Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: The Great Purge (1)
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Three months after the chemical warfare had broken out, in late August, the German forces—half-dead on their feet—finally reached the Dnieper River, the lifeline of the Eastern European plains, and seized Kyiv, the capital of the Ukrainian SSR.
It was the fruit of meticulous air-ground joint tactics, organic support from the navy and air force, and the outstanding capabilities of the army officer corps.
But inflicting this level of damage was nowhere near enough to subdue the Soviet Union.
Over the past three months, the Germans had forced 1.5 million casualties on the Soviets, but Moscow had simply reinforced with eight field armies from its strategic reserves, as if making the losses vanish into thin air.
"We wiped out about 100 of your divisions? Then we'll just reinforce with 150."
By contrast, the Germans' 400,000 casualties were losses that couldn't be easily replaced.
Before the overwhelming mass of the Soviet forces—which regenerated endlessly no matter how many heads you cut off—the sharp tip of Germany's prepared blade was gradually dulling.
Perhaps the German offensive would falter without even reaching the gates of Moscow.
"It might actually be better for the Nazis that way."
Operation Typhoon, aimed at Moscow, had been a disaster for Germany too.
I dismissed the daily war report briefing.
As long as Stalin didn't order some reckless counterattack, the European front didn't look like it would turn decisively against us.
The Soviet stock was showing signs of skyrocketing.
'Looks like I nailed the bottom buy on Soviet coin.'
The Korean-Chinese War we were directly waging was proceeding smoothly as well.
Wang Jingwei, the Administrative Yuan President of the New Republic of China, was cooperating splendidly by selling out his country, and the Chinese Communists were diligently expanding the liberated areas for us.
Chiang Kai-shek could only pin his hopes on intervention by the great powers, but even that had been blocked.
I'd done a pretty good job untangling that messy knot.
'The problem isn't the war situation.'
I'd received a report from the Security Command that there were suspicious aspects to the outbreak of this war.
At the end of the report, the Security Command added the inference that the Army Ministry's Operations Bureau had been involved.
What did that mean?
It meant the blockheads in the military had been playing with fire.
Nine times out of ten, it was the handiwork of those stubborn military barons.
Those bastards.
"Summon the Provost Marshal to my office immediately."
I had no intention of letting them off the hook.
They'd toyed with the fate of the empire—they needed to lose their heads.
An hour later, Yi Jeong appeared before me, his face tense.
I tossed the Security Command report at him and said,
"You. Did you really not know these bastards were up to no good?"
"I-I'm sorry, Your Excellency."
I drummed my fingers irritably on the desk.
"I'm giving you exactly 24 hours from now. Dig up every single person involved, every single one responsible. Dig it all up. Find out exactly how this was possible, down to the last detail."
"Understood."
Yi Jeong saluted and left the office.
With the Army Crime Investigation Unit, Provost Marshal's Office, Security Command, Central Intelligence Agency—all agencies that could be mobilized working in concert, they'd strip those guys down to their underwear.
A day later, Yi Jeong returned to the office, looking utterly haggard.
"Your Excellency. The investigation is complete."
"The participants?"
"As the Security Command report indicated, the Army Ministry's Operations Bureau was deeply involved. The main culprits were in Section 3, and the ones who ordered the operational planning were the Army Affairs Bureau Chief and the Operations Bureau Deputy Chief."
Army Affairs Bureau?
That guy had nothing to do with Operations.
The only thing those bastards had in common was that they were military barons.
Military barons.
Just hearing the term made me sick to my stomach.
Hah. Those fucking pseudo-Junker scum.
The biggest malignant tumor left behind by the Great Korean Empire.
I resolved to excise this military baron tumor once and for all this time.
"Handle dealing with those bastards yourself for now. Don't leave a single one who needs to be stripped of rank untouched."
"Understood."
"Go."
After sending Yi Jeong off, I pondered how to crush the military barons.
The answer was simple.
'Land reform, that's it.'
Hit them on the land, and the military barons—who relied on their land deeds for most of their economic power—would collapse in one fell swoop.
'You guys brought this on yourselves.'
Until now, I'd thought good was good and avoided provoking the military barons as much as possible for the sake of the empire's stability.
You might say what was that after all the purges, but I'd kept a line, in my own way.
But now, there was no need to hold back.
How could I spare reverse-coup-plotting, war-provoking traitors any longer?
Time to crush them.
"You there."
I called for Jeong Gil-i.
"Yes, Prime Minister."
"Have the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry come here immediately, then the others in the order I name."
"Understood."
Soon, the cabinet ministers filed into the office one after another at my summons.
From my seat, I issued orders for sweeping reforms.
The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, who received the particularly draconian land reform directive, looked utterly dumbfounded.
"Y-Your Excellency. Land is the foundation of the nation's millennium-long plan. Tampering with it lightly will cause social unrest."
Was this guy taking the Korean Junkers' side now?
My words weren't kind.
"What do you think is the reason Germany, with all that national strength in World War I, failed to conquer the world? It's because unproductive bastards hoarded all the land and blocked national development. How can we leave them be when we can see it plain as day? The military barons are this empire's accumulated rot!"
The Prussian Junkers had operated land in pre-modern ways, stalling eastern Germany's development for centuries.
Considering how rich in coal, iron, and other industrial resources eastern Germany was—no less than the Rhineland—the Junkers had basically turned Germany into a half-cripple.
The Great Korean Empire's military barons were no different from Germany's Junkers.
"But Your Excellency. The military barons are the foundation of the empire."
"The foundation of the empire is not those bastards—it's me, Yi Seong-jun!"
That much I could say definitively.
The warmongering maniacs desperate to suicide the empire, versus Yi Seong-jun thrashing to save the nation.
Which side had helped the empire more?
It didn't even need saying.
"I-I'm sorry."
The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, sensing my anger, bowed his head.
"Then, may I know Your Excellency's intentions?"
"You think just handing out land will magically boost productivity?"
"Y-Yes, exactly. Land needs a certain scale for mechanization and organization."
"So, hand over the farms intact to the peasants, then run them as cooperatives, right?"
Cooperatives.
In the Great Korean Empire, where small farms were inevitable, it was the only way for peasants to survive.
"Aren't cooperatives like what they do in Denmark?"
"You knew that too. Spot on."
"But I understand cooperatives are a method adopted almost exclusively by communists."
"Red, blue—doesn't matter if it helps the empire. White cat or black cat, as long as it catches mice, right?"
"T-That's true. Then, what about land confiscation?"
"Compensated confiscation, compensated distribution. Pay back over 50 years deferral."
Call it 50-year deferral, but factoring in inflation, it was basically telling the military barons to sit and die.
The Minister of Agriculture and Forestry understood and paled in shock.
Whether the military barons croaked wasn't my concern.
Those guys were my enemies—no, the empire's enemies.
What was there to complain about giving these rot-mongers a trim?
"Start the surgery immediately, based on the nationwide land registry."
Unlike the Joseon Dynasty, the Great Korean Empire had no such thing as hidden land not on the rolls.
Thanks to surveying every inch with modern techniques.
So, no one could slip through a national land policy.
Of course, such a brutal policy wouldn't come without side effects.
'It won't just be the military barons—any big landowners will bleed.'
They were all entrenched interests.
Touch them all, and the backlash could be fierce.
There might even be a coup.
Driving them this far into a corner—if they didn't squirm, that'd be the weird part.
But I'd endured plenty myself.
Next after the Minister of Agriculture and Forestry was the Minister of Finance.
"Launch special tax audits on the individuals on the list the Provost Marshal hands over, starting now."
Targeting specific people with tailored attacks left the Minister of Finance bewildered.
"Won't that cause legal issues?"
Legal problems?
"Submit a report on the problematic parts. I'll get legislation passed to handle it."
If there's a problem, just change the law.
With the legislature at my feet, such trifles were no issue.
"Understood."
In this way, I unleashed merciless retaliation against the military barons and the ringleaders of this incident.
And starting the next day, wailing echoed across the nation.
"Oh no, you bastards, not that land."
Chaos erupted everywhere.
Letters begging me to withdraw the policy poured in like a flood.
There were plenty of pitiful circumstances, stories that tugged at the heart humanly.
But no.
Start making exceptions, and I couldn't crush the military barons.
Even if it meant cutting out some healthy flesh, the tumor had to be excised whole.
'At the very least, by the time I step down, the word "military barons" shouldn't exist anymore.'
The greatest legacy I'd leave the Great Korean Empire was a country without military barons.