Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 333
Only Noblemtl
#333. To end it all (1)
The Baltic Fleet, known by various nicknames such as “Terror of the Sea” and “Master of the Ocean,” remained the greatest fear of the Japanese Empire, but did not appear in the Korea Strait area even after the expected maneuver time had passed.
Admiral Togo, who was delighted by the report that the coal carrier was headed for Shanghai, the Imperial General Headquarters, who were encouraged by it, and the staff of the Combined Fleet could not shake off their anxious feelings.
“What on earth is going on?”
“Could it be that the enemy fleet has noticed our ambush?”
“That’s unlikely. Isn’t that a location where the enemy can’t receive communications?”
Common sense would suggest that this is the case, but Admiral Togo did not think that this war was being fought in strict accordance with the common sense of the time.
Rather, with the change in common sense, new tactics and strategies emerged, and it was realized that the position of the best army in the East had also passed to the Joseon bastards.
“Something is strange. The fleet should have passed by today or tomorrow. But there’s still no sign of movement.”
“Report from Gunsan. Two destroyers of the Joseon Navy are said to have passed Gunsan quickly and are moving towards Jinnampo.”
“No, what are they···”
Why on earth did those guys from the East Sea appear in the West Sea? It’s strange that they don’t get caught in their security net unless they use some kind of shrinking technique.
Admiral Togo couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something strange about the movements of the Joseon Navy, which he would normally not have paid attention to.
“Wait a minute. When did those Joseon navy ships pass by?”
“They said it was yesterday evening.”
“···I missed it.”
“yes?”
It was Admiral Togo’s intuition.
Whatever the method, it was clear that the Joseon Navy’s destroyers had breached their maritime security net and made contact with the Roske fleet that was advancing from the East China Sea.
Perhaps, judging by what they had not discovered on their own side, they must have been going around the waters south of Tsushima at a very fast speed.
“They’ve made contact with the Roske fleet. It’s over now. We’ve been fooled to death… I thought they were stupid bears, but they’re actually cunning bears, yes. And the Joseon guys, who are clearly quite crazy, are also amazing. They’re descendants of Yi Sun-sin, right?”
There wasn’t even a reprimand.
Instead, a hollow laugh escaped his mouth.
It was difficult to identify and report early on small destroyers weighing only 300 to 500 tons, not even large ships, beyond the horizon.
But it was their navy that existed to do that difficult job.
From the moment he lost sight of the enemy’s intentions, Admiral Togo could not help but feel that the Japanese Empire was rapidly advancing toward defeat.
“Well, then···.”
“Whether it’s Tsugaru or Soya, they’re probably moving around as they please.”
Togo sighed in disappointment.
If this happened, it would really be the end.
If Roske’s grand fleet had entered Vladivostok as it was, the post-war situation for the Japanese Empire would have been truly unfavorable.
“Hey, shouldn’t we try to intercept them? We can’t just sit here and let this happen, Admiral!”
“···How?”
Togo questioned his advisor’s words.
Then the embarrassed staff member blurted out stupidly.
“to···?”
“How can we intercept them now? We don’t even know where or how the enemy is going. We don’t even know if they’re going to Tsugaru or Soya. In addition, the telegraph lines deployed on the east coast of Korea, Takeshima (Ulleungdo), and Matsushima (Dokdo) have all been destroyed, so even if we conduct an operation, they won’t be able to help us. Instead, we’ll just end up crawling into the enemy’s sea.”
“······.”
In the end, the Japanese Navy was left with only one thing.
It is an invisible struggle to preserve the remaining power and put pressure on the Roske fleet to enter Vladivostok.
At least by doing that, we could get something out of the subsequent negotiations.
“We have completely lost this war. How can we win when we have such a huge and clever enemy on both sides?”
He stood up slowly and looked out at the sea.
The sea seemed even more desolate today.
If we had advanced with the flagship Mikasa and stopped the Rosuke fleet, we could have guaranteed victory.
If they set sail at full speed now, they could somehow block it from the Tsugaru Strait, but Togo’s mind was complicated.
The Roske fleet was moving outside of common sense… If they went to Soya, there would be no way for them.
Rather than pinning our hopes on the uncertain and losing the fleet, it was better to maintain the current situation.
And so the sun was setting over the Japanese Empire.
***
The entire Japanese Empire was filled with shock and fear.
The Rosukes’ massive Second Pacific Fleet passed through the Tsugaru Strait, the northernmost point of Honshu and a key shipping route heading north, showing off its might, and the Combined Fleet was unable to stop it.
Although they hastily circled the archipelago and warned that the Rosuke fleet was moving toward Tsugaru, by the time the combined fleet in Jinhae hurriedly sortied and got ready to intercept, they had already fled.
Roske’s fleet, which had been receiving the world’s surprise and attention with its entire body, achieved its original purpose while leisurely fooling their own eyes and ears.
In this way, each newspaper began to report the story as a scoop, disregarding the newspaper law.
[Rosuke Fleet Breaks Through Tsugaru Strait!]
[Imperial Navy Interception Failed, Where is the Roske Fleet?]
Although the government hastily canceled publications or took strong measures to sort things out, once a flood bursts, it bursts out like crazy, and as discontent and fear spread, it began to have a major effect on social unrest.
The price of rice went through the roof, and when news came that the Rosuke fleet had passed through the Tsugaru Strait, shipping companies either stopped sailing to Japan all at once or began charging insurance premiums three times higher.
When the price was raised threefold from the previous year’s price, even the most prestigious shipping companies could not readily choose to sail to Japan.
The Japanese government hurriedly mobilized all of its shipping companies to try to open routes to America and Europe, but it was not enough.
“···You’re saying we can’t mobilize any more ships?”
“The loss of so many ships in Korean waters is enormous.”
“You unpatriotic bastards! You’ve been eating up a lot of money since Seinan, and now you’re running away like this?!”
The meeting was met with outrage at the sight of private companies finding it difficult to cooperate in further warfare, but it was futile.
Everyone knew that even the most powerful Japanese imperialists had no choice but to risk their lives and go into war.
“There is nothing we can do. Right now, the transport ships that are being allocated to protect the remaining Busan, Jinhae, Masan, and Jemulpo are being deployed as Japanese ships (a general term for pre-modern Japanese wooden ships). Even those are not enough to survive the enemy navy’s attacks···.”
The war was a total mess.
In Joseon alone, 60,000 friendly prisoners of war were being held, and the number of high-ranking generals was too numerous to count on one hand.
Even the commander of the Guards Division and the commander of the 2nd Reserve Infantry Division could already be considered big names.
“Rice! Give me the rice!”
“Avenge the blood of our fallen sons with seppuku!”
Outside, a huge crowd of protesters could be heard chanting.
The police were drawing their batons and trying to subdue them, but it gradually became impossible to subdue them with police force alone, and it reached a point where they had to declare a state of emergency and deploy reserve divisions.
“···There is still a way. Since the Roske fleet will be undergoing long-term repairs and maintenance, it will not be able to come out. If we launch a counterattack centered around Lushun and the southern part of the Korean Peninsula in the meantime, we will be able to gain an advantageous position in the negotiations!”
“···Jeonju fell yesterday, and the entire outskirts of Daegu were taken. How can we continue the war in this condition!”
The royal meeting was bound to be chaotic.
With the allied fleet they had trusted unable to do anything, the war was effectively over.
There, Joseon, or rather, those whose name has now been officially changed to the ‘Korean Army and Korean Government’, continued their fierce counterattack.
“What is happening across the Korean Peninsula right now?”
“Only Uiju in the north, Gyeongsang-do, Gunsan, and some areas such as Jemulpo in the south are barely under control. Even that is now limited. 300,000 North Korean troops… are pouring down from Hamheung. Our military has no way to stop them.”
“It is said that the missing Captain Nogi was also taken prisoner by the Roske. The entire 3rd Army was destroyed.”
Everyone was disgusted by Army Minister Terauchi’s words.
The South Korean army’s counterattack was extremely rough and persistent.
After recapturing Gyeongseong, the Korean army immediately reorganized its forces and quickly recovered the lost areas.
This was no different from the butterfly effect of landing in Wonsan.
“The Roske cavalry and the Korean army have arrived at the outskirts of Busan and are launching an offensive. Our forces have established a defensive line, but it is not working out well.”
“No, does that mean the entire east coast axis has been captured?!”
“It’s embarrassing, but… that’s right. We were defeated by the Korean army throughout the peninsula.”
Terauchi answered while gritting his teeth.
‘Those damn bureaucrats.’
All their most perfect war preparations went down the drain because of those filthy bastards.
This was especially true of the incompetent bastards at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
They provoked Joseon into becoming the Korean Empire, and turned the divided nation into a unified wall.
Of course, the Japanese military also played a part, but he continued talking after trying to rationalize it with the absurd thought that it was better than the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Our army did its best. However, we were blocked by the massive army of Roske, the Korean army that far surpassed our military’s capabilities, and Commander Kim Si-hyuk who created them, and we have come to this point.”
“······.”
“If we had won them over to our side, we would have been receiving news of victory from Siberia, not Manchuria. Your Foreign Ministry ruined everything. You provoked them by murdering their queen, and you forcibly took over their palace. The guns and cruisers you gave us as a gesture of friendship turned out to be a dagger in the back of our heads.”
“What? Didn’t you ruin the war right now? When will we ever laugh at the Joseon guys…?”
The divisions between civilian officials and military figures were so serious that there was a clash of words and shouting between them.
The widespread fear and the overwhelming defeat they had expected had turned them from uniting to focusing on finding out who the enemy was within.
“Everyone, stop now. The only thing we can do now is negotiate.”
Ito, the old fox who had been holding his head in the middle of the crowd, finally opened his mouth.