Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 291
Only Noblemtl
#291. Rejecting the Certain Future (3)
“hmm?”
“It was an aberrant act by some local collaborators beyond our control. And our elite soldiers of the Japanese Empire, even though it is an occupied territory, treat the local people humanely, as neighbors of a fellow Asian country.”
“In the end, you’re saying that we should blame it on those incompetent Joseon guys. Do you think they’ll believe that?”
“No, what do they have to believe and do? Since we are close to the official position, we have to make them believe it. Just as a sword that strikes is blocked with the same sword, shouldn’t newspapers and the media be blocked in the same way? There are still many reporters who are friendly to us, so if the commander himself comes forward and speaks with them, the suspicions will end, and trust in our military will increase.”
It was a cunning alternative, but there seemed to be no better way at the time.
After all, rather than passing the buck to the 1st Army and then getting into a war of nerves with Kuroki, who got in trouble for it, it would be better to just blame it on the Joseon guys who looked easy.
***
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly there was a loud noise and a flash of light outside.
Today, as always, along with three loud explosions from afar, the loud shouts of the Parking Lot Guards could be heard on the streets of Gyeongseong, where the sound of a loud battle was heard.
“It’s a mob! It’s a mob!”
“Get out there and show your heads, you bastards! The mob is coming!”
“Here comes another round of nonsense.”
Now, such types of engagements were becoming routine.
A group of rioters calling themselves the ‘Gwangbokhoe’ have been causing chaos in Gyeongseong recently.
As Hasegawa sighed and looked at the place where the explosion occurred, his adjutant quickly covered him.
But he shook off the adjutant’s arm and continued to look outside with his luggage behind his back.
Looking at the burning place this time, it seemed like they were targeting the ammunition depot of the parking lot army.
Of course, the bomb didn’t explode properly, so it didn’t seem to cause much damage.
“···You sly little bastards.”
These were the guys who appeared as soon as the suppression campaign in the Samnam region, known as the Second Front, ended.
At first, they did this on the outskirts of Gyeongseong-bu, but now they have expanded their scope of activities.
Even though they fought and fled around Yongsan, or threw bombs and fled, they could not be caught at all.
There were countless instances of officials who cooperated with the new government being executed as examples under the pretext of punishing traitors, or of planting dynamite in their houses in broad daylight and then fleeing.
And dealing with them was so hard.
First of all, the biggest problem was that the majority of the residents of Hanseongbu were either their collaborators or were able to capture them, but they simply stood by and did not help the Japanese military or the new government’s security forces.
Because they didn’t have a particularly kind view of the Japanese military and those who collaborated with them.
“Be careful, Commander. If this continues, we’ll be in real trouble.”
Lieutenant General Hidenori, who had fallen flat on the ground as soon as he heard the explosion, spoke while awkwardly shaking off the dust from his uniform.
“Those guys, there must be collaborators deep within Gyeongseong.”
“Don’t worry too much, the new government of Joseon is chasing you.”
“Do you trust those idiots who can’t even do what they’re told? I’d rather trust those Satsuma guys who always have lies on their lips than trust them.”
From a distance, along with shouts, the sound of pursuing Japanese soldiers and new government soldiers firing their rifles could be heard.
Of course, seeing him chase after me while exposing his position like that, it seemed like he would lose me this time too.
Since they couldn’t be caught this way, Hasegawa called in the military police chief and had him investigate those who were secretly cooperating with the new government.
Without help from within, the mob would not have been able to penetrate this deep and cause chaos.
“Isn’t it because those stupid first-team guys gave them a reprieve that things ended up like this?”
Even without this, after the fall of Lushun, the Imperial General Headquarters had already issued an order to suppress the resisting Joseon government and military in Hamgyeong Province and secure a supply line in preparation for the front line expanding toward Manchuria.
If that time came, I could definitely root them out, but that didn’t suit my personality.
Just like Superintendent General Kawaji, who had rounded up and devastated all those who had committed terrorism against the Yushin leaders, he too was determined to root out not only the Korean rioters but also their internal collaborators.
So, I even asked them to provide support to some of the police officers.
We’ll be arriving at Jemulpo soon, so if we just hold out a little longer we’ll be able to root out those annoying things.
“I told you to enjoy it while you can. Adjutant, call the reporters. Tell them to come without fail, as I have something to explain about the massacre.”
Of course, I have to do what I have to do before that, Hasegawa thought, and turned his steps towards the outside of the headquarters, leaving the still chaotic Gyeongseong behind.
***
Finally, Port Arthur, which had been fiercely resisted by the Russian army and navy, fell, and the Japanese army began to advance northward, suffering over 80,000 casualties.
Their resistance was brilliant, but isolated and with all sea and land routes blocked, further resistance would have been impossible.
The Russian fleet at Port Arthur was destroyed in a naval battle, and the remaining troops and guns of the fleet were redeployed to defensive lines that held off Japanese land attacks for three months.
The fortress, which had held out for about four months in the original history, surprisingly held out for a full half a year this time.
Although the battle was turned around as in the original history, with Hill 203 breached and even Lieutenant General Kontrachenko, the capable leader of the defense, killed, their resistance was very valuable.
Surprisingly, it is said that Lushun held out a little longer thanks to the east coast trade destruction operation.
The combined Korean-Russian fleet was able to delay the suffocation of Port Arthur by a small amount, as it was fortunate enough to sink ships carrying 280mm siege guns, ammunition, and operating troops along the southern coast.
Of course, a fierce naval battle broke out when the enraged Japanese Navy dispatched part of its 2nd Fleet to intercept the Russian Vladivostok cruiser fleet near Ulsan.
The fierce battle between the Russian cruiser fleet and the Japanese 2nd and 4th squadrons took a toll on both sides, but the result was a decisive victory for Japan.
The Japanese Navy had sufficient facilities, personnel, and supplies to repair the armored cruiser Izumo and the cruiser Takachiho, which were partially destroyed.
But Russia, with the cruisers Rossiya and Gromovoi damaged, could not do so.
The naval base in Vladivostok was short of repair personnel and supplies to repair the damaged cruisers in time, and as a result, the Russian fleet’s operations on the east coast began to become much more passive than before.
In any case, thanks to the combined Korean and Russian fleets’ efforts on the east coast and the opening of the second front, Port Arthur was able to hold out longer than expected.
And this inevitably led to the conclusion that the Japanese military’s power was bloodied.
The Japanese 3rd and 4th Armies, which were not properly supplied with troops, supplies, and ammunition, were torn apart during the offensive.
The divisions of the 2nd Army that were drafted also caused shock as they lost about 60% of their total troops in a single attack.
Because hundreds of officers and thousands of soldiers were annihilated in one battle.
If it had been the French or German Empires, recognized as European military powers, they might have been faced with a situation where they might have attempted to turn the situation around through an immediate counterattack against the Japanese army, which had suffered a major blow.
Meanwhile, the 2nd Army, which was blocking the southward advance of the Russian army in the Liaoyang area and protecting the rearguard of the 3rd and 4th Armies, also suffered considerable losses due to the rearguard maneuvers of the 1st Siberian Army Corps.
Misenko and Akiyama engaged in a fierce battle of maneuvers, each referring to the other as their equal, which the Foreign Military Attaché went so far as to call it the most spectacular and tense cavalry battle since the Napoleonic Wars.
Of course, when Lushun fell, Mishenko suffered a decisive defeat, but with less loss of strength, he was able to leisurely withdraw towards northern Manchuria.
For now, the Japanese military could boast that they had achieved half the success, considering the current situation.
In any case, not only did he subdue the Pacific Fleet at Port Arthur before the Baltic Fleet arrived, he also made it possible to concentrate his forces in one place before the Russian Army reinforcements arrived in Manchuria.
And there were many hurdles the Japanese had to overcome to achieve the remaining half of success.
Once mobile fighting began throughout Manchuria, the Japanese military had to expand new supply lines.
Well, if even Napoleon had failed in his anti-Russian maneuver warfare, the Japanese had to pull everything out of the ground to make it successful.
Even in Manchuria, where there was no intermediate base area, whether the Japanese army could properly conduct mobile warfare was a secondary issue.
Of course, under Kuropatkin’s internal strategy of avoiding battles and giving space to gain time, the Japanese army appeared to advance towards Fengtian at a very fast pace, surprising the world.
Meanwhile, I declared a general mobilization order to secure 300,000 troops.
It was organized with 100,000 combat troops, 150,000 reserve troops, and 50,000 rear personnel.
In order to supplement the insufficient personnel, men and women of a certain age were conscripted without distinction. This was something that neither the cabinet nor the emperor could not approve.
The Emperor approved my report with a look of horror, that Lushun had fallen and that the enemy would soon approach us, and that we must prepare for the final battle.
It was around this time that we were waiting for summer, having secured as many troops and supplies as possible.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but Lushun has fallen. The Japanese army is advancing north all at once.”
Brigadier General Puchata, who had just returned from Vladivostok, spoke with a gloomy expression.
“In the end, Lushun met a glorious end. I hope the sacrifice was not in vain.”
He accepted my request to withdraw some of the Russian troops that had been diverted to defend Vladivostok and the Maritime Province to Hamgyong Province, and after holding important meetings with the Governor-General of the Far East and major commanders, he returned after about four months.
“So, how did the story go?”
“As I said, it was a success. I heard that 20,000 Russian troops commanded by Major General Anisimov will be coming down here soon.”
Personally, I wish the 1st Siberian Army Corps, which had been working with us, would come back, but it seemed that was not the case.
If they had been influenced by Lieutenant General Mischenko’s strong fighting spirit and our tactics, and reinterpreted them in a Russian way, they would have been a pretty good support force.
Of course, for that reason, Commander Kuropatkin and General Gripenberg, who was to arrive soon, were also keeping an eye on the 1st Siberian Army Corps, which was beginning to be considered one of the best in the Far East.
I even heard that General Gripenberg was studying our methods of defeating the Japanese in the field, and was reorganizing one of his corps along those lines, according to rumors coming from here and there.
For them, the 1st Siberian Army Corps is a trump card that they must use as a shock corps of the Russian Empire, a resource that cannot be given to us.