Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 4

Side Story 4. The Naval War of 1592 (4)

Following Hideyoshi’s orders, the Japanese military headquarters began planning.

The name ‘headquarters’ was created during Oda’s reign.

Before that, it was called the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, following the example of the Empire. However, Oda’s ‘Japanese Language Purification Movement’ led to the renaming to ‘headquarters.’

“This is just… not how people should live…”

“It’s like being a prisoner…”

“We’re prisoners who get good food and a lot of pay, I guess…”

Those involved in the planning soon began to complain.

They were virtually confined, not quite prisoners, but close.

This was due to Hideyoshi’s orders.

-Over the years, we have sent many spies to the Empire, but most have disappeared without a trace.

-This means they were discovered and dealt with by the Empire.

-Was the Empire just blocking us?

“Absolutely not! This endeavor will determine the fate of our nation! First and foremost, we must ensure absolute secrecy!”

It was a reasonable order, or rather, it was an order from Hideyoshi, the supreme ruler, so the staff of the headquarters, both army and navy, had to be confined to the headquarters.

The focus of the operation was the navy.

The naval staff first considered the best time to carry out the operation.

“After review, we believe it is best to conduct the operation in winter.”

Hideyoshi, who had stopped by for a progress check, immediately questioned the naval adjutant’s report.

“Why winter? The sea will be rough, won’t it?”

“Because it is when the Imperial Navy’s forces guarding the Empire’s mainland are at their weakest.”

The naval adjutant’s reasoning was as follows:

-First, the Imperial Navy’s fleet is largely divided as follows:

The West Sea Fleet, the South Sea Fleet,

The Hainan Island Fleet.

The Temasek (Singapore) Fleet.

The Suez Fleet.

The Gibraltar Fleet.

The Atlantic Fleet.

The East Inland Sea (eastern waters of the North Pacific) Fleet.

The West Inland Sea Fleet.

-Among these fleets, the ones that will hinder this operation are primarily three: the West Sea Fleet, the South Sea Fleet, and the West Inland Sea Fleet.

-The most powerful force among the three fleets is the West Inland Sea Fleet.

-The West Inland Sea Fleet consists of three mobile fleets.

-The 1st Mobile Fleet, the largest and most powerful, is stationed in Hawaii, an Imperial protectorate, so it is not an immediate concern.

-The problem is the second most powerful force, the 2nd Mobile Fleet, because its base is Daeseol Island.

When the explanation reached this point, Hideyoshi cursed.

“Damn it! I’ve asked them to move it so many times, but the Empire won’t accept it. What? They say there’s no other suitable port? Do they think I don’t know they’re holding a knife to our throats? They just make ridiculous excuses!”

Whenever Japan questioned the location of the 2nd Mobile Fleet, the Empire always repeated the same answer.

-There’s no other decent port there, you know?

-We have no reason to fight Japan, do we? Look! We move all the ships out in the winter anyway!

-If you’re so worried, should we move it to Ryukyu?

If the Imperial Navy blocked Ryukyu as well, Japan would be immediately suffocated, so Japan had to be content with constantly protesting.

After waiting for Hideyoshi’s curses to subside, the Japanese naval adjutant continued.

“The key to this operation is to use the Empire’s excuse against them.”

“Hmm?”

-The 2nd Mobile Fleet in question moves to Jeju Island in the winter because the ports of Daeseol Island freeze over.

-The reason the 2nd Mobile Fleet moves to Jeju Island is to continue its mission of containing Japan.

-However, when the 2nd Mobile Fleet moves to Jeju Island, our Japan no longer needs to disperse its forces. No, we can concentrate all our forces to inflict a fatal blow on the 2nd Mobile Fleet.

-Considering that the West Sea Fleet and the South Sea Fleet of the Empire’s mainland are destroyer-centric fleets for political reasons, the collapse of the 2nd Mobile Fleet will be the cornerstone of our victory.

“Sounds plausible?”

Hideyoshi showed interest in the adjutant’s explanation and nodded. The Japanese naval adjutant looked relieved at Hideyoshi’s positive reaction.

However, Hideyoshi’s questions continued.

“What about the 3rd Mobile Fleet? I hear the 3rd Mobile Fleet is also a formidable force?”

“The 3rd Mobile Fleet is mainly composed of aircraft carriers and is stationed in Wonsan.”

“Aircraft carriers…”

As an aside, following Oda’s purification movement, flying machines came to be called ‘aircraft’ and flying machine carriers ‘aircraft carriers.’

These changes were welcomed because ‘flying machine’ and ‘flying machine carrier’ were not easy words for the Japanese to pronounce.

In any case, the adjutant’s explanation continued.

-The winter sea of the East Inland Sea (East Sea) is also known to be rough.

-Due to safety concerns, most of the fighters on the aircraft carriers of the 3rd Mobile Fleet are grounded on land in winter.

-Therefore, even if they hear news of a battle, the 3rd Mobile Fleet cannot move immediately.

“Can’t they just send the aircraft without putting them on the carriers?”

“There is a problem with the flight range. It is over 1,600 li (about 640 km) from Wonsan to the Seogwipo naval port in Jeju. The known flight range of the Imperial Navy’s aircraft makes it impossible to reach. If they have to land and refuel in the middle, our forces will have finished the operation and be moving.”

“I see, so that’s why you chose winter?”

“That’s right.”

In response to the Japanese naval adjutant’s answer, Hideyoshi looked at the calendar on the wall and asked again.

“Exactly when in winter?”

“We are planning for December 25th.”

“December 25th? Hmm… Wait, isn’t that an important day for the Kirishitan (Christians)?”

“That’s right. There are quite a few Kirishitan in the Empire, so it is designated as a holiday. And it is a week after the 2nd Mobile Fleet moves to Seogwipo.”

Hideyoshi smiled bitterly at the adjutant’s answer.

“So, you’re saying we’ll take advantage of their laxity because it’s a holiday?”

“That’s right.”

“It’s good, but there are five months left. Can we maintain secrecy?”

In response to Hideyoshi’s question, the adjutant immediately answered.

“The moment the operation plan is established and approved by Your Excellency, all operations will be sealed.”

“We can seal the plan, but what about the movement of troops? The gathering and movement of the fleet is not something that can be done in a day or two, is it?”

“We will delay the combined fleet formation and training of the navy scheduled for the second half of this year. If we make a plausible excuse, we can delay it by about two months.”

“Hoh〜. So it’s okay to train openly?”

“That’s right.”

The Japanese navy was certainly weaker compared to the Empire and Ming.

To overcome this difference in strength, the Japanese navy adopted a strategy of forming a combined fleet to respond, and conducted training twice a year, once in the first half and once in the second half.

The Empire and Ming openly expressed their displeasure with this training.

“Who are you trying to fight by gathering the fleet?”

“You complain about our 2nd Mobile Fleet, but you guys…”

In any case, more than 20 years had passed since the training began, and the Empire and Ming had come to regard it as routine.

Having heard the explanation up to this point, Hideyoshi stood up from his seat with a satisfied expression.

“It looks good so far. Proceed as planned.”

“Yes, sir!”

“I expect great things!”

“We will do our best!”

After finishing his instructions, Hideyoshi turned to leave, but stopped and looked back at the adjutant.

“Ah! In my experience, knowing the enemy commander’s personality is also important to increase the probability of success of an operation. Find out what kind of people the commanders of the 2nd and 3rd Mobile Fleets, the most important obstacles, are.”

“Yes, sir! I will keep that in mind!”

* * *

Even before Hideyoshi’s orders, the Japanese navy had been diligently collecting and analyzing information on the commanders of the 2nd and 3rd Mobile Fleets.

Collecting information about the commanders was not a difficult task.

This was because the Imperial Army’s counterintelligence unit judged that personal information such as the personalities of the Imperial Army’s high-ranking commanders was not top secret.

In addition, one of the tasks of the Imperial Army’s high-ranking commanders was to publish various military-related papers.

Proving their insight into the future was also necessary for promotion.

-To be called a general, write and be recognized for at least five papers.

This was a common saying among Imperial Army officers.

As a result, many Imperial Army officers had to wage a war, not a war, rummaging through all sorts of military strategy books and war history books, even without sleep.

In any case, the Japanese naval staff who collected and analyzed information about the commanders of the 2nd and 3rd Mobile Fleets smiled bitterly.

“The Imperial Army is also a place where people live.”

“The Imperial Navy’s mess is revealed as it is in the selection of personnel.”

“I heard that the relationship between the battleship faction and the aircraft carrier faction in the Imperial Navy is terribly bad, and it was true.”

The staff who were checking the results of analyzing the collected information soon wrote a report and sent it up.

The next day, the Japanese naval adjutant summoned the staff in charge and ordered.

“Tell me more in detail.”

“Yes, sir!”

The summary of the staff’s report was as follows:

-The commander of the Imperial Navy’s 2nd Mobile Fleet is Won Gyun, and the commander of the 3rd Mobile Fleet is Yi Sun-sin.

-However, the general opinion is that the relationship between the two is not very good.

-No, it is closer to the truth that Won Gyun hates Yi Sun-sin very much.

-This is because Won Gyun is a battleship faction and Yi Sun-sin is an aircraft carrier faction.

* * *

Since the Gibraltar dispute, the Imperial Navy had been fiercely debating, divided into two factions.

-What should be the core force of the future Imperial Navy?

The Imperial Navy was divided over this issue.

“Battleships! Battleships are the answer! The best opponent for a battleship is a battleship!”

“Aircraft carriers! The versatility of aircraft carriers is the future!”

The Imperial Navy had been divided in this way, arguing and fighting for decades.

“Don’t they get tired…”

The onlookers grumbled with a pathetic expression, but the parties involved did not care and were fighting with veins in their necks.

This was because a war large enough to resolve this dispute had not broken out.

In the dispute that had been going on for decades, the battleship faction’s argument was as follows:

-Battleships have at least nine or more huge and powerful main guns that are difficult to find opponents for.

-And these nine main guns can fire rapidly.

-In addition, they have the stamina to withstand such powerful shells.

-But what about aircraft carriers, no, aircraft?

-Self-propelled explosive bullets [torpedoes] are powerful, but there are too many things to keep in mind to use these self-propelled explosive bullets properly, such as the proper altitude and proper speed.

-Even if you drop a self-propelled explosive bullet while following the procedure, the problem is the accuracy. This is because the enemy ship actively evades.

-Then, what about dropping explosive bullets from the sky [bombs]? Again, the accuracy is not high, and the power is too low. This is because the weight of the explosive bullets carried by the aircraft is too light compared to the shells of the battleship’s main guns.

-Let’s increase the quantity to solve these problems.

The maximum number of aircraft that can be carried on one aircraft carrier is 70. If you exclude the aircraft for escort and fleet defense, only about 40 aircraft will attack the enemy fleet.

-For the safety of the aircraft carrier, the aircraft carrier launches aircraft from as far away from the battlefield as possible. In other words, it takes at least one shijin (about 2 hours) to travel between the battlefield and the carrier.

-Considering the low accuracy, poor firepower, and the time it takes to participate in battle and re-sortie, aircraft are far inferior to battleships.

-In short, in that amount of time, a battleship can fire dozens, no, over a hundred powerful main gun shells.

In response, the aircraft carrier faction raised an objection.

-First of all, battleships have only 9 main guns, and aircraft have dozens.

The reality is that the entire fleet cannot be composed entirely of battleships. In that case, when calculating firepower alone, one aircraft carrier is more powerful than one battleship.

-It is true that the main gun shells of battleships are large and powerful. However, aircraft have also evolved to carry larger and more powerful explosive bullets.

-And, it is certain that the main guns of battleships are powerful. However, the range is at best 100 li (about 40 km). On the other hand, aircraft can fly and attack with explosive bullets even further away.

Both sides had reasonable grounds, so they were evenly matched for that long time.

Then, some turned their arrows to Hyang.

“Emperor Hyang should have made a decision…”

“Hey! Where did you get such rude remarks!”

Of course, those who turned their arrows to Hyang were subjected to public shaming before the words were even finished.

As time passed, the confrontation within the Imperial Navy was gradually tilting towards the aircraft carrier faction.

This was because the performance of the aircraft being mounted was improving visibly.

* * *

The Japanese naval staff continued the report.

“Won Gyun and Yi Sun-sin are the leaders of the battleship faction and the aircraft carrier faction of the Imperial Navy. The common opinion is that this long dispute will end with who becomes the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Navy.”

“I see… Then what about their personalities and abilities?”

“Both of them have properly climbed up the Imperial Navy’s success course. Therefore, the general opinion is that there is not much difference in their abilities, but according to our analysis, Yi Sun-sin is considered more capable.”

“What is the basis?”

“Age. Won Gyun is 5 years older than Yi Sun-sin. The customs of the Empire say that people of the same age are considered peers for about 10 years, but customs are customs and success is success, isn’t it?”

The adjutant, who nodded slightly at the staff’s explanation, asked again.

“Is Yi Sun-sin more capable than average? Or is Won Gyun less capable than average?”

“Yi Sun-sin is more capable than average. Considering Won Gyun’s age, it is appropriate to see him as average.”

When the senior staff’s answer was finished, one of the staff behind him carefully raised his hand.

“Yamamoto, speak.”

The staff, who had received permission from the adjutant, carefully expressed his opinion.

“According to rumors we have obtained, there is a story that Won Gyun became the commander due to political coordination within the Empire.”

“So, does that mean he lacks ability?”

“It is difficult to confirm his ability, but it is certain that he has many problems with his personality.”

“Tell me more in detail.”

“Yes, sir!”

After listening to the explanation, the adjutant laughed loudly.

“Hahaha! Heaven is helping our Japan!”