Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 220



Only Noblemtl

#220. Time race (5)

“Commander, if we lead reinforcements to Korea now, wouldn’t we be able to destroy the 1st Army that has occupied Hanseong?”

The impetuous cavalry commander, Major General Rennenkampf, asked him. He had been arguing from the beginning of the war that if he organized the Baikal Cavalry Division, the Siberian Cavalry Division, and the Cossack Mountain Cavalry Brigade, which were not yet fully formed, and sent them to the Korean Theater, they could link up with the Korean Army and completely wipe out the Japanese ground forces.

But Kuropatkin shook his head every time. It wasn’t the time yet.

“Dismissed. The Japanese military has not yet decided on a direction for their main attack. The Korean theater may be a sham, and it is much more likely that they will directly attack Lushun and Dalian through landing operations, just like in the previous war with the Qing. We should save our troops for that time.”

In fact, there were many other problems besides that, so Kuropatkin was closer to advocating defense rather than offense.

With supply lines stretching far beyond the Japanese army, reinforcements from the mainland that were far from arriving, and the Far East Army boasting low morale and backward training, an offensive was nearly impossible.

Rather, the Korean troops in the Korean theater were the best trained, followed by the 50,000 Russian troops who had rushed to Lushun. The remaining 50,000 Russian troops that Kuropatkin now had in his hands were barely an armed group that barely kept up with the ranks of the army.

He was so desperate that he even tried to recruit the Honghu bandits who were still causing trouble in Manchuria into his army. Of course, they were not trustworthy at all, as they would go anywhere if they were given money.

In any case, the Russian army in the Far East was lacking in everything. Kuropatkin, who, as head of the War Ministry, felt that the situation was more serious than what was reported in St. Petersburg, even thought that perhaps the Tsar’s vision was right.

“When will the troops in Siberia be reinforced?”

“Because the main line of the Trans-Siberian Railway has not yet been completed… it will take more than two weeks for the troops of the Amur, Baikal, and Priamur military districts to arrive in earnest. And even then, they will only be small forces.”

He felt it imperative to correct the ending of the report on the Far East that he had previously submitted to the Tsar.

[For ten years the Far East has been connected by rail with all the rest of Russia. In the expected battles the Far Eastern troops will not be isolated. They will be reinforced first by the troops of the Siberian District, and then by the troops of European Russia.]

I felt ashamed of my own writing, which I had reported as such.

The Russian troops here were virtually isolated, and there was even a sense of self-mockery about what they could do in a situation where it was not even certain whether the Russian troops in Europe, let alone the troops from the Siberian Military District, would arrive.

In this situation, an offensive was absurd.

“Gather all possible forces here at Mukden. While Korea and Lushun hold out, we will continue to reinforce the strategic reserve at Mukden.”

This was the best strategy he could come up with. If the elite divisions in Europe were here, they would immediately divide their forces and advance to the outskirts of Lushun and the Korean Peninsula to wipe out the Japanese ground forces.

“By the way, it seems that there is a dispute among the commanders over the command of Lushun.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It seems that Lieutenant General Stessel and Lieutenant General Smirnov are having a hard time over the position of commander of the defense of Port Arthur.”

“No, didn’t you leave the defense of Lushun to Lieutenant General Smirnov? Why is the former commander, Stessel, causing trouble there?”

“Even within the Lushun defense force, there are factions that are now divided and snarling at each other. The faction that follows Lieutenant General Stessel and the faction that follows Smirnov…”

‘What can I do about this mess?’

Kuropatkin clutched his pounding head and immediately sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Stessel.

As of now, Lieutenant General Smirnov was in charge of the defense of Lushun, and it was a pretty strong warning that anyone refusing the order, regardless of faction or otherwise, would be dealt with according to military law.

“···I swear to St. George, this is a real mess.”

He sighed loudly enough only to himself as he watched the series of events unfold.

This was the first time I felt so helpless as a commander. Even though I knew the best tactics, I was faced with the wall of reality where I couldn’t use them properly, so it seemed like this frustrating time would continue for a while.

Nevertheless, he had to do what he had to do as a commander, as a commander in charge of this war, which could be seen as the fate of the Great Russian Empire.

***

“Oh, it’s been a while. How can it be so hard to see your face?”

“Haha, sorry. I’ve been busy for a while, having to turn this place into a battlefield.”

For several days after arriving in Pyongyang, the military was extremely busy exercising its power there and preparing for battle.

I don’t even have enough time to eat and go to the bathroom, so that says it all.

But this meeting was unavoidable. Major businessmen of the Korean Empire, who were somewhat like a modern-day version of the Federation of Korean Industries, had fled to Pyongyang and were requesting discussions about the war that was to come.

From our perspective of preparing for a long-term war, not a short-term one, discussions with such entrepreneurs were essential.

Ultimately, the end of a war depended on who had more money and who had the means to purchase more supplies, and usually the key to this was held not only by the state but also by entrepreneurs.

“Everyone is worried. They say that the troops that came from Hanseong may have fled because they could not stand up to the enemy.”

“Hansung is not a place for us to die. It is difficult to defend, and above all, there are too many restrictions. You know what the 3rd Brigade’s resistance ultimately led to.”

“They were as brave as we were at Gwangseongbo. Perhaps they bought you time to prepare for this fight.”

“I will reserve judgment on the battle for now. The enemy’s dagger is still sharply placed under our chins.”

Mr. Choi, or rather, he is now the chairman of Hongik Industries, and we chatted as we entered the Pyongyang office. He seemed to be much more interested in the war than I thought, but I had a hard time answering all sorts of questions. He was curious about information that he didn’t necessarily need to know, so I had to cut him off appropriately.

“Oh, this old man really talks a lot. Let’s go in and take a look. Everyone seems to have a lot of questions about you.”

“If everyone says they have a lot of questions like you, then I guess I should be a little nervous.”

After ordering his adjutant, Lieutenant Shin Pal-gyun, to rest outside for a while.

I took a deep breath and went into the room.

People wearing suits and hanbok were sitting on chairs, talking seriously among themselves, and when they saw me, they all stood up. Most of them seemed delighted.

“Oh, the chief has arrived.”

“I’ve heard a lot about it. There, Chairman Choi boasted about how the military commander could drive out the Japanese with his mysterious tactics.”

“I don’t know about other people, but I can trust the turnip!”

···Countless requests for greetings and handshakes followed.

I had to take it day by day and get used to it by looking at their faces.

Most businessmen were extremely ‘averse’ to the Japanese invasion.

If you think about it, it made sense. They took all the assets of the factories and companies that they had worked hard to build, threw away worthless pieces of military paper, and didn’t even pay them back properly.

And most of them had already experienced this type of exploitation during the previous Sino-Japanese War.

“Because of the invasion of these damn Japanese, the textile factories in Hansung and Jemulpo were completely shut down.”

“Is that all? According to what I heard from the staff who barely escaped from Hansung, they are requisitioning our buildings in Jeongdong and using them as military barracks. They look like cubs that wouldn’t be a waste even if this tiger took them away.”

Everyone was outraged by the Japanese invasion, and most of them were also worried about the upcoming battle in Pyongyang.

This was because if the Japanese army advanced north from Hansung into the Pyeongnam region and directly attacked Pyongyang, fatal damage was expected.

Even if the Japanese army had immediately entered the Junghwa area south of Pyongyang, the major industrial facilities and businesses located in Pyongyang could have been put at risk.

There was also great concern that the main coal mines in the Pyongyang coalfields, which were to be used by the Hamhung fleet and even the Vladivostok cruiser fleet, would be exposed to shelling.

If we give up Pyongyang, which accounts for 80% of the fleet’s fuel supply, too easily, there will be problems in the future as well.

“Everyone is anxious, Commander. We have evacuated quite a few facilities and skilled workers to Hamgyeong Province, but we may not be able to withdraw in time.”

“And what about the 50,000 tons of coal piled up in the Pyongyang coalfield? That’s the amount piled up in the low-carbon area, and if you include the coal currently being mined and transported, it exceeds 80,000 tons. We can’t just give all this to the Japanese.”

“I’m worried because we can’t import medicines right now. With Hansung’s Hwalmyeongsu factory gone, I wonder if imported medicines are a problem… but raw materials are also running low.”

The main concerns most people had were these: whether the military could hold out until their companies withdrew.

However, I was going to ask them for something other than a guarantee of withdrawal. The situation was beginning to change drastically, and the operation had to change accordingly.

And this could not be solved by military force alone.

To those who were waiting for me to say something, I immediately started talking about something else.

“I’m sorry to say this, but the situation on the battlefield is changing rapidly, gentlemen.”

“Can anything change more than it has now?”

“It seems that the Japanese army will approach much faster than we expected.”

I told him about the contents of the telegram that the Hamheung Records Office had sent me. It said that a series of commercial sabotage operations in Busan had been successful, and in the process, the 2nd Division, 3rd Brigade, which was supposed to directly reinforce the 1st Army, and about 4,000 reserve infantrymen were annihilated.

“No, didn’t you say that the Navy destroyed the enemy transport fleet in Busan? And the enemy launched an attack?”

“So it looks like they decided to attack faster.”

And this news seemed to have made the Imperial General Headquarters anxious. The intercepted telegram sent from the Imperial General Headquarters to the First Army in Hanseong contained a very meaningful message: ‘Quickly obtain a precious gift to present to His Majesty the Emperor on the occasion of the Ten Thousand-Year-Old Festival.’