Chapter 1035: Seongsan
On the bridge of the Zhenyang, Rear Admiral Li Haiping of the Second Fleet stood with one hand on his hip and the other raising a telescope, gazing at the morning sun rising over the distant sea. He felt immensely heroic and wanted to recite something to "leave for history." Suffering from a lack of ink in his belly—meaning literary talent—he abandoned the idea of composing a poem. He considered uttering a famous quote like "I came, I saw, I conquered," but in the end said only:
"Jeju Island has been our country's inseparable territory since ancient times."
Without even turning around, he ordered:
"Write it down!"
The female orderly standing behind him hurriedly scribbled his words in a notebook.
Having pronounced this sentence, he felt it lacked proper flavor. Just as he was trying to conjure something more original, the lookout reported: "Jeju Island directly ahead, ten nautical miles." He quickly raised his telescope to scan the sea surface.
The sea lay calm. In the vast emerald waters, a great verdant island stretched across the horizon, with Hallasan faintly visible.
In the visible sea area, almost no vessels could be seen—only sporadic fishing boats that scattered upon sighting such a massive fleet approaching.
Li Haiping drew a deep breath of the fresh morning sea breeze, then surveyed the great fleet following behind. A sense of intoxication rose spontaneously. He was a dignified Fleet Admiral now. Thinking back to when he had been stationed at Changhua Fort, staring blankly with a few dozen naturalized marines, counting stars and watching the moon at night, goofing off hunting during the day—the scene was truly unbearable to recall.
Though those days had been hard, he had accumulated enough political capital. Moreover, the extremely boring life had reignited the enthusiasm he had felt when applying for military academy, driving him to delve into naval tactics textbooks. Led by Wen Desi, a group of former naval officers and naval enthusiasts in the Senate—considering that the new navy's weapons and tactics differed from the old timeline—used late 19th-century British and German naval materials as blueprints to compile a Naval Drill Manual and Naval Elementary Tactics Reader as textbooks for training new naval officers.
Li Haiping had been a petty officer in the navigation department in the PLAN, completely different from authentic naval officers like Chen Haiyang and Ming Qiu. In a sense, apart from not getting seasick on board and being relatively familiar with naval terminology and shipboard conditions, he was no different from Senator naval officers of enthusiast backgrounds like Li Di. In terms of depth of understanding of naval tactics and strategy, he might not even compare favorably to these armchair-strategist enthusiasts. As for naval tactics and equipment characteristics of the sail and ironclad era, all the former PLAN officers combined couldn't match Wen Desi. Director Wen's title of General Naval Advisor was not mere "leader's vanity."
Having gained sufficient seniority at Changhua Fort, and with his remarks at the Second Plenary Session gradually forgotten by the "Democrats," Li Haiping returned safely to Lingao—just in time for the navy's shipbuilding and reorganization plan. Under Ming Qiu's suggestion, the navy began training mid-to-high-ranking naval officers from among the Senators, preparing commanders for the new 845 Improved and 901 types. As a "former professional naval serviceman," Li Haiping became a priority trainee for fleet command personnel.
Now he stood on the bridge, wearing the rank of Commander in the Navy. His Commodore's pennant flew from Zhenyang's mast. Every time he looked up and saw this flag, Li Haiping couldn't help feeling elated—in the Australian Song Navy, only four people had the right to fly a Commodore's flag, and he was one of them.
Fortunately, he hadn't listened to Old Di's bewitchment back then about transferring to the Marines. If he had really gone to the Marines, under Shi Zhiqi's radiant shadow now, he would at most be an obscure Marine company commander—just like Old Di.
He coughed with feigned authority and issued an order: "All ships, prepare for combat. Strengthen observation!"
After giving the order, he turned his telescope toward the increasingly close Jeju Island.
Jeju Island's shape was remarkably regular, almost an oval. Except for a few locations, there was no broken or rugged coastline; terrain features like bays and capes were quite rare. Flat sandy beaches extended everywhere. The center of the island was Mount Halla, rising 1,190 meters above sea level. The entire island was a typical volcanic formation.
Figuratively speaking, Jeju Island looked like lava squeezed out from Hallasan and spread flat upon the sea.
Though Jeju Island's latitude matched that of the Shandong Peninsula, the warm current passing through gave it a subtropical climate. It snowed in winter and temperatures dropped to freezing, but conditions were generally humid and warm.
The winter here was certainly colder than Kaohsiung, but at least warmer than Shandong, and the distance to Longkou was much shorter. An area exceeding five hundred square kilometers was sufficient to accommodate a large population, and fresh water resources were reasonably abundant. In the 1930s, under extremely underdeveloped conditions, the island had maintained a population of nearly 200,000. In the 21st century, Jeju Island's resident population was 550,000—not including the large floating population of annual tourists. The island's carrying capacity held great potential.
Jeju Island's subtropical climate with distinct seasons was considerably healthier for immigrants than the hot and humid southern Taiwan. Concentrating sheltered refugees on Jeju Island would greatly reduce the chances of infectious disease outbreaks.
Though agricultural conditions on the island were not outstanding, self-sufficiency for a population of tens of thousands would not be problematic.
The decision to take Jeju Island had been based precisely on its potential as an immigrant transit station. The operation was now a month behind schedule. Though the Forward Command had not sent many telegrams to urge them, Li Haiping still felt the weight of responsibility. He needed to complete the tasks of landing on Jeju and constructing refugee camps as quickly as possible.
The fleet's course pointed toward Seongsan in the northeast of Jeju Island. Because Jeju Island was a volcanic island, there were no natural ports with excellent conditions—shelter conditions were particularly poor. The best port was Jeju Harbor, which also housed the Joseon Dynasty's governance agency. Its population was relatively dense, making it unsuitable as a starting base. The final designated landing site was chosen at Seongsan.
Though port conditions at Seongsan were relatively average, the offshore Udo Island to the northeast and Seongsan to the southeast embraced the harbor. They could not only shield against wind and waves but also control the entire port if forts were placed on them. The General Staff judged it appropriate to establish the main military base here.
As the fleet sailed toward the eastern portion of Jeju Island, the lookout shouted: "Beacon fire!"
Even without the lookout's report, Li Haiping saw black smoke rising from the island. Smoke columns rose from the small islands surrounding Jeju Island, and then black smoke rose from the Seongsan direction on the east side as well, climbing straight into the clouds.
Though the Great Library hadn't found specific materials on the Joseon Dynasty's fortification measures on Jeju Island, the Haitian's reconnaissance voyage to Jeju months ago had revealed that the Joseon Dynasty maintained beacon towers on the main island and surrounding smaller islands, and also stationed naval ships. This location was only three hundred-odd nautical miles from Japan and had historically been subject to constant Japanese pirate attacks. Moreover, less than thirty years had passed since the Imjin War, and the Joseon Dynasty still maintained strong wariness toward Japan. As the first line of defense against Japan, vigilance here was strict.
During Haitian's reconnaissance voyage, apart from observing successive beacon fires alarming on various islands, no Joseon navy interception had been observed. The conclusion was that Joseon naval forces near Jeju Island were very weak and incapable of proactive sea interception. They relied mainly on defensive troops on various islands holding their positions—which would cause minimal hindrance to the landing operation.
Li Haiping's order was therefore simple: "Sail straight to Seongsan."
With modern charts and Haitian's reconnaissance data, the fleet boldly and safely passed through the islands and reef groups surrounding Jeju Island, heading directly for Seongsan.
Soon, Seongsan appeared in Li Haiping's field of vision.
"It really does look like a huge fortress!"
Though Li Haiping had seen Seongsan's appearance in countless photographs and video materials long ago, when it actually materialized before the bow, he still marveled.
The entire Seongsan was a massive rock protruding high from the sea surface—just as its name implied, like a "city" (Seong). Yet it was far more magnificent than any real city.
Seongsan's main altitude was 182 meters. The top contained a huge crater, six hundred meters in diameter and ninety meters deep—like a giant saucer, with a flat bottom. The southeast and north sides of Seongsan were sheer cliffs; only the northwest side featured a grassy ridge winding down to connect with Jeju Island.
In the 21st century, this place was a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site and a famous tourist destination. Many Senators had visited there. Li Haiping, having always scoffed at the "Cosmic Empire," had never set foot there himself.
Now he examined the environment around Seongsan with a naval officer's eye.
Opposite Seongsan lay Udo Island. Between the two, a natural anchorage had formed. Placing a fort on each would effectively guard the harbor. The disadvantage was that the anchorage area was limited and the sheltered range not extensive. It could only moor a small number of ships. Overall berthing and shelter conditions were not ideal.
Li Haiping shook his head. "A bit of a pity. This place can't anchor a fleet."
In terms of Jeju Island's geographical location, this shortcoming seriously affected its strategic value.
The island fell within the typhoon influence zone and was known for "strong winds." Without good natural sheltered harbors, large fleets could not anchor safely—which was precisely why the Navy's Jeju landing had been scheduled for late autumn and early winter.
Since conditions were limited, excessive military construction here became unnecessary. It seemed the General Staff's cancellation of the plan to build forts on Seongsan and Udo Island had been sensible.
In the original plan, the Navy had prepared to build coastal forts on top of Seongsan and install heavy fortress artillery. However, after evaluating the terrain and Joseon's military potential, the General Staff had concluded there was no such necessity for the time being—and whether there would be such necessity in the future was also doubtful. The conclusion was to establish a fortified camp on top of Seongsan, set up observation posts to comprehensively monitor the nearby seas and the entirety of the island's eastern portion, and build a lighthouse as a navigation marker.
(End of Chapter)