The New Era (1)
Still before the sun set, a bloodied injured soldier in Jiuliancheng's fortress was howling weirdly, screaming towards all directions.
"The fortress has fallen!"
The news that the southern gate had collapsed in an explosion swept the villages inside and around the fortress in Jiuliancheng with instant panic. As a result, the city was in chaos, people rushing to evacuate, and people started piling towards the northern and western gates that hadn't fallen yet.
Meanwhile, seeing the villagers in turmoil upon hearing the news of the remnants, Sechung realized the situation outside the medical tent and started stomping in place.
"Damn it!"
The heavens are not indifferent; how did he escape from that hell!
He sat quietly on the bed, swallowing his words while looking at Daiching who was staring at him alone.
"What... what am I supposed to do...!"
What else, I have to run away.
Ultimately, Sechung made a decision, grabbed Daiching's hand, lifted him up, and jumped out.
Then, the two of them were met with a chaotic city.
"Evacuate! Evacuate!"
"The Korean army is coming! Everyone run!"
"Kyaaak!!!"
And the fleeing people were divided into two groups.
"Run to the fortress!"
"No! You have to run outside the fortress!"
"Are you out of your mind!? You'll be caught by the Korean cavalry before you even reach Geumsan (Geumseoksan)!"
"On the other hand, the fortress? The fortress is like a mouse in a trap!"
Even though they were all trying to escape, these people were inciting the villagers by saying their words were right. Because of these people, the city would be even more chaotic.
"Hey! Move aside, move aside!"
While screaming that they had to run in all directions, pushing through the crowd of Jiuliancheng people climbing the escape route with pots, little gold, children, and elderly, Sechung, who was taking care of his half-crazed subordinate Daiching, felt like he was going crazy.
Even if luck is bad, it's not that bad; it had only been a few days since the unit was wiped out by those Korean cavalry right across the border in Uiju, which is Korean land, and Jiuliancheng, where he had fled for reorganization, was surrounded and attacked by the Korean army before he even noticed. He had just escaped to the fortress and was rejoicing that he could catch his breath.
"How can he not last a day, a day!"
The problem was that the Jiuliancheng he fled to was not like Uiju, but a border fortress with a large army of about 2,000 in three regiments stationed there.
Was it normal for a fortress city with such a mission to fall in one and a half days, and for the city's people to be terrified by the cruel invaders' visit and flee? Even if the Qing Dynasty was collapsing, it had to be solid.
At that time, Daiching, following the scene of the fleeing villagers with his hazy eyes, grabbed Sechung's collar.
"Daiching?"
When he turned, a drop of drool from Daiching's mouth splashed on him, and a rough voice came out.
"Goo... gu... gu gu ya!"
It was the babbling of a young child, not something a middle-aged man would say.
Sechung, whose legs almost gave out from the sight of Daiching who had truly become a fool, barely regained his composure.
"...Daiching, it's okay. Just go home. Yeah, let's go to our house..."
Startled by the fact that he almost let go of Daiching's hand who had become a fool, trapped in such thoughts, Sechung, who apologized unconsciously, hurriedly grabbed his hand strongly and led him out with firm steps towards the north of the fortress.
"Can't abandon him."
Although not a close friend from hometown, as someone who often inspected units, as a fellow from the same region, Sechung knew the faces and names of his family, neighbors, and friends, so he couldn't abandon Daiching and just run away by himself.
"Idiot?"
He might be an idiot.
Feeling someone cursing him as a fool, Sechung swept his palm over his itchy ear and continued thinking and worrying.
If I cross the mountain, I can go to the capital. Yeah, if I move my feet quickly from now on, I might be able to escape to the west of the capital before the Koreans attack the capital.
And beyond that was his hometown Yingkou. Go there, take his old mother, wife, children, and in-laws, and quickly cross Shanhaiguan with only the things that can be sold in the house.
If I escape by burning all of Liaodong and Liaoxi, I'll live and come back someday.
"......Dead!"
At that time, a soldier who was surprised for a different reason from the south gate, passing by the two men running north, ran in the opposite direction and reported the news.
Pausing for a moment to perk up his ears, the news was even more ominous than the south gate's situation.
"The commander has died!"
With the news that the fortress commander had committed suicide for a different reason from the south gate, and the red flags began to rise one by one from the fortress.
It was a summer day when the scorching heat was in full swing.
*****
Even though the main gate was broken, the Qing soldiers hiding in the civilian houses in Jiuliancheng still hadn't given up on resistance and sometimes attacked the allied troops entering to occupy the fortress and government offices.
"Kyaaak!!!"
Therefore, Han Seong-geun, commander of the 3rd Regiment, deployed his elite soldiers who had achieved great merit in the southern gate occupation as vanguard units into the city interior.
Right, the armored infantry.
"Pow!"
"Wow, this is something."
The armored infantryman who easily broke the head of a Qing soldier who was running towards them half in fear, shouting at the top of his lungs, with his club, shuddered at the sticky feeling.
"It would have been better to be a rifleman..."
If it weren't for the advice of seniors that in narrow alleys, cold weapons like knives were much better than shooting with double-barreled guns wider than shoulders, it would be a curse.
He had been a bugler in the main force, but seeing his tall stature, he regretted the commander who assigned him to an odd unit like armored infantry or heavy infantry in just one day.
When the old man with ambition heard the chaos in Hanyang whether it was a revolution or a counter-coup, he was puzzled.
"Just a few people came down from Hanyang, and in just one night, they were claiming to be Dongmaenghoe members and revolutionaries."
Or was he chewing with saliva and lying skillfully.
Well, thanks to that, he had eaten a lot of the back pay and the weird meat soup that had been missing for a while.
"Just be a rifleman..."
Perhaps the problem was that he had just blankly stared, thinking that the revolution was good because of the back pay and the uniform and weapons given on time by the country.
He realized that in today's battle, he would definitely not return alive.
"Sigh, my fate."
Unlike his peers, the young soldier who had a giant build with one more head than other infantrymen, after retreating to the bloody alley, shook his club covered with strange fluid that might be brain or blood in the air.
Unlike the stinky bloody alley, the relatively stable cityscape filled his vision.
"Those who can speak Korean, come forward!"
"Manage the Jiuliancheng officials, officers, and missionaries, cooperate with the army!"
"Evacuation is only to the eastern gate! North and west gates are closed, south gate is collapsed and unusable! Go to the eastern gate!"
The officers of the 3rd Regiment, who had mobilized diplomatic staff dispatched from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the court, did their best to calm the sporadic resistance of the Jiuliancheng people and Qing soldiers.
"..."
The attitude of the Republican soldiers treating the chaotic citizens of the city and farmers who flocked from nearby villages, surrendering soldiers who clasped their hands behind their heads and surrendered weapons, and soldiers who surrendered, was somewhat decent.
They freely treated them with the expression that they didn't care if the Qing people were leaving Jiuliancheng to flee, but they never allowed access to the south gate, which would become the advance route and supply line of the allied forces.
Was it because they distinguished between merit and demerit?
"Hmm."
The soldier who was about to say that it was relatively peaceful for having occupied the fortress, tightened his lips.
The young girl with a sad face or the old man muttering to himself were likely the families of the Qing soldiers who died in this fortress.
Of course, it could be a needless sentiment for the occupiers, but anyway, the fact that people died here was unchanging, so the soldier swallowed the uncomfortable emotions and sympathy under his throat, holding the bloody club and wandering to find another alley.
His name was Hong Beom-do.
17 years old, an armored infantryman of the 3rd Regiment who announced the first victory of the northern expedition.
*****
Soon after the approval of Operation Blue, a telegram arrived at the Wolf's Lair with only two sentences.
Jiuliancheng fell, Yalu River crossing initiated
It was a victory.
"Things went smoother than expected."
"Thank you, Mr. President!"
I frowned at the pungent cigarette smoke and the occasional spicy alcohol smell coming from the officers' mouths, then smiled brightly, relaxed my tense shoulders, and buried myself in the backrest.
A sense of relief weighed on my whole body.
I had thought that if the first battle was a defeat, I would impose media control.
Everything went well.
I nodded with a satisfied expression, glancing at the communication device in the corner of the Wolf's Lair that regularly made 'beep' sounds.
What was its true identity? The telegraph.
Was it the power of war?
Originally, the telegraph line between Busan and the US companies in Busan, supported by French Far East Squadron, was installed half a year earlier than October 1885 when it was supposed to be handed over to the Qing.
Of course, the reason was to quickly receive news from Liaodong and Manchuria by the French command and US western capitalists.
Connecting Uiju to Busan. As expected, it's more open than Japan or Qing.
The people who actively persuaded our government, which had planned to install the telegraph first in Pyongyang and Jemulpo, were none other than American businessmen.
Thanks to them, they saw this Far East war as an opportunity to open a new Asian market and at the same time seize the moment to regain influence and opportunity in East Asia for the United States, which had lost considerable influence due to the previous civil war.
"Huh, in just 30 minutes, the battle result is transmitted, which will be a great help in strategy formulation."
Of course.
In the long natural border spanning the Yalu and Tumen rivers, our Republican army was few in number.
The 3rd Regiment, which was leading the vanguard of the northern expedition, and the regiments of Pyeong'an and Hamgyeong provinces were elite but extremely few in the vast environment of Manchuria and Liaodong.
Unless I take personal charge, all military communications and supply plans are decided in the Wolf's Lair.
If there was no telegraph, it would have caused considerable hardships for the northern expeditionary force.
There were no reports of supply problems, ammunition shortage, or grain distribution issues yet, which was truly fortunate.
The order to immediately report to the headquarters and Wolf's Lair upon setting up the telegraph office had a big impact.
Even if the army advances to the capital, it will be a bit frustrating from then on.
The closest telegraph office to the front line was the temporary headquarters in Uiju, so as the Republican army gradually extended to Liaodong and Manchuria, information from the front line might be delivered a bit late, but it was still fast.
In other words, the more time passed, the more they couldn't just wait for news in the Wolf's Lair like now.
I should visit the front line once.
In the Wolf's Lair where everyone was planning their joys and next schedules, only one person had a cautious attitude.
I, who discovered him, opened my mouth after loosening my clenched jaw.
"Do you have any other thoughts?"
"Yes, sir."
He was Yang Heon-su, the Minister of Military Affairs.