Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 192



Only Noblemtl

#192. No one step back (5)

“What’s the situation?”

“This is serious, Your Majesty. I’ve heard from survivors that this is a mass assault.”

“How big is it?”

“That… I don’t know.”

“what?”

Hasegawa opened his eyes wide and looked at his staff at the absurd answer.

The embarrassed staff member slowly continued to answer while licking his parched lips.

“Not only were there serious casualties from the night bombardment, but most of the officers, including the battalion commander, were caught up in the enemy’s assault and are said to be dead or missing. I asked them several times, but they only said there were a lot, too many to count.”

“This is a mess.”

He looked at the map. If the 1st Battalion of the 47th Regiment had been destroyed, the enemy might have attacked through the gap between the 23rd Brigade and the reserve forces.

If that happened, the Joseon guys who knew how to make the most of the night situation would try to defeat them individually, and they could especially deal a huge blow to those who lacked heavy equipment.

“Your Majesty… no matter how I look at it, these guys are not soldiers.”

“What does that mean?”

“I served under General Yasumasa Fukushima in China, and I didn’t see it in detail because it wasn’t the same front line at the time, but from what I’ve heard now, it seems like it was the Joseon bastards’ elite assault infantry unit.”

“What? Explain in detail.”

Hasegawa furrowed his brow. If they weren’t a bunch of stragglers like the Jinwidae, but the most elite unit that Joseon could mobilize, then it would be a completely different story. It meant that they were a difficult enemy to deal with with the main force.

“There are so many similarities. According to survivor testimonies, the enemies would sing a creepy tune before an attack, and this was also what the Roske who fought with them said. They would always sing a scary song before an attack, completely demoralizing the enemy.”

“and?”

“There’s also this. The enemy charges and throws explosives indiscriminately. One of the reasons the Boxers were destroyed in Tianjin and Beijing was because of their attack characteristics. They would scatter the entire battle line, and they would destroy the defensive lines and fortifications without any regard for them. In addition, they did not avoid close combat and actively engaged in it. This is very similar to what I heard about them in China.”

“···So does that mean that the elite force is in front of us?”

“That may be true. Why did they come out to fight instead of surrendering in the first place?”

His head became more complicated. Hasegawa could now sense that the problems facing him were completely different from his original plan.

Their initial mission was not to fight and receive in places like this. His main mission was to advance to Gyeongseong, form an airborne alliance, and then disperse throughout the three southern regions to support the military government and the field forces fighting against Roske, under the pretext of a request for support from the pro-Japanese cabinet in Joseon.

But things went wrong immediately after landing, and it was horrifying to realize that what they now called the war machine was lurking before their eyes.

“···Send reinforcements quickly.”

“yes?”

“Send reinforcements to the 1st Battalion of the 47th Regiment quickly. If they are real assault infantry, then there will be a big problem. We might lose our bridgehead if we’re not careful.”

Hasegawa quickly selected one of the available units. Since the other battalions could not be withdrawn arbitrarily for fear of additional night infiltration, he decided to mobilize the units that had not yet been reorganized from the 2nd Battalion of the 47th Regiment, which had been damaged that afternoon.

Of course, the 2nd battalion commander protested, but given the circumstances, his protests had no effect.

In the end, the 2nd Battalion of the 47th Regiment sent out two companies in a hurry, crying and eating mustard.

Still, the shelling continued outside, and each battalion, without any proper sleep, rushed out of their camps, picked up shovels, and began digging the ground to protect themselves.

They muttered curses at their commander, who had said that going to Joseon would be like a picnic.

***

“The enemies are fleeing!”

“You pathetic little bastards.”

The search party laughed in vain as they watched the fleeing enemies amidst the corpses and wounded strewn everywhere.

Their goal was not to break through the Japanese front line or to destroy it.

The purpose was to test the enemy’s defenses through reconnaissance, identify their weaknesses and intentions, and collect ‘information’ that could be used in future operations.

The brigade commander judged that there was separate information that could be obtained not only through communications equipment or reconnaissance units, but also by directly engaging the enemy, and accordingly boldly pushed the reconnaissance company, the unit most suitable for this within the brigade, to the front lines.

Of course, we received ample artillery support, but it was still a tactical action that required considerable risk.

“By the way, this shotgun you recently conscripted, it doesn’t seem to be working.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It feels strange to use this instead of the shotgun I used when I was a gunner. Still, the rifles I requisitioned from the gunsmith are useful in close combat.”

“Isn’t this why you look like a real ranger?”

The soldiers gathered together what they thought might be useful information and some important-looking loot.

Although we didn’t have that much time, at least we had time to chat a little.

Because the enemy’s path was blocked thanks to the bombardment.

The thought crossed Hong Beom-do’s mind, “Did the brigade commander think of this?” but he quickly gave up.

Anyway, for those above, especially those who work in the military and war, everything was a subject of consideration, and they even looked at and worried about things they couldn’t see themselves and made plans.

“What are you Rangers… Hurry up and collect.”

“Yes, four!”

As the senior sergeant, who had served in the assault infantry regiment and was now a founding member of the reconnaissance company, began to scold his subordinates, even the faint voices that had been heard suddenly stopped.

Anyway, they took a risk and achieved their goal in a nice way.

No, perhaps he achieved more than he had aimed for. He also collected prisoners of war from the stragglers who had not managed to escape, and provided them with the information the brigade commander wanted.

Hong Beom-do sighed in relief as he looked at the search party members who had tied up five or six prisoners.

I thought that if the enemy had set up proper defensive positions and sentries, it would have been difficult to achieve such a great victory without any casualties.

Fortunately, the Japanese forces at the front were completely ignoring the Korean forces and, above all, were not properly prepared for battle.

This was even more true when you look at the level of equipment they had. When you search the corpses of the dead enemies, you see that they are very different from the characteristics of the enemies you heard about right before the battle.

The Japanese military, which was supposed to carry more than 120 rounds per soldier, for some reason only had about 50 rounds, less than half that number.

“I’m seriously running low on ammunition, I really don’t know what this is.”

“The brigade will get the information out on their own. Now let’s withdraw. We’ve been playing around here for too long.”

Hong Beom-do smacked his lips as he looked at the corpse of the Japanese officer lying on the other side. He looked like he was in command of the entire unit, but he regretted not shooting the limbs instead of the head because he was in a hurry.

Still, I was able to obtain an operation map and several documents from his arms.

Still, since he was hit in the head and not the chest, there was no blood or contamination of documents like the other officers’ corpses, so it was a blessing in disguise.

“What does it say···.”

“Do you think a blind person can understand what I’m writing? Arthur.”

“Hehe, but thanks to you, Brigadier General, I learned Korean. Why is that?”

“This is the Japanese language. We can’t read it. When you go to the brigade, the elders there will look after it, so don’t say anything and put it in your bag quickly.”

Hong Beom-do scolded his subordinates who were curious about the document.

Even if I looked at it myself, I couldn’t tell what was written.

Well, it’s not your problem, the brigade staff will assess its value while interrogating prisoners.

He thought he had gotten his fill of the war, so he left the ruined Japanese ranks behind and started to leave by the same route he had come.

If I had time, I would have liked to play around with the grenades a bit, but I didn’t want to take any risks for that one thing.

Leaving behind broken barracks and dying men, they disappeared with the wind, leaving behind only catastrophic damage.

***

It was difficult for the subordinate units of the 2nd Battalion of the 47th Regiment to go to where the 1st Battalion was.

They could barely be coaxed and cajoled into sending them to the urgent front, but whether they could arrive at the command center’s desired time was another matter.

“Still no contact?”

“The units are now entangled with each other. The enemy’s artillery fire is still hitting the main routes every hour, slowing down the advance. In addition, the surviving 1st Battalion troops are overlapping with the friendly forces advancing, causing confusion.”

“Fuck!”

Hasegawa felt a pulling sensation in his back.

He had never felt more pitiful than now, for he had always prided himself on the strength of the Imperial Japanese military, and had thought it hard to find a rival in Asia.

I seriously missed the 3rd Division or the Guards Division that I had commanded before. They would have taken that tall hill that evening.

He barely suppressed his anger, thinking that it was all because he lacked a strong attacking spirit and warrior spirit that he could not even solve such a simple problem properly.

On the one hand, I thought I should be grateful that I was able to just listen to orders properly and move.

In the first place, they had not anticipated this level of high-intensity combat, and so they brought light equipment and supplies.

“Please wait a moment. Our brigade troops are on the move, and we have also sent out reconnaissance troops, so we will have a clearer report soon.”

Meanwhile, Major General Kiku continued to dispatch messengers and reconnaissance units and was busy gathering information.

Unlike Hasegawa, who moved aggressively, he was very cautious and tried not to underestimate the Korean army.

As did Lieutenant General Hikaru Inoue, commander of the 12th Division.

He tried to thoroughly stick to the principle of gathering information about the enemy and ‘moving and breaking through’ accordingly, and ‘dispersing and annihilating the enemy’.

Thus, he believed that he could completely subdue the enemy and achieve a decisive victory through the ‘will’ of his fanatical domestic infantrymen.

No, maybe he has an aggressive disposition, if even more aggressive than Lieutenant General Hasegawa.

In any case, considering that he was the first unit to land in the Korean Empire, he had studied the doctrine of the Korean military with the division commander and discussed response methods based on it.