Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Winter Campaign (2)
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My ominous premonition didn't miss the mark.
Chiang Kai-shek of China seized the chance of our partial withdrawal to launch a counteroffensive.
It looked like the cornered Chiang was throwing his own desperate gamble to wring out favorable terms this time.
Right away, Wang Jingwei started whining from Nanjing, begging for help.
"Your Excellency. If Chiang takes Nanjing, I'm as good as dead. I can't go out like this."
Ha. Even if Chiang tried for ten years straight, he wouldn't reach there.
No matter how much he thrashed about, with us here, there's no way he could get to Nanjing.
In any case, the Chinese winter offensive brought a real headache.
My commute got delayed immediately.
This was a serious issue.
"Prime Minister. You can't be coming in this late. Hand over your jacket first."
The moment I got home, my young wife snatched my coat with a smile.
My body had its limits when it came to handling a wife just now discovering the joys of newlywed life.
'I'm screwed.'
After some adult conversation with her, I barely got to sleep at the crack of dawn, but I only managed two hours.
This was making life way too tough, all because of the damn Chinese.
When I woke up in the morning, my young wife had a terrifying spread waiting for me.
"Eat up. You need the strength."
It was nice when my pretty wife smiled like that, but when she piled on the meat dishes with that unspoken pressure, my spine chilled.
"Kim Jeong-gil. Join me."
"Ah, yes."
Jeong-gil was about to smartly pull up a chair, but my wife quickly shoved all the meat bowls my way.
"Eat it before it gets cold."
She winked with those crescent-moon eyes.
In front of Jeong-gil, only greens were left in seconds.
Uh, um.
She must've figured Jeong-gil was a herbivore.
I had to agree; he seemed like one.
Of course, Her Majesty's judgment was spot on.
After that burdensome meal, on the way to the War Ministry, Jeong-gil spoke up.
"You still look good, sir."
"Do I?"
If Jeong-gil said so, it must be true.
When I arrived at the War Ministry, the generals were all bustling about.
What a mess this was because of Chiang.
As soon as I sat down, a colonel who looked like a staff officer raised his voice.
"Your Excellency. I'll brief you on the situation."
I nodded and listened carefully to see if anything had changed overnight.
Honestly, the battle map hadn't shifted much.
The front lines were holding steady, and our casualties were manageable.
Still, we couldn't ignore the enemy's push.
"We estimate the Chinese forces at two million. Their assault is fiercest along the Yangtze basin."
Considering we'd committed less than a million to the front against China, it might seem like they had numbers, but if we concentrated our firepower right, even ten million enemies wouldn't scare us.
The reason was simple.
Most Chinese infantry relied on what they called the "anti-Korean greatswords" as their main weapon—units with poor combat power.
Honestly, one machine-gun squad could slaughter thousands of them.
Wasn't that how modern powers crushed pre-modern states?
The problem was China's terrain, which wasn't suited for stable front lines.
The land was so vast that our army controlled points and lines centered on railroads linking cities.
Even a million troops just meant scattering to hold those points and lines, with no capacity left to dominate the areas in between.
The Chinese infiltrated the spaces between our controlled points and lines, targeting our weak spot: the railroads.
Derailing trains by ripping up tracks was basic; they even hit undefended freight cars for loot.
We knew their game plan full well, but we were helpless.
In the first Sino-Korean War, this hadn't played out because we'd started by slashing 73 Chinese divisions in Shanghai.
Failing to annihilate Chiang's direct troops on that scale was why things had come to this.
Normally, we could've shrugged off whatever the Chinese tried.
We'd rotate forces and hold them off adequately, but the gap from those four missing divisions was huge.
We were running armored trains for key defenses, but they had limits against every attack.
To solve this at the root, we needed troops to fill the line.
Or reduce the enemy's assaults.
I tossed a question to the staffer, without much hope.
"What about the communists?"
"They're just whispering about quietly expanding their liberated areas."
As expected—they'd focus on growing their own turf.
Of course, I hadn't expected Mao's red commie bastards to pull their weight on time.
"Your Excellency. How about shortening the front a bit more?"
I pondered the operations chief's suggestion.
Shorten the front.
In other words, pull back from some occupied territory.
Politically, it looked like yielding to the Chinese.
But holding the line as is meant enduring endless Nationalist guerrilla jabs at our flanks and rear.
'The Chiang bastards don't even care about casualties.'
After wrestling with it, I made the call.
"No choice. Shorten the front temporarily."
Land could be retaken anytime if we preserved our forces.
"Excellent decision, Your Excellency."
"Thank you for your resolve."
The generals bowed their heads.
With power this strong, even obvious moves earned flattery.
Were they trying to turn me into Kim Jong-un or something? Jeez.
Once we fell back, the Chinese offensive intensity dropped noticeably.
Concentrating troops was indeed the answer.
That aside, retreating after taking a hit from the Chinese felt off.
Had to find a way to hit back.
I called in Intelligence Minister Lee Kyung-ho to my office, hoping for a good idea.
"You. Got any bright ideas to teach the Chinese a lesson?"
"I do have one in mind, if you're interested."
"Out with it."
"Do we really need to funnel all negotiations through Chiang Kai-shek?"
I got it.
In other words, poke all the warlords at once.
"The warlords won't budge easily. They don't want the traitor label."
Warlords were Chinese at heart.
They feared the Han traitor stigma more than anything.
To move them, we had to shield them from that label.
"There's a way."
"A way?"
"Sign a gentlemen's agreement."
What, hearing that coup-era talk again here?
I asked, puzzled.
"Elaborate."
"Maintain hostility on the surface, but cooperate in practice."
"So, join hands under the table. That's the pitch."
Warlords avoid the traitor tag—good for them. Less burden on our army—good for us.
Yan Xishan of Shanxi had pulled this off nicely with the Japanese.
Given a chance, warlords always prioritized their gain—that was their nature.
I reflected that I'd underestimated China by not exploiting this weakness.
"You've got a point. Get it started."
"Understood."
Whether it worked or not, crumbling the tightly knit Republic of China under Chiang was the goal.
The response came.
The bait hooked major North China warlords, led by Shanxi's Yan Xishan.
"If the Korean army stays out of this region, we'll cooperate in protecting North China rail assets and Korean property."
Negotiations went smoothly enough.
Chinese participation in the winter campaign plummeted right away.
Now, only central direct troops and a few warlord armies were pushing.
That was manageable.
Nights: tanks and field guns crushed them. Days: naval guns and armored trains.
Security around the rails recovered fast; Wang Jingwei's whining eased up.
China's grand winter offensive looked set to fizzle out.
As expected, the Soviets and Chinese were different beasts.
"The situation seems to be stabilizing."
Yeah, steady now.
Nationalist guerrilla liberated zones still popped up in our rear, but it was tolerable.
I turned to Kim Seong-ju.
"You."
"Yes, Prime Minister."
"When will the Japan issue wrap up?"
"We've cleared most riot areas. The Japanese can handle suppression with their own forces now."
"Good to hear."
With four divisions back from China, retaking lost ground was just a matter of time.
'Or boost troops here and expand holdings?'
Tempting, but with our army dotted like points across vast Jiangnan, that was greed.
'Not like we're conquering it anyway—just make it a protectorate and call it good. No need to overreach.'
I rose from the conference room chair I'd haunted for weeks.
"Good work, everyone. Thanks to your efforts, we wrapped this up smoothly."
"It's all thanks to Your Excellency's guidance."
"Right. Ease up on duty shifts, and rest at home."
I planned the same.
Whether my wife let me was another story, but it wasn't bad.
"Your Excellency, well done."
I left the room amid the generals' salutes.
The month's temporary crisis ended just like that.