Republic of Korea in Yeokcheon - Chapter 341



Only Krnovel

#341. Kill as many as possible?

09:00, June 26, 1966.

Hwasun Naval Base, Jeju Island, South Korea.

In front of the Hwasun Naval Base, countless South Korean naval vessels were lined up so densely that they almost filled the sea.

“Chief of Staff! Are you ready?”

“Yes, President. Just let me know whenever you want.”

“Do you know if I missed anything?”

“Oh my, President. I will be turning 60 in a day or two. Please stop being so stubborn.”

“Huh? Look at this guy?”

“Don’t do this or that. I saw my grandson a while ago.”

“Hey! Our Chief of Staff has a swollen liver! Are you saying we should split his stomach because we’re growing old together? Should I split him whole?”

“Be it or not. I am also a naval admiral. No, where would you appoint a naval admiral as the chief of staff?”

“Is there any law against that? And what does it matter that I am a Navy Admiral?”

“… … .”

Chief of Staff Cho In-sang was a very critical person.

It’s already been over 20 years since I came here from Hyundai following Kim Jong-woo.

So now I wanted to live a little more freely.

“Well, you’ve gotten older too.”

“Do you understand now?”

“Insang-ah, isn’t it a bit too early for you to be angry at me?”

“Oh, come on! Why do you only tease me like this?”

“Hehehe! That’s because you like it. If you don’t have affection, you don’t bother.”

“I don’t need anything else. When this war is over, I will take off my clothes no matter what anyone says.”

“Really? I’m also planning to rest after this war ends. And I’m thinking of you as my successor?”

“Hey, why are you doing this again? This isn’t some kind of gaslighting thing.”

“Poohaha!”

Once you’re scared, you’ll always be scared.

Kim Jong-woo truly thought that this war would be his last, and he was about to slowly withdraw.

I even thought that I had lived a pretty good life as a Navy man.

And as a successor, he planned to put forward Jo In-sang, who he always brought with him when there was a big operation.

Although there were other subordinates in the middle, they were not that much older than Kim Jong-woo, so it was a bit ambiguous to appoint them as the next president.

So, the statue in front of me was perfect, and I was planning to properly pursue it and hand over my seat this time.

If it felt a little early, you could just insert another subordinate in the middle.

“Well! Anyway, this will probably be my last war. And it’s also likely to be my last large-scale war. Let’s have a good time! All fleets, let’s set sail!”

“All fleets set sail!”

Beep beep beep!

“Let’s go!”

The entire force of the 7th and 9th Mobile Fleets will participate in this expedition.

There were over 100 warships, and about 30 submarines, including both nuclear and conventional ones, had already sailed to the operational area and were diligently clearing the way underwater.

So, including various transport ships and supply ships, a large fleet of well over 200 ships will completely annihilate the Republic of China Navy and set sail for additional landing operations.

The People’s Republic of China’s fleet was so unremarkable that there was nothing to worry about.

That was enough to turn things around with just the naval fleet.

The northern Chinese people also knew this and did not even come out of the port after the war started.

Therefore, since it was certain that all the naval battles of this war would end with this sortie, Kim Jong-woo poured all the power of the Republic of Korea Navy’s mobile fleet into it.

Of the aircraft carriers, two were nuclear-powered, and both were upgraded Essex-class aircraft carriers.

With nearly 400 carrier-based fighters, the naval force alone would be more than capable of handling the entire air force of the Republic of China.

“This is my last war. I will play without regrets!”

The steel fleet began to slowly advance southwest.

* * *

11:00 a.m., June 26, 1966.

Office of the President of the Republic of China.

“Damn it! Why is the situation like this!”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Chiang Kai-shek was annoyed, but no one responded.

“Lin Biao’s Northeastern Army was also defeated? No, you said the Northeastern Army had 6 million troops? How could they be defeated with that many troops? Jingguo! Tell me.”

“I heard that the enemy’s artillery force was extremely strong. In addition, most of the ammunition and supplies in the rear were lost due to the large-scale air raid.”

“You idiots! Don’t you know that the artillery power of the Republic of Korea is strong?”

“I know, but I heard it was much stronger than expected. We are experiencing this on the front lines as well.”

“So! What did you say we should do?”

“They say they will release the equipment and supplies they have in Beijing and replenish them for now.”

“Then what are you going to do? If we get raided again, we’ll lose everything?”

“So, I just got an urgent message from Deng Xiaoping.”

“Why Deng Xiaoping?”

“Please support our Ten-Kung missiles… … .”

“What! Ten-Kung missiles? That won’t do! If they fall into their hands, it could cause us trouble later!”

As expected, when Chiang Kai-shek jumped up, Chiang Ching-kuo sighed and opened his mouth again.

“Your Excellency the President!”

Chiang Ching-kuo’s calling of Chiang Kai-shek as “Your Excellency the President” was a formal occasion, but it was also a habit of calling him that when emphasizing the seriousness of the situation.

“why?”

“Anyway, we and the Communist Party are in the same boat again.”

“It was the same before. Have you already forgotten? How badly they hit us in the back of the head?”

“I know, but the urgency is different now than it was then. No matter what anyone says, the main battlefield of this war is the Northeast Army’s front. If it falls, Beijing will fall, and if Beijing falls, we will fall too. No matter how much we fight here.”

“… … .”

This was a fact that even Chiang Kai-shek could not deny.

If Beijing falls, we will definitely lose this war.

“If we hesitate to provide anti-aircraft missile support because we were hit in the back of the head in the past, we should not have collaborated in the first place.”

“Fuck! So?”

“Please help me. I don’t have time.”

“Ugh! Even if I apply now, will I be able to arrive on time?”

“If we hurry as much as possible, we should be able to send four batteries. That should be enough to protect the skies of the Northeast Army for the time being.”

“How long will it take?”

“If you send a battery south of Nanjing, it will take three days. Please approve it.”

“… … .”

Chiang Kai-shek was truly unwilling to support, but he knew that this time he had to give in.

It may seem absurd to those who have fought for decades, but now is the time for Beijing to not collapse.

“Okay. If you’re going to send it, hurry as much as possible.”

“thank you!”

“By the way, why is our front line like that? How can we attack first and still not advance even 1km?”

“The resistance of the Vietnam and Vietnamese armies is much stronger than expected. The Vietnamese army is particularly active. The artillery supported by the South Koreans is also showing tremendous power.”

“What about our damage?”

“We still estimate the number to be between 60,000 and 70,000.”

“This is driving me crazy.”

“… … .”

The furrow on Chiang Kai-shek’s forehead became deeper.

60,000 to 70,000 people may not be comparable to the damage suffered by the Northeast Army, but considering that the Republic of China’s forces were not that numerous, it was by no means a small loss.

“Is there a solution?”

“I think we will have to open a front towards Hong Kong.”

“Damn it! I don’t want to get involved with England… … .”

Since World War II, the country has become increasingly weaker.

But Britain is Britain.

If possible, I did not want to touch Britain in this war.

“In any case, we have no choice but to fight in the end. And Britain is not the British Empire of the past. Their influence in Asia is now limited.”

“But England is England. We must not forget the saying, ‘even a rotten tooth is a good tooth.’”

“As you said, even if it rots, it is still a good thing, but it is already rotten. You should not think of Britain in the past.”

“Whew! Got it. Open the front on the Hong Kong side too.”

“Thank you. And I have one more thing to tell you.”

“What is it?”

“The North is said to be calling up 10 million reserve forces just in case.”

“What? 10 million each? So even if it’s the North, you’re saying you’re going to mobilize every single man in their 40s? Is that possible?”

“It’s not a question of whether it’s possible or impossible. It’s a question of how urgent it is.”

“So? So what does that mean?”

“We need to mobilize too.”

“What? Us too? If we mobilize more here, we’ll end up with no men left.”

“But we still have to mobilize. As you know, all the troops are concentrated on the western front, so the eastern front is literally empty. If we allow a landing operation by the Republic of Korea, we won’t be able to hold out.”

“Ha, nothing seems to be working properly.”

“Didn’t you expect it to be a tough war?”

“That’s true, but this is much harder than I expected.”

“There’s nothing we can do now. We have no choice but to desperately hold on and win.”

“How many people do you plan to mobilize?”

“We will only mobilize the 2 million men on the reserve list.”

“Haha! With a population of our size, we have 4 million troops? No, 4.5 million? If we act wrongly, the seed of men will dry up.”

“We have to win at all costs. If we lose, there will be no future for us.”

“Okay, do that.”

“thank you.”

Although Chiang Kai-shek sighed, he felt very secure in the sight of his son Chiang Ching-kuo, who was quietly doing his job.

‘I’m old now. No matter how this war ends, I must step down and leave the future to Jingguo.’

The leading figures of an era that had dominated the scene for a long time were gradually announcing their retirement.

* * *

13:30, June 26, 1966.

The Republic of Korea Northern Operations Command, north of Qinhuangdao.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of the Northern Army’s artillery firing still shook the heavens and the earth.

The shelling, which began again at 10 a.m., continues to this day.

“Commander.”

Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Lim Cheol-hwan called over Lee Jae-ha, who was watching the battle situation on a monitor.

“why?”

“Can we start advancing slowly now? I think I’ve hit you enough.”

“No, just hit me a little more.”

“Won’t they scold me from above for procrastinating too much? At this rate, I think we can advance with our armored vehicles at the forefront.”

“That will never happen, so don’t worry.”

“Yes? Why?”

“The instructions from above were to push as slowly as possible.”

Lim Cheol-hwan momentarily did not understand Lee Jae-ha’s answer.

Since World War II, blitzkrieg has been the basic principle of modern warfare, so why did the higher-ups tell us to push forward as slowly as possible?

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

“Only you know. It’s a separate order from the President and the Prime Minister. It’s a given that we’ll win this war, right?”

“Of course. There’s no way we could lose, right?

“But the two of you and Minister Nam Byung-woo think that we shouldn’t just win.”

“How are you supposed to win if you don’t just win?”

“I feel bad for the Chinese, but I plan to inflict as much damage on them as possible in this war. Do you know what I mean? Since the war has already started, I want to use this opportunity to kill as many people as possible. I want to make sure that it doesn’t happen again for at least 100 years.”

“Kill as many as possible?”

“okay.”

“… … .”

Lieutenant General Im Cheol-hwan was so shocked that he just opened his mouth.