Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 122
Only Noblemtl
#122. Beijing Express and Blue Red Army (1)
“Woah, wow-”
The Harcourt adviser chased the enemies for a long time.
He was so anxious to waste bullets on those who were running away that he swung his cavalry sword without restraint and carried out a brutal slaughter until daybreak.
The dizzying Chinese that had been heard here for a while was no longer heard, and only the dead and lying around were a reminder that there had once been living people here.
“Ugh, that’s too bad.”
Looking at the coolies who had fallen to the ground dead in an instant, I thought about taking their scalps, but decided against it.
That’s because the young Korean regimental commander hated it so much. Even if it’s the body of a dead enemy, you have to maintain at least a minimum level of dignity.
I thought it was a shame that in order to ruthlessly wipe out enemies like the Indians, they had to set an example.
Still, he was polite to me in his own way, and although he was Asian, he was taller than most white people, and I liked his cool personality as a soldier, so I decided to follow his words for now.
“Your Majesty! Over there, a group of enemies are running away!”
“Oh.”
Just when I was starting to get bored, I saw some guys desperately trying to escape somewhere.
Of course, there was no way we could leave them alone.
They climbed into the saddles of their horses, which had been resting for a while, and fell upon them again.
Naturally, there was no significant resistance from them.
I had to either run away to save my life or beg for my life.
While I was chasing after those who were running away, leaving those who were begging for their lives behind, I discovered something that wasn’t marked on the map.
It looked like a warehouse for storing something, but it was too big to contain treasure.
Although it was empty, there were still outposts there, as if soldiers had been stationed there until recently.
“Hey, what is this?”
“Let’s try opening the lock. You never know. There might be treasures from the Qing Dynasty imperial family.”
Harcourt dismounted, leaving his fleeing enemies behind, and cautiously surveyed the warehouses with his pistol drawn.
A quietness fell on all sides, without even a single mouse stirring.
Just a moment ago, I felt like my ears were going to go numb from the noise of battle, but entering such a quiet place gave me a very strange feeling.
bang!
Harcourt roughly opened the iron gate, firing his pistol at the tightly locked lock. And what he found there was a pile of rifles and cannons that would have made even Harcourt, who prided himself on being from the land of guns, feel embarrassed.
The other warehouses were the same. They were clearly the main weapons depots of the Qing army, with cannons, rifles, and various types of ammunition piled high.
At first glance, these were enough weapons to arm tens of thousands of people.
Harcourt opened one of the boxes and found it stacked high with shiny German rifles that looked as if they had just been oiled, while another box contained paper magazines containing what appeared to be freshly produced ammunition.
“The jackpot has been hit.”
He tried to put a cigarette in his mouth, but then stopped.
I remembered that smoking was prohibited within 15 meters of the ammunition depot.
I had no choice but to kill time by munching on some of the jerky that had been provided the night before.
He couldn’t help but laugh at the thought that perhaps this incident would allow him to claim a bigger bonus from the Korean government.
Yeah, this is the most rewarding thing.
He saw the approaching army from afar and started waving his hands, thinking that it was already the Korean army.
And what they encountered was not the main force.
“Japanese military···?”
“Go, go and report to the regimental commander. Hurry up!”
The captain shouted to the other cavalrymen, his voice trembling.
I thought things were going to get messed up.
Harcourt ordered all his cavalry to block the entrance to the armory, and a standoff ensued.
By the way, it was funny to see the Japanese soldiers who had been rushing forward with all their might flinch at the sight of a white man.
Perhaps they never thought there would be white people in the Korean military.
Harcourt stood proudly in front of the cavalry and stopped the Japanese soldiers.
I was honestly curious to see if my guys would do anything stupid to surpass me, a white person.
***
The cruel dawn of July 14th for the Qing army was over and daylight was slowly breaking.
The East and South Gates were strewn with flags from various countries.
Major General Alexiev and I personally went up to the front line and, under the escort of cavalry, congratulated the soldiers who had fought so fiercely in the previous night’s battle.
And foreign correspondents and war correspondents who had followed the scene from Korea were busily sketching and taking pictures to write articles about what had happened there.
Since the operation had been going on since last night, I kicked him out using the excuse of an embargo, and he seemed a bit angry, but he didn’t really care.
Because we were able to provide this scoop in exchange for that embargo.
Some soldiers were rambling on and on in response to reporters’ questions, but it seemed like they would have to be educated later.
For public relations purposes, the unrefined ‘word’ is more than enough to provide good gossip to such media outlets.
“It’s a great victory, to say the least.”
As Lieutenant Colonel Foch said, it was a great military victory, but overall it was a disaster.
The destroyed Dongmun Gate, the bodies of the Qing troops that had not yet been recovered, and the acrid smoke and the smell of blood coming from inside the city were horrifying.
“It would be a death sentence for Qing. It would be a very brutal execution method.”
I answered Posh’s words and stared blankly at the dead men who had fallen.
“The guillotine would be much more merciful.”
For a moment, I shuddered at the thought that perhaps their present could become our future.
If we don’t want that kind of future to come, we need to come to our senses again.
“The operation of the unit was truly amazing. They let the platoons loose like that. It was like watching wolves hunting rabbits.”
As Foch expressed his admiration, his subordinate units fought better than expected.
The 20 assault infantry platoons moved quickly, taking advantage of the night environment, and through this thoroughly broke down the Qing army’s defense line.
Of course, the Qing troops here were on a different level from the Dongbok-sang Gam troops or the Boxer rebels they encountered in Langfang.
They held out like an elite force, making the term ‘army without weapons’ not seem meaningless.
Even though defeat was imminent in every corner of the city, they refused to admit it and chose to resist until the end.
Even though the South Gate was breached and Japanese, American, and British troops rushed in, they did not give up their resistance until the very last moment.
What could break such a resolute will was the fear and firepower that even will could not overcome.
Along with the platoon that broke through the initial gate, the remaining assault infantry platoons engaged in melee combat, and the infantry battalions that followed were sent into the battlefield to provide momentum for the breakthrough.
By the time they were deployed, the Qing army’s defenders had been pushed around and given up all the advantageous positions.
When interrogating prisoners later, it was revealed that many retreated on their own because they judged the scale of the attacking enemy to be considerable, and it was clear that the purpose of deception was also successful.
Then, as the Russian and German troops rushed in, the battle became chaotic but definitely tilted the scales of victory, and by daybreak the castle was completely under control.
As the morning sun poured down, black smoke rose from inside the castle, and flames shot up here and there. Screams and wailing were a bonus.
“Commander, congratulations. Our battalion has completely taken control of the east gate and planted the Taegeukgi.”
“What a stroke of luck.”
I spoke with a humble tone, but I couldn’t hide my expression.
It was so overwhelming.
Making the lower limit of troop command and control the company and platoon has had a huge impact.
As I wished, the platoon and company commanders made their own judgments and identified the enemy’s weakest defense line or weak point, exposed it, and through maneuver and deception, they destroyed the Qing army.
And although this was not my intention, it has also been reported that each platoon links up with the others and operates its forces as if it were a wolf chasing a rabbit, hunting the enemy within the city limits.
It was also thanks to this that the counterattack of the Seopsa Seong was annihilated.
When the last remaining troops of the Seopsa Seong led the counterattack towards the Dongmun Gate, the assault infantry platoons were momentarily overwhelmed by the momentum.
Since the follow-up infantry battalions or guards infantry battalions had not yet arrived, there was a risk that the attacking units would be driven out or trapped in enemy territory and annihilated, but each company and platoon responded very calmly.
While one platoon faced their attack head-on, the remaining platoons, taking advantage of their mobility, flanked them and bypassed them through the alleyways of the city, completely encircling them.
“To be honest, I was surprised. I never thought the regimental commander’s seemingly unfounded doctrine would work.”
“Well, I just brought something to suppress the Boxer riots that were going wild.”
“Is that so? Anyway, it was impressive.”
Major General Alexiyev seemed to be very impressed by the breakthrough our regiment had made.
Well, actually, not only that, but even Colonel Puchata and Lieutenant Colonel Posch couldn’t hide their extremely surprised expressions.
Even Lieutenant Colonel Park Seung-hwan, who was immediately in command of the assault infantry battalion, and Lieutenant Colonel Lee Ki-pyo, the commander of the demonstration infantry battalion that followed, looked incredulous, so that says it all.
“What kind of talent did you really show, Colonel?”
“That’s right. Our demonstration brigade has also undergone fierce combat training, but this is the first time we’ve seen such a violent form of combat. It was like unleashing beasts.”
“It’s a change of perspective. If we just change our thinking a little, we can discover endless things.”
Following a rather splendid debut, it certainly seemed that they had made great use of the tactics of the assault infantry corps and the autonomous troop control at the company and platoon level, which had been in use for over 10 years in front of the great powers.
Well, I did think it was a bit of an ambiguous conclusion.
“By the way, you idiots, look at those captured rifles.”
Lieutenant Lee Gi-pyo handed me a rifle as if he found it pitiful.
“What?”
“I mean the scope. He set the minimum scope to 800m instead of 100m and shot it. That’s why it didn’t hit.”
“······.”
Indeed, as he said, the scope was set too high, almost to the point of being excessive, like the Zulu rifles captured by the British at Rorke’s Drift.
Although the Qing army fought fiercely yesterday, it was also a scene where they displayed all the disgraceful behavior that is typical of pre-modern times.
Most captured rifles had their sights set that way, perhaps because they thought that a higher number on the sight would make the bullet fly farther and harder.
I didn’t know that it was thanks to this that most of the platoons that had been hit by the barrage of fire yesterday had survived unscathed, and that they had even counterattacked at that moment, causing a breakdown in the battle line.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I looked at the Mauser rifle that one of the Qing soldiers had abandoned.
“It must have been his own belief.”
And that belief would have betrayed them and the Qing Empire. I handed the rifle back to Lieutenant Lee Ki-pyo and answered.
“And this was the result of that belief.”
“It’s miserable.”
“We must learn from them. If the general leading the army and the military officers are not awake, no matter how good the weapons are, they will inevitably fall helplessly. Today, we were able to break through the enemy’s strong defenses and win despite ignoring all examples of military strategy, because we ourselves were awake.”
If a strong military were only possible with good weapons, the modern Saudi military would have already been able to command power in the Middle East.
However, the subject of war was not one in which one could easily get good grades with such practical skills.
“The gap between us and them was not that big. Just as we introduced the Noseo-je automatic rifle, they also confronted us with the high-quality automatic rifle of the Deokjeokje. In fact, the armies of the great powers were not able to avoid being inferior in the number of firearms. Nevertheless, we won because of what we had learned and the change in thinking. New weapons can suggest the direction of the war, but they cannot easily end the war. So remember today well. How we won.”
And the Europeans who did not remember this would soon learn what they were doing at the cost of enormous bloodshed.
“Collect the dead and wounded, and gather the troops. We will soon be advancing towards Beijing.”
If it were the current Mahayana, there would be no problem even if it went straight to Beijing.
From the Qing Dynasty’s perspective, with the Wuwei Front and the Boxer Rebellion in Tianjin almost annihilated, there was no effective way to stop this.
But there were variables in everything, and those variables often came from our allies rather than our enemies.
There was a phrase I always used to say when playing Battlefield, and it was about time it came out. ‘Blue enemy’. It was the time when I saw it with my own eyes.
And then a messenger came running in, out of breath, which really infuriated me.