Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 1157

1157. Who Pays the Price? You Do (9)

While the French air squadron that arrived in Puerto Real was preparing for deployment, the Imperial Army’s Wyvern squadron stationed in Gibraltar was also gearing up for battle.

* * *

As the French air squadron was delayed at the Franco-Spanish border, a transport fleet from Livorno entered Gibraltar.

“You’ve worked hard.”

“Not at all. I am simply doing my duty as an Imperial soldier.”

The commander of the transport fleet replied humbly to Duke Iche’s compliment, taking a tightly sealed letter from his breast pocket and handing it to the Duke.

“This is an urgent report from the Communications Management Bureau.”

“I see.”

Duke Iche replied nonchalantly, handing the letter to his aide seated next to him.

“Take this to the Communications Management Bureau.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.”

Time passed, and the deciphered document was delivered to Duke Iche.

After confirming the contents, Duke Iche immediately summoned the commander of the Wyvern squadron.

“You summoned me, Your Excellency?”

“I have news that will please you.”

The commander of the Wyvern squadron, after reading the document, beamed.

‘A moon has risen in broad daylight,’ Duke Iche thought, observing the commander’s radiant complexion. He then asked curtly, “Are you confident?”

“Just give the order!”

“If you don’t do this properly, we’ll be in trouble.”

“Rest assured!”

“Then I’ll trust you.”

“Yes!”

“Then go back and prepare.”

“Yes, sir!”

The Wyvern squadron commander, giving a sharp salute, immediately left the Duke’s office.

And beyond the closed door, the cheers of the Wyvern squadron commander could be heard.

“Kyah-ho!”

“Tsk… how can a military officer be so frivolous…”

* * *

“Kyah-ho!”

“Woo-oh!”

The Kestrel pilots of the Wyvern squadron, receiving the urgent report from their commander, clenched their fists and shouted.

“Now is the time to prove the worth of the name ‘Kestrel’!”

The Kestrel pilots, as well as the maintenance crews, were filled with enthusiasm, burning with fighting spirit. While the Wyvern squadron was cheering, the soldiers of the Bigu [hot air balloon] unit were filled with worry.

“The Spanish guys also have Wyverns, right?”

“I wondered why the order to service the parachutes suddenly came down.”

“So, from now on, we have to wear these parachutes and get on the Bigu?”

“And we have to attach Gwachas [rotary machine guns] too.”

“What’s the point of attaching Gwachas? You saw what happened to the Spanish Bigu, didn’t you?”

This was why the soldiers of the Bigu unit were worried.

Spain had also been diligently launching Bigus, especially self-propelled Bigus, into the sky. However, the Spanish Bigus that rose into the air were riddled with holes and fell to the ground as soon as they were spotted by the Kestrels.

The soldiers of the Imperial Bigu unit, who had been watching the scene, had felt reassured. But now that the enemy also had Wyverns, they could no longer take their safety for granted.

The soldiers servicing the parachutes according to the order looked at them with distrustful eyes.

“Can we survive with this piece of cloth?”

“They say it’s made of silk; are they telling us to use it as a shroud?”

“Still, it’s something that Tae Tae Sang Hwang [a respectful title for a high-ranking figure, likely Hyang in this context] made with his own hands, so we have to trust it, right?”

The soldiers were trying to gain a sense of trust by thinking of Hyang.

The parachutes that the soldiers were servicing now were not strictly Hyang’s creations. It was Leonardo da Vinci’s design that Hyang had modified a little.

When Bigus and self-propelled Bigus were first created and deployed, the development of parachutes was also underway. The artisans who received Hyang’s orders used their imagination to create all kinds of parachutes – even some that looked like giant umbrellas.

However, it was only after Da Vinci got involved that a design that could be called a proper parachute emerged.

“It’s okay, but it’s still not enough.”

There was one critical weakness in the parachute designed by Da Vinci.

-Hold the parachute’s strings in your hands and descend.

If you lost your grip, the parachute would slip away, and you would fall. If the altitude was low, you would only be seriously injured, but if the altitude was even a little high, you would fall to your death.

“Mary Poppins, or the ‘Superman game’ that my uncles used to enjoy when they were young… No, leaving all that aside, this is the best performance? I can’t stand it!”

In the end, thanks to Hyang’s intervention, a parachute that ‘wouldn’t be cursed’ was created.

Of course, those who had to use it were still full of distrust.

* * *

The next day, the Kestrels went on patrol in teams of three.

Also, the Bigu unit soldiers were issued new signal rockets of a new color.

“If you see an enemy Wyvern, fire the newly received signal rocket and run away.”

“Understood. But how do we distinguish between enemy and friendly Wyverns?”

“I heard the wing shapes are a little different?”

“It’s hard to tell the difference with that.”

“That’s true.”

The commander, considering the point valid, reported it to his superiors, and the Wyvern squadron commanders painted stripes of various colors on the fuselages and wings of the Kestrels and Albatrosses.

“Rainbow stripes or traditional patterns…”

The Wyvern pilots, complaining about the colorful stripes of all kinds, quickly adapted.

“If possible…”

The pilots chose their favorite colors to add stripes, and the Imperial Army’s Wyverns became a collection of all sorts of flashy colors.

* * *

Ten days after the patrol flights began, the Empire’s Bigus floating over El Pelayo urgently fired signal rockets.

-Enemy aircraft detected!

The squadron leader of the Kestrel squadron, who spotted the signal rockets fired urgently by the Bigus, made large hand signals to the squadron planes flying on the left and right. The Kestrels, confirming the squadron leader’s hand signals, shook their wings from side to side in response, and the squadron leader, confirming this, immediately increased altitude and began to change direction.

Meanwhile, the Bigus who fired the signal rockets hurriedly turned and began to retreat.

Five French Daedalus fighters relentlessly chased the Bigus. The Daedalus fighters increased their speed and headed to the side of the Bigus.

* * *

There was a critical difference between the Imperial Army’s Kestrels and the French Daedalus.

-The Empire uses biplanes, France uses triplanes.

-The Empire has Gwachas mounted on the nose, France has Gwachas mounted in the rear seat.

The second point was the same for France and Habsburg. This was because the propeller for propulsion was spinning at the nose, so they could not mount Gwachas there.

With the Gwachas mounted in the rear seat, aerial combat between France and Habsburg became similar to a naval bombardment. The interesting thing was that no one found this inconvenient.

This was because the combat method between self-propelled flying Bigus had been like this from the beginning.

* * *

The Daedalus fighters, having increased their speed, were now flying alongside the Imperial Army’s Bigus. The gunners sitting in the rear of the Daedalus aimed the Gwachas at the Bigus, and the pilots in the front maintained level flight for the sake of the gunners in the rear.

Just then, the Kestrels swooped down on them.

“Perfect!”

The Daedalus, flying horizontally with their flanks exposed, were the perfect targets.

Tu-tu-tu-tung!

As the Gwachas mounted on the nose of the Kestrel spewed fire, the front and rear cockpits of the targeted Daedalus were riddled with holes. The Daedalus, losing control as its pilot was killed in the attack, soon crashed to the ground.

The two Daedalus that survived the Kestrel squadron’s attack hurriedly turned away from the Bigu. As they desperately turned, the pilots and gunners of the Daedalus fighters turned their heads in all directions, searching for the Kestrel.

As Pierre, the pilot of the Daedalus-class fighter, was looking for the Kestrel, he saw a Kestrel diving from the front.

Pierre, spotting the Kestrel, quickly turned the nose to the side and pulled the string attached to the side.

Jingle-jingle!

There was a small bell at the end of the string, and the rear gunner could tell the direction of the enemy by listening to the number of times the bell rang. The rear gunner, hearing the sound of the bell ringing from Pierre, hurriedly turned the muzzle of the Gwacha.

The sights were set on the front of the Kestrel rushing towards him.

“Just a little, just a little more…”

The rear gunner muttered ‘just a little more’ and put his finger on the trigger.

The enemy would soon turn its nose to the side to fire, and he planned to pull the trigger at that moment to riddle the enemy’s flank with holes. However, the Imperial Kestrel continued straight ahead.

“You crazy bastard! He’s going to ram…”

In the eyes of the rear gunner, who was uttering curses, the flames spewing from the Gwacha mounted on the nose of the Kestrel were very clearly imprinted. All five Daedalus that sortied for the first time that day did not return.

That night, Count Montfort received a letter from Marquis Alba.

-Your planes have all been defeated.

“Damn it!”

Count Montfort looked dismayed at the letter sent by Marquis Alba.

The Count’s aide, after confirming the Marquis’s letter, grabbed the Marquis’s messenger and began to ask questions.

“Did you see this battle?”

“I did. It was the first time I had ever seen anything like it, so the battle stopped at that time.”

“That’s not important, tell me how the battle went.”

“Yes.”

The messenger, who had witnessed the first aerial battle between airplanes in history, told the aide how the battle had unfolded. As the messenger’s story continued, Count Montfort and the Count’s aide became increasingly serious.

“Thank you for your trouble. Return safely.”

The aide, after sending the messenger out, looked at the Count with an expression as serious as Count Montfort’s.

“What do you think?”

At the aide’s question, Count Montfort parted the curtains of the tent and went outside.

Count Montfort, looking at the fuselages of the grounded Daedalus, turned his head and looked at the aide.

“It seems the Empire has solved something we thought was impossible.”

“I think so too.”

“Gwachas mounted on the front… how?”

Count Montfort, with an expression full of shock from the first battle’s defeat and curiosity about how they had solved a problem that they thought was impossible, trailed off.

But the important thing was something else.

“I need to ask for all the Daedalus in the home country to be sent right now.”

“Then the Lorraine region…”

“We’ll have to deploy newly trained pilots and planes.”

“If we face the Habsburgs with only new recruits, the damage will be great.”

Count Montfort nodded at the aide’s point but wore an expression that he couldn’t help it.

“It will be a very rough finishing training, but there’s no other answer right now.”

* * *

The next day, the French air squadron changed its tactics.

-Always sortie 10 planes at a time.

-No solo actions allowed. Move in pairs of at least 2 planes.

-The top priority is the Empire’s Bigus. However, if an Imperial fighter is spotted, disengage immediately.

-No indiscriminate engagement against Imperial fighters. Retreat as quickly as possible unless the situation is clearly advantageous.

The pilots who heard the order wore dissatisfied expressions, but Count Montfort’s voice was firm.

“Until we find a definite solution to the enemy fighters, we must preserve our strength as much as possible. Keep this in mind!”