Chapter 58
Chapter 58
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Chinese Intervention (1)
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A wartime leader has a lot on his plate.
A tremendous amount, in fact.
“Excellency. It’s time for the cabinet meeting.”
“Already? Time flies like that?”
“Excellency. It’s time to visit the Pyongyang Leather Factory.”
“I see.”
Mornings, I held cabinet meetings. Afternoons, I toured industrial sites to check on operations firsthand.
Work continued even at night.
By the time I handled delayed meetings with foreign diplomats and signed off on approvals, it was nearly dawn before I could catch my breath.
‘This isn’t living.’
Sure, leaders always have a ton of work, but right now, even two bodies wouldn’t be enough.
How the hell did guys like Stalin, Roosevelt, or Churchill manage this?
Not like they were popping drugs like Hitler.
The more I thought about it, the more their abilities seemed superhuman.
Word was Stalin even threw parties at dawn while pulling this crap.
‘Not the GOATs of politics for nothing.’
Lost in thought, another stack of approvals thudded onto my desk.
With a sigh, I rummaged through the fresh pile.
‘China might join the Axis.’
It was an intelligence report on Chiang Kai-shek’s movements.
I skimmed it casually at first, then jolted awake.
‘No way. Is this bald old coot Chiang Kai-shek out of his mind? Joining the Axis now? He wants to throw down with us or what?’
I flipped through the report rapidly.
Attached behind it was a thick envelope containing an SP record.
“Hey, you. Bring the gramophone.”
While Jeong Gil fetched it, I reread the report obsessively.
Just in case I’d misinterpreted something.
Soon, Jeong Gil brought the gramophone and played the SP record.
Scratch.
A few seconds in, voices emerged—Chiang Kai-shek and what sounded like one of his cronies.
Jeong Gil, fluent in Chinese, provided translation.
“Chairman. Won’t this alliance push Korea too far?”
“We’ll have to risk it. If Germany wins, the Koreans won’t even dream of opposing the Axis. Why can’t you see that?”
Chiang Kai-shek ranted at length about how much joining the Axis would benefit China’s security.
I listened, then yanked the record.
“Hey, you.”
“Yes, Prime Minister.”
“What do you make of China joining the Axis?”
“What thoughts could I possibly have?”
“Ahem.”
“If I must say, it seems advantageous to the Republic.”
“Advantageous?”
“Yes. If China sides with Germany, it’ll be totally isolated from the great powers. If we launch a preemptive war then, who’d stop our troops from marching into China?”
That’s what he meant by advantageous.
I quietly ran the numbers.
Like Jeong Gil said, China joining the Axis would be good for us.
Even if the great powers wanted to back China, the moment it allied with their enemy Germany, they’d cut ties—it was only a matter of time.
‘War, huh.’
I’d never once considered a second Korean-Chinese War.
Pulling that stunt would just aggro the great powers for zero national gain.
No need to follow the Japanese Empire down the path to ruin.
But with things unfolding like this, maybe I should at least draft some war plans.
‘You never know how the world turns. No harm in preparing.’
I picked up the phone right away.
“Army Ministry. Get me the Army Minister. It’s me. Got an urgent task for the Army. Yeah. Draw up preemptive war plans against China. September for prep time sounds good. Alright. Thanks for the hard work.”
Kim Seong-ju took my orders with evident glee.
The tremor in his voice over the line showed how long this militarist had dreamed of a China invasion directive.
Army was set. Time to loop in the Navy too.
It was one of the military’s two pillars, after all.
“Navy Ministry. Get me the Navy Minister. Senior, it’s Yi Seong-jun. Need a favor from the Navy. Army’s prepping China invasion plans—want you in on it. Yeah. Of course we’ll hear Navy’s input. Great, that’s settled.”
Ordering war plans from my seat left me parched.
A swig of fresh cola from the fridge finally quenched it.
‘Still, going all-in on hardline prep doesn’t sit right.’
I’d started sharpening the stick for Chiang Kai-shek, but dialogue was needed too.
We’re civilized—solve it with talk, not just clubs.
Right, can’t go full Korean Empire on this.
Let’s compromise at Chairman Xi’s ‘People’s Republic of China’ level.
“Foreign Ministry. Ah, Yi Seong-jun here. Got a request. Yeah. Summon the Chinese ambassador right away. Content: warning on Axis membership. Yeah. Make it very strongly worded.”
Technically, China joining the Axis was its sovereign right.
An internal affair of a sovereign state.
But that was pure theory.
In realpolitik, we could tell China this:
Could a ‘small nation’ stand against a great power?
Words straight from Tian Hai, that dear deputy director of the CCP, who’d tormented Korea with them.
So, who’s Asia’s top great power now?
The world’s #5, the Korean Empire.
By Deputy Director Tian’s logic, the Republic of China—barely top 10 in power—was the ‘small nation’ that shouldn’t defy us.
How dare a puny China join the Axis against mighty Korea?
“Hmm.”
Unleashing stern measures on Nanjing based on our intel felt like I’d become the Chinese emperor myself.
‘This must be why China did gunboat diplomacy.’
Now I got Chairman Xi’s mindset, baffling as it was in the 21st century.
Anyway, strong warning delivered—China should get the message.
So thinking, I wrapped up work.
“Excellency.”
At dawn, as I slept soundly, the duty secretary shook me awake.
“Mmm, what’s up?”
“Urgent wire from Berlin.”
“Hand it over.”
I quickly scanned the dispatch from our Berlin embassy.
“China’s joined the Anti-Comintern Pact?”
That was basically the prelude to Axis membership.
These bastards were crossing the line?
They seriously suicide-wishing?
I grabbed the phone immediately.
“Prep the car. And Foreign Ministry. Second-in-command? Tell Foreign Minister Excellency to come to the ministry now. Yeah.”
I threw on clothes haphazardly and headed to the car waiting outside.
Sleepy-faced MPs were gearing up to escort.
Sorry about this, but duty calls.
“To the Foreign Ministry.”
I arrived at 3:30 a.m.
Dragging myself there at this ungodly hour had irritation boiling over.
Soon, the Foreign Minister’s official car pulled up.
In his office, I glared at the world map, tapping my shoes sharply.
Five minutes later.
Hurried footsteps—then the Foreign Minister entered, bowing deeply.
“Excellency. I’m sorry I’m late.”
“Sit.”
I didn’t use my usual polite tone with the minister.
New Foreign Minister Joo Si-gyeong, from the Great Council, treated me with extreme caution.
I showed him the dispatch from the residence.
“This—this.”
“Didn’t you summon the Chinese ambassador today and deliver our government’s warning?”
“No, sir. I warned him repeatedly, very forcefully. Told him directly that joining the Axis would taste Pyongyang’s wrath.”
In diplomatic terms, expressing ‘anger’ meant we’d overflowed with resolve.
No mistake on our end in communication.
Conclusion: China fucked up.
Only then did I soften my frozen expression a bit.
“Prime Minister Excellency. On this matter, shall I summon the Chinese ambassador again? Contact him now?”
I waved it off.
“No need.”
“Pardon?”
“If the Chinese reject civilized ways, we go hard too. By this morning, summon the British and American ambassadors—secure their blessing for military action against China.”
“Pardon? You mean war?”
Not quite yet.
Just float a flotilla on the Yangtze, the international waterway, to briefly blockade China’s twin lifelines: the Grand Canal and Yangtze.
That’d be a reasonable ‘measured warning,’ not full war.
“Mind if I use the phone?”
I picked it up.
“Navy Ministry. Ah, Senior. Sorry to call at dawn. China’s caused trouble, and they don’t seem like they’ll listen—need the big stick. Yeah. No need for the Combined Fleet; just a Yangtze River flotilla. Yes. Start action once orders reach you. Thanks.”
The Foreign Minister eyed me like, what kind of diplomacy is this?
What, this much?
Better than actual war.
Three years after the Korean-Chinese War ended, I ordered resumption of military action against China.