Joseon Needs a Coup - Chapter 409



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#Part 2 Episode 19. The River of No Return (1)

“Thanks to Korea’s ambivalence, Japan has found a way to survive!”

When Prime Minister Terauchi received the telegram from the Russian Foreign Ministry, he hit his knees with both hands and jumped up. Oh my, even if the sky falls, there is a way out, and the unexpected discussion about selling Kwantung Province from Russia was rolling in like a ripe pumpkin.

“I have received a telegram from Ambassador Motono in St. Petersburg that a delegation headed by Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich will soon be sent from Russia to Japan. According to the schedule, they will visit us first.”

And all this was possible because Korea, which had been acting as Russia’s Far East police, abandoned its job. For some unknown reason, Korea maintained strict neutrality between the allies and the allies, and Japan was able to find a way out in the meantime.

“Hahaha! They dug their own grave. This is what happens when a guard dog pretends not to know his master’s danger. Even though it would be more convenient to go through the Korean Empire and come to us, isn’t the fact that the Russian Grand Duke decided to board a ship in Lushun and come here first a clear diplomatic warning?”

“That’s right, Prime Minister.”

Terauchi, who was also serving as Minister of Foreign Affairs, was full of confidence that this incident would allow them to surpass Korea and gain an advantage in diplomacy toward Europe. Thanks to Ambassador Motono Ichiro’s efforts, they were able to establish diplomatic lines related to Europe immediately after the Far East War, and thanks to that, they were able to recover from the scars of the war to some extent.

“If we can receive Kwantung Province in return for selling large quantities of supplies to Russia, we can advance into the continent and place a fleet and ground forces on the heads of those thorn-in-the-eye Koreans.”

“That’s it! Finally, the momentous opportunity has arrived for our Japan to rise again!”

And this Russian move could have served as a stepping stone to resolve the instability that had been occurring externally toward Japan. Japan’s current external issues were its deteriorating relationship with Britain and its worsening diplomatic problems with the United States.

It all started after the Russo-Japanese War ended. Immediately after the war, Japan was terrified that Britain would abandon them, but surprisingly, they did not. The British cabinet judged that although Japan was defeated, it had made a great contribution in exhausting all of Russia’s reserves in the Far East War.

And various rewards appropriate to it began to be bestowed. Japan was able to enjoy a ‘golden age of the alliance’ in its own way, as it provided many conveniences in terms of building Kongō-class battleships to strengthen its fleet, which was almost the only one with an upper hand in military affairs, as well as in repaying urgent debts.

However, until the Third Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty was concluded in 1911, the heyday of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance lasted only until then.

Moreover, the Japanese cabinet had made a serious mistake. In the Manchurian and northern China issues, Japan did not represent British interests, but sought to secure its own economic sphere and sphere of influence, and in the process, large and small conflicts began to arise.

The most decisive event that caused Britain to withdraw from Japan was the Korean government’s revelation of circumstances surrounding Japan’s intervention in the armed conflict between the Korean Empire and the Beiyang government in South Manchuria. The Korean Empire’s intelligence agency revealed that Japan had a deep relationship with Zhang Zuolin as well as his superior, Yuan Shikai, and furthermore raised deep suspicions that Japan was preparing for a new war in the Far East.

Although they tried to cover this up through secret negotiations and other means, it must have made Britain, which was trying to gain economic dominance in China, quite wary, because in the Third Anglo-Japanese Alliance Treaty concluded in 1911, they deleted the clause on the existing airborne alliance.

Although some renowned scholars have commented on this, the mainstream theory was as follows: Japan had already replaced Britain and prevented Russia from becoming a major player in Europe, so it was more like a warning to be satisfied with that.

In addition, the worsening relationship with the United States was also a daily concern for Japan. The United States wanted to enter the Manchurian and northern Chinese markets after the war. If Japan, which was likely to be defeated in the first place, was able to mediate well between Russia and the Korean Empire, which emerged as victorious nations, and thus maintain the national system, then it was a first-class contributor.

The problem was that such favors did not come from good intentions. From Count Ito, who had already been assassinated, to Count Saionji, who was ousted from office after being held responsible for the failures in the South Manchurian issue just before the war, there had been repeated warnings about America’s ambitions to expand its markets in northern China and Manchuria.

They knew all too well what kind of negative impact the Chinese market, which they had sought to secure as their own, would have if American capital and companies, which believed in liberalism, invaded. Considering that a market is not a place where only one side is advantageous, but rather a much larger and more complex life-like system, it was obvious that it would be even more disadvantageous to Japan.

In this situation, the civilian cabinet, including Ito and Saionji, attempted to implement a policy of appeasement toward the Korean Empire in their own way, while trying to block American capital and companies from entering Manchuria and northern China, and at the same time, they planned measures to improve relations with Russia, in an attempt to block them. However, they rejected such proposals from Japan.

The Korean Empire refused to negotiate anything beyond the joint establishment of the Oriental Development Company in relation to Manchuria, and instead welcomed American and French capital to connect the peninsula with a railway line connecting it to Manchuria.

Russia, which could be called the suzerain state, had little interest in the actions of the United States. It was as if it had handed over the vast land of South Manchuria to the Korean Empire and told them to deal with it on their own.

In the end, Japan, putting the Beiyang government first, took drastic measures such as restricting foreign capital inflow only in northern China, citing military and political reasons for preparing for another war. And this inevitably brought about serious negative effects on Japanese diplomacy.

The U.S. government quickly enacted immigration laws to suppress the growing flow of Japanese immigrants along the West Coast, accusing Japan of unilaterally reneging on its 1903 promise to the U.S. ambassador in London, made by Komura Chutaro, to share fairly the fruits of its trade with powers that had or wished to do so.

“The Anglo-Japanese Alliance, which had maintained our stable position as an offensive alliance, lost its effectiveness too quickly, but surprisingly, we can try to improve relations with Russia, so we need to make proposals for them more than ever.”

“Besides, Russia will have to retreat from the Far East after the war ends, so this will be an opportunity to prevent their territory from being completely handed over to Korea.”

“Then let’s discuss what we should give and what we should get.”

Terauchi attended the meeting with a smile on his face. No matter how serious he tried to look, he was extremely happy that the opportunity had been passed over to them because the Korean Empire, which had been a thorn in his side, had taken a wrong step.

“The first thing they asked us from St. Petersburg was the supply of rifles and ammunition.”

“Not heavy artillery?”

“They say the power lines have collapsed and a lot of equipment has been lost.”

The Russian army was worse than he had thought. Terauchi once thought, “Were they defeated by such men?” but soon changed his mind after hearing thrilling stories of battles from Europe.

“It is said that the Russian government tried to urgently contact Britain, France, and Italy to supply rifles, but it was unsuccessful.”

“That makes sense. They’re both fighting fiercely on the Western Front.”

All three countries were in a desperate situation to arm their own armies while engaged in fierce fighting. In addition, since the supply orders from the United States were not satisfactory, Russia was desperate and was trying to use German-made Mauser rifles from South America. Russia was literally suffering from a rifle shortage.

Rather, greedy swindlers were running rampant everywhere, taking advantage of the Russian army’s gloomy situation. In the midst of the urgency, even the members of the Russian Artillery Committee were being swindled by such swindlers.

“What Russia asked us to do was give us 1 million rifles and 1,000 rounds of ammunition for each rifle… that’s 1 billion rounds of ammunition.”

“That’s a huge number. Mr. Army, can we afford this from our reserve supplies?”

“Well, we’ve barely made up for the material losses from the last war, so we don’t have that much room to spare… … .”

Army Minister Kenichi Oshima thought about it. One million guns was impossible. The arsenals in Tokyo and Osaka were busy producing firearms, but compared to the neighboring arsenals in Korea, the total production was significantly lower. This was because Korea, which had always been in a state of quasi-war, had been diverting part of its economy to the military industry.

In any case, the firearms and ammunition that he thought he could mobilize with some leeway were about 100,000 1930-type rifles in each district on the mainland, and about 100,000 old Murata rifles and 1930-type rifles that were kept in reserve in the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office. The ammunition was less than 30 million rounds at best. If more than that was given, it was clear that the Japanese Army’s overall supplies would fall to a dangerous level.

“Are you going to let this good opportunity pass you by because of such a problem?”

Terauchi glared at the hesitant Army Minister. He then coughed a few times and opened his mouth again.

“Come to think of it again, there were old 30-year-old rifles and… various rifles stockpiled in each regional district. If we could get them out right away, I think we could urgently supply 100,000 to 200,000 rifles to Russia.”

“What about the ammunition?”

“1 billion rounds of ammunition is too much, but I think we can supply about 20 million rounds.”

“Hmm, according to what I understand, up to 400,000 rifles could be mobilized. Wouldn’t that be expensive for Russia, which is always short on ammunition and rifles?”

“But if that happens, our army will not be able to properly secure supplies in case of an emergency. The supplies currently being produced at the Tokyo and Osaka arsenals are all being stored up for support to Russia… … .”

The factories in Nagoya and Kokura also began to produce weapons and ammunition in a hurry, but time was running out. In order to pay the price that Russia wanted, they had to give up even what they had in case of emergency.

“It doesn’t matter. Our army isn’t going on an expedition.”

“If Korea can no longer withstand the pressure and goes to the allies, aren’t you prepared for that? That’s why we’ve stockpiled weapons.”

“Even if they die and come back to life, they won’t side with the allies. Let’s just give them our available weapons without any worries.”

After Terauchi had put an end to some of the concerns, he was willing to pay for the Kwantung Province with the hundreds of thousands of rifles and ammunition the army had, and if possible, he believed that he could discuss the Sakhalin issue, and further, Russia’s interests in the Chinese Eastern Railway, as well as the railway line connecting Harbin and Changchun.