Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 327
Only Noblemtl
#327. Liberation from Oppression (3)
“Your Majesty! Please spare my life. Ungchilgun, don’t you know how much I care for you? Please spare my life!”
He was kneeling and begging them, forgetting his title as the royal son-in-law.
His clothes were all torn, and he was bleeding profusely from his nose and mouth after being beaten with a club and a club. If you forgot for a moment what he had been through, you would look pitiful.
But Kim Hong-ryuk looked down at him with an unprecedentedly cold expression and said.
“Ah, how could I save the ball in front of such angry people? I can’t.”
“Your Majesty! Don’t do this. Please spare me! This, this was all for the sake of the country! Please spare me, if you do that, I will give up my position and my wealth to the country! And I will live like a dead rat! Please, please spare me···.”
He waved both hands, forgetting even his own dignity, but Kim Hong-ryuk only responded coldly.
“You have already crossed too far a river for that, Your Majesty. I do not have the confidence to face the wrath of His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Ah, An-kun! Please spare my life! Didn’t I recommend An-kun! Ugh, if you’ve received a favor, shouldn’t you repay it?”
“I am sorry. I too am helpless. And the favors I have received are only from Your Majesty the Emperor and my country, the Korean Empire. I have not received any personal favors from you. So now, there is only one thing you must do. Be manly and scholarly and accept the anger of Your Majesty and the people for what you have done so far.”
Then, as they shook their heads and turned away, he cried out in agony.
But that was only the end, because those who had dragged him away so violently earlier grabbed him by the hair and dragged him away again.
“Save me! Save me! Aaaah!”
“What an idiot.”
Kim Hong-ryuk frowned and put a cigarette in his mouth.
It was clear that there were more than just one or two guys like that.
Still, there was no intention or reason to save them.
It had to be clear that they had to settle their karma and grudges.
“It is said that the advance party of the false cavalry division has joined the main force of the cavalry division of the Sunmusa. They say that they will soon advance to Heunginmun.”
“Wasn’t there a group of traitors led by Kwon Joong-hyun there?”
“They say they surrendered without fighting. They are leading the way and opening the gates.”
As things started to go well, those who had been arguing began to take sides.
Enemies and allies were running away through the smoke, beating each other up, but now the tide was completely turned.
The rebels were pouring out endlessly, holding weapons and charging at the Japanese soldiers on the street.
Perhaps, if the roads had not been as well paved as they are now, we might have been ambushed by Japanese soldiers emerging from the alleys, or our troops might have been dispersed and attacked one by one by the highly trained Japanese soldiers, but that was not the case now.
Just by quickly sending a large number of troops into battle, it was no different from quickly taking control of the major strongholds in Hanseongbu.
In the end, the Japanese army was in a position where they had to defend with insufficient manpower, and they were fighting the most irrational battle for themselves, by building barricades and makeshift defensive lines on a wide, open road.
Even their strong point of concentrated firepower from the front was being pushed back by those who began to strangle them by pushing forward with numbers and making full use of the city’s blind spots.
The headquarters quickly burned the key documents remaining in Gyeongbokgung Palace, but the chaos began to worsen when the fire accidentally spread to one of the buildings.
“Those damn Japanese are burning down our palace!”
“Let’s all go out and defeat those bad guys!”
“Let’s break the chains! Let’s overthrow the Japanese and their stooges!”
And this confusion did not go well for the Japanese, as even those who thought they were going to burn down the palace before retreating ended up joining the uprising.
News of the palace burning quickly spread throughout Seoul, and it didn’t take long for bewilderment to turn to anger.
***
“Open the gates! Now!”
“No, why do you want me to open it?”
“This is an order from Commander Kwon Jung-hyun of the Gyeongseong Garrison! Open the gates quickly!”
The new government troops guarding Heunginmun, or rather, the puppet army, now had a clearly solidified name, looked bewildered, but what was beneath the gate was definitely our troops.
They opened the gate with hesitant expressions, wondering if anything would happen.
But what they encountered was something entirely different.
“Huh···? The sound of horse hooves from far away···.”
“···! It’s Sunmuyeong! Sunmuyeong’s cavalry division is advancing! Close the gates immediately! Now!”
“Open the gates! If you don’t want to die, then put down your weapons! The war is over! The Japanese are losing!”
At that moment, Kwon Joong-hyun’s voice was heard shouting urgently, and the soldiers on the gate were panicking and running around in confusion.
One of the leading cavalrymen was charging forward, holding a sling, and the soldiers of the new government army around the gate were so shocked that they threw away their weapons and scattered in all directions.
“Ma, watch what you say!”
“What are you talking about? Did I say something to you?”
“No, you punk! Behind you, the cavalry!”
The huge warhorses roared, and the soldiers who barely escaped their charge ran away in a daze.
The soldiers of the new government army who had already surrendered in Yangju took control of the city gate and bowed their heads to welcome Sun Mu-yeong’s cavalry division, who, without even accepting it, broke through Heungin Gate and began to advance.
“People of Hanseong! Our cavalry division has finally arrived to liberate this place! Let’s overthrow the traitors and wipe out the Japanese!”
As Kim Seok-joong shouted, the residents around Heunginmun were dumbfounded, but seeing the infamous Sunmuyeong military flag and Taegeukgi fluttering in the wind, it didn’t take long for them to realize that this was not a dream but reality.
“Su, the governor has come to reclaim Hanyang!”
“The army sent by His Majesty the Emperor has returned! Let’s all go out and fight!”
Those who had been oppressed were initially surprised by the fact that they were finally being liberated, and that feeling turned to anger.
Everyone grabbed their weapons and started to head towards the same place as the cavalry advancing along Heunginmun Gate.
It was Gyeongbokgung Palace, the center and most sacred place of the Korean Empire that was now burning, and now the third to be trampled by the Japanese military boots.
***
“Your Majesty, Commander! The mob is coming right up to Gwanghwamun! They are coming in even more because they are angry about the fire in the palace!”
“Take them all out with machine guns and field guns! What are you all doing?! Haven’t you moved yet?”
Hasegawa asked in shock. He urgently realized that there were artillerymen sent to Yongsan a few days ago and was about to deploy them, but the information he received was hopeless.
Gunfire and gunshots were heard from all directions, and the Japanese army continued to retreat, barely able to defend Yukjo Street, Gwanghwamun, and Gyeongbokgung Palace.
All that remained was to return to Bukhansanseong Fortress through Sinmumun Gate and escape to Jemulpo.
“A large number of enemy cavalry is approaching from the eastern part of Gyeongseong! Thousands of armed rioters are also coming from the south of the Han River! All of our artillery and machine guns in the Yongsan area have been tied up, so this place is now no different from a no-man’s land!”
“What? Those new government troops led by Kwon Joong-hyun?”
“They have betrayed and opened the gates! We can no longer defend this place!”
Hasegawa could clearly see who was leading the mob right in front of him.
It was impossible not to know that many former Hanseongbu officials and members of the Police Department were mixed in, including Kim Hong-ryuk, who had been entrusted with Gyeongseong, and Ahn Jung-geun, a former foreign official who had voluntarily defected from Haeju to promote Japan-Korea friendship.
They were at the forefront of leading the mob, and you could also see the new government ministers being dragged along among them.
“Those traitorous bastards, how dare you hit us in the back of the head?!”
“You must give up Gyeongseong immediately! You must evacuate now so that you can go to Jemulpo! The Joseon bastards are advancing on Pyongyang right now! The bastards are already in Gaeseong-”
“Eww! This place, this place! How did you control it! You’re abandoning this place!”
Tuta ta ta ta tang! Tata ta ta tang!
A few terrifying machine gun shots could be heard from the side, and along with them, the shouts from outside began to reach the parking lot command post that had been moved to Gyeongbokgung Palace.
And Hasegawa and other members of the garrison command, as well as a regiment of Japanese soldiers who were forming the last line of defense in front of the Gyeongbokgung Palace walls and Yukjo Street, could not help but look at them.
“···It’s the turnip! He brought the devils!”
Someone’s voice was heard, and immediately it led to fear.
This is because the guy who was said to have eaten countless comrades arrived in person with his elite cavalry.
At that moment, they were passing through Heunginmun Gate without resistance, carrying the military flag of Sunmuyeong, which had fear engraved on it down to the DNA of the Japanese army.
And they could instinctively tell who was leading the way.
That guy who chose endless resistance while throwing the glory of the Empire of Japan into the mud and burying countless soldiers underground was right.
Hasegawa was about to draw his sword and strike him dead at any moment, and tried to move his body forward first, but his staff immediately blocked his path.
“If we continue like this, our forces in Gyeongseong will be annihilated! If their supreme commander, the governor, personally brought the troops, he would have brought tens of thousands of men here!”
“That damned brat, I’m going to kill him someday! Along with those damned incompetent, stupid Joseon guys!”
Hasegawa, who had almost lost control of his emotions, began to escape as if he was being dragged away by his subordinates.
There were still units that were isolated or had not received withdrawal orders, but there was no time to recover.
“The Geonchun Gate has been breached! The enemy cavalry is pouring in!”
“Retreat! Retreat! They’re coming like a tidal wave… Argh!”
A loud explosion was heard from the direction of Geonchunmun Gate, and it seemed as if the gate had been breached.
The Japanese soldiers also began to break apart as they saw the cavalry charging through the smoke from the huge explosion, shouting battle cries and brandishing their sabers and fierce halberds.
“Stop them, now!”
“There are no reserves! The Yeongchumun Gate is about to be breached, so the only force left is a single guard company protecting the headquarters!”
As one of his staff members screamed, Hasegawa now felt a sense of despair.
Hasegawa, who had lost Gyeongseong so meaninglessly, and now even had its name reverted to Hanseong, gave up command and ordered all troops to retreat.
It was so urgent that not only the staff but even the commander himself could not ride a horse.
Fortunately, the Sinmumun Gate to the north of Gyeongbokgung Palace was open, so they could only make a desperate escape through that gate.
One company of the rearguard stayed behind to buy time, but it wouldn’t last long.
He gritted his teeth and ordered the troops to be regrouped at Jemulpo, thinking that if only he had had a day or two, the troops under the 1st and 2nd Corps would have come to their aid.
He gritted his teeth and promised to retake Gyeongseong with them, but the replies he received were the worst.
No unit was allowed to enter Gyeongseong, or even Jemulpo now.
I was just stuck in my current position, unable to move, and slowly dying.