The Gathering Storm
The air was thick with the scent of impending war.
“If it can be of help to the Countess, then I suppose I can lend a hand.”
“We need to bring the Emperor, who’s only getting in the way, to Gando.”
Right. Help bring the Emperor here. A Russian businessman shouldn’t have too much trouble getting close to him. And if that businessman happens to be of Korean descent, Emperor Gojong will probably welcome him with open arms. Just bring a few soldiers from here, kidnap the Emperor, and that should do it. We’ll have to make sure to disguise ourselves as Japanese in case we get caught. That part’s non-negotiable.
“!! Do you even realize what you’re saying right now?”
Of course I do. All of this is ultimately about reviving this pathetic excuse for an empire. Even if the country gets flipped upside down, it should be flipped by Korean hands. Don’t you agree?
“Everything that’s happened is the Emperor’s doing. He’s led the nation straight into the gutter and invited the invasion of the Western powers. Now the fate of the country is tilting toward those damn Japanese. I may have risen to the rank of Countess in Gando under your patronage, but that’s nothing but a fleeting illusion. It’s no different from a last burst of light before the end. If we want to fundamentally rebuild the Korean Empire from here—”
At least the Northern Army is strong. If we get our heads on straight now, we might still be able to land a solid blow against the Anglo-Japanese Alliance. That means we’ll need to accelerate the migration to the north even more.
“So you want to bring the Emperor here and do with him as you please?”
Anyone listening might think I’m planning to turn him into a puppet. This is nothing more than a patriotic act.
“Oh no, that’s not what I meant at all. It’s purely out of loyalty that we must convince him to move the capital to Gando. Right now, His Majesty is being toyed with by the honeyed tongues of Britain and Japan. I simply wish to set things right.”
Bring the Emperor here, make him publicly declare that the Anglo-Japanese Alliance was unjust, claim he had been threatened and had no choice, then distribute manifestos across the country calling for righteous armies to rise up. Of course, we’d need to craft a plausible scenario for all that.
“It’s a good idea, but…”
Righteous armies would rise up across the land and threaten the Japanese rear. Even if the Emperor himself objected, it had to be done. That was exactly what I was aiming for.
The long-standing Korean tradition, our passive skill: the righteous army. This righteous army meta was precisely what would harass the Japanese forces from behind during this war. Obviously, I couldn’t say that out loud.
Choi Jae-hyung put the nation and its people before blind loyalty to the Emperor, so I figured he might actually go for it.
“You’ll probably think it’s too radical. But at this point, there’s no other way to change His Majesty’s mind.”
“And what do you plan to do after that?”
After that? It was obvious. Either shatter the country or save it. One or the other. No matter how I looked at it, Emperor Gojong wasn’t going to cut it. We’d have to establish a military government with Yi Beom-yun as the figurehead, then transition into a constitutional monarchy under Emperor Sunjong.
“If we don’t overhaul everything from the ground up, this country has no future. I’ll come up with a suitable scenario, so all I need from you is your cooperation. The military has been threatened by the Japanese, so shouldn’t we encourage the righteous armies to take up arms?”
“What if I report all of this to the homeland?”
Report it if you want. If you do, I’ll just use whatever means necessary before the war breaks out, march the Northern Army straight into Hanseong, and drag Gojong off the throne myself. But would he really say anything?
Choi Jae-hyung must already know there was no hope left in Gojong. After all, the arm bends inward. He wouldn’t be happy about Gojong wanting to fight Russia. I decided to be direct. I hated beating around the bush, especially when the situation was this urgent. Normally I wouldn’t spout this kind of thing, but with this man, there was no need to hold back.
“You really are an extraordinary woman.”
“I’m not doing this to hear compliments like that.”
I’m doing all this to save my own skin. At the very least, I have to prevent the future I came from from ever happening. I still don’t know exactly which era that “alternate history gallery” post was from, but it clearly meant a world that hadn’t been nuked yet—or one that would never be. In that case, I’d have to tighten my belt here and drag the Korean Empire all the way to the top.
“Is there anything else I can help with?”
“Actually, I have a brilliant idea. Would you be interested in starting a new business?”
Something like the military industry, if possible. Something even better. Not just blocking the enemy, but crushing them.
“What kind of business?”
“It’s called airplanes. What do you think?”
If we could get them before the Russo-Japanese War, that would be great, but the war with Japan wouldn’t end with just that conflict. In the worst-case scenario, if the entire Korean Peninsula fell, we’d have to launch an invasion of the mainland from Manchuria. We’d need to overwhelm them with technological superiority. If our strength wasn’t enough, we had to at least secure Manchuria as an unbreakable defensive line. And if we could develop them faster than expected, showing off superior technology wouldn’t hurt. Ideally, the war would break out quickly and end quickly, but of course that was just wishful thinking from the alternate history gallery perspective.
I almost asked him for more information about Ok Jin-seo but stopped myself. Relying on him too much felt wrong.
“If it’s Choi Jae-hyung, I can trust him. This much should be fine.”
I copied all the materials by hand right in front of him and handed them over. He should have enough starting capital for the initial business, so building airplanes should be possible. We mustn’t hand them over to Japan. They had to be used by our side as much as possible.
The only question was how Russia would react. For now, it was better to claim we knew nothing. The question was how much to reveal.
If I told them too much, they might get suspicious. They could even think I was feeding them false information in case I ended up chasing the Emperor and turning against Russia. We were already preparing defenses in Manchuria. In that case, it was better to give them just one light, fresh piece of information.
“The Japanese are the kind of bastards who attack without a declaration of war.”
That should be enough. For Russia to achieve complete victory, it would be best if Japan got crushed at sea as well. Only if Russia wins overwhelmingly can we properly deal with Japan later. Setting aside my hatred for them, if we let a country like Japan survive in this era, even if we don’t become a colony, we’ll always be under the threat of attack. So when the opportunity comes, we have to strike hard.
St. Petersburg, Russian Empire.
Upon receiving news of the Anglo-Japanese-Korean Alliance, Nicholas II flew into a towering rage. How long had it been since they signed a mutual defense treaty? And now Corea was stabbing him in the back like this?
“The Anglo-Japanese-Korean Alliance? What the hell is this supposed to mean?! Are you telling me the Corean Emperor has betrayed me?!”
Nicholas II’s pride was shredded to pieces. He had generously granted them land in Gando, a mere weak nation in the Far East, and had turned a blind eye to many things, yet these bastards had crossed the line completely. And it hadn’t even been that long since they had brought up the mutual defense treaty.
“The Corean Emperor has dared to disrespect the Tsar of all the Russias. We must send our armies immediately and crush them.”
This incident was a matter of Russian pride, and there was also the possibility that Manchuria would come under pressure from the Triple Alliance. That could only lead to war. Britain would undoubtedly stay in the back as usual, watching and providing support. The Korean Empire’s military was nothing more than a handful of men, so Japan would be the main force.
“What did Countess Ok Jin-seo have to say?”
What would that Countess say? Depending on how she responded, there might be calls that the Korean forces in Southern Manchuria could no longer be tolerated. Of course, since Ok Jin-seo was the benefactor who had saved Alexei, if she chose to stand with Russia, he had no intention of touching her.
“She says the Emperor was provoked because she received the title of Countess. The Emperor claimed he would handle it himself. She also said that surprise attacks without a declaration of war are part of Japanese culture, and requested that we prepare only to defend Manchuria.”
Prepare for war. Yes. The fact that Britain and Japan were openly boasting about it was proof that war was not far off. In that case, they had to prepare for war.
“Shouldn’t we withdraw our ships anchored at Jemulpo?”
Around this time, Russian warships were anchored at Jemulpo in the Korean Empire. If Japan attacked, the Korean Empire would be attacked as well, and the ships at Yongampo would be sunk.
“We cannot trust Ok Jin-seo’s words alone. If we end up preparing for nothing, it might be seen as needless provocation.”
It would only give the three nations justification. The Qing, who had already lost Manchuria, wouldn’t sit still. For now, staying quiet was the best option. That half-baked army of theirs might even try to attack Russia again.
“She is the benefactor who saved Alexei. Her words must be correct. Prepare the fleet in Vladivostok and Dalian for war.”
“Your Majesty. It is not yet time for war.”
Sergei Witte of the Ministry of Finance stepped forward in strong opposition. This was wrong. They hadn’t even shown open hostility yet. With the troops already stationed in the Far East, war shouldn’t break out. Logically speaking, would those yellow monkeys really start a war?
“Not yet time for war?”
“First of all, there is the budget issue. We are in the middle of industrialization. If we go to war now, industrialization will fail. Besides, we must also consider the budget being diverted to Manchuria to support Countess Ok Jin-seo.”
Minister of Finance Sergei Witte had carried out extensive industrialization during his tenure, and the same was happening here. The problem was that it wasn’t just industrialization. The Tsar, bewitched by that girl in the Far East, had spared no expense in supporting Manchuria.
“We’re not pouring all our strength into Japan, are we? If we only mobilize the Far East Army, industrialization can be paused briefly and still be resolved, can’t it?”
“Your Majesty. It would be better to give up on the Korean Peninsula. We can use that Countess together with the Viceroy of the Far East to mount a defense.”
After all, Korean forces were already in Southern Manchuria. In the worst case, they could be mobilized to block any army advancing north from the Yalu River.
“No. Even so, I cannot forgive that insolent Corean Emperor. My loyal subject risked her life in Russia to save my child, and this is how he behaves?!”
“Your Majesty!”
“Mobilize our loyal Russian Far East Army and the Countess’s army in Gando. We will march all the way to the Korean Peninsula and hand it over to the Countess!”
It wasn’t as if she was even trying to receive a Russian name. Wasn’t it too much to go this far for someone who had merely received a noble title as a formality?
“Oh, dear God. This cannot be.”
Sergei Witte let out a groan, desperately hoping it would not come to war. Although the Russo-Japanese War was progressing more slowly than in the original history, allowing Russia’s industrialization to advance, the Tsar’s decision was firm.
Naturally, France, which was cooperating with Russia, clutched the back of its neck in dismay. With the Korean-British-Japanese alliance aiming for Manchuria and Russia preparing for war, the shadow of conflict hung heavily over the Korean Peninsula and Manchuria.