The Cavalry Charge on 203 Hill (2)
203 Hill was still locked in battle. Japan was surely running out of time. They needed to land a decisive blow against Russia and strike at our rear. But realistically, that was no longer possible. The Russo-Japanese War had begun with a surprise attack that gave them the initiative, yet this time their ambush had failed and they had killed the emperor of an allied nation. They must be terrified of being discovered by the Korean Empire's army at any moment. The choice was ours now. It was time to break this thin ice.
I would personally lead the 1st Cavalry Regiment of the Gando Army—formerly the Sapodae—into this battle. I assembled the regiment from the cavalrymen who had crossed into Gando, plundering and crushing Qing forces. Among them were even some Manchus who had collaborated with us, hoping to profit from the chaos.
“As the administrator of Shenyang, I ask you: are you afraid of the Japanese?”
“If we fear those bastards, we are not true sons of Korea!”
“We will avenge the Sino-Japanese War!”
“Good. From this moment, we enter combat with Japan. Our destination is Lushun! We will drive our blades into the backs of those bastards and sweep them from Manchuria!”
The men roared. I spurred the cavalry regiment forward. Leading a direct charge with cavalry sounded entertaining enough.
“Do you truly intend to take only the cavalry regiment, my lord?”
Kim In-soo approached just as we were about to depart. This fellow had been acting suspicious for a while. Was he watching me as a Russian, or was he here as a subject of the Korean Empire? Either way, something felt off. I wondered if he harbored some sinister plan to stab me in the back.
“Of course. As always, I will lead from the front.”
With the emperor already dead, it hardly mattered what schemes he might hatch.
“It is dangerous. And you are a woman—”
That kind of remark was dangerous. In the old Korea before the nuclear age, he would have been buried for saying it. A woman's body was irrelevant now.
“When the nation is in peril, what use is gender? Anyone who would hesitate in such a moment is nothing but a pro-Japanese traitor.”
Honestly, given the Korean Empire's current strength, we probably needed to conscript women as well. Russia might endure for a moment if they still had the Wanli Emperor's era, but once revolution erupted they would collapse quickly. When that day came, the Korean Empire would have to stand alone. We needed to reform the army in preparation, to face both Qing and Japan. Qing would almost certainly attack us. We also had to consider the possibility of internal collapse, but after the humiliation they suffered at my hands, they would surely attempt reforms. That would be troublesome.
Even if we managed to unify Manchuria, our population would double, allowing us to match Japan in numbers. Raw national power, however, was another matter. Leading only the cavalry regiment would suffice. With my immortal body acting as a meat shield, I could shatter Nogi's exhausted troops on 203 Hill. Of course, it all depended on my charisma. My personal strength did not automatically make my subordinates strong.
“Even if the cavalry regiment strikes their flank, victory is not guaranteed, is it?”
“Normally, no.”
But I would not die. When I encountered Kuroki's army near Pyongyang, those men had been slaughtered while screaming about demons. Would it be any different here? When an undying being appears and carves through their ranks with a sword, their formation would crumble in terror—especially while they were assaulting the hill. What I truly aimed for was Nogi's head.
“I will take Nogi's head. Once that happens, they will collapse instantly.”
If I severed Nogi's head precisely when the Japanese were most disoriented, would they not break immediately? I was staking everything on that moment. My subordinates could stake everything as well—though they had nothing left to stake. Still, it meant I saw real possibility in this plan.
“It is dangerous.”
Why did Kim In-soo keep insisting it was dangerous? War itself was dangerous. There was a saying that old men started wars while young men died in them. I had no intention of letting the cavalry regiment be wiped out in a battle I had essentially started by taking command of the regiment.
“Is there any situation right now that is not dangerous? The fate of the nation hangs in the balance.”
This Russo-Japanese War was truly our last chance. It was almost too late, but it remained the final window in which Korea could avoid colonization. So I had to seize it by the throat and step forward myself.
“Hmm.”
When the nation was in crisis, a superhuman had to appear and save it. Korea had always been that way. Even when everyone was corrupt, one or two superhumans would emerge to rescue the country. Those superhumans had never managed to fix the nation, but if I wanted to survive, I had to tear this Korean Empire apart and rebuild it. Whether the country's name changed and it was reborn as something else, as long as it remained a nation of the Korean people, it did not matter. This Russo-Japanese War would be the beginning.
I would distinguish myself and elevate Yi Beom-yun to the top.
“Major Kim, I would like you to continue serving as our liaison.”
“This is truly insane… Ugh.”
Whether it was insane or not made no difference. This was a fight I would finish alone anyway. I would not die. There was a chance the cavalry regiment could be annihilated in this battle, but drawing attention would be enough.
“I have already died once, so I am not particularly afraid.”
One fortunate thing was that Oyama Iwao had decided to use the Korean Empire's army as expendable material rather than slaughtering or disarming them. From the Japanese perspective, with no hope of defeating the Russians, they had no choice but to grasp at straws.
At the Russian camp on 203 Hill, throats were parched. Watching those mad Nipponese soldiers charge up the hill and turn into chunks of meat had been satisfying at first. But as casualties mounted, even the Russian troops began to feel the heat of that madness at their backs.
“When in the world will those bastards retreat?”
“They seem determined to see this through to the end. They probably believe that winning here is the only way to gain anything.”
“True. They even killed the emperor of an allied nation.”
“They are truly foolish.”
“The naval battle is not over yet.”
“They say the Baltic Fleet will join soon.”
Lieutenant General Anatoly Stessel and Major General Roman Kondratenko both wished this tedious battle would end quickly. If only the fleet would arrive sooner and settle the naval engagement, they could finally see some kind of conclusion. The 7th Rifle Division under Kondratenko on the hill had also suffered heavy losses.
“Your Excellency! A new army has appeared!”
“A new army?”
“They claim to be Corean troops.”
“Does that mean Corea has come to aid Nippon? After Nippon killed their own emperor?”
What in the world were these soldiers doing? It was absurd beyond belief.
“Perhaps they simply do not know yet? Corea relies on Nippon for communications, after all.”
These idiots. Well, if they were Coreans, they were even more backward than Russia, so it was possible. I had heard their forces numbered nearly eighty thousand. If all of Corea's troops had arrived, things could become dangerous. Even if used as meat shields, their numbers would eventually overwhelm the Russian lines.
“Damn it all. At this rate we will not be able to hold.”
Although the situation favored them, there was no telling when reinforcements would reach this hill.
“Would it not be better to launch a preemptive strike?”
“A preemptive strike?”
Abandon the advantage of defense and fight down below? Simply holding the position should have been enough.
“With Corea joining the fight, we will be outnumbered. It would be better to descend first and crush the Nipponese.”
In truth, after fiercely attacking 203 Hill, supplies were running low. Because the war had been delayed by two years, the Japanese had prepared thoroughly. If they dragged things out further, they could repel the Japanese not only here but everywhere. But if the Korean army—essentially Japan's second division—joined the attack, 203 Hill would be in jeopardy.
In the original history, Stessel would have surrendered without holding out any longer. But with two years of preparation and supplies and troops still remaining, he calculated that one decisive engagement was worth attempting.
‘Then shall we have a go?’
Yes. While morale was still high, fighting one battle would not be a bad idea. They could deliver a finishing blow before the Corean army linked up, then prepare for defense again. After all, once the Nipponese were broken, the Corean army—mere numbers without substance—would be nothing.
“Let us fight.”
“It is too dangerous.”
“We are going to die either way! Very well. We move at once! Men! Let us descend from this plateau and slaughter those monkey bastards climbing up!”
“Tsar, hurrah! Russian Empire, hurrah!”
Unfortunately, the Russian Imperial Army, believing the Korean Empire's forces had come to join the Japanese, charged down the hill and began attacking the Japanese troops.
Meanwhile, the Japanese were on the verge of madness. Japan and Britain had spent two years pouring their very souls into raising an eighty-thousand-strong Korean Empire army to use in this war, and now it was marching toward them. Nogi Maresuke, who had already received word that the Joseon emperor had been killed by Kuroki's First Army, could only grow extremely tense. He had no idea whether those troops had come to coordinate with Russia or to aid Japan.
Imperial General Headquarters wanted to use them up as much as possible, but realistically, there was no way to be certain that the news had not reached the troops who had crossed from the Korean Peninsula—whether they were demonstration units or guard units. Realizing they might be surrounded from both front and rear, Nogi Maresuke grew even more tense. He had to break through either 203 Hill or the Korean army.
The Russians struck the already-tense Japanese forces with a clean blow.
“M-madness. A counterattack at a time like this!”
“This is actually fortunate! If things have come to this, we might as well settle it once and for all!”
The Japanese, who had been purely on the defensive moments earlier, were momentarily flustered when the Russians attacked. They quickly regained their composure, their eyes burning with renewed ferocity, and engaged the Russians in close combat. With the Korean army's potential strike looming, they had no choice but to fight to the death.
Each side had its own reasons, and their interests clashed violently. Nogi Maresuke had already lost both sons in this war—Nogi Katsunori at Namsan and Nogi Yasusuke here on 203 Hill. Not only that, most of the troops he had brought this far had perished on the hill. At the very least, he needed to seize 203 Hill and strike a blow against the Russians to contribute to the empire's victory, so that he could face his sons in death.
“Damn those yellow bastards!”
“The hairy barbarians cannot overcome the imperial army's bushido spirit! Long live His Majesty the Emperor! Long live the Empire of Japan!”
Crack! Bang! Crunch! Boom!
Whether those men died or these men died, it was time to see the end. A brutal melee began, washing blood with blood. Neither side yielded an inch, glaring at each other like mortal enemies as they slaughtered one another, casualties piling up like snow.
Thud! Bang! Thud! Boom!
It was as if hell itself had descended beneath the sky. The desperate infantry battle between the white nation and the yellow nation continued without pause. Stabbing with bayonets, riddling bodies with bullets, and turning men into minced meat with explosives, the area around 203 Hill became drenched in Russian and Japanese blood.
The Korean army watching from afar was left speechless. After some time, the Japanese finally gained the upper hand. Driven by the pressure of having killed Gojong and the fear of being caught in a pincer attack, the Japanese—more desperate for victory than the Russians, who had enjoyed greater leeway in supplies and troops than in the original history—pushed back the now supply-starved Russian forces and climbed toward 203 Hill.
If they could occupy it quickly, they could stop those damned Joseon troops. With that thought, Nogi Maresuke ascended 203 Hill. But then—
Buuuuoooo!
“What is that sound? A bugle? What is that crow flag?”
“It is the army of the Count of Southern Manchuria!”
A Russian soldier who had been engaged with the Japanese shouted, and only then did the Japanese notice the cavalry force approaching from their rear. The sight of the cavalry charging in every direction left them gaping. Nogi Maresuke recalled the Sapodae, the special Korean unit said to have established itself in Gando and Southern Manchuria. He had heard they were not ordinary Joseon troops carrying the crow flag, and the Japanese had repeatedly sent envoys to the count's domain requesting military support, warning them not to betray Japan.
Now that very army was charging toward the Japanese. Though not numerous, they formed a regiment-sized cavalry force, led at the front by a woman.
“Impossible. A woman?”
Unlike the other cavalrymen armed with rifles, she held only a saber. A pistol hung at her waist, and she also carried a blood-soaked hand axe. Having just repelled the Russians, the Japanese troops who had been desperately climbing 203 Hill lacked the strength to stop the cavalry regiment pressing in from behind.