Chapter 62 The Japanese

  "Hold on, hold on! I'm just saying that our sister is really beautiful. When I have money, I'll buy her a high-quality pendant made of Hetian jade to wear around her neck, that's what's truly beautiful! Only our sister deserves to wear Hetian jade, not that damned Gege, what right does she have to wear it?"

  Zhou Xuanzhang thought of Dai Tianyu washing her hair and couldn't help but get very angry. It was just a glance at her while she was bathing, not intentional, yet he had to take someone's life! It was too excessive!

  "Zhou Dage, do you know Gege?" Jin Shu asked.

  "I know one!"

  "Is Gege pretty?" Jin Xiu asked curiously.

  "Pretty is pretty, but with carbon powder it's hard to say, unlike our Xiaoyu, who looks good even with carbon powder!"

  "Zhou Dage, you're so glib!" Jin Shu pouted and scolded, but in her heart she was delighted: "Is the princess treating you well?"

  "What the hell! Damn it, she wants my life!" Zhou Xuan Zhang cursed loudly.

  "What did you do to offend Gege?"

  "I'm just... " Zhou Xuanzhang hastily stopped himself, sneaking a peek at Gege taking a bath. No matter what, it wasn't a glorious thing to do, and besides, he had promised Cherry to keep his mouth shut: "It's not a big deal, Gege has a bad temper, you can't mess with her, she'll chop off your head at the slightest provocation!"

  Jin Shu nodded: "That's right, the officials and nobles in our Joseon Dynasty are also very arrogant, ordinary people don't dare to look at them straight, if they do, they will be guilty. Your Highness from the Great Qing Empire must be even more formidable."

  Zhou Xuan Zhang said seriously: "Don't call me Gege anymore, Ruo Er, once you enter the city, keep your head down and don't let others see your face."

  "Hmm." Jin Xiu nodded solemnly.

  Five people entered the city at dusk, and the streets in the city were quite neat, but most of them were thatched cottages, occasionally with a few green brick tile houses mixed among the thatched cottages, which was very eye-catching.

  The residents on both sides of the street in the city saw these five brightly dressed officers and soldiers entering the city from afar, and they all closed their doors.

  Five people arrived at an inn, and the owner was already kneeling at the door, bowing his head in respect, not daring to breathe heavily.

  Park Chung-hee scolded the innkeeper a few words, and the innkeeper kowtowed in response. Then he got up and led the crowd into the inn.

  Five people sat around a square table, the boss arranged for the partner to serve wine and food. Neither the boss nor the partner dared to lift their heads up.

  There were still three or four tables of diners in the inn, who saw Zhou Xuanzhang and his party, hastily finished their meal, bowed their heads, and hurriedly paid the bill and left the inn.

  There were only two men sitting at a table by the window, wearing ordinary coarse cloth shirts of Koreans, eating slowly and calmly, occasionally glancing over and whispering something to each other.

  Lu Wenjun and Park Chung-hoon exchanged a glance, and Park Chung-hoon stood up and walked to the table of the two men, muttering a few questions.

  The two men were extremely respectful and hastily stood up, bowing their heads and smiling all over their faces, speaking in a native Korean dialect.

  Park Jung-ung returned to the table and sat down, lowering his voice: "Mr. Zhou, be careful, they are not Koreans!"

  Zhou Xianzhang was shocked. Those two people were not tall, and their appearance was similar to that of Koreans. They wore traditional Korean clothing and spoke fluent Korean. How did Park Jeong-ung know they weren't Koreans?

  Jin Shu said in a low voice: "Brother Zhou, the common people of Korea do not dare to look directly at the officials appointed by the imperial court. If they do, they will be guilty."

  It turns out that in North Korea, ordinary citizens are not allowed to look directly at officials appointed by the imperial court. If they do, they will be charged with great disrespect and punished severely, either by beheading or being sent to the army - even more ruthless than the Qing dynasty. In the Qing dynasty, when commoners saw a high-ranking official's sedan chair, although they had to step aside and give way, they could still stand on the side of the street and watch.

  So, ordinary people see officials and dodge far away. If they really can't dodge, they will bury their heads deeply, afraid of accidentally offending the officials, which would bring disaster upon themselves.

  Lu Wenjun was wearing a seventh-grade official uniform, and he was just a small seventh-grade official, but he had such great prestige.

  All the guests in the inn scurried away, leaving only those two people who seemed obedient but actually dared to sit under the same roof and eat with a government official, and even smiled at Pu Zhengxiong with a full face, it was simply as if they had eaten bear hearts and leopard gall!

  There is only one interpretation: they are not Koreans and don't understand Korea's national situation.

  Naha Wu asked with a mouthful of food, Zhou Xianzhang glared at him. Naha Wu hastily lowered his head and continued eating.

  After the five of them finished eating, the owner of the inn led everyone upstairs to a guest room. Just as the owner was about to leave, Park Jung-hoon called out to him in a low voice and asked him a few questions. The owner answered cautiously before bowing his head and leaving.

  Lu Wenjun said to Zhou Xianzhang, "Mr. Zhou, the boss said that those two people are also staying in the guest house, they came from Beijing, saying they came to open the city to find relatives, and have been living here for three days, wandering around the city every day."

  "Ha! Fifth Master Lu," Na Ha asked hastily, "you said they are not Koreans? What kind of people are they?"

  Before Lu Wenjun could respond, Park Chung-yong said with a scowl, "It's probably Japanese!"

  "What makes you think so? Can't they be people of the Qing Empire?" asked Na Ha Wu.

  Zhou Xuanzhang shook his head: "It shouldn't be, these two have calluses on their thumbs, their movements are neat and efficient, they must be from a military background, and well-trained. Think about it, does our great Qing Empire have such soldiers?"

  The Qing army was poorly trained in modern firearms, and few soldiers were skilled in shooting. Although they knew that guns were useful, no one was willing to practice shooting seriously. According to the infantry training manual, a single kneeling position lasted for two hours, but soldiers were afraid of fatigue, and officers did not enforce it strictly. Usually, during a shooting exercise, soldiers would fire a few shots randomly and end the training hastily within half an hour.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang sighed even more in his heart. In fact, saying that they were not people of the Qing Dynasty was another more direct reason.

  The people of the Qing Empire, whether soldiers or civilians, all have a servile appearance with their heads bowed and backs bent. But those two individuals had an air of self-importance between their eyebrows and eyes, and their feigned obedience could hardly conceal the arrogance and extravagance in their hearts!

  They are new-style Japanese soldiers forged through the Meiji Restoration!

  "What did the Japanese come to Kaesong for?" Yao Xi was very nervous.

  "Mind your own business," Park Chung-hee gritted his teeth and said: "Kill him!"

  Lu Wenjun shook his head: "Absolutely not! The city is very close to Beijing, and the Japanese army's mixed brigade is nearby. We came for Jin Yujun's remains, and now is not the time to branch out."

  Park Jeong-ung sneered: "You're afraid of foreigners!"

  Lu Wenjun's face was awkward. The Donghak teachings and the Japanese were irreconcilable, their slogan was to expel the Waeguks (Japanese), how could they retreat when they saw a Japanese person?

  Zhou Xuan Zhang said, "Protecting the law, Lu Jun Shi is right. At present, the Japanese army has surrounded the capital, but the two countries have not yet declared war. If we kill the Japanese at this time, it will give them a reason to start a war."

  "Let's fight if we must, I'm not afraid!" Park Jung-ung shouted.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang laughed and said, "Of course, the Korean army is not afraid of the Japanese army. However, I must speak frankly, with the current state of the Korean army, once war breaks out, it's likely that they will be defeated by the Japanese army in less than half a day. And our Qing dynasty troops are stationed at Yashan, which is still some distance from the capital city, and cannot rush to its aid in a short period of time. Moreover, we do not have enough military strength. If the Japanese army occupies the capital city, Mr. Kim's remains will be lost!"

  The equipment of the Korean army was still in the cold weapon era, only the palace guard had rifles and artillery, but the training level was extremely poor, most soldiers could only use rifles as spears, such an army was not a match for the Japanese army at all.

  Lu Wenjun nodded: "Mr. Zhou is absolutely right, we should rush to rescue Mr. Jin's remains from the execution ground before the war breaks out. It is said that the Japanese have already built a tomb for Mr. Jin in Tokyo's Aoyama Cemetery. If Mr. Jin's remains fall into the hands of the Japanese, they will surely be taken to Japan and we will lose our chance forever."

  Yao Xi's face turned pale and he said in a low voice: "Just us few people, can we make it?"