The Land of Beasts
I met separately with Kuroki, the commander of the First Army who had surrendered.
“What happened to your soldiers who were suppressing the righteous armies?”
“So Korea has run so short of men that even women must take up arms.”
“Hearing that from you is hardly amusing.”
It was nothing more than petty resistance born of the fact that I was a woman. In this moment alone, I felt genuinely grateful to have possessed a woman’s body. After all, it meant Japan had been played in the palm of a single Joseon girl.
I placed a box in front of Kuroki. When he looked at me as if to ask what it was, I jerked my chin, signaling him to open it.
“Th-this is—!”
Exactly. Inside the box lay Nogi’s head. The well-preserved head of Nogi rested before him. Nogi, who had died with eyes wide open in resentment and regret, was now having his corpse desecrated even in death. It was a wretched sight. That was what came of acting so arrogant.
“Countless men have already died at the hands of this girl. I personally took Nogi’s head, and Oyama Iwao’s was there too, though it was unfortunately damaged beyond recovery.”
Unfortunately, Oyama Iwao’s head had been ruined, but Nogi’s remained intact.
“Hah… So the entire Manchurian Expeditionary Force fell to a single woman.”
That’s right. You were all thoroughly deceived by me alone. I was able to develop Gando on my terms, while you lost the capacity to wage war.
“Your glorious Imperial Army couldn’t even defeat one woman. From now on, you’d best answer honestly—for the sake of your country. After all, even Great Britain is no longer on your side.”
I hadn’t completely abandoned them yet, but at the very least they would be told to cooperate with Korea. They had no choice but to give up now. They lacked the leverage to lead negotiations and were being thoroughly stripped bare by Korea. With the Russian fleet already pounding the home islands, how long could they possibly hold out?
“We suppressed all the righteous armies through the operation to subjugate the Joseon militias and were attempting to secure the area up to the Imjin River when we fought a defensive battle in Hanseong.”
“How many casualties? Speak before we have to investigate every detail ourselves.”
“The 12th Division was annihilated by your returning forces. The Guards Division, the 2nd Division, and the mixed brigade also suffered considerable losses.”
“Tsk. A pity.”
That meant fewer men I could put to unpaid labor. The prisoners were supposed to help rebuild Hanseong after the fighting, so fewer numbers were inconvenient.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Just answer the questions. Do you know anything about a man named Choi Ik-hyun?”
Choi Ik-hyun was important. He was practically the living symbol of the scholars remaining in this country. Regardless, they must have taken heavy losses in this war as well.
“He was the one leading your Korean righteous army coalition. Fearing the righteous armies might rise again, we kept him imprisoned just in case.”
So the righteous army coalition was finished. If Choi Ik-hyun had been captured, the scholars who supported him would have collapsed as well. Who could have guessed that Gojong’s death would snowball to this extent? For us, it wasn’t a bad outcome.
“Very well. Since you’ve been honest, I won’t take your head.”
“You assassinated our emperor. There’s no way you’ll let me live anyway.”
That much was obvious. Even if the soldiers had done the killing, we had no way of knowing what orders this man had given. Even if he had told them not to kill the emperor, the responsibility would naturally extend to Kuroki.
“Who knows? Japan might lobby the court and keep you alive. Or if you want to survive, you could put on a good show at trial and say all the right things. Personally, I’m rather grateful to you. Thanks to His Majesty’s passing, we were able to strike Japan from behind.”
When I thought about it, it really was thanks to him. I didn’t have to take Gojong with me, didn’t have to cater to that brat’s whims, and he died on his own. What could be better?
At my words, Kuroki Tamemoto’s brows twitched violently.
“Was all of this your doing?”
“Well, I merely gave you a little push from behind.”
In truth, I hadn’t known the full picture until midway through, but it seemed better to pretend I had been the mastermind all along. It made me look more impressive. With the reparations I would extract this time, I could focus on modernization and building aircraft. Even just making bombers would let me beat Japan black and blue before they could form an air force.
After locking Kuroki Tamemoto away in prison, Yi Beom-yun summoned me as soon as I stepped out.
“This isn’t over yet, is it?”
“No, it shouldn’t end here.”
“Then?”
It absolutely must not end here. We had to thoroughly plunder their homeland, cripple them, and strip them of everything we could.
“At the very least, shouldn’t we ransack their capital just as they did to us? You’ve already made preparations, haven’t you?”
We had to strike at Japan’s heartland. Only then could we clearly demonstrate the power of the Sapodae.
“Yes. I’ve already sent forces that way, but can we truly ravage their land with our own strength?”
Normally, we couldn’t. We didn’t even have proper ships—only the pathetic warships we’d swindled from Japan. What could we possibly do with those?
“The Russian fleet has already secured naval supremacy, so it won’t be difficult. The important thing is the symbolism—that we attacked their homeland as well.”
Only then could we hold the upper hand in negotiations. It would be ideal if I could fly over personally and capture the Emperor, but for now I had to negotiate with Ito here. It would be troublesome if that old geezer struck some favorable deal with someone else while I was away. For the time being, it would suffice to send token support to the Russian army.
“Then our priority should be making our presence known in Hanseong.”
Currently, the Sapodae was divided between the Gando Administrator and the Shenyang Administrator. Seo Sang-mu also held some standing in West Gando, but the majority of the Sapodae remained under my and Yi Beom-yun’s command. Strictly speaking, Yi Beom-yun was still the overall commander. After all, I was still young and had no intention of playing along with Gojong’s antics.
“By the way, do we have any suitable leaders?”
“There’s An Jung-geun and Hong Beom-do. They distinguished themselves greatly in repelling Kuroki’s forces at the Imjin River.”
They had earned considerable merit against Kuroki’s army at the Imjin River. Hmm, well, one could see it that way. An Jung-geun and Hong Beom-do—An Jung-geun was expected, but Hong Beom-do as well. History had diverged quite a bit here, but honestly, while the independence activist An Jung-geun had the achievement of assassinating Ito, his military capabilities weren’t particularly outstanding. Still, raiding the now-empty Japanese home islands shouldn’t be too difficult.
“The urgent task is for the Sapodae to seize control of Hanseong.”
“I plan to go to the legation myself and escort His Imperial Highness the Crown Prince. I’ve already planted the Sapodae banners throughout Hanseong, so you needn’t worry about that.”
Yes. Securing Hanseong had to come first. We had to strip this country from head to toe. As expected, the existing vested interests had to be completely swept away. There was a limit to what this body could accomplish directly, so when the opportunity came, I would have to purge them. To do that, I first had to appear as though I was saving this country.
“Your Excellency. Your Excellency.”
“What’s the matter, making such a fuss?”
I had just caught my breath when Kim In-soo came rushing in, out of breath. Every time that watchdog-like man came running to see me, it put me in a foul mood.
“Ito Hirobumi says he wishes to meet with Your Excellency.”
“Ito Hirobumi?”
At a time like this, Ito Hirobumi had come looking for me. In other words, he was willing to negotiate with me somehow. That meant Japan was effectively proposing to discuss the future of Korea and Japan not with Korea’s legitimate cabinet, but with me—the Sapodae’s diplomat.
I didn’t know what Ito Hirobumi was thinking, but it was also true that there was currently no suitable diplomatic counterpart in Hanseong. Once the men who had gone to raise righteous armies across the country returned, the situation would change, but at least for now, there was no one else but me. That was why I hadn’t gone to Japan myself. Very well. Let’s see that man’s face.
Meanwhile, the Russian fleet, having pounded the Japanese home islands for some time, seemed to have grown bored of the sport and finally began preparing to land. The Governor-General of the Far East had deployed the Sapodae in the Japanese mainland campaign. He was not unaware that Russia intended to increase Korea’s stake in this war, but unable to defy someone favored by the Tsar, Governor-General Alekseyev had no choice but to accept. Given that the Russian Far Eastern Army had also suffered significant casualties due to Japan’s desperate resistance, borrowing Korea’s hand wasn’t a bad proposition.
Aboard a Russian transport ship nearing Tokyo Bay, Hong Beom-do, commander of the expeditionary force to the home islands, and his chief of staff An Jung-geun, steeled their resolve.
“Russia has given us an opportunity. We must not let it slip.”
“This concerns Korea’s independence. We cannot afford to miss this chance.”
“We should at least capture their Emperor and exact revenge for the military.”
“Even if we can’t capture him, we were ordered to destroy their capital as much as possible. We’ll have to smash their capital for a while.”
Hong Beom-do clenched his fists tightly, expressing his determination to destroy Tokyo.
“Are we to harm even civilians?”
“The Shenyang Administrator conveyed through the Governor-General of the Far East that we must crush their capacity for recovery as much as possible.”
That was true enough, but harming civilians as well? How could I, as a Korean who understood righteousness and benevolence, condone harming civilians? Korea was a nation that understood righteousness and benevolence. Even if the Japanese had invaded Korea like beasts, as a righteous nation we could embrace Japan and correct their ways. Perhaps that was why An Jung-geun found the situation somewhat strange. In five hundred years of Korean history, nothing like this had ever happened before.
“Still, harming civilians seems…”
“I hear the Japanese became one people for this war. In other words, they can hardly be considered ordinary civilians.”
Hong Beom-do shook his head. The answer was clear just from looking at this Russo-Japanese War. Those damned Japanese had been preparing to stab us in the back. As always, a people without honor were attempting such deeds. Even the troops that had attacked Hanseong—were they truly just soldiers? After the war, they would simply be Japanese citizens again. In the end, there was not a single Japanese one could trust. How hard had they worked to devour Korea, to turn it into a colony? Hearing this, Hong Beom-do believed this was the time to ransack the Japanese capital.
“It can’t be helped.”
“But there’s something I’m curious about.”
“What is it?”
“Just what kind of woman is the Shenyang Administrator, that she even saved Russia’s crown prince and played such an active role in battle?”
From what he’d heard, she had been incredibly active under Japanese gunfire. He couldn’t help but wonder what sort of person she was.
At Hong Beom-do’s words, An Jung-geun started to speak honestly, then shook his head.
“Even the Gando Administrator seems to respect the Shenyang Administrator’s words considerably. She’s no ordinary figure.”
“Didn’t you see her yourself?”
“Well, I was staying in the rear, so I have no idea what exactly she did.”
He hadn’t witnessed the healing. Of course, that didn’t mean he could tell the truth about that mad act of shooting herself in the head. Even if he did, would anyone believe it? Honestly, even he couldn’t believe it despite having seen it with his own eyes.
Around that time, the ship seemed to stop, and a thunderous cheer erupted from outside.
Uraaaah!
“The Russians seem excited. It must be time to land.”
“Whatever the case, what matters now is striking them.”
Now it was Korea’s turn to counterattack.
Meanwhile, in Tokyo, Army Minister Terauchi had been dismissed, held responsible for the war. He found it absurd, but he knew the Prime Minister was undoubtedly using him as a scapegoat. In that case, he could simply lie low and live as a commoner until the storm passed—
“Die, Terauchi!” “Kuh—ack!”
Contrary to his future plans, Army Minister Terauchi was pitifully attacked by rioters in his own home and forced to commit “seppuku.”
“Damn it all! Russia and their Joseon lackeys are already drooling at the thought, and you go and commit seppuku on your own?”
It was made to look as though Terauchi had committed seppuku of his own accord. Prime Minister Katsura Taro was furious enough to want to commit seppuku himself. Now he had to somehow lead negotiations to a favorable conclusion. He wondered if Ito Hirobumi could properly handle it. With Russia having invaded the home islands, they would at minimum have to pay reparations. In the worst case, they might even have to cede territory.
Reparations. Could they even pay? They already owed Britain and America over 1.2 billion yen in loans, and had spent more than 2 billion yen on war expenses. Paying additional reparations on top of that? Japan would go bankrupt as a nation.
“I should have sent Komura with him too.”
No—Komura was currently busy licking the boots of British Ambassador MacDonald. After this war ended, he might have to follow the Army Minister in committing seppuku as well. Katsura Taro could only scream in despair.
And then—
“How the hell are Russian and Joseon troops in the Empire?”
“Weren’t we winning?”
“What the hell is our navy doing? Why aren’t they killing those Russians already!”
Despite the deteriorating situation in Manchuria, the media had been controlled to claim they were winning. Now, with the combined Russo-Korean forces’ attack on the home islands in full swing, the citizens were beginning to awaken. Logically, if they were winning the war, why would allied Joseon troops be arriving with Russia?
“Were we actually losing this war?”
The cracked skull was slowly being stitched back together.