Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 206



Only Noblemtl

#206. In the Curtain of Night (6)

I also saw young men who had unfortunately undergone their first military physical in the second half of this year walking awkwardly in formation to the 4th Brigade training center while being seen off by their families.

Mothers and fathers, holding the Taegeukgi in their hands, looked at their children and wiped away tears.

Some people would put glutinous rice cakes sold at the market in their sons’ hands, or secretly give them canned food bought at a high price on the black market, and urge them to save it for the battlefield.

The young men from poor families who didn’t even have that much were spending their remaining time slowly drinking the water their parents had brought them.

Some parents, unable to stand seeing their reckless young men loitering around in front of the recruiting office, could also be seen hitting their children on the back and dragging them home, asking why they were crawling in on their own two feet when they hadn’t even received a physical for military service.

“Oh my, I heard the Japanese are invading again?”

“I’ll be back here again like the year of Gap-o. Hurry up and pack your bags!”

When Loha turned his head, he saw several families hastily packing their bags to evacuate. They were probably people who had experienced the war of the year of Gap-o.

Those who were unable to evacuate in the war had to suffer double hardship. When the Qing army came, they were often executed or tortured, claiming that it was the Japanese army’s work, and when the Japanese army defeated the Qing army, the opposite happened.

Since they had been through so many hardships, they would pack their bags and run away to wherever they could to escape the endless war.

The quick-witted ones bought up goods at the market, mainly grains like rice and essentials like salt.

Those who were more perceptive were preparing for a longer period of refuge by making millet powder and carrying it in their belts, or grinding it into easy-to-carry pieces, putting it in sacks, and stacking it on carts.

It was a completely different atmosphere from the young people who were calling for a holy war against their enemy, Japan. No, she thought, maybe this side was much closer to Joseon. She thought they were more accustomed to running away than fighting.

“Walk quickly!”

“You fucking, fucking, double-crossing bastards!”

“You commit robbery without fear?!”

After walking for a while, I was dragged away by police officers, the military police, and a group of soldiers from the Jinwi Unit, all tied up with ropes as if they were tied to a rope on a new road.

They beat these poor wretch, who could hardly walk, with clubs and batons, and kicked them with their boots.

Those who were dragged in had a placard around their necks listing their crimes. They were the ones who had been caught taking advantage of the chaos of war to rob houses or stores where refugees had fled, or to rob poor refugees.

It’s a shame that the men take advantage of the chaos to do such things.

Roha looked at them as if they were pitiful.

Pyongyang citizens jeered and hurled insults at them.

In the current situation where an unprecedented national crisis called war has struck, it is not an insult to say that healthy people are busy disrupting the country instead of volunteering. It is something that deserves to be hit with rocks.

A military police officer who seemed to be the leader shouted loudly with a funnel to his mouth.

“Martial law has been declared throughout the Korean Empire! Any illegal acts that have a negative impact on public order and economic activities, such as looting, theft, robbery, rumor spreading, and hoarding, will be dealt with by military law in accordance with Article 5, Paragraph 7 of the Martial Law! People of Pyongyang, go about your business in peace!”

It was a cruel world.

Loha started walking back down the road she was on.

When will the young and capable military affairs director he has in mind come to Pyongyang?

All the comrades I saw in Pyongyang after a long time talked about him. They said he would come leading a thousand troops to subdue the Japanese and save the country.

“Rohaya!”

“Uh… huh?”

Someone called out to her from the right. It was a friend she had often played with during her childhood in Pyongyang.

As she ran towards him in delight, he stopped digging, wiped the dirt off his face, and smiled brightly.

“What are you doing here?”

“Ah, just… wander around.”

“They say you can live comfortably when you go to Hanseong. I guess that’s really true.”

The comrade smiled faintly and said that he was glad to see her after such a long time.

“What about private schools?”

“Everyone is making a fuss about going to war. Since they received military training at private schools, they all wrote letters in blood to the headquarters asking to be hired as officers. But the funny thing is, they sent us back because they didn’t have any guns for us.”

“No gun?”

“Yeah. It looks like they’ve already taken everything away, saying they’re gathering reserves or something. So my comrades were disappointed and were going back, but the acting commander of the office came out and said, if you really want to devote yourself to the country, fill the gap in the number of people in the wartime labor or armory. So we all decided to do it, even though we were all dissatisfied. What can we do if we don’t have guns?”

Looking at the piles of weapons next to him, Roha could immediately tell what they were doing.

“Come to think of it, it looks like the other girls went along to recruit military nurses.”

“I see···.”

“Still, it’s nice to see your face after such a long time. My comrades called me, so I’ll go first. Take care of yourself too, and I’ll see you later!”

He smiled brightly, picked up the shovel in his hand again and ran to the right.

For some reason, Roha felt as if he was smelling an inexplicable scent of death on the face of this innocent private school friend.

No, maybe I should say something that wafts strongly from the south.

Even my innocent childhood friend was almost half-sunk in the madness of war.

She frowned as she looked at Pyongyang, where joy and sorrow intersect.

She wondered how many of the people she had seen just now, of those she had encountered as she passed along the street, would survive and walk these streets again.

Most, perhaps almost all, would not return.

She was so scared that she crouched down somewhere where no one could see her, covering her face with both hands.

The hellish days of the year of Gap-o suddenly came to mind.

People dying amidst gunfire and shelling, people dying from the spread of disease while fleeing, and even my father, who held me in his arms and fought tooth and nail to get me to safety.

I remembered everything. I hated that, so I acted like a tomboy and wore a mask like a stubborn child, but I thought I could barely get back to my old self.

I wanted to scream loudly somewhere, but it felt like a part of my chest was blocked and no sound came out.

At that moment, as she sat down in the alley and sobbed in secret, someone’s shout came into her ear.

Our troops are coming from the south. And their commander is General Kim Si-hyuk, the commander of the Jinwi Regiment in Pyongyang.

And finally he arrived personally leading his army to save us.

The sound was heard three times in a row. In the distance, the melody of soldiers marching was being played.

Perhaps, salvation did not seem far away.

After stopping her tears, she immediately jumped up from her seat and ran to where the troops were coming from.

***

“The governor has come to Pyongyang!”

“Long live the Korean Empire! Long live the Armed Forces!”

“Savior of the Korean people!”

As we watched our troops enter Pyongyang-bu, the residents of Pyongyang-bu came out and cheered.

From noon, the cavalry regiment, led by the assault infantry regiment, appeared to be advancing continuously northward, northward, toward the outskirts of Pyongyang.

As they were a unit with high morale, they moved as if they were on a victory march, singing military songs with the military band at the forefront, and the residents gathered at the intersection waved the Taegeukgi and applauded us.

Pyongyang’s wide new streets were filled with excited crowds.

I was dizzy from the shouts of “hurrah” from everyone, from police officers carrying swords and rifles to those wearing hanbok and intellectuals in neat suits.

I definitely remember seeing this somewhere, but I couldn’t quite remember.

Well, it’s not that I don’t understand, since this is a place where hostility toward Japan is particularly strong.

I had a bit of a hard time riding along when some enthusiastic ‘patriots’ ran into the line and tried to get next to me.

Of course, they were dragged out by escorting soldiers and police officers, but overall, the atmosphere in Pyongyang was one of great will to resist.

At first glance, it seemed that way. Some people looked at this side with worried eyes, perhaps thinking, ‘The troops are rushing in from Seoul, as if they are running away from the enemy.’

Well, it could be seen that way. That’s why I had to prepare a defense plan even more thoroughly, and I had to reassure those who were afraid through it.

Anger against one’s enemies is short-lived, while the fear of losing one’s property and life lasts a long time.

“This is General Min Yeong-chan, Commander of the Gwanseo Command and Acting Governor of South Pyongan Province. Thank you for your hard work in coming such a long way.”

“Huh? Why are you here?”

“ah···.”

The military police commander Min Yeong-hwan, who was accompanying them, looked quite surprised, because the person in front of him, Lieutenant Min Yeong-chan, was his younger brother.

“Because former Commander of the Gwanseo Command and South Pyongan Province Governor, Lieutenant General Min Yeong-cheol, is currently under investigation for treason.”

The story he told was quite extensive, but to summarize it as best as possible, it seemed like he was in collusion with Japan.

As the commander of the Gwanseo Army, he not only embezzled the budget of the Gyeongbokgung Palace, but it also seemed that he had colluded with the Japanese Guard Division that was about to enter Jinnampo and attempted to disarm them.

Of course, thanks to the third team of records room dispatched personnel, it was an attempt, but it disappeared shortly after, so it seems that they are still pursuing it.

“It is a disgrace to our family. A traitor has emerged…”

Min Yeong-hwan shook his head from side to side and expressed his miserable state of mind.

It may be because the Yeoheung Min clan, which enjoyed a great popularity in its own right, had a very shabby appearance.

In any case, what had already happened was inevitable.

Chief of Staff Min Yeong-chan showed the Pyeongan Province missionary work to all the Sunmuyeong staff members and spoke.

“The construction of government facilities that the commissioner ordered last year and early this year has been quite successful. However, the 4th, 5th, and 7th Brigades assigned here alone cannot defend the entire vast Pyeongan Province. If this happens….”

He sighed as he looked at the expected advance routes already designated by the Marshal’s Office.

These were supposed routes of attack, but they were all routes that the Japanese army actually used during the Sino-Japanese War.

In other words, it means that it was used last time and will definitely be used this time as well. Because it was already a guaranteed route of attack.

“At least the enemies will choose to advance three times. The only good thing is that, unlike in the year of Gap-o, they will not be able to advance four times.”