Merits, Punishments, and the Purge of Traitors
The conference on rewards and punishments had begun in earnest.
“Understood. I shall entrust that matter to the Shenyang Administrator of the Sapodae.”
“Your Majesty is most gracious.”
“Your Majesty. The Korean Empire now survives, yet the throne remains empty. I beg you to ascend the imperial seat and watch over the realm.”
Army Marshal Bak Seung-hwan formally urged Yi Cheok, known as Sunjong, to claim the throne.
Yeah, that’s right. Better get him on the damn throne quick. A pathetic monarchy like this only feels stable once the seat of power is filled. Of course, the public’s hearts have already swung heavily toward the Sapodae after this war.
“The Marshal speaks wisely. His Highness the Crown Prince must ascend and become master of the vacant throne.”
What remained now was the position of Prime Minister—specifically, the Minister of State.
The previous holder, Jo Byeong-se, had committed suicide during Kuroki Tamemoto’s occupation of Hanseong. In other words, the seat of the Minister of State (equivalent to Prime Minister) was vacant. We didn’t even need to apply pressure; it would fill itself naturally.
“Your Majesty, the position of Minister of State is also empty. We must swiftly appoint a new one to stabilize the country.”
“Indeed. Who would be suitable?”
“I believe the Gando Administrator, who swept the Japanese from both Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula, is the most fitting choice.”
I boldly put forward Yi Beom-yun.
“Watch your tongue, Shenyang Administrator. How can you suggest the Gando Administrator? Is he not little more than a warlord who has long built his power outside the capital?”
Lady Eom glared at me with open hostility, her face twisted in disgust. She couldn’t say it outright, but the truth was that Yi Beom-yun had never even been properly introduced to the Emperor at first. Moreover, he had aggressively expanded from Gando across all of Manchuria.
“After Kuroki Tamemoto seized Hanseong, many declared that the Korean Empire was finished. Instead of resisting, they chose the disloyal path of suicide or died at Japanese hands. At this moment, who could possibly be more qualified than the Gando Administrator who saved the nation?”
Once Yi Beom-yun took the post of Prime Minister, we could begin introducing elections in earnest and overhaul the country. There was simply no legitimate reason to reject my proposal. Appointing some vague figure would accomplish nothing, and in reality, no one had any real grounds to oppose it.
Everywhere people were singing the Sapodae’s praises. If they didn’t appoint the hero who saved the country as Prime Minister, who else could they possibly choose? The other members of the provisional cabinet seemed to recognize there was no alternative. Though they offered no open support, they silently acquiesced.
And so the distribution of merits and offices proceeded.
“Yi Beom-yun shall be appointed Minister of State. Ok Jin-seo shall serve concurrently as Southern Manchuria Administrator and Minister of Foreign Affairs, having unified Gando. Bak Seung-hwan shall be Minister of the Army. Second Lieutenant Nam Sang-deok, who defended the Imjin River, shall be promoted to Major. Kim In-soo shall be appointed as Chamberlain. Furthermore, since many perished in this war, we shall release the patriotic prisoners from their cells and have them join the new cabinet.”
Enlightenment faction figures like Lee Sang-jae, currently imprisoned, would also participate in the new government.
And if there was one slightly suspicious point… it was that Yi Wan-yong, that son of a bitch, had been made Minister of Education.
“Lucky bastard.”
In the future, this guy Yi Wan-yong would be talked about endlessly. He was indeed a pro-Japanese traitor, but he had shouldered the burden in place of Gojong and led the Japan-Korea Annexation. He was also the loyal subject who worked through aggressive negotiations to preserve the Korean imperial family as the “Yi Royal Family,” second only to the Japanese imperial house.
Whether that was the truth or not, he still felt slimy. But why didn’t I get rid of him?
Because in the first place, his pro-Japanese turn only happened after the Russo-Japanese War. Now that the conflict had become the Russo-Japanese-Korean War and Japan had been defeated, his path had diverged from original history. Trying to frame him now would be difficult—he had simply followed Gojong’s orders faithfully and barely engaged in any pro-Japanese activity. In fact, once Hanseong fell, he left the capital claiming he would retire to the countryside and lived in seclusion. He was only brought back into service now.
There was simply no pretext to tie him up and execute him.
“Even the real pro-Japanese faction has become ambiguous now.”
While we’re on the subject of Yi Wan-yong, let’s talk about the pro-Japanese faction. The situation had grown rather strange. The usual suspects we all know—Song Byeong-jun, Lee Ji-yong, Lee Yong-gu—had directly participated in the puppet cabinet set up by Kuroki Tamemoto. There were others like Go Yeong-hui and Lee Jae-gak as well.
To be honest, they were all tangled together. It was too tedious to list them all—the Seven Traitors of Jeongmi, the Five Eulsa Traitors, every last one of them had been swept up.
Regrettably, they had to be rounded up and killed like this.
“We never committed any pro-Japanese acts!”
“Your Imperial Majesty! We have been wronged!”
They were executed by firing squad right there in plain view by the Sapodae.
“You bastards! How long do you think the Sapodae will last!”
“You won’t escape retribution either!”
They thought the Sapodae wouldn’t last long? Even if it didn’t, it would still outlast you lot.
“I think it’ll last longer than you, don’t you?”
After this war, the Sapodae would become deeply involved in the empire’s internal affairs. It might very well become the leading force of reform going forward.
“How dare a mere woman spill so much blood in state affairs! The old saying goes, when the hen crows—”
“And who exactly was it that sold the country even worse than that hen?”
Aren’t you the ones who are worse than that hen right now? You people who created the Iljinhye and then got discarded by the Japanese like used toilet paper. Tsk tsk.
“Y-you bitch. Do you really think you can execute us by firing squad and get away with it? Do you know who we are? If you kill us, all of you will—!”
Lee Jae-gak, was it? Whatever. I put a bullet through that bastard’s skull.
No matter how generously I tried to view them, they were too damn noisy. The soldiers were hesitating, so it was actually perfect timing. People from Joseon, long exposed to the class system, would naturally hesitate to shoot someone of high status. I had considered bringing in Manchus or Han Chinese, but instead I deliberately made the Koreans do the shooting themselves. I wanted to hammer it into their heads.
“See that? No matter how high and noble these people were, once they’re dead they’re nothing but lumps of meat. People are all the same. So don’t be afraid when you’re pointing guns at future lumps of meat.”
“““Yes, Your Excellency!”””
The Sapodae soldiers, having steeled their hearts, leveled their rifles at the traitors who would soon become nothing but chunks of flesh.
“S-spare me! Please spare us! We truly acted for the country!”
“You followed those barbaric Japanese who assassinated His Majesty the Emperor, and you call that ‘for the country’? Don’t you feel ridiculous saying that out loud?”
Bang! Bang-bang-bang!
My sneer was the last thing they heard before the gunshots rang out.
Some might ask: Japan has already collapsed, and these people weren’t even proper traitors yet, so was it really necessary to drag them in?
But they had already committed treasonous acts. Just because Japan fell, did their inherent nature disappear? They would try to sell the country to whoever came next. The habit of selling out the nation doesn’t just vanish. These were the kind of bastards who would switch sides the moment a second or third Japan appeared, or the second they couldn’t enjoy wealth and power anymore.
Even though they hadn’t committed treason yet, considering their fundamental nature, it was better to tie them up now while we still could.
But the problem was… that Yi Wan-yong bastard kept bothering me.
“About this Yi Wan-yong guy.”
Killing him didn’t feel right, but letting him live felt even more uncomfortable. From what I could see, the guy had stayed completely neutral during the war, avoiding any faction, and had been naturally brought back into service by Lady Eom.
“Maybe I should have just killed him during the war.”
He hadn’t committed any pro-Japanese acts yet, but he still felt dirty. Getting rid of him now to avoid any future trouble wouldn’t be the worst idea.
No, wait. Isn’t that exactly what the alternate history gallery is for?
So I don’t necessarily have to tie him up. Hmm. According to the alternate history gallery, maybe leaving him alive is fine. Most of the traitors are already dead anyway. Killing Yi Wan-yong on top of that would carry too much political risk for me.
If I have no choice but to keep him alive…
“It’d be better to work him to death, wouldn’t it?”
I can’t trust Yi Wan-yong, but if I must use him, it’s better to wring him dry and then discard him later like a used tool. I wanted to ask more, but it felt awkward to dig deeper in front of everyone. Still, looking at the current situation, the angle was clear.
My goal from now on was to strike at both Qing and Japan. The weakened Korean Empire had no intention of doing so. It was obvious they would be satisfied with the current state and live complacently. In that case, Yi Wan-yong would at least be on my side.
What came next would be even harder. During war you could just fight without thinking, but in the postwar period we had to continue modernizing the Korean Empire.
I read through it with a blank expression. Then I leaned back comfortably in my chair and stared vacantly into the air.
“Hmm. So some things just can’t be changed after all.”
All of this just because I’m a woman. I have zero intention of becoming a feminist, but it seems gender really is a massive barrier in this era.
To be completely honest, if I just stayed quiet, things might turn out exactly as the alternate history gallery comments described. After all, I don’t have a shred of patriotism. I didn’t have any in my original world either. I have neither loyalty nor reason to sacrifice my life for the Korean Empire of a world I wasn’t even born in.
Still, since it is a country of the Korean people, I probably would have at least tried to prevent it from falling to Japan or to help it gain independence from the outside. I likely would have gone to Russia or America. The possibility of following the comments exactly is high.
What was interesting was that Sunjong used the era name “Yeongrak.” The pro-imperial faction probably chose it to fuel their nationalist delusions. But what’s the point if the country still gets swallowed up?
It was called the Japan-Korea United Empire, but Japan didn’t have the capacity to fully devour it. They probably just wanted to tie Korea down and use it however they pleased.
In that case, I needed to change history a bit.
“I need to start with the military.”
I had to cut off the limbs of the pro-imperial faction. Did that mean I had to get rid of Yi Gang and Bak Seung-hwan?
If I did that, I couldn’t just stay in the background offering moderate help anymore. I would have to step forward and completely overturn the country.
“If I start a purge the moment the war ends, what will the Koreans say?”
Washing blood with blood inside the country wasn’t something that could be done lightly. But if I stepped back, things would turn out exactly as those comments said, which wasn’t what I wanted.
Changing the future as the Yi Royal Family might be good too.
“The difficulty is seriously fucking hellish. For real.”
Why the hell did that crazy old man turn me into a woman and make it like this? He should have just left the alternate history gallery out and made me a man. It would have been so much easier for me to step forward.
Honestly, gender itself doesn’t really matter to me. Thanks to that insane old man, I’ve gone through things I never experienced in the years I lived as a man, which is a bit annoying. But living is still better than dying, so I can put up with this much of a debuff.
But if I can’t change history, then what’s the point?