Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 689

689. Obsession Never Rests (3)

Merchants from Portugal and Italy learned about the abacus and calculating machine from the surveying team members of the railway construction dispatched to Suez.

* * *

The first thing the surveying team members requested upon arriving in Suez before starting work was:

– Guides familiar with the local geography

– Maps recording the geography of the area.

In response to the surveying team’s requests, the Ottomans and Portuguese searched for guides familiar with the local geography and sought out maps.

However, the Ottomans and Portuguese who obtained the maps wore perplexed expressions.

“Giving this as is might invite criticism, don’t you think?”

The maps they had only showed the ‘Great Bitter Lake (البحيرة المرة الكبرى al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā),’ a large freshwater lake in the middle, and the Nile Delta region to the west, with the rest being blank.

Or, more precisely, the blank areas were marked as desert.

And the reaction of the Empire’s people who received this map was exactly as they had predicted.

“This is a map? This is a map?”

“Erey ssang!”

The surveying team members, who immediately cursed upon seeing the map, soon had to face reality.

“Tsk! No choice!”

“Such is our fate, I suppose!”

That’s how the surveying work began.

* * *

The first task the surveying team members undertook was to determine the distance from Suez to the unnamed northern fishing village chosen as the exit to the Mediterranean Sea, and to identify water sources that could be used as water supply points along the way.

Fortunately, they were able to find guides who knew this area very well, so the work went smoothly.

Under the ironclad escort of Ottoman, Portuguese, and French soldiers, the surveying team members moved north, meticulously recording the locations of potential water sources and the distances between them.

After traveling back and forth between the north and south for six months, the surveying team members soon began to write a lengthy report and create new maps based on the data they had recorded.

And the soldiers from Portugal, the Ottoman Empire, and France were astonished when they saw the map they had created.

“Such a precise map!”

The soldiers of the three countries, surprised by the map that was made much more precisely than the maps at the time, looked at the surveying team members with a fresh expression.

* * *

In the meantime, the Imperial surveying team members they had seen were people who constantly had curses on their lips. So much so that all sorts of Imperial curses became commonplace among the soldiers of each country who lived with the Imperials for those few months.

Interestingly, as they began to converse in their native languages mixed with curses, translation became less necessary from some point on.

Curses and necessary words—water, rice, alcohol, women, difficult, etc.—along with simple gestures, were enough to communicate most things.

Thanks to this, the place where the surveying team members and the soldiers guarding them gathered was a chaotic mess of curses from all countries. And the French, Ottoman, and Portuguese nobles who visited this place did not hesitate to frown and call it Pandemonium [a wild uproar or place of chaos].

* * *

In any case, the nobles of each country, impressed by the map made by the surveying team members, asked them to teach them map-making techniques.

However, the Imperial surveying team members responded by sneering at their request.

“Hmph! We’re already busy enough surveying for laying railroads, damn it!”

Of course, the executive in charge of the surveying team refused the nobles’ request in a slightly more polite tone.

“We are too busy with our current work to accept your request. I’m sorry. If you sincerely wish to make precise maps or learn the techniques, please submit a request to the Imperial Research Institute.”

“The Imperial Research Institute?”

“Yes. There are true masters of map-making there.”

“Ah….”

The nobles who heard the surveying team executive’s answer had no choice but to back down, either licking their lips or giving bitter smiles. The Imperial Research Institute was a difficult place to access, though less so than Area 51 [a highly classified United States Air Force facility].

“I was hoping to go a little easier, but in the end, it means we have no choice but to use diplomatic means?”

“That’s quite a nice way of refusing.”

However, what the surveying team executive said was true.

* * *

Due to the ‘Is the world flat or round?’ debate that took place when the research institute was first established, the researchers had to travel all over Joseon [ancient Korean kingdom] at the time. And Hyang did not miss the opportunity to start making precise maps.

The researchers, who learned the concept of basic scales from Hyang, began surveying using various measuring tools made by Hyang.

However, theory was theory, and reality was reality. Thanks to this, the research team members at the time had no choice but to make maps while going through numerous trials and errors.

Still, the maps made while going through those trials and errors became increasingly precise.

And when such a precise map was made, an opinion came out to eliminate the map.

-If such a precise map falls into the hands of the enemy, it will be a great threat! We must destroy all the maps we have made so far!

Sejong [Korean king], who received the memorial at the time, vehemently refuted it in anger.

“That is truly knowing one thing and not knowing two! Not all people of Joseon know all over Joseon Paldo [the eight provinces of Korea], so how can they move without a map? The threat of the enemy? Our Joseon soldiers must also know where is where to move! Who on earth is the rice-eating bug who submitted such a stupid memorial!”

Sejong was so angry that he even used the harsh expression ‘rice-eating bug.’

* * *

While the nobles of the alliance were admiring the map, the expressions of the surveying team members writing the report were not good.

“The desert is the problem….”

“The desert is a problem, but water is an even bigger problem. Freshwater is freshwater, but….”

What made the surveying team members worry was the water quality of the oases located in the middle of the desert and the large freshwater lake located in the middle of the route—known as the ‘Great Bitter Lake’ in the history before Hyang’s intervention.

* * *

“You’re going to drink this?”

The surveying team members looked dumbfounded when they saw the water in the oasis guided by the guide.

The small lake in front of them was full of murky water.

In response to the surveying team members’ words, the guide asked back with a puzzled expression.

“Isn’t it obvious? If you don’t get water here, you’ll dry up in a few days.”

“But the water quality is not good?”

“It won’t kill you if you drink it.”

“….”

The surveying team members, who closed their mouths at the guide’s words, took out a notepad and added the contents.

-A water purifier is a must.

And this water quality problem was the same even when they arrived at the large freshwater lake. Compared to the oases they had passed on the way, the water quality was relatively clear, but it was still very turbid compared to the water commonly seen and drunk in the Empire.

“I heard that sailors put a lot of water purifiers in Aden and Suez and purify everything from drinking water to washing water, saying they are living like gods….”

“If the clear water is like this, there’s nothing to say….”

* * *

“Water is water, but getting rid of those sands is also a job.”

When one of them grumbled in the middle of writing the report, the others all nodded.

The biggest enemy of the railroad construction was the desert sand. Railroad construction was impossible before solving the problem of feet sinking into the sand.

To solve this, the surveying team members grilled the guides for geographical information.

Having secured some information in this way, the surveying team members put in a request to the nobles of the alliance.

“You’re asking for workers? How many?”

“The more, the better.”

“It’s hard to get a sense of that….”

“First, please get about 3,000 people.”

“Well, that’s about it…. I’ll send slaves within a few days.”

Having been assigned slaves in this way, the surveying team members began to overturn the deserts north of Suez by mobilizing the slaves.

“There’s no need to go far, let’s dig about 100 chapters (about 300m) [approximately 300 meters].”

Having worked for a month at the northern border of Suez in this way, the surveying team members nodded.

“As expected, bare ground comes out.”

“If you dig down about 4 to 5 chapters (about 12m to 15m) [approximately 12 to 15 meters], you can make the foundation solid.”

Having caught the thread in this way, the surveying team members began to calculate to extract more specific figures.

And the nobles of the alliance could not hide their wonder at the calculation process.

“Is such an accurate calculation possible with those twigs?”

Among the tools used by the surveying team members, the abacus was familiar to them as well. However, the counting rods were something they could not understand at all. The calculation was completed by arranging and rearranging well-trimmed twigs. What was even more surprising was that there were almost no errors when looking at the results later.

“It’s like magic!”

“Is that the mystery of the East?”

While the nobles of the alliance were marveling, the surveying team members were getting more and more headaches.

“That damn sand!”

“If we do this wrong, we might run out of counting rods?”

It was at that moment that the abacus and calculating machine sent by Jin-pyeong arrived.

“I can’t just let my babies suffer!”

And the surveying team members who read the instruction manual that came with it immediately shouted cheers.

“Hooray!”

“We’re alive!”

“Your Majesty the Emperor, hooray! May you enjoy longevity!”

* * *

As the abacus and calculating machine arrived in this way, the work of the surveying team members accelerated further, and the figures became more precise.

The nobles of the alliance and the Italian merchants who were observing them from the side began to focus on this abacus and calculating machine.

The abacus, which produced results immediately when pressing the number-engraved keyboards and pulling the lever, was also amazing, but even more amazing was the calculating machine.

The calculating machine, which produced results with a loud noise when turning the crank on the lid after manipulating the number plates around the barrel to enter numbers and calculation methods, was a wonder in itself.

“Is it possible to calculate up to such a large unit with something so small?”

“It’s such a small size, but it can even do four arithmetic operations!”

In fact, the size of the calculating machine was not small, about the size of two boxes combined, but it was small enough for the nobles of the alliance and the Italian merchants to see.

“We definitely need that!”

And the merchants of Italy and Portugal, who immediately realized its value, rushed to the Empire.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hyang, who heard through the Minister of Finance that Europeans liked the calculating machine more because it was small, muttered inwardly.

‘Is that so? Well…. Considering the current era, it would be a miniature, state-of-the-art device.’

On the other hand, Europe, which had obtained the abacus and calculating machine in this way, naturally tried to figure out its structure.

However, the moment they turned the abacus and calculating machine over for disassembly, they wore a hollow expression.

A sturdy seal was attached to the joint on the bottom, and a warning was attached next to it.

-Warning, products with broken seals cannot be repaired.

“This damn….”

However, there were those who ignored such warnings and challenged the disassembly. However, a black box that Hyang had used well in the past was installed inside.

The moment they opened the lid, the smallest and hardest-to-find gears popped out, and the shaft, which was deliberately made thin, broke.

Thanks to this, the artisans who opened it sat down, holding their heads.