Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 185



Only Noblemtl

#185. The Road to War (5)

“Oh, the manager is here.”

“You little shit, I told you to be polite, but you’re trying to fry me to death by bringing me some precious electricity. Get out!”

Even the men who had been so fierce earlier, even those in military uniforms without rank insignia, bowed repeatedly to him in confusion before going straight out of the interrogation room.

An Gyeong-su gasped for breath and held onto the hem of his pants as he thanked the man who saved him.

He was wearing glasses and had a friendly smile.

He was short and looked much younger than the others, but he was well built and seemed strong.

“Thank you, thank you···.”

“Hehehe, Kyung An Gyeong-su. Get up. How can someone who used to be a military officer act like this? Hey, is there anyone out there? If there is, please bring me a cup of tea.”

The smartly dressed man took off his hat and placed it on the table, then kindly offered him a cigarette.

An Gyeong-su took it with trembling hands, put it in his mouth, and this time he struck a match and lit it.

“First of all, I would like to ask for your understanding regarding the fact that our guys in the Records Investigation Office did not properly follow my orders. They are rough guys to begin with, and given the current situation, they tend to act very tyrannically when it comes to public security incidents.”

“Ah, uh···.”

“Kyungsoo Ahn, now that I look at it, it seems like we can pretty much communicate with each other, so why are you so scared that you keep your mouth shut?”

“I, I have told you everything I know···.”

“Oh, how long are you going to act like that? You used to give us everything we needed…”

“What, what?”

When a photo was presented to An Gyeong-su, who had a surprised expression on his face, An Gyeong-su couldn’t help but be shocked.

“Do you know this guy?”

He took off his mask and spoke softly.

“Do you still think that Lee Ja is an employee of the Imperial Household Department?”

The man in the photo was a staff member of the Imperial Household Department who had previously been contacted by Ahn Gyeong-su, saying he wanted to return to his home country.

“But you’re lucky. We’ve discussed this with this guy, and if we package it well, he might be able to give you some leniency. Neither His Majesty the Emperor nor our fathers are that close-minded.”

The manager smiled as he saw the man holding two teacups and pushed one of them towards An Gyeong-su.

“So now let’s put aside all this nonsense about comradeship and your own patriotism and have a proper, f*cking conversation. That’s it.”

To An Gyeong-su, who was still in shock, he began to whisper sweet offers that he could not refuse.

“I heard the main office is looking at you with a warm heart. You’ve provided us with more than a few pieces of information on the traitorous group, so I have this much loyalty. The director also told me to take good care of you. Don’t you think these guys call this ‘legal bargaining’?”

Then the man smiled and threw a document to him. And the document was filled with neatly organized writing, the only blank space being the signature section.

“What, what is this?”

“Just sign there. And from now on, whatever you say, you will tell me the truth without any lies. If you do this, I will guarantee your safety. I have that much power and authority.”

He understood An Gyeong-su’s psychology very well. He was tired of his long life in exile, and he wanted to return to his home country and live a quiet life.

So, the Records Investigation Office decided that he was the weakest link, unlike other exiles, and conducted a considerably different interrogation of him than the others.

The manager, who had returned to his polite posture, spoke with the same bright smile as before.

“At least since he’s Kyung-soo An, he has the means to make this kind of deal. I don’t know for sure, but it would be difficult for those who were caught with him to avoid the death penalty…”

“Well, I’ll cooperate with anything.”

An Kyung-soo reacted immediately to the word death penalty. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t even want to imagine dying miserably and having his body dumped in an unknown place.

He continued to speak desperately, trying to grab the rope the man was handing him. Then the man smiled and handed him a pen.

“Here, please sign the statement of confession. It states that Japan tempted you and instigated this incident, and that they dared to eliminate His Majesty the Emperor, the Marshal’s Office, and the key figures in the cabinet, overthrow the country, and place it under a trusteeship to Japan. Of course, if you, Lord An Gyeong-su, sign this, we will definitely protect your safety.”

“······.”

“Well, sadly, if Your Majesty wants to show loyalty to the other comrades, we can send back in those who were sent out. We can just do what we were doing… We also know all the information Your Majesty knows, and we just go through the final confirmation process. It’s like children getting their answers checked after solving a problem.”

“···Are you really guaranteeing my safety?”

“That’s right. It’ll be worse than where you were before, but at least we’ll move you to a much better place than here. You’ll have to be in a coma for a while, but isn’t it a lot better than dying here without even knowing what’s going on?”

An Kyung-soo’s heart was greatly shaken. He didn’t want to be beaten any longer, and he didn’t want to die here in vain. Without time to think, he started signing as soon as he saw the signature box, and the man kindly gave him food and cigarettes and ‘encouraged’ him to take it easy.

“···Thank you for your hard work, Kyung An Gyeong-su. We will move our children to a safe place.”

“Now, wait a minute. There’s one thing I didn’t tell you···.”

As if he had made up his mind, he decided to give him the card he had been saving until the end.

At first the man approached him with his usual businesslike smile, thinking he was offering some trivial information, but what he soon blurted out was something close to a jackpot.

“I handed over the deciphered text of the coded telegram that Sir Park Yeong-hyo had to the Japanese···.”

“What did you say?”

“Because everyone’s life is so difficult… I ended up handing over the antidote that I had been cherishing to them for a very low price.”

“······.”

‘Things are more serious than I thought.’

The man told his subordinates to transport him immediately and then rushed to his immediate superior, Jo Dong-yoon.

“Director!”

“Mr. Changsoo, you should knock like in Western etiquette and come in. Don’t come in so suddenly…”

“That’s not the problem, Director. An Gyeong-su gave out some pretty important information.”

“What the heck? If that guy knows that information, we should know it too.”

“Park Yeong-hyo sold the deciphered text of our coded telegram that he took with him when he went into exile to the Japanese.”

Jo Dong-yoon, who had been leisurely drinking tea and joking around, looked at him with surprised eyes, spilling the tea in his mouth on the floor.

“Since when?”

“It’s been a year. Our coded telegrams aren’t perfect, but there were a few instances where they were partially intercepted. I think it was because of what Park Young-hyo handed over.”

“What the heck!”

bang!

He slammed his fist on the table in anger. It was unthinkable that part of the cipher telegraph that the talented people at the telegraph office had worked day and night to create and continuously improve had been breached like this.

“Report this matter to the Chief of Staff immediately, and hand over all the confessions that bastard signed. I’ll have to show these bastards a lesson.”

Jo Dong-yoon spoke to his subordinate, whom he had called Chang-soo earlier, with a distorted face.

“And today’s work was great. From now on, I will be leading the kids in Section 4 and interrogating those traitorous kids and monitoring their movements. I will delegate that to you, so report back whenever you feel it is important.”

“All right.”

He came out with his head bowed.

How dare someone holding the title of the king’s son-in-law sell out the country’s greatest secret?

This was an unforgivable crime. He was determined to make Park Young-hyo pay for what he did today, no matter what.

***

“The Consul General in Zhufu has sent an urgent report that the entire Russian fleet in Lushun has set sail.”

“Mr. Hayashi, who has now taken refuge in Chungju, has also sent a telegram saying that a military rebellion has broken out within the Korean Empire and that he is unable to know the status of our troops in Yongsan, so he requests immediate action.”

“Each country is gathering its fleet at Jemulpo. Britain, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, and others are sending their fleets and sailors to Seoul to defend the residents and the embassies, which is virtually the same as declaring war on us!”

The Japanese leadership had already decided to declare war on Russia. On the night that the coup d’état was carried out in the Korean Empire, at a special imperial conference presided over by the emperor, Japanese Foreign Minister Komura clearly stated his intention to stop negotiations and declare war, saying, “We must defend ourselves against Russia’s threatening military actions, and diplomatic solutions for Japan’s rights and the independence of the Korean Empire are no longer meaningful.”

Everything was fine up to this point. The operation against the Korean Empire had been completed to some extent, and the plan was to have the Korean army commanded by Hasegawa take control of the Hanseongbu and all administrative agencies, thereby suffocating them and turning them into puppets.

But as some German guy said, all operational plans go awry within five minutes of the start of the war.

They were extremely confused as unexpected variables arose.

The exiles who had infiltrated the Korean Empire and the pro-Japanese bureaucrats and officers were purged or fled overnight, and the Japanese embassy and the garrison in Gyeongseong were neutralized.

Those who had lost the most important link that enabled the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters and the Imperial Council to make rational and reasonable judgments and decisions could not hide their bewilderment.

Although the information network in Manchuria, North China, and the Jiangnan region is still alive, the most important bridgehead, the line toward the Korean Peninsula, has completely disappeared.

Ultimately, amidst uncertainty and fog, the Japanese government and Imperial General Headquarters chose the best option they could: sending an ultimatum to the presumptuous Korean Empire.

“What are the countermeasures for this?”

“We have already sent an ultimatum to the Korean Empire, giving them 48 hours to… that is, until 12:00 PM on October 14th. We demand that they release our detained troops, revoke the defense treaty with Russia and the currently declared decree of war, and re-accept the offensive and defensive alliance made during the previous Sino-Japanese War.”

“Will they accept it?”

“well.”

Foreign Minister Komura was openly hoping they would not accept it. It was clear that the upstart Korean Empire needed to be dealt with, and the way to do so would be through a show of force, military force, rather than through the usual appeasement or diplomatic solutions.

“Whether we accept it or not, our troops have already landed at Jemulpo on the 10th, and on the 11th and 12th, the 12th Division’s Vanguard Brigade will also enter under the escort of the 4th Squadron.”

“What if we encounter the Russian fleet?”

Minister of the Navy Yamamoto spoke with concern. The last report that came in at dawn on the 10th said that the Russian naval ships had not yet entered Jemulpo, but it was now the 12th, two days later. The telegraph line had not yet been completely restored, and the situation of the Korean troops that had landed in Jemulpo was not known exactly.

“The fleet in Lushun won’t be able to come down carelessly. They probably haven’t yet realized the current situation…”

“The declaration of war has already become a fait accompli, and our war plans are also in progress, so even if we encounter each other, Commander Urio will respond appropriately.”

“I see.”

Although the plan on the Korean Peninsula had failed, the headquarters was busy calming their pounding hearts by checking the current progress for the last time.

This was because the war with Russia, which had been a dream and had been steadily prepared for over ten years, had finally begun.

“As soon as the 12th Division’s advance party lands at Jemulpo, we will send 55,000 troops from Yokohama to Jemulpo over a three-week period. Hasegawa’s six battalions of Korean troops have already landed, so as soon as the advance party lands, let’s advance to Hansung.”

“How about being a little more cautious? If the Joseon guys choose to resist….”

“Don’t worry. The commander of the 3rd Jinwi Brigade, who was deployed to defend Gyeongin-do, Lieutenant General Min Yeong-gi, is one of the Min clansmen and is said to be very dissatisfied with the current cabinet and the emperor. He is a very friendly person to our side.”

“Hmm···.”

Army Minister Gentaro Kodama answered confidently, but Navy Minister Yamamoto still had a suspicious expression on his face.

“Is this information certain?”

“If our army advances in earnest, they will probably disarm without resistance. So, the capture of Hanseongbu will certainly be accomplished as planned, within three days of the outbreak of war.”

His confident voice dominated the entire headquarters.

Well, Yamamoto himself had no intention of quitting the current work that had started as planned. It just became more complicated as the number of cases and variables increased.

From now on, we have no choice but to leave it to the judgment and capabilities of the field commanders.