Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 53

Jjangra

Hello, Bomb!

53. New Weapons (1)

“I will think a bit more about the personnel issue. The officials at the research center are working so hard, so we should definitely provide support.”

“Your benevolence is boundless!”

Having given a positive response to Jeong Cho’s plea, Sejong began a full-scale audit with his ministers.

“Here are the account books.”

The ministers spread out the account books, which contained records of all the expenses used by the research center, and began to examine them meticulously.

While the ministers conducted the audit, Sejong, guided by Hyang, toured the equipment being used or manufactured at the research center.

“It is finished.”

“Really? How was it?”

Hwang Hee answered Sejong’s question.

“There are no irregularities in the account books.”

“Really?”

“However, 60% of the funds execution went to Area 51. An audit of Area 51 is necessary.”

At Hwang Hee’s words, Sejong looked out the window.

Seeing the sky turning from afternoon to evening, Sejong made a decision.

“Crown Prince, we will conduct an audit of Area 51 tomorrow.”

“I obey your command.”

* * *

The next day, early in the morning, Sejong left the palace with his ministers.

“Area 51… I wonder what that means?”

At Sejong’s question, Hyang wore a slightly embarrassed expression.

“Is there some unspeakable reason?”

“It is not that. It is just that I borrowed the name of a research center from those Western barbarians’ country, which boasts outstanding research achievements. I was ashamed to say it. I was afraid of being told that we are using the Western barbarians’ things too much before we even properly know our own.”

‘There was a rumor that aliens were being dissected in Area 51 in that neighborhood. Wouldn’t even one alien fall into Joseon?’ Sejong nodded at Hyang’s answer.

“That is right. Since ancient times, it has been said that excess is as bad as deficiency. Now that you know the excess, be mindful to maintain balance.”

“Yes, Father.”

“By the way, it is good to ride horses and move around like this, father and son.”

“Indeed.”

Sejong and Hyang were both wearing military robes and helmets as they rode their horses.

Sejong rode a white horse, while Hyang rode a chestnut horse, moving side by side towards Area 51. The ministers also rode horses, following behind Sejong and Hyang.

Area 51, prepared by Hyang, was located a little southeast of the Military Supplies Command. In 21st-century geography, the Military Supplies Command was near Seoul City Hall, and Area 51 was in the Hoehyeon-dong area.

“It is quite a large site.”

“Yes. Therefore, a considerable amount of wealth was spent on land purchase costs.”

“Well done. Even if it is a national matter, you must not arbitrarily seize the property of the people.”

Sejong did not spare praise, as he was pleased with Hyang’s handling of the matter.

‘At least, unlike the 21st century, they only charged the market price because it was a national affair!’

* * *

As Sejong and Hyang’s party arrived in front of Area 51’s main gate, the commander of the soldiers guarding the gate stepped forward.

“Halt! Only authorized personnel may enter! Show your identification token!”

At the commander’s words, Hyang urged his horse forward. Arriving in front of the commander, Hyang took out a small wooden plaque from his chest and handed it to the commander.

“Here it is.”

After confirming the pattern on the wooden plaque, the commander took a step back and gave a disciplined military salute.

“Chung!” [A Korean military salute and affirmation]

At the gesture of the commander who gave the military salute, the soldiers guarding the gate opened the main gate wide.

Hyang, who had returned to Sejong’s side, guided Sejong.

“Father, please come in.”

“Let us do so. The security is truly thorough.”

“Without the identification token, even I cannot enter.”

At Hyang’s answer, Sejong’s face showed surprise.

“Really? Our Crown Prince has put a lot of thought into this.”

“Security is the most important thing here.”

After passing through the main gate, Sejong shook his head and looked at Hyang with a weary expression.

“You are thorough to the point of being obsessive.”

Contrary to the expectation that they would immediately enter the interior after passing through the main gate, Sejong’s party moved along a white passage to the right. Both sides of the passage were blocked by high wooden fences, and soldiers stood at regular intervals behind the fences, guarding the passage.

Seeing the soldiers saluting him, Sejong turned to look at Hyang.

“What on earth are you doing inside that requires such strict security?”

“These are matters where maintaining confidentiality is vital.”

“Hmm…”

Meanwhile, the expressions of the officials following behind Sejong and Hyang were all serious.

“Such a heavily guarded facility is a research institution?”

“What on earth are they researching?”

“This is definitely a waste of budget!”

Amidst the various comments, Hwang Hee glared at Jeong Cho.

“Minister Jeong! What have you been doing while the Crown Prince has been carrying out such things? Are you not also a subject of this Joseon? With this level of expenditure, even you should have stepped forward to report it!”

At Hwang Hee’s rebuke, Jeong Cho countered with a nonchalant expression.

“I am a subject, so I simply stayed still. In my current state of mind, even this is not enough. Ahem!”

“What?”

Hwang Hee raised his voice, but Jeong Cho looked into the distance and muttered to himself.

“If you become a high-ranking official, your actions must be weighty. How can you be so rash….”

“Minister Jeong!”

Hwang Hee shouted, on the verge of grabbing him by the collar, but the second gate opened, and Sejong and Hyang entered.

“Hmm….”

Sejong, who had entered, let out an exclamation. Buildings stood on the vast site—roughly two-thirds the size of the 21st-century Hoehyeon-dong, Myeong-dong, and Euljiro areas, according to Hyang’s rough calculation—and black smoke was rising from one side. And soldiers from the Training Command and the Royal Guard, as well as artisans from the Military Supplies Command and the Sanguiwon [Royal Tailoring Department], stood in neat rows to greet Sejong’s party.

“Military salute!”

“Chung!”

Following the command of the commander, Choi Hae-san, the soldiers gave a military salute, and the artisans knelt on the ground and bowed.

“Good work, everyone.”

“Thank you!”

Sejong’s words of praise continued, and Choi Hae-san gave orders to the soldiers.

“Dismiss!”

At Choi Hae-san’s dismissal order, the soldiers and artisans returned to their places.

Sejong’s party, who had dismounted, moved forward, guided by Choi Hae-san and Yi Cheon.

“This is truly an impressive facility.”

“Thank you. However, almost all of the facilities were overseen by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Really? Then what is the main work done here?”

“The improvement of gunpowder and the development of new gunpowder, the improvement of cannons and gun barrels and the development of new cannons and gun barrels, the development of new armor, the development of tactics using newly made weapons, and so on.”

As soon as Choi Hae-san finished speaking, Yi Cheon took over.

“In short, we are working on everything related to the military, except for ships.”

“Is that so?”

Listening to Choi Hae-san and Yi Cheon’s answers, Sejong looked around. The uniforms worn by the soldiers and military officers were significantly different from the soldiers he had seen.

‘He said everything, so he is even modifying the uniforms?’

“Hmm….”

Making a humming sound and looking around, Sejong looked at Hyang.

“Then let us see what you have done so far.”

“Yes, Father. Generals.”

“Yes! Your Majesty, come this way.”

Choi Hae-san and Yi Cheon guided Sejong and the ministers to a wide open space.

In the open space guided by Choi Hae-san and Yi Cheon, there were long tables and several pieces of equipment.

Choi Hae-san, who had guided the people to the tables, began to explain.

“First of all, what I would like to show Your Majesty is the gunpowder.”

“Gunpowder?”

“Yes.”

Choi Hae-san pointed to the plates on the table. Small amounts of gunpowder were placed on the copper plates.

“First, starting from the far left, this is the gunpowder that our Joseon army has been using. In our research center, we have named it Type A gunpowder.

Next is Type B gunpowder, which has adjusted the composition of Type A gunpowder. Next to that is the Explosive Silver developed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and next to that is the Explosive Oil also created by His Royal Highness.

And next to that is a prototype of cotton gunpowder made using nitric acid and several other acids and cotton cloth, and the last one is Type Deok-gap gunpowder, which makes that cotton gunpowder a little easier to use.”

“Hmm….”

Sejong, who was examining the gunpowder at Choi Hae-san’s explanation, asked a question.

“How are each of the gunpowder different? And you said that it was made easier to use, but what is that method?”

“I will explain.”

Choi Hae-san explained to Sejong how it was made easier to use.

The beginning of the improvement was almost the same as the existing method.

-Mix the raw materials of the gunpowder well, then sprinkle water on it to make it sticky and form it into small *meju*-like shapes [fermented soybean blocks] and dry it.

-Crush the moderately dried gunpowder mass and sift it through a sieve.

Up to this point, it was the same as before. The existing method was to mix clean oil in this state and store it, but Hyang added several steps here.

-When sifting the crushed gunpowder mass through a sieve. Use sieves of various thicknesses. The gunpowder powder that passes through the finest sieve is used for gun barrels, and the gunpowder powder that is filtered out in the next thickness is used for cannons.

-Mix the filtered gunpowder powder with graphite powder.

“Graphite?”

Sejong expressed his doubts at the word ‘graphite,’ which he was hearing for the first time. At Sejong’s reaction, Hyang intervened.

“It is a mineral that I added to the list when the Bureau of Natural Resources was established and prospectors were dispatched.”

“Is that so? What kind of efficacy does it have?”

“It prevents the penetration of moisture and prevents the gunpowder from self-detonating as they collide with each other. There are many other efficacies, but I will explain that part later.”

At Hyang’s vague answer, Sejong narrowed his eyes and looked at Hyang.

‘What is this guy up to again….’

“Hmm… I understand. General, continue.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Mixing with graphite according to His Highness’s explanation, no, coating with graphite, no, treating it closer to covering it, makes storage very easy. Of course, we also added the process of making the box containing the gunpowder in a double layer, filling the space between the inner and outer boxes with charcoal, and covering it with oiled paper to prevent moisture penetration as much as possible, but it is true that graphite does the biggest job.”

“Coating?”

Sejong expressed his doubts as another word he had never heard before popped out. Then, Hyang quickly intervened.

“It is a word from the Western barbarians. Because a lot of knowledge from the Western barbarians went into the gunpowder improvement work, the words of the Western barbarians were often used. The process of translating it into our language is in progress….”

Sejong raised his hand to stop Hyang’s words.

“I understand what the situation is. The important thing is not that, General, continue.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Hyang, who was watching Sejong’s reaction from the side, clenched his fist in his hand behind his back.

‘Success! With this, I have crossed the 8th ridge of laundering the origin!’

As he began to indulge in his hobby in earnest, Hyang pondered how to deal with the English that came out without him realizing it. And what came out of that was the books from the Eastern Roman Empire and Europe that filled his study.

After that, whenever English came out without him realizing it, Hyang overcame the crisis by saying the following.

“I am sorry. I have been reading too many books from the Western barbarians….”

The problem was that as such things became more and more frequent, those who worked with Hyang also became accustomed to using English, Latin, and German words.

Anyway, Choi Hae-san continued his explanation.

“Next is Type B gunpowder, which we have improved this time. The main focus was on changing the raw material composition. We took out the sulfur [sulfur].”

“Took out the sulfur?”

At Choi Hae-san’s remarks, not only Sejong but also the ministers began to buzz.

“Does gunpowder explode even without sulfur?”

“It explodes.”

The Minister of Taxation’s eyes began to sparkle at Choi Hae-san’s answer. Prospectors had found several sulfur mines, but the cost of mining was not easy because the location was not good.

‘Budget, we can save the budget! Hooray!’

Unlike the Minister of Taxation, who was happy, Sejong questioned him with a serious face.

“Is there no problem with taking out the sulfur? For example, does the explosive power not decrease?”

“The explosive power is almost the same.”

“However, adding sulfur to make gunpowder has been done since ancient times, so there must be a reason for this, right? Is it really okay to take out the sulfur?”

“That is a correct point.”

Choi Hae-san, who took a moment to catch his breath, answered Sejong’s point.

“If you take out the sulfur from the gunpowder, one characteristic is created, which is both an advantage and a disadvantage.”

“What kind of characteristic is it?”

“The gunpowder does not catch fire with a normal fuse.”

“Then it is useless…. Ah!”

Sejong, who was about to point out, turned to look at Hyang and Choi Hae-san.

“Only our Joseon army has a way to ignite that gunpowder! That is why it is both an advantage and a disadvantage! Our Joseon army can use it, but the enemy cannot use it even if they capture it, so the disadvantage becomes an advantage! Is that what it is!”

“That is correct.”

At Sejong’s words, Hyang, Choi Hae-san, and Yi Cheon bowed their heads and answered. Sejong repeatedly admired.

“It is truly a clever trick! Well, are there any other advantages besides that?”

“Yes. The biggest advantage is that the production cost is greatly reduced by not using sulfur. And both saltpeter and sulfur corrode the inside of the gun barrels and cannons, but by removing the sulfur, the intensity of corrosion is weakened. This means that the lifespan of the gun barrels and cannons is lengthened. Finally, less smoke is emitted when firing.”

At Choi Hae-san’s explanation, Sejong stroked his beard with a questioning face.

“There are so many advantages, but why does the Ming Dynasty not……Ah! Is it the problem of ignition that you mentioned earlier?”

“That is correct.”

Choi Hae-san, Yi Cheon, and Hyang nodded at Sejong’s self-answering question. In particular, Hyang nodded even more vigorously.

‘Thank you, Internet!’

Removing sulfur from black powder was something he learned while searching the Internet in the 21st century. However, there was only one site where the relevant facts appeared, and there was no accurate ratio, so Hyang and the artisans had to go through numerous trials and errors.

At the end of those trials and errors, they were able to select the mixing ratio and the wood to use as charcoal that could produce the optimal effect. And it was classified as a top secret and stored in a vault created in the deepest part of the research center.