Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 681

681. Suez (1)

Imperial Calendar Year 5 (1453). February.

Hwang Hee passed away.

He was 91 years old.

Hwang Hee lived one year longer compared to the history before Hyang’s intervention.

Hwang Hee was implicated in the corruption scandals of his sons in the early days of the Gyeongjang Reform [a series of political and economic reforms], and received a punishment that forced him to work as an official until his death.

However, Hyang allowed him to retire a year before his death because he had become too weak.

On the day Hwang Hee’s resignation was accepted, many officials, high and low, visited his house.

“I don’t know what to say… Should I congratulate you? Or should I say it’s a shame?”

Hwang Hee smiled and replied to Kim Jeom, who had worked with him the longest.

“I feel the same way. Should I say I’m happy and sad at the same time? When I think about how I’ve been tormented by the Sangwang [the retired king] and the Emperor, I feel so relieved, but when I think about the Empire, which still has a long way to go, I wish I could stay in my position a little longer. But my body can’t keep up anymore.”

“Should I have given you more restorative medicine?”

Hwang Hee, who had a slightly sulky expression at Kim Jeom’s jest, soon chuckled and accepted it.

“I don’t think there’s anyone in this entire Empire who has taken more restorative medicine than I have. No, you’re right, you’re the one. Didn’t the Sangwang bestow it upon you directly?”

At Hwang Hee’s words, Kim Jeom shuddered slightly and continued.

“That’s when the saying ‘Hojo Eosik Receiving Day’ [a day of receiving special provisions from the Ministry of Revenue] was born.”

Not long after Hwang Hee retired, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Right submitted his resignation. Hyang accepted the resignation because the Deputy Prime Minister of the Right’s health was also not in good condition.

Afterward, the public’s attention was focused on who would fill the vacancies created by the departure of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Ministers.

“The Prime Minister will naturally be Lord Kim Jeom, and the question is who will be the Deputy Prime Ministers of the Left and Right.”

“I think the Deputy Prime Minister of the Left is obvious, too. The Minister of Finance will go up. The jobs overlap.”

“Then the only one left is the Deputy Prime Minister of the Right, who do you think it will be?”

“It’ll be either Lord Kim Jongseo or Lord Hwangbo In.”

As the people expected, Hyang was seriously weighing Hwangbo In and Kim Jongseo with a serious face.

“Their careers are similar, and their abilities are similar. Considering the Gyeyu Jeongnan [a political purge], their loyalty is also similar….”

After much deliberation, Hyang finally came to a conclusion.

“Let’s go with Hwangbo In first. There is no one who can replace Kim Jongseo in the Ministry of General Affairs yet. And since he is the Deputy Prime Minister of the Right, Hwangbo In is more suitable.”

Although the names were changed to Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers of the Left and Right, the basic division of duties was the same as that of the Chief State Councilor, the Left State Councilor, and the Right State Councilor.

If the Chief State Councilor, as the highest-ranking official, coordinates the overall administration, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Left oversees departments such as the Ministry of Finance and Economy, the Ministry of General Affairs, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while the Deputy Prime Minister of the Right oversees departments such as the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Justice.

Therefore, Hwangbo In was the right person for the position of Deputy Prime Minister of the Right.

With Hwangbo In decided, the vacancies were quickly filled.

Kim Jeom became the Prime Minister, Park Jongwoo, the Minister of Finance and Economy, became the Deputy Prime Minister of the Left, and Hwangbo In became the Deputy Prime Minister of the Right.

As the top positions were filled, the vacancies that arose after that were also filled immediately through internal promotions.

This completed the second cabinet reshuffle of Hyang’s reign.

* * *

When Hwang Hee’s death was reported, Hyang suspended his work in accordance with etiquette and visited the mortuary with Wan.

Welcoming Hyang and Wan was Hwang Soo-shin, the youngest of Hwang Hee’s legitimate sons. His older brothers had previously served 10 years of forced labor for the corruption they had committed, and even after returning from their sentences, they had been expelled from the family and were living in seclusion.

Hwang Soo-shin, the youngest, was not involved, so he was not harmed, but he was also deprived of the opportunity for a government post through the patronage system.

The consensus was that Hwang Hee’s family would not be able to enter the government again until Hwang Hee’s grandson grew up, and that was indeed the case.

Hwang Hee’s death left him in a state of being a kite with a severed string, but it was a great honor that Hyang and Wan had visited.

Therefore, Hwang Soo-shin greeted Hyang and Wan with great courtesy.

On the way back from visiting Hwang Hee’s mortuary, Hyang looked up at the sky and muttered.

“Big stars are disappearing one by one.”

* * *

Although the big star Hwang Hee had disappeared, the Empire was running smoothly without any problems.

This was because Sejong and Hyang had already completed a solid structure, and those who filled the vacancies were not lacking in ability.

However, Hyang still couldn’t shake off his anxiety.

“Because it’s changed too much.”

Compared to the history before Hyang’s intervention, the history had changed too much.

The situation had completely deviated from the history before Hyang’s intervention, starting with the Gyeongjang Reform, but what made him feel at ease was the existence of Sejong and capable officials with abundant experience like Hwang Hee.

However, as such officials disappeared one by one, Hyang’s burden was gradually increasing.

Therefore, Hyang was still anxious.

“There’s nothing I can do. I have to be as careful as possible. I have to cross even a stone bridge by tapping it [a Korean proverb meaning to be extremely cautious].”

While Hyang was steeling his heart like that, news came from the Middle East.

The war over Suez had ended.

* * *

The war over Suez had been going on for almost 10 years.

The war, which was fought to monopolize the transportation route connecting Suez and the Mediterranean Sea, involved more countries than expected, knowingly or unknowingly.

The emerging powers of the Middle East and Europe and the existing powers were intertwined, and the city-states of Italy divided themselves according to their own interests and jumped into the war.

Because it was a war in which European and Middle Eastern countries were intertwined, some historians with a Eurocentric view called this war the ‘First World War’.

Of course, historians who claimed this were criticized as ‘racially biased’.

* * *

In any case, the war that had lasted for nearly 10 years over the transportation route connecting Suez and the Mediterranean Sea tilted the balance of power toward the Portugal-Ottoman alliance with the participation of France.

However, the end of the war was an incomplete one.

The areas controlled by the Portugal, Ottoman, and French alliance were the Arabian Peninsula, the eastern coast of Egypt bordering the Red Sea, and the southern Mediterranean region bordering the Suez transportation route.

In this way, they were able to secure the Suez transportation route, but the reason why it was an incomplete end was because the Mamluks still controlled the granary area of the Nile River.

“It’s a bit of a shame, but let’s stop here.”

At the words of Mehmed II, who succeeded his father as the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Henrique, Cosimo de Medici, and the envoy of Charles VII all nodded.

“It’s a bit unsettling that the Mamluks control the Nile River region.”

Henrique echoed the words of the French envoy.

“But it’s already a doomed country. I don’t think it will be easy to recover.”

The relay trade with the East through Alexandria brought enormous wealth to the Mamluks. However, the problem was that the Mamluk leadership indulged in pleasure because of that wealth.

As the leaders indulged in pleasure, the national administration naturally became a mess.

It was against this background that the allies had expected the Mamluks to collapse as soon as the war began.

However, the city-states of Italy, which were in competition with Spain and Florence, intervened in the war and provided economic support, and they lasted for nearly 10 years.

They managed to hold on, but the corruption of the leaders was still the same, so Henrique was pessimistic about the future of the Mamluks.

* * *

Even on Henrique’s face as he spoke, there was regret.

“It would have been nice if we had a little more war funds.”

Cosimo shrugged at Henrique’s words.

“It couldn’t be helped. The war was longer than expected, and I didn’t know we would consume so much gunpowder.”

Cosimo’s words were the biggest reason why this war was an incomplete end.

As the war broke out, both armies mobilized a large number of gunpowder weapons.

The Italian forges were busy supplying the gunpowder weapons used by both armies.

The problem was that gunpowder weapons, especially firearms, were produced and consumed in units of at least hundreds of pieces. Armor and swords were not cheap, but firearms and cannons were very expensive.

And gunpowder was not a cheap item either.

Unlike previous wars, the war that broke out this time was a key factor in determining the victory or defeat of the war. Therefore, the participating countries had to spend a lot of war funds to win.

In the end, the city-states of Italy, which had been providing the war funds from behind, were the first to get tired, and the war came to an incomplete end.

* * *

“In the end, the Empire will be the one who benefits the most.”

The people who gathered at Henrique’s words nodded strongly.

The flintlock rifles that were brought in at the beginning of the war were overwhelmingly powerful. The primitive hand cannons possessed by the opposing countries were incomparable in performance, so the soldiers of the opposing countries tried to capture the Empire’s flintlock rifles with their eyes burning.

And they tried to make similar flintlock firearms by imitating those spoils.

Since it was made in the form of a black box [a system whose inner workings are unknown or inaccessible], it was not easy to copy, but as they learned the operating principle, similar flintlock firearms were mass-produced, and the war situation became more balanced.

When the power of both sides became similar and they fell into the swamp of a long-term war, the Empire, which had won against Ming, introduced the Eul-type long rifle and Hwacha [a type of Korean rocket artillery], and the allied countries rushed to purchase them.

However, the Eul-type long rifle and Hwacha were a double-edged sword. The range and accuracy were overwhelming compared to the flintlock rifle, but the price was also expensive and it had to use dedicated bullets.

Therefore, there were opinions that it was necessary to use it, but the allied countries, addicted to the sweetness of victory, decided to continue introducing it. Thanks to this, the Medici family’s financial officer desperately sought God.

* * *

“So, have you found out the secret of that damn ‘Pokeun’ [a special type of gunpowder]?”

Mehmed II and Cosimo shook their heads at the question of the French envoy.

“We are researching by mobilizing alchemists, but we still haven’t found it properly.”

“Same here.”

“Hoo~.”

“Heo~.”

At the answers of Mehmed II and Cosimo, Henrique and the French envoy sighed deeply.

The reason why the Eul-type long rifle and the Eul-type Hwacha had to use dedicated bullets was because of that Pokeun.

If it weren’t for Pokeun, Italy and the Ottoman Empire would have been able to produce a large number of bullets. However, because they did not know the manufacturing secret of Pokeun, they had to purchase dedicated bullets from the Empire at a high price.

Therefore, Cosimo requested the University of Florence, and Mehmed II gathered alchemists and entrusted them with the research of Pokeun. Research was conducted with full support, but the results were sluggish.

“According to those who know Kitai [an old term for China] characters, the ‘Eun(銀)’ character of that ‘Pokeun’ refers to silver. So we are continuing to experiment with silver, but we have not yet found the answer. We need more time and budget.”

It was a series of failures due to wrong choices, but Cosimo and Mehmed II could not stop supporting it.

-If we only know the method of Pokeun, the uses are endless!

-You don’t have to do the dangerous thing of inserting a wick into the cannon and lighting it!

* * *

“Anyway, it seems that the war has been decided, so let’s move on to the next one.”

“Let’s start by calculating the conditions to be presented to Spain and the Mamluks.”

Now, the war on the table was taking place.

It was not a war in which bullets were exchanged and lives were at stake, but a war in which they fought with eloquence to tenaciously dig into the opponent’s weaknesses, intentional obstruction, and bluffing.