Black Corporation: Joseon

Episode 1020: The name of firewood is Arms Race (13)

Hyang, recalling memories of his past life, chuckled and muttered.

“Now that I think about it, the reason I still remember this is because it was a masterpiece…”

In class at that time, as soon as the professor finished speaking, a student raised his hand and asked a question.

“Isn’t there a case where you only make friends? I think our country should be like that.”

The professor responded with a slight smile to the student’s quite provocative questions and arguments.

“People decided to call it hukou. And… it is not ‘our’ country, but ‘our’ country. To humble oneself is humility, but to humble one’s country is servitude.”

The student in question had to keep his mouth shut as his face fell open as the professor responded with a finger-tapping gesture. After reflecting on the memories of her past life, Hyang came to a conclusion.

“I don’t know about catching a tiger fish, but it’s something that shouldn’t be caught.”

After catching up, Hyang began to write a report to deliver to Hyeon. Meanwhile, other whispers were continuing among officials.

“Tae Sang-tae said that the country was in a shitty state. Something didn’t suit me. Why did you use shit there?”

“What a mess? Hmm…”

The official who heard the story thought for a moment and nodded.

“It definitely feels like I’m wearing something that doesn’t fit.”

In a wrestling match, if both players fell to the ground at the same time, a fight would often break out over who fell first. At this time, it was an unspoken rule to restart the match, and this was called a ‘revision’. This spread so widely that the situation was so bad that starting over from scratch was called ‘shattering’.

However, if you put that meaning into the word ‘f***ing’ used in the word Hyang, something didn’t quite fit. In the end, the officials who had been thinking about Hyang’s words looked around and talked quietly.

“No matter how you look at it, it doesn’t seem like the ‘dog’ is the ‘dog’.”

“That’s right. But there’s no way Taesang would say such a frivolous thing…”

“I guess so?”

Although the officials were prevaricating in case someone else heard them, they were muttering something else inside.

‘Under the circumstances, you’re the kind of person who can write like that!’

And as time passed, the ‘gae’ in ‘gaepan’ came to be used with different meanings, meaning ‘犬’ rather than ‘改’. It was another butterfly effect created by scent.

* * *

Thanks to the imperial officials coming to their senses again after all the fighting, Louis and other foreign envoys had to sweat it out again.

“It seems like the meeting with the emperor was the problem.”

“I guess so.”

Louis had to smile bitterly and nod his head at the aide’s report. This was because Louis also felt this keenly. Shin Sook-joo’s attitude as he continued the meeting with her had changed significantly compared to before the meeting. After the meeting, Shin Sook-joo had a smiling face, but her words were sharper than when she was in Italy. If Shin Sook-ju showed even the slightest weakness, she was ready to cut Louis to pieces.

Thanks to this, Louis and Shin Suk-ju continued their meeting, which was worthy of the saying, “There is a sword in a smile.”

Thanks to this, Louis had no choice but to receive results that were slightly lower than expected immediately after the meeting with Hyun.

“Isn’t that right? Still, we were able to obtain ‘non-interference with Gloria’. We were also able to save quite a few sea emergency battleships.”

Although it was not ‘non-interference in Portugal and Italy’ but ‘non-interference in the competition taking place in Gloria’, Louis was satisfied that even that was a significant achievement.

* * *

Louis’s negotiations with the empire brought about competition from other countries. The number of countries wishing to purchase sea emergency wires increased, and the number of them also increased significantly.

-The Empire has plans to build a ship to replace the Sea Emergency. If we are ready, including the budget, we will start right away.

-There are no plans to build additional emergency wires.

The biggest reason was what Shin Sook-joo publicly stated in her meeting with Louis. Countries that learned of this information, either at the guesthouse or through other channels, once again pounded their calculators furiously.

-It will take time until the new ship completely replaces the sea emergency.

– To put it another way, the empire also needs emergency response for the time being.

-Considering that new sea rescue ships are not being built and the age of the ship, the number of usable sea rescue ships that can be purchased is limited.

-In conclusion, if you hesitate, it will be sold out!

The countries that came to this conclusion competitively sent messengers to the empire. And this time, even England and the Ottomans entered the competition. Meanwhile, there were people who had different ideas.

“It’s a wooden ship anyway, right? All you have to do is replace the wood, so the age of the ship doesn’t matter, right?”

Upon hearing this proposal, all naval officials, especially naval generals who had experience with the Empire’s naval emergency and challenger-level battle lines, shook their heads.

“It’s that damn tree that’s the problem.”

“Eh?”

* * *

Unlike the early Hae-eung-geu, the later Hae-eung-geu was dried with Shinji oak from Shinji – the famous Virginia oak in history before the intervention of incense. It was not just the Imperial Navy stationed in Shinji, but all late-model naval emergency classes of the Imperial Navy.

For this purpose, large-scale shipyards were built in the northwest coastal area of Sinji, and timber harvested in eastern Sinji was transported via rail to shipyards in the west. A huge integrated production system was created. This was a project that required a huge amount of money. And the funds released in this way accelerated the imperialization of more indigenous people.

The person who actively pushed for all of this was Hyang. To Wan and the ministers who were worried about financial issues at the time, Hyang sent the following letter.

-Money goes around and around and is called money!

* * *

These were battleships of the Imperial Navy that boasted superior defense capabilities thanks to being made of Shinji oak, which was even nicknamed ‘ironwood’, and because they had memories of being hit hard by them, the working-level naval generals raised the issue.

“I don’t know where the damn empire got those damn trees, but they’re damn hard trees. I can’t guarantee that they would have that kind of defense even if replaced with wood from our country. But all you have to do is replace the wood? That’s bullshit. “They say the trees growing in the Luzon region are hard, but that is not our kingdom’s territory.”

“Then…”

“The answer is simple. We have to move as quickly as possible and select the freshest ones and bring them in. That works the cheapest.”

“Holy shit…”

Once again, financial officials from each country were faced with a situation where they had to groan.

* * *

When the ‘sea emergency’ was spreading, starting with the European powers, the Ming and Japanese reactions were slightly different. First of all, Myeong had no intention of making an emergency purchase. No, Seonghwaje had sufficient intentions, but the opposition from the ministers was enormous. Even the Holy Fire Emperor’s personal guards expressed opposition in this matter.

“why?”

“One of the fronts that destroyed the Ming Navy in the last war, especially the Battle of the Yellow Sea, was the Haiyang River. If ships were brought in, the people would immediately rise up.”

“is it?”

“Of course, if it’s just an assault repatriation, things will be different.”

“Would you like to sell that?”

“……..”

“It means we have to come to a conclusion.”

“That’s right.”

If Ming’s reaction was like this, Japan was different. As soon as they received the information that ‘the emergency response has been sent to Portugal and Italy’, the first to come was Japan.

“Why does the Empire have to hand over the maritime emergency front to Japan? Have you forgotten what kind of trouble we went through back home at the end of the war?”

In response to the empire’s negative response, Japan persistently negotiated, even sending the crown prince.

“What happened in the past is a tragedy between our two countries that must not be forgotten. But we must also think about the future. We, Japan, will continue to be a faithful partner to the empire. I earnestly ask you to consider the future.”

Even the crown prince of Japan came forward and made an earnest request, so the prefecture finally came to a conclusion.

“The cause is good, and if it’s an emergency, we can suppress it now and in the future. So, let’s at least show off.”

“I follow your orders!”

In this way, the empire sold 20 sea emergency ships to Japan, and ultimately 40 ships.

“Hwang Eun is devastated!”

The Japanese Crown Prince, who was notified of the decision, bowed deeply and expressed his gratitude to the prefect. Ships made in Japan, regardless of whether they were warships or merchant ships, were still several numbers behind those of the empire. In this situation, the 40 ships on the sea emergency line were a great force, and the Crown Prince’s gratitude was natural.

Although the matter was resolved in this way, Japan once again sued the empire.

“Ask for a challenger class? And three new ships? Why?”

“One will be used by the King of Japan when he goes on tour, and the other two will be used as command ships.”

At Shin Sook-ju’s answer, Hyun chuckled and looked back at the Minister of National Defense.

“What do you think?”

“Three Challenger-class ships are not a big problem.”

“What if we attack three Challenger-class and 40 sea emergency ships all at once?”

“They will not be able to cross Tsushima Island, and on the contrary, their capital, Yamaguchi, will be reduced to ashes.”

“Right.”

“If possible, it would be the icing on the cake if we were guests with foreign currency.”

“good night!”

In this way, Japan’s request was accepted. However, the hull of the newly built Challenger-class ship was made from native oak, not Shinji oak. Instead, the captain’s cabin and officer’s cabin at the rear of the ship’s hull were decorated with an unprecedentedly extravagant exterior and interior.

* * *

The shipyard in Wonsan was busy as countries in all directions requested the sale of emergency cables. This was because inspections were being carried out on ships that had been decided for sale among the marine emergency fronts deployed in the headquarters and the southwestern region. That wasn’t all. The shipyard in Wonsan worked day and night to build the Heukyeong-class transport ship and test ships for a new ship called a ‘destroyer’.

Thanks to this, the imperial troops guarding the shipyard were also busy with their days. The parties to be delivered the sea emergency front were to wait in Yangyang or Mokpo and the Imperial Navy would bring the ship there. However, there were people who came to Wonsan making various excuses, so this had to be prevented.

One day when things were so busy, Hyang and Hyeon visited the shipyard in Wonsan. This was because there was a report that the destroyer’s test ship fleet was finished and preparations were being made for launch. The two grandsons entered the shipyard under strict security and arrived at the shipyard where the test ship was located.

“Hmm…”

Joson continued the conversation while looking closely at the test ship being prepared for launch.

“It’s smaller than the Hae-Eung-gi, but it looks even more agile.”

“exactly.”

“But it looks like the firepower is a bit lacking. No, it’s not enough. All there are are five double-barreled rapid-fire cannons…”

All the naval officials who followed Hyeon’s words, full of regret, nodded. At that sight, Hyang smiled bitterly and muttered to himself.

‘I wonder who isn’t a fan of canvas… Oh, I guess I’m one of them.’

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