Black Corporation: Joseon

Episode 1010: The name of the firewood is the arms race (3)

– A large ironclad ship equipped with a steam engine.

Shipbuilding experts argued that the new cannon was absolutely necessary for use in the navy, but high-ranking officials did not immediately give approval.

No, I couldn’t do it.

“How much money has been spent to build new warships so far…”

* * * As

the Imperial Navy became active in the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean and ‘Terra’ was discovered, European powers also engaged in full-scale warship competition. In particular, European powers, seeing the imperial navy roaming the seas, actively introduced new concepts to the warships they would use.

-You will be able to use the colonel’s cannon.

-Secure quick mobility.

In order to meet these requirements, the attention of European shipbuilding experts focused on the shipyards of Suez, to be exact, Prince Henry Port.

This was because the front lines of the imperial fleet stationed in the Mediterranean were being built at the time. The imperial ships built at Prince Henry’s Port lacked key designs such as the double hull characteristic of the imperial army, but their overall performance was still superior to that of the ships of European powers.

Accordingly, European powers designed warships with similar hull shapes and began experiments. After several trials and errors, a stable design was completed, and the great powers, especially England and France, began to competitively produce new ships in large quantities. It was to take control of the route to Terra, bypassing Africa.

And soon after, Portugal and Spain entered this competition in earnest. Thanks to the same basic base, the ships of the great powers, which seemed similar but had slightly different appearances, roamed the eastern Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

As a natural result, the ship catalogs created to identify enemy ships became increasingly thicker.

* * *

Because of this background, high-ranking people in the powers could not easily give the ‘Go sign’. This was because the costs incurred in developing new ships and building them in large quantities had not yet been properly recovered.

This was even more serious in France and Spain. This was because a large number of ships had been lost in the Battle of Corsica and subsequent hunting by the Imperial Navy, and mass construction had begun again to recover them.

However, other powers were not properly aware of this. This was because France and Spain carried out a camouflage operation to prevent other powers from finding out about their situation. They carried out camouflage operations, such as changing the name plate with the name of the ship and changing the captain and crew, to make the damage they would suffer appear smaller than it actually was. In addition, those involved were strictly cracked down to prevent the facts from leaking out.

In the case of Spain, even though they joined hands with England, they did not even say until the end how much damage they and France had suffered. However, the great powers ultimately had no choice but to request the development of new warships from their monarchs.

“If we fall behind here, something even more terrible will happen next.”

England had no choice but to be conscious of France, and France had no choice but to be conscious of England. The situation in Spain and Portugal was the same.

And on the route through the Atlantic to Gloria, everyone except their own ships were enemies. Because of this back-and-forth relationship, the great powers were not in a position to start developing new ships. The monarchs of the great powers heaved a long sigh after seeing the reports submitted by the prime ministers.

“Whoa. It’s an unavoidable expense, but it makes me feel sick.”

“I will do my best to make it a success as quickly as possible.”

“I look forward to it.”

However, among the European powers’ politicians and intellectuals, no one expected that this would result in something like falling into a swamp. Only the people of the empire who had already experienced it and were still suffering knew about it.

Words like these began to circulate among the empire’s working-level officials who confirmed the intelligence.

“When will that Cheadle’s crotch be torn?”

* * *

“As I said…”

The shipbuilding experts of the European powers in charge of developing new ships also had headaches.

The idea of a ‘large ironclad ship equipped with a steam engine’ was not just a matter of increasing the size of the ship, installing a steam engine, and covering it with iron armor. The shape of the hull and the skeletal system had to be reconsidered from the beginning.

“I can’t help it.”

In the end, the Joseon experts of the great powers came to use the empire’s sudden return as a reference. However, the assault return ships staying at the Livorno military port were classified. Joseon experts from the great powers visited high-ranking officials and suggested a workaround.

“Please obtain paintings depicting the Battle of Corsica at the time.”

“The pictures? Why?”

“It’s because of the assault return.”

“….I understand.”

As a result of this chain reaction, the prices of paintings depicting that time skyrocketed, and several artists were left with a lot of money. Although the accuracy of the proportions cannot be measured, the engineers of the great powers, who at least knew what the shape of the hull was, began to design the hull skeleton and various other things based on this.

“The biggest hurdle has been overcome. We’ve built big ships, so the rest will be smooth.”

Experts were optimistic about the future, but soon they faced a huge wall.

-Level of technology inferior to that of the Empire.

A wall that could not be easily overcome was blocking their path. The first thing that stopped them was low-quality iron.

As a result, the output and efficiency of the steam engine decreased, and the size had to be increased to solve this problem. As large and less efficient steam engines were installed, the hull had to become larger, and the framework had to be made more rigid to handle the hull. Then the weight of the hull had to be increased and a more powerful steam engine was required. In that case,

a never-ending vicious cycle was created. The shipbuilding experts of the great powers, who were worried over and over again, had no choice but to come up with a compromise. The compromise they came up with was the ‘gibeomseon (機帆船)’.

“Let’s set up sails like we’ve done so far. Let’s use the steam engine only when we need high speed when we encounter spirit winds during battle.”

“That’s the best thing for now.”

Shipbuilding experts, who had been drawing attention to the design of the ship, soon tilted their heads.

“You look kind of familiar?”

“I think I saw this somewhere… Where was it?”

The experts of the great powers, who were remembering, soon placed their hands on their foreheads.

“Black Mirror…..”

“You said you were building a battleship, but did you come up with a transport ship?…” It

wasn’t long before the shipbuilding experts, who were suffering from a sense of self-destruction, felt a chill go down their spines.

“You mean the Empire has already passed this road? How far ahead are they?”

“The Empire must be designing new warships…”

“It’s a nightmare.”

Shipbuilding experts who understood the situation up to this point summarized it and uploaded it to the top. High-ranking people also became serious about this. The monarchs who received their reports also had serious expressions.

* * *

After receiving the report through the Prime Minister, Charles VIII looked at the Prime Minister, placing his hand on his forehead.

“…So what do those in charge of shipbuilding say? Was there an alternative?”

“There are two alternatives they have put forward. For the time being, they will maintain their power with existing battleships and continue to focus on research and development. The other is to adopt the model ship they are currently designing as their main force and then improve it step by step.”

“What are the pros and cons between the two?”

“The former must endure the current unstable situation, but if development is successful, it can catch up in an instant. The latter…”

“Wait.”

Charles VIII, who interrupted the Prime Minister, pointed out the problem.

“When will we see results from that research and development?”

“Scholars and craftsmen are doing their best, so we will be able to receive good results soon.” “

So, when does ‘soon’ mean?”

“……”

“It is impossible to know when it will end. Let’s put our hopes on this and just hold on for now, shall we? With England just around the corner?’

“So, Your Highness, are you choosing the latter?”

“That’s right. The empire I know is like a bear that sleeps when its stomach is full. As long as you don’t touch it first, nothing happens, but if you touch it rashly, it gets angry. When it gets angry, even if it is full, it bites and tears the other person to pieces.”

“I guess so.”

The Prime Minister nodded at Charles VIII’s words. When the chancellor agreed, Charles VIII made a conclusion.

“The situation that has arisen now is not only for us in France, but also for others, especially England. So what is the best? Rather than catching up with the Empire, it is more important to suppress others nearby first.”

“Other powers may purchase warships from the empire.”

“Why did I call the Empire a ‘well-fed bear’? The Empire hates troublesome things. If it sells warships, it will sell them everywhere. Isn’t it clear from what the Empire has done in Italy?”

The Prime Minister, who pondered Charles VIII’s words for a moment, soon nodded.

* * *

In the ‘War of Italian Unification’, the empire moved very actively. However, once the war was over and the situation was settled, the empire immediately withdrew. The powers that were analyzing the war policy after the end of the war soon came to similar conclusions.

-The Empire was confident that war would break out in Italy.

-If this was left unattended, it was certain that the empire would suffer great losses in various fields.

-For this reason, the empire moved in advance and steered the situation in a favorable direction.

-And as soon as the desired result was achieved, he immediately stepped down.

-Instead, we gave strength to Switzerland, Portugal, and Italy to equalize the probability of troublesome incidents occurring.

The European powers analyzed up to this point reached the following conclusions about the empire.

-They are smart, but lazy.

-If one’s own interests are maintained, one does not ‘actively’ move.

The imperial officials who later heard this assessment were outraged.

“Lazy? You guys try taking charge of the empire’s administration! Are you calling me lazy?”

“We just stopped it from escalating!”

In the end, Charles VIII chose ‘Ki Beom-seon’. And the monarchs of other European powers took similar measures. This was because it was more urgent to deal with competitors right in front of us rather than a distant empire. As a result, they fell into a deeper quagmire.

* * *

The biggest reason why the European powers fell into the quagmire was ‘mutual distrust.’ The European powers had a history of clashing with each other at least once or twice. Because of this, they could not trust each other and had no intention of stopping the arms race.

If it had been history before the intervention of the Hyang, the ‘marriage alliance’ would have slowly begun, but with the intervention of the Hyang, the ‘marriage alliance’ disappeared into the distance. As bordering countries became distrustful of each other, the arms race continued to inject energy.

The next biggest reasons were ‘outdated technology’ and ‘insufficient capital’. No, ‘insufficient capital’ was the biggest reason. A continuing problem with new ships as well as new cannons was the lower quality steel compared to imperial steel. No, not just steel, but all ‘iron materials’ were of lower quality compared to the Empire. It wasn’t just quality.

The large steel plate that would cover the hull of the new warship was also much smaller than that of the Empire. This was because the steel mill’s capacity was insufficient. Perhaps this was the biggest butterfly effect brought about by the intervention of scent.

The European powers did not have sufficient capital.