Black Corporation: Joseon

Episode 1009: The name of firewood is arms race (2)

Hyang continued to sigh while looking at the report.

“Foot! This unit problem is more troublesome than the quality of steel. The problem is that they are all vaguely similar.”

Hyang shook his head slightly as he lifted up the ruler placed on one side.

“People’s ideas all come from there.”

* * *

Vague similarity.

This was the reason why we decided that scent was the biggest problem.

Feet, pied, inch, and pouce were the units used in East and West at the time.

And if you look at its origin, it was based on the human body, regardless of East or West. The problem was that, as Hyang said, these units seemed subtly similar but different. The feet were about 30.4cm, the feet were about 32.5cm, the chucks were about 30.3cm for Yeongjocheok, the inches were about 2.54cm, and the pousses were about 2.7cm, and the teeth were about 3.03cm.

Because these were subtly similar yet different units, problems arose in the process of converting them to the units used in their own country. Errors continued to occur in the process of calculating numbers that changed slightly in decimal units.

That wasn’t all. The precision of measuring instruments used in weapon production, including rulers, was also a problem. There was no way the prototype made based on inaccurate measuring instruments and a design full of errors could have been ok. The best way to solve this problem was through time-consuming trial and error.

* * *

“Unification of units and weights and measures is the best, but it is not easy.”

The scent brought back memories of the past.

-In order to successfully complete the gyeongjang, unification of weights and measures must come first.

“Why would Emperor Qin Shi Huang first unify weights and measures? For a country to become strong, the three branches of government must be run properly. For that to happen, weights and measures must be unified!”

King Sejong and all ministers agreed with Hyang’s argument, and unification of weights and measures was carried out. Perhaps by coincidence, it was during the reign of King Sejong that the weights and measures system was established in the royal history before Hyang intervened. Until then, the Jucheo (周尺) established in the Zhou Dynasty was used as a basis, but it was a mess. In severe cases, the length of the chuck was different in each village.

That’s why King Sejong reorganized this mess of weights and measures. First of all, in the case of chucks, they are divided into main chucks used to measure distances and land, Yeongjo chucks used when using buildings, Hwangjong chucks used to manufacture and match musical instruments, and fabric chucks used to measure the length of cloth at home and in stores. did.

Afterwards, among the items carried by secret royal inspectors when they went out on secret missions, there was a brass ruler in the shape of a square pillar, and each side of this pillar had graduations corresponding to the above four scales engraved on it.

Secret envoys who arrived at the government office of the town to be inspected used this person to check whether there was any corruption in the tax administration. However, with the intervention of the township, ‘reorganization’ was changed to ‘unification’.

Due to the strong insistence of the local government, both government and civil officials came to use only Yeongjocheok. What is interesting is the reason why Hyang claimed Yeongjocheok.

-Because it is the most familiar unit of length.

At that time, the areas of virtue where incense was hung were weapons and iron horses, and here, Yeongjocheok was used. Therefore, the unit of length with which incense is most familiar was Yeongjocheok. Of course, Hyang didn’t say this out loud.

“Think about what will be done in the country in the future. Of course, we will build more buildings, make more weapons, and decide on an army. Think about the iron horses and the railroads that the iron horses will run on. In short, Yeongjocheok will be used the most. That’s it! That’s why we must unify under Yeongjocheok!”

The ministers at the time considered Hyang’s claim reasonable and recommended it to King Sejong.

“Is that so? It won’t be easy. But let’s all work together to make it happen.”

“I follow your orders!”

That was the conclusion, but Sejong glared at Hyang with narrowed eyes.

‘No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem to be for those reasons, but no matter how I look at it, it seems like it was for convenience…’

No matter what the intention was, reorganizing or unifying weights and measures was something that absolutely had to be done. Of course, the people’s response was not positive.

“It has been used well for generations and is still being used well! Annoying Three!”

“I don’t know! If I just hold on, I’ll end up like Yuamu again!”

Even though the fate of fate was handed down, the people did not change easily. But this time, the country did not back down easily.

“What are you thinking about? Hello! Transport these guys away immediately!”

“Oh my gosh, old man Sato!”

King Sejong and the government pushed for the unification of weights and measures, even imposing strong sanctions.

“This is the second coming of Qin Shi Huang!”

The people who had been happy until recently, saying, ‘A prosperous king has emerged,’ protested, saying, ‘A tyrant has emerged,’ but King Sejong pushed ahead to the end. Eventually, after about 10 years, a unified weights and measures system was finally established.

* * *

Despite all the trials and errors caused by problems with weights and measures and the quality of steel, England did not give up.

“There’s a blueprint! All you have to do is try!”

“This is a matter of survival!”

For England, it was literally a matter of survival. It was because of Calais.

“We can’t lose Calais!”

After the Hundred Years’ War, the only remaining English territory in mainland France was Calais. And Calais was not just a territory. Even after the 100 Years’ War ended, the kings of England called themselves ‘Kings of France’ and their base was Calais.

Calais was a land that could not be lost, not only for political reasons but also economically. At that time, the wool exported from England was collected in Calais, and 35% of England’s fiscal revenue was provided here.

-If we lose Calais, we will become a frontier island again!

In this desperate crisis, England was desperately trying to develop cannons. After such desperate efforts, England was finally able to obtain breech-loading cannons. England, which had perfected not only cannons but also explosive bombs to go with them, began producing them in large quantities.

And when England began mass production, Spain presented the bill.

“I have to do the calculations, right?”

“…. We have to do it.”

In the end, after fierce negotiations, the newly produced cannons were divided into 7 for England and 3 for Spain. Whatever the circumstances were, as the new cannons began to be deployed, the military and authorities in England and Spain sighed in relief. He exhaled.

“Whew~. With this, we will be able to stop France’s dominance.”

They were relieved as they deployed the newly developed cannons not only to the army but also to the navy.

* * *

While they were doing so, related intelligence continued to come in to the empire.

Imperial Embassy in Italy There was a lot of information coming in through the imperial army dispatched to the Italian army, but surprisingly, there was also a lot of information openly leaked from the French and English governments. Those in charge of the imperial army were in serious trouble over this information.

” Can you believe this?”

“Still, if you think about the relationship between the two countries…”

The information openly leaked by the French and English governments was about the other country. In other words, France leaked confidential information about England, and England did the opposite. . The issue of the reliability of the information leaked by the two countries reached Hyun.

“What do you think?”

asked Hyeon, Han Myeong-hoe stepped forward and answered,

“I think you just have to believe it to the extent of about 60%.”

“60%. … That’s ambiguous. But I think it’s appropriate. Let’s do it that way. By the way, why do you think they are doing this?”

Shin Suk-ju stepped forward and answered,

“One is the relationship between the two countries. There is no one who does not know that England and France are enemies with each other. Neither country wants the other to be ahead, so they are leaking information to us.”

“Are you saying that each side is holding the other back?”

“That’s right. And the other one in English is ‘Give & take’.”

“Give and take? Hmm…”

Hyun, who pondered Shin Sook-ju’s words for a moment, sneered.

“Is what they want a deal? Is it a return favor? You don’t think they’re doing us a favor by saying a few words like that, do you?”

Han Myeong-hoe stepped forward and responded to Hyeon’s sarcasm.

“They probably aren’t that stupid.”

But Hyang, who heard the story later, shook his head. He stirred.

“The world is overflowing with idiots to that extent or worse.”

In any case, the officials of the Imperial Military and Finance Ministry of the prefecture and county smiled wryly at the reactions of the great powers to the intelligence coming in from Europe, especially regarding the new cannon.

“From now on ,” he said. Do you know that this is the beginning of a truly bloody time?”

“You have to listen to the sound of money flowing out of the treasury like an ebb…”

While working-level officials from the military and the Ministry of Finance and Economy were talking about this, Hyun Eun worked with ministers to do similar things. We were talking.

“Where do you think the noise will start?” To

Hyun’s question, Jang Hang-seon came forward and answered,

“It will probably start with the navy.”

* * *

As Jang Hang-seon said, the military of the European powers, especially the navy. The sound started from there. The newly created cannons were not compatible with the existing warships. Due to the inferior quality of steel compared to the Empire, the new cannons of the European powers were larger and heavier than the Imperial ones. In the end,

in order to properly use the new cannons, battleships were needed. The interior of the ship, especially the framework and gun deck, had to be strengthened on a large scale. After calculating the budget for this, the Navy’s finance officers let out a long sigh.

“Whew~. It would be cheaper to build a new warship.”

But soon, ‘rather’ changed to ‘inevitable’.

It was because of the ‘new shell’ that came with the ‘new cannon’.

The Imperial Army’s name ‘armor-piercing grenade’ was the problem. * * * The artillery shells previously used by the European powers were iron or stone balls cast or carved to match the caliber of the gun. The stone balls were unable to withstand the explosive power of gunpowder and often broke as soon as they were fired

,

so iron balls became the standard for the European powers at that time. It was a cannonball. In a naval battle, these iron balls were surprisingly not very effective. They only made holes in the hull. Therefore, the survivability of not only the battleship but also the crew was quite high. The

most common time for sailors to die in a naval battle was not during gunfire, but during hand-to-hand combat on board. It was time. But the advent of the armor-piercing U-turn changed all this. The hull hit by the armor-piercing grenade had a bigger hole than before. Not only that, but many of the sailors nearby were killed or injured by the fragments and flames created by the shell. In other words, the survivability of the warship itself was greatly reduced.

“How to solve this?”

To the question of ‘high-ranking people,’ shipbuilding experts immediately answered, “

Only an ironclad ship is the answer.” “If possible, a large ship with a steam engine is the answer.”

It has to be a ship.”

In response to the answers from the shipbuilding experts, the dignitaries immediately thought of a warship.

“Charge return ship?”

“…..Yes.”

The dignitaries who heard the answer let out a long sigh.

“Whew~. “It’s a ship that even the Empire doesn’t have.”