Chapter 56: Hitting a Seonbi Part 2

Unlike Emperor Gojong, I am someone who did not die.

In fact, in this era of the emperor, it is almost as if I have secured the territory of Gando as well.

That is what Bezobrazov left behind.

“Although the reforms were led by the current cabinet, it was His Majesty who boldly approved them. Naturally, the credit will go to him.”

“Will it truly be so?”

“Think carefully. Was it King Gongmin of Goryeo himself who personally drove out the Yuan dynasty? It was his generals, including General Choi Young, who accomplished that. Yet, the achievements were credited to the monarch. Your Majesty gave orders to Ok Jinseo, the administrator of Manchuria, and achieved modernization. You elevated Korea into the ranks of the great powers. Historians of the future will praise it as such.”

“I see!”

“I will open the path to these great achievements, and Your Majesty need only walk the flower road. What do you think?”

“Can I truly become the greatest emperor since the founder?”

‘Founder? Yi Seonggye?’

The famed general of Goryeo, who staged a dynastic revolution and struggled to gain royal investiture from Zhu Yuanzhang? There is no comparison.

At least for as long as Emperor Sunjong listens to me, I intend to preserve the royal family.

During that time, I will beat Japan to a pulp, reclaim all of Manchuria from Russia, and force Qing to acknowledge it.

“Since the founder? Your Majesty, the founder was a provisional ruler of Goryeo who needed investiture from Ming China. But Your Majesty is different. Under your reign, I shall avenge the humiliation of Samjeondo and repay the grudge of Imjin Year against the Japanese. And all those achievements—”

I lifted my gaze from the snow that had been falling and looked up at Cheok.

Then, kneeling on one knee, I reached into the air with both hands as if offering up the very concept of ‘achievement’ itself.

“Will become mine!”

“Exactly.”

All of it will be yours.

Cheok may fear me, but precisely because of that, he knows my strength better than anyone.

Better even than that wretched Consort Eom.

After all, he had seen me spill blood firsthand.

“Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense. I shall place my trust in no one but the Minister of Foreign Affairs—no, the Administrator of Manchuria. Please, make me the greatest ruler since Dangun.”

“Ah, good boy. Our precious darling.”

“That’s right. As long as you keep listening to me, I’ll let you live comfortably until just before your death.”

“Of course, you will have to abdicate eventually.”

***

Having even secured an imperial edict, there was nothing left to fear.

The land reform bill passed through the cabinet smoothly.

There was no one left to oppose it.

Those who might have opposed had long since been killed, implicated with the Iljinhoe.

The rest had fled or died early on in the war against Japan.

‘And the few who remained?’

With the Manchurian army’s bayonets pointed at them, what could they do?

“Isn’t this a bit too radical, though?”

It seemed Lee Beomyun was quite worried.

He was right. It was radical.

Radical reforms naturally attract resistance.

It would be like Kim Okgyun’s short-lived three-day reign.

But Kim Okgyun had been too powerless, begging for Japan’s help.

We are different.

We have public support.

We have a base in Manchuria.

We have the northern forces stationed there.

And the entire officer corps of the Korean Empire’s army is now under our control.

“What more do we need?”

“You already said you would support me, General. Now, it’s time to show that I am worth it. We have already wasted too much time since the end of the Triple Alliance War.”

It is time to start the reforms.

If we falter now, everything falls apart.

“Damn it… but still, if we move this radically, what will the royal family say?”

‘The royal family? Consort Eom?’

Our precious emperor will bow his head as long as I wave my sword in front of him.

There is no problem for now.

Besides, did Kim Okgyun ever smash Japanese or Qing forces in front of the emperor?

No.

***

Meanwhile, I bathed myself in blood, personally cracking the skulls of Japanese soldiers before the emperor’s very eyes.

“The arrow has already left the bowstring. You saw the war yourself, didn’t you, Minister? This is the only path to change the nation.”

This is the only path to change the nation.

“But then how are we any different from the rebel Choi Jaehyung of the previous dynasty?”

“Choi Jaehyung?’ We are fundamentally different.”

“Choi Jaehyung merely issued some pledges and stopped there.”

“We are not like the Choi family. They had only enough military force to oppress the monarch and the people, but not to defeat external enemies.”

“We are different from Choi Jaehyung. He was nothing more than a mere usurper, while we are actually reforming the nation. Unlike Choi, who left the Khitan remnants unchecked, we have crushed the Japanese and are pushing forward with reforms. In the end, this nation, Korea, will be reborn under a new system.”

“What did Choi Jaehyung accomplish by usurping power?”

“The Khitan remnants remained a menace for years because he did not defeat them properly.”

“Eventually, they were subdued, but it was a rocky road filled with hardships. Choi even forged ties with the Mongols, leading to the devastating Mongol invasions.”

“We, on the other hand, defeated Japan and managed to secure a foothold in southern Manchuria through brilliant diplomacy.”

“Of course, it was possible because we had already declared southern Manchuria as part of Gando.”

“You’re right. We’ve already come this far. We must see it through. But what do you plan to do next? Even with Prince Uichin on our side?”

“Now that Prince Uichin is with us, there are no more obstacles. I have already told him everything.”

“Whether he surrendered under threats or truly understood my ideals, it doesn’t matter.”

Reforms will not be difficult.

“Of course, I would prefer to minimize bloodshed. But if blood must be shed, then so be it.”

“This country is far beyond the point where dialogue and compromise can lead to modernization.”

“We missed multiple opportunities in the past.”

“Opportunities to play a role similar to Britain’s ‘hunting dog’ or to ascend on our own.”

Those days are gone.

“Now, we must strike while we can. Radically.”

“Even if it means blood must be spilled.”

“We must remake this country with blood.”

The Korean people must grow accustomed to it.

“We must discard our history of hiding behind bigger powers like China, enjoying a pitiful peace under their protection.”

“We must become like Goguryeo, a nation that fought back and flaunted its national power on the world stage.”

“I have already drawn up the blueprint for the future.”

“There is even a safeguard called Daeyeok Gallery.”

“We have the power to change things—leaving them as they are would be sheer stupidity.”

“Phew… I feel nervous. But I am a soldier by nature.”

***

Lee Beomyun spoke as if trying to comfort himself.

He is little more than a figurehead anyway.

For now, I intend to assist him from the shadows.

At least until the country is firmly in my grasp.

Until I have achieved overwhelming military success that no one can dismiss because of my gender.

‘Who would dare look down on me if I am dripping with undeniable military achievements?’

And if anyone tries, they will die by Manchurian hands before they even reach mine.

“I will be by your side to assist you, Minister.”

At the very least, I need Lee Beomyun’s help to set the stage for myself to peacefully inherit the position of Prime Minister.

“Truly remarkable! Your father would have been so proud of you.”

‘Was that a low blow, or genuine praise?’

Either way, it did not matter to me.

The father of this body meant nothing to me.

“Were you close with my father?”

“As I said before, it was your father who entrusted you to me. I guess you don’t remember.”

Of course not.

After all, this ‘Ok Jinseo’ persona was a fabricated identity.

Even if, by some miracle, there really was someone who existed without ever being recorded in history, I’m just possessing this body—I’m not the real Ok Jinseo.

“Father… what kind of person was he?”

“He was a merchant through and through. Your father. While traveling as a peddler to conduct business, he was badly harmed by marauders and entrusted you to me.”

‘So that’s how it is.’

Whether it’s just a setting fabricated by that old man, or something he’s been preparing for a long time, or whether the man actually existed… it doesn’t matter to me.

I only asked to make myself seem more human.

It doesn’t concern me how Ok Jinseo’s father died.

“What does it matter, one way or the other? What’s important is the reality in front of us.”

“That’s true.”

“I cannot be proud until all the foreign invaders kneel before us.

More than anything, I can’t help but feel disgusted that we continue to leave the Imperial Court—which once allied with the Japanese—untouched.”

Lee Beomyun is in a very precarious position right now.

When you really think about it, he’s just been exiled to the position of Director of Gando Administration because Emperor Gojong was ready to discard him at any time.

Just looking at how he had to buy weapons independently in Seoul shows that he’s operating without any government support.

“Still, at the very least, we must show loyalty.”

“If I do that, many will simply assume I’m cooperating with the reactionary faction. Whatever happens, we’ve already crossed the Rubicon.”

‘Even if we show loyalty outwardly to the Emperor, what would Russia or Germany say?’

Even though Britain is taking a hands-off approach right now, Russia has already seized Southern Manchuria and pretends to be loyal to the Emperor.

Germany isn’t strong enough to serve as a counterbalance either.

“What is it that you truly serve?”

“My nation.”

The Korean people, trembling between the great powers, forced to use only a hedgehog strategy for survival.

In the end, we became the scapegoats for their ambitions and the first victims of nuclear war.

Of course, we were the first to be struck, but after that, it escalated into full-scale nuclear war, wiping everyone out.

In short, I serve the nation.

Or to be more precise, I serve myself, who exists within the framework of the nation.

After all, a tree must hide within the forest to survive.

***

“The start of the land reform was enough to enrage the literati of the Korean Empire.”

“During the reign of Emperor Gojong, the nobility of Korea—the yangban, or scholar-officials—held vast amounts of land.”

“Of course, not every scholar was a landowner, but still, landowners held significant social standing.”

“However, Lee Beomyun’s new land reform was not just a typical reform.”

“It was a land reform in name only—its true purpose was to crush the scholar class.”

“Land reform? What nonsense is this!”

“As of today, all land in Korea must be put to new use. You cannot continue to hoard it and let it go to waste.”

“The land of Korea will not be left to rot any longer. Under the ownership of these landlords, the land was decaying. If we repurpose it now, it will become the foundation for Korea’s modernization.”

“The land has been in our care for generations! How dare lowborns like you, claiming to run a military government, threaten His Majesty and seize his authority!”

‘Threaten,’ they say.

What a dramatic accusation.

The Minister of State himself received the Emperor’s explicit permission.

And yet they view it as nothing but intimidation.

They were even more foolish than I had thought.

“Oh dear, why make such a fuss? We are only acting under His Majesty’s orders, you see.”

“We refuse! You scoundrels!”

“They’re defying the Emperor’s orders. Arrest them all!”

Those who opposed the land reform were promptly arrested by the Manchurian forces, who had been waiting eagerly for such a moment.

Even the scholars without any land ownership weren’t spared.

“But we have nothing!”

“Nothing, you say? Tear it all down and find out!”

“You bastards! You are not our people!”

“Correct. They were not subjects of Joseon. They were not citizens of the Korean Empire either. If you look closely, they were soldiers of the Manchurian army.”

“Indeed. We are the Jurchen soldiers under the Administrator of Southern Manchuria.”

“We are the Han forces of Manchuria.”

“Manchurians? These wretched followers of the monster woman Ok Jinseo, who dared to threaten His Majesty!”

“That’s right.”

The Manchurian forces were a multi-ethnic army composed of both Han and Manchu soldiers.

When it came to suppressing opposition during the land reform, the Southern Manchurian forces were particularly useful.

Especially since the Han and Manchu soldiers felt no ethnic ties to the Korean scholars, they could act without hesitation.

“Look at these fine Korean scholars, so eager for death. Beat them down!”

“You wretches!”

“I surrender! I surrender everything!”

“We don’t need it anymore!”

The once-proud scholars crumbled helplessly before the rifles and bayonets of the Manchurian soldiers.

Meanwhile, Choi Ikhyun, who had led the coalition of righteous armies and was only recently released, could not escape this tragedy either.

Caught up in what would later be called the Scholar Purge Incident, Choi Ikhyun was considered a leader among the scholars.

Staring at the group of scholars who came to plead with him, Choi Ikhyun could only sigh.

“They claim it’s land reform, but the real target is clearly the scholars!”

“Master, you must flee!”

Yes. Under normal circumstances, he should have fled.

Especially after surviving the tortures inflicted by the Japanese, Choi Ikhyun’s body had barely recovered.

He knew he didn’t have much time left.

Before he died, there was one person he desperately wanted to meet.

Someone he had long wished to confront.

“No… I shall go to them myself. There’s a figure I’ve been wanting to meet face-to-face.”

“You mustn’t, Master!”

Despite his disciples’ desperate attempts to stop him, Choi Ikhyun stood up and walked outside.

There, a group of Manchurian soldiers were already waiting to escort him.

“Take me to your master.”

“May I ask for your name, sir?”

Choi Ikhyun thought to himself:

‘He would finally meet the woman who was trying to turn this nation into a kingdom of beasts.’