NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 169



Only Krnovel

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 169

Dawn is Coming (5)

Kanemura, in the lead, stepped on a landmine and died.

The morale that had been rising because of this exploded with Kanemura’s explosion, and all the soldiers, non-commissioned officers, and even privates fled without exception.

The first day of battle ended with the independence army happily firing bullets at the back of the heads of the fleeing Japanese soldiers.

“The bridge construction failed, and the vanguard unit and the engineer battalion suffered a great defeat when they fell into the enemy’s fire.”

“How many died?”

“Oh, about fifty people… … .”

In addition, there is a story behind the fact that there are many wounded who are lying in the open without even a single tent in the cold winter due to a lack of beds in the field hospital, and that there may be more deaths due to a lack of medicine to give them, but the staff omitted this in their report.

In any case, there were only fifty casualties at the moment.

“The damage isn’t as bad as I thought.”

“… … Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Okay. Today’s attack has made us realize that the flow of the Seongcheon River is so low that we can cross it on foot, so the damage isn’t that great.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

General Kanno, who had no way of knowing these circumstances, secretly sighed in relief.

‘Phew… … I almost had a disaster.’

General Kanno, who had watched the entire battle, was thankful that the casualties were relatively minimal.

Even when I was watching from the side, I was worried that the vanguard and engineer battalion that had been deployed first would be completely annihilated.

Fortunately, however, the damage to the unit was not that great.

Although one innocent officer died, it is a level of damage that can be overlooked.

Because.

“Ueda.”

“Yes, sir, Kiyoshi.”

“You clearly said that there was sufficient preparatory bombardment before the battle began.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“You said that a significant number of enemy obstacles were removed by the preemptive artillery strike.”

“that…….”

The staff had nothing to say about this.

By his standards, the preemptive bombardment seemed sufficient.

After two hours of continuous artillery fire, the enemy’s elaborate defensive line collapsed and they were unable to even show their faces in their trenches.

“Why did Captain Kanemura step on a landmine and die even though there was sufficient pre-barrage?”

“… … .”

General Kanno now wanted to blame his staff for this failure.

“If it weren’t for Captain Kanemura’s sacrifice, the damage would have been greater. Don’t you feel sorry towards Captain Kanemura, who went first?”

It was clearly General Kanno who ordered the preemptive bombardment, and it was also Kanno who confirmed it after hearing the report.

It was the law that the Supreme Commander was responsible for everything that happened on the battlefield, but Kanno was a man who had no intention of taking responsibility for anything.

“That is… … .”

“I won’t listen to any excuses. The damage today was partly my fault for not carefully examining the situation, but don’t forget that you are also responsible for putting your allies in danger due to incorrect information.”

“… … .”

Kanno slyly shifted the blame to his staff.

Of course, the staff was also at fault for reporting without even checking that the pre-barrage had not been carried out properly.

However, if we look at it one by one, it was much more the fault of General Kanno who deployed the engineering battalion unnecessarily because he did not properly understand the river flow rate.

The former could be considered a problem caused by a lack of detail in the order transmission process or a problem with the equipment, but the latter was entirely a problem with the commander’s capabilities.

“You will be under quarantine for the time being.”

“… … .”

“Have you forgotten to return the favor?”

“… … Yes, I will be on guard for the time being.”

But that didn’t matter to General Kanno.

General Kanno, who had once again made one of his subordinates a scapegoat to blame himself for his own mistakes, glanced at his staff and asked them a question.

“The first offensive failed because of Lieutenant Colonel Ueda’s faulty information. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“It is truly regrettable that Lieutenant Colonel Ueda’s incorrect information increased the casualties among the soldiers… … .

“yes.”

General Kanno, who had neatly organized responsibility, asked his staff.

“Even though the first offensive ended in failure, can we say that our unit was defeated by them?”

“……no.”

“So, how would you like the next attack to proceed? If you have any good ideas, please let me know.”

“… … .”

Just before, I had watched General Kanno shift the blame for the defeat onto his subordinate staff, and in that situation, no one opened their mouth without thinking.

Everyone just sat there quietly with their mouths shut.

“Do you all have no idea? Huh… … . How pathetic. How pathetic! The elite officers of the Imperial Japanese Army can’t come up with even one plausible plan in actual combat!”

General Kanno urges them to say something quickly, while gently getting on their nerves.

“No matter how well you eat, how well you dress, and how well you receive the best education in the empire, teaching reading and writing to pigs is more valuable.”

“… … .”

“Enough! Tsk tsk… … If I had known you were all like this, I would have sent you all back to the mainland. Hey, tsk.”

General Kanno continued to criticize his staff members and point out their incompetence until the end.

That way, we could shift the blame for this defeat entirely onto them.

‘You guys are like punks, so in this situation, you should have at least protected your rice bowl by biting the guy who got on the commander’s bad side.’

Shoichi Kanno.

He is a member of the Choshu faction that holds a firm grip on the army, and has risen to the rank of lieutenant general by beating out political rivals.

He was a figure with considerable influence within the army, to the point that there were rumors that he would be promoted to Commander of the Taiwanese Army next year. In his view, the staff members who were keeping quiet about the situation were just pathetic.

‘Those who can’t prove themselves will be eliminated.’

Kanno proved himself by participating in the Sino-Japanese War and the subsequent Russo-Japanese War, and solidified his position within the military based on his achievements.

For Kanno, blaming others for his own mistakes and taking credit for others’ achievements was easier than snatching candy from a child’s hand.

This was always proven by the Japan-Korea Annexation Commemorative Medal that he wore on his chest.

‘If I go after the staff a few more times… … and sneakily join the reinforcements coming from the south, things will go smoothly.’

Lieutenant General Shoichi Kanno, the commander of the 20th Division, who had been unable to cross the Imjin River guarded by the police during the conflict between the former Governor-General and the Joseon Army (Japanese Army), returned to his tent, wondering how he would trouble his staff the next day.

-Whewwheee… … .

“huh?”

At that moment, a sound of something flying through the air was heard from somewhere.

A familiar sound.

“It sounds like a shell flying… … ?”

General Kanno looked up.

And then, far away across the river, I saw an object rising rapidly high into the sky, parting the clouds.

“shell?”

Soon a familiar sound was heard from across the river.

-Kururung thump! thump!

* * *

“shell!”

“shell!”

“Jangyak!”

“Jangyak!”

The Korean Independence Army artillery battery across the Seongcheon River was firing shells and ammunition without stopping, stacked next to it.

“Shoot!”

-bang!

General Kim Gyeong-cheon, who was watching the dozen or so cannons being brought in and fired nonstop, stuck out his tongue.

“I don’t know if it’s okay to waste these expensive shells like this.”

Then, Chun-sik, who was next to him, laughed and washed away General Kim Gyeong-cheon’s anxiety.

“Why do you have so many expensive items? Aren’t they all for actual use? Who can say anything if you use them for your own purposes?”

“But… … . If we waste shells like this without this teacher, there will be no next time.”

“Haha, you worry so much. Who am I? I am this teacher’s disciple, Kim Chun-sik.”

It wasn’t that difficult to use Chunsik’s name to infiltrate the ranks of the independence fighters.

Since there was an officer in Hamheung who had met Chunshik in person, he was able to naturally infiltrate their group without any suspicion.

“But how do you know where the Japanese artillery is hiding?”

“What… … I just did it like the teacher taught me.”

“Oh, then, it seems you’ve been hiding among that crowd since you came here.”

“Huh? Haha, no.”

“?”

General Kim Gyeong-cheon thought I had come to Hamheung hiding among the Japanese army, but that was not true.

“I sneaked out in the middle of the night and took a peek at the map that was in the command tent.”

“You stole… … and saw it?”

General Kim Kyung-cheon looked at me with an expression as if to ask if that was possible.

“Yes, I took a quick look and then returned to Hamheung and marked it on the map.”

“Huh… … . In the past, I heard that Mr. Lee from Gyeongseong caused trouble for the Governor-General and the military all by himself in Gyeongseong, so I wondered how that was possible… … . Seeing Mr. Chunsik today, I can get a rough idea of ​​how he did it.”

“No problem.”

I wondered what his reaction would be when he found out later that I was alive and that he had been having this conversation with me without him even knowing.

-Quaqua light!

At that moment, a large explosion occurred far away beyond the Japanese military camp.

The explosion was so large that the flames and the resulting cloud of dust rose as high as the peaks of the tall mountains that dot Hamgyong Province.

“It seems like a friendly shell has hit the ammunition depot.”

“I see.”

The face of General Kim Gyeong-cheon, who had been engaging in a somewhat light-hearted conversation just a moment ago, became quite serious.

“Mr. Chunsik.”

“Please call me Chunsik.”

“Yes, Chunsik.”

“Yes, General.”

“You said you went to the enemy camp at night?”

“Yes.”

It seems that General Kim Gyeong-cheon did not like the idea of ​​sitting still and waiting for the enemy to arrive.

“Is it impossible for tens… no, hundreds of people to infiltrate that route?”

“Um… … . Hundreds of people… … .”

If that many people were moving at once, it was highly likely that the Japanese soldiers, who were nodding off every night to make up for their lack of sleep, would have noticed.

“it’s possible.”

Of course, this is assuming that you enter and exit quietly without leaving any trace.

If your intention was to cause a commotion and cause trouble from the beginning… … .

“We will keep you from knowing until we shoot guns and explode bombs right in front of your enemies.”

There is nothing particularly difficult.

“Thank you so much, Chunsik!”

“What is it?”

The Korean Independence Army has already proven to me through today’s battle that they have not been just sitting around.

We’ll need to look a little closer at whether these guys are getting their money’s worth, but for now, we can say that they’re just barely passing the mark.

“Oh, by any chance, is there a person named Chang-sik who used to live in the back alley of the Yaso Church in Wonsan-bu among the soldiers under the general or in the Korean Independence Army?”

While I was watching the battle, I almost forgot the old man’s request.

“Changshik… … . Just among the Changshiks that I know, there must be at least a few dozen.”

“I come from the back alley of the Wonsanbu Yaso Church.”

“Um… … . I’ll have to look for him later, if it’s your favor, but why are you looking for that guy? Do you know him by any chance?”

“Someone I know… … . I guess so.”

He’s someone I’ve never met in person, but he falls into the category of someone I know.

“Okay, then let me look for it.”

“Yes, General.”

General Kim Gyeong-cheon went straight to collect his subordinates.

I think tonight will be a tiring night for me and the Japanese soldiers across the river.