Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 392



Only Noblemtl

#2nd part, episode 2. Butterfly’s wings (2)

If someone who didn’t know saw it, they might say that the Russian army was badly pushed back, but Vice Admiral Kim In-soo knew that this wasn’t happening for such a simple reason. He nodded in response and approached the prince.

“…What did General Nossua say?”

“They say this place is now dangerous. The Russian army is going to mobilize its last reserves to prevent a full-scale retreat, so they have told us to leave this place and move to the safety of Lublin.”

“Huh. Is this the army that gave the Japanese so many widows…?”

The prince said this, but they did not speak at length because they were all witnessing the destruction of the Russian 5th Army’s battle order one after another. Even the Russian artillery, which had already been providing fire support from the rear, was being trampled and retreated by the Austro-Hungarian infantry who had switched to a counterattack.

Fortunately, the enemy had not managed to invade the headquarters, but there were clear signs that the battle line had collapsed. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Russian Fifth Army, commanded by Pavel Pleve, was already in a state of near-stranglehold on the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army, and now they were forced into a desperate struggle for survival.

“Director Kim, it seems like they are exactly copying the movements of our military during the Far East War. What do you think?”

“Are you talking about the Ojiri Army?”

“That’s right. Although I was studying abroad at Mirigeon at the time, I couldn’t see the war firsthand… … .”

He blurted out his words with regret. Of course, he was studying abroad half voluntarily and half involuntarily, but at least as a prince who held the title of the highest prince in the world, he was filled with regret for not having fulfilled his duty.

“Although the main office may see it differently, I think the method is the same. Perhaps they have borrowed some of the methods that General Kim Si-hyeok taught the Austrian officers he contacted several years ago. Overcoming the inferiority in firepower with lethal infantry operations, and actively conducting flanking and infiltration attacks at the small unit level, it is clear that they have learned something from us.”

Kim In-su looked at Lee Eung-jun, the royal secretary, who was preparing to retreat for a while as he answered. He was quickly preparing to retreat while putting the telescope, teacup, and other miscellaneous items that the prince had been using into the clothing rack.

“Anyway, it’s dangerous here, so let’s go to Lublin. We must quickly report this situation to our home country.”

“Ugh, I see. I wanted to wait a little longer, but I can’t help it given the circumstances. I want to return to my home country as soon as possible.”

“The front lines are in disarray, so His Majesty will order you to return home soon. Don’t worry and go quickly.”

Then, quickly, with the escort sent by Plebe, they left for Lublin. And as expected, the Russian 5th Army retreated in disarray, having lost over 30,000 men and 150 artillery pieces.

But the Eastern Front, and especially the bloody Galician campaign, was only just beginning, and the return of the prince and his entourage to their homeland was a long time in the future.

***

Despite the two wars, the madness of the 20th century, as if it could not be satisfied with that level of bloodshed, began to engulf the world in a storm of a more terrifying level than ever before. From the moment the Archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was killed by a Serbian youth’s bullet, the time bomb that was already heading towards war was burning so fast that no one could do anything about it.

As the headlines became more flashy, the public cheered as if an exciting sports game was brewing. And in that cheering, patriotism for one’s own country and hatred for other countries came together, and they began to clamor for boots and bayonets, believing that only steel and gunpowder could solve all the current problems.

This uncontrolled outpouring of hostility immediately gave rise to a yearning that was out of sync with the great event of war. The young men went to the recruiting station, shouting punishment for each other, while the older men recalled past events and encouraged the young men. Everyone was melting in a jar of uncontrollable longing.

On the other hand, the emperors and leaders of each country who were supposed to control them tried hard to stop the runaway train called war before it completely destroyed the current system. And for a moment, just for a moment, there was a time when the desire to go to war seemed to have subsided.

This was because there were clearly attempts by diplomats from each country to prevent war until the end, subtle differences in opinion about the impending war between Vienna and Budapest, demands from the unprepared armies of each country, and, above all, attempts by the Emperor and Prime Ministers to control the situation, fearing that it would escalate into a large-scale war.

With that glimmer of hope, the parties, and the European empires with which they were intricately intertwined in some way, set about trying to mediate between Serbia and Austria-Hungary for a month.

However, as if what was going to happen had to happen, as if mocking these efforts, developments that were difficult to readily accept in any movie or novel continued. Suspicion of each other began to twist the uncontrolled situations one by one, and the resulting hostile atmosphere gave rise to further suspicion and suspicion, eventually creating a vicious cycle that led to new crises and hatred.

And as if they were being pushed towards the ‘war to end all’ that no one wanted but that they had no choice but to head towards, each of them began to step forward with their boots and bayonets towards the scenes of the apocalypse under the pretext of their own widespread discontent, stale hatred for other countries, and pride in their own country and a glorious war.

Even the last-minute attempts at mediation by Wilhelm II and Nicholas II, the persuasion of the Crown Territory of St. Stephen, and the efforts of the French Foreign Ministry to reach out to Serbia to avoid war at all costs all came to naught.

Finally, a series of declarations of war and a total mobilization unprecedented in history followed one day after another. With Austria-Hungary declaring war on Serbia, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain resolved to go to war within a period of just ten days.

So they headed toward World War I, considered one of the worst wars in history, risking their lives and the fate of their country as they walked toward death. They started jumping while chained to each other.

Bloody fighting broke out all along the border, and countless volunteers rushed into the battlefield, calling for their country and their emperor, while the number of casualties increased exponentially. Telegraphs and newspapers began to report numbers such as had never been seen in any war, and which would be encountered frequently in future wars.

And as the bloody year of 1914 passed, the despairing year of 1915 dawned. The Marshal’s Office’s Operations Bureau, and especially the First Section, had been collecting all the data and information about the battles of the past while keeping an eye on external trends, and through this, I was able to realize that, although the direction was different from the original history, everything was ultimately leading to one conclusion.

“… This is a battle report that His Highness the Prince sent urgently. It seems that the Austrian army is overwhelming the Russian army on the Galician front. They are inferior in numbers and firepower, but they are said to have defeated them one after another with flexible tactics.”

Prince Ui and his entourage, dispatched as ambassadors to six countries on the Emperor’s special order – and mixed with various political intrigues and the restraints of Lady Eom, who was trying to make Prince Yeong the successor – were suddenly unable to return home for nearly a year, and instead traveled between Galicia and St. Petersburg, delivering quite important information to the Marshal’s office and the cabinet.

“Your Majesty, you have been away from home for too long. Your Majesty is quite the man… … .”

“Now is not the time to discuss that. In any case, thanks to your demotion, we in the far east can clearly perceive the information on the front lines. And just as the supplementary information written here shows, it seems that battles are being fought here and there. The entire European front is in turmoil.”

“You can tell just by looking at the compliments that have come in so far. Everything that has been reported is the worst.”

I was staring out the window at the rain, my chin resting on my hand amid the torrential downpour of telegrams. The messenger, still thousands of miles away, with the sound of drums and the smell of blood, was slowly turning his gaze here.

We haven’t been dragged into that hell yet, but I could feel that it was gradually approaching us as he beckoned us towards it. If Russia had won Galicia as the original history had, we wouldn’t have had to worry about such things. If I had been right in front of him a few years ago, I would have certainly not spared my criticism.

“The time has come for us to choose. Chief of Operations, the pressure from His Majesty the Emperor is not what it used to be. It is growing stronger by the day.”

“Mr. Army, I know this is impossible, but we must hold our ground as long as possible. We cannot afford to pour our raw soldiers into that hellish place.”

“I know, I know very well. But don’t you also know very well that the situation is not easy right now… … .”

Army Minister Min Yeong-hwan sighed deeply and placed the combat briefs he was holding on the table. His face gradually became wrinkled and his hair began to turn white. Of course, he was still the most respected person in the military, just like when he was young, but it seemed that enduring the Emperor’s nagging, who wanted him to go to war as soon as possible, was no easy task.

Over there, Prime Minister Kim Ga-jin, who was sitting at the head of the table, was just listening to what the Marshal’s Office and cabinet members were saying, with his arms folded and his eyes tightly shut, as if his head was throbbing. And in his stead, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lee Sang-seol looked at me and spoke.

“Please consider the position of the cabinet, Director of Operations. It’s not just His Majesty the Emperor and the Imperial Household that are at stake. Lately, the French and Russian ambassadors have been coming to us almost every day to ask for assistance. We’re telling you that we don’t have much time left to choose.”

It would be because the situation on both the Western Front and the Eastern Front was so dire that it would not be an exaggeration to say that it was the worst. In 1915, the French Foreign Ministry requested that we send 100,000 ground troops. And they wanted those troops not to the Western Front where they were, but to the Russian army that was being pushed back throughout the Galicia region on the Eastern Front, to help them directly.

There had been no proposal from the Russian government as of yet, but given the internal situation, it was obvious that they would ask for support in the near future. In anticipation of this, the Emperor mobilized his own men and shouted that we must definitely help Russia, which had been protecting our sovereignty in the Far East War by sending troops from the beginning of the war.

It was the same when a regiment of 3,000 Koreans living in the Maritime Province was annihilated in the Battle of Tannenberg. The information that even I had never heard about the process of the 3,000 Korean regiments fighting bravely alongside 120,000 Russian soldiers being ‘heroically’ destroyed by the brutal Deokguk army was put into the press and official gazette.

With the national mourning, he even sent Prince Ui, who was sent as a special envoy, to comfort the survivors, so you could see how much the atmosphere was boiling internally. Naturally, he could also delay the return of his son, Prince Ui… In many ways, the emperor was experiencing a series of quite good situations.

And the cabinet and the Marshal’s Office, aware of these imperial actions, were engaged in a tense tug-of-war regardless of whether it was sunny or dark, in order to block the unreasonable demand for troop dispatch. In the streets, there were constant demonstrations between the Imperial Association, which had become a de facto imperial political group calling for revenge for Tannenberg, and the Independence Association, which opposed participation in the war, and they often clashed on Jongno Street, causing headaches for the Minister of the Interior and the Minister of the Interior.

“Our military is not yet ready to go into battle in that savior. I know it will be difficult, but I ask the cabinet members to give us a little more time.”

“That has reached its limit now. The time is approaching when we must take a stance.”

“… It would have been okay if they hadn’t chosen it in the first place, but thanks to the greed of someone so great, many people will become unhappy.”

Voices of discontent were heard among the ministers and the chiefs of the Marshal’s Office, but no one dared to rebuke them for uttering such disloyal words. Rather, they simply agreed with such voices, saying that such words were understandable.

“Gyeongungung is acting more sinisterly and aggressively than ever before. Your Majesty’s greed is leading to political chaos.”

“It is always, and always has been.”

Of course, as always, the Emperor, instead of opening his mouth, used the controlled media and trumpeters to create ‘public opinion’ and based on this created ‘public opinion’.

Although it had been over ten years since the end of the last Far Eastern War, it was admirable that public opinion on participation in the war had been ignited during that time, even though so many people still had vivid memories of the war.