Chapter 24: The Russo-Japanese War

Everybody has a plan.

And in truth, the plan Japan had drawn up on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War was meticulous in its own right.

First, launch a surprise attack on Port Arthur and pin down Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

At the same time, occupy the capital of Joseon, that is, the Korean Empire, and force a treaty allowing free military use of the Korean Peninsula.

That done, Japan would be able to project troops into Manchuria at will, and on that basis secure large-scale foreign loans from Britain and America.

Once the funds were in hand and the army could be poured into Manchuria, time would be on Japan’s side.

Wait calmly for a rattled Russia to overreach, then devour it, and the war would end in Japan’s victory, with the Korean Empire becoming Japan’s in all but name.

By any measure, it was a perfect plan.

Right up until the report came in that the surprise attack had failed and they had been thrashed instead.

“What… what in the world is this absurd situation supposed to be!”

The Imperial General Headquarters, the supreme war command established under the military with such ambition at the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, had turned into a funeral parlor overnight.

Chief of the General Staff Field Marshal Oyama Iwao, and beside him Vice Chief of the General Staff Kodama Gentaro, who had resigned no fewer than two ministerial posts and swallowed a two-grade demotion to take the job, could only pound the blameless desk, unable to accept reality.

“It was a surprise attack! A surprise attack without even a declaration of war! So how is it that 4 destroyers were heavily damaged and a battleship moderately damaged!”

If the surprise operation had simply failed to succeed, that would be regrettable but understandable.

But they had struck an enemy said to be in the middle of a banquet, been thrashed in return, and 4 destroyers had sunk to the bottom of the sea?

No. That was not how this worked.

What in the world did one have to do to produce a result like this?

“They were indeed holding a banquet… but the analysis is that it was likely bait, meant to lull us into complacency.”

“I’m losing my mind. So you’re telling me we were dancing in the palm of their hand the entire time?”

Kodama clenched his fist until blood seeped out.

“Set the defeat aside. How exactly did the plan for the surprise attack leak?”

“That… we cannot determine at present.”

“Cannot determine? This nation’s highest secret flowed straight to the enemy, and you cannot determine how?”

Was this a matter one could simply write off as a failed operation?

A failed surprise attack and a leaked surprise attack plan were as different as heaven and earth.

“What will be done about Admiral Togo’s responsibility?”

One staff officer cautiously voiced the subject no one had dared to raise.

“What was that?”

“Trusting the reports of a banquet at face value and sending even the battleships in deep was the field commander’s judgment. Had he been more prudent….”

“Silence.”

Kodama cut him off as if the notion were not worth a moment’s consideration.

“Did we not receive no fewer than 4 intelligence reports that they were mid-banquet! If the field commander had ignored 4 corroborating intelligence reports and refused to go in, you’d have called that cowardice instead, would you not.”

And in truth, he had a point.

What would blaming Togo change now?

The biggest problem in the first place was that if Togo were sacked, there was no one else to command the Combined Fleet.

“Set the matter of Admiral Togo aside; that is not what matters now. What of Joseon?”

“Proceeding as scheduled. The landing at Incheon was completed without a hitch, and the occupation of Hanseong is only a matter of time.”

“And the Protocol?”

“Foreign Minister Komura is applying pressure through the Minister.”

So long as the Russian Pacific Fleet remained intact, Joseon had to be swallowed no matter what.

The only land route for projecting troops into Manchuria ran straight through the Korean Peninsula.

If Japan could not use even Joseon, access to Manchuria itself would become impossible.

“What is the status of the loan?”

“Takahashi has departed for London. He will make contact with the local bankers shortly.”

Kodama looked up at the ceiling and let out a deep breath.

However badly the surprise attack had failed, if they offered a fat enough interest rate, someone would still lend the money.

If Russia won this war, Britain and America would both be in trouble all the same.

Yes. If they could just secure the loan, this was still entirely winnable.

The Japanese military’s wishful thinking had not yet let go of its one slender thread of hope.

* * *

February 12, 1904, Hanseong.

The capital of the Korean Empire fell into Japanese hands with ease.

Neutrality had been declared, but there was not a single country on this earth that took a declaration of neutrality from the likes of the Korean Empire seriously.

“Y-Your Majesty. The Japanese army has landed at Incheon. They say it is marching on Hanseong.”

“What… whatever are We to do.”

Gojong, Emperor of the Korean Empire, sat sunk into his chair, his face ashen.

“Who was it! Who told Us to take Russia’s hand! And those who said declaring neutrality would keep us safe, what in heaven’s name were they trusting in when they spouted such nonsense!”

Gojong’s gaze swept over the ministers arrayed below.

The minister who had proposed the declaration of neutrality pressed his forehead to the floor, while the pro-Russian officials could only dart their eyes about.

“We should not have provoked Japan beyond necessity, and instead built up our strength….”

It was the Emperor himself who had actively courted Russia to check Japan, but no minister pointed that fact out here.

There would have been no use in it.

“Your Majesty, the Russian Minister, Pavlov-daein, urgently requests an audience.”

“Pavlov? Now? Show him in at once!”

Could it be that Russia meant to send troops?

Pavlov stepped in before a Gojong clinging to that slender hope, but his expression was far from bright.

“Your Majesty, it is with regret that I must soon depart Hanseong. The Japanese army is putting pressure on the legation.”

The color drained white from Gojong’s face as his last bastion crumbled.

If even the Russian Minister left, all that would remain in this palace were the Japanese army and its lackeys.

Seeing Gojong’s lips begin to tremble, Pavlov swiftly added one more word.

“However, Your Majesty, there is something I must tell you before I go.”

“…….”

“At Port Arthur, our Russian fleet has repelled a Japanese surprise attack. 4 Japanese destroyers were sunk and 1 battleship gravely damaged.”

The air inside the palace rippled in an instant.

“Is, is that true?”

“It is true, Your Majesty.”

Color slowly began returning to Gojong’s face, which moments ago had been the shade of dirt.

“Then… does that not mean Japan has lost?”

“If Japan’s supply lines across the sea are severed, then that army sitting in Hanseong will be left stranded in the end, will it not!”

Judging this his moment, the pro-Russian Yi Yong-ik cried out, driving his forehead to the floor.

The face of Yi Ji-yong, head of the pro-Japanese faction, went rigid in turn.

“Y-Yi Yong-ik-daegam. The outcome of a war is not decided by a single naval battle….” [TL Note: daegam is a Korean court honorific attached to the names of high-ranking ministers, roughly “His Excellency”.]

“And who was it that said Russia, with nine-tenths of its strategy tied up in Europe, could never beat Japan? Well, look! Japan has suffered a crushing defeat in the very first battle, and you still mean to take Japan’s side?”

Yi Ji-yong shut his mouth.

That settled the reading of the situation.

Gojong, who only moments before had looked ready to lash out at the pro-Russian ministers as traitors, changed his stance in the blink of an eye.

“This is why We have said all along that taking Russia’s hand was the right course! We said as much long ago.”

Of course, with the Japanese army pressed to the very gates of Hanseong, open resistance was impossible.

That he would have to put his seal to the Japan–Korea Protocol Minister Hayashi was shoving at him was a reality that could not be avoided.

But in Gojong’s mind, it was as if he could already plainly see the fate awaiting the Japanese army, crushed by Russia and driven out at last.

That night.

In the rear garden of Gyeongungung, Gojong slipped his letter into Pavlov’s hands.

“Minister, We have a request.”

“Ask anything, Your Majesty.”

“Deliver this letter to His Majesty Nicholas II.”

Pavlov nodded, folding the secret letter away and tucking it inside his breast pocket.

“We have written that should the great Emperor of Russia defeat Japan, Joseon will never forget that grace. And… that the Korean Empire, as Russia’s friend, will spare no manner of cooperation.”

By this point it was, in all but name, a letter requesting Russia’s protection.

Pavlov gave a faint smile and reassured Gojong.

“I will deliver Your Majesty’s will without fail.”

Of course, whatever he had said, Gojong had no intention of handing his country over to Russia.

It was simply that however poor Russia’s reputation in Europe might be, surely it was better than the thugs squatting right next door.

A criminal far away is always easier to stomach than a punk right under one’s nose.

‘If Russia makes unreasonable demands later, I can just drag my feet again, as always.’

When that time came, he could pull in England or America and set up another balancing act, could he not?

For now, the thing was to cling to Russia and push Japan out.

Gojong, the poster child for shortsightedness, made up his mind to simply be a man who lived for today and today only.

He hated Japan, so he would cling to Russia and drive Japan out.

Because to him, at this moment, nothing in the world mattered more than screwing Japan over.

* * *

When the war between Russia and Japan that no one had quite believed possible actually began, the whole world’s attention fixed on this battle of David and Goliath.

The ones doing the actual fighting were Russia and Japan, but the world held any number of nations as invested in this war as the belligerents themselves.

And chief among them, naturally, was the country that hated Russian expansion more than anyone on earth, the British Empire.

The goal of Takahashi Korekiyo, entrusted with the weighty mission of securing foreign loans for Japan, was to somehow persuade that Britain to furnish the funds to wage the war.

Having made his preparations even before the war broke out, he was able to set foot on London soil in late February.

The moment he arrived he began making the rounds of the City of London’s financial district, knocking on doors, but the response was brutal.

“On behalf of the government of the Empire of Japan, I would like to propose a war loan.”

“Ah, yes. Japan… though I hear you launched a surprise attack without a declaration of war and lost to a Russia that was in the middle of a banquet.”

This, from the very first bank.

“The reporting on that has been distorted; the reality is….”

“Whatever the reality, the result is the same, is it not? 4 destroyers lost and 1 battleship moderately damaged. What investor would lend money looking at that? Even if you issued government bonds, I doubt a single institution would underwrite them.”

The second bank was the same, and the third, and the fourth.

But even when the sky falls, there is a hole to climb out through.

Takahashi, rebuffed again and again across London’s financial district, was fortunate enough to find himself seated across from one man at a certain dinner party.

Jacob Schiff.

Head of America’s Kuhn, Loeb & Co., a titan of capital seething over Russia’s persecution of the Jews, he happened to be staying in London.

“…I understand that the outcome at Port Arthur is regrettable.”

Schiff did not cut Japan off outright, pathetic as its defeat had been.

However quickly Russia had moved to address the massacre of the Jews, the grudge of his murdered Jewish brethren still had to be repaid, did it not?

Takahashi nursed the hope that with the right coaxing, he could draw out a loan, even at a somewhat higher rate of interest.

“Japan checking Russia serves the interests of us Jews as well. However….”

“However?”

“At the present moment, the market’s opinion is too poor for an investment decision. I believe the mood of London’s financial district will have to change before we can talk.”

First, this atmosphere thick with mockery had to change.

Because in the end, the crux was creating the perception of a nation that would not default on what it borrowed.

“Well said. We shall have to find some way to erase this brand of a country beaten by men who were lounging about at a banquet.”

Unfortunately, before Takahashi could think of a suitable method, the Japanese Legation in London, now feeling the heat, began moving on its own.

Left alone, Japan would remain forever ‘the country that got smashed by a Russia mid-banquet.’

Unable to stand for that, the Legation circulated an unofficial briefing to the British press.

“Russia used the banquet as camouflage; it had anticipated the surprise attack in advance and prepared a systematic defensive posture, including the laying of minefields. The Japanese military did not lose because it is weak.”

Russia is strong, yes, but the Japanese military is by no means some disorganized rabble.

That was precisely the point the Japanese Legation meant to drive home, and yet.

Before even a day had passed, the counter came flying in as if it had been lying in wait.

“Gentlemen! If the Japanese explanation is true, isn’t this an even graver problem?”

“It means the secret of a surprise operation prepared in utmost secrecy, without even a declaration of war, leaked in advance, doesn’t it?”

“What? A country that can’t even keep its secrets wants to borrow money for a war?”

No one knew the source of this opinion that swept through the financial district’s clubs and salons in an instant.

There was only the suspicion that agents of the Okhrana’s London branch had lately been prowling the City’s financial houses and upper-class clubs nearly every day of the week.

When Takahashi learned of the situation, too late, his face turned pale.

“What in blazes is this! Who told anyone to issue that kind of explanation!”

Getting smashed mid-banquet was shameful, but it could at least be passed off as a question of fighting strength or military discipline.

But a leaked surprise attack plan?

That amounted to advertising, with their own mouths, that any money lent to them would only go straight into a bottomless pit.

Overnight they had evolved from fools who lost to a bunch of partygoers into morons who leaked secrets like a sieve.

Takahashi frantically requested a second meeting with Schiff, but what came back this time was a courteous refusal.

‘My apologies, but under present circumstances it would be difficult.’

…The sky had fallen.

Takahashi felt it in his gut.

Right now, they were being played by someone.

The spread of the banquet story, the counterattack landing the instant they issued their explanation; the timing was clicking into place with an uncanny precision, was it not?

“What on earth is going on inside Russia? Was it always this systematic a country?”

Contacting the Legation in a bid to break the deadlock somehow, he heard a report he could never have imagined, and his jaw dropped.

“It is because of Nicholas II.”

“Nicholas…? Surely you don’t mean the Tsar of Russia?”

“They say the Russian Emperor has suddenly begun directing affairs of state with tremendous judgment and vision, as if he were a different man.”

“…What? Were we not told the Russian Emperor’s very existence was an asset to our Imperial Nation?”

“That is… he changed so suddenly of late that even the Legation was slow to catch on.”

“Anything unusual? Something must have changed recently!”

“Nothing in particular has changed… Ah! There is one thing.”

Of course there was. A man does not simply become someone else overnight.

There had to be something. A shadow adviser standing behind Nicholas II, or else he had been deliberately hiding his claws all this time; some reason.

“They say the Tsar has lately been going to the bathroom about seven times a day.”

Was this bastard mocking him?

What, was he to believe that every time Nicholas II took a shit, the worldly cares drained out of his head along with it?

“Cut the bullshit and bring me a real reason! How else are we supposed to respond to anything!”

If they could not borrow the money, this war could not last even a year.

The troops were sufficient and the fleet fully furnished, but with no money to sustain the war, what could anyone do?

…Defeat?

Like this, this absurdly, without having shown anything at all?

Takahashi shook his head hard and stormed out to persuade even a single banker.

73 proposals and 73 refusals.

Such was the miserable report card Takahashi received in London.

~~~

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