Volume 1 Jia Wu Chapter 68 Eliminating Dissent

  Grand Internal Prince Gang was the biological father of King Gojong of Korea. When Gojong ascended to the throne, he was still young, and Grand Internal Prince Gang acted as regent, taking charge of state affairs. King Gojong had a weak personality, but his queen, Min Myongsong, was a shrewd and powerful woman. After Gojong took control of the government, Queen Min dominated state affairs, pushing out Grand Internal Prince Gang, and state power gradually fell into the hands of Queen Min's family.

  For over a decade, Yi Gwang had been embroiled in political struggles with the Min clan. With the Japanese army surrounding the capital and national crisis looming, the conflict between Queen Min and Daewongun intensified.

  Daewongun was squeezed out of the court by the Min family and was idle at home, but he still had considerable influence. In Min Zhiying's view, the Japanese army's siege gave Daewongun an opportunity to rise again, and it is highly likely that Daewongun will use Japan's power to launch a coup and overthrow the Min family's dictatorship.

  Min Zhiyi recently received a report that Japanese General Staff Intelligence Officer Kōshin Matsuura had secretly entered the capital, and it was highly likely that he had already met with Daewongun Yi Ha-ung. This report intensified Min's anxiety.

  Because she knew that Kōtetsu Minamoto was in charge of an action group, and the mission of this action group was to find someone in North Korea who could cooperate with the Japanese!

  Japan's strategy towards Korea was to overthrow the current government of Korea by force, support a pro-Japanese puppet court, and then gradually achieve Japan-Korea merger. In this transitional period, a person with political influence in Korea is needed to take charge of Korean politics.

  In the eyes of the Japanese, Daewongun Yi Ha-ung was the most suitable person.

  Min Zeyi decided to immediately eliminate Daewongun.

  Just last night, the palace guards received orders to secretly arrest Daewongun and execute him on the spot.

  That night, the officer on duty was Pak Yong-ryeol, the deputy commander of the palace guards. He delayed for half an hour under the pretext of verifying the order and secretly informed Daewongun. By the time Pak Yong-ryeol arrived at the mansion with the palace guards, Daewongun had already escaped from the mansion and was hiding in "Gwigeum", a secret residence he had in the capital city.

  Park Yeong-hyo was a close associate of the Daewon-gun. He was a student in the first class of infantry at the Tianjin Military Academy, and Feng Guozhang was his classmate.

  Four years ago, it was Lee Ha-ung who recommended Park Young-hyo to Yuan Shikai, the Qing Dynasty's Resident Minister in Korea, to study at Tianjin Military Academy. After graduating and returning home, it was again Lee Ha-ung who secretly manipulated things so that he became Vice Commander of the Palace Guard. Park Young-hyo was Lee Ha-ung's man planted inside the palace.

  Actually, Li Gang did not meet with Kōbō-Daishi at all, this is purely a misunderstanding.

  Kamiō Kōshin indeed infiltrated the capital and attempted to meet with Ri Gwan-su, but was refused by Ri.

  The Daewongun, Yi Ha-ung, indeed had pro-Japanese inclinations. However, like Kim Ok-gyun, being pro-Japanese did not mean abandoning national principles. Korea was a small country surrounded by traditional great powers such as Qing China and Russia, as well as the rising Japan. In order to survive amidst these great powers, Korea had to navigate between Qing China, Russia, and Japan. Therefore, within Korea's domestic political forces, there were pro-Russian, pro-Japanese, and pro-Qing factions. Being pro-a particular country was merely a temporary measure. This point was mutually understood among Korea's various political forces, and during peaceful times, they could coexist peacefully.

  However, during wartime, different political factions will be suspicious of each other due to long-term distrust, leading to a cruel and deadly struggle. Because the principle of preventing problems before they arise is especially important during wartime.

  Min Zhiying's decision to poison Li Gong was based on this principle.

  Li Gangyong may have temporarily escaped, but he can't take a step in Jingyuan Garden, and Min Ziyi won't give up after one failed attempt. He will definitely search everywhere to capture him. Li Gangyong is in danger at any moment.

  What's more serious is that the Japanese won't let him off either.

  Once the Japanese army occupies the capital, it will inevitably force Li Gongpu to come forward and take charge of state affairs. Li Gongpu will either become a puppet for the Japanese or die at their hands.

  Daeyeon-gun Lee Gang-yeop had reached the end of his tether, and it was at this time that Park Yeong-ryeol suggested that Lee Gang-yeop seek help from the Qing army, and volunteered to go to Cheonghwa to meet his old classmate Feng Guozhang.

  Li Gang readily agreed. So Park Yong-ryeol left the city overnight and rushed to Chenghuan, where he found Feng Guozhang.

  Feng Guozhang immediately realized that something was wrong.

  The Japanese tried to win over Daewongun as a mouthpiece, indicating that the Japanese military had already made up its mind to go to war!

  Intelligence shows that from last night, the Japanese mixed brigade began to deploy around Beijing, occupying advantageous terrain, entering a state of combat readiness, and cutting off traffic outside the north gate, south gate, and west gate of Beijing. Only the east gate has not seen any Japanese troops yet. This indicates that the Japanese are intensifying their war preparations, and once they complete their encirclement of Beijing, they can occupy the city.

  Feng Guozhang brought Pu Yi Lie, and urgently met with Nie Shicheng, requesting that Nie Shicheng take a decisive action, lead the Wuwei Army to act alone, rush to the capital, from Cheng Huan to the capital is only half a day's journey, if the action is timely, can enter the city before the Japanese army completes its encirclement.

  However, Ye Zhichao refused to send troops.

  Yè Zhìchāo shrank back in fear, refusing to advance, which was a betrayal of Korea! Piao Yonglie loudly cursed Yè Zhìchāo for not saving him from death, but Yè Zhìchāo was unmoved and instead had Piao Yonglie arrested on the charge of insulting the imperial court.

  Nie Shicheng finally couldn't bear it anymore, and decided to lead the Wuwei Army to act alone. Although the number of Wuwei Army was small, they were the elite of Cheng Huan's troops. Ye Zhi-chao still hoped that the Wuwei Army would help him guard Cheng Huan, but once Nie Shicheng took them away, Ye Zhi-chao became even more timid.

  Finally, Ye Zhi-chao saw that things were not going well and proposed a compromise plan to send a small detachment to the capital to rescue Daewongun.

  Nie Shicheng also didn't want to completely fall out with Ye Zhi-chao, so he agreed to this plan. Nie Shicheng knew that the capital city would definitely not be able to be defended, but no matter what, they couldn't let the Taewon'gun fall into Japanese hands. As long as they could get the Taewon'gun out, if the Qing army were to fight unfavorably, they could still retreat to Pyongyang and establish a court with the Taewon'gun at its head, opposing the puppet government in Seoul. In this way, the Qing Empire would at least be able to keep half of Korea's territory.

  Feng Guozhang took Yu Guanglin, Li Guojie, Xin Delin and other Tianjin Wubei Academy students, as well as four capable soldiers from the Wuwei Army, to form a small team, following Pu Yonglie, rushing to Beijing.

  This small squad had only 8 people, not many in number, but each one was a real elite soldier. In order to avoid drawing the attention of the Japanese, the 8 disguised themselves as ordinary Korean civilians.

  When the small team arrived at the East Gate of Beijing, Zhou Xuanzhang and Jin Shu were just entangled by Hong Zhongyu and couldn't get away. Feng Guozhang recognized Zhou Xuanzhang at a glance and ordered Yu Guangxin and others to make a noise, stirring up chaos at the city gate, helping Zhou Xuanzhang and Jin Shu to take advantage of the commotion and mix into the city.

  Feng Guozhang recounted the whole story and pointed to a man beside him, saying: "This is Park Yong-ryeol. He should be your senior fellow apprentice."

  Piao Yonglie stood up straight, with a somewhat military bearing, and gave Zhou Xuanzhang a fist bump: "Mr. Zhou, what brings you to the capital? And who is this young lady?" His words were laced with suspicion towards Zhou Xuanzhang.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang returned the courtesy and said: "General Pu, I have long admired you. This is Jin Shu..." But he saw that Jin Shu's eyes were brimming with tears.

  Zhou Xuanzhang suddenly remembered that at the city gate, Jin Xiu saw the Korean military officer and changed his expression, hastily asking: "Xiu'er, do you know the Korean military officer at the city gate?"

  Jin Shu's eyes were red-rimmed, and tears gushed out.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang asked: "Rou'er, who is he?"

  "Hong Zhongyu!"

  Hong Zhongyu is the assassin who killed Jin Yuguang!

  Feng Guozhang exclaimed: "Hong Zhongyu! Damn it, is that really him?" He immediately jumped up from his chair and asked Jin Shu: "Then who are you?"

  "Park Yong-ryeol said coldly: 'She should be Miss Kim Yu-jin!'"

  Feng Guozhang was suddenly speechless.

  Park Yeong-ryeol had never seen Kim Soo before, but he was the deputy commander of the palace guard and knew that Kim Soo was a wanted criminal by the court.

  "Jiāo ér, how do you know Hong Zhongyu?" Zhou Xianzhang also knew that the assassin who killed Jin Yujun was Hong Zhongyu, but he never thought that Jin Jiao would actually know this assassin.

  "He was a good friend of Father's..." Jin Shu choked out.

  It turned out that Kim Yu-jeong and Hong Jong-u had known each other twenty years ago. Kim Yu-jeong was a senior disciple of Heung Chin-bo, the leader of the Kaehwa Party, and was the second-in-command in the party after Heung Chin-bo. Hong Jong-u was Heung Chin-bo's son.

  Hong Jong-u's father was a leader of the Kaehwadang, but Hong himself was not a member of the Kaehwadang.

  Hong Yingzhi highly appreciated Kim Ok-kyun and made his son Hong Jong-u become sworn brothers with Kim Ok-kyun, with Hong Jong-u being the elder brother due to his age. As a result, Hong Jong-u was a frequent guest at Kim Ok-kyun's home, often drinking and composing poetry with Kim Ok-kyun, discussing state affairs freely. When they drank together, Kim Ok-kyun's wife, Ryu Eun, did not avoid them either. Kim Gu had met Hong Jong-u several times and addressed him as "Hong Beobbeo" (meaning "Uncle Hong").

  Ten years ago, the Gaehwadang members launched a coup in the capital city, but it failed due to the strong intervention of the Qing army. The leader of the Gaehwadang, Hong Yeong-sik, was executed by lingchi, and other members such as Kim Ok-gyun and Park Yeong-hyo escaped to Japan. At that time, Hong Jong-u was studying in Japan and narrowly escaped disaster.

  Later, Kim Won-kyun, who was exiled in Japan, also sponsored Hong Jong-u to study in France. It can be said that Kim Won-kyun had a great favor on Hong Jong-u.

  This spring, Hong Jong-u suddenly came to Japan from Paris, France and found Kim Yu-jeon. The relationship between Kim Yu-jeon and Hong Jong-u was extremely special due to the connection with Hong Yeong-sik, so they were like brothers. Therefore, Kim Yu-jeon had no guard against Hong Jong-u.

  Hong Jong-u advised Kim Ok-gyun to leave Japan for China and seek help from the Qing government. With Korea's national strength declining daily, Japan's ambitions growing, and himself powerless to turn things around, Kim Ok-gyun was disheartened. Hong Jong-u's suggestion was like a beacon of hope, and Kim Ok-gyun gladly agreed, coming to Shanghai, China with him.

  However, Jin Yujun never expected that his trip to Shanghai would be a one-way journey!

  In a Japanese inn in the United States, Hong Jong-u shot Kim Gu three times while he was fast asleep!

  Poor Jin Yujun didn't even know until his death whose hands he died in!