It Was All Thanks to Ok Jin-seo
It was all thanks to Ok Jin-seo.
“Look here, Count. How do you suppose the various nations will see this? The emperor is dead. We’ll look ridiculous.”
“It is precisely the gaze of those nations that matters.”
Since a battle had broken out in Hanseong, there was no way the legations hadn’t noticed. Some kind of reaction would arrive before long. If righteous armies rose up, the Japanese forces inside Korea would move as well, and attacks on Japanese troops would begin in Pyongyang or wherever else. Regrettably, because Britain and Japan had chosen Korea as the staging ground for their Second Army to strike Russia, they had significantly improved both the quality and quantity of their troops. Even the volunteer militias would be of a higher standard than before. It would be enough if the Jinwidae from each region simply stood against them.
“Britain’s own ally stabbed the Joseon queen with a blade, and now they’ve killed the king. How do you think they will view this incident? There is already precedent, so they will assume a king may be killed as well. That would wound the mighty pride of the British Empire—knowing their ally is nothing but a barbaric little country.”
They had killed both the queen and the emperor. No matter how weak the opponent, Japan would now be seen as a barbaric state.
“Indeed. That does make sense.”
Choi Jae-hyung narrowed his eyes and nodded, as though running calculations in his head.
Yes. Exactly.
“Whether they believe it or not is irrelevant. What the world sees is what matters.”
After all, I had been planning to kill him myself. If I did the deed, I intended to spread the rumor to Japan immediately. It was common knowledge among the great powers that Empress Myeongseong had been murdered by the Japanese; they simply kept quiet about it. How each country’s ministers would perceive this incident was something I genuinely looked forward to. But more than that, I was curious how Britain—the true power behind this Russo-Japanese War—would react.
“Still, I should spread the news in Hanseong first.”
Now that things had reached this point, every nation needed to witness it. I would visit the German, French, and American legations first, then the British one. In any case, Oyama Iwao was preparing for a decisive battle with Russia; he would not have the leisure to attack the Sapodae in Southern Manchuria and Gando right now. Time was a little short, but whatever. The important thing was to obstruct them from the Korean peninsula. Rather than offering the bare minimum of sympathy, I made sure to inform other countries so that Japan would be thoroughly humiliated.
I slipped secretly into Hanseong and made the rounds of the legations one by one.
“Is it true that Korea’s Kaiser has died?”
“I fear the Japanese troops who have seized Hanseong may desecrate His Majesty’s corpse. Please, help us from Germany.”
I went to the German minister first. Although our relationship had recently soured, Britain’s ally still maintained a legation in Korea—unlike in the original history—and this was one of them.
“How could such a barbaric act occur!”
I visited the French legation, the nation of revolution, and told whichever diplomat or minister I could reach that Japan had assassinated the emperor. “Please inform the world of our Majesty’s unjust death. Also make it known that the Japan-Britain-Korea alliance itself was formed under British pressure. Our Emperor even attempted to assume direct rule, considering the war stakes.”
“Japan—those bastards must be insane because we helped them!”
“From the free nation of the United States of America, please condemn Japan for murdering an allied monarch.”
Even in America, which supported Japan, the news caused an uproar. The last stop was Britain.
“The Japan that your country cherishes so dearly has assassinated our Emperor. If you doubt it, your legation staff should visit His Majesty’s tomb by now. See for yourselves.”
“What?”
I delivered the message bluntly to the British and immediately headed back to Manchuria. Afraid of being pursued by Japanese troops? If they chased me, I would simply smash their skulls in. It wasn’t difficult.
Who stood with whom or who supported whom did not matter. Just in case Britain tried to cover it up like the Eulmi Incident, I spread the rumor to every corner of every other country. I visited every single legation there was and bragged about it as if it were something to be proud of.
The British Legation in Korea was in chaos over the recent events in Hanseong.
Bang!
Minister Jordan, who understood Korean affairs better than anyone, had remained in his post even after the Japan-Britain-Korea alliance, offering advice to the Korean side on various matters. The tragedy that had occurred only yesterday was the problem.
“Those barbaric monkeys.”
Jordan furrowed his brow fiercely. The Korean emperor, who had left Hanseong to assume direct rule, had been attacked and killed by Japanese troops—their own allies. And what of the palace in Hanseong? When things went awry, those insane Japanese had attacked the palace, clashed with the allied Korean army, and ultimately seized it.
The Japanese, whom they had thought at least partially civilized. An ally of the British Empire had committed such an absurd act.
“They knew about our plans!”
Kuroki Tamemoto, who had occupied Hanseong, protested, but to Jordan it simply looked as if a civilized Japan had regressed into a non-civilized country, reduced to monkeys screeching.
“Knowing is not the issue. The problem is that the emperor is dead! Not only our British legation but every other legation has seen the emperor’s body! In blunt terms, what do you suppose would happen if your own emperor were assassinated by Koreans?”
The old general Kuroki Tamemoto swallowed his rage and ground his teeth. It was not only the British Empire forces. Damn it all—the American, German, and French ministers had all witnessed it. A kind Korean female soldier had gone around boasting to every legation that her emperor was dead, resulting in the insane spectacle of each country’s ministers, accompanied by their legation guards, recovering the Korean emperor’s corpse. Thanks to her, insults from Germany and France were the baseline reaction.
“In this age of civilization, for an allied army to murder a nation’s monarch—can such a thing truly happen?”
“Minister Jordan, speak. Are those non-civilized Japanese wretches truly your country’s ally?”
“They killed my close friend the emperor! What about my gold-mine venture!”
Germany and France. Every nation mocked Japan for assassinating a monarch and his consort, then turned their ridicule on Britain for allying with such a country. Even in the midst of this, Horace Newton Allen, the American minister, was busy protecting his Unsan gold-mine interests; the man clearly wasn’t in his right mind.
Jordan clenched his jaw. When the home government had insisted he take up the post of minister again, he should have found any excuse to be replaced. The British Empire itself was the same. They should have realized from the moment they stabbed the Joseon queen with a sword. Helping these barbaric creatures and handing over even a portion of Chinese territory now felt bitterly regrettable.
This had gone beyond anything Britain could cover up. Every nation had learned of the incident. That kind Korean female soldier had spread the news everywhere, as if she wanted to boast that her country’s emperor was dead. He did not know who the woman was, but the existence of the emperor’s corpse as evidence, combined with the Japanese army’s occupation of the palace and taking of the crown prince as hostage, made everything painfully clear.
Ernest Bethell—an Englishman who may have been Korean in a previous life—had founded a newspaper with Koreans and splashed the incident across the front page.
“Ambassador, we truly knew nothing about this. We never expected matters to reach this point!”
Japan’s wartime diplomat Komura Jutaro, upon receiving the news from Korea, had rushed to the British ambassador to Japan, Maxwell Macdonald, and desperately insisted that they had known nothing about the Korean emperor’s death.
“If you did not expect this outcome, you should not have attempted it in the first place. How long must the British Empire continue cleaning up after you?”
“We are truly sorry.”
Komura Jutaro could do nothing but hang his head. Joseon had always been something they intended to devour, but at present it was an allied nation. Yet they had shot the emperor of that allied nation, and their troops had run wild in Hanseong, occupying the city and taking the crown prince hostage. Macdonald was lucky he had not clutched the back of his neck and collapsed.
“Because of this incident, rebel armies will rise across the Korean peninsula seeking revenge for their emperor. The war with Russia is already going badly. If we now face threats from behind, what then? We turned a blind eye to the queen’s death and pretended not to know. The British Empire knows nothing! Even if we could say that, what on earth were you thinking when you killed the emperor?”
Killing a monarch was an act beyond comprehension, no matter how many times one considered it. Was this simply their traditional way of doing things?
“I have no words except to apologize.”
“The initial surprise attack already failed, and the Baltic Fleet will soon join them. What do you plan to do? Were you simply venting your frustration on Korea?”
From the moment Japan—already far from Russia—lost the advantage of a surprise attack, the war had been half-lost. Japan, inferior in national strength, had failed even at that surprise attack. Although they had won several battles in Manchuria, the problem was that the twenty million Koreans of Korea had now become Japan’s complete enemies. Not only that, over eighty thousand Korean troops belonged to the Japanese-Manchurian allied forces. Adding the famous Sapodae brought the number above one hundred thousand. If those forces turned hostile and stabbed the Japanese army in the back?
To check Russian expansion, Britain would eventually have to step in. Must the British Empire shed the blood of its precious soldiers for these barbaric wretches?
For a moment the thought ‘Why not let Britain occupy Korea instead?’ crossed his mind, but he shook his head. Britain, too, would find it burdensome to fight Russian armies on land. ‘Has the British Empire become this powerless?’
The Russo-Japanese War had been ruined by the single death of the Korean emperor. If Britain actively supported Japan now, it would be seen as a nation that aids barbarians. Britain could do nothing but watch.
And in Manchuria, Japanese commander Oyama Iwao could only let out a bitter laugh at the news from Hanseong.
“Damn it all. The war situation wasn’t looking good to begin with.”
The situation was neither good nor bad. Put another way, for Japan—already inferior in national power to Russia—continuing on this parallel course meant their forces in Manchuria might eventually be worn down by Russia’s greater strength.
“What happens now that the Joseon emperor is dead?”
They were already in a difficult position. Yet the commander of the First Army, Kuroki Tamemoto, had suddenly seized Hanseong and killed the emperor. Did that make any logical sense? Of course, the original plan had been to retreat and occupy Joseon if the war went poorly, but this was simply too ugly.
There was only one option left. The Joseon army’s communications depended entirely on the Japanese. They would use that to keep the truth hidden.
“Hide this from the Joseon army as much as possible.”
“Shouldn’t we attack the Joseon army?”
He wanted to. But the late emperor had drastically increased the size of the military—even if the troops were a rabble—and the numbers had grown enormously.
“The Joseon army alone now exceeds eighty thousand. The Russian forces are still numerous. We have no time to waste men and resources fighting them. We must engage in battle before the news reaches the Joseon troops.”
No matter how weak the Joseon army might be, eighty thousand was not a number to ignore. They had to fight as quickly as possible and use the Joseon troops as a shield to increase enemy losses.
Alexei Kuropatkin, commander of the Russian Far Eastern ground forces, could only laugh in disbelief. Even before a proper fight, he had to hear about these monkeys’ idiotic behavior.
“Attacking their own ally? The bastards have lost their minds.”
“Shouldn’t we switch to the offensive soon?”
Bezobrazov, appointed as Viceroy of the Far East in a manner similar to the original history, was pressing for an immediate attack. Kuropatkin could not simply sit still. Besides, now was the perfect opportunity.
“It may indeed be possible right now. Hurry the preparations for the offensive. Send word to the Countess of Southern Manchuria as well and propose a joint attack. Tell her that helping now is the only way to save Korea.”
Inside Russia, the dominant opinion was that the despicable Korean emperor should be punished and the Korean Empire annexed. However, the imperial family and nobility had decided—citing Ok Jin-seo—to postpone any judgment on Korea until after the war.
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
The assassination of the Korean emperor by Japan, their ally. Japan, which had failed even at its surprise attack and lost every advantage. Russia, which had switched to defense and timidly blocked the enemy. The war drew the world’s attention for all the wrong reasons.
The Russo-Japanese War was spiraling into a vortex of terrible chaos.
And it was all thanks to Ok Jin-seo.