Volume 1 Chapter 72 Love and Hate

  The Japanese lieutenant raised his command sword high.

  Gunfire burst forth like popping beans, Yanghua River became a veritable execution ground!

  No, it's not an execution ground, but a slaughterhouse! The bodies of the shot officials and civilians are lying all over the place.

  In Zhou Xuanzhang's ears, there were only the sounds of Village-type rifles firing and the wails of those who had been shot, until now, not a single Mauser rifle was heard. The Korean government troops were either stunned or killed.

  The combat capability of the Japanese army has reached an astonishing level, with extremely high shooting accuracy and very reasonable individual combat tactics. This combat capability is no more than that of the students at Tianjin Military Academy, but every single soldier in the Japanese army can achieve it!

  Finally, the sound of Mauser rifles was heard, and the awakened North Korean soldiers began to counterattack. However, every time a North Korean soldier fired, he would invite a fatal bullet, while the bullets fired by the North Korean soldiers flew off somewhere unknown.

  "Run quickly, Brother Zhou!" Jin Shu cried out with her head raised, as she was pinned down by Zhou Xuan Zhang and couldn't move.

  "Shut up! You little brat, how dare you hit my head with a stone! You'd better behave yourself, I'll settle the score with you later!"

  "I'm afraid of you..."

  "Who cares!" Zhou Xuan Zhang stared at the Japanese man by the river and shouted, "I'm warning you, if you run around again, I'll be very angry, very angry! The consequences will be severe, very severe!"

  Suddenly, a loud gunshot rang out. The Japanese lieutenant standing by the low wall had a wisp of smoke and blood bursting from his forehead, his command knife fell to the ground, and his body went limp and collapsed.

  "Bang bang bang" several shots of the village-style rifle, bullets flew towards a thatched cottage on the right side, in the window, a figure flashed and fell down.

  "Good fellow!" Zhou Xuan Zhang shouted in Korean: "Come over here, come quickly over here."

  That figure leaped out of the thatched cottage and rolled into the foxhole where Zhou Xuan Zhang was.

  A loud "boom" shook the air as a shell accurately landed on the thatched hut, sending it flying into the sky.

  "Zhou Xuan Zhang let out a cry of surprise: "Hong Zhong Yu!""

  The person who rolled into the pit was Hong Zhongyu, Jin Xiu's father's killer.

  Only to see Hong Zhongyu covered in blood, he had killed a Japanese lieutenant, but he himself had been shot at least five times, the wounds bleeding profusely. Hong Zhongyu held a Mauser pistol in his hand, his eyes bulging with rage as he glared at Zhou Xianzhang and Jin Xiu, his body trembling uncontrollably from the intense pain.

  Zhou Xuanzhang snatched the Mauser pistol from Hong Zhongyu's hand, and Hong Zhongyu slumped to the ground limply.

  "Jin Xiu let out a cry of surprise: 'He's injured!' She tore off a piece of cloth from her skirt and used it to bandage Hong Zhongyu. Jin Xiu did this completely out of her kind nature, and in that instant, she forgot that Hong Zhongyu was the man who had killed her father. All she saw before her eyes was a Korean soldier who was seriously injured and in urgent need of rescue."

  Hong Zhongyu waved his hand and struggled to say: "Rou'er..."

  "Don't call me Jie Er!" Jin Jie said while bandaging.

  Hong Zhongyu let out a miserable laugh: "Why did you want to save me?"

  "Why did you kill my father!" Jin Shu gritted her teeth and said.

  "He killed my father!" Hong Zhongyu gritted his teeth and said, with a severe pain on his face that twitched convulsively.

  "You're talking nonsense, he didn't! Why do you want to kill him, why torture him!" Jin Shu said tearfully.

  Hong Jong-u gasped, "My father was also tortured to death! He didn't participate in the Gapsin Coup, but because he was a member of the Gaehwadang, the court tortured him to death! And that coward Kim Ok-gyun fled to Japan!"

  It turned out that Hong Jong-u's father, Hong Yeong-sik, was the leader of the Gaehwadang, but he did not agree with violent revolution. Therefore, when the Gaehwadang launched the Gapsin Coup, he remained aloof from it. The actual leaders of the coup were Kim Ok-gyun and Pak Yong-hyang, who escaped to Japan after its failure.

  That's why Hong Zhongyu was determined that Kim Yu-jin had killed his father and hated him to the bone.

  The Joseon royal court sent an assassin, Lee I-seop, to Japan to kill Kim Ok-gyun. Kim Ok-gyun knew that the Joseon was trying to assassinate him and took extreme precautions, leaving Lee I-seop with no opportunity to act. Just then, Hong Jong-u arrived in Japan from France, and Lee I-seop persuaded Hong Jong-u to join the assassination plot.

  At first, Hong Zhongyu and Jin Yujun were as close as brothers, but now they are at each other's throats!

  Hong Zhongyu coughed, and blood flowed from the corner of his mouth: "Rou'er, I'm about to die. Kill me and avenge your father! Otherwise, you won't have another chance!"

  Jin Shu pulled out the dagger she had been carrying with her, but instead of using it, she burst into tears: "I won't kill him! I won't kill him!" The dagger clattered to the ground.

  "Then let your brother Zhou take action."

  Zhou Xuanzhang shook his head and sighed: "Rong'er, when will this cycle of revenge end!"

  This trip to Korea, Zhou Xuzhang basically figured out the national situation of Korea. Korea is in a precarious international environment, sandwiched between three major powers: Russia, China and Japan. Under the manipulation of these great powers, various political factions have emerged domestically, killing each other and causing many deaths. However, those who are killing each other share a common goal - for the survival of Korea!

  This is the sorrow of a small country.

  Jin Su rushed into Zhou Xuanzhang's arms and cried: "Brother Zhou, I'll listen to you!"

  Zhou Xuanzhang stroked Jin Xiu's hair and gritted his teeth, saying: "Let's go!"

  "Don't move!" Hong Zhongyu panted and said.

  The Japanese soldiers who lost their commander were not in the least disconcerted, a Japanese sergeant took the place of the deceased lieutenant and assumed command of the landing party. The sound of the Arisaka rifles was intermittent, each shot being followed by the cry of the wounded man.

  This is the modernized Japanese army created by the Meiji Restoration! This is a formidable army!

  Every soldier knows his duty and sticks to his post, this army has iron discipline and cohesion like iron. The death of an officer is not enough to destroy the soldiers' will to fight!

  Hong Zhongyu's face was pale and his body was almost drained of blood: "The Japanese are targeting the Wang Palace! They won't be staying here for long."

  Zhou Xuan Zhang only then heard that the sound of gunfire from the Japanese army on the banks of the Han River had become sparse, and the main force of the Japanese landing troops had left Yanghwajin and advanced to attack Wanggung. Only a small number of Japanese soldiers were left in Yanghwajin to sweep away the remaining Korean government troops.

  "When everyone here is dead, they will leave!" Hong Zhongyu burst out laughing: "Xu'er, Uncle Hong is almost dying soon!"

  "You're not Uncle Hong!" Jin Shu said tearfully.

  Hong Zhongyu gave Zhou Xianzhang a look and said "take care!" then suddenly stood up and walked out of the foxhole.

  A gunshot rang out, and Hong Zhongyu's brow was hit by a bullet. His sturdy body heavily crashed onto the muddy ground at the edge of the pit, stirring up a cloud of dust.

  Jin Xiu cried out: "Hong..." Zhou Xian Zhang covered Jin Xiu's mouth with one hand and tightly hugged her in his arms.

  Jin Xiu's tears gushed out, and she bit down hard on Zhou Xianzhang's palm with her mouth, letting out a mournful cry. Zhou Xianzhang endured the intense pain, allowing Jin Xiu's teeth to sink into his palm.

  That's a heart-wrenching tale of love and hate!

  The gunfire stopped.

  Hong Jong-u's death made the Japanese believe that there were no more living Korean soldiers in Yanghwajin! The remaining Japanese troops at Yanghwajin quickly withdrew to reinforce Wanggung.

  In the direction of the palace, dense gunfire rang out.

  The Japanese army began concentrating its forces to attack the palace.

  Yanghua Jin's Japanese troops have all withdrawn and are reinforcing the Wang Palace.

  According to historical records, on July 23, 1894, at 3:00 am, the Japanese Mixed Brigade led by General Oshima Yoshimasa launched an attack on Korea. The Japanese army simultaneously attacked from the five gates of Gwanghwamun, Dongdaemun, Bukdaemun, Seodaemun and Namdaemun, but the palace guards put up a fierce resistance. At 6:20 am, the Japanese army captured the Korean palace. Forty members of the palace guard were killed in action, while only one Japanese soldier was killed.

  Zhou Xuan Zhang pulled Jin Shu out of the pit.

  Under the moonlight, from the riverbank to the dock, corpses were scattered all over, with limbs and bodies torn apart, and the crimson blood converged into streams, flowing towards the Han River in the night.

  Hong Zhongyu lay on his back at the edge of the crater, his eyes wide open, his face pale, with a charred hole in his forehead, but no blood flowed out.

  Before he was shot in the chest, all the blood had been drained from his body.

  Jin Shu murmured and said a few words in Korean.

  "What did you say?" Zhou Xianzhang didn't understand, Jin Shu hadn't taught him that word.

  "Uncle Hong!"

  Zhou Xuanzhang shook his head and sighed. Perhaps death was the only way to resolve hatred.