Black Corporation: Joseon

Episode 1086: Things keep happening… (1)

“Hehehehe……”

“Hehehehehe……”

“Kkekekekekekekekeut……”

Former and current position As the three emperors continued to laugh grimly, the eunuchs and maids who had been waiting for them retreated little by little with white faces. No, the eunuchs and maids, who still had little experience, had retreated far away and were huddled together, shivering.

The only ones keeping their seats were the old eunuchs, court ladies, chief ministers, and officials familiar to the emperors. The officers and clerks gritted their teeth and took up gold pens with trembling hands and wrote down the records. And there were some who didn’t mind at all.

They were craftsmen who came with the object in question. No, he couldn’t laugh out loud because the place was different, but he was smiling a grim smile similar to that of emperors. Whether the people who came with them trembled in fear or not, the emperors did not stop laughing as they looked at the object in front of them.

“Hehehe……You have accomplished a great thing.”

“Where is my own credit? This is thanks to the hard work of the craftsmen. Anyway, I can’t stop laughing when I look at that guy. Hehehe……”

“No. Thanks to that child, Tae Sang-tae has less worries. If this is not filial piety, what else is it? Anyway, now that that child has come out, the only thing left to do is to go out with a bang, as if the dam had been cleared. If that happens, the ship I was looking for will soon be…kkeukkeuk.”

The emperors looked deeply moved as they looked at the objects displayed and mounted on large, solid iron pedestals. Of course, the sound of laughter didn’t suit me at all. No, the act of rubbing one’s hands while trying to figure out where to use it right away was not appropriate.

The object that made the three emperors look like villains was an internal combustion engine, to be exact, a gasoline engine.

* * *

It was Wan who played the biggest role in the development of the internal combustion engine, which could be called a revolution. Hyang enjoyed virtue in a variety of fields to the point where the term ‘gwang(gwang)deok’ is appropriate. To put it the other way around, I was at the level of ‘just scratching the surface’ or ‘intermediate nerd’ in quite a few fields. Thanks to this, his fanatic acquaintances in the 21st century often made jokes like this.

“After all, if you say you’re a fan, you have to see the end! It’s heresy! It’s a pseudo! “Hang him on the stake!”

“It’s heresy!”

Every time I heard a joke like this, Hyang reacted like this.

“Fundamentalists, go away!”

However, unlike this scent, Wan was only obsessed with the ‘flying machine’. It was Wan who had accumulated such deep knowledge that he was evaluated as being comparable to incense only in terms of materials and power engines. However, the fact that I had this deep knowledge was only related to the ‘flying machine’.

-Development or discovery of materials with light, elastic, and strong properties.

-A power engine that is small but produces powerful force.

-Development or discovery of materials that would make such a power engine possible.

-Discovery of fuel suitable for such a power engine.

As a result of setting this goal and working hard, Wan was the first to put the Stirling engine, which uses oil as fuel, into operation. It was a ‘new external combustion engine’ that showed much better performance than the existing steam engine, but Wan shook his head.

“It’s useful, but it can’t be said to be better than a bhikkhu.”

Wan, who realized the limitations of the ‘new external combustion engine’, passionately devoted himself to research and development. Wan’s breakthrough came through papers disguised as reports sent from our research institute. The institute’s report, delivered to Shinji on a regular basis, was filled with various academic papers published by the journal. Through these papers, Wan learned about the concept of ‘combustion’ and the existence of ‘oxygen’.

“Does this look like something is going to get caught?”

While studying the paper, Wan picked up a weak clue and dug deeper into it. Meanwhile, information on the development of a new type of self-exploited bomb using an internal combustion chamber and mixture accelerated Wan’s research.

“Does this look good? “Would you like to try it?”

But Wan’s attempt failed. The power engine of the new self-igniting bomb was that gas burned in the internal combustion chamber turned a pinwheel connected to the propulsion shaft, and this power was used to operate the pinwheel-type propeller of the bomb. Wan changed the fuel here from alcohol (ethanol) to petroleum. This was due to political reasons such as unit price and supply and demand efficiency issues.

Although it was an empire where words such as ‘Spring Punggi’ only existed in records, it did not like to play with grain. It was possible to cover it up with various excuses, saying that it was a self-propelled bomb, but if it was used as fuel for flying machines, it was certain that it would be met with tremendous opposition.

Because the amount of usage itself cannot be compared. Therefore, Wan changed the fuel to oil and then activated the propeller of the self-exploited bomb. But Wan’s experiment failed. The blades of the wind vane used to generate power entering the combustion chamber could not withstand the high temperature applied for a long period of time. In addition, the soot generated during the combustion process clumped together and caused the shaft to break.

It was the result of the empire’s technological level, which, although it had developed explosively, still had a long way to go. In the end, Wan had to come up with a new concept again. And as time passed, several papers began to appear in the field of electricity. And among those papers was one about electric ignition.

“wait? “You can make sparks fly with electricity?”

Wan and the artisans stopped at this point as if they were possessed by something.

“Electric spark from the sealed combustion chamber mixture…”

“It looks like something will work…”

“If it seems like it will work, let’s try to make it happen!”

In this way, a new power engine was created using the craftsmen of Area 52.

“Ha~. “It was a truly difficult time.”

Looking at the newly created power engine, Wan expressed mixed emotions. Seeing Wan’s expression, the craftsmen who came with him nodded with similar expressions. It was because it reminded me of the vicious struggle I had been through.

“Still, I am truly grateful that I got to see the results before I left Shinji.”

Hearing Wan’s words, Hyun glanced at Woo on one side. If I were to express the expression on Woo’s face in one sentence, it would be as follows.

-It was a good day.

* * *

According to the law, Hyeon had to hand over the throne to Wu a few years ago and go to Xinji. However, a major incident occurred in which he secured oil from Persia through collaboration with the Ming and Japan, and Hyeon’s seniority was pushed back a few years.

“……So, I will perform the delayed appointment this time. got it?”

“…..yes.”

Looking at Woo, who had an expression like a cow being dragged to a slaughterhouse, Hyun continued speaking.

“Even if you make that kind of face, you can’t avoid being judged. “Isn’t it time to give up?”

“Yes…”

“So what will you do when you ascend to the throne?”

“I will do my best to promote the well-being of the empire and ensure that the people enjoy comfort.”

“Does it sound like you’re just going to complete 20 years without any major accidents?”

“…….”

“You know the saying, ‘The tree wants to stand still, but the wind doesn’t stop,’ right?”

“yes.”

“Is this only a story about filial piety? The same goes for all national affairs. look at me “I thought I would just spend the next 20 years without doing anything major, but didn’t this happen at the last minute?”

Hearing Hyeon’s words, Woo bowed his head and muttered to himself.

‘That’s why I wasn’t going to become the crown prince! These damn children! I just want to ascend to the throne! It’s all a personnel change! ‘I’ll bury you in Lake Baikal in the far northeast and the perennial ice field further up there for 20 years!’

Hyun’s voice reached Woo’s ears as he decided to take revenge on the brothers who had handed over the crown prince to him.

“…Still, I know how you feel to some extent, so I’ll try to help you a little. What do you think is most important in order to achieve the ‘20 years without extra years’ that you so desperately want?”

“Isn’t it military power?”

“Military power is something that must always be considered important. The same goes for diplomacy. Governance is more important. People’s livelihood is more important than governance. But for the future, there is something more important than this. Do you know what it is?’

Woo, who had been pondering Hyun’s question for a while, bowed his head.

“Youngja is so stupid that I don’t know. Please tell me the answer.”

“It’s communication.”

“Communication… you mean?”

“Yes.”

Hyun explained why communication is important.

-Emergency communication between the main branch and the North branch currently takes less than half an hour (about an hour).

I can also receive urgent communications sent from near Lake Baikal in the far northeast within half a day at the latest.

-However, such fast communication is not possible in areas that are not connected by land to our headquarters.

-Even if you use Jeonseo-gu, it takes several days and the probability of it arriving properly is not high.

-For this reason, even if a dispute involving the interests of the empire occurs in a country or region far away from the empire, it takes too long to be aware of it and prepare countermeasures.

In the worst case, there are cases where the patient fails and ends up receiving a follow-up visit.

-To prevent this as much as possible, a lot of authority is delegated to officials dispatched to distant foreign countries and a significant number of imperial troops are stationed there.

-This is a method with many problems.

There may be officials who abuse the authority granted to them and exercise their authority. Additionally, in the process of stationing and maintaining the imperial army, more expenses than necessary may be incurred.

“….. That is why I delayed abdicating to you as the Persian problem arose. Thanks to this slow communication, things that the main office could find and implement in a day or two take a ridiculous half a year, and even if only 10,000 imperial troops are mobilized, there is a situation where at least 30,000 remain. And all of this costs a lot of money.”

“Ah…”

Wu nodded as if he finally understood Hyun’s explanation. From what I have learned through watching from Hyun’s side and acting as proxy, there were quite a few things that took up time due to communication problems.

‘If fast communication becomes possible, we can be elected in 20 years! This is for sure!’

“…And there is something else good besides that. “If such fast communication were possible, wouldn’t we be able to find out more quickly what music and pop songs are popular in other places?”

“ah! Soja, I’ll do my best!”

* * *

That’s how it went, and it was Woo who was full of enthusiasm. However, while listening to Wan’s words, Woo felt the ‘forced reality’ once again.

‘good night! That’s how you end up as an emperor! No, I will do my best and do my best! Instead, no matter what I do, I’ll just do it for 20 years! Additional thrones are out of the question! ‘I won’t do it even if I die!’

It was Woo who was firmly determined to ‘defend his reign for 20 years!’

‘Then the communication problem will be solved unconditionally! The good news is that I now have people by my side who will become Tae-tae-sang-sang and Tae-tae-sang-sang. ‘You can’t miss this great opportunity!’