Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 1112

1112. The Emperor’s Melancholy (6)

Having confirmed the possibilities, the officers immediately drafted a brief proposal and submitted it to their superior.

“Hmm…”

The superior, reviewing the proposal, soon rummaged through the pile of documents stacked on one side.

“Let’s see… I think I put it here… Ah! Here it is.”

Pulling out several documents from the pile, the superior handed them to the submitters.

“This is similar to what you’ve submitted. No, it’s practically the same.”

“We didn’t copy it!”

“Who said you did?”

Unlike the submitters, who were turning pale, the superior continued with a relaxed expression.

“If you know the honor of an Imperial Army officer, you wouldn’t do such a foolish thing. I’ll trust you on that. But I have to say the same thing: it’s lacking. Bring me a proper, realistic proposal! For your information, the first submission was three days ago. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir!”

It meant that there were already competitors, and the fastest ones had already started revisions three days ago.

“You can give up if you’re not confident. The record of submitting this proposal will remain, so you can definitely leave it as an achievement. And it’ll save me some work. How about it?”

“No, sir! We will submit the most perfect result faster than anyone else!”

“Is that so? Then I’ll look forward to it. Dismissed!”

At the superior’s dismissal, the submitters saluted sharply and turned to leave. Watching his subordinates, the superior muttered to himself.

“Why doesn’t anyone give up? I want to work a little easier… These nasty guys don’t even think about mutual benefit…”

* * *

Back at their desks, the officers urgently put their heads together.

“What should we emphasize to beat the other guys?”

“Well… firepower? Defense? Mobility? Which one should we focus on?”

“If we do that, it won’t be just one advantage and one disadvantage, but one advantage and two disadvantages.”

“But if we try to satisfy all three, it’ll take too long. Let’s go with firepower.”

“The others will probably think the same. Firepower is the default.”

“Hmm… then what would be good…”

The officers clutched their heads, unable to come up with an easy answer. The Imperial Army’s emphasis on firepower was well-known.

-Ten powerful cannons are better than 100 mediocre ones.

-If you can get ten powerful cannons, figure out how to get 100.

-Cannons are the best cleaning tools. They clear the path for the Imperial Army’s advance.

The Imperial Army was so addicted to firepower that the other competitors would definitely stick to it. No, they themselves had emphasized firepower first.

“Time keeps ticking…”

“This is bad. This is really bad.”

Without finding a groundbreaking solution, the three submitters grew increasingly anxious as time passed. But the more they rushed, the more elusive the answer became.

“This won’t do. As the saying goes, ‘The more haste, the less speed.’ Let’s take a break.”

“Ugh… I guess so.”

“Let’s take care of the pending work first. If we mess up, we’ll get chewed out from above and below.”

Putting the proposal aside for a moment, the submitters began to handle their pending tasks.

“Hmm… this expense for supplies is a bit much… This is it!”

“Huh?”

“What? What is it?”

The submitter, who was processing the receipts for supplies purchased from outside, turned to his colleagues with a bright expression.

“The budget is the answer!”

“Budget?”

“The budget is?”

To his colleagues’ questions, he began to explain in detail.

-Everything in the Empire is governed by the budget. The Imperial Army is no exception.

-A new assault vehicle will undoubtedly cost a significant amount.

-But if we can reduce the budget by any means possible, or procure more new assault vehicles with the same budget, no one would refuse.

“Hmm…”

“That sounds plausible… But, the most important aspect of our ‘internal combustion engine assault vehicle’ is that it can mount a more powerful cannon, right? You haven’t forgotten that, have you?”

“That? Instead of designing a new cannon specifically for the assault vehicle, we’ll mount the most powerful existing cannons. Ah! Not just any powerful cannon, but the most powerful cannon that can be mounted.”

After hearing the answer, the other colleagues looked at each other and nodded.

“This might work.”

“Let’s try it!”

* * *

Having found their own breakthrough, the three immediately visited Area 51. Finding the artisan in charge of manufacturing internal combustion engines for the flying machines, the three got straight to the point.

“Hmm… it’s impossible to move an assault vehicle with the internal combustion engine currently used in the flying machines. I mean, ‘Death Stinger,’ ah! That’s the nickname we gave to the flying machines equipped with self-propelled explosive bombs. Anyway, the internal combustion engine on the Flying Dagger is the most powerful, but it only produces a little over half the output of the steam engine on the cannon-mounted assault vehicle you gentlemen mentioned.”

One of the three, listening to the artisan’s ‘expert chatter,’ asked the artisan again.

“A little over half? So, we can move it if we mount two of them, right?”

“Well… maybe… but the size…”

“Is the engine room of the current assault vehicle not big enough?”

“Just a moment.”

The artisan, who was explaining, immediately went outside. A moment later, he came back with another artisan.

“This is the Jo family, who makes the steam engines for the assault vehicles. Ask this friend.”

“I see… What we want to know is…”

As the conversation grew longer, more and more artisans were called to the spot. Finally, as the sun set, the three left Area 51.

Back in the office, the three spread out the paper with the conversation recorded and put their heads together.

“So, to summarize…”

-Two large internal combustion engines currently used in flying machines can move the currently operated assault vehicle.

-Mathematically, we can fit four internal combustion engines in the engine room of the currently operated assault vehicle.

-But considering various problems, it’s better to design a new chassis with two internal combustion engines.

-If we mount internal combustion engines, we can significantly reduce the number of personnel operating the engine room.

(Omitted)

Having finished the summary, the three immediately got up.

“Then let’s start writing the proposal right away.”

“Then, I’ll go apply for the night duty room.”

“I’ll go buy some food.”

A few days later, the three submitted the proposal to their superior with confident expressions.

“Good work. I’ll review it and let you know the results. In the meantime, take care of your pending tasks.”

“Yes, sir!”

After sending the three away, the superior began to carefully review the proposal.

“Hmm… hmm…”

The superior, nodding and carefully reviewing the proposal, put it down and sighed.

“Hoo… Those three finally stirred things up.”

And this proposal went straight up, eventually reaching Woo’s desk.

* * *

After reading the proposal in question, Woo immediately asked the Minister of Finance.

“What does the Minister of Finance think?”

“I think it’s 괜찮다 [gwaenchanhda – okay/acceptable], except for the part about designing and building the assault vehicle itself from scratch.”

“Oh? Why?”

“If you ask for the reason…”

-The most important things in an assault vehicle are the power plant and the cannon. In other words, the most money goes into the power plant and the cannon.

-But according to this proposal, the internal combustion engine is a modified version of the one used in the flying machines, and the cannon is also a modified version of the existing cannon.

This means we can save a lot of money.

-In particular, the internal combustion engine can reduce the manufacturing cost itself through mass production. This is a great advantage.”

“Oh? Is the Ministry of Finance considering mass production of assault vehicles and flying machines?”

At Woo’s question, the Minister of Finance glared at the Minister of National Defense once and answered Woo.

“I don’t know about the flying machines yet, but would the Ministry of National Defense be satisfied with only a few dozen assault vehicles?”

“Hahaha! That’s right! Good! Let’s go ahead and promote it!”

As Woo’s approval came, the Minister of National Defense bowed his head and shouted loudly.

“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless!”

At the Minister of National Defense’s shout, Woo unconsciously muttered to himself.

“Only boundless at times like these?”

As if he heard Woo’s words, the Minister of Finance quickly interjected.

“Your Majesty! I have a request.”

“What is it?”

“Both the flying machines and the assault vehicles are for the defense of the country. Therefore, allocating a budget is a natural thing to do. However, allocating and spending the budget recklessly will make the country’s finances difficult. Therefore, I request that the budget allocated to the Ministry of National Defense and the Imperial Army be reviewed and adjusted!”

“Hmm…”

Woo, hearing the Minister of Finance’s request, pondered for a moment and nodded.

“I think the Minister of Finance’s words are reasonable. The Minister of Finance should review and coordinate the budget of the Ministry of National Defense and the Imperial Army.”

At Woo’s decision, this time the Minister of Finance bowed his head and shouted.

“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless!”

* * *

After the meeting, the Minister of National Defense, who came out of the Geunjeongjeon Hall [main hall of Gyeongbok Palace, used for important state functions], immediately went to the Prime Minister to complain.

“No, what grudge does the Minister of Finance have against me to do this!”

“Would he do that because he has a grudge? As the Minister of Finance said, the budget has a limit, so it can’t be helped, can it?”

“But isn’t this too much!”

“You should be patient. The Minister of Finance generously conceded on the assault vehicle matter, didn’t he? If there is something coming, there must be something going, right?”

“Haa… Even so…”

At the Minister of National Defense’s complaint, the Prime Minister subtly made a pointed remark.

“Recently, the budget going into the Imperial Army has been increasing. Since ancient times, it has been said that ‘the military should not precede the people,’ right? First of all, let’s reduce the spending of the Imperial Army itself.”

“Ugh… I understand.”

At the Prime Minister’s subtle warning, the Minister of National Defense had no choice but to back down. As soon as he received Woo’s approval, the Ministry of Finance raided the Ministry of National Defense, the General Staff Headquarters, and the Imperial Army and Navy Headquarters like lightning.

“Bring the budget proposal!”

“Hey! You there! Where are you hiding the ledger?”

The Ministry of Finance thoroughly ransacked the Ministry of National Defense, the General Staff Headquarters, and the Army and Navy Headquarters, erasing some of the budgets that had been an eyesore for a long time.

Representative examples were ‘Renovation of the Restaurant for Generals Only’ and ‘New Construction of the Gyeokbangjang [a type of Korean wrestling room] for Generals Only.’

“The existing ones are fine, so why are you touching them again and making new ones? Delete!”

Many generals were dissatisfied with the items that were flying away in droves, but they soon had to swallow it inside.

“You want new flying machines, new assault vehicles, and new battle lines, right? Then you have to save what you can save!”

It was because they wanted to receive the shiny new assault vehicles, battle lines, and the new weapon, the flying machines, quickly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hyang, who saw the proposal for the new assault vehicle, frowned and muttered.

“What is this terrible hybrid…”

The new proposal was like a mix of tank development ideas from the United States and the Soviet Union during World War II.

The United States, which lacked the technology for engines at the time of Sherman’s development, modified an aircraft radial engine and mounted it on the Sherman. This was one of the reasons why the Sherman became a tall tank with a high chassis.

Also, the Soviet Union, which lacked tank gun development technology, mounted the most powerful field gun among the field guns it had. The best example was the ‘IS-2.’