Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 353

While both sides were glaring at each other and growling, rumors about the new ships Portugal was building reached Genoa.

“They’re building a new type of ship?”

The governor asked, and the person in charge immediately explained.

“Yes. It appears to be an improved version of the carrack^[1], but overall it’s a bit larger.”

“How much larger?”

“The length has increased by about 20 cubits (about 9m), and the deck height is about 3 cubits (about 1.35m) taller. It also seems to be equipped with about 14 cannons.”

“Hmm…”

Upon receiving the report, the governor of Genoa wore a serious expression.

***

Increasing the size of a ship was advantageous in many ways. It immediately increased cargo capacity and could accommodate more crew members.

Especially for sailing ships like carracks or caravels that didn’t have rowers, the number of crew members directly translated to the number of combatants. Moreover, the increased size of the ship meant an increase in the ship’s combat power itself.

Although mounting cannons on ships had become somewhat commonplace, most battles still involved ships fighting in close quarters with hand-to-hand combat.

In such situations, having a higher position was an enormous advantage.

***

The governor of Genoa, well aware of these points through the tiresome maritime disputes with Venice, asked another question.

“Can we obtain the blueprints or craftsmen?”

“Well, since we poached craftsmen last time, surveillance has intensified. The blueprints are also said to be kept in the most strictly managed vault.”

“Damn…”

Displeased with the answer, the governor of Genoa clicked his tongue. After pondering for a while, leaning back in his chair, he soon reached a conclusion.

“Contact Madrid and Valencia. First, we need to confirm if the craftsmen in Valencia can build similar ships. After that’s confirmed, we’ll consider our next move.”

“Understood.”

Ten days later, representatives from Genoa and Spain met in Madrid.

After brief greetings, the attendees from both sides sat around the table and got straight to the point.

“Have you seen the report on Portugal’s new ships?”

In response to the Spanish official’s question, the Genoese representative immediately answered.

“Yes, I’ve confirmed it. It’s not good news.”

“Indeed. If we’re not careful, Portugal might monopolize the West African route.”

“That is the problem. So, have you checked with the craftsmen in Valencia?”

In response to the Genoese official’s question, the Spanish official handed over a thick report.

“To cut to the chase, ‘It’s possible in principle. However, it’s impossible in the short term.'”

“‘Impossible in the short term’?”

“Unfortunately, that’s the case.”

“That’s disappointing.”

The Genoese officials couldn’t hide their disappointment at the Spanish officials’ response.

Seeing the Genoese officials’ reaction, the Spanish officials added:

“They say they can shorten the time because they’ve been researching hull expansion even before coming to Valencia. The problem is the time consumed by trial and error. So… Could Genoa dispatch more craftsmen from its shipyards?”

At the Spanish officials’ request, this time the Genoese officials wore troubled expressions.

“Well, because we need to continue building warships to deal with Venice, additional dispatches are difficult.”

Now it was the Spanish officials’ turn to be unable to hide their disappointment at the Genoese officials’ response.

“That’s quite unfortunate.”

***

With no easy solution in sight, time was slipping away uselessly.

“Ah!”

Lost in thought during this frustrating situation, one of the Spanish officials suddenly exclaimed, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Do you have a good idea?”

At the Genoese official’s question, the official in question cautiously opened his mouth.

“Um… What about bringing craftsmen from France?”

“From France?”

“Doesn’t France build pretty good ships too?”

“Hmm…”

Upon hearing the suggestion to ‘recruit French craftsmen,’ the Genoese and Spanish officials all started calculating the pros and cons with serious expressions.

After a while of deliberation, the officials soon spoke up.

“It seems like it could work.”

“Indeed. It seems like quite a good idea.”

While favorable responses were continuing, one Genoese official raised an objection.

“Wouldn’t it be dangerous?”

“Dangerous?”

“Yes. Although they’ve weakened considerably due to nearly a hundred years of war with England, France is still a large country. If we’re not careful, we might create a powerful competitor with our own hands.”

“Ah…”

“That’s right. Come to think of it, the very fact that they could wage war for nearly a hundred years implies that they have considerable national power…”

In the end, the ‘recruitment of French craftsmen’ was scrapped.

“In the end, we have no choice but to minimize trial and error as much as possible.”

“We’ll have to thoroughly utilize the ships that come out of the trial and error process.”

“There’s no other answer, is there?”

In the end, they had no choice but to choose the most fundamental method.

***

Thus, a shipbuilding competition broke out between the Portugal-Venice-Florence alliance and the Spain-Genoa alliance.

In the shipyards of Sagres, Valencia, and Venice, craftsmen and designers had to rack their brains to build even slightly larger ships.

In this process, an unexpected butterfly effect occurred.

“We can’t properly build these new ships with just our current experience. We need assistance.”

“Assistance? Explain in more detail.”

At the request of the designers and craftsmen, the superiors demanded a more detailed explanation. The craftsmen and designers responded in detail.

“The ships we’re designing and building now need to leap several steps at once. This process can’t be solved by experience alone. For example, even things like the thickness and spacing of the ribs attached to the keel need to be recalculated. We need mathematicians skilled in calculations.”

“Mathematicians…”

At the craftsmen and designers’ request, the superiors trailed off with troubled expressions.

The problem wasn’t finding mathematicians, but the mathematicians themselves. Most renowned mathematicians were at odds with the Vatican.

Last year, a considerable number of monks had to leave for Joseon, and even now, not a few were quietly moving towards Alexandria, liquidating their assets.

After a long deliberation, the superior sighed deeply and concluded.

“Sigh~ We should leave political issues to the politicians.”

“They need mathematicians?”

“Yes. The reason is…”

Upon receiving the report, the kings of Spain and the governor of Genoa were lost in thought, holding their heads.

A wrong decision could lead to a situation where they’d be at odds with the Pope.

This was a particularly serious political burden for the kings of Spain – the King of Castile and the King of Aragon.

If they were to fall out with the Pope, they would have to make many concessions to the nobles. No, there was a considerable possibility of second and third Portugals emerging.

In the end, the Spanish kings passed the ball to the governor of Genoa. After much deliberation, the governor of Genoa made a decision.

“Tch! There’s no choice!”

The governor of Genoa passed an appropriate gift to the Pope and received permission to recruit mathematicians.

– It is not against doctrine as it is necessary for building safe ships.

Holding the document with the Pope’s decree, the governor of Genoa smiled bitterly and muttered.

“The amount spent to get this single sheet of paper…”

Of course, upon hearing the rumor, Portugal also bribed the Pope and obtained the same decree.

Thus, a not insignificant number of scholars flowed into Venice, Florence, and Genoa – which was religiously safer than Spain.

The mathematicians, tasked with researching the formulas needed for design and calculating answers according to those formulas, carried out their work while also conducting their own research.

Thanks to this, the Renaissance began a bit earlier compared to the history before Hyang’s intervention.

***

As the shipbuilding competition between the two forces progressed, experimental ships began to be launched steadily, one or two at a time.

The launched ships completed simple test voyages and were immediately put into actual service.

“You can only know if a newly built ship is properly made by actually moving it!”

“Verify through actual navigation!”

That’s what they said, but the inner thoughts of the higher-ups were simple.

‘Do you know how much money we’ve spent on this!’

***

The fact that these launched ships were continuously deployed for voyages meant that more and more ships were traveling the routes.

Of course, the number of ships drastically decreased past Cape Bojador, but to the north of it, many ships passed each other, fluttering large flags emblazoned with the coats of arms of Spain and Portugal.

The sea is vast, but the safe space of the sea routes was a limited area. Therefore, although it would be a long distance on land, at sea, they frequently passed each other at what was practically point-blank range.

As these encounters became more frequent, the atmosphere began to grow increasingly ominous.

As mentioned before, Portugal and Spain had been at odds since the founding of Portugal, and after Spain’s expansion into Africa began in earnest, relations had worsened further due to issues with stopover points.

Therefore, captains from both sides tried to keep as much distance as possible when they spotted ships from the opposing country.

They didn’t want to see blood spilled over trivial matters.

However, when they inevitably had to pass close to each other, crude curses were exchanged between the crews of both ships.

But the situation continued to deteriorate at an increasingly rapid pace.

The main culprit that triggered the worsening of the situation was the African continent.

The ships exploring the west coast of Africa had two main missions.

One was to find a detour to India and Joseon, and the other was to trade with local Africans – mainly Arab chiefs or kings.

They exchanged various goods produced in Europe – tableware, weapons, and other luxury items – in return for various underground resources or slaves, which was a pretty good business.

However, with Spain joining in after Portugal, the situation became one where demand increased for a limited supply.

***

The atmosphere on the ‘Vendaval’ (strong wind) returning to Ceuta was gloomy.

This was because they hadn’t achieved much in this trade.

They had sailed down with the hold full of weapons, cloth, and other luxury items, but the Spanish bastards had already finished trading and left.

“I’m sorry. I had an urgent matter and couldn’t help it. Let’s make sure to have a good trade next time. I’m really sorry.”

The Arab local magnate who had broken off the deal repeated his apologies with a face that didn’t look sorry at all.

In the end, the Vendaval had to set sail for home, hoping for better luck next time.

If worst came to worst, there was always the option of landing in a nearby unexplored area and raiding indigenous tribes, but there were no such places left in the vicinity.

They had all been completely wiped out by slave-desiring local magnates, by Portugal, by Spain.

In the end, they needed to venture deeper inland, but that was too much for just the crew of the Vendaval.

***

“Damn it all! And I’ve got a lot of credit built up too!”

“Tell me about it!”

“The thought of my wife’s nagging is terrifying enough!”

The crew of the Vendaval complained with gloomy faces.

It had been the norm until now that when they returned from a voyage, they would receive a considerable bonus in addition to their wages. They had heard that many fellow sailors had missed out on bonuses lately, but they had dismissed it as someone else’s problem.

But now that misfortune had befallen them.

Ding ding ding!

As they were lamenting like this, the sailor watching the sea from the crow’s nest urgently rang the bell.

“Ship ahead!”

Far in the distance, a transport ship flying the Spanish coat of arms was heading north.

1. is a three- or four-masted ocean-going sailing ship that was developed in the 14th to 15th centuries in Europe, most notably in Portugal and Spain.[↩]

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