45 Liberation of Korea (3)

"Are we really not going to help Korea establish a new government?" Mi Feng raised this question at the Volunteer Army Headquarters Party Committee meeting. Mu Husan remained silent. In his heart, he had already defined Comrade Mi Feng: his political idiocy was as profound as his military competence was high.

In terms of strategy, Mu Husan believed Mi Feng was definitely not his inferior; in terms of tactics, Mu Husan thought he might even be slightly worse than Mi Feng. If he were the commander-in-chief of this Korean Liberation War, he would at least have to mobilize more than 300,000 troops and a large amount of artillery to participate in the battle. Mi Feng, on the other hand, had skillfully organized the unit's offensive firepower. For Japanese strongholds, he adopted the tactic of leveling them in one go; for key cities occupied by the Japanese, he adopted a mode of besieging without attacking. The troops displayed the spirit of continuous combat and increased the intensity of their march. In just over twenty days, they had advanced nearly a thousand *li* to the edge of the plains.

The Japanese thought the Chinese army would adopt a mode of attacking key points, so they gathered heavy troops to build extensive fortifications. Such a response completely became a burden for Japan itself. The Korean Volunteer Army first controlled northern Korea, and then proceeded to sweep through northern Korea. Mi Feng commanded over a hundred thousand men and fought a beautiful battle.

However, the Military Commission had issued instructions to the Northeast Military Region several times: absolutely do not actively interfere in Korea's internal affairs. After the liberation of Korea, except for security issues, China would not actively impose any control over Korea. There was no need to explain it too clearly; Mu Husan could understand this issue very well. The People's Party's greatest advantage was that the system came first. The Party's leader, Chen Ke, could produce a set of systems and also list the ideas and conditions for operating the systems. This set of systems was quite suitable for China's national conditions and could also be combined with the current world situation. As long as one was not as politically foolish as Mi Feng, following it would not cause too many problems.

The Korean aspiring patriots firstly had no concept of building a modern industrial nation, and secondly, there had been no emergence of a system that could absorb various systems and, through trial and error, produce a system suitable for Korea's national conditions. This exploration process was destined to be arduous and difficult. At this time, the People's Party interfering in this process would not have good results.

Mi Feng only saw the achievement of establishing a new system in Korea, but did not see the various difficulties behind this achievement. Whenever people participate in social activities, they either succeed or spoil things. The Korean comrades had ambitions as big as their guts. At a glance, this was the typical style of being unable to accomplish anything but liable to spoil everything. If they didn't draw a clear line with them quickly, were they waiting to look for trouble later?

If it were someone unrelated to Mu Husan, with Mu Husan's temperament, he would naturally "watch him build his vermilion tower, watch him feast his guests, watch his building collapse!" But now Mi Feng was also a member of the headquarters, and Mu Husan could not escape involvement in the things Mi Feng stirred up. Watching Mi Feng act foolishly, Mu Husan finally said, "We must obey the Military Commission's orders."

Mi Feng did not yet have the guts to challenge the authority of the Military Commission. After hearing Mu Husan's words, Mi Feng finally shut his mouth.

Recently, there had been an anti-feudalism campaign within the army, and quite a few typical cases had been caught in the troops. Heaven knows what a division commander in the Northeast Military Region was thinking, but he actually replaced his guards with "his own people." After this matter was exposed, the division commander, who could be considered to have distinguished war service, was immediately stripped of all duties and imprisoned.

Guards were under the management of the Political Protection Department. On the one hand, they had to firmly protect the chief's safety. If the chief had any acts of collaborating with the enemy, treason, or opposing the Party, the guards were to report to the Political Protection Department, and in emergencies, even subdue the chief who was carrying out reactionary acts. This was plainly a job of both protection and surveillance. Whoever dared to replace the guards with "his own people" meant publicly challenging the principle of the Party commanding the gun. If it weren't peacetime now, this division commander might have been shot.

Mu Husan had never thought of engaging in any reactionary behavior, so naturally, he didn't care if anyone was watching him. Having someone do this kind of security work for him, Mu Husan felt it saved him a lot of worry. However, many cadres now had a restless mood of "seven dissatisfied, eight unhappy." Without a processed example, this bunch simply didn't know the severity. In Mu Husan's view, Mi Feng at least knew to be afraid.

Liu Guange immediately interjected, "Then how do we handle this Korean matter next?"

Mu Husan replied, "This war will be a very long-term process. Let's temporarily hand over the work of reorganizing Korea to the Korean aspiring patriots. We will secretly prepare food; we will very likely encounter a situation where a large number of southern Koreans flee to the north. At that time, the food issue will be a big problem."

Liu Guange could understand this very well, but he had his own worries. "If we retreat, what if the Japanese attack?"

Mu Husan replied, "The urgent task now is to quickly establish a Korean government recognized by the world. It is not for us to fight the Japanese. As long as there is a Korean government recognized by the world, the war will be a war between Korea and Japan, and we can go all out. In the final analysis, this is still a political war, a diplomatic war. The country should have made such preparations long ago. Now we are not trying to intervene, but to quickly let go."

Mi Feng still couldn't understand this matter, while Liu Guange, after thinking for a while, understood Mu Husan's meaning.

Subsequent events were indeed similar to what Mu Husan had predicted. The Central Committee sent Foreign Minister Li Runshi to be responsible for Korean affairs. Sure enough, the primary responsibility was to establish a Korean government.

The military and political representatives of the People's Party finally understood what "a monkey bathed and dressed in a hat" meant. With the Korean aspiring patriots' understanding of the world, quite a few still thought the earth was flat. They felt that as long as they did as before, with China backing them up, they could do anything. It was hard enough to let these guys know that their primary task was to establish a Korean government recognized by the world. These people then developed another idea; they felt they were a member of the world, a very important existence.

Mu Husan had already given up on dealing with the Korean aspiring patriots. These troublesome tasks were all borne by Li Runshi; Mu Husan only took charge of the Korean army. Regarding the Koreans' performance, Mu Husan felt that Chen Ke's repeated mention of "the Chinese people are a great people," a slogan that seemed like political propaganda, was actually too correct.

Engaging in revolution in China was absolutely not as difficult as in Korea. The Chinese people were the people of a great power and had an incredibly deep cultural heritage. At least the Chinese people knew the principle of knowing when to stop. The Korean aspiring patriots, many of whom had seen the industrial zones starting to be built in Northeast China, had not even finished building their own government before some were already trying to request aid from China to establish their own industry in Korea. Politically, the people proposing such ideas likely wanted to obtain China's aid to increase their own say in the yet-to-be-established Korean government. It seemed like a good opportunity for China to intervene in Korea, but in reality, it could only prove the chaos within Korea.

Mu Husan acted as a hands-off boss, but Li Runshi did not have such good fortune. He was now combining theory with practice and could be considered to have completely understood the relationship between science and democracy from practice. Chen Ke always said that science is the foundation of democracy. Democracy without a scientific foundation would be at best populism. What Korea lacked most was science, not only natural science but also social science.

Since the People's Party was established, it had fully promoted the establishment of natural science and social science. During the period when there wasn't enough to eat, it vigorously set up modern education. After having base areas, the path became smoother and smoother. Comparing this with Korea, it was very easy to understand. Comrades who at least knew basic scientific principles, as long as they didn't violate the most basic sociological principles, at least wouldn't do anything too outrageous. When reasoning, everyone had heard of the same nouns, and they just discussed the concepts represented by the nouns.

Muddle-headed eggs were never muddle-headed about just one thing, but muddle-headed about everything. Plus, without science as support, they always felt that just talking could bring benefits. If it weren't for Japan being in a mess domestically, heaven knows what kind of development the situation would have had now. For the Koreans, this was indeed an unexpected joy. However, Li Runshi's work ability was very strong; he at least forced the Korean aspiring patriots to first create a government framework, and in the name of the "People's Republic of Korea," sent telegrams to governments all over the world, announcing the establishment of this government of the Korean people themselves. And sent telegrams to various countries proposing the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Korea's unexpected joy was Japan's great disaster. China suddenly intervened in Korean affairs, capturing the Korean mountainous areas under the banner of the Korean Volunteer Army, and the Japanese didn't even have time to react. Besides begging the British, the Japanese Navy carried out a general mobilization.

Japan had won the last Sino-Japanese War in Korea, and theoretically, Japan could copy the last strategy. Japan soon discovered that this idea was no longer achievable. The world was changing too fast.

In the last war that occurred in Korea, Northeast China didn't even have a railway network. Moving troops had to rely on two legs and sea transport. Now, not only did China have a relatively mature railway network, but Korea also had railways domestically. Theoretically, departing from China's capital Zhengzhou, the railway could transport troops into northern Korea within 72 hours. The People's Party officially started its first Five-Year Plan in 1921. They transported a large amount of manpower to the Northeast to develop the Northeast's resources. In 1923, the population of the Northeast increased by nearly double, and industrial and agricultural strength developed very quickly. Relying solely on the strength of the Northeast, China could fight a war with Japan. The Japanese government felt extremely painful.

After the Great Kanto Earthquake, China skillfully manipulated public opinion. The Japanese victims' massacre of Koreans and Chinese in the disaster areas was publicized all over the world. The incident of the Chinese relief supply fleet being attacked by Japanese victims became known to the whole world, and China logically stopped providing aid to Japan and even laid a black hand behind their backs.

In this era, reporters scoured the world for information. China skillfully manipulated public opinion, spreading the slogan raised by Japanese nationals, "Kill all Koreans! Immigrate to all of Korea!" to the whole world. The results of interviews by reporters from various countries were consistent with China's propaganda, which led to Japan's comprehensive passivity.

The current Minister of the Army, Tanaka Giichi, taking advantage of the national panic after the Great Kanto Earthquake, established the national youth organization "Great Japan United Youth Corps." This organization claimed to have 2.5 million members and became a powerful support base for Tanaka. One of the purposes of such an organization was to implement immigration policies for the colonies. Tanaka Giichi didn't expect a large number of foreign reporters to run to Japan for interviews. This confirmed the evidence that Japan wanted to kill all Koreans.

By the time Okamura Yasuji realized something was wrong and began to restrict foreign reporters' interviews in Japan, the foolish practices of Japanese officialdom were immediately fully exposed. Local officials and powerful factions regarded foreign reporters as fierce floods and savage beasts, vigorously restricting the actions of foreign reporters, and there were even incidents of insulting or even attacking foreign reporters. This did no good whatsoever for Japan's public opinion war; negative news reports about Japan flooded American newspapers. There was also a large amount of such news in European newspapers.

After receiving the telegram from the People's Republic of Korea, various countries were not in a hurry. This telegram represented nothing; at least there had to be formal representatives going to other countries, which would take a long time. Newspapers in various countries soon obtained intelligence sources and reported the matter one after another. In addition, China's intelligence warfare units published a large number of articles introducing Korea, especially articles introducing the war between Korea and Japan, in many newspapers. The masses in Europe and America who read these reports were largely inclined towards Korea's cause of liberation.

At the end of May 1924, when Japan's intelligence in European and American countries returned to Japan, the Japanese cabinet discovered that the matter was completely beyond their imagination. What was originally a matter in a remote corner of the world in the Far East had turned into international news. Moreover, with the help of China and the Soviet Union, Korean representatives arrived in Geneva, the seat of the League of Nations, on June 1, 1924, requesting the League of Nations to recognize Korea's independence and sovereignty and support Korea's cause of liberation.

Although the League of Nations itself did not possess enforcement power, it at least flew the banner of peace. Regarding Korea's request, the League of Nations did not immediately accept it, but it did not completely reject it either.

In short, this matter had gradually evolved into a global issue.

The Crown Prince of Japan, now the Prince Regent Hirohito, had become increasingly distrustful of the Japanese cabinet. The young Prince Regent hoped to have a political team of his own. Hirohito increasingly trusted young officers like Okamura Yasuji and Nagata Tetsuzan who showed loyalty to him. While the cabinet was discussing the changes in Korea with scorched brows, Hirohito simply summoned these few people to him to ask for their opinions.

Nagata Tetsuzan was known as the smartest person in the Japanese Army; he had completely seen through the current situation. With a steely face, Nagata Tetsuzan replied, "Your Highness, I can be certain that the People's Party has been laying out this plan for a long time. The Great Kanto Earthquake gave the People's Party the timing, and Chen Ke seized this opportunity to push this matter forward."

Hirohito was 23 years old this year, 21 years "younger" than Chen Ke. Hirohito knew that in 1905, when Hirohito was 4 years old, Chen Ke had dedicated himself to China. In Hirohito's growth process, he had heard Chen Ke's name countless times, and every piece of news accompanied by the name Chen Ke was about China's wars and victories. Hearing Nagata Tetsuzan say this, Hirohito's heart skipped a beat.

"Nagata-kun, why do you say that?" Hirohito asked.

Nagata Tetsuzan's face remained steely as he answered seriously, "For so much news to appear simultaneously all over the world, it is definitely not something China could accomplish immediately upon thinking of it after the great earthquake in Japan. China must have made many layouts in Europe and America long ago, and many Chinese were waiting in Europe and America to send messages. Once they received the notification from within China, they immediately began to act."

Okamura Yasuji's face was also extremely ugly. Although Chen Ke's goal was definitely not targeted at Okamura Yasuji, Okamura Yasuji himself felt a great shame. As the soldier responsible for news management in the Tokyo disaster area, Okamura Yasuji had been ruthlessly played by China. A large amount of news unfavorable to Japan had flowed to the whole world just like that. Besides anger at the People's Party, Okamura Yasuji's anger was more directed at the "Choshu Clique" in the Japanese army. If Tanaka Giichi hadn't so blatantly organized his own political forces and used slogans to incite this bunch of people, foreign reporters arriving in the disaster area should have interviewed news about Japan doing its utmost for disaster relief and victims striving to save themselves through production.

Things like massacres could be done in 1924, but they couldn't be nakedly brought to the table. Even less could they be brought before the eyes of the public. What was worse was that reporters had indeed encountered attacks. Reporters, these people, made a living by writing sensational articles, fearing only that the world was not in chaos. They would fabricate stories out of thin air, let alone after being beaten. By now, Japan had already lost a huge move.

Hirohito was just a 23-year-old youth and couldn't understand so many things at all. Therefore, Hirohito didn't think Okamura Yasuji had made any mistakes. Moreover, Nagata Tetsuzan had said it very clearly: the People's Party had laid out the plan long ago and made its move while taking advantage of this earthquake. An earthquake was not something anyone could dominate. Hirohito asked, "What should be the method of response?"

Nagata Tetsuzan looked at Okamura Yasuji beside him, and then glanced at Obata Toshishiro. Strategically, being one step behind meant being behind at almost every step. Japan's theoretically best method now was to defeat China, forcing China to admit defeat just like in the First Sino-Japanese War back then, and finally completely controlling Korea. Of course, this was only a theoretical method. Now, as soon as China and Japan started a war, the result of a long-term war would inevitably be Japan losing Korea. Besides this method, Japan could only limit military objectives to Korea and endure a long war.

They dared not fail to answer His Highness Hirohito's question. Nagata Tetsuzan was not at all optimistic about the result of a war with the battlefield limited to Korea. It was Obata Toshishiro who had a more straightforward nature; he took over the conversation, "Your Highness, the immediate response is to defeat all other countries' forces in Korea. At the same time, we must not start a full-scale war with China."

Hirohito was, after all, a student of Nogi Maresuke and Togo Heihachiro, and could barely understand this suggestion. After thinking for a while, he continued to ask, "Then what benefit does the 'Anglo-Japanese Alliance' actually have for our country? Apart from defending against China, the Soviet Union, and the United States, our country has no other benefits."

Core members of the "Three Crows of Baden-Baden"—Nagata Tetsuzan, Okamura Yasuji, and Obata Toshishiro—could not take up this topic. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was increasingly becoming a shackle for Japan; this was undoubted. The British used this alliance to restrain Japan, making Japan confront three great powers in the Far East. However, if Japan no longer confronted these three great powers now, what would be the outcome? China had obtained lands including the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin Island from the Soviet Union. These lands were currently marked within Japan on Japanese maps. Once China gained naval superiority, they would mercilessly launch an attack on Japan. What would Japan do then?