Yes, Prime Minister of Japan

Li Xinghe stroked his sleeping, silly sister, wondering why Zhao Lieshu seemed to be losing her pure love.

Li Daiyao, who declined to be named, was held responsible for this.

……

An explosion at the National Assembly left South Korean residents in a state of shock and disorientation.

They were extremely disappointed with the South Korean government and parliament, watching helplessly as several political parties played a game of 'who to put in jail,' while the economy continued to deteriorate. Therefore, they began cheering online and loudly encouraging 'Liu Bianlong.'

"Bomb! Bomb all these insects to death!"

An anti-establishment wave gradually took shape online as Liu Bianlong's assassinations and explosions became increasingly radical.

While Lee Sung-ha was having sex with a woman at home, South Korea's National Intelligence Service was conducting an overnight investigation.

A normal spy organization would immediately suspect Li Xinghe.

However, the National Intelligence Service quickly excluded Lee Sung-ha.

Because both Lee Sung-ha and Cho Yeol-sook were in Seoul, their movements were very easy to track. The Domestic Intelligence Department completed the timeline in just a few hours:

"According to current surveillance data, the drone at the bombing site should have already been deployed when Li Xinghe accompanied his superior to the nightclub. Although multiple video surveillance cameras at the time could not trace who threw the box containing the drone into the wooded area, we can be certain that when Li Xinghe was dragged out of the nightclub by his... his wife Zhao Lieshu, and when Zhao Lieshu slapped the hostess, causing her face to swell, the insurgent group that created chaos was already in action. And when the two of them were taking a taxi back to the Hamilton Hotel in Yongsan, the drone was launched, flew into the Capitol, and caused the explosion."

"Furthermore, this is Li Xinghe's first time in Seoul, and he was suddenly informed half a day ago that he was being sent to Seoul by military aircraft from Busan. He could not have known he was going to Seoul before landing, so of course he could not have made any plans in advance."

"In conclusion, based on the timeline and network of connections, the codename 'Galaxy' is unrelated to the bombing."

South Korean intelligence officials believed that such a sudden and decisive terrorist attack must have been planned for a long time, and that it was launched abruptly during the Dokdo sovereignty crisis. Therefore, Lee Sung-ha did not fit the bill from any of the three criteria and was the first suspect to be eliminated.

Dean Zhao Taiyong, who was not a professional spy, hurriedly pressed for answers:

"Then...why is it so obvious?"

Some analysts have suggested that:

"It is likely that anti-American organizations are using him as bait to mislead our investigation."

After multiple analyses, even the National Intelligence Service was able to deduce from the various bombings and assassinations that this so-called "Return of Korean Dependent States Movement" was essentially an anti-American organization. Their core was not pro-China; they simply wanted to leverage Chinese influence.

Zhao Taiyong asked another question:

"Then why do they always appear when we are weak?"

Intelligence novelists imagine and construct logical lines in their minds:

"I'm afraid... I'm afraid it's one of our own people stirring up trouble."

Thinking about this, the intelligence agency staff actually didn't want to investigate any further.

They can't exactly tell the public that the minister in charge of covert intelligence surveillance, the first vice minister, and the elite stars of their department were flirting with a 20-year-old Hallyu star beloved by Koreans in a Gangnam nightclub when the bombing happened, touching her high-tech rock breasts, can they?

Surely the public can't know that within the large and inefficient National Intelligence Service, there exists an opposition group that has been secretly encouraging South Korea to break away from US control and join China and North Korea?

We certainly can't tell the public that the National Intelligence Service's work over the past decade has consisted of a group of novelists making up stories in their offices, can we?

In order to cover up this disgusting affair, the intelligence agency really can't afford to have any more scandals.

While everyone was silent, Zhao Taiyong suddenly probed Hong Zhuangyuan, who was speaking for the first time: "It wasn't you, was it?"

"No, no, no, how could it be me?"

Hong Zhuangyuan immediately broke out in a cold sweat, his expression becoming increasingly hypocritical, even guilty. Clearly, as the first-time leader, he had handled a large amount of problematic intelligence, or had sold it off.

"That's true. If it were you, I wouldn't be able to escape it either."

Zhao Taiyong sat down with a headache.

The overall weakness and incompetence of South Korea's intelligence system has long historical roots, stemming from the collective suppression and weakening efforts of successive regimes. From Syngman Rhee's era of creating a reign of terror through espionage, to Park Chung-hee's intelligence-driven rule, and Chun Doo-hwan's Seobingku Hotel, successive military dictators relied on sophisticated intelligence gathering to maintain internal control and effectively suppress democrats. Therefore, after the success of the democratization movement, democrats naturally sought to overthrow and discredit the intelligence system.

However, Cho Tae-yong's situation is somewhat special. Like Cho Tae-yeol, he was a department head promoted by Yoon Seok-yeol during the People Power Party era, and he is already nearing death. If the current National Assembly discovers his involvement in the bombing, he could easily be sent directly to jail.

The intelligence agency could only frantically cover up its slip-up and submit two reports by Li Xinghe to Congress.

One document is about the Dokdo crisis, and the other is about antisocial elements being supported by North Korea.

next morning.

South Korea has 51% of its population, about 2600 million people, living in the Seoul metropolitan area, and another 30%, about 1500 million people, living in the Busan metropolitan area, with an urbanization rate of 91%.

This means that in an extremely densely populated social environment, highly sensitive South Koreans will come up with many unique and creative activities.

With the parliamentary bombing and years of infighting between the ruling and opposition parties failing to resolve social problems, it's hard to imagine what the public would do in such a state of unrest.

And as it turns out, just when you think Koreans are already very extreme and abstract, it turns out that the limits of humanity are actually far beyond comprehension.

A large group of citizens, deeply disillusioned with politics and vehemently opposed to both the ruling and opposition parties, secretly organized a large-scale modern reality show. Dressed in official robes from the Ming and Qing dynasties purchased from Taobao, they recreated historical figures and carried logs to the former Ying'en Gate.

Then they rebuilt a rough structure outside the Western-style independent gate building, and wrote the three characters "Welcoming Grace Gate" on it.

"Rebuild Ying'en Gate!"

Next, they took turns playing the roles of Chinese 'angels' and 'army', as well as Korean vassal states, simulating the traditional welcoming ceremony at Ying'en Gate.

Their intention was not to be pro-China, but rather to mock China.

As a symbol of the Chinese Empire in Korea, the people hope to use this method to spur the shameless politicians to do their jobs properly and stop their party-state politics. If you keep messing things up like this, we'll be back to the era of a vassal state.

When Li Xinghe saw this in the morning, he hurriedly pulled Zhao Lieshu over:

"Wife, come out and see the UFO! This is the first time I've ever seen Ming Dynasty supporters and Qing Dynasty supporters get together and cause trouble so harmoniously."

Naturally, such a large-scale cosplay parade, which greatly boosted South Korean national confidence, also attracted many right-wing groups, leading to clashes with the participants. During the fighting, one increasingly enraged South Korean climbed onto Independence Gate and painted the words "Independence" as "Kneeling at America Gate," mocking them.

The opposing right-wing groups are being mocked for not truly loving South Korea; they are simply pandering to the US.

Then the two sides began to fight over the independent gate, smearing it with insulting and attacking words such as "pro-Japanese gate" and "cheap dog gate".

It has a strong sense of a battle for the title of "Peaceful County".

While South Koreans were fighting and hurling insults at each other in the streets, Western media also took notice.

At a crucial moment, the Americans suddenly gave Li Xinghe a divine assist.

A few hours later, U.S. Vice President Vance, on Fox News, suddenly blurted out: "Without a doubt, South Korea is, in a sense, a branch of the Chinese. They are one of the territories lost by China's ancient Qing Dynasty in modern history. So they have a peculiar Chinese nature; in places we cannot understand, they will always suddenly run back one day. Just like their historical dictators Park Chung-hee, Chun Doo-hwan, Roh Tae-woo, etc., all came from or went to northern China."

He made that statement without truly understanding it himself. It was a casual remark made by Lee Sung-ha during the Tokyo military agreement between the US, Japan, and South Korea, when he was helping to separate South Korea's authoritarian military government from its democratically elected government. His intention was to say that South Korean dictators all came from China, and that a democratically elected government was the beginning of South Korea's modern era.

However, Vance, as an American elite who is unfamiliar with East Asian history, interprets it in a very Americanized way as 'Koreans are just Chinese who have been separated from China, and there are only two kinds of them: those who pretend to be pro-American and are anti-American, and those who are openly pro-China and are anti-American.'

After all, he had personally witnessed the various outrageous things the South Koreans did during the recent standoff between Japan and South Korea.

The large-scale demonstrations, which included smearing "Independence Gate" and rebuilding "Yeongeun Gate," and reverting to the role of a vassal state of China, were clearly meant to mock the government and parliament. However, many Western media outlets, which did not understand the demonstrations, widely interpreted them as a sign of public sentiment turning to the past. They believed that amidst economic recession, inflation, and currency devaluation, the South Korean people were beginning to yearn for the Chinese empire.

The first half of the analysis was quite comprehensive, but the conclusions were all wrong.

As things escalated, South Koreans were horrified to discover that they had been isolated by the Western world.

They went online and posted everywhere:

"You don't understand Korea at all!"

"We are truly pro-American."

Such remarks were mercilessly ridiculed by Western media and netizens.

“You’re not on our side at all.”

But is it really that the media can't understand it? Or is it that Vance can't understand it?

Would these shrewd people really say such outrageous things?

Seeing this situation, a worried Lee Ju-yeon asked her all-powerful brother:

"How did things turn out like this?"

Li Xinghe's cold snort analysis:

"I suppose only by reporting to society in this way can we arouse anti-China fears among Americans and residents of old-school Western European countries? It's nothing more than a variant of the Yellow Peril rhetoric, with white people conducting social mobilization there."

If the media only reports that ordinary South Koreans are agitated due to the economic crisis, no one will care, because the situation in Europe and America is far more profound and frantic. Western residents, seeing South Korea's economic data, might be even more alarmed: "You're only experiencing slow economic growth, but we've lost our jobs, our homes, and our pensions."

This is a sensitive topic that should not be touched upon lightly.

However, if the media around the world portrays that a large number of pro-China factions have emerged in South Korea, that the free world in Europe and America is about to lose South Korea, and that China is trying to win over fragments of its former vassal states to gather all nine fragments to form the Chinese Empire, then Europeans and Americans will be thrilled.

The Yellow Peril, feudal empire, Genghis Khan, the Scourge of God, and other specific terms flashed through my mind instantly. This strong ideological imprint led right-wing netizens to transform into ideological crusaders, frantically exporting their ideas to East Asian countries online.

Zhao Lieshu stuck out her tongue slightly and hugged her husband's slender waist tightly:

"So what do we do? The plan seems to be encountering resistance."

"It's alright, this is actually a help."

A nation is an imagined community. In recent years, millions of South Koreans have traveled to China, and hundreds of thousands of South Koreans have lived in China for a long time. Li Xinghe doesn't believe that there might be a few real lunatics among them.

There are definitely pro-China and elite groups, but the mainstream pro-Western political narrative leaves these people with no voice.

Li Xinghe said:

"The next step is to portray this powerful third party from Western media as a rigid shackle that binds the changing consciousness of Koreans."

Simply put, it's about turning something fake into something real.

Since Western media outlets are saying that South Koreans have shifted their ideology and are becoming more pro-China, let's continue to confirm that.

Lee Ju-yeon knelt down next to her brother.

"Then what should we do?"

Li Xinghe sat down and wrote things down line by line:

"Of course, it's about creating this false group and linking it to real political issues. For example, linking pro-China political issues to South Korea's declining economic development and the fact that high-end industries are gradually moving to China. Since industries have been taken away, then focus on reality, cooperate with China in industrial development, and preserve the current economy."

The goal is to make South Koreans vent their frustrations about the poor economy by focusing on the deadlock between South Korea and the United States.

Having considered this, Li Xinghe revealed his core idea:

"If we loosen the restrictions, drive out the US troops, and invite Chinese troops to be stationed here, wouldn't we be able to solve the North Korean issue at the same time and continue economic development?"

All those fancy tricks before were fake, just a prelude.

This is the only logical statement that is true, and it is also a reality that is gradually unfolding.

Therefore, Li Xinghe finalized the plan:

“We’ll blow up this bullshit Independence Gate right now. It’s not independence at all, but a shameful symbol of Korean gentry cutting themselves off from the Qing Dynasty and running off to Japan to seek refuge.”

This is also true. After the Ying'en Gate was demolished by pro-Japanese literati, the Independent Gate they built was a gesture of licking the boots of the Japanese.

The best course of action would be to borrow artillery from the South Korean army and blast this broken gate to smithereens.

Zhao Lieshu supports Li Xinghe, but feels powerless to do so:

"We don't have that many explosives. Even North Korea probably doesn't have enough..."

Li Xinghe pointed to the television.

The TV anchorwoman is broadcasting:

"National hero Cho Gu-hwan was honorably wounded on the front lines of the Dokdo struggle and will be sent back to Seoul for top-priority treatment."

He wanted his brother-in-law to bring out the army's artillery to give the South Korean people, who had been living peacefully in the democratic movement for over thirty years, a small military shock.

As for whether the injured Zhao Juhuan can hold on, he must hold on.

If he can't withstand it, he won't be able to become the 'Quan Douhuan' artificially created by Li Xinghe.

The author says:

Author's Note: Thank you all for your support. Here's 4900 words. I really did manage 10,000 words today! Please vote with your monthly tickets, and I'll blow up even more Korean buildings!

Chapter 527: The National War at the Independent Gate, A Gathering of Heroes Shining Like Stars (4900 words)

Zhao Juhuan's injuries were actually not serious.

His earnest performance led doctors to misdiagnose him with a concussion, and he was brought back to Seoul from the front lines. He feared that one day he would be riddled with bullets from warships and turned into a mangled mess.

But just as he arrived at the Ministry of National Defense military hospital by helicopter, ready to enjoy a comfortable sick leave in a high-class single ward, Li Xinghe, arm in arm with Zhao Lieshu, kicked open his door and gave him a daunting task:

"I need you to find a cannon from a military camp near Seoul and blast open Independence Gate."

Zhao Juhuan stood there dumbfounded for a full three minutes before shouting his refusal:

"Oh no! This is going to kill me!"

Li Xinghe has a thousand ways to catch this old rascal in the act.