Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 337
Only Noblemtl
#337. Portsmouth and the End of the War (1)
“yes?”
“I’ve seen you somewhere. Have you been to Juansan by any chance?”
The officer spoke, placing his hand on the pistol he had on his waist.
Oh my, now that I think about it, these guys must have been full of the remnants of the 3rd Brigade that fought at Juansan.
These damn guys, they survived until the end of the punitive expedition.
Song Byeong-jun waved his hand with a look of bewilderment, but the suspicion that had already spread did not easily subside.
Other soldiers who had been smoking cigarettes in the distance also came over and looked at him strangely, and then suddenly someone shouted.
“Oh! Sir, that kid is that guy from back then! He’s the guy named Noda who interpreted for the Japanese at Juansan!”
“What? Then you’re a Joseon guy.”
In an instant, the surroundings became noisy and the atmosphere began to become tense.
Even the officer sitting on the other side came closer, holding a pistol in his hand.
He kept shouting in Japanese that it was no use.
“Is this guy Noda Heijiro?”
“I’m sure. I went with the 2nd Battalion Commander at that time and saw it clearly. It was dark, but I remember that bastard’s voice and face clearly. And since when did that bastard start playing with power in Gyeongseong…”
Then, the officer grabbed the chin and looked at the face, and then he looked at a drawing of a wanted person’s face and said with a distorted expression.
“That’s right, that bastard. Arrest him immediately.”
“You dirty traitorous bastard, where are you running away to, disguised like a rat?!”
“Let go of this! Let go of this! I am not a Korean, I am a subject of the Japanese Empire!”
“shut up!”
Soldiers suddenly swarmed around him and began to attack him.
The bullets and combat boots were flying into every corner of his body, and he was begging in Japanese for help, but he finally managed to speak Korean, which he had been trying not to say.
“Please, spare me···.”
“You traitor, phew!”
He got on his knees and begged with his swollen face after being spit on in the face, but there was no way the leader of the Moribae would look kindly on him.
He was beaten and screamed for a long time before officers from the National Military Police rushed to calm the situation.
No, he had to be beaten for so long that it seemed as if even the officers of the National Military Police had deliberately run slowly after seeing him, the worst of the worst, being beaten.
Leaving Noda behind as he was dragged around with his arms raised like that, he began to collect passes for other Japanese residents who had been gripped by fear for a long time.
And they could feel it in their bones once again.
The defeat of the Japanese Empire is virtually a done deal.
The cold winter of 1904 bit deeper than ever before.
***
In November 1904, when the sluggish fighting was slowly coming to an end and the fact that all that remained was negotiations was looming over the entire front, everyone finally agreed to hold peace negotiations in Portsmouth under American mediation.
The members of the delegation had already been decided.
Due to the Emperor’s strong opposition, instead of going to the post of Vice-Minister of Plenipotentiary, I continued to command the Sunmuyeong and took on the role of being on guard against any unusual signs of the Japanese army. In that position, Army Vice-Minister Min Yeong-hwan, who was the Director of Operations at the Marshal’s Office and Commander of the Military Police, was appointed.
Naturally, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Beom-jin was appointed as the chief of staff, and Lee Jun, Lee Sang-seol, and Lee Wi-jong were appointed as attendants.
Here, Dai and Ninsted, who were serving as the principal and vice principal of the military academy, were also arranged to be able to fully carry out their duties in the United States.
And somehow, former Minister of Foreign Affairs Park Je-sun, who had been out of sight throughout the war, was also included in the delegation. It seemed that he was a pro-Japanese figure and had been recommended by the emperor.
The Records Office expressed concern that they had no idea what he had done during the war, but it seemed that the Emperor had chosen him because at least he had not acted like traitors and had instead refused all of the new government’s demands and had instead returned to his hometown.
Because of that, he was an even more suspicious person.
In any case, the much-talked-about delegation moved from Hamhung to Vladivostok under the escort of our naval destroyers, and from there began the long journey to St. Petersburg via the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Here, they would meet up with the Russian delegation, and then embark on a forced march back to Boston, while trying to negotiate the conditions of both sides.
After so many years, on January 22nd, our delegation and the Russian delegation finally arrived in Boston, and the Japanese delegation had also arrived three days earlier.
And January 22, 1905, coincidentally, coincided with a rather troubling event for the Russian Empire.
“What? There was a riot in St. Petersburg?”
“It was not exactly a riot, but rather the Tsar’s guards fired on a procession of peaceful people marching.”
“Damn. If this keeps up, I’m going to completely lose it.”
It seemed that the socialist revolutionary organizations that had been filled with complaints and grievances were slowly beginning to raise their heads.
Until then, Zubatov and his organization Zubatopshina, which had been cooperating with the moderate labor movement under the control of the Russian Imperial Police and the Secret Police, the Public Security Inspectorate, had been calming them down, but things seemed to be going wrong, strangely enough.
While many of the moderate officials, including Finance Minister Sergei Witte, Foreign Minister Ramsdorf, and Interior Minister Plebe, who had been friendly to them, were away negotiating a peace treaty, the so-called New Liners, led by the Tsar and Bezobrazzov, started the affair.
“This is a trick by the Japanese.”
It seemed that the Army and Navy had achieved a great victory, but it seemed that Akashi’s plan could not be stopped.
Russia was no fool, and it deployed military police and police to carry out counterintelligence operations against Japan, but they were not as thorough as our records investigation office, and the area they had to cover was so wide that they often missed taking timely measures.
“There is only one master in Japan, Akashi.”
I licked my lips and sat down to listen to the reports from the newly established First Section of the Records Research Office, the Anti-Russian Section, lost in thought.
The Japanese government began to provide large amounts of financial support to communists, independentists, and subversive forces both inside and outside Russia, and internal instability gradually increased.
Moreover, the Tsar, relieved at having won the war, had gone on vacation over the weekend, so a disorganized response was inevitable.
In St. Petersburg, about 20,000 police and guard troops were assembled, but with the top leadership absent, there was no way proper orders could be given.
Eventually, the capital’s army and police, at a loss as to what to do, began to attack the people who were marching and singing hymns of blessing and loyalty to the Tsar, under the orders of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, who was in charge of the security of St. Petersburg and the Tsar’s uncle.
This betrayed whatever little loyalty and compassion the public had left for the Tsar and the Russian Empire.
Immediately after the weekend, riots and strikes broke out in Moscow and other major cities throughout the Russian Empire.
At least 500,000 workers from 70 cities participated.
As expected, Russia’s already precarious economy is beginning to teeter on the brink of collapse.
“It is said that Finance Minister Sergei Witte hurriedly proposed a compromise through Interior Minister Plebe, which calmed down the riots that had begun to boil over across the country.”
“···Only the Japanese would be excited.”
I said as I stood up. After all, the giant’s chronic disease could not and would not be cured by a single war.
Rather, the giant Russia, whose strength has been weakened by this war, will gradually become more and more ill.
“What should we do now?”
“What can I do? I can only hope that the delegation will resolve the matter well. Please check the telegrams coming from the United States and give them to me as soon as they arrive.”
“There’ll be a lot of those at night too···.”
“Ask the officers on duty to send me to my room. I don’t sleep well anyway.”
‘···From now on, it will be real.’
I instructed my adjutant to forward to me as many telegrams as possible from the diplomatic missions flying in from America.
The war was entering its final stages of ending.
***
After the Bloody Sunday incident, the negotiation schedule was pushed back to February 1 at the request of the Russian side.
The Russian side, which had hastily resolved the situation, immediately resumed peace negotiations, and all the warring parties were finally able to appear in Portsmouth.
This was the prelude to the armistice talks, which would see 18 preliminary and plenary sessions held fiercely over the next month or so.
The press from each country, who had already smelled it and rushed to the meeting place, asked numerous questions to the delegates entering the conference room, and in the midst of all this, Syngman Rhee, who had become a member of the delegation, excitedly called out to them for resistance in Korea and justice for independence.
“According to the Japanese side, they claim that they sacrificed themselves for the true freedom and independence of the Korean Empire. What do you think about this?”
“Tell those who make such claims! We have driven the invaders from our own soil, like the American Revolutionaries who drove the British out of Saratoga! We have driven the invaders out of our own soil, like the French Revolutionary army, who cut off the heads of the tyrants who imposed chains, and who, in their slogan of liberty, equality, and fraternity, drove out the armies of tyrants who imposed chains once more at Valmy!”
Seeing him shouting so skillfully, the members of the delegation smiled faintly, thinking that at least they wouldn’t lose in the formless but clearly existing fight that would take place at the negotiating table.
For a while, reporters gave interviews and the police protected the delegation’s position, and almost 30 minutes passed.
And finally, everyone was able to face each other in the conference room.
A cold current flowed, and the Japanese plenipotentiaries and the Russian and Korean plenipotentiaries exchanged glances without saying a word.
Only the voices of protesters supporting each country could be heard outside, and the cold silence that had descended upon the negotiation room filled the air.
“···We, the Empire of Japan, request that both countries immediately cease this unfortunate war.”
Then, Ito Hirobumi, the Japanese plenipotentiary, took out documents from his deputy, Komura Jutaro.
Fortunately, they were translated into Korean, English, and Russian.
And that kindness could not help but be perceived as all the more malicious because of what was written on the piece of paper.