Defending the Homeland (3)
Having found a scheme to secure artillery and cavalry, I first sent General William M. Dye back to the Training Command, then immediately ordered my secretariat to find two men and bring them here.
After I had waited some thirty minutes in my office—
"I was told you wished to see me, Your Excellency."
"Tongnyeong."
Yun Chi-ho, Inspector-Director of the Public Security Committee, and Kim Gae-nam, Vanguard Commander and Chairman of the Korean Youth Association, stepped cautiously into the room.
"Yes, come in."
They offered me a formal bow and remained planted by the door, apparently with no intention of sitting unless I granted them leave.
Yun Chi-ho's new title, for the record, had been created as a matter of course as the Public Security Committee swelled larger by the day.
The Committee's duties and reach had grown as vast as the old Three Offices of the Censorate combined, and the original Three Offices had been so thoroughly cannibalized that even their remaining officials had been swallowed whole.
Had the men of the Three Offices simply stood by and watched?
With their channels of speech about to be cut off?
Ha. As if anyone doesn't know the Public Security Committee is the new seat of power.
Ah, don't worry about that.
I made room for them on the Committee, so they all raised their hands and crawled in of their own accord. Those same creatures who had only ever watched which way the wind blew were now frantically submitting petitions and pulling every string they could reach, desperate to snag a hat in the new organ of power.
And if there had been even one man of sound mind among them, this country would never have ended up in such a wretched state.
If anyone with a sense of responsibility had existed, the tyrant would never have been allowed to run so wild, and the Min clan of Yeoheung would never have been able to rampage as they did.
I shook my head to clear away the stray thoughts that had risen at the sight of their faces, and spoke.
"I'm sorry to call you in at such a busy time."
"Not at all, Your Excellency. When Your Excellency summons us, of course we must set everything aside and come running."
"This subordinate is prepared to dash out in his stocking feet whenever Your Excellency calls."
I rose from my seat and welcomed them with a smile, gesturing for them to sit. Only then did they pull chairs over and settle themselves before me.
I studied their faces for a moment, exchanging nothing but glances, then addressed Kim Gae-nam, who commanded the Vanguard.
"What is the current state of public opinion among Alliance Association party members, the number of branches, and the membership enrolled in the Vanguard?"
"Are you inquiring about the correlation between the two groups, by any chance?"
"I am."
At my question, Kim Gae-nam rummaged a few documents out of the cloth-wrapped bundle he carried, then scanned the papers with narrowed eyes as he answered.
"There are currently one hundred seventeen registered branches nationwide. Excluding the island regions, we have established one in nearly every village with a standing household register."
"Whew, one hundred seventeen! The secretaries have been working hard."
"They are loyal people who devote themselves body and soul, praying for the success of the revolution and of Your Excellency. So long as there are still people suffering under injustice, of course they must labor day and night."
"Devotion to the people. A most admirable attitude."
I gave a brief round of applause in praise of Kim Gae-nam's results, then propped my chin on my hand to hear the rest.
Kim Gae-nam straightened his back and explained.
"However, enrollment in the Vanguard has not seen an explosive response compared to the increase in Alliance Association branches."
"Why is that?"
"Because of the fear that war is coming, Your Excellency."
Without a moment's hesitation, Kim Gae-nam reported the facts as they were, then closed his eyes for the briefest instant before opening them again—fully expecting the Supreme Commander's roar to come crashing down upon him.
The reaction I showed him was the opposite.
"Hmm. Thank you for speaking honestly, Commander."
"Yes...? Ah. Yes."
"But there is one thing I am curious about. Do the people currently know well that war with the Qing is imminent?"
Kim Gae-nam's focus wavered for a moment, caught off guard by the unexpected question, before he answered.
"Yes, Your Excellency. Not only the people of Hanseong, but the unrest among the residents of southern Pyeongan Province, Pyongyang, Kaesong, and northern Gyeonggi—all expected to become major battlefields—cannot be concealed. If you stood there, you could feel it on your skin. The people are reacting with extreme sensitivity to the army's movements and the construction of defensive positions."
"Oh?"
Kim Gae-nam then added that, as a counterbalance, the number of young men volunteering for the army and joining the Vanguard was highest in Pyeongan Province and Gyeonggi of anywhere in the country.
"Pyeongan Province has, since the founding of the dynasty, been the place that suffered most directly from the tyranny of envoys coming through Liaodong. These past three years have been the peak of that tyranny. The young men of Pyeongan Province now feel the same way the soldiers of the Liberation Garrison once did, when they burned with rage at the Westerners' invasions during the Kanghwa crisis. Moreover, there are more people than one might think who lost family in the catastrophe of the Imo year. That is a considerable reason why there are so many volunteers in Hanseong as well."
"Not fear, then, but a thirst for vengeance. Good."
I replied in a solemn voice as I listened to his account.
"That is truly fortunate."
"Yes? What do you mean...?"
I answered with a smile toward the man who was looking back at me, utterly bewildered.
"Well, we aren't seeing riots of people trying to flee Hanseong for their hometowns, the way they did during the Western Disturbances, are we? In the days of the tyrant, if anyone so much as whispered that the Americans were coming, or the French, or that someone had appeared on the sea, there was chaos in every direction. Compared to that, our Republic has earned the people's trust."
"Ah..."
"And we cannot have our Republican government go soft on the Qing, not if we are to live up to that expectation."
I tapped the writing desk lightly. Having finished sorting through what I wanted from Kim Gae-nam, I began to lay out why I had summoned the two of them here.
"For the freedom of our Republic and our people, war is now inevitable. Fortunately, we were able to find friends to stand with us in time."
The two men slowly nodded, calling to mind the French Republic and the United States.
"And there are a few difficult problems we must solve for those friends. Namely, trust."
"Trust, Your Excellency?"
"Yes. Trust."
I answered Yun Chi-ho's question simply, then continued.
"As grounds for an alliance treaty, I believe we must dispatch our nation's sons to support the French expeditionary division currently fighting a war of liberation in the Kingdom of Vietnam."
"We were present at the military council as well, so we understand Your Excellency's intent."
Fortunately, unlike the old veterans, both of them were positive about an overseas expedition, finding reasons of one kind or another to support it. I felt a measure of relief.
The first button, at least, had been fastened correctly.
"Good, then. In that case, I wish to select that support force from the soldiers of the disbanded Left and Right Royal Camps, the Gyeonggi Liberation Garrison, and the Capital Garrison."
This time, however, fierce opposition erupted.
"What? From the disbanded... military camps, Your Excellency?"
"W-wait a moment, Your Excellency! I speak out of turn, but those men were ones who showed even a shred of loyalty to the former tyrant—"
"It is dangerous!"
The moment I told them I intended to gather those men separately and form a unit, both of them went into convulsions.
"Your Excellency, if those men should harbor treacherous thoughts and seize upon the war as an opportunity, another chaos could strike the Republic and its people!"
Yun Chi-ho's resistance was the fiercest. As Inspector-Director of the Public Security Committee, he had harshly interrogated the previous regime's corrupt officials and officers from the Royal Guard. He was in earnest. The instant I put weapons in their hands, he warned me gravely, they might well turn those muzzles around. Under no circumstances should they be allowed to gather as a separate body.
"Your Excellency has already issued a pardon for those men on the grounds of our shortage of officers. Why do you keep trying to show them even greater clemency? Excessive generosity may only make them insolent."
Yun Chi-ho offered me sincere advice. There was not a trace of personal feeling or ambition on his face.
But my thinking was different.
"Hear me out to the end, Inspector-Director."
I let the two agitated men talk themselves out, and once the situation had settled, I began to lay out my thoughts calmly.
"I worry about that as well. I pardoned the officers who remained loyal to the tyrant until the last, but I do not sincerely believe they are loyal to the Republic. The same goes for the soldiers who suppressed the revolutionary army at gunpoint under their command."
"!"
Both men looked shocked at my frank assessment. Yun Chi-ho's wildly trembling gaze was the finishing blow. He had clearly believed I had forgiven all those officers and soldiers because I was truly generous, because my heart was large.
And I thoroughly demolished that illusion of theirs with a cynical smile, folding my arms.
"Come now, isn't it obvious? Did they make the revolution with us? Did they shed blood side by side with our comrades? The comrades I know are the ones who founded the Alliance Association together and pledged to liberate the people from this rotting state. They were the Vanguard, who swore to die without fearing death. Just because they quietly laid down their weapons later does not make them all loyal revolutionary comrades."
At that point, Kim Gae-nam, having grasped my intent, asked back in a sour voice.
"Th-then, Your Excellency. Why are you summoning them separately?"
"Because they will be dispatched as auxiliaries to the expeditionary force."
"Yes...?"
"Would you like me to say it again? I'll say it a hundred times."
Hearing that much, both men let out no small gasp.
In other words, what I meant was this: although a pardon had been issued, I would, under the pretext of supporting our allies, politically and physically liquidate the royalist officers who remained a source of instability, along with the Capital Garrison troops whose relations were awkward after they had served as a suppression force against the Front and Rear Royal Camps.
And there was another meaning hidden here.
The Daewongun might return.
The Daewongun. We had all forgotten him amid the flood of events, but Heungseon-gun Yi Ha-eung was still alive and well in the Qing. Moreover, Yi Ha-eung's existence was currently a very awkward presence between the two countries.
The Qing might release Heungseon-gun as a bargaining chip. At the same time, it would serve the purpose of sowing chaos in our government.
For the record, even within the new military government that had come to power through the revolution, former Daewongun-faction officials and officers were scattered everywhere. In their own way, they regarded me—who had once been Heungseon-gun's household retainer and faithfully followed his orders—as his successor, and were actively cooperating with the new government.
So even if Heungseon-gun returns, every faction that could connect to him must be completely castrated. The entirety of Hanseong must be remade into a new holy land of the revolution.
Therefore, the ones who would be flying off to the jungles of Taiwan and the Indochina Peninsula were Hong Gye-hun and everyone beneath him—the Capital Garrison, the Royal Guard, and the other household troops.
Of course, among the Capital Garrison, the old camp soldiers who had come from the Military Training Agency and started the Imo Mutiny were excluded. Those fellows had become my passionate supporters thanks to my appearance; they were not a discontented faction.
Having laid the situation bare so satisfyingly, I swept my gaze over the two men in turn with a meaningful look and said,
"Do you two understand what I mean by this?"
That is to say: can you take the truth of this scheme with you to the grave?
I clasped my hands together, assuming a posture like a Catholic at prayer, and at last Yun Chi-ho and Kim Gae-nam nodded heavily, their faces grave.
"I shall devote myself in loyalty."
"I will take this fact with me to the grave."
"Good."
I answered that I had expected as much, and added,
"The scale of the expedition, officers and enlisted alike, will be six thousand in total. In Western terms, you will need to form three infantry regiments."
"Three whole regiments?"
"Yes. And to add a supplementary explanation that may be of help: their first battlefield will be Taiwan. From Admiral Courbet I hear that some twenty-three thousand Qing resistance fighters are currently waging guerrilla warfare against a French expeditionary force of five thousand. We will likely have to clean that up first."
Realizing this was an order directed at himself, Kim Gae-nam quickly began writing my command on whatever paper was at hand and asked,
"How shall they be armed, Your Excellency?"
"Hmm. Just have them fill their own stocks from Dongbyeolyeong and Nambyeolyeong."
"Th-that would be excluding the Western rifles transferred from America and France, then?"
"That's right."
"Ah. Understood, Your Excellency..."
At my indirect order to give them truly nothing and leave them to die out there as much as possible, I could hear Kim Gae-nam gulp even from where I sat.
I turned my head toward Yun Chi-ho, the other of the two men seeing my ruthless side for the first time, and called to him.
"Inspector-Director."
"Yes, Your Excellency!"
"You're too tense. After today's business, I have decided to trust you both, so you may answer at ease."
"Ah, understood, Your Excellency!"
"Hmm."
Thoroughly frightened, then.
I gazed quietly at the rigidly disciplined Yun Chi-ho, then at last opened my mouth.
"There are people I would like you to investigate."
"Yes? I mean, yes!"
"You should hear the subjects before you answer. The subject is the deposed Queen Min."
"...What!?"
I looked at the two stunned men, then gave the order calmly.
"There has been intelligence that the Qing, our Republic's greatest hostile nation, may contact surviving members of the royal clan and remaining royal personages in order to sow chaos inside the Republic."
"..."
"I trust I need say no more for you to understand."
Eliminate in advance any elements that could sow internal chaos in wartime. That was my order—but if one looked a little deeper into it, a different answer would emerge.
A security state.
The two men, having read my thoughts, answered in unison.
"Understood, Your Excellency."
And so the short but intense, heavy interview with the two men came to an end.
After the secret meeting ended, as Kim Gae-nam was organizing the documents he had brought, he suddenly slapped his knee and said to me,
"Ah, Tongnyeong. There is something I forgot to report..."
"Hm? What report?"
When I showed interest, Kim Gae-nam sat back down. Yun Chi-ho, who had already made it as far as the door, was likewise recaptured and dragged back before me.
"Your Excellency, please do not misunderstand—"
"Just get to the point."
"I have someone I wish to recommend!"
"Recommend?"
Recommend. Now there was a word I hadn't heard in a long time.
But Kim Gae-nam—a man who wouldn't bleed a drop if you stabbed him, who lived entirely on the taste of his own excellence—he was recommending someone?
"His name is Jeon Bong-jun. A scholar from the same hometown as myself. He currently works as a village schoolmaster, teaching children."
"Ah."
I was startled by the familiar name that had tumbled from Kim Gae-nam's lips, and rubbed the back of my neck.
Jeon Bong-jun.
I had no idea how he was living after history changed, and now I find out like this.
Meanwhile, when I showed no reaction at all, Kim Gae-nam grew restless and began explaining to me just how fine a man Jeon Bong-jun was.
"He is a gentleman renowned in the village for his kindness, and many young men follow him."
"He's popular?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. And he is a friend with an extraordinary interest in land reform. He is a man of letters who proclaims the greatness of the Three Principles of the People that Your Excellency has championed, and who insists that land reform is absolutely necessary for the people. He is an excellent man who can exercise wisdom and ability both in the Alliance Association and, in time, in the offices of the new government."
"Hmm. Good."
I had not yet met Jeon Bong-jun and spoken with him myself, but thanks to Kim Gae-nam's enthusiastic recommendation I considered it a fine opportunity, and I was about to grant permission when an unexpected challenge suddenly burst out from the side.
"But is he not of Donghak rebel origin?"
"What?!"
"Do not ignore the Public Security Committee, Vanguard Commander. This Inspector-Director has already received word regarding that man Jeon Bong-jun some time ago."
I had forgotten that sitting right beside us was a man who observed people through tinted glasses, deciding first whether to stamp the words Donghak rebel and anti-people before their names instead of a courtesy name or style.
Yun Chi-ho, wearing a sullen expression toward the bewildered and flustered Kim Gae-nam, pulled out his worn leather notebook, flipped it open, and clearly showed the three characters of Jeon Bong-jun written there.
"By the Western calendar, this man was already a Donghak rebel in 1881. According to intelligence, he was even serving as a district leader in Gobu. You mean to recommend a lunatic who believes in such a heretical cult to the sacred government of the Republic?"
"N-no, that's—"
"I trust you did not recommend him merely because he is a friend from your hometown. But the Public Security Committee will have to interrogate this Jeon Bong-jun."
Whether Yun Chi-ho thought he had found a score, or whether he thought he had seized the perfect opportunity to display his loyalty to me, he began relentlessly pressing Kim Gae-nam from start to finish. And Kim Gae-nam's excuses here were a masterpiece in their own right.
"It is true that he was active as a Donghak rebel! But he has already washed his hands of it!"
"Ha? Washed his hands?"
"That is so! Do you think I am mad enough to spout falsehoods before His Excellency? After the revolution succeeded and the Republican government was established, that friend actually urged the students who had joined the Donghak to withdraw, and he himself resigned his post as district leader!"
Kim Gae-nam then explained to me how renowned Jeon Bong-jun was among the peasants of Jeolla, and how, having abandoned the Donghak and joined the Alliance Association, he was diligently spreading the Three Principles of the People in an effort to enlighten the masses—thereby making the case for his innocence.
"I see."
In the end, based on the memories of my previous life that still remained in my head, I was filled with the thought of meeting Jeon Bong-jun in person first.
"I will meet him. Like the two of you, I will interview him myself and make my own judgment."
"Thank you, Your Excellency!"
"A truly generous decision, Your Excellency."
And so that matter was, for the time being, settled.