A Botched War
“That may be true, but at this rate the Russian army won’t even be able to properly garrison the hill.”
“We have no choice thanks to those Corea forces.”
Well, that’s understandable. After all, on the surface Korea is Japan’s ally. “They also knew about the Emperor’s death and were preparing to launch a pincer attack on the Japanese army as soon as they were ready.”
“Ha… haha. Why did we have to die like this?”
Kondratenko laughed hollowly. It made sense—he’d made one miscalculation and ended up like this. No, they had technically won, yet it felt no different from defeat. And I was the one who had warned them.
“Let’s do this. Hand 203 Hill over to the Korean army. They’ve come here as allied forces.”
“Corea betrayed us and sided with the Japanese. Why should we?”
Exactly. That’s all the more reason to do it. I’m about to make Kondratenko an offer he’ll love.
“We’ll report to St. Petersburg that we resolved our hostile relations with Russia thanks to our contribution in aiding you, and that the Russian defenders of 203 Hill were on the verge of being overrun but survived thanks to Korean support. How does that sound? Honestly, even you must not be pleased that faulty intelligence created this mess, Colonel. Instead of insufficient Russian troops, allied Korean forces will garrison the hill. That should suffice, no?”
I’d even prepared the justification. With this, he could at least pretend it wasn’t too bad.
“……”
Kondratenko seemed to hesitate for a moment, then accepted my proposal. After all, he didn’t know the full picture, and faulty intelligence had led him to descend the hill and create a bloodbath with the Japanese. He simply didn’t want to take the fall along with Stessel. It made sense—he’d defended the hill successfully; why share blame with a superior who had gotten so many Russians killed? If anything, Stessel’s death had only made things more troublesome for Kondratenko.
“By the way, why did you use the war drum?”
Kim In-soo again. Why did this guy keep popping up beside me? No matter how I looked at it, he seemed like some kind of surveillance agent. He probably wasn’t from the Korean Empire, so maybe he was Russian. With his White Army background, he could very well be working for Russia.
“I heard that Emperor Taejo himself beat the war drum on the battlefield, so I thought I’d give it a try to mock the Japanese.”
It was just something I copied. Creating atmosphere before going in for the kill was better than simply trash-talking.
“You want us to hold this hill?”
Bak Seung-hwan looked surprised—he hadn’t expected to be ordered to defend it. Still, now that we had to at least pretend to be on Russia’s side, this was a good opportunity to switch sides while claiming to avenge the Emperor.
“The Russian army will treat us as allies, so there’s nothing to worry about. And the Japanese will soon clash with the main Russian force anyway.”
Nogi Maresuke’s army had been annihilated. They would be desperate now. They still had roughly 200,000 troops left. Could they possibly win against the Russian Far Eastern Army with that? If their commander was Kuropatkin, it might have been possible—but that was only if I wasn’t here. For now, we reorganized our forces. Just in case, we stationed 30,000 troops on the hill, arming them with captured Japanese weapons. Along with another 50,000 regular troops, 20,000 from the Sapodae, and 3,000 cavalry, we had a total of 72,000 men. It still wasn’t enough, but this single battle would decide everything.
All that remained was to crush Oyama Iwao’s army. They were currently near Fengtian, eyeing the city. In other words, they were trying to encroach on my territory—so I had to tighten the noose and crush them. One decisive battle to end it all.
Bak Seung-hwan and Yi Beom-yun’s combined forces finally marched toward Fengtian.
At the Prime Minister’s residence in Tokyo, Katsura Tarō was once again raising his voice, thoroughly berating Army Minister Terauchi. Today’s topic was the defeat at the Siege of Lushun. Indeed, Nogi Maresuke’s army had been utterly crushed by the Joseon forces at 203 Hill. Some might have survived, but most were likely deserters. The newspapers made no attempt to glorify the Imperial Army—they simply wrote that it had been annihilated. Some reports even came from embedded journalists.
“Korea’s Joan of Arc rises to save her nation!”
“I told you to bring victory, and you brought victory for the Joseon army! Nogi Maresuke’s forces defeated? No—completely wiped out? Are you truly the Army Minister of the Empire, or are you the Army Minister of Joseon? I even heard that a woman leading a few thousand cavalry took Nogi’s head! The Imperial Army was annihilated by a Joseon woman!”
“M-my apologies. But capturing Lushun was necessary for the Empire.”
Apologies? Did he think apologies would suffice? Katsura Tarō’s face flushed crimson with rage.
“You bastard! Will apologies bring the dead soldiers back to life? At this rate, Kuroki’s First Army in Joseon will be in danger too! Withdraw the Manchurian Expeditionary Force and have them defend Joseon instead! Better to hold Joseon at least and stop the Russian army!”
“I will ensure the Korean Peninsula is defended at all costs.”
Terauchi fled the residence as if escaping. Katsura had wanted to use even Terauchi as a scapegoat, but the situation had already grown far too large.
“The Joseon uprising has begun too. Damn Britain will hear of this. American bond purchases are over. The Empire is finished. At this rate, we might even lose to the Joseon rebels.”
No—we had already lost. The surprise attack had failed, 60,000 troops had been annihilated by the Joseon woman’s army at Lushun, and Nogi Maresuke was dead. All that remained was Commander-in-Chief Oyama Iwao’s army, yet no future in which they won was visible. It seemed Itō Hirobumi was planning to cross into Joseon personally to do something, but no matter what he did, he couldn’t prevent the Imperial Army’s annihilation in Manchuria. And the navy? They weren’t exactly winning either. The Combined Fleet, built with the latest British technology, had failed to defeat the Russian fleet. If both the army and navy were destroyed, the Empire would be left naked.
“Hahaha…”
‘I might as well prepare for seppuku.’
Katsura Tarō gave up thinking.
Meanwhile, in Britain, news of the defeat at Lushun had spread widely. With the world’s attention focused on the Far East, it was only natural for Britain, Japan’s ally.
“As expected, monkeys will always be monkeys. They couldn’t even pull off a proper surprise attack, and their victories only happened because the Russians withdrew. They won a few battles, then lost 60,000 men in a single engagement.”
“They’re even foolish enough to assassinate an allied emperor. How could anyone form an alliance with such idiots? Is the Prime Minister in his right mind?”
“The war is already lost. There’s no chance for the Japanese army to win. If you’re sane, cancel the Anglo-Japanese Alliance immediately.”
Prime Minister Arthur Balfour was being bombarded from all sides.
“How could we scholars remain idle when the military has been assassinated? Scholars of Korea, rise! Avenge the military and uphold your loyalty to the Empire! Save the Crown Prince!”
“The Imjin year has returned! Kill the Japanese!”
Meanwhile, on the Korean Peninsula, a righteous army coalition led by Choi Ik-hyun as commander advanced toward Seoul.
“Order the dissolution of the uprising immediately!”
“I refuse! I will never become a puppet of you Japanese who sent my father to his death!”
Crown Prince Yi Cheok had been threatened at gunpoint by the pro-Japanese cabinet under Kuroki to issue an order dissolving the uprising, but he refused outright. Though crippled by coffee, Yi Cheok was no fool who would obey the words of his father’s killers. Moreover, rumors that the Japanese army was being pushed back in Manchuria had already spread throughout the capital. The French consul even comforted him.
“One of Japan’s wings has been broken at the Siege of Lushun. Korea’s Joan of Arc will surely save Your Highness the Crown Prince, so endure this humiliation.”
The news of the Japanese army’s annihilation by the Sapodae at Lushun had deeply impressed France, which had sent a military advisory group to train Gando’s forces. The French consul, even more moved upon learning that the mastermind was Ok Jin-seo—who had once declared she wanted to become Korea’s Joan of Arc—secretly urged Yi Cheok never to submit.
“Listen, guards and righteous army! We must be prepared to die and defend northern Korea until our forces in Manchuria return! Hold the Imjin River! Fight to the death against the enemy and avenge our nation!”
At the Imjin River, the guards who had been driven from Seoul joined forces with the Pyongyang provincial army and righteous army under Second Lieutenant Nam Sang-deok, establishing a defensive line with several thousand troops.
The Korean Peninsula was not going according to Japan’s wishes either.
Meanwhile, in the Korea Strait—
“It’s the Japanese fleet! Even with British support, we already know their movements. We will not lose!”
“Open fire! Attack them!”
BOOM!
The Baltic Fleet, having joined with the Pacific Fleet, opened fire first on the Japanese Combined Fleet, marking the beginning of the Battle of Tsushima.
On the road to Fengtian, I looked up information on Oyama Iwao through the Great Alternate History Gallery.
So the Bloody Sunday incident really is going to happen. In that case, negotiations might actually go through. Of course, unlike in the original history, Japan’s losses are severe, so the peace treaty might be concluded at a reasonable level. But that cannot be allowed. At the very least, every Japanese soldier in Manchuria must be annihilated.
Japan had suffered significant damage. They had failed at 203 Hill, and their performance at sea hadn’t been great either. The logical choice was to preserve what forces they had left. They were probably already trying to steer toward an armistice in Japan as well. Since they had control over the Korean Empire, they might try to negotiate using that. Whether Russia, now holding the advantage, would accept was uncertain—but if the Bloody Sunday incident erupted as in the original history, the story would change.
One thing was certain: no matter how the agreement turned out, Oyama Iwao would try to preserve his army. I had to attack before any armistice and finish them off. If I destroyed only the Manchurian army, only Kuroki’s First Army on the peninsula would remain—and even they would be harassed by the remaining provincial forces and righteous army. I had to hurry and crush Oyama Iwao first.
“How do you plan to capture Oyama Iwao?”
At Yi Beom-yun’s question, I grinned. It was simple. As always, I would charge in with cavalry. I’d harass them with cavalry so they wouldn’t even have time to negotiate an armistice. I’d make sure fighting was inevitable.
“We’ll stab them in the back like we always do.”
“Will they fall for it again?”
Whether they fell for it or not didn’t matter. When you just attack without thinking, does it really matter if they notice? In that case, it would be best to take Iwao’s head.
“I have a plan. I’ll go and take Oyama Iwao’s head myself. Then they’ll collapse. At that moment, annihilate the Japanese army and firmly establish our position as Russia’s allied forces.”
The problem was how to provoke Oyama Iwao. From what I’d heard, he had repeatedly requested an armistice with Russia. Given that, he might try to request one even in this situation. If Russia happened to accept, I had to end this now.
“But when will there be an opening to attack? We can’t just charge in recklessly.”
“Hmm.”
How would Kuropatkin move? If we tried to annihilate Oyama Iwao with only the Korean Empire forces, even with the advantage of a surprise attack and my harassment, the casualties would likely be considerable. That’s why we were doing this in the first place. Their army was already twice the size of ours. Kuropatkin’s help was definitely needed. I would have to meet Kuropatkin.