NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 108



Only Krnovel

All is well on the northern front (2)

This is the headquarters of the Korean Independence Army

The streets were filled with abundance and leisure, and it was a place where soldiers could take a step back from their work and really focus on training.

Among the independence fighters who came here in response to Kim Dong-sam’s call, there was no one who was not amazed by the new world that unfolded before their eyes.

“Hey… … . What is this?”

“Ah, that’s a machine gun. It’s a lighter version of the machine gun, which was previously extremely heavy and difficult to carry.”

“How are you going to handle using so many of these guys that spray bullets like spray guns?”

“Don’t worry. We are already receiving ammunition through the Maritime Province and China.”

“You are getting ammunition from China and the Maritime Province? How do you mean?”

The Korean Independence Army was importing ammunition after signing a legal contract with Mr. Lee’s arms company established in the French Concession in Shanghai.

Normally, it would have been normal for the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai to obtain information about this situation and stop it, but since Inspector Sasaki, who was supposed to investigate this at the Japanese Consulate General in Shanghai, had already been recruited (repelled) by this teacher, there was no problem.

Even if problems arose later, the military enterprise created by this teacher was a French corporation established in the French Concession, so it was difficult for the Japanese government to directly intervene.

“Huh… … . So you’re saying that you’re going to set up the French as puppets and drive out the Japanese?”

“It’s pretty similar.”

“Heh heh.”

Until recently, when fighting the Japanese army, we had to count each shot and fight, but now there was no need to do that.

But surprisingly, that wasn’t all.

“If you look closely, you’ll see that the weapons the soldiers are carrying are neither rifles nor pistols, but rather something short. What is that for?”

“Oh, that’s a submachine gun. It fires in rapid succession like a machine gun, but it’s light and easy to handle, so soldiers use it a lot.”

“A submachine gun? A rapid-fire gun? This little thing?”

The newly joined independent army looked at the machine gun with curious eyes.

Unlike the long rifles that were almost as tall as me, it was amazing that something that was only a few palms long could fire in rapid succession.

“So this uses rifle bullets?”

“No. I use pistol bullets.”

“Pistol bullets? Huh? Then doesn’t that mean I have to prepare additional bullets?”

“Yes, but there is no problem with distribution.”

“… … That’s amazing.”

The newly joined independence army was impressed by the solid foundation and financial power of the Korean independence army, but at the same time, they had this question.

‘If you look at the main source of income in Manchuria, it’s all the same, so where do these guys get the money from to be able to operate such a large-scale military unit?’

But no one, from officers of the Korean Independence Army to soldiers and children on the streets, knew exactly about this.

The kids thought money was falling from the sky, and the adults weren’t much different.

The officers seemed to know something, but they didn’t seem to be willing to open their mouths, which only made the newly joined independence fighters more curious.

“What is that building that is crowded with people?”

“Where is it? Is that the brick house over there?”

“Yes, it’s built with red bricks. At first glance, it looks like they’re not just soldiers, but military officers.”

“They said that it was a school where military officers gathered together to train new officers.”

“school.”

“Yes! I heard that it is a place where officers gather to analyze and discuss the latest Western military technology and war books to prepare for the coming war.”

“Huh, research on killing Japanese people… … . It’s truly cruel, but at the same time, it makes me feel reassured.”

The young officer, whose eyes were sharp and whose impression was so strong that it was difficult to look straight at his face, glanced back at the school.

Then the soldier accompanying him asked him with a smile.

“The Commander has granted you free passage, so you may stop by if you wish.”

“Is that okay?”

“Then! If General Kim were to stop by, the students there would be very happy. If he were here, it would be good if he could tell us about what happened in Cheongsanri.”

“hmm.”

The young officer, known as General Kim, looked back toward the school, but soon shook his head.

“There is nothing more ugly than a man living in past glory.”

“yes?”

Then he walked ahead of the soldier and spoke to him in a casual tone.

“If the cadets want to know how Kim Ga-Ji fights, tell them to come to the battlefield themselves.”

“Oh, General! That’s not the headquarters!”

“Tsk tsk. How can a young person walk so slowly? Hurry up and show me around! Looking at you here, I want to see Comrade Kim quickly!”

* * *

Conference room of the Korean Independence Army Headquarters.

Kim Dong-sam opened his mouth in a conference room filled with the smoke of cigarettes being smoked by everyone.

“Thank you all again for coming together in response to my call.”

“Who in Manchuria could refuse Comrade Kim’s call?”

“That’s right. How much has Comrade Kim done for us? If we refuse it, it’s a real shame… … .”

“Even though you’re a brat, you still have a big mouth~ But this is a place where people who say they’re going to catch those Japanese people have gathered, so shouldn’t you be careful with what you say?”

“Ahem… … I’m sorry.”

“ha ha ha!”

“Everyone is still the same~”

When the person who first spoke up apologized with an embarrassed look on his face, laughter erupted throughout the conference room.

Kim Dong-sam smiled as he looked at his comrades laughing and chatting happily.

“No. I too am glad to see you all again after such a long time, and old memories come to mind.”

“It was when we fought the Japanese in the year of Gyeongshin (1920).”

Kim Dong-sam looked back at Ji Cheong-cheon, who was sitting right next to him, and smiled.

“Not only that, but I also remember stories of meeting each other here and there… … and anecdotes of us talking all night long.”

In the conference room, there were independence fighters who would foam at the mouth and run wild, demanding that the Japanese army arrest them immediately if they saw them.

Ji Cheong-cheon, who became the father of the modern Korean army by stealing military technology from the Japanese Military Academy and joining the independence army with his brothers Choi Jin-dong and Choi Un-san and their comrades, who provided military funds for the Bongodong and Cheongsanri battles and directly participated in the battles; Kim Kyu-sik (a different person from the Provisional Government’s Kim Kyu-sik) who was once the commander of the Goryeo Revolutionary Army, which was once the largest independence army force in Manchuria; Lee Beom-seok, who built the modern Korean army with Ji Cheong-cheon; and General Kim Hong-il who devoted his life to his country…

If we were to only consider the bounties of those here, the Government-General building currently being built in Gyeongseong would have been torn down and a new one built.

If Mr. Lee of Gyeongseong had seen all of these people gathered here, he would have made an incomprehensible joke about them being the Joseon Avengers.

Anyway, those gathered here were veterans of the veterans who had participated in many battles, including the Battle of Bongodong and the Battle of Cheongsanri, which were victories that will be remembered in the history of the war for independence.

“It was the time when I was running around here and there to avoid the Japanese pursuit.”

“Wow… … Back then, I had a really hard time walking through the snow.”

“I, oh my… …. Even now, when I think about that time, my teeth grind and my stomach starts to hurt.”

It’s been a long time since I’ve seen your face and we chatted a lot, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing.

“It’s too bad… … General Hong isn’t here. If only General Hong were here, it would be perfect.”

“If he were there, he would have immediately brought me a bottle of alcohol and asked me to have a drink.”

“Then General Kim would have said something like, ‘Did you come here to fight or just drink?’ and made a huge mess.”

“Poohahaha!”

As the conference room became more and more heated with the noisy atmosphere.

-Squeak.

The sharp sound of a hinge that seemed slightly under-oiled drew my gaze toward the door.

“They say the main character always appears last, but it looks like I was the last.”

Kim Joa-jin appeared.

“Huh, white night!”

“Yeah! Everyone is here, so it would be a shame if Kim Ga-gu were to leave!”

“It seems like everyone who is supposed to come has gathered, so let’s get straight to the point.”

As soon as Kim Jo-jin sat down on his chair, Kim Dong-sam used his long baton to point at the large Manchurian banner attached to the wall.

“Our Korean independence army plans to attack Dalian here and raid the Kwantung Office.”

The friendly atmosphere in the conference room began to heat up due to Kim Dong-sam’s bombshell remark.

“That’s right! Since we’ve all gathered here, shouldn’t we give those Japanese a beating?”

“The Japanese have turned Gando into a wasteland, so we must take revenge!”

“With the power we have now, we can have a good fight with the Japanese! Let’s go quickly!”

Everyone was excited and had something to say at the mention of fighting the Japanese, but General Ji Cheong-cheon, who could have sold out his country and achieved success, threw it all away for the sake of his country’s independence, escaped from the Japanese Military Academy, devoted himself to the independence movement, and participated in the previous Battles of Bongodong and Cheongsan-ri, opened his mouth cautiously with a serious expression on his face.

“Professor Ilsong (Kim Dong-sam’s nickname), may I say something?”

“Speak comfortably.”

“As the Chief of Staff of the Korean Independence Army, I would like to say a few words… … I would like to inform you that attacking Dalian with our current force would be suicidal.”

“Why?”

“There is a permanent Japanese division stationed there on a rotational basis. They are different in size from the units we have encountered so far, and their armament is incomparable to theirs.”

Then, Lee Beom-seok, who had been listening quietly, asked Ji Cheong-cheon a question.

“Looking at it on the way here, the Korean Independence Army here is well-armed, with dozens of cannons, and even a separate unit made up entirely of automatic weapons that are hard to find elsewhere. Is that so? With this level of firepower, there’s no chance of them being pushed back by the infantry on the front lines, right?”

“That’s a good point. It’s true that the current Korean Independence Army’s strength is comparable to that of all the forces that fought in the independence wars of the past, but the combined forces of the allied forces gathered here are only the size of a brigade.”

Ji Cheong-cheon’s words were explaining that there was no possibility that the irregular army, the Independence Army, could defeat the regular army, the Japanese Army, in the wilderness, and in an all-out war.

“Let’s say we use all our efforts to destroy the Japanese division in Dalian. That would feel good. But while our forces are recovering from the damage, the Japanese will immediately send in another division from the mainland, widening the gap in our forces.”

“Umm… … .”

“We have all the strength we have here, but we must not forget that Japan still has 19 more divisions on the mainland. Come to think of it, there are probably two more in Korea.”

War was no different from gambling with human lives.

It’s a gambling table where all kinds of fraud and lies run rampant in order to win, where the loser loses everything and the winner takes everything.

And in order to get involved in such a big game, the stakes were important, but the current stakes of the independence army were insufficient in many ways to get involved in such a big game.

“This is all we have now. We must not forget that this was only possible after the disasters that occurred in Gando and Russia, thanks to the support of Mr. Lee in Gyeongseong.”

“Um… … . Right.”

“Those Japanese bastards turned Gando into a wasteland, so many people left.”

“Phew… … .”

Ji Cheong-cheon’s words instantly calmed the atmosphere in the conference room.

It’s not like they didn’t know this.

To be frank, the independence army was a wandering army that had lost its country.

Because of this, most of them had weak foundations and did not have the means or ability to maintain a large force. They were in an ironic situation where they had to avoid battle whenever possible because the more they fought the Japanese, the smaller their army became.

The people gathered here knew well the difficulties he had experienced while running the army, so no one criticized Ji Cheong-cheon as weak or a coward.

Now it turns out he was right.

but.

“It was not me who planned this operation, but Mr. Lee from Gyeongseong.”

The situation changed slightly when Kim Dong-sam, who had been quietly listening to this, opened his mouth.

“yes?”

“Are you talking about Mr. Lee from Gyeongseong?”

“Hmm… … If this teacher from Gyeongseong is the kind of person who talks nonsense, then he wouldn’t be the kind of person to do that.”

“Even for this teacher, this is a difficult operation.”

“Who is this teacher?”

Members of the Korean Independence Army were startled and puzzled by the mention of this teacher, but those who did not know him tilted their heads and asked who he could be.

“Mr. Lee from Gyeongseong is currently a sponsor of the Korean Independence Army, and in fact, it can be said that it is all thanks to his support that we have become independent today.”

“Aha, is that so?”

“It seems like he’s a wealthy person in Joseon who makes a lot of money.”

Kim Dong-sam just smiled as he looked at his comrades, whom he considered to be wealthy people in Joseon.

“He’s just a rich guy… … I used to think that way too.”

“So, you’re saying that’s not it?”

“yes.”

Kim Dong-sam took out the Chosun Ilbo that he had put aside.

“This is a newspaper sent by Comrade Woo Deok-sun, who shot Ito Hirobumi together with Ahn Jung-geun, from the branch office of the Chosun Ilbo in Harbin.”

“Why are you suddenly taking out a newspaper?”

“Just take a look, everyone.”

The newspaper that Kim Dong-sam brought contained a large photograph of Tokyo on fire and soldiers seemingly engaged in battle there.

The independence army officers who saw this all expressed their doubts.

“What is going on?”

“What happened in Tokyo?”

Kim Dong-sam explained to them with a smile.

“There was a national disaster called an earthquake in Tokyo, and in the midst of that, the army and navy are said to be at odds with each other and fighting.”

“?”

Everyone looked at Kim Dong-sam with expressions on their faces as if they didn’t understand a single thing he said.

“Even if you look at me like that, that’s all I can say. I don’t know the full details, and probably the Japanese people in the archipelago don’t know either.”

“??”

“But one thing is certain.”

Kim Dong-sam quietly folded the newspaper.

“Not long after I heard that Mr. Lee, who had left Shanghai without saying a word, had arrived in Gyeongseong, these things happened, and then, as if they had been waiting, Japanese military supplies began to flow into Manchuria one by one, and Mr. Lee in Gyeongseong, who had only sent money and weapons without saying a word, said that I had sent him an order. When you organize all of this one by one… … . Can’t you guess who is behind this?”

“… … .”

The people in the conference room shut their mouths when they realized what Kim Dong-sam was trying to say.

If what he said was true, it would have been more beneficial to think about a strategy to crush the Kwantung Army in the coming battle rather than bringing up the topic here.

“Comrade Ji.”

“Yes, Mr. Kim.”

“The Japanese division in Dalian has now left for Japan for rotational deployment, and the follow-up units have been tied up in the chaos on the archipelago and have not been able to come to Dalian. The only ones guarding the place are a few guard battalions with only rifles and machine guns.”

“What!? What is that?”

“This is information from this teacher, so you can trust it.”

At Kim Dong-sam’s words, the conference room became quiet as if a bomb had been dropped.

If what he said was true, then Dalian was virtually empty right now.

“Then what are you waiting for? Let’s start with a strategy meeting.”

Kim Joa-jin broke the long silence by stretching out both legs on the table.

No one contradicted or challenged his words.

Instead, both eyes began to glow with a bright light.

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 109