Black Corporation: Joseon [EN]: Chapter 971

971. Everyone’s a Sucker But Me… (8)

The Empire’s capture of Gibraltar was a turning point. The moment bridgeheads were successfully established in Algeciras and Gibraltar, an Imperial Navy battleship sped towards Italy. Yu Eung-bu, upon receiving the urgent news delivered by the navy, summoned all the Italian commanders.

“The war situation is progressing too slowly. We need to be more aggressive.”

At Yu Eung-bu’s words, the commanders of the five factions all wore troubled expressions.

“We want to be more aggressive, but we lack troops and supplies. If only someone would support us with a little more supplies…”

“I thought that ‘someone’ was doing their best to support you?”

“……”

At Yu Eung-bu’s words, the commanders of the five factions had no choice but to remain silent. They claimed, ‘Supplies are lacking,’ but the Empire provided ample support for most supplies, except for artillery shells. Yu Eung-bu, silencing the commanders, announced his decision.

“In two days, the Florentine and Imperial forces will take action. Let’s end this tedious war now. If it gets any longer, only the people will suffer.”

“……Understood.”

Two days later, at dawn.

The Imperial artillery corps began to move busily. Until now, the Imperial artillery corps had only occasionally appeared when the front lines were in danger of collapsing. However, today was different. After a long time, the flying artillery observers rose into the sky, and from the temporarily erected watchtowers, light communication devices continuously sent signals.

“Let’s begin.”

“Yes, sir.”

Shortly after, the standard guns of the Imperial artillery corps, waiting at the front lines, began to fire simultaneously. Each time the shells fired by the standard guns landed, the flying artillery observers continued to send signals, and the artillerymen of the battery readjusted the bearing and angle of the cannons. Once the adjustments were complete, the Imperial artillerymen fired their shells all at once.

쾅쾅쾅!

The Imperial artillery corps’ shells landed intensively between the French and Spanish forces. It was a specialty of the Imperial artillery corps to create an unfillable hole, or passage, by dropping shells with tremendous density in one area of the front lines.

As large passages were created in the trench lines of the French and Spanish forces, the assault vehicles of the Imperial assault troops began to advance towards the passages. Interestingly, several carts were lined up behind the penetrating assault vehicles, and the carts were full of Florentine and Swiss soldiers. This was a tactic that the Florentine and Swiss forces had come to favor through combat.

-To properly utilize the holes pierced in the front lines, follow-up troops must pass through them as quickly as possible.

-However, the speed is too slow on foot.

-It is impossible to replace everything with cavalry.

-Then?

The Florentine commanders, considering these points, came up with the idea of connecting carts behind the assault vehicles.

“Assault vehicles are not iron horses [trains]!”

The assault troop commanders strongly protested, but the Florentine commanders dismissed their concerns with the unique nonchalance of the Italians.

“Aren’t iron horses and assault vehicles essentially the same since they both run on steam engines? Let’s just attach a few carts.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier for you too if the follow-up troops followed quickly anyway?”

“But the speed…”

“Since we have the powerful Imperial artillery corps, it should be okay even if the speed slows down a bit, right?”

In this way, the assault vehicles came to charge with carts attached behind them. This received favorable reviews not only from the Florentine and Swiss forces but also from the Imperial commanders. However, those in charge of maintenance constantly spewed out curses.

“Didn’t you see the manual? Why is the fixed number of personnel set! You’re just running it recklessly because you’re not going to maintain it!”

* * *

The assault vehicles, arriving at the entrance of the passage pierced by the Imperial artillery corps, separated the carts and passed through the passage. While the assault vehicles, equipped with large and medium cannons, tied up the French and Spanish forces gathering around the passage, the assault troops jumped out of the assault vehicles that had passed through the passage. The assault troops who dismounted gradually cleared the surrounding trenches to widen the passage.

“Singijeon [Korean rocket artillery] rockets!”

“Yes!”

삐익! 펑!

As the Singijeon rockets that rose into the sky created a cloud of smoke, the Florentine and Swiss forces waiting at the entrance of the passage pushed into the passage. Eventually, before sunset that day, the trench lines of the French and Spanish forces collapsed. The French and Spanish forces, whose trench lines had collapsed, eventually retreated to Turin Castle and began a siege.

The commanders of the French and Spanish forces, who had built a defensive line relying on the Po River passing in front of Turin, had to send reports full of bitterness to their home countries. A few days later, messengers sent from the French and Spanish home countries entered Turin Castle. The next day, envoys bearing white flags visited the Italian and Imperial allied forces’ camp.

-We wish to hold armistice negotiations.

Yu Eung-bu, looking at the document brought by the envoy, lightly clenched his fist and muttered.

“Finally!”

* * *

Afterwards, the Asti conference hall, located southeast of Turin, was prepared. Various negotiations related to the armistice took place in the conference hall where high-ranking officials from France and Spain, Florence, Genoa, Milan, Venice, Romagna, the Kingdom of Naples, Switzerland, and the Empire were all gathered.

The negotiation process was a series of struggles. The negotiations were so difficult that Han Myung-hoi even suggested this to Emperor Xiang, who was exhausted from the negotiations.

“Your Majesty, now that we have occupied Gibraltar and Algeciras, why don’t we just advance north from there and conquer Spain and France?”

“Do you want to go to the record office [be reprimanded]?”

“……I will do my best.”

The biggest obstacles to the negotiations were two:

-War reparations.

-The return of Gibraltar and Algeciras.

The first obstacle, war reparations, was a difficult issue from the start.

“We didn’t lose!”

France and Spain absolutely refused to admit defeat.

“You just didn’t raise a white flag. Isn’t it true that you lost?”

“I said we didn’t lose! We’re just ending the war because the damage to each other is too great!”

In a situation where they were just going around in circles, Emperor Xiang had to intervene himself.

“Then let’s keep fighting.”

“Your Majesty!”

“It seems that France and Spain want to increase the stakes even more in the gambling game called war, so I will agree. I will continue the game with everything I have, the fate of the nation. Because that’s what you want. The Empire will not back down.”

At Emperor Xiang’s words, Han Myung-hoi continued with a serious face.

“As the Supreme Emperor said, the Empire will not back down. Let’s go all the way. Are you prepared?”

The representatives of France and Spain were in a situation where they could neither advance nor retreat at Han Myung-hoi’s words. If they agreed to war reparations, they would be admitting defeat. If that happened, the authority of the monarch and the ruling class would plummet. It was certain that the monarch would carry out a massive purge to protect his power.

It wasn’t just authority and power that were the problem. The amount to be paid as war reparations was also a problem. If all the reparations demanded by the Empire, Italy, Portugal, and Switzerland were combined, France would have to tighten its belt for at least 10 years, and Spain for about 20 years.

“If we pay this much reparations, our kingdom will be ruined!”

“Is that our business?”

“Hey!”

“Then keep fighting.”

After mentally exhausting the representatives of France and Spain by applying strong pressure, Han Myung-hoi slyly dangled a bait.

“If you hand over the rights to govern the vicinity of Gibraltar and Algeciras, the Empire will reduce the reparations by 3/10.”

“Really?”

The Spanish representative looked tempted at Han Myung-hoi’s suggestion. Han Myung-hoi, nodding lightly, made a similar suggestion to the French representative.

“If France concludes a 2/10 share of the Suez Railway and a tariff-free agreement, we will reduce the war reparations by 4/10.”

At Han Myung-hoi’s suggestion, the representatives of France and Spain became serious and fell silent.

‘It’s definitely a good offer, but……’

Because it was a matter that was difficult to decide rashly, the representatives of France and Spain could not easily answer. However, the representatives of Switzerland and Portugal then dangled their own bait.

-Recognition of Switzerland’s independent state.

-Signing of a tariff-free agreement with Switzerland.

-Transferring half of Spain’s colonial cities in Africa to Portugal.

In the end, the representatives of France and Spain had to step back.

“We do not have the authority to decide on this matter. We will report to our home country and get an answer.”

“I want to hear an answer within fifteen days.”

“This……!”

The representatives of France and Spain, who were about to explode at the deadline presented by Han Myung-hoi, sighed deeply and answered.

“Hoo~ We will do our best.”

* * *

In the end, France and Spain had no choice but to accept the conditions set by the Empire. Of course, they did not accept everything as it was.

‘To take away as little as possible’, and conversely, the Empire waged a fierce war of words and tactics ‘to take as much as possible’. In this way, France received a reduction of 45/100 on the condition of ‘agreeing to 15/100 of the Suez Railway’s shareholding and a tariff-free agreement.’

In the case of Spain, it received a reduction of 35/100 by accepting the condition of ‘officially recognizing Gibraltar and Algeciras as Imperial territory’. In addition, Portugal and Switzerland also managed to get what they wanted by using the reduction of war reparations as bait. When the negotiations were completed, Emperor Xiang made a new proposal to everyone.

“I think it would be good for I, the leaders of Italy, the kings of France, Spain, and Portugal, and the leaders of Switzerland to gather in one place and sign the agreement. How good would it be to see the monarchs gather and agree to peace?”

The monarchs of France and Spain, who received Emperor Xiang’s proposal, accepted it after much deliberation. On the day of the historic signing ceremony, not only the nobles of each country who arrived escorting the monarchs but also the leading artists gathered at the signing hall created in Turin to sketch the signing ceremony.

Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo were in the best seats, diligently sketching the scene.

In the meantime, there was someone who had become the outcast of Western Europe.

It was the Habsburgs.

“The Habsburgs……”

When ‘the Habsburgs’ were mentioned at the summit that followed the signing ceremony, everyone’s expression turned sour. The leader of Venice, whose city had been turned into ruins by the Habsburg army’s looting, gnashed his teeth in anger, and the monarchs of France and Spain felt similarly.

It was because they hadn’t done it properly even though they had said they would move together.

‘If only the Habsburgs had done it properly!’

Of course, the Habsburgs also had a lot to say about this, but they were completely isolated. Emperor Xiang, grasping the situation, muttered inwardly.

‘Perhaps it will become another spark [for future conflict].’

* * *

With the negotiations with France and Spain, Italy became independent as a unified nation. And once again, it became noisy. It was the issue of the national structure of unified Italy. A fierce debate ensued, but in the end, the ‘Basic Law of Unified Italy,’ most of which was accepted from the Empire’s initial proposal, was created.

The leaders of the factions, who received the thick legal code created with the help of Imperial officials, expressed their gratitude to Emperor Xiang and at the same time sent a subtle eviction order.

“It’s called ‘discarding the rabbit after the hunt’ [betraying those who helped once they are no longer needed]……”

“It’s probably ‘sweet words first, bitter words later’ [a false promise]. They are not trustworthy guys.”

At Sung Sam-mun’s outburst, Emperor Xiang and Han Myung-hoi responded with a smile.

“Still, we have the reins.”

While creating the legal code, the Empire played a trick.

It only wrote ‘the leaders and representatives of the six states of Italy’. Because it did not specify the names of the current leaders, such as the Medici family and the Kingdom of Naples, these leaders could be changed at any time. Considering the Empire’s influence, it meant that those who currently held power or those who were aiming for that power needed the Empire’s support.

With this, the Italian unification war came to an end.

Later, historians would evaluate it as ‘a war in which all participating countries became suckers to the Empire’.