chapter 2315

However, Wang Tom did not have high expectations for how effective the edicts issued to various parts of the country in Li Zhen's name would be. This is because Li Zhen's influence in areas outside Gyeonggi Province is relatively small.

Limited, local officials may not choose to be loyal to him at the moment; secondly, even if the local government and the garrison are willing to help him put down the rebellion, they will not be able to organize the action of sending troops to serve the king because they do not have enough manpower, material and financial resources.

It has been a month since the rebellion broke out in Seoul, and the news should have spread throughout the country. However, currently only a few places have stated that they will continue to be loyal to King Li Zhu and refuse to cooperate with the rebels. Wang Tom believes that the vast majority of people

We are still waiting and watching, and we will not start to take a stand until the situation becomes clearer.

Anyone who is not too confused will understand that the factor that determines the future situation is not only within Seoul, but also depends on Haihan's attitude. If Haihan thinks that the fall of King Li Zhu is unacceptable, then the rebels will kill all the royal family.

, and it is difficult to gain Haihan's approval. On the contrary, if the rebellious party offers certain conditions to bribe Haihan, then it is likely that it will be time to change the dynasty.

Expressing your stance too early may make you passive. Continuing to wait and see is the wisest thing to do at the moment. However, with the return of Prince Li Zhi, the situation is developing in a direction that is not conducive to the rebellious party. When the Haihan army comes to the city,

Once the news spreads, some smart people will probably start to take sides.

Wang Tom said: "When the incident happened in Seoul, there was no large-scale fighting around the city defense, which shows that there was also a big problem with the city defense troops, who were probably directly involved in the rebellion."

Qian Tiandun nodded and said: "So the fifth military camp and the third inner hall can basically be classified as the rebel camp."

Wang Tom added: "The counselors, counselors, and counselors of Bingcao Yamen can also be included first."

The Fifth Military Camp includes five departments: the Training Department, the Royal Camp Hall, the Imperial Guard Camp, the Rong Hall, and the Guard Hall, while the Inner Third Hall refers to the inner guards, concurrent servants, and Habayashi Guards, these military institutions.

The troops and troops are located inside and outside Seoul. They are usually under the jurisdiction of the Bingcao Yamen and are responsible for the security and defense, troop training, logistics supply and other matters in the Seoul area.

The rebellious party specially selected a military officer, Shen Jingzhen, to start the rebellion when he was not in Seoul, apparently to avoid being misled by him. However, commanding the actions of these local troops was obviously still the responsibility of the military officer Yamen, so the remaining officers under Shen Jingzhen were

The Bingcao Yamen officials in Seoul may also have participated in the rebellion.

Qian Tiandun said: "With the influence of Bingcao Yamen, it is still impossible to do such a big thing. There must be someone above it!"

Tom Wang said slowly: "Counting further up, it should be those two."

Regarding the man behind the Seoul rebellion, Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun have actually made many calculations and discussions, and have made some preliminary judgments about the truth of the matter. The rebel party was able to control the Seoul area in one fell swoop, and there was no large-scale incident.

armed conflict, which shows that its appeal and control are very extraordinary. Only figures with extremely high power and prestige in the DPRK can achieve this.

Although the other members of the royal family except King Li Zhu have noble status, they have no real power in their hands and cannot mobilize troops. Even princes like Lord Fenglin and Lord Linping cannot compare with the high officials in the court.

Most of them are pushed out and used as puppets after the fact.

Currently, the two most influential senior officials in the DPRK are Kim Sang-heon, the chief minister, and Choi Myung-gil, the current consul-general who was just promoted this year.

The two men have been rivals in the court for many years because of their different political views. Kim Sang-heon advocates tough foreign policy, rejects peace talks, and uses force to safeguard North Korea's interests, and is called a peace-denying faction; while Cui Mingji insists on peace as the most important thing.

, using a certain degree of compromise to buy the time needed for the development of the country, naturally became a peacemaker.

Before the Qing army prepared to invade North Korea in a large scale last year, it put pressure on North Korea many times, asking Li Zhu to sever ties with the Ming Dynasty and Haihan, and surrender to the Qing Dynasty. At that time, it was Kim Sang-hyun who advocated resistance to the end in the court.

Later, North Korea successfully solicited Haihan reinforcements and repelled the invasion of the Qing army. Kim Sang-heon's reputation greatly increased, surpassing his old rival.

But these prestige failed to help Kim Sang-hun reach the peak of his official career. This year, King Li Jie unexpectedly appointed Cui Ming-gil as the new chief minister. In terms of official rank and authority, he already surpassed Kim Sang-hun.

Regarding this appointment, Haihan's understanding is that Li Zhu is trying to balance the situation and avoid letting Kim Sang-heon dominate the court. Moreover, Cui Mingji has always supported the second prince Fenglin Prince Li Hao. This can be regarded as retaining a competitor for the crown prince and giving him the throne.

There is still a certain amount of suspense about the right of succession to prevent court officials from joining the prince's camp prematurely and affecting their current rule.

In order to maintain his ruling authority and take into account the smooth transition of power transfer in a few years, Li Jian must use some means to maintain the balance of power in the court. However, similar imperial techniques have emerged one after another in China's thousands of years of history.

From the perspective of Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun, it’s not surprising. It’s just that they don’t know which link went wrong, and Li Zhu actually messed up even when the situation was improving.

There are too many possibilities for why some people don’t want Li Zhu to continue to be in power. In the absence of more reliable information, there is no need to waste time and energy making unnecessary speculations. Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun only need to confirm that Seoul

The rebellion that took place was planned by some important figures in the court.

As for whether Kim Sang-hyun or Cui Ming-gil is taking the lead, it is still hard to say. Although Kim Sang-hun has a high reputation, the king obviously intends to use Cui Ming-gil to suppress him. Perhaps he has already accumulated a lot of resentment in his heart. Although Cui Ming-gil has a high reputation this year

After being promoted, he was already under one person and above ten thousand people, but the second prince Li Hao he supported was still not the first choice for the throne. One day Li Hao abdicated, and the first thing the new king would do would be to eliminate dissidents.

I will definitely not be able to continue discussing politics by then.

Of course, Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun are still unable to determine what the real motive is. They can only assume that one of these two big shots planned this incident.

But what is the purpose of doing this makes them a little confused. These two high-ranking North Korean officials are the pillars of this country. It is impossible that they do not know the meaning of what they do. Even if they overthrow King Li Zhu, they will not be able to do it.

It means that they can successfully take over the power of this country.

One of the basic conditions to be achieved is to obtain Haihan's approval. So far, the person responsible for this incident has not taken the initiative to contact Haihan, and it seems that he has no intention of seeking Haihan's approval at all.

"So I have never understood the meaning of this chaos. Even if they kill the king, they will not be able to sit on the throne unless they have our support. But they have not spoken out. Are they trying to compete with us for their patience?

"Qian Tiandun expressed doubts about the current situation.

"Maybe... they are lost and can't find the way forward, so they can only go around in circles." Wang Tom put forward a very abstract hypothesis.

Qian Tiandun raised his eyebrows: "These old foxes must have had a comprehensive plan for the big matter of decapitation, and they won't watch every step, right?"

"It's hard to say." Wang Tom shook his head slightly and said, "The plan is not as fast as the change. Maybe some unplanned situations occurred, disrupting their original arrangements."

The larger the plan, the more likely it is that unexpected emergencies will occur. This is an objective law that is difficult to violate. Even the various combat plans formulated by the Haihan military are difficult to implement 100% as planned in actual combat.

when.

Compared with the Haihan Army, which has strict military discipline, the situation in North Korea is obviously different. Naturally, it is difficult not to make any mistakes in such a complex operation. From this point of view, Wang Tom’s idea is more reasonable.

Pass.

Years of experience in fighting overseas tell them that they cannot underestimate their opponents, but they do not need to think that their opponents can formulate complex and sophisticated strategies. People in this era are limited by their vision, and the strategies they can formulate are often only

Be able to focus on the current environment.

But since the Haihan Army has arrived in Seoul, there is no need to delve into the reasons for this incident at this time. Instead, priority should be given to how to solve Seoul's dilemma.

The people in the city have not yet taken the initiative to show their willingness to negotiate, so the Haihan Army has naturally excluded this option. At this point, the only solution is to use force.

As in countless battles over the years, Takahashi Minami is still personally on the front line commanding and deploying. After the special operations group stationed in North Korea last year, he has been to Seoul twice, both entering and leaving the city through Sungnye Gate, so for this

He still had a little understanding of the area's environment, so he wouldn't be blinded. Moreover, the local stronghold had already prepared a secretly drawn city defense map, which provided a more reliable basis for his troop formation.

There are about ten artillery pieces on the city wall near Sungnyemun Gate. These artillery pieces are old artillery pieces that were given to North Korea cheaply by Haehan in the name of military aid after the war ended last year. Their range and power are relatively limited. However, because the artillery and command staff

The officers are still receiving training at the Datongjiang base, so the actual threat of these artillery is actually very limited.

Other information about Sungnyemun Gate is clearly marked on the city defense map, including the size, materials, thickness, etc. of the city gate. With these data, Gao Qiaonan can roughly calculate how much firepower is needed.

Only by outputting strength can the Sungnye Gate be blasted open.

While the special forces were waiting for an opportunity on Ganghwa Island, Takahashi Minami had already worked out several siege battle plans with his staff, and even had plenty of time to make a sand table for deduction.

According to the conclusions drawn from the deduction, the Haihan Army should not encounter too much trouble during the siege, unless the opponent silently piles tens of thousands of troops in the city to lay an ambush. Such an extreme situation is of course unlikely.

What is more likely to happen is that after the city is broken, the troops in the city flee in all directions, just like the situation when the Qing army invaded North Korea last year and destroyed several cities in succession.

Due to North Korea's unique military system, most of the troops are not composed of professional soldiers, so their fighting will is naturally difficult to guarantee. Although the troops guarding Seoul are considered elite, most of them may have known their identities and turned into rebels.

The opponent outside the city is the Haihan Army who came to serve the king on behalf of the Crown Prince. In this situation where the name is not justified and the enemy is ridiculously powerful, it may be difficult to maintain a resolute will to fight.

Under the command of Gao Qiaonan, the artillery position was deployed directly on the official road outside the city. The muzzle of the artillery was facing Sungnye Gate, which was only about one mile away. This time, several advanced artillery guns were specially transported from the Datong River base.

The breech-loading cannons were pushed out. These new artillery had been trained at the Datongjiang base. Takahashi Nan believed that their power was suitable for blasting open the city gates.

According to Haihan's standard combat method, fire strike with artillery as the core is the first step in the siege. After blasting open the city gate passage and suppressing the firepower of the city wall defenders, the infantry then advances into the city to try as much as possible.

Reduce the loss of personnel in the process of breaking through city defenses.

From Takahashi Minami's point of view, Seoul is definitely not a fortified city. If we attack with all our strength, we can break through the city in about half a day.

Of course, he does not have the final say on when the war will start. He is only responsible for commanding the war. Whether to fight or not, and when to start the war, he must obey the orders of his superiors.

Now that the prince has returned here and the terms for negotiation have been agreed upon, neither Wang Tom nor Qian Tiandun intends to let this matter drag on endlessly. While artillery positions are being deployed, people have already fired arrows into the city.

Submit a letter asking the rebels and rebels in the city to surrender unconditionally to the Crown Prince Li Zhi, and the time limit given for consideration is extremely short, ending at sunrise tomorrow.

Wang Tom and Qian Tiandun did not expect that this piece of surrender letter would really make the rebels in the city surrender, but if they could put enough pressure on them and affect their opponents' will to fight, then it would be considered effective. And

The letter of persuasion to surrender stated that the protagonist of King Qin's return to Beijing this time was Li Xie, who first occupied the moral high ground and pushed his opponent into the camp of rebellious officials and traitors.

"If no one comes out of the city to negotiate tonight, then we will take action tomorrow morning. Then the prince will show his face outside the city. This will make it easier for us to do things."

A little later, Li Zhi was also taken to the Haihan stronghold outside the city and followed Wang Tom's arrangements.

Although Li Xie was a little panicked by going to the front line of the battlefield, Wang Tom had already emphasized that he would not be put in danger, and he could retreat to the Han River after showing his face, so there was not much risk at all.

, Li Zhi agreed to this arrangement.

As for the list of enemies, Li Zhi did not ask Wang Tom again what he planned to do, and Wang Tom seemed to have forgotten about it and did not even mention it.
Chapter completed!