Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 387



Only Noblemtl

#1 Side Story Episode 2. – The Retrograde Struggle of the Dual Empire (2)

In the meantime, the emperor took notice of a certain empire. And that empire was a state in the same form as themselves, and it was difficult to exert real influence in the distant Far East, and at the same time, they were trying to establish contact with the proud Korean navy and draw a line in their own way. These three factors were a reasonable choice.

‘Nearby Russia is a burden, Japan, which until a few years ago was aimed at with guns, is not to be trusted, Germany is fickle, France is trustworthy but supplies the evil idea of ​​a republic to the officers, officials, and intellectuals within the empire, so although it lacks the power to reach out to the Far East, it must have felt sympathy for the Austria-Hungary Empire and the Kaiser, which were building the same system in their own way… … .’

I had this kind of thought myself, so it wouldn’t have been any different for others. Of course, the Navy saw this as an opportunity anyway. After all, as time went by, the Navy’s respect for the Emperor was gradually decreasing, and they were the ones who would say what they wanted to say and do what they had to do until the end, no matter what he said.

However, even the Navy, this time, evaluated the Emperor’s choice as not being so bad, and welcomed the contact with the Austro-Hungarian Navy, saying that it might even produce better results than the previous cruiser transfer.

This is because they paid attention to the battlefield environment of the Adriatic Sea, which had many islands and a complex shape. They believed that the battlefield environment that the Austro-Hungarian Navy faced could provide an ‘answer sheet’ that could immediately solve the difficulties of our Navy, which had to defend the west coast, and a ‘blueprint’ for rebirth as a new, modern Navy.

Although they learned about the organization, operation, and strategy of modern navies from France and Russia, and procured ships, the battlefield environment was completely different, so even though they had only recently set foot on the sea, they had to go through the painful time of having to somehow solve and propose strategies and tactics that other countries had spent decades pondering over within a dozen years.

‘They say a magpie chases a stork and ends up tearing its leg, and that’s exactly what happens to our navy mate, hahaha.’

I remembered something that Admiral Jang Gi-ryeom had said in private one day. Thanks to this, the leadership of our victorious Navy was torn apart in many ways, unlike before the war, over issues such as shipbuilding projects, how to defend the sea area, and what the future strategy of the Navy should be.

There was a sharp conflict between those who believed that Russia should move forward with a fleet-oriented destruction strategy, as demonstrated at Port Arthur and Vladivostok, and that it should focus on small, fast ships, and those who believed that it was necessary to maintain a large surface fleet with some battleships and cruisers to counter Japan, which had lost the war but still had a large fleet.

However, if we could copy the ‘answer sheet’ prepared in advance by the Austria-Hungary Empire, which had a similar battlefield environment, we might be able to come up with something much more efficient. This is especially true when considering that we are currently dealing with Japan, which the Navy has designated as its number one enemy.

It may not be right away, but it was clear that they would eventually have to face them as time went on. Even the emperor must have agreed that Japan was plotting something beyond the peninsula and Manchuria. Therefore, unlike the army, which had considerable power and was devising new tactics, the navy, which had a weak foundation, had no time to waste.

It was necessary to increase fleet power by constructing ships that were in line with the situation and the expected battle environment as quickly as possible. The Navy used to sarcastically say that this was a paradox of rock-paper-scissors.

‘Have you ever seen the game of rock-paper-scissors played by children in the market? What is interesting about this game is that the probability of winning, losing, and drawing is 1/3 each. And here we find a paradox.

The Japanese Navy, our main enemy, can play rock, scissors, and bojagi, but our Navy can only play one of them. So, while we will expand our Navy for the next 30 years, we will not be able to completely keep up with them, but we will at least be able to choose two out of the three options.

Even if we cannot achieve a decisive victory against their fleet, if we can at least prevent them from properly understanding our intentions and restrict their actions… we can guarantee the safety of the western coast of the Empire in the event of an emergency.’

Well, they said that they would publish a thesis on this later in the Navy or something, but anyway, when I saw this, I realized that our Navy had put in a lot of effort. No matter how long and long it was, they had set foot on the sea decades earlier, and compared to the Korean Navy, which had a hard time building even a few gunboats and destroyers, they were able to build decent ships on their own, so it was even worse when they were up against them.

In such a situation, the answer sheet and blueprint that the Austro-Hungarian Navy had brought were clear. They had to deal with the Italian Navy, which could pose a significant threat to the Adriatic Sea and which had sharpened its sword after the Battle of Lissa and had been greatly strengthening its main and auxiliary ships to become a naval power in the Mediterranean.

In response, the Austria-Hungary Empire, while acknowledging its slight disadvantage, prepared quite realistic alternatives to overcome this. They succeeded in creating a coastal fleet that was difficult to deal with due to its superior ship performance, high level of training, and the environment of defensive warfare in narrow waters. And their actions clearly gave our Navy quite a lot of implications.

‘After all, the Navy has said since the last Far East War that it must defend the West Sea in future wars.’

It is not without reason that Lieutenant von Trapp and the cruiser Elisabeth, who are next to Lieutenant Colonel Bertrandy, have come here. I have heard that not only have our naval facilities and the Naval Academy in Jemulpo been visited by naval officers from that side and talked about various things, but they have also decided to gradually increase military exchanges, starting with sending about ten of our Naval Academy cadets to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

“If you are worried about the honeymoon relationship with the Russian Empire, don’t worry… … .”

“No, that’s fine. The Russian Empire probably won’t care much about this anyway.”

Of course, the Russian Empire would have been somewhat annoyed by this. Not only were there quite a few pro-Russian ministers in the government, but news of the improved relations with the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already spread through Jemulpo and Shanghai to Paris and St. Petersburg.

But it was clear that there was nothing more than a gesture of displeasure. After all, it was an open secret and a secret that was not necessarily spoken of, considering that despite becoming a neutral country under the Treaty of Portsmouth, it was still acting as Russia’s police in the Far East.

“… In any case, our Korean Empire is already under the control of the Russian Empire.”

“I know what you mean. I guess there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Unlike Lieutenant Colonel Burchany, who did not quite understand what was being said, Lieutenant von Trapp, who already had some information about our Navy, nodded and said. The only facilities that could maintain and repair our Navy’s main ships were Lushun and Vladivostok, so in the end, they had no choice but to rely on them.

“If Russia is not such a problem, I would like to ask you to help us learn something from your country. For the coming war, our Habsburg army is completely unprepared. We need your experience in building an army fit for the modern battlefield in less than ten years.”

“… Instead of teaching you how the waves of the sea are, would you like to learn how the boots of the earth should move?”

In any case, as exchanges with other countries increase, it becomes not only a matter of learning advanced things, but also a point of reference for our military’s future doctrine application as a counter-example. In addition, since it was an important discussion about the Navy that I could not cover, there was no reason or justification to oppose it, so I just voted in favor without saying a word.

And as we were gradually increasing our military exchanges, I thought we would mainly talk about naval issues, but I honestly never thought that the military attachés, and army officers at that, would come to us out of the blue and whine, “Please help us.”

“Well, anyway, yes.”

Lieutenant Colonel Burchani nodded without a moment’s hesitation at my words. I felt bitter inside. In the era of imperialist white supremacy, I never thought that a country that was neither an ally nor a friendly nation, and had no direct interests here, would act so humbly.

“Didn’t you, General, destroy the elite Japanese army that had cornered Russia with your reformed army? The massacre I witnessed in Manchuria will push our Habsburg army towards destruction in the future war.”

Well, I don’t know much about the Austro-Hungarian army, but I was aware that there were problems overall. Perhaps because of the nature of the dual empire, the biggest problem was that the fighting power varied greatly depending on the level of education in each region within the empire, making it uneven.

As a clear example, in the case of well-educated German or Hungarian units, the spread formation was established as the basic mobile formation, whereas the illiterate South Slavs and those in the outskirts of Hungary tended to stick together in tight formations even under artillery or machine-gun fire.

To be honest, I didn’t know how to handle this situation, and it was also difficult to give advice to the two armies with completely different backgrounds. In this case, there were two wisest decisions to make. One was to explain it at a theoretical level, or to reject it in a roundabout way.

“Well… well, if we had fought the war against Japan alone, we would never have been able to secure victory. In fact, in the early battles, we had to give up most of our territory and be pushed back to a small area in the northeast. If the great Russian army and navy had not held back the Japanese army, things might have been very difficult even for us.”

I kept an ambiguous attitude here. First, I talked about the basics and avoided getting into the main topic. This was because if I said one wrong thing here, it could lead to a change in history or a variable that I could not control.

For example, let’s say I accidentally uttered the word “World War I.” I would be treated as an outrageous person, but on the other hand, I might be accused of prophesying again, thanks to the distorted reputation of the last war spreading far and wide.

It was tiresome to read in the English newspapers of Hong Kong and Shanghai that I had won the war by using some mysterious black magic, or that I had even appeared as the incarnation of the legendary Admiral Yi Sun-sin to avenge a war that had occurred hundreds of years ago.

“Do you think there will be a war with Russia? I think the combined forces… no, the Habsburg army is one of the strongest in Europe. Not only did it help to suffocate Napoleon, but it also became a true European power, so the power of the army would have been effective.”

“Unfortunately, that is not the case anymore, General. Not at all. Our Habsburg army no longer has Marshal Radetzky or Admiral Tegethoff. It is full of rigid, modern-hostile traditionalists.”

Lieutenant Colonel Berchany shook his head sadly and replied. In the 20th century, the contradictions of the old regime were exploding throughout society, so an army built from that society would not be safe. Perhaps, he, who was about to lead the Habsburg army in the retrograde struggle of the dual empire and was at the forefront of it, must have come here to deny their own disastrous end.

It was even more so when he came to us, who were being criticized by other European military officers and experts for using ‘good fighting, but barbaric’ tactics, and threw away the title of an army officer in a civilized European country, and brought up this subject in this way.

“They say the world belongs to the contemporary, but the general has shown new tactics with his eyes and brains that see the future, not the contemporary. I am proud to say that the tactics the general will bring out in the future will change all battlefields. So, I hope you will give us a prescription that is suitable for our Habsburg army.”

“It’s a prescription… … .”

I am a soldier, not a doctor, and yet I am being prescribed a prescription. Well, it was indeed urgent to be in such a situation. Since each European country was shocked by the Far East War more than the Boer War, France, Russia’s friend, was elated, but Habsburg, who had to face them immediately in the event of an emergency, could not help but be terrified.

By the way, I couldn’t help but feel bad about refusing someone who was begging me like that. I paused for a moment, wondering what I should do, and as if he had seized the opportunity, he continued to speak at a rapid pace like a Maxim gun.

“We have many enemies around us. Russia and Italy… If we take these two alone, our empire cannot avoid a war on two fronts. If we cannot avoid a war on two fronts, we must fight effectively and achieve a quick victory.”

His words were orthodox, but not many were able to put them into practice. That was because their circumstances were so bad.

“But General Konrad Hötzendorf still interprets the military conservatively. Even though we are entering an era where technically advanced warfare, which is based on firepower, is suppressing the will of the infantry to fight, he still sees only the traditional infantry and cavalry charges as effective in battle.”

“Hmm.”

It was hard to understand the story properly because of his stiff English pronunciation and his fast speech, but if I were to summarize it, it was like this. And while I was stroking my chin while listening to his words, I thought for a moment. Should I really teach them something, or should I just indirectly express my refusal?

If I hadn’t been there in person, I would have just waved my hand and told them to go away, but doing that in front of them was not only rude, but it wasn’t my style to sternly kick out people who came running to me saying they wanted to learn a thing or two.

Eventually I had to come to a conclusion, and after looking at the calendar on the table for a moment, I nodded and said.

“Well, that’s fine. Then, are you free in three days?”

“Yes? That’s fine, but why are you like that…?”

“At this time, our army’s mobile training is scheduled. Originally, the military attachés were not scheduled to observe, but I cannot refuse them so bluntly in front of those who are eager to learn something from the war in the distant Far East. Please come to the Marshal’s Office in three days.”

Well, since they say seeing is believing, it would be okay if they showed him directly and only explained the basics. After all, we wouldn’t be getting along any better with the Habsburgs, and if we talked about it in more depth, it might go beyond what the Russian Empire would be upset about, so there was nothing better than teaching him at a level that he wouldn’t get in trouble for.

“Oh, and let’s stop talking about the boring stuff and have fun for the rest of your time at the banquet hall. After all, studying and learning are all about making a living.”

I smiled and stood up, placing my hands on the table. Perhaps, when I thought about the future, I briefly thought that I should have just rejected him outright, but I quickly stopped myself. There was still some time left to think about the war that would end everything.