Chapter 1506 Cooperation and Alliance

Judging from Li Zhu's initiative to bring this matter up, Shen Zhixiang's agitation work can be said to have been quite successful. Tom Wang did not even need to do any more work before he had already posted it himself. This is of course reasonable, even if

With the Ming Dynasty's level of armament, Xu Xinsu was also very moved after seeing Haihan's weapons and equipment. After that, she took the initiative to apply for military consultants and weapons procurement from Haihan, and then gradually tied her destiny to Haihan.

On the ship. Of course, the quality of North Korea's military is far inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty. There is a clear gap even with the Annan army, which has gradually become Haihan-oriented armed forces. Directly purchasing weapons and armed forces from Haihan may be the fastest way for them to improve their military strength.

It's gone.

Of course, with a perspective like Li Zhu who has not seen much of the world, he will definitely not understand that the most important factor in an army is not the weapons and equipment, but the people participating in the battle. Otherwise, with the level of national strength, military strength, and armament of the Ming Dynasty,

, combat experience, command system and other aspects of the situation are superior, how could it fall into the hands of a group of Liaodong barbarians who were hunters, fishermen and herdsmen. The performance of Haihan's weapons and equipment does have advantages across the ages, but more

The important thing is to field an army that can give full play to its power. Otherwise, even if the weapons of the Marine Corps are swapped with those of the North Korean army, the latter will only end up defeated in the battle.

The military advisory services provided by Haihan to many countries such as Annam, Champa, and Ming Dynasty are complementary to the arms export trade. However, the Koreans do not seem to be aware of this at present. They just want to take advantage of the advanced technology in the hands of Haihan people.

After buying the weapons, it seems that this is enough to fight against the Hou Jin army, which they have always been afraid of. But it is not that easy. The Ming army, which is equipped with large-scale firearms, cannot defeat the Hou Jin army, let alone the semi-demons like North Korea.

It's a professional army. If they really think they can defeat Hou Jin with weapons, they will definitely suffer big losses in the future.

However, Wang Tom would definitely not reveal the secret at the moment. Since the other party had shown the intention to purchase weapons, he would naturally take the order. He immediately ordered someone to get Haihan's current list of arms sales projects and took them

Show it to Li Zhu - this thing was forced on him by Bai Kesi before he left, hoping that he could sell some weapons and equipment to the North Koreans. But now it seems that the North Koreans may have been oppressed by Hou Jin for too long, in terms of attitude

Far more proactive than imagined.

"We will sell everything on the list." Wang Tom introduced with a smile: "But I must remind His Majesty that only allies can enjoy the sales of our country's weapons."

Wang Tom's words were undoubtedly a direct reminder to Li Zhu that if he wanted to buy weapons from Haihan, he should first take action and sign the alliance agreement. Sure enough, these words were like a basin of cold water that brought Li Zhu out of his excitement.

When he woke up, he realized that the other party was not a pure arms dealer, but represented the powerful Haihan State and was negotiating with him on the development of relations between the two countries.

Forming an alliance with Haihan means falling out with Hou Jin and tearing up the peace agreement signed after Ding Mao's chaos. This is undoubtedly a very risky move. If there is a problem with the connection, the purchased Haihan weapons have not yet been received.

Then Kim will come to hold him accountable, and North Korea will probably get another beating.

Li Jingqian smiled and said: "Many details of the alliance will take time to be slowly discussed, but cooperation matters between the two countries can be implemented first, without waiting for the signing of the agreement."

How could Tom Wang fall for his trick? He shook his head and said: "His Majesty the King does not know. Our Haihan State has a special agency to handle foreign arms sales. If the object is not an ally that has signed a cooperation agreement, Sanya will not let it go."

The weapons and equipment sold are shipped out of the warehouse. I think in order to ensure smooth cooperation, His Majesty the King should sign the agreement early, which is good for both our countries!"

It would indeed be frustrating to stand in North Korea's position. Haihan did not leave any choice for North Korea, either to cooperate and form an alliance, or to fall out and start a war. Now, although forced by Haihan's force to deter him, King Li Zhu plans to choose the former.

But it is still inevitable that the other party will continue to urge him to sign a written agreement as soon as possible in order to implement subsequent cooperation projects.

Li Zhu couldn't help but feel a little confused for a moment. Who is asking whom for cooperation? Didn't the Haihan people come to ask for cooperation at the beginning? Why did the position seem to be reversed while talking about it, and instead became North Korea's request to Haihan?

The situation of asking for help.

Shen Zhixiang lost no time in chatting next to him: "Your Majesty, Haihan Kingdom does have this rule. At the beginning of our cooperation with Haihan, Dongjiang Town signed an alliance first, and then received military assistance from Haihan. Your Majesty, rest assured,

Haihan is a country based on business, and the most important thing is credit. As long as this covenant is signed, the terms listed will definitely be implemented."

Li Zhu didn't respond immediately. After a long time, he sighed and said, "The dilemma for this king is actually not the issue of signing first and signing later, but whether this kind of alliance goes against justice."

Wang Tom thought to himself that the North Korean king was very dramatic and even showed off his bitter feelings in front of him. Did it violate morality? Did North Korea consider this issue when they formed an alliance with Houjin? Raising this issue now is nothing more than thinking.

To further delay the alliance, after all, the suzerainty of North Korea is the Ming Dynasty. If we really want to follow moral operating procedures, then we at least need the approval and permission of the Ming Dynasty court. Of course, in a remote area like Dongjiang Town,

The overseas troops stationed in a corner are not qualified to express their position on behalf of the Ming Dynasty on this issue.

Wang Tom said: "The Ming Dynasty's special envoy will arrive in Liaodong in the near future to discuss with our country the future ownership of the area and future relations between the two countries. If your country really intends to obtain the official permission of the Ming Dynasty, it is best to send another one with authority.

The big shots who made the decision will go to Liaodong to witness it. When the Ming Dynasty envoy nods, all you have to do is comply."

Li Zhu didn't expect that Wang Tom actually had such an arrangement, and he didn't know how to answer for a while. If the other party was not bluffing, then in order to resist Hou Jin and regain the lost territory outside the customs, Ming Dynasty temporarily used North Korea as a way to gain Haihan's support.

A quid pro quo is not a bad idea.

Shen Zhixiang watched secretly amused. As for the alliance negotiations, Wang Tom, the king of Korea, was not as well prepared as Wang Tom. Haihan had been preparing for this matter for a long time, and Li Zhu suddenly decided to hold talks with Wang Tom. Naturally, he was everywhere

Being constrained, it is impossible to gain the upper hand in negotiations.

Moreover, Wang Tom was not an empty threat. The matter of contacting the court to report merit was originally handled by Dongjiang Town through his relationship with the court. There has indeed been a response from the capital. It is said that the Ministry of War will send a minister to Liaodong for inspection.

Military situation and combat situation to confirm that the battle report sent to the capital by Dongjiang Town was not a fake. Of course, this special envoy also has a special secret mission, which is to meet with the Haihan people who are leading the situation in Liaodong to discuss the relationship between the two countries and the future ownership of the Liaodong region.

Sensitive topic.

Judging by the time, the Ming envoy should arrive in Liaodong in a few days. There is no need to worry about any changes in the middle, so Wang Tom can now confidently and boldly release the news to the North Koreans. He knows that the Ming Dynasty is an existence that North Korea cannot resist.

If the Ming envoy can be made to relent, North Korea will definitely choose to comply. Of course, how to convince the Ming envoy will probably be another difficult negotiation.

It's just that in this way, the time for Haihan to sign an alliance agreement with North Korea will definitely be postponed for a few days, which is detrimental to Haihan's plan to use North Korea as a logistics resource as soon as possible. If there are other ways

To urge North Korea to sign the contract earlier, Wang Tom originally did not want to use this trick.

The day's negotiations ultimately did not reach substantive results, but Li Zhu hosted a banquet for Wang Tom and Shen Zhixiang after the talks. However, Wang Tom was used to eating big meals, and he was not interested in the shabby banquet where Koreans set a table with small dishes and small bowls.

I was so interested. After eating hastily and observing the etiquette, I said goodbye and returned to the fleet.

Of course, the two sides would not rest here. In the evening, they each recruited their own think tanks and began to analyze the negotiation situation, and each planned how to gain the initiative in the subsequent negotiations and achieve their goals.

The words are divided into two parts, each expressing one. When Wang Tom led the Northern Fleet to show off its power outside Seoul, North Korea, a team secretly sent from the capital had also arrived at Haihan's control area in the north. This team was led by Mei Shengchuan, the Minister of War

, its purpose is to verify the true battle situation of the coalition forces composed of Dongjiang Town and Haihan in Liaodong.

Mei Shengchuan and Shen Shikui, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town, were old acquaintances. They got acquainted when Shen Shikui was still doing business in Liaodong, and they could be considered friends for many years. After Shen Shikui took over the mess of Dongjiang Town, if Mei Shengchuan had not been in the court

To manage things for him, Dongjiang Town might have been left to fend for itself a long time ago. However, after Dongjiang Town boarded the big ship Haihan, Mei Shengchuan's investment finally paid off, and Shen Shikui sent large sums of money to others every two months.

The purpose of the money coming to Beijing was to facilitate formal official contact between Haihan and the Ming Dynasty, and at least half of the money went into the pocket of Mei Shengchuan, who was entrusted by him to handle the matter.

Of course, Mei Shengchuan is not a person who takes money and does nothing. In fact, he did a very good job in management. In addition, Dongjiang Town sent real enemy heads, flags, weapons, etc. to be seized as physical evidence of the Liaodong victory. Even the Ming Dynasty

No matter how unfavorable the imperial court was to Haihan, it could no longer turn a blind eye to the situation in Liaodong. So finally, under the support of Mei Shengchuan, Emperor Chongzhen decided to send people to Liaodong to see what was going on, and also negotiate with the Haihan people.

The Haihan Kingdom has snatched a lot of territory from the Ming Dynasty. Although the Ming Dynasty has been unable to take action against Haihan, there must be an explanation for this matter.

Naturally, it was necessary to find a knowledgeable person to take charge of this matter. Emperor Chongzhen made many choices, and finally handed over this task to Mei Shengchuan. There are two reasons. One is that as the minister of the Ministry of War, he went to the war zone to inspect and verify

Military exploits and condolences to the troops are all within the scope of his duties; secondly, Mei Shengchuan has an old relationship with Shen Shikui, the commander-in-chief of Dongjiang Town, so it may be more convenient for him to go to the local office for work.

Mei Shengchuan originally had the intention of recommending himself. Since the emperor saved himself a role, it was better to be respectful than to obey. Before departure, Chongzhen met with him alone in the imperial study room. In addition to encouraging him, he also gave special instructions.

, requiring him not to fall behind in front of the Haihan people, to fight territorial issues with reason, and not to easily recognize Haihan's power over the Ming Dynasty territory he occupied.

This errand is actually quite sensitive in nature. After all, Liaodong is the territory of the Ming Dynasty in name only, but it was first occupied by Hou Jin's force. Now the Haihan people defeated Hou Jin in Liaodong and got a share of the pie. Ming officials contacted Haihan at this time

, is undoubtedly suspected of choosing to compromise on the Liaodong issue. If the news spreads, the prestige of the imperial court will definitely be greatly affected. Therefore, for the sake of the dignity of the Ming Dynasty, Mei Shengchuan and his team can only leave the capital in a private way.

And the purpose of the trip must not be made public. For this reason, the Ministry of War personnel changed their identities and arranged the itinerary, which delayed it for some more time.

Mei Shengchuan's team consisted of only seventy or eighty people, pretending to be wealthy businessmen returning to their hometown to visit their relatives. After leaving the capital, they turned southeast and went all the way to Dagu Town at the seaside junction of Shuntian Prefecture and Hejian Prefecture.

The three sailing ships were prepared and set out to sea. However, this fleet did not go directly to Liaodong. Instead, it first went to Dengzhou, Shandong Province and stayed for one night in a water village outside Dengzhou City.

Mei Shengchuan met with Chen Zhongsheng, the prefect of Dengzhou, and Liao Jie, the commander of the Shandong Dusi, that night to learn about Haihan's situation in Shandong and convey to them some of the court's arrangements. As for the specific content of the discussion, outsiders did not know.

I don’t know. The fleet only stayed outside Dengzhou City for one night, and set off the next day to continue eastbound, directly to Zhifu Port, Haihan’s base in Shandong.

Since the agreement had been made through the middleman of Dongjiang Town in advance, the secret visit of the Ming Dynasty official did not cause any misunderstanding. Hao Wanqing, the top chief of the Ministry of Security in the north, personally met with Mei Shengchuan and communicated with him about Haihan's current situation in Shandong.

An almost abnormal occupation situation.

Hao Wanqing made two demands to Mei Shengchuan. The first is to recognize Haihan's rights and interests in Fushan County, especially the ports, towns, roads, and mines invested and constructed by Haihan. Haihan should take ownership of them. The second is to open up Shandong.

Internal immigration and freedom of trade allow goods and people to circulate more freely. Of course, these two requirements are not put forward in isolation, but are parts of the package plan proposed in conjunction with the situation in Liaodong that are related to Shandong.

Of course, as for the ownership of Haihan's actual control area in Shandong and the relatively sensitive issues of maintaining garrison, Hao Wanqing was still very measured and did not raise it directly, so as to save some face for Mei Shengchuan, a senior official of the Ministry of War.
Chapter completed!