The Eastern Knight
In 1885, France's political and social spheres had at last achieved the first-ever grand coalition in the history of the Third Republic.
In other words, whether one was a working-class man, an urban laborer, a capitalist, a priest, or a journalist, every French patriot was welcoming the accomplishments of Prime Minister Jules Ferry's cabinet with passionate enthusiasm.
"Long live our allies!"
"Glory to France!"
"From the west to the east!"
Across the political establishment, the labor sector, and the press, the French nation burned with the news of external victory, new alliances, and the promise of vast overseas markets and colonies in the Far East.
With the Vietnamese kingdom secured through the Indochina expedition now confirmed by the Tripartite Treaty, investors—entrepreneurs—dreamed of not stopping at the Indochina Peninsula but pressing on to the island of Taiwan and, further north, the vast lands of Liaodong and Manchuria then under Korean advance, as well as the northern Siberian territories. They envisioned importing countless minerals and forests from those expansive lands and mountains at 'reasonable' prices in 'friendly' markets guaranteed by alliance treaties.
Of course, the rationality and superiority of those terms had clearly not been agreed upon in advance by the United States or Korea.
But what could one do?
"As our allies gain more territory and liberate more Chinese, our republic's foreign trade balance and prices will improve!"
The press and newspapers were supporting their ally Korea's further expansion and territorial gains, relentlessly pressuring the United States not to stop at economic aid and weapons support but to send troops alongside them to expand the successes.
"Korea's potential for growth and market cannot even be imagined! If they do not stop at Liaodong and Manchuria but develop and attract investment in the vast resources of the northern permafrost—."
Among the enthusiastic investors, France's famous economists added that the infinite growth potential and market of the vast economic bloc linking the Indochina Peninsula, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, Liaodong-Manchuria, and even Siberia was comparable to the Indian market that the British Empire alone owned intact.
And moreover? The French economic sector declared that this opportunity would allow the United States to build proper 'deep' relations in the Far East among the three nations, ensuring in the future a friendly stance in European conflicts and Southeast Asian markets.
In other words, instead of cooperating with the British Empire, they would serve as a great prop ensuring French superiority by maintaining some positive relationship with their own government.
And this gradually strengthened Prime Minister Jules Ferry's grip and the rising popularity of the republican cause.
"We must never forget the hardships of our young soldiers who sacrificed their prime years in the horrific jungles for the prosperity, peace, and freedom ideology of the republic! As citizens of Paris, I must ensure that when they return, our great France does not appear in disarray! I will fulfill this sacred duty and role to the fullest!"
Radical strikes were temporarily banned in Paris. Consequently, union formation was prohibited in businesses with fewer than 100 employees.
However, unlike the previous two cabinets, the Paris labor sector did not react with fierce opposition. This was partly because voters' favorable views toward the unexpectedly rising Jules Ferry cabinet aligned with the overall atmosphere of the Tripartite Treaty, but more significantly, it stemmed from the serious re-discussion of the merger that had previously fallen through, involving the extreme left parties led by Clemenceau and the ruling party.
Thus, conservative dailies mocked the unions that, having lost their purpose, mechanically engaged in strikes and slowdowns.
"You only turn into funeral homes!"
Ultimately, with the labor sector yielding to the social mood and public opinion by backing down slightly in the struggle against strikes and union suppression, the shrewd Prime Minister Jules Ferry delivered the final blow by declaring to them:
"Immediately upon the end of the war, society will return to normal. The prime minister's extraordinary powers expanded under wartime conditions, the specially designated emergency budget, and the active encouragement of military recruitment through defense funds will all revert to their previous state."
He further dangled carrots by proposing laws on the eight-hour workday, easing union formation, and expanding elementary education as policies to be enacted immediately after the Indochina expedition and Far Eastern War concluded.
On the one hand, contrasting the daily war reports and grain fluctuations causing distress in the City of London, he cited the steady financial sector of Paris as evidence (though, of course, the expansion was used as an excuse to pour out emergency and defense budgets to boost the economy). He issued a mix of blackmail and threat, claiming that if labor led strikes, prices would fluctuate.
"Are you traitors?"
The labor sector, lacking cunning in the face of this rough question and blackmail that choked them, eventually agreed to close their mouths for a while.
"Let's watch our step."
As the saying goes, one must lie down and stretch; if the situation is such that lying down invites trouble, it's best not to lie down.
After all, the European saying originated in 18th-century Paris.
Meaning that if you do something unconventional, there will be no fun.
"Our Paris labor union also prays for the safe return of the soldiers who participated in the Indochina expedition!"
Moreover, the current Jules Ferry cabinet was an exceptionally lucky regime that had unified domestic and foreign public opinion for the first time since the establishment of the Third Republic, and the unions, deprived of their justification after failing to engage with radical left intellectuals and politicians, were merely withering away, which they knew well through the Paris Commune.
Thus, in France, a new political faction regarding the new alliance (French Third Republic, United States, Korea) was growing as the mainstream, infusing new vitality into their pride and the old glory of the French Empire, which had been crushed by their ideology and thought that had ravaged society.
Occasionally, statements crossed the line, such as:
"Let's take revenge on the Social Democrats!"
"Alsace-Lorraine is France's rightful territory!"
"Great France! The Great Army!"
"Napoleon!"
The Germans even responded with a sneer.
They had lost, and they had no conscience; if they were aggrieved, they should have fought harder and won, right?
Napoleon lost, and his nephew lost too.
In any case, they were a bunch of defeatist mouth-breathers.
"Stupid frogs who only pick up scraps from the defeated!"
There were no stupid ones with mouths.
But the subsequent bizarre and outrageous insults were an unbearable humiliation for the Germans, who traditionally valued befriending the dead as an honor.
"Yo, you have no friends?"
"???"
No friends.
A cruel fact, but despite Bismarck's diplomatic genius, Germany, having lost its only friendly nation Russia after the Berlin Conference, was in dire need of allies despite being at its peak.
The Germans fidgeted at the humiliating reality poking at their cruel truth.
Frenchmen went further, aiming at their dry sensibilities.
"Germans have no sense of humor except crosswords and spelling!"
They wanted to counter, but the Germans themselves thought the same about humor.
The humor in the newspapers sold in the streets was something even old Mr. Hansen next door already knew!
"They have no romance at all, they say it ends in five minutes!"
"That's a fact also found in England's Stonehenge!"
"That's not it, you bastards!"
Ultimately, German public opinion exploded into something serious.
Actually, the victim was Germany.
For the German Empire quietly sorting out household affairs, this situation was as unpleasant as waking up from a nightmare in bed with a mouse in the leg, fidgeting and falling.
"Arrogant little frogs! You haven't been hit enough yet!"
At the same time, the Germans felt unpleasantness toward some unknown strange nation from the East.
How could those flat frogs' arrogant snouts be surgically reconstructed by some lowly backyard doctor (Korea)!
And if that nose reconstruction surgery succeeded, most thought it was a divine sign from heaven that the French had flattened the German snouts once more.
"Fix their arrogance!"
"They are lying again, those frog bastards!"
"In any case, liars!"
Moreover, since the era was the era, responding to extreme knights with extreme knights, Germany's various yellow press rolled up their sleeves to tear apart and criticize France's achievements.
But the method was a bit unique.
"Let's refute their fake news!"
As cold and rational as could be.
Unlike the French newspapers that produced and incited countless fake news by presenting unverified facts and rumors as facts, the German yellow press, born from Freud, Goethe, Hegel, etc., began thoroughly analyzing the neutral articles sent by William Russell, bringing in The Times and Daily, and investigating the series of events unfolding in the Far East.
"Here is the report summarizing all the battles fought across the Liaodong region!"
"Photos! Photos! This time, 'Hong' is the main character too!"
Fortunately for them, the revolutionary government of Korea that had entered the Korean Peninsula was very friendly to journalists.
Although Germany, which had not even built proper consulates or paid rent in the distant Far East colonies, was still in a state where diplomatic relations had not been established, thanks to Korea's generous measures, they could collect a lot of information.
German journalists who secretly boarded ships to Korea with the resolve to be expelled if necessary soon faced a bizarre situation.
"Journalist? Have you registered?"
"Yes?"
"Well, start the procedures first. Since you'll come out in a day or two anyway, just put the bribe in."
The Korean government, unlike other countries of the era, allowed journalists to report on combat results, on-site photos, interviews, etc., without any concealment or restraint.
The interviews were easy, but the journey to Liaodong was difficult.
Thus, the correspondents and dispatched reporters sent articles via telegrams through the British undersea cable.
"What is the history of Korea and the Qing Dynasty surrounding Liaodong and Manchuria?"
"It's in Cabinet 3, the last drawer!"
"Today, Korean expeditionary forces landed in Taiwan!"
"How many?"
"Combined first and second expeditions, totaling 12,000!"
"That's a lot! Korea's mobilized troops now exceed 100,000, right!?"
"Yes!"
The flood of news was overwhelming.
And the story of Korea, processed again in Germany, spread through Austria, Italy, and further through the Balkan small states to the Russian Empire.
Gradually, the world's attention was shifting toward the small peninsula in the East.
Meanwhile, even in the midst of the torrent of information about Korea pouring in, there was a man who opened his eyes to new tastes.
"Look at this! The photo in today's newspaper!"
"...It looks like a medieval knight."
In the photo, Hong Beom-do was running with the Hobunwi's war club on his shoulder.
Of course, the armor was the previous lobster armor.
"That's right, exactly! Oh my, such romance still exists in the world!"
And the one who carefully scraped and treasured it like a treasure was none other than Friedrich Wilhelm Victor Albert.
Shortened to Wilhelm II, who would later become the emperor of the German Empire, commonly known as Billy.
Once he perfectly cut out the photo, Billy, who had been trembling, finally calmed his shaking arms and let out a cheer.
"A knight! A knight!"
When the photo album, finished with high-quality leather, was opened, a familiar scent wafted up.
Soon, he fixed the photo of Hong Beom-do properly and nodded up and down with satisfaction.
"A new collection has been added!"
The protagonist of the photo album was a single person.
Hong Beom-do chasing the cavalry on horseback, Hong Beom-do burning opium faces, Hong Beom-do in lobster armor holding revolvers, Hong Beom-do swinging a club while crossing trenches, Hong Beom-do looking down arrogantly at Qing prisoners, Hong Beom-do hugging orphan children with expressionless faces, Hong Beom-do Hong Beom-do Hong Beom-do—
The obsessive-compulsive inspector, overwhelmed by the fixation on this single person who seemed to drive one insane, raised his head toward the ceiling.
Fixation should be to a certain degree.
After all, it was understandable that calling someone "Eastern Knight" was not to be taken lightly, but the inspector's mind was uneasy about Billy's strange tastes and strange developments.
But whether or not, Billy, who didn't care about the inspector's gaze at all, was muttering to himself.
"At only 16 years old! Going to the battlefield at such a young age! What a great friend! If I could wear armor and ride a horse like him, I wouldn't have any wishes!"
Billy, who was scrutinizing the photos of the armored infantry soldiers often called "lobster" by American journalists, finally sighed in admiration.
No matter how you look at it, it's a flawless, aesthetically excellent armor.
At the same time, doubt arose.
In a country where such cool armored soldiers charge into enemy gunfire, how could they have lived as vassals in the shade of the corrupt Qing Dynasty for so long?
"Hmm, were there Jews living there too?"
A pure and parochial conclusion only a Billy who was still ignorant of Eastern history could draw.