I Will Stage A Coup D'état-Chapter 66: The Great Purge (3)

Chapter 66: The Great Purge (3)

Most of the influential figures among the military officers who could have served as a center of gravity were all arrested by the MP or the Defense Security Command.

70% of Viscounts, 66% of Counts, and 65% of Marquises were detained in interrogation rooms.

Defense Security Commander, General Lee Jeong-ju began to persuade these arrested individuals one by one.

“Sir, I don’t know what you were thinking to get involved in such a preposterous matter, but I believe there was a misunderstanding. Isn’t that right?”

“Of course. What power do I have to harbor such absurd thoughts of treason?”

“I believe your words, sir. However, to make His Excellency and those in the cabinet trust you, we need evidence.”

“Evidence, you say?”

“I am a patriot working so hard for this country. Well, you need to show such evidence to add weight to the voices calling for your release, that’s what I mean.”

“H-how should I do that?”

“First, since the country is at war, you should pay some defense contributions. The larger the amount, the easier it is to understand your sincerity, right?”

If he could buy his life with money, it was a cheap deal.

“A-alright, let’s do that.”

“Of course, that alone is not enough to add persuasiveness.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“It would be good if you could leave a signature voluntarily agreeing to the bulk sale of land.”

The military officer trembled upon hearing those words.

But thinking of the torture he received for days at the Defense Security Command, he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible, even a day earlier.

“W-where should I sign?”

The military officers succumbed to Lee Jeong-ju.

It was a natural result, as those who still had the will to resist were having a conversation with water in the Defense Security Command basement.

The land reform had suddenly become a hot topic overshadowing the war.

As soon as people opened their eyes, there was talk of where land distribution had begun.

Farmers were enthusiastic about the land reform.

“So, if I pay this much every year, I get my own land, right?”

“Yes. But you have to join the cooperative.”

“Of course, absolutely.”

The rural areas, where support for Lee Sung Joon was already strong, began to idolize him.

“In the history of The Korean Empire, where else can you find someone who cares so much about the lives of peasants like us and even gives us land? It’s all thanks to meeting a good ruler.”

“Yes. General Lee Sung Joon should lead this Korean Empire for a thousand, no, ten thousand years!”

As a result, in rural areas, not only could you not curse Lee Sung Joon, but you would be beaten if you caught even a hint of a flaw in him.

Of course, it wasn’t just the farmers who were happy with the land reform.

“What happens to those arrogant military officers when the land reform takes place?”

“They all go bankrupt. What kind of aristocrat has no land?”

“Hahaha. Serves them right.”

Wealthy capitalists and conglomerates relished the downfall of the military officers.

Thinking of the days when the military officers had strutted around treating them as ‘lowly beings’, their mouths watered.

“Now The Korean Empire must become a proper modern nation. In this day and age, how can aristocrats strut around?”

“Exactly. Now is the era of us, the bourgeoisie.”

The capitalists were convinced that the Lee Sung Joon regime would soon reach out to them.

What could be a more rational partner to replace the military aristocracy as a new political partner?

That prediction was not off the mark.

“I heard they’re going to recommend our businessmen to fill the seats of the Yuhyeok members who were cut off this time.”

“Really?”

It’s not like the capitalists had no interest in political power until now.

A few of them wore the badge of a member of the National Assembly and went in and out of the parliament.

But they never truly shared real power.

The decision-making power was always in the hands of the aristocrats from military officer backgrounds.

The member’s badge was merely a decorative piece given as a facade to the lowly beings that they were practicing Western-style democracy.

However, today that time of humiliation ended.

The capitalists were enthusiastic about Lee Sung Joon’s progressive measures.

“Let’s generously donate political funds to His Excellency.”

Doesn’t His Excellency also need ‘governing funds’ to rule the country?

The capitalists sent massive political donations to the ‘Ilwon’ foundation, named after His Excellency’s pen name.

Lee Sung Joon did not refuse this money and accepted it, then used it as welfare funds for war orphans and bereaved families of the fallen.

Of course, Lee Sung Joon did not just receive the capitalists’ goodwill and keep his mouth shut.

“These seem to be all the rights that the military officers have been monopolizing, and he’s taking them all away and giving them to us?”

“Who cares? They’re all dead meat now anyway.”

Logging rights, fishing grounds, mines, grain exchanges.

Lee Sung Joon handed over the products of the land that the military officers had grudgingly swallowed to the capitalists.

It was an action intended to castrate the roots of the military officers.

Sung Joon and the chaebols had been distant until now, but by exchanging benefits like this, they were able to close the gap in an instant.

The CEOs of the top 10 chaebols all attended a banquet held at the Prime Minister’s official residence, boosting Lee Sung Joon’s prestige.

Some of the chaebol chairmen even came in wheelchairs despite being ill.

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“Your Excellency, I don’t know how to express my gratitude for arranging this meeting.”

“I thought I should arrange a meeting with you chairmen, but I’m late.”

Lee Sung Joon treated the chaebol chairmen as subordinates.

This was a deliberate rhetoric to make the hierarchy clear.

“Oh no, not at all.”

The chairmen kept bowing.

“I think you chairmen are the most important people in this country. After all, aren’t the people who make money for the citizens to live on more important than those who spend it?”

“You flatter us.”

Lee Sung Joon repeatedly showed goodwill to the chairmen.

The chaebol chairmen listened to the compliments he threw and expressed satisfaction.

‘Yes, in the end, the most important thing in this country is the capitalists.

Still, His Excellency knows that the economy is important. He’s indeed different from ordinary military grunts.

The chaebols calculated that even if the Lee Sung Joon regime were to be shaken by any chance, there would be no need to withdraw their support.

With this, the system of the Empire was solidly reconstructed into a robust three-way alliance.

The National Salvation Military Committee (emerging military forces) - Chaebols (capitalist forces) - Farmers (half of the nation).

Despite the purge of the military officers, the stability of the Lee Sung Joon regime maintained a solid structure.

“That fellow Lee Sung Joon has done a magnificent job. That’s how reactionaries should be dealt with.”

Stalin, who was watching the purge of the military officers in Korea from afar, exclaimed in admiration.

“Comrade Beria, don’t you agree?”

“Y-yes, it’s just as you say, Comrade General Secretary.”

“Come to think of it, I’ve been too lenient. I should have uprooted them entirely by class, just like Lee Sung Joon.”

Who? You, Stalin?

If imprisoning about a million people in the Gulag is lenient, wouldn’t the colonial rule of Britain and France also be a lenient domination?

Beria, who was listening, wanted to refute but said nothing.

No, he couldn’t.

“I don’t like it at all, releasing suspicious fellows for this and that reason, saying it’s war or whatever. Even if we release them, aren’t they just rice bugs who lose to the Germans?”

To be fair, it was because generals like Rokossovsky, who were released from the Gulag and such, fought well that the Soviet army fought to this extent.

However, since there was no way to know the original history, it was not unreasonable for Stalin to have complaints.

“So, how many names did you put on the list today?”

The military purge had virtually stopped.

However, the purge of the civilian sector continued.

“250 people, Comrade.”

“Not too few, but not too many either.”

Stalin tapped the desk with his finger.

“If there’s a number that Comrade General Secretary has in mind, I’ll try to match it.”

Finally, the General Secretary revealed his thoughts.

“Aren’t there Ukrainian partisans?”

In the German-occupied western Ukraine, there were anti-German partisans resisting the Germans.

Their numbers were not yet significant.

This was because the public sentiment in Ukraine still welcomed the Germans as ‘liberators’.

“Yes, Comrade General Secretary.”

“I heard that those fellows have a bad attitude. If we leave them alone like that and the separatists take control, it would be a headache when our army recovers that area after the war.”

“What are Your Excellency’s words?”

“It doesn’t matter if you send them by plane or have them physically break through the German front lines, have the NKVD agents sent to the liberated areas. And make them produce ‘results’ there as well.”

Beria was horrified by those words.

Not only was it unlikely for the NKVD agents going there to survive, but the order to sabotage the local partisan organizations for the talented individuals who broke through such difficulties was truly appalling.

“If we’re not careful, our agents might ruin the job.”

Beria took an uncharacteristically cautious attitude.

It was out of fear that responsibility might fall on him by any chance.

“It doesn’t matter. The seeds of separatist reactionaries, whether in our territory or in the middle of enemy territory, must be uprooted. If you’re going to do it, do it thoroughly like Lee Sung Joon. That’s how you prevent the reactionaries from ever daring to attack again.”

Stalin’s intentions seemed to be set.

If the Great Purge Demon had expressed his opinion to this extent, it was impossible to change his mind.

Beria quickly obeyed the order.

“If you give me a week, I will arrange a plane and send the agents.”

It didn’t matter if they didn’t arrive alive.

If they die, they can just send more.

The tragedy is that the thing they do after arriving with such difficulty is a purge, but what can you do?

Blame it on being born in Stalin’s Soviet Union.

No matter how much he thought about it, the General Secretary was not human.

At best, he was a great demon wearing a human shell.

Beria took his handkerchief, soaked with sweat, and left the Kremlin.