Chapter 51
Chapter 51
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Purge (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The investigation into corruption cases within the military soon expanded into a purge of the arsenal profit cartel.
“B-but, you want us to investigate all the arsenal generals?”
“These are orders straight from His Excellency.”
“We shall obey.”
Quartermaster General Major General Cho Jin-young, Army Ministry Ordnance Bureau Chief Lieutenant General Bae Yeon-su, Nampo Arsenal Colonel Oh Jin-gi, and other generals were hauled off one after another to Security Command.
“General Lee. How could you do this to me, considering our history? Please put in a good word with His Excellency.”
“Don’t give me that nonsense. Hey! Strip this bastard and start the interrogation.”
And just like that, they were stripped of their uniforms and forced into retirement.
The number of stars that fell alone reached twenty.
The generals of the National Salvation Military Committee gathered in the Army Ministry conference room, whispering about the investigation into this incident.
“His Excellency was extremely displeased about this. They say he even chewed out Kim Seong-ju over it.”
“His Excellency did? Well, now.”
“Those revolutionaries were the ones embezzling public funds for personal gain from the start. No wonder His Excellency is furious.”
“Now that it’s come to this, even if His Excellency views us through colored glasses from here on out, we’ve got no ground to complain.”
While feeling miffed at Yi Seong-jun’s measures—which showed he would spare no one, revolutionary comrades or not—the generals decided to quietly accept this purge for the sake of the greater cause.
‘After all, aren’t we the ones who rose up to revitalize the nation?’
Failing even that promise would make it nothing more than a power-hungry coup.
The generals had no desire for their revolution to be remembered as just another corrupt and pathetic military coup.
The military purge didn’t last long at the general officer level before shifting to senior officers.
“You embezzled public funds under General Oh too, didn’t you? Come along!”
“W-wait a minute. Let me call my uncle first.”
“You punk. You think pull still works here? This is an order from the highest authority in the land, Prime Minister His Excellency. Want to eat prison rice with your uncle?”
“Let go of me, you thugs. Do you know who I am? I’m His Excellency the Prime Minister’s fifth cousin once removed!”
“His Excellency said he’d make an even greater example out of relatives. You slippery eel, daring to tarnish His Excellency’s name? No good. Bind him!”
Dozens were dragged into Security Command every day for questioning.
“Tell the truth! Where’s the money!”
The hauled-in officers endured grueling interrogations day after day, deprived even of sleep.
“I’m telling you, I don’t know.”
“Is that so? Got it. Let’s start over from the beginning.”
“Huh?”
“Name.”
Security Command’s interrogations were thorough and brutal enough to grind one’s teeth.
“C-call General Lee! I’ve got nothing to say to you lackeys of his.”
“You think you’ve got the guts of a tiger? Do you know where you are? This is Security Command.”
“You bastards! I’m a major general of the Great Korean Empire Army.”
“Some folks just don’t get it no matter what. Hey!”
“Y-you bastards.”
Thud. Thud. Ugh.
Those who refused to cooperate faced merciless beatings.
In this “Korean-style democracy,” human rights weren’t exactly a priority.
Security Command compiled the interim investigation results and reported to the prime minister.
“They sure scarfed down a lot.”
“What should we do?”
“We’ve already held the press conference. No point hiding it now. Prepare a national address.”
“We shall obey.”
The investigation results were soon broadcast to the entire nation via newspapers and TV.
*
“We’ll begin broadcasting shortly. When we give the cue, start speaking.”
“Got it.”
“5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Cue.”
I took a sip of water and picked up the script.
It wasn’t a pleasant occasion to face the people, but I didn’t feel it was all that bad.
“Esteemed fellow citizens. This is Yi Seong-jun. I come before you because a massive corruption scandal has been uncovered in the military as of late. Regrettably, some from the National Salvation Military Committee—which I headed—were implicated. As its leader, I sincerely apologize to you all.”
I paused as if people were watching, then bowed toward the microphone.
I caught the broadcasters flinching and counted in my head.
Five seconds.
Just right.
I continued.
“As prime minister entrusted with power by the state, I promise to deal with this incident decisively. Those responsible will be strictly punished, retired from service, and thoroughly barred from future public office.”
In other words, these guys were the examples.
Living proof that embezzling public funds would utterly ruin your life.
“Esteemed fellow citizens. I swear on the name of Yi Seong-jun. Should such corruption occur again in the future, I will show no mercy to the criminals. They will be ruthlessly punished, ensuring your taxes do not leak away in vain.”
Of course, this was just a pledge.
Even Stalin couldn’t stamp out all corruption, so what could I do?
I wasn’t some administrative genius like Stalin or Emperor Hongwu, who spent all day buried in paperwork.
“In the future, I shall come to you with good news. Thank you.”
My national addresses never exceeded five minutes.
Even a principal’s pep talk loses everyone’s attention if it drags.
I was no different.
This first large-scale military purge since the coup became the trigger for restoring much-needed discipline in the somewhat lax military.
I decided to seize the moment and tighten discipline across all society.
There was that Soviet guy.
Right, Yuri Andropov.
The red secretary general, former KGB chief, saw the crumbling Soviet Union and launched this kind of campaign.
“Principles and Order.”
By clamping down hard on the discipline of the slovenly Soviet society, Andropov temporarily boosted the USSR’s economic growth rate dramatically and gave the federation a chance to breathe.
I decided to copy Yuri Andropov’s campaign wholesale.
And like Andropov, I ordered productivity enhancements across all sectors of society.
“At work, focus solely on your tasks—no chatting, smoking, or boozing. Every moment you slack off or goof around costs the company and the nation. How will we ever catch up to America and the Soviets if we dawdle like this?”
“Order matters too. Obey traffic signals, queue where you should, and follow the law even when no one’s watching. If we can’t keep society’s basic promises, we’re no better than beasts. Do you want this country to turn into a lawless hell like China?”
The screw-tightening campaign kicked off across all areas of society.
In the process, the rounded-up “petty criminals” were thrown into holding cells and subjected to Yi Seong-jun series indoctrination.
“It might get dicey after a few months, but a week or two should be fine.”
At least it’d plant the idea that they should follow this Yi Seong-jun’s words.
The campaign that started at home soon spread to Japan.
“Y-Your Excellency. You’re saying the Japanese Governor-General’s Office should launch a Principles and Order campaign too?”
“That’s exactly what I said.”
“But Japan has its own unique circumstances. If we stir things up and it gets noisy...”
“Mister Yi. I know a thing or two about Japan myself.”
“I-I’m sorry.”
How could I not know the Japs?
I’d watched those neighbors my whole life, all the way to the 21st century.
“Those guys fold if you come on strong. They submit to the strong, don’t they?”
“That’s true, but they’re not meek when their own rights are at stake.”
“That’s because you’re backing down. Still, since pushing it right now seems impractical, start with ‘cultural rule.’”
“Cultural rule—you mean loosening things up for the Japanese a bit?”
“Moderately. Give them some room to maneuver, but triple the police presence.”
“Pardon?”
Yi Dong-nyeong looked flustered at that.
But wasn’t this Japanese-style cultural rule?
That’s what I’d learned.
The Principles and Order campaign soon began yielding tangible results across the empire.
Productivity was starting to rise, even if just a little.
On top of that, I decided to introduce the Soviet-style “Hero System.”
“Citizen Lee Gil-seop of Wonsan has achieved 300% of his factory’s assigned clothing production quota, so we hereby award him the Labor Hero medal.”
“Th-thank you.”
I created hero awards everywhere in society to stoke people’s competitive spirits.
“What? Not a single hero in this department?”
“What a soulless place—no patriots here.”
This bred a trend of fudging records just to produce heroes.
Not the healthiest sight, but if it boosted the empire’s productivity, I could tolerate some side effects.
Total war was right around the corner, after all.
“Your Excellency. Interior Ministry report. Detentions for Principles and Order violations have surpassed 5,000. At this rate, the holding cells will be full in two months, so they request reopening the revolutionary reeducation camps.”
Revolutionary reeducation camps? Absolutely not.
No matter how much we tightened discipline across society and cracked down on corruption, that was one line we couldn’t cross.
That was the empire’s black dragon of calamity.
“Mister Yi. Shred those papers.”
I hadn’t heard a thing.
Such a thing didn’t exist.
Yeah.