I Will Stage A Coup D’état

In August 1940, while Italy was suffering from the consequences of its actions, The Korean Empire was still noisy and chaotic.

“A madman butchered 20 people last week! The public order of this nation, of our Empire was fallen to the ground…”

“It’s the end of times! The reckoning has come! The end is near!”

Suddenly emerging violent incidents filled the newspaper pages.

People shifted their attention from political issues to incidents directly related to their lives.

The world's attention was focused on the 'war against crime'¹ in the colony.

So, I made sure that the newspapers also disclosed frequent news of criminals being arrested.

"Now people will forget about the colony, Southeast Asia, and such stories for a while."

"I hope it goes as you say."

I didn't have much hope for this.

From the beginning, the DNA of the Korean Empire was aligned with militarism.

Even I, who had to remove this malice, was in a situation where I allowed military culture like obligatory training.

It was unavoidable as survival was the task at hand in this era.

Well, putting that aside, I intended to push ahead with the modernization of the motherland without wavering.

This tractor that was transforming the battlefield was also part of the motherland's modernization project.

I toured the T-34² production line in collaboration with the Soviet Union and even touched the machines.

It wasn't at the stage of producing tanks yet, but overall, I got the impression that the factory was being neatly prepared.

The factory manager said confidently,

"From 1941, we plan to aim for a monthly production of 300 units."

Monthly, so that's 3,600 units per year.

Considering the Soviet Army's tank production in 1940, it was a considerable number.

Of course, it's not enough to compare with the Union's production volume during wartime.

During the war, the Soviet Union churned out more than 2,000 tanks per month.

Well, I thought we could catch up to some extent in terms of production volume once we got used to it.

"It's definitely an amazing tank."

The generals who accompanied the factory tour expressed admiration for this deal, confirming the specifications of the prototype T-34 sent by the Soviet Union.

After looking at the 37mm caliber pseudo-main gun and then the 76mm main gun, it was no wonder they fell head over heels for the tank.

"Your Excellency. We need to deploy these tanks to our armored units as soon as possible."

I also want to, but I don't know if we'll have the leeway because of Hitler.

By the way, do two people ride in the turret of this tank?

I climbed onto the prototype T-34.

After looking around the inside a few times and not getting a sense of it, I asked a Soviet technician.

"It's for two people, Your Excellency."

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Upon the interpreter's words, I asked if it could be modified for three people.

In fact, Germany had proven that the most ideal tank crew system is five people with three in the turret.

Knowing the right answer, is there any reason to deliberately go with the wrong four-person system?

"It's possible, but it would require changing the design, so it would take a long time. I'll inquire with the home country."

For now, since it's a request from a 'high-ranking person', the Soviet side won't ignore it.

Anyway, I was quite satisfied with the T-34 tank.

Should I say that there's a difference in class between Korean Empire's 'pseudo-tanks' and a proper tank of a great power?

After completing the tank factory tour, the next schedule was the countryside.

It was one of the places where the 'Lee Sung Joon Village Plan', which was piloted nationwide, was being tested as a model for rural modernization.

"Oh my, it seems an important person came.”

Most people didn't know my face.

Even with my portrait prominently displayed, they tilted their heads wondering if it was really my face.

The reason was this.

When I appropriately 'edited' the photo and touched up the face to suit a leader, the disparity with the original became very large.

Still, some recognized me.

It was because they remembered my voice that they heard a few times on the radio.

"By any chance, are you General Lee Sung Joon?"

"Yes, that's right."

"Goodness, the highest-ranking person in this country has come to our village!"

It's not that rural people were completely ignorant of the ways of the world.

To them, a high-ranking person was someone whose voice was often heard and who directly influenced their lives.

His Majesty the sacred Emperor was a being above the clouds, and the Prime Minister had no presence.

So, to them, the highest-ranking person could only be me.

"Haha. Feel free to treat me comfortably, sir."

I deliberately greeted the farmers in a friendly manner.

I even took the time to help pull out weeds.

The farmers, who were initially awestruck, became comfortable with me after a little while.

"H-How can we make you do this kind of work, General?"

"No, it's alright. This is also for the nation."

I sat around with the farmers, ate snacks, and talked about what's going on in the world.

While doing so, I checked the progress of modernization.

Whether the newly paved roads in the village were okay, whether the water supply was working well, whether the houses had clean slate roofs.

Every time I asked about each thing, the farmers were grateful.

"We can eat and live thanks to you paying attention like this, General."

"Is there anything else that's inconvenient for you?"

"Well, I don't know if I can say this to you, General."

"I'm all ears."

"It's just that, when we applied for cement to build an embankment, there was no response from the county office. Is it okay to mention this?"

"Of course. Absolutely."

I solved the cement issue on the spot.

I called the military supply office on the radio and scolded them right there.

When the farmers were surprised to see that, I told them that I was sternly scolding the 'person who made a mistake', so there's no need to be flustered.

In fact, this was an intentional behavior.

Acting friendly to the farmers was to show my human side,

And reprimanding the military supply was to remind them that I was still a different authority figure from them.

The ruler of an authoritarian country should never let go of their authority under any circumstances.

The farmers were confused about how to treat me.

"Uh, General."

"Please speak comfortably."

I put away the expression I had while reprimanding the military supply and smiled again.

Friendly and humane, but difficult to deal with.

This was exactly the image I wanted to be seen as by the citizens of the Korean Empire.

On the way to Capital after finishing the schedule.

I asked Jong-Gil.

"Jong-Gil."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"In your view, does the task of modernizing the motherland seem to be progressing well?"

Jong-Gil spoke without hesitation.

"Of course. Who else in this land could achieve the same great feats as Your Excellency?"

He’s wrong.

"Stalin would have done it better."

"You mean the General Secretary of the Soviet Union?"

"Yes."

Honestly, Stalin had to start modernization under more difficult conditions than me.

Although the size of the nation is large, it's not always an advantageous condition.

Rather, there was the side effect of the nation's administrative power not reaching certain places because of the large size.

Stalin pulled the serfs and workers of the old Tsarist Russian Empire living in the 19th century into the 20th century in an instant.

Primitive customs that are impossible to understand from a modern perspective, inadequate laws, complex regional interests, politicized military factions.

Stalin got rid of all of that at once.

Although there were tremendous side effects, he transformed the Soviet Union into a proper great power in just over 10 years.

Even considering the brutality, he was a remarkable figure who would be counted among the greats in Russian history.

"But Your Excellency. It hasn't even been 3 years since you took power. Isn't there a difference in the time spent ruling compared to Stalin?"

"That's true."

I also acknowledge the fact that if I had enough time for developmental dictatorship, I would have left a legacy no less than Stalin.

Because I'm a great and genius leader?

No, of course not. It’s because I know the future.

Come to think of it, we also need a proper ideology.

Until now, I have vaguely led the country with authoritarianism based on developmental dictatorship.

But to create a proper nation, a clear ideology was needed to present the nation's ideal.

For the United States, it was liberal democracy, and for the Soviet Union, it was communism.

Then, what about us?

We only had Lee Sung Joonism, an offshoot of authoritarianism that was neither dictatorship or democracy.

Is Lee Sung Joonism even an ideology in the first place?

That was a fact that no one would acknowledge except for our pseudo-Empire friends.

So, there was a need to present a more solid ideology that was easier to explain to others.

In the end, we can't give up on democracy.

Because I know that democracy will ultimately be the victorious ideology in the long run.

Democracy was absolutely necessary for the vision of the nation.

However, we couldn't immediately switch to liberal democracy.

So what was needed was an intermediate stage.

In other words, a customized democracy based on the reality of the Korean Empire.

If we had to name this, it would be a variation of democracy, 'Korean-style democracy' or our own style of democracy.

It's also the path shown by the seniors of the Republic of Korea.

"Another thing."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

"When we go to Capital, we'll need to find some constitutional scholars."

"Constitutional scholars, you say?"

Jong-Gil tilted his head.

"Yes."

The reason for finding constitutional scholars was simple.

To establish the ideology of our own style of democracy, shouldn't we first reshape the nation's framework to be closer to a democratic country?

Ultimately, to end up in a form that soft-lands the authoritarian military government to civilian power, we needed to have a framework to transition to democracy.

Of course, in a way that my power is not challenged.

I organized these ideas in my head.

1. This was cited in the first 10 chapters, but essentially 'War on Crime' was a Korean movement that had the goal of craking down on crime and drugs.2. The T-34 is a Soviet medium tank from World War II. When introduced, its 76.2 mm tank gun was more powerful than many of its contemporaries, and its 60-degree sloped armour provided good protection against anti-tank weapons.