Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 31

31. 1592 Southern Sea War. (31)

“What is the Empire up to?”

The General Headquarters, upon receiving information that the Imperial Army, which used to chant ‘lightning speed’ with every advance, was now moving at a snail’s pace in a zigzag pattern, was utterly confused.

“Regardless of the Empire’s true intentions, isn’t it good for us since we can buy time?”

“We must also consider that ignoring those intentions could lead to even bigger problems!”

In the end, it was Toyotomi who cleared up this confusion.

“What does that matter now! What is the most urgent thing for us now! It is to send troops to Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu! Think about that first!”

“Yes, sir!”

“Trying to see the forest without even seeing the trees properly… trusting these damn fools….”

Unable to contain his anger, Toyotomi stormed out of the room. Those who remained all muttered the same words inwardly.

‘Who could say that to his face….’

However, as the Empire began to advance, two days later, the General Headquarters realized the Empire’s true intentions and shuddered.

“So, what these bastards wanted was ‘collapse’….”

“Scary bastards….”

Rumors spread that the Imperial Army was destroying everything in its path—homes, rice paddies, fields, and even people—causing the people around Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu to flee en masse.

Initially, only the residents around the road and railway networks leading to Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu began to evacuate, but as the Imperial Army began its zigzag march, all the residents in the area fled.

Thanks to this, the situation rapidly deteriorated.

The remaining roads and railways were completely blocked as they became filled with fleeing Japanese people.

As the roads became blocked, the Japanese army, which was moving to stop the Imperial Army, was also stranded.

“Make way! The government army is passing! Make way!”

“If you don’t move, we will make way by force!”

“Military police!”

“It’s the military police!”

As the military police, who came to clear the way, violently swung their clubs, the refugees were terrified and moved to the sides of the road.

However, as time passed, public sentiment turned.

“Move!”

“How can we move any further here! There’s no road!”

“What? You bastard! How dare you defy the government army!”

“This mess is all because of that government army!”

At that moment, a military policeman, unable to contain his anger, struck a middle-aged man who was openly resisting with his club.

“Argh! Argh! Argh!”

“Move! When I tell you to move! You should move! How dare you be so insolent!”

The middle-aged man, covered in blood, fell to the ground from the military policeman’s indiscriminate clubbing.

“Honey!”

“Oh, Father!”

The man’s wife wailed and hugged the man who had fallen to the ground. His teenage son, who was wailing beside her, couldn’t contain his anger and rushed at the military policeman.

“What crime did our father commit!”

“Do you want to end up like your father!”

“Argh!”

The son, struck in the head by the military policeman’s blatant swing of the club, bled and fell to the ground.

Thwack!

Just then, a stone flew from somewhere and hit the military policeman’s head.

“Ouch!”

“Hey! Who! Who did that!”

The military policeman, clutching his head after being hit by the stone, sat down, and other military policemen who were watching from the side rushed over and surrounded the area.

“Who was it! Come out!”

“If you don’t come out, we’ll arrest everyone!”

The military policemen’s warning was not an empty threat. When no one came forward, the military policemen began to grab anyone they saw.

“You bastard! It was you!”

“Arrest him!”

“Oh, no, it wasn’t me!”

“I’m telling you, it wasn’t me!”

The men grabbed by the military policemen waved their hands and shouted that it wasn’t them, but the military policemen swung their clubs at them.

“I can’t take it anymore!”

“Damn it! Do you think you can get away with anything just because you’re military police!”

In the end, the refugees, unable to endure the continued violence, rushed at the military policemen.

“You bastards! Step back!”

“We’re already at the end of our rope anyway!”

The refugees had already lost everything and were pushed to the edge of a cliff.

Eventually, the military policemen were beaten with their own clubs and lost their lives, covered in blood.

“The military police are dead!”

“The military police are dead!”

The refugees, horrified by the death of the military policemen, began to scatter in all directions.

“We can’t stay here!”

“We’ll be blamed if we’re not careful!”

The refugees who witnessed the scene left the road and began to scatter in all directions.

Shortly after, the military police commander, who rushed to the scene after receiving an urgent report, turned pale at the sight.

The rice paddies and fields spread around the road were all ruined as the refugees trampled over them.

It wasn’t just the rice paddies and fields that were the problem.

The swords and pistols that the dead military policemen were carrying had all disappeared.

“People have tasted blood. This is the worst-case scenario.”

The military police commander’s ominous words became a prophecy.

It didn’t take long for the refugees on the run to turn into bandits.

Small villages or isolated houses on the outskirts became targets of looting.

Many of those who were looted by the swarms of refugees became other refugees and joined the flight.

As rumors spread that the refugees had become bandit gangs, the villages that were still intact began to be wary of outsiders.

The men of the village patrolled the village with bamboo spears and sickles, preventing strangers from approaching.

In the end, the public sentiment in the Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki areas became ominous, and the Japanese government’s control was rapidly declining.

The problem was that this was not the end.

The Japanese army hastily gathered troops and launched a defense, but they were repeatedly defeated by the Imperial Army’s firepower.

With each collapse of the front lines, the Japanese army recorded massive casualties and missing persons.

The problem was these missing persons.

Many were listed as missing because they died or were injured on the battlefield but were not identified. However, many also deserted, taking advantage of the collapse of the command system.

Most of the soldiers had been forcibly conscripted and deployed after only minimal training, so as soon as the front lines and command system collapsed, they ran away without looking back.

Oda and Toyotomi constantly emphasized and educated them on ‘loyalty to Japan and the Japanese King.’ However, since Oda and Toyotomi themselves were suppressing the Japanese King, this education was not effective.

Therefore, the instinct for ‘self-preservation’ took precedence over the cause of ‘defending Japan from the Imperial invasion.’

And as these deserters spread, the situation of lawlessness became even more serious.

As this chaos unfolded, the rear areas of Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki were completely emptied, and the Imperial Army pushed into the rear of the coastal defense facilities of Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu without significant losses.

In response, the Imperial Navy’s main fleet entered the Kanmon Straits.

The Imperial Navy, which entered the straits, began to bombard the Japanese army’s coastal batteries in Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu, and at the same time, the Imperial Army’s artillery units, which had infiltrated the rear, also began to bombard the Japanese army’s coastal batteries.

The coastal batteries, which were built with the aim of ambushing enemy fleets—presumably Imperial—entering the Kanmon Straits from both sides, were instead being ambushed.

The Imperial Army certainly demonstrated its skills in its specialty, artillery warfare, and the Japanese army’s coastal batteries were simply being battered by the Imperial Army’s concentrated fire.

In the end, the battle that began around sunrise ended around sunset, with white flags being raised on the coastal batteries built in Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki.

* * *

-Fall of Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki

-Coastal batteries of Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki surrender to the Imperial Army.

“So, it finally collapsed….”

“Wasn’t it expected? From the beginning….”

Bang!

As Toyotomi entered, roughly opening the conference room door, the Navy Minister quickly shut his mouth and stood up to pay his respects.

“Shimonoseki and Kitakyushu have fallen?”

“Yes, yes.”

“You stupid fools! You incompetent fools!”

Toyotomi, who cursed everyone in the conference room as incompetent, sat down and immediately issued orders.

“The army must mobilize all its forces! We must block Yamaguchi Port! Prevent the Imperial bastards from setting foot in Yamaguchi! The navy must go out and stop the Imperial Navy! Stop them even if it means dying for the cause!”

“Yes, sir.”

At Toyotomi’s command, the Army Minister and Navy Minister replied in quiet voices.

‘The situation is already the worst, and the end was predetermined anyway. Explaining this to that monkey in this situation would only be a waste of breath.’

This was the inner thought of the Army Minister and Navy Minister.

“Stop them no matter what! If you can’t stop them, all that’s left is to be captured by the Empire, suffer all kinds of humiliation, and be hanged! Choose! A humiliating death, or an honorable seppuku [ritual suicide by disembowelment]!”

“We will do our best….”

“The King is arriving!”

Before the Army Minister could finish speaking, a military police officer guarding the entrance to the General Headquarters ran in and announced the arrival of the Japanese King.

At the officer’s cry, everyone in the conference room, starting with Toyotomi, was greatly surprised and jumped to their feet.

Shortly after, the Japanese King, Ouchi Takayo, appeared in the conference room.

As Takayo took the seat of honor, everyone, starting with Toyotomi, bowed deeply to Takayo in unison.

“We greet Your Majesty!”

“Be seated.”

At Takayo’s command, Toyotomi and the others politely took their seats.

Once all the attendees were seated, Takayo opened his mouth.

“I have heard that the war situation is very bad.”

At Takayo’s words, Toyotomi bowed his head and replied.

“It is true that the war situation is not good. However, many generals of the Japanese army, including myself, are doing our best, so we will soon be able to push back the Empire again.”

“Even without the divine wind [a reference to the kamikaze winds that saved Japan from Mongol invasions]?”

“…Yes.”

Even the great Toyotomi could not answer immediately to Takayo’s sharp question.

“Hmm….”

Takayo, who was quietly looking at Toyotomi, opened his mouth again.

“I have heard that Kitakyushu and Shimonoseki have fallen. The Kanmon Straits are very close to Yamaguchi here. What will you do if the Imperial army sets foot in Yamaguchi Port?”

“That will never happen!”

At Toyotomi’s strong denial, Takayo quietly continued.

“I said if. If. So, answer me.”

At Takayo’s question, Toyotomi looked back at the Army Minister and Navy Minister.

‘Is he passing it on again?’

‘But I can’t help but say what needs to be said….’

In the end, the Army Minister answered in place of Toyotomi.

“We are considering a royal retreat.”

“Hmm…. A royal retreat; in that case, it will be easy to become a protracted war.”

“That is correct.”

“The damage will be significant, won’t it?”

At this, Toyotomi stepped forward.

“In order to protect Your Majesty’s sacred person and defend Japan from the Empire’s intimidation, it is inevitable! Even if all the people of Japan die for the cause!”

“Die for the cause…. Die for the cause….”

Takayo, who was pondering the word ‘die for the cause’ that Toyotomi had shouted, ordered the guards who had followed him into the conference room.

“The guards, arrest that man, Toyotomi Hideyoshi.”

“Yes, sir!”

At Takayo’s command, the guards grabbed Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s arms and raised him from his seat.

“Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Why me!”

At this, Toyotomi, who had turned pale, raised his voice towards Takayo. Takayo calmly replied to Toyotomi’s cry.

“Do you not know? You dared to deceive me, manipulate the government, and wage a useless war against the Empire, which was a long-standing neighbor. Are you asking for the reason?”

At Takayo’s words, Toyotomi understood the whole situation and burst into laughter with a hollow expression.

“Ha? Hahaha, hahahahaha! I see! That’s what it was!”

With those meaningful words, Toyotomi was dragged out.

As Toyotomi disappeared, Takayo ordered the Army Minister and Navy Minister.

“Order all troops to raise the white flag immediately.”

“Yes, sir.”