Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 936

936. The Imperial March (2) – Assault Guison, Running on the Ground. (24)

When Hyang first held the final blueprints for the ‘Assault Vehicle Type A’ and ‘Type B’ in his hands, he put a hand to his forehead and muttered.

“Even though I came up with the idea, what *is* this? This hideous hybrid?”

The assault vehicle, drafted by Hyang and designed by artisans, was a mix of the French Saint-Chamond tank from World War I and the AAW7 [Amphibious Assault Vehicle] used by the US Marine Corps and the ROK [Republic of Korea] Marine Corps in the late 20th century.

To be more precise, the Type A, equipped with siege artillery, resembled the Saint-Chamond, while the Type B, designed for troop transport, resembled the AA7V with its front and back reversed.

Both Type A and Type B had the same output and size for their steam engines and basic frames.

The difference in the space commonly called the ‘cargo hold’ was what distinguished Type A from Type B.

In the case of Type A, it was characterized by thick frontal armor in a ㅅ shape when viewed from above. In addition, the roof covering the open cargo hold and the armor plate covering the sides were also thicker than those of Type B.

This was because Type A, which had to stand at the forefront, break through the trench lines, and destroy enemy defenses, adopted thicker armor.

And in the middle of the ‘ㅅ’ shaped frontal armor, there was a thin groove, and a siege gun was mounted in that groove.

In the case of Type B, a pentagonal cargo hold combining a triangle and a rectangle was adopted. No, it would be more accurate to see it as a hexagon with the sharp vertex at the very front cut off.

On each of the three sides of the front, a Byeongshik Hwacha [a Korean multiple rocket launcher] was mounted to shower bullets on the enemies lurking in front of the assault vehicle.

In addition, there was adequate space between the iron plate covering the side of the cargo hold and the roof covering the top. It was a ventilation hole and a kind of passage wall where the soldiers in the cargo hold could breathe comfortably.

It was designed so that soldiers who climbed up using the makeshift chairs in the cargo hold as footholds could fire out.

Hyang’s construction continued.

The engine room, located between the cockpit and the cargo hold, was blocked on all sides by thick bulkheads. This was to prevent additional casualties in the event that the engine was destroyed by an enemy attack, causing high-temperature, high-pressure steam to flood the cockpit and cargo hold.

In addition, the engine room was an unmanned space. The fire door for putting fuel into the combustion chamber of the steam engine was drilled on one side of the cockpit.

Unlike these thick front, rear, left, and right bulkheads, there was a small window with blind-type bars on the upper part of the side. The blind-type bars prevented enemy bullets or shell fragments from entering, and at the same time, as mentioned above, even if the steam tank exploded and high-temperature, high-pressure steam was ejected, it was designed to escape directly through this window.

The placement of the cockpit and engine behind the cargo hold was also intended to increase survivability and improve maneuverability.

This was because if the steam engine was mounted in the front like ordinary Iron Horses and destroyed by an enemy attack, it would be necessary to accept casualties due to the high-temperature, high-pressure steam.

However, if even thicker armor was added, the maneuverability, which was already only at the level of a rabbit, would drop to the level of a turtle.

It was absolutely impossible to make it heavier in a situation where the weight had already increased due to the structure attached to the front and rear of the vehicle to break through enemy trenches – similar to the one attached to the rear of the Renault FT tank.

In this way, the assault vehicle was created and the assault corps was formed. The assault corps soldiers, wearing black uniforms, began to call the assault vehicle they rode the Assault Guison.

There was a plausible reason that ‘it is surrounded by iron on all sides and the mission is to charge into the heart of the enemy camp,’ but there was another reason attached.

-Because you will definitely get motion sickness if you ride it-

* * *

The grimace drawn on the front armor of the assault vehicle was entirely the soldiers’ idea.

“It looks too docile like this!”

The assault corps, looking at the wide frontal armor plate with nothing on it, could not shake the impression that it was too docile.

“Will the enemies be scared if we charge at them with such a gentle face?”

“That’s right! That’s right!”

The soldiers, who greatly sympathized, soon made a request to their superiors.

“Hoo~ That sounds plausible?”

In this way, the soldiers’ petition was brought to Wan, the emperor at the time.

And the answer that came down was simple.

-Only allowed when a battle occurs.

“Who is going to maintain it if you draw it all the time?”

It was Hyang’s MSG [message] that put a stop to it.

* * *

As the assault vehicles with grimaces drawn on the front charged, raising high columns of smoke, the French soldiers in the trenches fell into a state of panic.

“It’s a monster! A monster is coming!”

“Run away!”

Perhaps because they were half out of their minds due to the persistent shelling of the Imperial artillery, the soldiers did not properly recognize the situation.

“It’s a monster!”

“Run away!”

Bang!

“Come to your senses!”

The French officer, who fired a shot into the air to calm the bewildered soldiers, stretched out his hand towards the front and shouted.

“Come to your senses! That’s not a monster! It’s something the Empire guys made! It’s something made by people!”

“Come to your senses!”

“Come to your senses, everyone!”

“Are you even proud of the French army acting like that!”

Following this, several officers raised their voices to calm the soldiers. Whether that effort worked, the soldiers soon regained their composure.

“T, that’s right….”

“Return to the trenches! Defend the trench lines!”

The French soldiers and Fabia Fortress garrison soldiers who had fled out of the trench lines at the officers’ shouts jumped back into the trench lines.

“Bring the cannons! We’ll hit them with cannons!”

At the commander’s order, the French artillerymen ran to the cannons they had hidden. There were cannons that had been destroyed by the Imperial army’s persistent shelling, and there were many military horses that had died or run away, so

The French artillerymen had to pull the cannons out with manpower.

“Push! Push!”

“Bring the gunpowder! Bring the shells too!”

The French artillerymen, who had struggled to bring the cannons to the position, immediately began preparations without even taking a break.

“No abnormalities inside the barrel!”

“Loading!”

The artillerymen, who checked that there were no abnormalities inside the barrel through the muzzle, immediately began loading gunpowder and shells.

While the loading was in progress, aiming continued, and finally, the entire procedure was completed by inserting the detonator into the firing device and pulling the firing pin back.

“Fire!”

Bang!

Kwa! Kwakwang! Bang!

When the artillery chief pulled the firing cord, the cannon fired a shell with a loud roar. Following this, the French cannons located around it spewed fire.

Pung! Pupeong!

Soon, large and small pillars of dirt rose around the charging assault vehicles. However, because it was a bombardment aimed at moving targets, there were almost no shells that hit properly.

Teong! Teoteong!

A small number of shells hit the frontal armor of the Type A assault vehicle that was rushing in at the very front, but they bounced off harmlessly into the air.

“You son of a bitch!”

“Keep going!”

“Aim properly!”

Bang! Kwakwang! Bang!

Urged by the commanders, the French artillerymen reloaded and aimed at the assault vehicles.

“What are the Hwachas doing!”

“Hwachas, fire too!”

Tangtangtangtangtangtangtang!

After a while, the firing of the Hwachas began to pour down on the assault vehicles.

Under the concentrated attack of the French cannons and Hwachas, the assault vehicles silently advanced.

Among them, unlucky assault vehicles began to appear one by one. The French shells did not penetrate the armor, but they stopped the vehicles as the tracks were destroyed.

In response, the assault vehicles also began to respond.

Kkik! Kkiririk! Kkirik!

The Type A assault vehicles, which had spotted the French cannons, stopped advancing and turned their vehicles towards the French artillery batteries they had targeted.

After turning the vehicle at a suitable angle and finishing fine-tuning by moving the barrel, the Type A assault vehicles immediately spewed fire.

Bang! Kwakwang!

Due to the shelling of the Type A assault vehicles, the French cannons in the trench lines began to fall silent one by one.

* * *

It was inevitable that the Type A assault vehicle would have a similar appearance and main gun placement to the Saint-Chamond tank.

“If we put a rotating armored turret on an assault vehicle powered by a steam engine, it will literally become a land battleship. This is impossible. Land battleships are romantic, but… romance is romance and reality is reality. Even Hitler gave up on it? Tsk tsk tsk….”

Hiding his disappointment, Hyang shuffled through the challenge log.

“Unlike intuitive external combustion engines like steam engines, internal combustion engines require imagination and the development of science and technology, including chemistry. By the way….”

Hyang stopped talking for a moment and turned his gaze out the window. Hyang smiled bitterly as he looked at the black smoke rising from here and there.

“I vaguely remember that the most *positive* thing among the things the Mongols did was ‘delaying global warming by more than 200 years’? Then I might be recorded as ‘the one who accelerated global warming.’”

As the Mongols swept through Europe and Asia, many civilizations were destroyed. And as a result, there were technologies that regressed and technologies that progressed.

What Hyang was talking about was the claim that coal and oil were among the technologies that regressed. As the Southern Song Dynasty, which used coal as its main heating fuel, collapsed, it returned to firewood, and only records remained that oil was distilled and used in various ways.

Because of this, the half-joking statement ‘The Mongols delayed global warming by 200 years’ came out.

* * *

Although there were no rotating turrets, the Type A assault vehicles faithfully carried out their mission.

As a result, most of the French artillery batteries in the trench lines were suppressed, and the Type B assault vehicle group that was slowly following behind began to pick up speed.

“Was this it? The solution the Imperial Army came up with?”

“It seems so.”

The French generals, who were looking down at the battle situation from the walls of Fabia Fortress, muttered with grim expressions.

Thanks to the luck, not skill, of being right above the gate, most of the French generals were able to survive safely.

And thanks to that surviving luck, they were able to clearly see the Imperial Army artillery’s ‘sincere shelling’ and the Imperial Assault Corps’ ‘best efforts to charge’ with their own eyes.

And they felt it desperately.

-They knew that their thinking was not wrong. But the means were wrong.

Victory was only recognized when friendly forces occupied the enemy’s camp or territory. In that case, advancement and charge were essential-

Up to this point, it was the correct answer. But the means were the problem.

The bare-handed charge of soldiers armed with charging spirit was not the correct answer.

The human skin was powerless against bullets, and this meant that enormous casualties had to be accepted.

The Imperial Army was reviving the traditional method of ‘Knight Charge’ here.

The only difference was that it was a charge of knights armed with cannons and guns instead of lances and longswords, riding steel warhorses powered by steam engines.

“We knew that the walls had become meaningless due to this shelling, and we knew that the trench lines could be easily broken through thanks to those tractors, so what should we do?”

At the question thrown by one of the generals, the others all closed their mouths and pondered. After a while, the generals answered almost simultaneously.

“Urban warfare.”

“We must tie them down with urban warfare and pull the main force back in the meantime.”