Chapter 787: Landing in Busan

Itami stood on the bow of her largest warship and gazed into the distance through a spyglass. After a long and arduous journey, her fleet had made it to the shores of Busan completely intact. Though the seas were harsh, the steam powered warships were more than capable of traversing them safely.

While Berengar was marching his troops from Southern Italy to Hungary, Itami had embarked towards the Joseon Kingdom with the intent to conquer and annex the region. There was only one reason that she had chosen the Korean Peninsula as her target, and that was because of the rich iron deposits that existed within the northern half of the land.

Before embarking on her campaign of conquest, Itami had sent word to the Joseon King informing him that she was declaring war on his Kingdom. After all, there were certain rules one must abide by when declaring war, even if her neighbors did not follow them. The last thing Itami wanted was a repeat of Pearl Harbor, which would stain her Nation's history.

The Ming Emperor had granted her permission to invade and annex the Joseon Kingdom, and that meant that the Chinese were simply staying out of the conflict. Which was good, because from a modern political perspective, one might call the Joseon a protectorate of the Ming.

However, despite this status, the Ming Emperor saw fit that trading with the Japanese Empire, which Itami had built, was more valuable than their petty protectorate in the northeast. There were also rumors of Japan's military becoming a major threat, and he would rather not test the might of the Imperial Japanese Army. A wise emperor knew when to concede, and the current Ming Emperor was indeed a wise man.

Itami gazed through her spyglass and looked upon the coastal defences that were established by the enemy. She did not know how they knew she would land in Busan, but The Joseon army had made ample preparation for her arrival. The defenders that lined the coast were armed with bronze cannons and composite bows. The distinctive lack of handheld firearms was immediately noticeable. After all, this was the era of hand cannons, and such weapons were quite rare and ineffective.

Asia had not yet caught up to the West in terms of quantity and quality of firearms. Berengar's introduction of the musket had propelled Europe into a ten year long arms race whose sole purpose was to combat his army. Something the eastern kingdoms knew nothing about. In fact, from the perspective of many outside observers who lived on the Asian continent, this would be the first major conflict fought with a large number of firearms.

One thing immediately became clear as Itami gazed upon the coastal defences, they were set up so that the Joseon bowmen could rain arrows upon Itami's army the moment they landed on the shore. Itami was a paranoid woman and immediately expected this to be the result of leaked intelligence about her weapon's capabilities.

The so called Itami Rifles that the Japanese Empress had issued to her troops had a maximum range of roughly one thousand eight hundred meters, however, they had an effective range substantially less than that. Meanwhile, the Joseon's composite bows had an effective range of one hundred and forty-five meters. It was clear from the layout that they had specifically designed their defences to negate the advantage of the Japanese Rifles.

This made Itami's blood boil as she placed her spyglass aside and sighed heavily. There was a traitor in her midst. She just did not know if her invasion plan was leaked from the side of the Ming, or her own Empire. Either way, she would need to find out who was responsible for this act of treason. However, at the moment, she had more pressing concerns.

Itami had underestimated her enemies. She did not anticipate them to see through her plans and prepare an appropriate defense. The enemy army was vast, tens of thousands of men, armed with as many bows and cannons as they could muster. Their intent was simple: hold off the Japanese invasion here in Busan, or be defeated in a single battle.

Itami had forsaken the use of body armor in her units. After all, she had specifically designed her army with a more deadly enemy in mind. Germany and its modern army posed a significant threat to the Japanese soldiers. One that body armor could not prevent. Unless she could manufacture synthetic materials to equip her soldiers with modern composite plates, then it was simply a waste of natural resources to issue body armor to her army.

When she planned for this invasion, she expected to land unopposed, and use the superior range of her soldiers' rifles to gun the enemy down in the fields further inland. She never expected them to build a large coastal defense that was capable of launching thousands of arrows at her men before they could reach stable ground.

After Gazing upon the enemy formation, she knew that she would lose thousands of men should she land her soldiers in Busan, and thus she was given two options, turn the ships around and invade from another province, where she would have to redesign her campaign strategy from scratch while at war. Or push through Busan and annihilate the enemy army in one go while suffering thousands of casualties in the process.

Victory was certain either way, but it fundamentally came down to how many men she was willing to sacrifice to achieve it. Another major factor was the speed at which she needed to wage her war. Should she turn her armies around, the conquest of Korea would take much longer than she originally anticipated.

Japan was currently racing against time with the threat of the German Empire on the Horizon, and she could not spend what little time she had bogged down by an alternate strategy. General Shiba Kiyohiko could see that his Empress was hesitating with her decision and quickly asked for clarification on what his orders should be.

"Itami-sama, the enemy are loading their cannons. They will be firing upon our ships at any moment. What are your orders?"

Upon hearing this, Itami snapped back to reality and sighed heavily, lamenting the loss of life that was about to take place. She had properly prepared her campaign, and to essentially improvise her entire invasion of Korea was simply not the woman's style. She would proceed with the plan, and eliminate the Joseon Army in one fell swoop, before marching the survivors of her army into the Korean peninsula to occupy its cities and strategic resources.

"Order our ships to bombard the enemy fortifications. I want their cannons taken out. Any left over shells are to be directed onto the defenders to act as cover for our armies who shall land on the beaches. We are taking Busan, no matter what the casualties may be!"

Shiba nodded his head in agreement before responding to the woman's orders.

"Understood!"

After saying this, he relayed the commands to the rest of the fleet, who, via the use of flags, conveyed the order to bombard the shoreline. The Japanese sailors loaded their shells into the rear breeches of their Armstrong guns and aimed the weapons in the direction of the enemy's defenses. With a thunderous roar, they opened fire onto the coast.

Dozens of Japanese naval guns bombarded the shoreline, targeting the enemy artillery as they did so. Though these Turtle ships were well defended against arrow attacks, they were still vulnerable to cannon fire, after all, their hulls were still made of wood. The Joseon cannons opened fire onto Itami's fleet, but the speed at which they fired was simply too slow to compete with Itami's naval guns.

One by one, explosions blasted the bronze cannons into pieces and turned their crews into mincemeat. When the Joseon General witnessed this, he nearly shat himself. He had never seen such destructive power before. Not only was the enemy launching explosive strikes on his defenses, but they were doing so at a rate that boggled his mind.

The Naval bombardment continued to unfold as Itami's ships pounded away at the coastal forts which housed the Joseon Defenders. While this slaughter was taking place, the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army got on board their boats and rowed their way to the shore. Itami had not designed specialized landing craft just yet, and because of this, the Japanese soldiers found themselves under the threat of arrow fire, the closer they got to the shore.

Still, the explosive barrage of naval guns kept the Joseon army's head down, and few would dare to fire their bows upon the lifeboats that were edging ever closer to the shores. In fact, many of them were now scattered from their defenses, too afraid of the power of the Japanese vessels which launched surgical strikes on their artillery. Thus, the Joseon soldiers quickly abandoned their forts and rushed to the beaches where they intended to fight the Imperial Japanese Army in melee combat.

Upon seeing the enemy scurry towards the beaches, she was worried about the safety of her men. Their bayonets would have to clash with iron armor, while they themselves were unprotected by the blades of the enemy. She made sure to make a quick prayer to the gods of her homeland that her men may safely make it to the afterlife as she sat back and watched the battle unfurl. The battle for Busan had only just begun. Whoever emerged victorious would certainly win this war.