Black Corporation: Joseon

Episode 1031 Alsace-Lorraine. (9)

The predictions of European intellectuals were quickly conveyed to Seoul. The ministers in Seoul who received this did not show much surprise.

“It’s what we expected, so it’s not surprising.”

“If you have the will to do it, don’t you think you can do it?”

“And that’s why we worked so hard to make it so that they wouldn’t turn their eyes to us.”

Meanwhile, Hyun, who visited Sugang Palace, asked Hyang for her opinion.

“What do you think?”

“We will continue to growl for a while, but the war will not be easy.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t have any money.”

“ah!”

Hyeon immediately let out an exclamation at Hyang’s words. Since ancient times, there have been problems in all kinds of areas regarding the state affairs seen by the king and emperor. Thanks to this, it was given the name ‘Mangi (萬機)’, and the monarch’s direct review and decision came to be called ‘Mangichinram (萬機親覽)’.

Despite its grandiose name, most problems could be solved with just one method.

It was money. Thanks to this, the bottom line is that state affairs ‘starts with money and ends with money.’ The grandiose packaging was ‘revenue’ and ‘expenditure’, and among these ‘things where money was spent’, the most frequently used one was ‘war’.

Although Hyang was impressed by Hyang’s words, Hyeon immediately pointed out the problem.

“Couldn’t we plan a short war?”

“For a short-term war to be possible, one side must have overwhelmingly stronger military power than the other. But shouldn’t France and the Holy Roman Empire be considered equal to each other? In addition, the situation on the battlefield has changed a lot. “There are so many artillery pieces, so we’re going to fight a short-term war that requires less money? That’s a delusion. Or should I say it’s a gamble?”

“But wouldn’t it be possible to think of the Liaodong War, in which our empire could have become an empire?’

When I mentioned the Liaodong War, which turned Joseon into an empire, Hyang shook his head lightly.

“That war took over 10 years with only a short period of preparation time. If you think about the process, it is definitely not a short-term war.”

“Isn’t preparing for war the daily routine of the military?”

“War begins with deciding who the war will be against. And didn’t I already tell you? They say that a short-term war is only possible when one side completely overwhelms the other. This is the Liaodong War. No, to put it bluntly, the Liaodong War was lucky. If the Ming Emperor at the time had decided to wage a long war, no one knows how the outcome would have changed. No, there is a high possibility that we were defeated.”

“Ah…”

Hyeon nodded at Hyang’s explanation. Hyang lightly cleared his throat and continued speaking.

“As I said before, it is a war without long guns and cannons. The era has become unthinkable. And there were more casualties on the battlefield. ruler! Think of the emperor as the monarch of a country waging war. There were more casualties than expected, and a lot of war costs had already been spent. What will you do? Would you stop the war?”

“If it’s common sense, wouldn’t it be so?”

“But looking at the other side, they’ve suffered as much damage as we have. I think I can win with one good hit. What are you going to do? Throw away common sense and tell me your honest feelings.”

Hyeon, who had been thinking about Hyang’s words for a while, opened his mouth with difficulty.

“Then I will give it a try. We will try it just once and if the results are not good, we will immediately enter into negotiations.” Hyang

shook his head at Hyeon’s words.

“That one attempt will lead to a long-term war. Wouldn’t it take a lot of staff and budget to make that one attempt? But can we stop the war through negotiations? Compensation for dead or injured soldiers and their families How will you resolve the public sentiment of the people who are demanding responsibility for the financial consequences that have been devastated by the war? In such a situation, there is only one answer to protect the throne and power. Fighting until the winner is won. Even if the victory is full of wounds, if you win, the people will support the monarch and you will be able to extract compensation from the opponent.” ”

Ah…”

Only then did Hyeon nod his head with an expression of understanding. Looking at it, Hyang muttered to himself,

‘World War I followed exactly that kind of story. Who would have thought that a war that was expected to last six months at most would turn into such hell?’

Hyeon, who nodded at Hyang’s words, summarized the situation.

“Then there will be no war between France and the Holy Roman Empire right now.”

“Not right now, but there will be a war someday. The fact that other people’s rice cakes seem bigger is the same whether in the East or the West.”

“The human heart is truly treacherous.”

Hyeon, who was smiling bitterly at Hyang’s words, changed his words.

“What Tae Sang-taeng said is true. It’s like gold and jade birds. “I will tell this to the Ministry of National Defense and ask them to take note.”

“That is too much praise. And the people working in the Ministry of Defense and the Imperial Army are competent people, so you don’t have to interfere with each and every one of them.”

Hyeon immediately responded to Hyang’s words.

“There is a saying in the author that says, ‘Be sure to beat on the stone bridge before crossing it.’ So far, the imperial army has written only a brilliant history. You may become intoxicated with it, so your vision may become blurred, so you must be careful.”

Hyang nodded at Hyun’s words this time.

“That could be possible. No, I’ve already experienced the bitter taste once…”

Hyang’s expression when he mentioned ‘bitter taste’ was truly bitter. It was because of the memories of the ‘Battle of Corsica’, where he won but suffered greater damage than expected. Meanwhile, from the side, Hyang The officer who was recording the conversation between Hyeon and Hyeon added:

-…. It was truly nice to see His Majesty the Emperor and His Majesty the Emperor discussing the situation in Europe and the well-being of the empire like this. The

officer said:

It is truly dangerous to dream of ‘turning the tables with just one victory’ as you said. But what is even more problematic is that there are not only those in the military who dream of this. I have to spend money

like my own blood to catch the relay race and pay for it… ..

“Officer, why are you writing such nonsense for so long?”

“Oh, no!”

– says the officer.

It feels like the friends in the military will have more and more homework. The officer’s prediction was right. Afterwards, the military Those who planned strategies and operations at the Academy, the Imperial Army Headquarters, and the Ministry of Defense had to keep the following words in mind:

– In a war between countries, forget short-term wars from your

mind !

There was no war. Both France and the Holy Roman Empire had too little money to even wage a war. Instead, there was no war, but minor disputes continued to occur. However, at most, it was a conflict at the level of a conflict between about 100 people. This did not develop into a major problem because the leaders of both countries did not want to make a big deal out of it.

Instead, the leaders of both countries focused their efforts on improving the internal aspects. Ships equipped with steam engines developed by themselves. France, which succeeded in development, began to focus more actively on the development of the Gloria (South America in the 21st century) and Terra (Australia in the 21st century). Not to be outdone,

England also succeeded in developing steamships and became France’s most powerful ship in the Gloria and Terra. It became a strong competitor. Whatever the situation, the strongest force in Europe at this time was France. To keep France in check, other powers began to form alliances.

But this was not an easy task. The Habsburgs, who had concluded a marriage alliance with Spain, also pursued an alliance with Portugal. However, Portugal and Spain were in conflict and this was impossible. Italy also did not easily join hands with the Habsburgs. At least when Magyar I of Hungary died without an heir, stability was achieved by signing the Treaty of Pressburg with II. Ulászló, the new monarch of Bohemia-Hungary.

Thanks to this, over time, the dynamic structure of Europe came to be divided into two large groups surrounding France. One was England-Portugal-Italy and the other was Habsburg-Spain-Bohemia-Hungary.

As the situation unfolded, France, feeling a crisis, could not sit still and quickly began looking for allies. The person France was trying to make an ally was the German Knights Templar. And through this, Eastern Europe, following the Baltic region and Poland, appeared in earnest on the European stage, which had been dominated by Western Europe.

* * *

Until the Italian unification war, Eastern Europe was far from the current trend of the time. This was because they were struggling to escape from the shadow of Mongolia, which remained dark until then. The first to stand up amidst these struggles was the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (multiple countries serving one monarch).

Poland-Lithuania began to grow by making the German Knights Templar a vassal state. Poland-Lithuania, which used Gdansk, the capital of the German Knights, as its trading port, began to gradually build up its economic power by exporting grains. Based on this growing economic and military power, Poland-Lithuania strengthened its influence on its surroundings.

And in this process, relations with the Habsburgs were established. This was because Ulaszló II, from the Jagiełow dynasty that ruled Poland and Lithuania at the time, was the monarch of the Kingdom of Hungary and Bohemia. In the end, it was predictable that Poland and Lithuania would soon join hands with the Holy Roman Empire, and to keep this in check, France reached out to the German Knights.

* * *

Although it was subordinated to Poland and Lithuania and became a vassal state, the German Knights Templar did not break its will for independence. Therefore, Poland and Lithuania were constantly trying to break their will for independence.

France’s intention was as follows.

-The German Knights Templar are extremely self-righteous. Because of this, there are many enemies.

-If the German Knights Templar rises again, neighboring countries will have no time to focus on other things to check or suppress them.

-Gdansk, the base of the German Knights, is the largest trade port in Poland and Lithuania. Through Gdansk, Polish grain is exported to other places.

-France is also a grain exporting country.

-If Gdansk is taken out of Polish-Lithuanian hands, the Polish-Lithuanian grain industry will be hit hard. Instead, we, France, will occupy that empty space.

With this intention, France reached out to the German Knights Templar, whose symbol was the ‘black cross’. The German Knights, who still dreamed of independence, accepted France’s proposal. When the German Knights accepted the offer, French long guns and freight cannons began to flow into the German Knights via the sea route.

And the German Knights’ army, armed with French weapons, began fighting against Poland once again.