Empire's Grave #1
The ones I chose to liberate India from British hands weren't those rural, indigenous reactionary forces who hated the Brits. They were just bait. At best, all they could hope for was freedom from Britain—freedom within the pasture fence. No way in hell were those guys a serious alternative for me.
The problem was how goddamn vast India is. Calling someone an "Indian" is like calling someone an "African." That's why ignoring them from the start was the best option. But if I had to step in anyway, I'd have to use those types overflowing across India.
So my strategy was a two-track approach: a civilian uprising in Bengal and a military coup in Punjab. And I planned to join hands with the latter.
The British trusted the military Sikhs, after all. You've got to chop off the foot with the very axe they trust. Otherwise, Britain wouldn't even give you the chance.
The protests? The rallies in Bengal? First, get your shit together and achieve some real unity.
The issue was, to make that happen, I needed at least one solid promise. Without it, I had no incentive to move. They were going to go full tribal savage mode like Africa anyway—why the hell should I bother?
If independence just led to a barbaric, exclusionary India, it wouldn't even be a potential market for the Korean Empire. No need for me to get involved.
"Liberation from the caste system, and tolerance toward heretics and atheists?"
"I figured Hindus and Muslims were impossible, but Sikhs might just go for it."
"You've come to the right place."
Thankfully, as expected from a revolutionary faith born out of hating the caste system's bullshit, they were refreshingly straightforward.
If they became the driving force of independence—no, revolution—then the new India might actually turn out halfway decent.
The British had promised them vested interests in the military. I'd promised them vested interests in India itself long ago. In the end, they shook my hand.
Did they really want to submit to Britain out of love? No, they were just a persecuted minority in India putting up with a shitty employer. So make that same minority an untouchable elite immune to persecution. That's what they truly wanted. I knew it.
Religious conflicts? Of course they'd happen. That was their homework to handle, just like I had to deal with the Chinese.
If they failed at mediation? Well, they'd burst and die. But backing off without even trying wasn't my style.
Besides, there was no other force in India capable of breaking that barbaric yoke. As long as Indian civilians were chained by the savage caste system and its laws, only the military belonging to India could reform it—not outsiders like me or Britain.
That's why I'd tried to avoid meddling in India as much as possible. To Indian civilians, it was just meddling, nothing more or less.
The idea of elevating minority tribes(?) in India to elite status in a new India, wiping out discrimination against foreigners and other faiths to temporarily turn it into a market... that was some real British colonial playbook shit.
But I couldn't deny the Brits were pros at managing colonies. I never believed Indian civilians would rise up and abolish the caste system. Almost everyone in India at that point enjoyed some vested interest under it.
If a civilian revolution or some other reform path had been viable instead of relying on the military, I'd have gone that route. But since it wasn't possible, I'd overthrown Joseon with the military myself.
Civilians? You need a middle class and literate elite for proper ones, and that wasn't feasible yet. No time for it.
And now, I was trying to grant India independence. Honestly, the odds were slim. Relying on the military was a bit of a gamble, especially since it had been Britain's collaborators.
But the world was at war. Wartime logic applied.
I linked up with the Sikh military faction and pushed forward with forward bunkering.
In Bengal, civilian uprisings demanding "bring back our sons" were in full swing. Then martial law dropped via the military.
Next up: all of British India.
Korea and Britain had been raking in gold worldwide. With gold scarce now, Korea was the big lender shipping Chinese laborers everywhere, while Britain sourced gold mines globally.
This was supposed to benefit Britain. But does any relationship ever favor just one side?
Britain was obsessed with grabbing gold from miners. Korea was obsessed with selling them jeans, water, booze, and luxuries.
Naturally, that gold flowed back to Korea. Britain was baffled but ended up buying those gold nuggets back from us to meet their quotas for the homeland.
The more buyers near a gold vein, the faster it depleted. Miners dug harder, sold more to those buyers, and cashed in.
To Britain, it looked like mines drying up overnight. They tried opening markets to buy spare gold from miners, but Chinese hated foreigners—sold to other Chinese, not Brits. Purity scams were obvious.
Not wrong. In the end, the racially credit-unworthy Brits sacrificed profits just to get the gold.
And the biggest mine was in South Africa. Even that massive one was thinning out with British tech and Korean labor combined.
Time to find new veins. That's where Britain sought Korea's cooperation this time.
Korea had plenty of accessible mines. Britain had geological data suggesting gold in Korean-reachable areas, but Korea had long denied it: "Don't know, no gold here."
Bullshit—turns out it was a land of pure gold. British entrepreneurs dissected the Empire and found we were obsessed with gold mining and panning nationwide.
That meant Korea had data and know-how on gold. You can't scale national extraction without knowing where, how, and how much.
No mere mortal could pull that off—future man territory. So Britain aimed to break our baseless wariness by starting gold development from the outermost fringes.
How long could we keep developing only in British turf? Time for Korea to open its wallet.
You took gold from our turf; now give from yours. Fair, in Britain's eyes.
"Draw a line with Russia?"
"Russia's more swayed by Korean breath than mine, surely."
"Then for Armenia, a bit of British pressure, please."
"Yes."
Korea and Britain joined hands for Caucasus gold development. War-torn Russia and newbie Armenia couldn't resist.
The problem? Caucasus wasn't just Armenians and Russians.
It was paradise—or hell—for minorities.
"Trouble. Armenians and Kurds got independence—why not us?"
"Guess they don't even know who they belong to."
Independence from whom? The Supreme Leader, weary from work, was on an overseas tour. Having crushed the last Ottoman resistance and pacified the area, he visited Jerusalem.
Nothing special—just wanted to see it once. Under French control, no fighting, so Jerusalem remained untouched by war, thankfully.
"Just to confirm again, but offensive on the eastern front is impossible right now."
"I know, got it. Feels like the fifth time hearing that."
"Then don't ask five-plus times."
Henri, the one-armed French general demoted after botching Gallipoli landings, had come to French Jerusalem on leave after losing his arm. Then he got orders to host the Korean Supreme Leader and the British ambassador to Korea, Arthur. His guts twisted.
France was a warzone—why this chit-chat? And the Leader was on vacation amid it all. Infuriating.
"From Korea's stance, no more independence in the Caucasus now. It'd burden the eastern front unnecessarily."
"Oil the issue?"
"Local cooperation for gold mining? Not needed. Delay it. But we can't ignore extra strain on existing oil bombing runs."
Oil—no oil, people die!
"But if the eastern front stops being the eastern front... we could consider it."
"As expected, from war's end."
...What the hell are they talking about? Beyond a mere soldier-general's grasp.
"Sir Henri, was it?"
"Yes, hello."
"Mind if we set up a Jewish state or autonomous zone here in Jerusalem?"
Why ask me? And no way it'd fly. He was just the casual host here. Sadly.
Britain asking to snag Baku oil from weakened Russia. Korea negotiating Jewish autonomy in French Jerusalem.
"No rush. We don't even know if there's gold there."
This was a battlefield without guns.