Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 1110

1110. The Emperor’s Melancholy (4)

“Hoo~. I can’t just reject this…”

Woo sighed, resting his hand on his forehead as he received the additional budget request from Hyang and Wan.

‘I’d love to tear it up right away, but it’s also true that if it’s made properly, it can be useful in many ways. This is truly a dilemma.’

“Hoo~.”

Woo sighed deeply again. When Wan first introduced the internal combustion engine, Hyang and Wan were excited and talked about its potential. According to their explanation at the time, the internal combustion engine was a power source that could be used in various fields.

Therefore, Hyun, who was the emperor at the time, decided to allocate the budget necessary for improving the performance of the internal combustion engine. And Woo and the ministers agreed with this decision. But…

“The country’s budget isn’t a bottomless pit…”

Woo muttered to himself and glanced at the ministers’ expressions. The Prime Minister had a resigned look, and the Minister of Finance had a bleak expression. On the other hand, the Minister of National Defense had a face full of desperation.

“Hoo.”

Woo sighed deeply and came to a conclusion.

“Minister of Finance.”

“…Yes. I will allocate it from the reserve fund.”

“I appreciate your hard work. I am always grateful for your efforts and those of the Ministry of Finance.”

“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless.”

“Let’s stop here for today.”

After the meeting, the ministers left Geunjeongjeon [the main hall of Gyeongbok Palace, used for important state functions] and moved to the Prime Minister’s office. The Minister of National Defense, noticing the Minister of Finance’s deathly pale face, joked.

“Aigoo~. Whenever we face budget issues like this, I wish I could find a cornucopia somewhere! Isn’t that right, Lord? Ah hahaha!”

In response to the Minister of National Defense’s jest, the Minister of Finance retorted in a disgruntled voice.

“If we had a cornucopia, the country would be ruined! You don’t even know what you’re talking about, you cornucopia…”

The Minister of National Defense, as well as the Prime Minister and other ministers, expressed their doubts at the Minister of Finance’s rebuke. Seeing the other ministers’ reactions, the Minister of Finance looked dumbfounded and asked back.

“Lords, do you know how much you have to pay to buy a sack of white rice these days?”

The ministers all fell silent, and the Minister of Finance’s neck veins popped out.

“When the Imperial currency was first printed, it was 1 silver nyang [a unit of currency] per sack. But now, you have to pay 4 silver nyang and an additional 600 bronze coins! It has increased four times, no, almost five times in the past 70 years!”

The Minister of Finance raised his voice and explained the rise in prices and the resulting chain effects, and the impact this had on the empire’s economy.

“Hoo-wook~ Hoo-wook~.”

After finishing his explanation and catching his breath, the Minister of Finance moistened his throat and began to wrap up.

“This is why we don’t reduce the items of the Monopoly Office even when memorials flood in, and why we don’t allow the people to build ironworks privately. And this is why Emperor Won and Grand Emperor Tae Tae insisted on ‘Wangtoron (all land in the country belongs to the king)’ even though they knew it was a forced argument! Because if we make even a small mistake, it becomes speculation instead of investment. And the empire’s economy is not yet able to withstand such speculation! But, what? A cornucopia? Do you want to count the Imperial currency by weight instead of the printed face value? Or, are you going to carry sacks of rice every time you travel, like in the old days!”

The Prime Minister stepped in to defuse the situation, chuckling at the Minister of Finance’s scolding.

“Hahaha. Do you think we didn’t know that? We were just trying to lighten the mood of the Lord and the Ministry of Finance officials who are suffering from the budget…”

However, the Prime Minister’s attempt backfired.

“Hmph! Lighten the mood, my ass! Have you forgotten the training center you had to go through as soon as you started your career? Have you forgotten the ‘Elementary Economics’ you had to learn at the training center? If not, why would a cornucopia come out!”

As the backlash grew stronger, the ministers glared at the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defense. In the end, the Prime Minister and the Minister of National Defense had to bow their heads.

“I misspoke. I’ll buy you a big drink, so please stop being angry.”

“You don’t even know properly…”

“I misspoke! Come on, come on! Stop being angry now!”

Later, when Hyang heard this story, he chuckled and muttered.

“It’s not a perfect match, but it reminds me of something I heard before. ‘If the designer goes wild, the engineer grabs the back of their neck, and if the engineer goes wild, the consumer grabs the back of their neck.'”

Despite all the commotion, the budget came in, and Hyang, Wan, and the artisans began to speed up again. However, not long after, news from France set Hyang, Wan, Da Vinci, and the artisans on fire.

-France succeeds in developing the flying machine.

This was the news from France.

* * *

Since opening its doors during King Sejong’s reign, many foreigners have visited and returned from Joseon, now the Empire. The travelogues written by these visitors became very popular, and more and more people visited the Empire.

Through these people, the Empire’s Bigu [airships] and self-propelled Bigu [dirigibles] were known, and the existence of the flying machine was also known. At first, only a few enthusiasts were interested in their existence. However, as the military value of Bigu and self-propelled Bigu became known through the Italian unification war, many countries became obsessed with developing Bigu and self-propelled Bigu, and succeeded.

Outside the Empire, Bigu and self-propelled Bigu with increasingly superior performance were appearing, but the flying machine was still standing still.

However, this situation began to change greatly through the contest led by Hyang and the emergence of its results.

-The goal of the contest is to develop a light and powerful engine.

-This new engine is needed because of the flying machine.

-And, a new engine came out, and the Empire fell silent again.

-Conclusion: The flying machine is a very valuable item militarily.

Of course, there were voices from all sides saying that the conclusion was too highly evaluated. However, two of the European powers dismissed such criticism.

“This is an understatement!”

“We must preempt the flying machine!”

The countries that said this and showed enthusiasm were France and Habsburg. As the two countries that had fought aerial battles using self-propelled Bigu in the ‘Second Lorraine Dispute,’ they immediately recognized the importance of the flying machine.

“There is a saying in the Empire, isn’t there? ‘Whoever controls the sky controls the land, and whoever controls the sea controls the world.’ It’s already too late for the sea, but we can’t be late for the sky!”

“Don’t forget the lessons learned in Lorraine with bloodshed!”

In this way, France and Habsburg entered into an arms race in the aviation field. And the other European powers who saw their competition – especially England and Italy – were lost in thought.

“Looking at what those two warmongers are doing, it seems like we should develop it too?”

“Is it really necessary?”

The reason why other powers were troubled was because of the advantages and disadvantages that Bigu and self-propelled Bigu had shown so far.

-Advantage: You can see the situation of the enemy camp more clearly by looking down from the high sky.

-Disadvantage: In the case of Bigu, free control is impossible, and in the case of self-propelled Bigu, it is impossible to move a long distance. Also, it is impossible to go high.

Steam engines required water and coal. However, self-propelled Bigu had a limit on the amount of load it could carry. With the performance of the self-propelled Bigu that has been released so far, it was difficult to travel back and forth across the Dover Strait, and it was almost impossible to cross the Alps.

Therefore, other powers could not easily decide and were worried.

“A new engine, ah! The Empire named it an internal combustion engine, didn’t they? It’s not easy to develop that internal combustion engine and even develop a flying machine. It’s not like it costs just a penny or two. And it’s not like a definite success is guaranteed…”

“It seems like a wiser way to buy it later when a decent product comes out.”

While other powers were having such concerns and could not easily make a decision, France released its first product. What France released was a triplane.

The reason why France made a triplane was because of the limitations of the engine.

Despite investing huge amounts of money and continuing experiments and improvements, they could not obtain a powerful internal combustion engine.

“If you give us more time and budget…”

The scholars and artisans in charge of developing the internal combustion engine said this, but the French politicians had to reject their request. This was because they did not have the resources due to the Ottoman heir decision battle and the subsequent Ottoman military support.

“We don’t have money right now. First, make a ‘flying machine’ based on the best engine that has come out so far.”

“Yes.”

“Ah! And find a name to replace the word ‘flying machine’! It’s not easy to pronounce.”

“Yes.”

At the command of the higher-ups, scholars and artisans devoted themselves to development while searching through various Imperial travelogues again.

“To launch a flying machine with an engine with insufficient power, we have no choice but to increase the size of the wings.”

“I agree.”

The newly created flying machine finally succeeded in flying after much deliberation. However, even though it was successful, the scholars and artisans were not satisfied. This was because the wings of the flying machine were too large.

In order to support the huge area of the wings, the structure of the wings had to be made strong. However, this increased the weight and made it too unwieldy.

“It’s like an elephant is flying, not a bird.”

It wasn’t just that it was unwieldy. Even though they tried their best to make it strong, the wings were strained if they made even a slightly rapid maneuver. In the end, after much deliberation and attempts, a large mast was erected on the fuselage, and many wires connected the wings and the mast.

Through these improvements, the new flying machine became a little more agile, but the huge area of the wings still held it back. While various concerns were being made to solve this problem, someone came up with a brilliant idea.

-What if we cut the wings that are spread out to the side and stack them on top of each other?

The scholars and artisans who calculated the possibility of a novel idea shone their eyes.

“I think it’s possible?”

And many attempts followed. After the biplane became the basis and even a 5-leaf plane came out, the one that was evaluated as the most optimal was the triplane. And the French soldiers and politicians who saw the results of the scholars and artisans nodded.

“Great. Good job.”

“The damn Habsburg guys can’t even fly yet, and the Empire guys who like to brag are quiet. Now, the sky belongs to our great France!”

In this way, the flying machine adopted was a two-seater triplane.

-The person sitting in the front controls the flying machine, and the person sitting in the back operates the Hwacha [a type of multiple rocket launcher].

-If a battle breaks out, the person sitting in the back turns the Hwacha to the left and right of the aircraft to attack the enemy.

It was a battle method similar to the battle method of battleships and self-propelled Bigu. It was a doctrine that came out because there was still a lack of understanding of aerial warfare. After that, there was a small commotion over this flying machine.

It was because of the name to be attached to the flying machine.

The first name that came out was ‘Icarus’. However, this was soon met with strong opposition.

“Why the name of someone who failed to fly! I refuse!”

“Such an ominous name is not allowed!”

After such strong opposition, the name attached was ‘Daedalus’, the father of Icarus and a successful flyer. Later. After confirming this name, Hyang muttered with a strange expression.

“It would have been really fun if it had been named ‘Rafale’.”