After this battle at Chemulpo there was no more question about landing Korean troops further down the coast; in fact as soon as the ice was out of the Tadong River, Chinnampo became the point of disembarkation. But meanwhile the troops which had landed at Chemulpo were pushing north by land as rapidly as circumstances would permit and within a few weeks of the beginning of the war Pyeng-yang was held by a strong force of Japanese. At the same time work was pushed rapidly on the Seoul-Fusan Railway and also begun on the projected railway line between Seoul and Wiju.
As for the Russians they never seriously invaded Korean territory. Bands of Cossacks crossed the Yalu and scoured the country right and left but their only serious purpose was to keep in touch with the enemy and report as to their movements. On February 28 a small band of Cossacks approached the north gate of Pyeng Yang and after exchanging a few shots with the Japanese guard withdrew. This was the first point at which the two belligerents came in touch with each other.
It was on the night of February 23rd that Korea signed with Japan a protocol by the terms of which Korea practically allied herself with Japan and became, as it were, a silent partner in the war. Korea granted the Japanese the right to use Korea as a road to Manchuria and engaged to give them every possible facility for prosecuting the war. On the other hand Japan guaranteed the independence of Korea and the safety of the Imperial Family. It is needless to discuss the degree of spontaneity with which Korea did this. It was a case of necessity, but if rightly used it might have proved of immense benefit to Korea, as it surely did to Japan. It formally did away with the empty husk of neutrality which had been proclaimed, and made every seaport of the peninsula belligerent territory, even as it did the land itself.
March saw the end of the Peddlars Guild. They had been organized in Russian interests but now they had no longer any raison d’etre. As a final flurry, one of their number entered the house of the Foreign Minister with the intent to murder him, but did not find his victim. Other similar attempts were made but did not succeed[succeed].
The Japanese handled the situation in Seoul with great circumspection. The notion that they would attack the pro-Russian officials proved false. Everything was kept quiet and the perturbation into which the court and the government were thrown by these startling events was soon soothed.
Marquis Ito was sent from Japan with a friendly message to the Emperor of Korea and this did much to quiet the unsettled state of things in Korea. At about the same time the northern ports of Wiju and Yongampo were opened to foreign trade. This was a natural result of the withdrawal of Russian influence. It was not long before Yi Yong-ik who had played such a leading rôle in Korea was invited to go to Japan and thus an element of unrest was removed from the field of action. It was believed that the Japanese would immediately introduce much needed reforms, but it seemed to be their policy to go very slowly, so slowly in fact that the better element among the Koreans was disappointed, and got the impression that Japan was not particularly interested in the matter of reform. It is probable that the energies of the Japanese were too much engaged in other directions[directions] to divert any to Korea at the time. They had been complaining bitterly about the monetary conditions, but when they suddenly stepped into power in Seoul on February 9th they seemed to forget all about this, for up to the end of 1904 they failed to do anything to correct the vagaries of Korean finance. But instead of this the Japanese merchants in Korea and other Japanese who were here for other reasons than their health immediately began to make requests and demands for all sorts of privileges. The Board of Trade in Fusan asked the Japanese government to secure the Maritime Customs service, permission for extra territorial privileges, the establishment of Japanese agricultural stations and other impossible things.
Meanwhile the Japanese were steadily pushing north. At Anju a slight skirmish occurred but there was nothing that could be called a fight until the Japanese reached the town of Chöng ju where a small body of Russians took a stand on a hill northwest of the town and held it for three hours, but even here the casualties were only about fifteen on either side. The Russians evidently had no notion of making a determined stand this side the Yalu. Already, a week before, the Russian troops had withdrawn from Yongampo and had crossed to Antung. This fight at Chöng-ju occurred on March 28th and a week later practically all the Russian forces had crossed the Yalu and Korea ceased to be belligerent territory. It is not the province of this history to follow the Japanese across that historic river and relate the events which occurred at the beginning of May when the first great land battle of the war was fought.
The whole north had been thrown into the greatest confusion by the presence of these two belligerents. Cossack bands had scurried about the country, making demands for food and fodder a part of which they were willing to pay for with Russian currency quite unknown to the Korean. From scores of villages and towns the women had fled to the mountain recesses at a most inclement season, and untold suffering had been entailed. But these are things that always come in the track of war and the Koreans bore them as uncomplainingly as they could. Throughout the whole country the absorption of the attention of the government in the events of the war was taken advantage of by robbers, and their raids were frequent and destructive. As soon as the government found that the Japanese did not intend to rule with a high hand it sank back into the former state of selfcomplacent lethargy, and things went along in the old ruts. It was perfectly plain that Korean officialdom had no enthusiasm for the Japanese cause. It is probable that a large majority of the people preferred to see Japan win rather than the Russians, but it was the fond wish of ninety-nine out of every hundred to see Korea rid of them both. Whichever one held exclusive power here was certain to become an object of hatred to the Korean people. Had the Russians driven out the Japanese the Koreans would have hated them as heartily. Whichever horn of the dilemma Korea became impaled upon she was sure to think the other would have been less sharp. Few Koreans looked at the matter from any large standpoint or tried to get from the situation anything but personal advantage. This is doubtless the reason why it was so difficult to gain an opinion from Korean officials. They did not want to go on record as having any decided sympathies either way. The people of no other land were so nearly neutral as were those of Korea.
The month of April was comparatively quiet. The Japanese were struggling north through frost and mud combined to rendezvous on the banks of the Yalu. On the 14th occurred the great fire in Seoul which in a few hours swept away almost the whole of the Kyöng-un Palace, the one recently completed and the one occupied by the Emperor at the time. He was forced to vacate it in haste and take up his abode for the time being in the detached Imperial Library building. A strong effort was made by the Japanese to induce him to return to the Chöng-dŭk Palace, which was his place of residence at the time of the emeutes of 1882 and 1884, but this was combatted with all the means available, and the burned palace was rebuilt as quickly as possible.
The temporary effect of the war upon the Korean currency was to enhance its value. Imports suddenly came to a standstill because of the lack of steamships and the possible dangers of navigation. This stopped the demand for yen. The Japanese army had to spend large sums in Korea and this required the purchase of Korean money. The result was that the yen, instead of holding its ratio of something like one to two and a half of the Korean dollar fell to the ratio of one to only one and four tenths. When, however, the sea was cleared of the Russians and import trade was resumed and the bulk of the Japanese crossed the Yalu the Korean dollar fell again to a ratio of about two to one, which it has preserved up to the present time, i.e. December, 1904.