Seizing the Forbidden City
I already know the Imperial Guard has no one left we can trust. So who’s still inside the Forbidden City right now?
If Yuan Shikai’s main force is there, we’d have to flood the entire capital with poison gas. That would drag the foreigners into it too.
“Duan Qirui is there. He’s pressuring His Majesty as we speak. Given that Yuan Shikai is already negotiating with the rebels, it may already be too late.”
“They’ll know we’re coming.”
They would either ignore us or press the imperial family even harder to settle things quickly.
“Exactly. That’s why the bastards are acting so desperate.”
Right. Duan Qirui, was it? Let’s start by cutting that son of a bitch’s throat. Seize the Forbidden City and get ready to grind Yuan Shikai’s army into paste.
“Then the answer’s obvious. Can you open the road to the Forbidden City for us?”
We had to capture him fast. Take Duan Qirui’s head and secure the palace before the Qing imperial family folded under his threats.
“You’re seriously planning to charge in with those numbers?”
“Wasn’t it your country that asked us for support in the first place?”
Unbelievable. Or maybe he thought our force was too small and wanted us to bring more.
“That’s true, but we still need a strategy.”
Strategy? The strategy was simple. Yes. I would personally lead the cavalry charge.
“Of course. I’ll only be taking the cavalry. General Hong Beom-do, I’ll charge ahead. Follow behind me.”
Five thousand riders. If I hit them first and tore open a path, it would be more than enough.
“Understood, Your Excellency.”
“You really think you can pull this off? For real?”
Well, it did sound insane. Honestly, even I found it hard to believe. All I had to do was wait for the Forbidden City gates to open, then rush in and play meat shield like always.
It wasn’t completely impossible. After all, the best I could think of was breaking through their defensive line. In this era, cavalry couldn’t do much against advanced firearms anyway. Sure, Cossack-style cavalry somehow survived until World War II, but I still had to smash through them with a cavalry charge. That meant I had to be the meat shield again.
Prince Qing had to do his part. At the very least, he needed to open the road to the Forbidden City. If we could just get into the city streets, the rest would follow.
“Just watch. I’ll handle it cleanly. Prince Qing, make sure you keep up with us. Falling behind will make the battle much harder.”
“U-understood.”
Since I was going to receive compensation, I might as well do the job properly.
The Forbidden City, Qing Empire. At that moment the palace was in complete chaos. The idiot Qing imperial family had finally gone and dragged the Korean army into their mess. To think they had sunk so low as to beg for help from the very Joseon bastards who had stolen their land!
“What the hell were you thinking, calling in the Korean army?!”
“We simply requested reinforcements, while you people are the ones who raised the banner of rebellion against the imperial family!”
“Shall we do this for real? Do you really think this is the limit of what we can threaten you with?”
Should we start a bloodbath? Duan Qirui was trying to extract legitimacy for the revolution and the Emperor’s abdication from the Qing imperial family by any means necessary.
“At least wait a little longer. Don’t we need someone from the imperial family present? At least let us reach some kind of agreement!”
“You seem to trust those Joseon dogs. Do you honestly think we can’t defeat an army commanded by some bitch?”
“I-it’s not exactly that…”
Prince Qing swallowed hard at Duan Qirui’s threat. At this rate those men might actually attack soon. Prince Qing needed to bring back the Korean army or any army as quickly as possible. Whether the Korean troops could stop them or properly seize the Forbidden City was unknown, but right now they were the only ones the court could rely on.
“The Korean army! The Korean army has appeared!”
The urgent shout came from outside. Duan Qirui thought the inevitable had finally arrived, but he was still stunned by the Koreans’ speed.
“The Korean army? How did they get here so fast?”
“It’s cavalry, sir! Several thousand cavalry have entered Beijing!”
Several thousand? Only a few thousand? Ah, now he understood.
“Hah, only a few thousand? I see. It’s just the vanguard. They rushed here to retake the Forbidden City first! You men, keep strict watch over His Majesty.”
They must have rushed ahead desperately to secure at least the palace. No matter how hard Joseon squeezed, how large could their army be? If the vanguard was only a few thousand, the main force couldn’t be much bigger. They might even be able to finish the Koreans with the troops already stationed in the Forbidden City before Yuan Shikai’s main army arrived.
“Yes, General.”
Duan Qirui stepped forward confidently. Prince Qing had obviously opened the palace gates for them. He led the troops occupying the Forbidden City out himself.
“Only a few thousand cavalry dare to come here? You Joseon dogs must be getting arrogant after winning the last war!”
“What is this dirty ‘southern’ pig bastard babbling about?”
“Hahaha! It’s a woman! Did Joseon really have no real men left?”
He had wanted to see what the so-called heroine looked like, but she was just a bitch who couldn’t even hold a sword properly. She seemed to have fired a gun a few times, but that was it. The Japanese had only beaten this pathetic Qing army, so the fact that they lost to her showed how worthless they were.
“You may have more troops guarding this place, but they’re still a disorganized mob. I’ll open the path. Follow me and kill every last one of them. Let’s show these bastards the true power of the northern warriors.”
She was speaking in Korean, so he couldn’t understand the words, but the intent was clearly to fight. Duan Qirui ordered his men to prepare to fire.
“““Yes sir!”””
The enemy didn’t seem to have any real plan. They were charging on horseback like they thought they were Xiang Yu’s army. In an era of advanced firearms, a frontal cavalry charge? Even if they were mounted infantry, did a commander who ordered such a suicidal breakthrough against a defensive line have any qualifications? It was a shame to kill her since she was quite beautiful, but he would slaughter her here, crush the Korean army in front of the Qing imperial family that begged them for support, and destroy any remaining hope.
“Is that crazy bitch insane? A cavalry charge in this day and age? Open fire! Turn that woman into a honeycomb!”
Bang! Bang-bang-bang!
Unfortunately for Duan Qirui, things did not go as he wished. At first his Beiyang Army had fired their rifles and machine guns with overwhelming momentum, but no matter how many bullets hit her, the woman refused to die.
“H-hiiiiii! She’s not dying!”
“What the hell? Why won’t she die?!”
They had definitely hit her. They had even shot her in the head. Yet the bullets that should have torn apart a human body simply fell out powerlessly.
“Your bullets must be too weak to kill even a single person, you idiots! Look, you southern Chinese pigs are vastly inferior to us!”
Southern? This was the North China region, so how could she call them southerners? No, more importantly, what the hell was that woman?
How was she not dying? It might have been different if they had dug trenches, but—
“If you want to catch me, you should have aimed for the horse first.”
With those words the woman gave an unpleasant laugh, drew her saber, and plunged straight into the defensive line, tearing through it in every direction. The Korean cavalry followed right behind her, firing rifles and swinging blades, turning the entire battlefield into a chaotic melee.
Bang! Bang-bang! Bang!
Duan Qirui’s Beiyang Army collapsed helplessly before the bizarre cavalry. In a way it was inevitable. What madwoman in this era would charge head-on like that? And on top of that she wouldn’t die? While the soldiers stood stunned, unable to process the inhuman monster before them, her blade found their throats.
“The defensive line has collapsed!”
“Retreat! Retreat!”
In the end even Duan Qirui decided to fall back into the Forbidden City. He needed to withdraw and assess the situation calmly. Ok Jin-seo pursued them relentlessly.
“They’re retreating! We must seize Beijing before Yuan Shikai arrives! Chase them down and annihilate every last one! Kill Duan Qirui!”
Duan Qirui somehow managed to reach the Forbidden City while fleeing from the incomprehensible madwoman, but Ok Jin-seo’s troops had chased them so fiercely that they burst inside right behind him.
“I-in that case, take the Emperor hostage—”
“Who said I’d let you?”
The demonic woman who had already broken into the heart of the Forbidden City brought her axe down on his head. Duan Qirui lost consciousness.
And at that same moment, Yuan Shikai’s army, certain that Duan Qirui’s forces had stopped the Koreans, was clearly demonstrating their superiority to the revolutionaries.
“What? The Korean army has seized the Forbidden City?”
“Yes, Excellency!”
“What is Duan Qirui doing?”
“According to the fleeing soldiers, his head was smashed open by an axe.”
His head smashed open by an axe? What kind of nonsense was that? They should at least make sense. One thing was certain: the situation had taken a strange turn. In that case he would have to mobilize the Beiyang Army and take the Forbidden City. They would probably hole up inside and focus on defense, so if he had enough time he could easily turn the situation around.
“Damn it. Turn the army around! I will personally crush the Korean army in the Forbidden City!”
“Yes, Excellency!”
And so Yuan Shikai’s army, having finally reached Beijing, came face to face with—
“Have they lost their minds?”
—the combined Korean-Qing army that had come out for a field battle instead of a siege.
The seizure of Beijing was almost complete. We hadn’t killed every last straggler, but letting a few escape wasn’t a bad idea. They needed to warn the rebels in advance so the bastards would gather their strength and come at us.
“Kill every last rebel who dares oppose our Manchurian White Army!”
The few remaining Manchu Qing troops who still followed the imperial family looked utterly bewildered. Of course they did. They were Manchus themselves, yet an army called the Manchurian Army was speaking Korean and crushing the rebels. It must have been incomprehensible.
“Y-you won’t even accept surrender?”
Prince Qing looked at the dying rebels—or rather, at the former Beiyang New Army—and spoke as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Do you want to accept their surrender and get stabbed in the back again? Every suppression force we sent immediately joined the rebels, and Yuan Shikai’s army did the same. Even if we spare these men, they’ll just betray the Qing Dynasty again and join the other side. Besides, the Qing Dynasty no longer has enough troops to manage prisoners, does it?”
There was no reason to spare them. We also needed to make sure the Qing bastards became completely dependent on us. That way the Qing court would complain that we killed surrendered soldiers without batting an eye, and they would have no choice but to rely on us even more. It was pitiful, but that wasn’t my problem.
“I’m saying this because it might provoke them.”
“I’m doing it on purpose. We have to sweep them away in one go so they can never raise their heads again.”
No matter how hard you bastards struggle, you can never defeat us. Of course using poison gas was a bit cheap, but by the time they tried to raise another army for revenge, our military’s quality and quantity would have grown far beyond theirs.
“No, what exactly are you planning to do?”
“Don’t worry. From now on, the Qing only needs to keep its promises.”
Just do as we say and everything will work out. If you trust me, you have nothing to worry about.
“But you must capture all of them.”
I had no intention of losing. I had the AltHistoryGallery and plenty of other cards to play.
“Of course. You need not even ask.”
The way Prince Qing’s face twisted at my words was quite amusing.
“Your Excellency. If we do this we’ll have to lay siege to the city. Beijing will be isolated.”
Nam Sang-deok, who had brought the demonstration unit in this war, frowned as he spoke. Yeah, that would be annoying. And I had zero intention of fighting inside Beijing.
“I won’t drag it out. We’ll settle it in one field battle.”
If we dragged things out the Western powers might intervene. End it in a single decisive battle and extract maximum profit from the Qing. That was all I was thinking.
“I hear they outnumber us more than two to one. With these forces? The Beijing Qing troops are all show with no substance. And there aren’t even that many of them.”
I didn’t trust those guys anyway. They were only being used as cannon fodder.