Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 353



Only Noblemtl

#2-10. Zhang’s Rising (3)

“The 1st Guards Cavalry Division and the 1st Assault Infantry Brigade currently stationed in Hansung are being dispatched. There is no time to wait for troops to be mobilized from the three southern provinces and below, so immediately request cooperation from the Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry and instruct the Railway Bureau and the Steamship Bureau to deploy means to transport troops to the front lines.”

Before the Gyeongui Line was built, troops had to be redeployed to Yongampo by taking the Gyeongin Line and then the Jemulpo steamer, but now the situation has changed. It is possible to transport troops directly to Uiju, or rather, to the now separate administrative district of Sinuiju, and at the same time, use the transport ships as support to load additional troops and supplies.

Yes, this is a 1910s-style rapid response brigade. If this works properly, we might be able to show what mobile warfare is by organizing a rapid response unit based on the railway in case of a sudden change in the local area. In addition, the military has prepared a storage facility for advance stockpiles in the area around Sinuiju Station in preparation for such situations.

If we do this, we can reduce the frontline deployment time of the assault infantry brigade from 72 hours to 24 hours, which is more than three times faster. Of course, we will have to take some criticism from the railway bureau for a few days because all the freight and passenger transports planned for that day will be disrupted.

“Let’s show those motherfuckers what it’s like.”

“Okay, but how do you plan on destroying them?”

When the staff asked, I took out the tactic I had roughly thought out. The enemy was exhausted because they had moved at high speed on their own, and the supply line was quite long, and the main force was far away. If there had been no railroad, the arrival of Jangjakrim’s main force would have coincided with the time, so it would have been impossible to even dream of defeating them individually, but now it was different.

I said, my eyes sparkling, as I placed my baton on the map. Above all, the enemy thought that the 1st Assault Infantry Brigade was farther away than here. They had come prepared, but Jang Jag-rim and his supporters had not prepared for other variables. I was going to dig into that gap and completely destroy it.

“The enemy did enter Dandong, but they did so too hastily. In other words, the supply line is being dragged around. Deploy the assault infantry brigade by rail first, and then, together with the 7th Infantry Brigade on site, make a surprise crossing, strike deep, and drive them out. Then, deal with the main force of Jang Jag-rim, who will follow up.”

“Time is so tight, is that possible?”

“Those bastards probably have no idea we’ll be here this quickly. They probably don’t even know that there’s a ready-to-mobilize assault infantry brigade waiting in Hanseongbu to test out some new equipment.”

It was like the cow backing down and catching the rat. In any case, the 1st Assault Infantry Brigade was stationed in Suwon, and most of its combat units were on the outskirts of Hanseongbu as they were being mobilized for carbine shooting tests and other activities.

“And when Jangjakrim’s main force arrives, we will deploy the 1st Guards Cavalry Division, the local 5th Infantry Division, and the 7th Infantry Brigade to establish a blockade.”

I spoke while fiddling with the long-range piece erected in Hanseongbu. The 1st Guards Cavalry Division, with its yellow shield and red letters with the number 1 written on it, was a unit that had been completely reorganized into a triangular formation, having absorbed the Independent Cavalry Regiment and had been the parent unit of the Guards Division that had fought bravely during the previous war.

If there was a strong tendency to forcibly connect the entire central army to a division by haphazardly linking together the existing demonstration brigades and guard brigades, the current situation was one in which a full-scale reorganization project had begun since 1908.

The force of 2 brigades and 8 battalions was established as a typical triangular division system of 3 regiments and 9 battalions, and with 1 regular artillery regiment and other support units such as a platoon and medical unit attached, it reached a level where it could be said to have been the emergence of a full-fledged division.

It varied by division, but on average it was between 12,000 and 15,000 people. It was a structure similar to the size and organization of a ROK Army division during the Korean War.

And these were to be established as the most basic divisional structure of the future Korean Empire Army. Of course, because they were still short on money, the remaining provincial divisions, except for the Guards Cavalry Division, were grouped into a two-brigades-one-division system, but this too was to change as soon as there was room.

In this way, the optimal divisional organization that could most effectively destroy the Chinese and North Korean divisions during the Korean War was prepared, so there was no need to worry now. From now on, the enemies would have to worry.

I said this with confidence and faith, clenching my fist as if I held Zhang Zuolin and his army in my one hand.

“First, we will wipe out all the enemies who entered the Dandong area. For those who have suffered multiple defeats but still haven’t come to their senses and continue to challenge us, there is only merciless punishment. The enemies will not admit their defeat and will continue to raise their heads, but we will continue to beat them up and that will be it. So everyone, make up your minds.”

“All right!”

And just then, the deployed carbines were scheduled to show up here. While the staff was hurriedly preparing for sortie and carrying out instructions, I called my brother aside. I told him that I would deploy 500 carbines to the assault brigade, so deploy them in the right places and use them.

My brother snickered and said that he had found a very suitable candidate and that he would send soldiers to collect them all. I had no idea how he would use it, but since he was clearly better than me in terms of tactical judgment, I thought he would use it well.

At the same time as Jangjakrim’s spirit appeared, the iron fist we would swing also appeared.

***

“Don’t you think we’ve entered too deep into enemy territory?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’ll take a while for the Joseon guys to get here anyway. We know them better, so let’s think about the next step.”

The advance party of Jang Jok-rim, who had pushed back the small Korean army stationed in Dandong, dismissed the concerns of the Japanese adviser who was actually in command of them. They had been defeated by the Korean army in the previous war, but they were nonetheless implanting methods to destroy them one by one into Jang Jok-rim’s army.

First of all, the Japanese army judged that their defeat was due to the enemy’s small unit tactics and lack of firepower. In particular, regarding the fact that the Korean army organically deployed and used at least 4 and up to 8 grenade launchers only to the direct command of the company, the 4th Section of the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters was devising a new solution.

In general, the General Staff approached the training quite rationally. They concluded that the reason why the firepower doctrine they had learned from Prussia had not been applied properly in the previous war was because their firepower was inferior to that of the enemy.

However, here, the General Staff could not help but think about the national power and potential of the Japanese Empire. In order to suppress the enemy’s firepower, which was much stronger than the firepower that our forces could mobilize, a very simple conclusion could be drawn.

And it could be said that it was the introduction of ‘the presence of stronger firepower’. However, in the modern wars that Japan experienced and in future wars, this was not a matter that could be decided simply. This was not like rock-paper-scissors or war games that children play, where preparation time and results come quickly.

Even maintaining firepower in the previous war was not possible at all due to national power, and in the battles of Lushun and Pyongyang, the artillery depots in Tokyo and Osaka consumed more ammunition than they supplied, causing frontline units to suffer from a chronic lack of firepower.

And the results were disastrous. Infantrymen who were not protected by the lack of firepower were killed in droves. Despite their outstanding tactical capabilities and several strengths, the Japanese army was always unable to avoid defeat in the face of overwhelming enemy firepower.

In addition, although they do not want to admit it, the firepower consumption of the Korean army, which they have chosen as a model for future warfare, is also considerable. Even just one assault infantry regiment consumes two to three times the firepower of a regular infantry brigade in a single battle.

What this meant was that in exchange for securing victory through firepower, they had to solve the problem of massive supply shortages. This was a problem that would have made the Korean army sweat if the war had been prolonged, and it would have been no different for the Japanese army.

For the troops and commanders who had such experience, it was too much to transplant the Korean military’s firepower warfare method as it was. If they had accepted it as it was, an unmanageable situation could have occurred.

These practical problems began to completely twist the thinking of the brilliant men of the General Staff. There was a very simple solution, but putting it into practice was a huge effort, like moving mountains and seas. And the Japanese Empire could not afford it at the moment.

Among those who were lamenting the hopeless dilemma they were in and the doomed future ahead of them, someone raised this topic, and it soon took shape as a hypothesis.

‘Do we really need to keep up with the enemy’s firepower in the first place?’

Enemy firepower could be broadly divided into two categories: indirect and arcing firepower, such as French-made 75mm field guns and grenade launchers that could strike the front line in three dimensions, including points, lines, and planes, and machine guns that could strike only in two dimensions, including lines and planes.

Here, the General Staff concentrated on developing the latter, which suited the domestic situation of the Japanese Empire, rather than the former. There were also some things that had a pretty decent nationalistic tone.

It was a Korean-style infantry tactic that emphasized the fighting spirit of a strong small unit based on the French offensive doctrine.

This was enough to appeal to the young officers who began to call for the Bushido, as it immediately led to the line, “Historically, the Japanese have revered the sword, and therefore must trample on their hated enemies through close combat.”

In this way, even if the ‘vigorous fighting spirit of small units’ itself was resolved, it was now essential to reorganize the machine guns that could silence the enemy’s lines and faces in two dimensions and the indirect firepower that could directly support the infantry that could suppress the enemy in three dimensions.

First of all, they succeeded in domestically producing them by closely analyzing the grenade cans and hand grenades captured by the Korean army during the war. No, the difficulty level was not that high, so anyone with the military manufacturing capabilities of the Japanese Empire could have produced them.

And the General Staff immediately began to supply three to four grenade launchers to each platoon of the reorganized A Division. This made it possible to predict the Japanese army’s tactical advantage in two aspects.