Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 156



Only Noblemtl

#156. Dipping your feet in the angry waves (1)

After the conscription bill was passed, the military headquarters was practically in a party mood.

The atmosphere changed in just one day when I ‘persuaded’ the hardliners of the Independence Association in the Privy Council, who were the most vehement opponents, and especially Syngman Rhee, who could be called their spiritual leader.

I ended up with a pretty good deal with him.

Instead of keeping everything about our night together a secret, I recommended him to the Korean Embassy in Washington and promised him that he would study in the United States.

In other words, it was a proposal to study in the United States as an external employee of the Korean Empire Embassy.

Still young, he hesitated for a moment at the offer, but soon accepted.

For him, success was more important than anything else, and success in modern times was not something that involved memorizing the Four Books and Five Classics like before, but was deeply connected to studying abroad.

Of course, thanks to this, I was able to see an effect that I had never expected.

“Kill the traitor Syngman Rhee!”

“Lee Seung-man, my goodness!”

“Let’s punish the traitor Syngman Rhee who betrayed the will of the Korean people!”

The hardliners of the angry Independence Association would not tolerate it. No, perhaps they had no intention of enduring it.

They moved in an organized manner. First, they raided the headquarters of the Imperial Newspaper, where Syngman Rhee was the editor-in-chief, and made a fuss, such as pouring sand on the printing press and beating the employees who tried to stop them with clubs.

As if that wasn’t enough, they went so far as to raid the house where Syngman Rhee was living and assault other members of the Independence Association’s Privy Council who had turned their backs on the conscription system.

Well, since the Imperial Newspaper had already been firmly attached to the government and the royal family, they initially tried not to intervene, and when the Independence Association was divided, the royal family and the government tried to just leave it alone, but as time passed, they had no choice but to intervene. This was because increasingly violent situations began to surface in various parts of Hanseongbu.

At first, the emperor tried to control the divided people by engaging in his own politics.

He approached both the moderate and hardliner factions of the Hwangguk Association and the Independence Association, and requested their active cooperation in introducing conscription and a stamp duty. In return, he also offered carrots of his own, such as promising to continue to expand the Privy Council so that parliamentary politics could take root.

However, the hardliners of the Independence Association dismissed this as a deception and ignored the emperor’s mediation.

Rather, it incited a series of violent incidents that continued for about two weeks within Hanseongbu.

Not long ago, there was an incident where they threw Molotov cocktails and tried to burn down the houses of Seo Jae-pil, the leader of the moderates, as well as Park Jeong-yang, the chairman of the Privy Council.

In some areas, there were even incidents of people stealing mining dynamite and trying to smuggle it into Seoul, only to be caught by the military police.

This was virtually an act of terrorism. The emperor, who had caught the case, thought this was his chance and mobilized the army and police under his command to create a state of public security.

“Do these guys want to do politics, or do they want to rebel against me?! The military police commander and the police chief! Immediately arrest all the so-called Independence Association members who are causing trouble in Hanseongbu!”

“I will follow your orders!”

The commander of the National Military Police, Lieutenant General Min Yeong-hwan, and the police chief Lee Yun-yong immediately mobilized all available troops and launched a large-scale suppression operation in Hanseongbu.

As a state of emergency was declared throughout Hanyang and a curfew was declared, an atmosphere of fear began to weigh heavily on the air in Hanyang.

At first, there was an inquiry asking if I should mobilize the assault infantry regiment that I was commanding, but I firmly refused.

“You can’t deploy troops with firearms to suppress civil unrest, let alone fight foreign enemies or rebels. And the assault infantry regiment is a unit that is designed to shock and shatter the enemy’s front lines, not to suppress civil unrest in the city.”

This is because the mobilization of the military, not the police organization, the Gyeongmu Headquarters, or the National Military Police, was a completely different matter.

“The demonstration brigade will also refuse to be mobilized. Isn’t the issue of maintaining public order entirely the responsibility of the National Police Agency and the Military Police?”

“The troops of the Royal Guard Brigade are all located in the northern part of Hansung, so we cannot withdraw them. I can lend you one company in case of emergency, but more than that is not possible.”

When I did that, the demonstration brigade and the guard brigade were also very hesitant to mobilize troops. There was no reason to go there with a bad image in Seoul.

Eventually, immediately after the martial law was declared in Hanseongbu, 3,000 troops from the National Military Police and the Police Department and 2,000 peddlers were mobilized to carry out large-scale arrests and suppression of hardliners of the Independence Association for three days.

The only good thing was that there were no huge crowds like in the protests and riots of modern countries. This was because it was a problem caused by hardliners of the Independence Association, not by all the residents of Hanseongbu.

As the number of people involved in the riots increases, the number of troops that can control them will inevitably increase, and the 3,000 or so security forces mobilized now are no longer sufficient.

The usual suppression operation of forming a scrum and forming a large formation to block them has become impossible.

“Well, I don’t know if it was a good thing that I declined the call for military mobilization, as you said.”

“Then, are you planning to deploy the military and turn Hanseongbu into a sea of ​​blood?”

“That’s not it.”

Although Lieutenant General Lee Gyu-tae was very worried, he also needed to get the impression that the military would not be mobilized in such cases.

If the military had been mobilized to suppress the hardliners of the Independence Association, something that should not have happened might have happened, given the rigid nature of operations against the public, which is much more rigid than that of the Police Department or the Military Police.

For example, if we had approached it with the mindset of ‘mobilizing strong force to instill fear in the crowd so that they disperse on their own,’ the situation could have easily gotten worse as the public sentiment toward the government and military, which had been fine in Hanseongbu, was destroyed.

At that point, I persuaded the Emperor and the cabinet, and barely managed to prevent the deployment of troops.

This was because the riot was not so large as to require mobilization of the military, and concerns were raised that haphazardly deploying military forces in such a situation could only increase domestic and international anxiety.

And without deploying the military, the National Police Agency and the Gendarmerie successfully suppressed the situation.

Although the state of public security would continue for a while, it was fortunate that peace had at least returned to Hanseongbu.

“Still, it ended cleanly.”

“The hardliners of the Independence Association have dug their own grave. In a situation where they have no public support, the riots are enough to not only alienate them but also provoke a backlash.”

The Independence Association, which was already deeply troubled by the issue of conscription, suffered for a while because of such public perception.

But thanks to that, the moderate Seo Jae-pil regained control of the entire organization and began to recover his previous power by cutting ties with the hardliners.

In any case, the riots that broke out immediately after the introduction of the conscription system could only stabilize after almost three weeks.

“Ah, the hardliners of the Independence Association were suppressed, and even Syngman Rhee, who was a thorn in their side, was sent to the front line···.”

The emperor was enjoying himself, even blowing air from his nose.

The Emperor achieved a great political victory through this conscription bill.

Not only did he give the impression that he valued public sentiment externally, he also succeeded in dismissing McLeavey Brown, who had been extremely friendly toward Japan and had been a thorn in the side of the economic war between the Central Bank of Korea and the First Bank of Japan.

If this had been the original history, the British would have brought their entire Oriental Fleet to the country in a show of force after McLevy Brown’s dismissal, but now they had neither the capacity nor the justification to do so.

This was because the Boer War had left the government with little room for further military action, and it was revealed that the Inspector General of Revenue, McLeavey Brown, had actually embezzled funds.

“That bastard Young-Gili’s expression was quite something to see. Hahaha!”

Eventually, the British ambassador had to back down to the point of exiling him to his home country rather than agreeing to his dismissal.

If he brought his fleet in here, the Russian, French, and German fleets might meet at Jemulpo, claiming that he was violating the Great Compromise of 1901. Externally, he could have achieved a great victory.

“Your Majesty, how about showing mercy to the members of the Independence Association arrested this time and granting them a favor?”

“Do those damned things need my grace?”

“Your Majesty has already achieved victory. Please show mercy.”

Internally, he was the winner. I asked him to show mercy, and he reluctantly accepted.

“I can tell just by looking at your face.”

“Your kindness is truly infinite.”

There was no need to go any further. Excessive physical force would only cause resentment.

The emperor had already won enough. He had made the Independence Association and the Imperial Newspaper, which had been thorns in his side, bow down without saying a word.

The Independence Association was divided, and the hardliners pressured the moderates, so the moderates, who were losing in the power struggle, had no choice but to take the hand extended by the emperor. The hardliners began to cross the line and were almost destroyed, so there was no longer a political organization that could go against the emperor.

Of course, he would not have much time to enjoy himself, because now the long-awaited problem of building a navy remained.

And as promised, the Emperor had to mobilize the 1 million taels of silver he had hidden in Hong Kong, as well as a large amount of imperial wealth, to cover the costs of the ships, equipment, and personnel.

“Your Majesty, there is only one important task left: the Navy.”

“That’s right. But now that the conscription system has been introduced, the Marshal’s Office will be busy, so it’s better to put this project on hold for a while.”

This gentleman secretly tried to steal his money from the naval business, saying it was a waste.

Of course, I have no intention of giving in to such a thing. If I agree with him here, I will never again be able to suck up all the internal funds for naval construction. I had to apply pressure when there was a clear weakness.

“This is the work of the Office of the Inspector General, Your Majesty. It is natural for Your Majesty’s subjects to work hard for the country and the royal shrines and shrines, so why are you worried about such things? A month ago, the chief persuaded the Privy Council to create ‘citizens’ for Your Majesty and this country, so I intend to show off my skills this time too. And that could be called ‘national power.’”

“National power.”

“The proverb that national power comes from the sum of its fleets is widely spread in the West. The navy is the very manifestation of national power, and through it the great achievements of our Great Korea and His Majesty can be shown to the world.”

In other words, since they created a nation through the conscription system, they were trying to coax us into creating a display of national power through the navy this time.

Although Gojong made a displeased expression, he must have judged that it would be difficult to win against me logically, so he licked his lips and handed over the promissory note and credentials.

In other words, this meant that they were to contact either France or the United States to purchase ships.

It wasn’t easy to take the first step into the raging waves, especially those dominated by imperialist countries, but I was able to find a decent partner.

They were the ones who could order even the most suitable ships.