Inferior Monkeys
Inferior monkeys. Broadly benefit humanity. That ideology and philosophy simply means uniting everyone as one, regardless of ethnicity, nation, age, or gender. “Either resist and die, or surrender quietly. Do one of those for me. This is your final warning. If you don’t surrender within the time limit, I’ll raze all of Wuchang to the ground. Remember that.”
With those words, I shot up from my seat. Either way works for me. While I’m at it, completely annihilating the Wuchang revolutionary army and turning the place into a power vacuum wouldn’t be bad either.
“Wait a moment. Please, wait.” Sun Yat-sen belatedly tried to call me back, but I ignored him.
“Even if you try to cling to the Great Powers, it’s pointless. If you say you won’t touch the rest of their interests even if they curse at you a bit, they won’t be able to do anything about it.”
Rather, it wouldn’t be so bad if Europe intervened and set up some random puppet state in southern China. I fiddled with the alternative history gallery on my way back to camp. Now then, what happens next?
Sun Yat-sen would never choose to die. [Author: JinwidaePossessor] [Title: About Sun Yat-sen.] Did he just run away during the Wuchang Uprising?
I turned my head and looked at Hong Beom-do following behind me.
“General Hong Beom-do.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Advance into Wuchang immediately. Make sure Sun Yat-sen doesn’t escape.”
There was no reason to give him any openings. If we catch him, great. If not, then so be it.
“Because he’s a dangerous individual?”
“Yes. He’s someone who will keep trying to stage uprisings. In Korean terms, he’s like Hong Gyeong-rae. But he’s a clever one. What we want is someone incapable of forming a unified government. That kind of person just needs to be eliminated.”
“You’re planning to reassure him and then strike right away.”
It was true that I wanted to capture Sun Yat-sen, but attacking while he was off guard was also good strategy. I thought it over quietly. If he escaped from here, I’d probably have to send assassins overseas. Would killing Sun Yat-sen here even benefit Korea? Probably not.
For a moment, stray thoughts crossed my mind. Anyway, Sun Yat-sen dies in the 1920s, and after that the warlords just fight among themselves. I didn’t particularly want to kill him and turn him into some independence martyr. That wasn’t it. I was just curious whether, as the alternative history gallery suggested, keeping him alive as a Hongik Ingan pawn would actually be useful. This wasn’t something I could decide based on the gallery alone.
If I left Sun Yat-sen alive, Chiang Kai-shek would eventually rise as well. Releasing him might be fine, but if I wanted to keep the Qing alive, it would be better to let him rot in Manchuria for a while. There was no helping it. Thanks to the gallery, I had to deal with people who knew the future like this. With that mindset, I wouldn’t be looking at the future. Here, it was better to just capture him. Keep him locked up in Manchuria for a few years, then drop him back into China.
* * *
The moment the words left my mouth, we entered Wuchang.
“You vile Joseon bastards!”
“Even dogs don’t get bothered while they’re eating!”
“Kuhak!”
The Wuchang defense forces, who had let their guard down after hearing we would give them time, collapsed instantly.
“That was too easy.”
“Their regular army’s already been ground to dust. If they can’t even handle this, there’s no answer.”
“What about looting?”
Looting, huh. Looting. Normally I wouldn’t want it, but I had to at least grant the minimum they hoped for.
“We’ve come this far. If they get nothing, discontent will build. As long as it’s ‘moderate looting’ that excludes killing civilians or rape, I’ll allow it for the sake of morale.”
In the novels I’d read before, the protagonist would tell his soldiers to act orderly and politely, completely different from other guys. I thought that kind of posturing was the height of hypocrisy. Soldiers only fight when they know they can get some spoils. There’s no point in the state promising compensation when there’s plenty to take locally right now. Forcing them to hold back would only breed complaints, and I knew that well from how I’d lived. Besides, these were the same men who’d learned the joy of looting with me in Manchuria. This much was necessary.
Now then, shall we head to the revolutionary army headquarters in Wuchang?
“Here, Teacher Sun Yat-sen must escape.”
“If I live, what will happen to you all?”
“Even if we die, as long as Teacher lives, the revolution will not end!”
As expected, when we stormed the command center, Sun Yat-sen was already plotting his escape. Well, I knew he’d try something like that. So we boldly pushed forward with our army.
“What? You said you’d give us time, so why suddenly—!”
Bang! I put a bullet through the head of the man who tried to block me first.
“Women are fickle, you see.”
It was just that kind of story. As we entered, I scanned for Sun Yat-sen while eliminating the human shields and cutting off escape routes. The men who belatedly fired at me missed. Unfortunately for them. Sun Yat-sen tried to flee but was caught and brought before me.
“Y-you treacherous bitch! How can you wear a human face and do something so faithless!”
“Where’s the idiot who keeps faith with rebel scum? Drag this guy away. We’re taking him to Manchuria.”
“Yes!”
I never had any intention of showing mercy to rebels. Besides, completely destroying everything and turning this place into complete chaos would make it an even more lawless zone. Of course, that would only matter if the Qing swallowed this lawless zone. With the Beiyang Army already wiped out—and even before that, after their betrayal—the Qing’s military power had evaporated. Even the palace guards had defected to Duan Qirui, and now our soldiers were handling security in the Forbidden City. We handed Wuchang over to the Qing troops who had followed behind with Nam Sang-deok.
“Looking at those Qing bastards, they won’t be able to control it properly, will they?”
“Exactly. Well, anyway, this is over for now.”
I nodded at Nam Sang-deok’s words. It ended much faster than expected. I had planned to finish it quickly anyway, but people really were different depending on their resolve. The Qing forces were in bad shape too, so if an uprising broke out it would be dangerous. Now then, shall I negotiate with the British?
“It feels a bit anticlimactic, having to go back like this.”
“That just proves how abnormal everyone’s state is.”
It was so miserable it made you wonder if this was even the right level. Still, it was fortunate we finished before the Great Powers could intervene. All that remained was meeting the British and wrapping things up at an appropriate level.
“Right, let’s go meet those English bastards.”
“The English? Didn’t we finish before they could intervene?”
Yeah, we finished before they intervened. But finishing quickly and then calling them over was different from finishing before they could step in. After all, we couldn’t look like we were running wild. Unlike Japan, we had to show a submissive attitude. Of course, that didn’t mean I planned to fall under British influence.
“But the middle reaches of the Yangtze are within Britain’s sphere of influence. If we wrap this up between ourselves without saying a word, what would they say? At the very least, we have to report it so the English realize Korea isn’t ignoring them.”
We had to make sure they had no reason to be wary of us. They probably knew about the recent normalization of Korea-Japan diplomatic relations too. They’d be curious what kind of people Korea was and what we were trying to do.
“As expected, the Commissioner seems to see everything even from afar.”
It wasn’t like I could see everything from afar. Honestly, even I thought the situation was ambiguous right now. Were the British staying quiet, or had we really been that fast?
“I don’t like talking with those English bastards.”
I didn’t like it either, but it couldn’t be helped. At least for a while, I had to bow my head and live quietly. Especially since once Russia collapsed, there’d be no one left to protect them. If Britain started acting up then, it would be troublesome. Originally, around this time we’d be approaching World War I, so Britain would be busy too. Maybe it would work out.
* * *
Around this time, British Minister John Jordan in Beijing and the British Consul in Shanghai were astonished by the momentum of the Manchurian Army. The revolutionary army and Beiyang Army that had been threatening the Qing had collapsed in an instant. Of course, they were still Chinese. It was proof that the Chinese were far inferior monkeys compared to Koreans. So, excluding the massacre of the defenseless Japanese army, if we ranked the strong countries in Asia, it would be Japan–Korea–Qing. After all, the Qing’s elite Beiyang New Army had joined Yuan Shikai and been thoroughly crushed. They essentially had no proper army left now. To think they were being pushed back by Korea, which they once treated as a vassal state.
“The Korean army’s momentum is greater than expected.”
“Didn’t they capture hundreds of thousands of troops in a single battle?”
There were some suspicious points, but they had won anyway. The Chinese revolutionary army had been utterly pathetic. They claimed they wanted to fix the country and overthrow everything, yet they were in such a miserable state—dying off from epidemics on their own. “So what? They got a little power and immediately started running wild.” In the end, they were just monkeys. Unable to control the power given to them, they extended their influence over the already weak Qing and beat up China. At this rate, even if they called it a buffer zone or whatever, we’d have to keep them shackled.
Just as I was thinking that—
“Minister. The Korean army has requested cooperation.”
“The Korean army?”
They requested cooperation. Obviously Ok Jin-seo. That woman must have come. I thought she’d finally left China, but now I had to deal with her again and it gave me a headache. What kind of nonsense was she going to spout while trying to extort us? It was annoying to shed British blood just to catch that crazy woman. If Ok Jin-seo clung to our ankles and Russia got involved, it would become troublesome. With that thought, I decided to at least talk with her.
The Ok Jin-seo I met after a long time still had that innocent, pure impression that contrasted with her devilish actions. European gossipmongers would see that face and call her a saint, but Jordan knew what kind of monster this woman truly was.
But today’s Ok Jin-seo seemed a bit strange.
“The rebels were so pathetic that they were annihilated in an instant. However, neither the Qing nor we have the capacity to control this land. And the Yangtze River basin is within your British sphere of influence, isn’t it? We did not suppress these rebels to infringe on foreign interests. Do we even have the power to do that?”
Do we have that power? Hearing it, that was true. Did Korea have that kind of power right now? If asked, the answer was no. Korea was currently in a very delicate position. They had to beg Britain, the mediator, for compensation. From Britain’s perspective, they never imagined Korea would get involved in this matter in the first place.
“So Korea is just going to withdraw?”
Ok Jin-seo stared at Jordan with an incredulous look, as if asking why he was stating the obvious. Jordan frowned, feeling like an idiot for being so tense, but he was glad the conversation was moving quickly.
“Anyway, we’ve already taken what we can from the Qing emperor stepping down from the throne and receiving more annual tribute, along with influence. We’ve gotten everything we wanted.”
They’d gotten everything they wanted. If it were Japan, they probably would’ve tried to snatch some territory, but did Korea lack that kind of ambition? Or were they truly satisfied with this? Yeah, that was probably better.
“Then you’re saying you don’t want anything more. Is that certain?”
They really didn’t want anything?
“Yes. We’re still struggling just to integrate southern Manchuria. What more could we ask for here? However, since there’s no suitable person to negotiate with, we need your country’s help. As you know, we’re still at the level of a whining child in international society.”
Knowing their place was somewhat likable, but it was funny hearing a barbarian who went around splitting people’s heads with an axe say that. I’d heard rumors that an American consul who tried to develop gold mines in Korea was threatened with an axe and had his investment funds completely shaken down.
“My, my. Hearing the Devil of Manchuria say that is truly an honor.”
I answered with a smile, wearing the typical British mask, but she was a suspicious character. I absolutely could not let my guard down.
“Anyway, our current position is thanks to your country Britain accommodating us in the previous war.”
“Hoo, very well. Since you’re coming out like this first, we have no justification to question your country either.”
At this rate, things were resolved before we could even question Korea. And they were bowing down on their own, so what could we do?
“Then what do you plan to do? You’ll have to tell us so we can act accordingly.”
“Hmm, that’s right. Since the Qing no longer has the power to control all of China, we’ll have to put forward one person first, won’t we?”
“Is there a suitable person?”
Rather, if the Qing could properly govern China it would be one thing, but they were more incompetent than expected. The Qing was even requesting help from the Count of Manchuria who had humiliated them so thoroughly. There wasn’t no one available.
“Well, because the Manchurian Commissioner—no, the Count of Manchuria—eliminated everyone so cleanly, there’s only one person left. It’s Li Yuanhong, the Military Governor of the Hubei Military Government.”