Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 284
Only Noblemtl
#284. Into the Valley of Death (4)
“Ahhhh!”
“Save me! Don’t leave me behind!”
Some soldiers screamed and begged for their lives, but were soon killed by flying bullets.
The soldiers, who had not yet found any cover, lay prone and tried to scrape snow mixed with dirt towards their heads to create something resembling cover.
But machine gun bullets flew in right away, piercing their heads and torsos, sending blood, flesh, and bone fragments flying everywhere.
Those who were terrified tried to get up again and run away to the square, but even that was not successful.
Bullets and shrapnel ricocheting off the frozen ground were indiscriminately harming soldiers.
The only silver lining was that the weather was so cold that the blood of the soldiers who had been shot or wounded by shrapnel froze and stopped the bleeding.
“Enemy! Take cover now! Now! Aaaah!”
“Get your heads down! It’s them!”
One of the captains shouted for his men to take cover, but he was quickly shot and died like the others.
When Lieutenant Yukisuke, who was lying face down on the ground, looked up with a frightened face, he could see enemy soldiers coming out from between the cleverly concealed machine gun positions and the trenches built on the mountain.
“Wow, that’s ridiculous. The enemies were already waiting here?!”
“Fire! Fire!”
The enemy had infiltrated deep into the rear and had even set up an excellent ambush position.
Some soldiers resisted by picking up their rifles and pulling the triggers, but they were no match for the enemy’s firepower, which even included machine guns.
Now, they had no idea what kind of enemy they were fighting.
The Japanese military, which valued battalion-level battle formations, was very awkward with small-unit tactics.
Enemies watching the narrow mountain pass from the ridgeline were under the illusion that they were being watched by a long snake, toying with its fleeing prey.
Behind the continuous fire of Maxim machine guns, enemy infantry began to advance on the retreating columns, firing rifles and grenade launchers.
Everyone was too tired and scared to fight back.
Eventually, the Japanese soldiers in the lead began to flee in a hurry, throwing out some of the remaining troops of the 15th Brigade that had been following them from the rear as bait, and the remaining troops, who had not been able to properly grasp what was happening at the front, were swept away in the surprise attack.
‘Please, I hope there won’t be any more ambushes from the Joseon bastards…’
Lieutenant Yukisuke started running like crazy with his soldiers.
Someone had to live to tell the details of this disaster.
Other officers were removing their rank insignia from their epaulettes, or were committing suicide with the pistols they carried in shame at being left helpless.
Behind their escape, the screams of those who had not yet caught their breath and the crimson blood flowing from the bodies of those who had fallen began to freeze.
***
“I thought there would be a big battle, but this is a bit disappointing. I heard the 6th Brigade at Sachang-ri had some fun.”
“But the Guards Division didn’t suffer any significant losses. Well, how many did your brigade capture?”
During the retreat, the Japanese 2nd Division suffered an unforgettable beating throughout the retreat, which they themselves called the Valley of Death. It was a great blow that was close to encirclement and destruction.
There were no longer any 3rd or 15th brigades under the 2nd Division. It was just a bunch of stragglers who were exhausted, hungry, and defeated, running away in groups of three or five to save their lives.
And towards them, the 1st and 2nd Brigades of the Guards Division appeared in platoon and company units between the ‘Valley of Death’ and hunted down the stragglers.
The bloody battle that took place for three days was nothing short of a massive revenge.
Over a distance of a whopping 10km, the Japanese lost 80% of their division’s troops.
“Walk quickly, you punk!”
“Raise your hands and go!”
Shouting sounds could be heard here and there.
The two brigade commanders looked blankly at the prisoners.
It was heartbreaking to see people with frostbite on both hands and feet, making it difficult for them to move, being carried on palanquins, but I tried to turn my head away.
For the soldiers of the Guards Division, most of whom were stationed in Seoul and Chungcheong Province, there was no reason to show consideration or sympathy for the Japanese soldiers who mercilessly massacred their brothers, sisters, and neighbors.
“Tsk tsk.”
All I could do was look at them and click my tongue.
In a way, I thought that it was fortunate.
Because they were the elite Guards Division, they treated the prisoners to this extent. If they had faced the guerrilla units full of hostility or the reserve forces and artillerymen who had not been properly trained and were only building up hatred, they would not have faced a good outcome, and so I continued the conversation.
“I just caught it.”
“Hey, don’t go around and around like that. It’ll all be counted when we get back to Hamheung anyway, so wouldn’t it be fun if we all got to know each other?”
Even as the two talked like that, they could roughly guess the overall damage suffered by the Japanese army.
At Sachang-ri alone, they lost over 5,000 men, and during the subsequent retreat, over 9,000 were killed or went missing.
Most of the missing were taken prisoner, but it was presumed that a considerable number had frozen to death somewhere in the mountains.
We heard reports of people frozen to death in all sorts of ways.
There were many different types of people, including those who froze to death while lying on the ground, taking cover to avoid bullets, and those who sat down to die after trying to light a tree covered in snow, unable to withstand the cold.
Some units also reported stories of enemy units using frozen corpses as cover.
It was surprising, but it was a story that showed how extreme the situation had become for them.
In fact, each brigade’s search unit was reporting a considerable amount of traces of the fallen enemy, so it seemed like it wasn’t anything serious.
If they had to keep running away while hungry, the damage would have been even more severe due to the loss of stamina.
The 2nd Division’s command center itself was destroyed.
Most of the staff, including the Chief of Staff, were killed, and brigade and regimental commanders were captured with serious injuries or killed somewhere in Sachang-ri.
It was no different from materials and equipment.
All of the artillery regiments assigned to the division, including major heavy equipment, various supplies, and even military rations carried by the company, were captured.
They tried to take advantage of this momentum and annihilate the remaining troops who were running wildly, but when the Japanese army in Anju hurriedly dispatched reinforcements to control the situation, they had to give up pursuing them and retreat.
If you chase them too deeply, you may end up in the same situation as the enemy.
While organizing the battlefield, Lieutenant General Park Seung-hwan raised three fingers to the 2nd Brigade Commander Lieutenant General Lee Ki-pyo.
“Surely you only captured three hundred? I saw with my own eyes that the number of prisoners taken by the 1st Brigade alone was over five hundred?”
“Hey, what good would a swordsman with such small arms be?”
“No way, three thousand?”
The 2nd Brigade captured a little over 2,000 troops, so if the 1st Brigade captured over 3,000, it would have been a pain in the ass.
It is true that I became close friends with General Park Seung-hwan because we fought together while being deployed to suppress the Boxer rebels, but that is one thing and a specialty is another.
But Chief Park Seung-hwan shook his head again.
Lieutenant Lee Ki-pyo made a puzzled expression.
“They don’t deal in small stuff.”
“No, really, what did you catch? If not three hundred, or three thousand, then you might have caught thirty thousand.”
Then, Chief Park Seung-hwan burst into laughter.
It was his hearty laugh that was hard to see these days.
Lighting a match to a cigarette, he answered the still puzzled Lieutenant Lee Ki-pyo.
“We captured the enemy division commander.”
“to?”
“It was a bit of a struggle to catch that guy.”
Chief Park Seung-hwan spoke with a clear smile on his face.
It seemed that while the 1st Brigade’s search company was searching the mountains in pursuit of enemy traces, they encountered a small group of enemies who were fiercely resisting the pursuit.
A short skirmish ensued, and in the process of suppressing the resistance of the remaining enemies, they beat the most fiercely resisting ones with buttstocks just enough to keep them from dying.
And when I caught him, I saw that he was the enemy division commander, a three-star general.
It seemed like everyone didn’t know at first and only found out after the body search.
Thanks to this, he was immediately sent to Sachang-ri, and was said to be with high-ranking officers of the 2nd Division who were taken prisoner shortly thereafter.
“No, I don’t understand how he was captured like that without being cut open. Wasn’t it their way of doing business or something to commit suicide rather than be captured?”
“I don’t know what his intentions are. But I can guess one thing, even with my limited knowledge.”
“What?”
“I think he must have rushed at us, the enemy, with a sense of despair, hoping to be killed. After all, what good would it do to survive by begging for his life? When he returned home, he would have thrown all his subordinates into the icy mountains and killed them, and he would have been the only one to come back alive, a total murderer.”
Chief Park Seung-hwan said, taking a deep drag on his cigarette smoke.
The enemy division commander’s bewildered expression was still vivid.
It was the look of someone who had lost everything, and who no longer had any will left.
Seeing his miserable appearance, Chief Park Seung-hwan thought for a moment that if they had been defeated, it would be them who would be looking like that now.
Of course, if that time comes, I will kill myself with the flesh and blood gun I am holding in my hand.
“Let’s withdraw now. The governor will be waiting.”
“Okay.”
They looked at the last of the retreating columns and mounted the horses brought by their adjutants.
Somehow, the beginning of a new century didn’t seem so tragic.
***
“You don’t know how eagerly I have waited for the news of my governor’s victory. Thanks to you, my greatest worry has been relieved, and I am so happy. I will give the governor a fine horse, one of my swords, and 200 nyang of gold, so I hope he will remember today’s victory for a long time!”
As soon as he returned to Hamheung, the emperor ran out barefoot and, seeing the procession of thousands of prisoners and a considerable amount of captured equipment, could not contain his joy as if he had been a triumphant general.
And you can see how happy he was, as he personally affixed the emblem signifying this victory to the flags of the Guards Division and the 6th Brigade.
In the distance, captured weapons, field guns, and various military horses, along with enemy prisoners, were advancing toward the city of Hamheung.
And the citizens of Hamheung and refugees all came out onto the streets to watch the scene.
At first, their expressions looked anxious, but soon someone shouted and cheers erupted.
“The military has won! Our army has defeated the Japanese!”
“Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live the Korean Empire!”
Now their cries could be heard all the way to the palace.
“You’ve worked very hard, Commander. By the way, do you know what happened to the remaining bandits?”
“···They will no longer be able to threaten the palace in Hamheung and our people.”
I spoke quietly to the Emperor. The enemy’s 2nd division was completely annihilated, and the enemy’s Guards Division, which had been slowly advancing north from Wonsan for a diversionary operation, also retreated to avoid being surrounded.
Thanks to this, it was widely known that Hamheung was safer than ever.
“Hahaha! Jim’s decision to choose Gyeong has brought about a great victory for our country. Make sure to give plenty of food to the soldiers who have worked hard.”
“···I am simply amazed by the grace that is like Ha-hye’s.”