Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 285
Only Noblemtl
#285. Suspended Sentence (1)
As I was trying to please the Emperor with a businesslike smile and stepping back, Director of Records Jo Dong-yoon sneaked up behind me.
At that time, I was seriously discussing with officers of the Marshal’s Office that it would be possible to establish one or two new brigades with the 10,000 rifles that had been captured this time.
As I briefly stepped out of the building at his call, he immediately began to blurt out these words:
“His Majesty the Emperor is also a very funny person. When the governor came back, he belittled him for not being able to properly stop the enemy in Pyongyang, and right before this battle, he was furious that he had led his troops to Sachang-ri without any orders. He was very angry that Hamheung had been evacuated.”
“No, you know exactly what the situation is, so why are you saying that?”
Jo Dong-yoon responded to my words with a tone that was half sarcasm.
“Well, I guess he wanted to show off to everyone that he was the nominal commander-in-chief of our Korean army. Of course, neither the cabinet nor the Marshal’s Office listened to His Majesty the Emperor’s words at all.”
I was really looking forward to tomorrow, to see how much the emperor’s government-created media would beat the drums and janggu and what kind of things they would say while I was away.
I could already see a foreign correspondent who had been following us, happily celebrating that he had gotten an interview with the Emperor, passing by with a servant boy, but I had no idea what he would say in front of them. If he had said anything, he would have been chewed out for a long time.
“You said you were going to capture the division flag so proudly, but you even captured the division commander. Thanks to you, I think we’ll be able to obtain some pretty important information.”
“I don’t think he’ll blow anything···.”
“It doesn’t matter. Nothing is impossible in the Records Research Office.”
Come to think of it, most of the enemy division commanders and staff were either captured or killed. With a considerable number of military maps and operational orders captured, the entire records bureau was busy.
Based on this, it is possible to understand the Japanese military’s future operations and intentions.
“Anyway, the sergeant has once again achieved a great victory over his enemies. What are your plans for the future?”
This seemed to be the real reason he called me.
It was his way of subtly asking what the next operation would be and what he should do. Only this time, he gave the answer he least wanted to hear.
“···There is nothing we can do to turn the tide right now. We have no choice but to reinforce the front lines, recruit additional troops, and prepare for the enemy’s offensive.”
“yes?”
The situation we’re in now… yes, the word suspended sentence would be the most appropriate.
Although they won, it ultimately did not lead to an opportunity to turn the tide or to achieve a dramatic reversal.
Of course, it wasn’t impossible.
If Russia had sent a large-scale reinforcement force directly to the Korean Peninsula like the great army of the Imjin War, we could have gladly joined them and swept away the Japanese 1st Army and 2nd Army to the South Sea.
But the reality was not like that. The giant that was the Russian Empire, unfortunately, was busy even taking care of itself.
Especially after Zasulich had blown up 10% of Mischenko’s 1st Siberian Army Corps at the Yalu River.
Immediately after, Zasulich was dismissed from his post by an enraged Kuropatkin for his incompetent command, but that did not mean that the precious troops who had died would return.
“The Norse army shows no sign of coming down, so what can we do alone?”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a situation where we should have come down, but anyway, that was it for us.
“However, since the enemies will no longer be active due to this victory, we should take advantage of this brief lull to take a breather.”
···In fact, before retreating from Pyongyang, they did request support for sending some of the Russian troops in the Vladivostok area to the Korean Peninsula.
If we had diverted the troops defending the Maritime Province and reinforced them, they could have launched a counterattack as they wanted.
But the answer that came back was beyond anyone’s imagination.
[Congratulating the victory of the Korean army, the Manchurian Army Headquarters requests support from the Korean army in the Lushun area.]
···I didn’t realize how dazed I was after receiving this message. Not only me, but all of Sunmuyeong’s staff and commanders felt the same.
On the contrary, the Manchurian Army Headquarters in Fengtian wanted me to personally dispatch some of the troops from Hamgyeong Province.
So, after assigning those troops to the 1st Siberian Army Corps commanded by Mischenko, he was in turn requesting them to break the siege of Port Arthur.
When I openly refused, saying that the situation was urgent and that I couldn’t do that, I felt sorry when he said that he would give me command of the 1st Siberian Army Corps and asked if I could do something about it.
The Russian army was in such a mess.
“No, they’re not like the Ming guys who are about to engage in a secondary battle or anything…”
“That’s the situation.”
I took out a pack of cigarettes and shared a smoke with Jo Dong-yoon, telling him what had happened. He, too, couldn’t help but look astonished.
As a result, it seemed that even if the Russian army wanted to send more troops to Manchuria, they had no more troops to send.
Indeed, just looking at their weapon distribution, the problem was not usually that serious.
Most of the reinforcements from Siberia were Cossacks, who formed the backbone of the irregular units, and since they were armed with miscellaneous weapons, there was a lack of proper supply of standard ammunition.
If they had even provided the old-fashioned Berdan single-shot rifles, the situation in that area would have been much better.
It was also common for them to take out the completely outdated M1867 Krnka rifle that had been used in the Crimean War, much earlier, and in general, these cases were more common.
At least the regular Russian units in the Far East were able to arm themselves with Mosin rifles.
In return for building us a rifle factory, we had a contract to give them a percentage of the annual production instead of a commission, but even that seemed to be insufficient.
“Since the formal request for troop support has been rejected, the Manchurian Army Headquarters and the Governor-General of the Far East have sent this telegram.”
“What are you saying?”
“If you have any spare rifles, send them to me.”
At these words, Jo Dong-yoon and I both burst into laughter like crazy.
It was more of a sad burst of laughter than a funny one, to the point where he even asked for a rifle.
After all, it was a situation where even if I had something to say, I couldn’t say it since such things came from the mouths of the Commander-in-Chief of the Manchurian Army and the Governor-General of the Far East, not to mention the Russian Quartermaster General.
“So what did you do?”
“···I collected the Berdan rifles that were hastily deployed to the 6th area and sent them to you. Patience.”
Of the 7,000 Berdan rifles they had received in 1896, 3,000 were returning to their hands.
Thanks to this, they were able to rearm the cavalry units of the Amur Military District. In any case, it was not at all thought that the Russian army would be able to do anything refreshing in this situation.
The only field army Kuropatkin could trust was the 1st Siberian Army Corps and its commander, General Misenko.
“So what should we do now? There has been no sign yet from Nosua that she will do anything.”
“They will only move when Lushun is in danger.”
The Russian liaison officers in Hamhung were confident that Russian troops from the west, commanded by Gripenberg, would soon arrive to provide support, but this was not particularly credible. Even they did not know when their own troops would be reinforced.
Moreover, even if it had come, there was nothing that could be done right away with the hopeless railway line that was less than half the original length.
Although the main lines themselves were connected little by little, the number of locomotives and passenger cars that were actually deployed was sorely lacking that troops and supplies had to be gathered in the middle of the line and then redeployed toward Manchuria, which was a cumbersome process that had to be done three or four times.
The problem was that Russians were not Germans.
Without such an elaborate railway timetable, it was bound to get tangled up, and even if this were applied as is in modern times, there would be no country that could properly deal with it.
Because of these problems, it was estimated that it would take about half a year to move one division of troops.
“It’s funny, but Lushun must be on the verge of collapse for Russia to do anything. Desperation is what makes a great empire move so quickly.”
“···To be honest, looking at what Nossua is doing now, I feel like she might not even be able to feel that.”
“That’s why I said that earlier. We can’t do anything.”
In other words, Lushun had to hold out for several months as in the Yuan Dynasty, and during that time, it would be fortunate if even one division could be properly deployed.
Of course, the Japanese army also knows this fact, so they will start to focus on capturing Port Arthur, and in the meantime, they will form a huge encirclement with their remaining forces to prevent us from breaking out.
And then, immediately after Lushun falls, they will turn their guns on us again and prepare to invade Manchuria.
In the meantime, there wasn’t much we could do.
Everything would become urgent only after the fall of Lushun, and it would be necessary to prepare for what was to come during that period of reprieve.
It only temporarily prevented the impending catastrophe.
“But, Commander, we have completely annihilated the enemy’s elite 1st Army. If we take advantage of this opportunity to capture the enemy’s Guards Division that is advancing into Wonsan….”
“Chief of Records, this is a suspended sentence. At this point, the Second Front is collapsing, and there is not much we can do. All we can do is gather our forces and wait for the enemy to attack. The protagonists of this war are Russia and Japan, not us.”
Once the Japanese landed in Dalian and began directly attacking Lushun, it was difficult for us to change anything.
All they could do was to solidify their defensive line by taking control of the northern tip of Hamgyeong-do and Gangwon-do, and some eastern part of Pyeongan-do, and draw the enemy in through a disastrous war of attrition.
“Besides, the enemies who have been defeated in successive battles will no longer confront us directly. Instead, they will imprison us here and wear us down for months.”
“What if we break through the siege before that?”
“If we exhaust our field forces, we are finished. As before, we must fight only to win. The Russians will not be of much help to us. They expect us to help them.”
“···It’s so sad. Even though we won, we can’t even feel happy.”
“That’s why the war should have started so late… Anyway, the Japanese are lucky.”
If the war had broken out around 1909 as Russia wanted, it would have been possible to sweep away the Japanese army that had landed with a fully-trained force of 200,000 troops and hundreds of thousands of reserves like a broom.
It was at that moment that I was smiling bitterly.