The Roasted Chestnut's Dream (2)
What makes a good wartime monarch on the Korean Peninsula? Personally leading from the front lines like Napoleon III is the absolute worst approach. If you happen to drop dead, the entire country goes down with you.
The most important thing is to flee "at the fastest speed" to "the most appropriate location." If you get captured, the nation falls. During the Imjin War, King Seonjo of Joseon took a lot of flak, but he cannot be criticized solely for abandoning Seoul and running. Syngman Rhee during the Korean War might have been questionable as a president, but by the standards of a "pre-modern wartime monarch," he was fully qualified.
On the other hand, King Injo during the Qing invasion of Joseon failed to even escape properly, fully earning his title as one of Joseon's most incompetent rulers. Finally, what about Gojong of Joseon, Yi Hyeong? While Yi Hyeong might have been unfit as a modern monarch facing invasions from Japan and Russia, historians often wonder how he would have fared had he been born two hundred years earlier. Indeed, Yi Hyeong possessed a certain knack for running away. Looking at how he scaled a wall to flee to the Russian legation after the Eulmi Incident, it was truly a highly cost-effective escape.
And now, as the Chinese Beiyang government and the Empire of Japan wage war over Harbin, mimicking the West's grotesque "Special Military Operation," the blood of Gojong's distant ancestor, King Seonjo, is boiling within him!
"Your Majesty, for this exile attempt, please use the waterways. Currently, there is not a single corner of the eight provinces of Joseon that escapes the watchful eyes of the Japanese military. Therefore, traveling by water offers the highest chance of success."
"We are now old and infirm. This shall be Our final attempt for the independence of Korea. Having committed a grave sin against the royal ancestral shrine and the state, We would not have the face to meet Our ancestors if We fail this time."
Gojong, Yi Hyeong, and the independence activist Yi Hoe-yeong made thorough preparations. Yi Hyeong threw away all his royal authority. He wasn't even a king anymore, anyway. He had already used cross-dressing once, so the risk of detection was high. This time, he would play a madman. After somehow scaling the walls of Deoksugung Palace to escape, the very first thing the former king did was burn his clothes and roam the streets completely naked, without even a stitch of underwear!
"Hehehe, hehe!"
"Your Majesty! Absolutely brilliant!"
"Look at my manhood! Ehehehe!"
"Your imitation is so natural, it is as if this were Your Majesty's true self all along!"
"...How insolent."
"Y-Your Majesty! I have committed a capital offense!"
Quickly realizing that the King of Joseon had vanished, the Japanese immediately deployed military police throughout Gyeongseong. Amidst this, an old man walking naked appeared right in the middle of Gyeongseong. Yi Hoe-yeong, playing the role of the "son," hastily made up an excuse to the military police.
"Aigoo, officers, I am so sorry (sumimasen)! My father has gone senile, and I've been searching all over for him."
"This is highly suspicious. Come with us immediately..."
"His sphincter is quite weak these days, and I am worried he might have an accident right here. Are you sure that is alright?"
Playing along with Yi Hoe-yeong, Gojong trembled all over and pretended to strain his buttocks. The military policeman frowned and waved his hand in disgust.
"Ugh! Filthy old man. Keep a better eye on your father."
"Thank you. Thank you, officers."
Naturally, there was no way the military police could recognize a naked old man as the king. What king would roam the streets stark naked? Thus, Gojong evaded the tight surveillance of the Japanese military police and made his way to Jemulpo. Maintaining the guise of a naked old man, he slipped through the security at Jemulpo as well.
"W-Where on earth did the King of Joseon disappear to?! He couldn't have flown into the sky, nor could he have sunk into the earth!"
"We have searched the entire country, even looking under women's undergarments, but we cannot find a single trace of the king!"
And so, on August 31, 1915, Gojong and Yi Hoe-yeong leisurely boarded a ship bound for Beijing to seek refuge with Yuan Shikai.
"We know not how much lower Our royal dignity can fall."
"......I shall not utter a single word about this for the rest of my life."
"You are truly Our loyal subject. Thank you."
Some time ago, I had conspired with Hitler to issue a massive amount of bonds under the name of the Hungarian Agricultural Cooperative to use as operating funds. Now, enough money was rolling in to pay off every single cent of it...
"If we keep raking it in like this until the war ends, we'll have enough to establish agricultural cooperatives across the entire country."
"Yes, Your Imperial Highness. What we have gathered so far is already more than enough to establish the Austrian Agricultural Cooperative without any issues."
"Why don't we just establish it right now?"
"Hmm..."
It wasn't a bad idea. Originally, I had planned to wait until the Kaiser passed away, sweep away the nobility, seize all their lands, and then establish the cooperative. That way would cost far less. But what if we established the Austrian Agricultural Cooperative ahead of schedule? It would weaken the nobility's power in advance while drawing a clear line to incite infighting among them. Nobles who were quick to read the room and excluded from the military would immediately flock to our side. It would be highly effective in driving a wedge between them.
"Yes, let's go ahead and push for it, Your Highness."
"Indeed. Before that, though, I heard some strange news from East Asia. Have you heard?"
"Ah, yes."
I had heard the news that both sides had initially sided with the Russian White Army and set off to enthusiastically plunder the North Manchurian Railway. I had simply thought, Well, this will block the Russian Black Army's imports from America in the Far East, and left it at that. But things were taking an increasingly bizarre turn.
The Beiyang Army and the Japanese military clashed in Harbin. After being defeated by the Japanese, the Beiyang Army dragged their entire force and threw them into Harbin. Not to be outdone, Japan, having lost Harbin to the Beiyang Army once more, sent an entire army corps to reclaim it. Even so, Yuan Shikai showed no intention of yielding, prompting the Japanese to pitch camp right in front of Beijing to pressure him.
Normally, the Japanese military would have the upper hand. However, Yuan Shikai, who had gained immense popularity through this war against Japan, declared the Chinese Empire, ascended the throne as Emperor, and was now blocking the Japanese with sheer, overwhelming numbers.
With the exception of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, almost every nation held some vested interest in China. Naturally, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and even the United States were throwing fits over this sudden turn of events. Of course, for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which didn't possess a single handful of colonies to begin with, it was a story from another world entirely.
"I wonder how this war will turn out. Have you heard that news as well? The Japanese military has begun landing on the Shandong Peninsula."
"...Are they insane? What are Great Britain and Germany saying about this?"
"That fellow Wilhelm II is foaming at the mouth, of course. He's making quite a racket, ranting about how the yellow monkeys have finally shown their true colors. But strangely, Great Britain is quiet. For some reason, Winston Churchill was even extradited back to his home country..."
"Winston Churchill?"
"Yes. Apparently, even his cousin's ducal title was stripped. It seems to be an absolute mess over there."
Naturally, Great Britain kept its mouth tightly shut regarding what had transpired with Churchill and his family. Seeing them so uncharacteristically quiet gave me a rough idea. Churchill had undoubtedly cooked up something in the Far East. The current chain of events was likely connected to whatever he did. Though I couldn't fathom what kind of disaster he had to orchestrate to plunge China and Japan into a de facto state of war.
He was, after all, a madman who had devised the extraordinary plan to land in the Baltic Sea, not to mention the numerous massacres he had instigated in India and Turkey. Still, it's rather bitter. It was nice to hear a name I recognized so well from my original history, but to think Churchill would fall like this. No, wait. Churchill was a formidable beast in his own right. There was no telling what kind of madness a back-against-the-wall Churchill might pull off now that he had lost his backing.
"Because of this incident, Great Britain even apologized to Germany. They asked them to overlook it just this once."
"Live long enough and you'll see everything, I suppose. At any rate, let's keep our noses out of the Far East."
"Even if we wanted to get involved, there's nothing we can really do, is there?"
"That is true. And there is no need to, either."
The only concession the Austro-Hungarian Empire held in China was a tiny plot in Tianjin, acquired during the Boxer Rebellion. Unlike other concessions, it possessed zero economic or military utility; it was purely symbolic. Besides, it wasn't as if they had openly sided with the Russian Black Army. Even though the Japanese military was committing all sorts of outrageous acts, including attacking German concessions, they were still ostensibly part of the "Russian White Army." At the very least, our empire had neither the justification nor the spare capacity to intervene.
"Hmm. Yes, let's do that. Oh, by the way, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany has been throwing a massive fit. It seems he received a rather interesting letter."
"An interesting letter?"
"Yes. It was a letter from the King of Joseon."
The moment that name—which I had buried deep in my heart as nothing more than a distant memory—escaped his lips, my heart skipped a beat. Joseon...? Jo... seon...?
"They say the King of Joseon, whose country was annexed by Japan, escaped the Korean Peninsula and established a government-in-exile in Beijing."
"How on earth did that man manage that?"
"Who knows? Perhaps Japan is in too much chaos because of their 'Special Military Operation' to keep a proper watch. At any rate, I received a letter from the king as well. Would you like to read it?"
Suppressing my flustered expression as best as I could, I read the letter Gojong had blasted across the globe like a piece of spam mail. The first half was nothing but a long-winded lamentation about how illegally Japan had acted, and so on and so forth. Of course, that didn't mean there was nothing of note.
Why is this guy being so polite?
I had thought he was a man who lived and died by his pride, yet he was addressing me—who was, on paper, merely the crown prince of another nation—with the utmost honorifics.
...Recently, rumors of Stahlism, which Your Imperial Highness and Representative Stahl have labored so diligently to create, have spread far and wide even to the Far East. Our Kingdom of Joseon, too, had paid great attention to Stahlism before the illegal Japanese government forcibly seized our territory...
His understanding of Stahlism was surprisingly excellent. Then again, it was an ideology that any absolute monarch of this era would naturally take an interest in at least once.
I fell into deep thought after reading the letter. It felt as if some lingering conscience in my heart was speaking to me.
Stahl, you selfish bastard. Are you really fine with Korea falling? Whether you're treated like a king in Austria or not, dying for Joseon, backwater though it may be, is where true happiness lies.
Hmm... No matter how much goodwill I harbored toward Joseon, there was no immediate way for me to intervene. I might be able to pull some strings by utilizing the raging Wilhelm II, but... now was not the time. Although Great Britain was still holed up on their island, they were still technically cooperating in the war effort. It would be unwise to touch Japan, which was under British protection.
But just because now wasn't the time didn't mean it would never come. Surely, the day to reach out to Joseon would arrive. I turned to Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
"To be frank, the Austro-Hungarian Empire does not possess any colonies, does it?"
"That is true. But once our prestige is fully established, wouldn't we need colonies as well?"
"The nations making a fortune from this war are ours and the United States, yet neither of us runs colonies on the scale of Great Britain or France. It is because colonies are now outdated."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. In fact, colonies are the fatal weakness of the established Great Powers."
What if France lost this war? As the second-largest colonial empire after Great Britain, all of its colonies would dissolve into thin air. And no one would be able to sweep them up. In the timeline I ruled, colonies would no longer exist. There was no need for them anyway.
"The moment France is forced to abandon Indochina, Great Britain will no longer be able to hold onto India. What do you think will happen to Great Britain if India gains independence?"
"Hmm..."
"Have we not amassed vast wealth from this war? Central Europe is now our empire's backyard. We need to think ahead about how we will conduct ourselves as a superpower."
It was no longer a distant future. There were only two or three years left.
"For now, let us focus on domestic affairs. The matter of the Austrian Agricultural Cooperative is far more important."