Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 615

Episode 615: The Beginning of the Empire – Today is like yesterday. (3)

“Exclusive ammunition? “Are you kidding me?”

Giovanni, who had been dazed for a moment by Kim Jeom’s ‘exclusive bullet’ comment, screamed. Henry and Mehmet II, who were sitting next to him, were also glaring at Kim Jeom with similar expressions.

“It’s not like we don’t know about long guns! A special bullet! “What a joke!”

At Giovanni’s shout, Henry and Mehmet II nodded at the same time.

‘We’re not those French or British hillbillies!’

They had already become accustomed to long guns in the process of preparing for war.

‘The bullet is just a lead ball that fits the caliber, and there’s nothing special about the gunpowder, so what special bullet!’

‘There’s a degree of people looking at us awkwardly!’

“Hmm….”

Kim Jeom’s expression became full of cynicism at the backlash from Henrik and his group.

“What is that expression!”

When Giovanni raised his voice again, Kim Jeom asked back with a calm face.

“Since you say you know long guns so well, let me ask you one question. “When you use a long gun the way you know, can you achieve a high rate of fire like we saw in our military training?”

“Uh…”

Giovanni’s mouth, which was about to answer Kim Jeom’s question, was tightly closed. Looking at Giovanni, who was at a loss for an answer and had a perplexed expression, Kim continued to ask questions.

“Don’t you understand what you pointed out, the country that exported the long guns your country uses? Let’s ask again. Is it easy to reload with those rifles while lying down or kneeling? Just like the long guns I saw yesterday.”

“….”

Kim Jeom continued to point out things, but Giovanni’s tightly closed mouth did not open easily. This was also the case for Henry and Mehmed II.

Before long, the three realized one thing.

‘So then you’re saying that the core of the Joseon military’s new long gun was that bullet!’

As his thoughts turned to that point, Mehmet II opened his mouth.

“I’d like to see that gun and its special ammunition in more detail. Is that possible?”

“I can’t answer right away because I need to get His Majesty’s approval.”

In response to Kim Jeom’s answer, Mehmet II made a strong request.

“I really want to see you. “If you satisfy me on the spot, our country will do business on a level that will surprise you.”

Kim Jeom thought about Mehmet II’s answer for a while before answering.

“I will report that to Your Majesty as well.”

* * *

With that, the consultation ended and Henrik and his group left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and headed to their lodgings.

On the way back to their lodgings, Henry and Giovanni glared at Mehmed II.

“What do you mean by a deal that would surprise Joseon, or even the Korean Empire?”

Mehmed II immediately responded to Henry’s criticism.

“This is a proposal that was put forward with considerable consideration.”

Mehmed II gave a short answer and muttered to himself as he looked at the sky colored by the sunset.

‘Your father is also very old. In order to overpower my competitors, I need to have a lot of people on my side. And we need shackles to bind them.’

* * *

The competition for the successor to the Ottoman Empire was a brutal competition, overflowing with blood. In order to win the competition, he needed many people to be loyal to him.

For that purpose, the Joseon Army’s new long rifle shown yesterday was very useful. Long guns were already a familiar item to competitors. Long guns made in Joseon, Portugal, Italy, Spain, and even the Ming were circulating in large quantities.

In this situation, the long guns shown by the Joseon military yesterday were overwhelming all other long guns.

If he waved that long gun as bait, there would be an abundance of nobles and generals who would swear loyalty to him. In the Ottoman Empire, which was expanding its territory every day, the shortcut to success was to accumulate military skills. And in order to build military prowess, well-trained soldiers and good weapons were essential.

The special ammunition was a great shackle there. As Joseon said, if it could be made only in Joseon, the burden of defection could be greatly reduced as long as the ammunition was in hand.

* * *

Henrik and Giovanni, who had no way of knowing Mehmet II’s true intentions, became serious.

‘If this happens, we will have no choice but to join the competition.’

‘After taking control of Suez, we have no choice but to compete in order to protect our interests.’

Although they had blood on their necks in front of Kim Jeom, both men acknowledged the superiority of Joseon-made long guns.

I only raised my voice because of that damn ‘special bullet’.

If that heretic not only accepted Joseon’s proposal but also concluded ‘a deal that would surprise Joseon’ as he had assured, Portugal and Florence were sure to suffer a serious loss of interest.

In the end, there was no choice but to follow the results of the negotiations between Mehmed II and Joseon.

“Whoa~.”

Giovanni and Henrik could only sigh as they could not come up with a good answer no matter how much they thought about it.

A Foreign Office official visited them that night.

“The administration will come out tomorrow. “You can follow him.”

“Thank you.”

* * *

The next day, Henry and his party left the lodgings with their military officers.

The place they headed to was Namhansanseong Fortress.

“This place?”

“It is the garrison of the troops protecting Hanseong, or Seoul.”

With the change from Joseon to the Korean Federal Empire, Hanseong was renamed Seoul.

“In order to escape the nobility, I will call it Seoul instead of Hanseong!”

According to King Sejong’s decision, a sudden name change was carried out from Hanseong to Seoul, but due to its significance, there was little resistance from the people. This was because ‘Seoul’ had been commonly used as a word for the capital since ancient times. (Note 1)

“Hmm…”

Henrik, who was looking at the walls and interior of Namhansanseong Fortress while listening to the official’s explanation, nodded. It was.

“What a nice fortress!”

Mehmed II also nodded at Henry’s words.

“exactly. “From a defensive perspective, it’s no better than Constantinople.”

After talking like that, the group headed to the training ground of the Namhansanseong garrison.

Kim Jeom and his party and envoys from other countries had already arrived there first.

“What about them?”

The interpreter answered the short question asked by Henry, who discovered the envoys from another country.

“Your Majesty commanded, ‘Are they the only ones who have doubts? Make it clear to everyone.’ “He said so.”

“is it?”

‘It looks like we weren’t the only ones picking on it.’

* * *

As soon as Henry and his group arrived, a briefing session was held.

“The guns on the table now are the Eulsik rifles.”

The envoys of each country, especially the military officers, who heard the words of the Joseon military officer who gave an explanation, looked at the long guns placed on the mountain with bright eyes.

Henrique, looking at the 20 guns placed on the table, spoke to the interpreter.

“Ask if you can take a closer look.”

“yes.”

After a while, the interpreter relayed the military officer’s answer.

“I ask you to see as much as you want.”

As soon as those words were out, the envoys and military officers picked up the guns on the table and started looking around.

“It’s not much different from the existing one…”

The envoys who had no special knowledge about long guns commented that, but those who were already familiar with the Suseok-style long guns sold by Joseon had their eyes sparkling.

“Quite a lot has changed!”

“There is no gunpowder dish.”

“Then how do you ignite it…”

As similar questions and answers were being asked in various languages, the Portuguese military officer and Oichi’s samurai opened the chamber cover almost simultaneously.

Slam! click!

“huh?”

“uh?”

When the chamber cover suddenly opened, Oichi’s samurai looked at the Joseon military officer while sweating.

“Ano… Soruma, did I cause a malfunction?”

The Joseon military officer responded with a smile at the sight of the samurai looking ready to commit seppuku at any moment.

“It’s not a problem, don’t worry.”

“then?”

At the samurai’s words, the Joseon military officer took out three bullets from a cartridge placed on one side and held them high.

“This is the exclusive ammunition for the Eulsik Long Rifle. And this is how we use it.”

The Joseon military officer loaded a bullet into his Japanese rifle with familiar movements and fired three shots in succession.

Bang bang bang!

The envoys who saw the three rapid fire shots all nodded.

‘indeed! Is that why special ammunition is needed?’

After watching the Joseon military officer’s demonstration, Henry and Mehmet II opened the cover of the Japanese rifle in their hands and examined it closely.

“Hmm… I see…”

Henrik, who was shaking his head, asked Giovanni in a whisper.

“Can you make a copy in Florence?”

Giovanni shook his head slightly in response to Henry’s question.

“It’s impossible in a short period of time.”

Giovanni had a lot of contact with artists and craftsmen and was deeply involved in replicating Joseon-style gun guns. As soon as he saw the Japanese rifle, he was frustrated by its precision.

‘It’s not just a cover on the back! Not only the precision, but even the steel used in the gun barrel is second to none!’

After the demonstration of the Eulsik Jangchong, the demonstration of the freight train continued.

“As you can see, the Eulsik Long Gun’s exclusive ammunition is also used in freight cars.”

After seeing the military officer’s hand signal, the Joseon soldiers took out the bullets from the cartridges placed on the table and put them into the exclusive magazine for the freight car. After attaching the filled magazine to the wagon, the Joseon soldiers immediately turned the handle of the wagon.

Ta-ta-ta-tang!

* * *

After the demonstration, envoys and military attachés from each country inspected the special ammunition.

“The shape of the bullets is also different.”

Henrik, who was nodding his head as he looked at the lead bullet with a pointed tip rather than the typical bead-shaped lead bullet, used strength in his hands to separate the warhead and shell. When the separated shell casing was turned over and shaken, gunpowder powder fell out, and Henry’s military officer next to him secretly took some gunpowder powder in his hand and put it on his tongue.

“It’s gunpowder, not much different.”

“Then how?”

Meanwhile, Kim Jeom, who had been closely observing the actions of the envoys, especially Henry, on one side, ran straight to the Joseon military officer and whispered softly.

“yes. “I will do so.”

The Joseon military attaché responded with a light nod, placed the shell casing that Henry had separated into the rifle, and pulled the trigger.

phut!

The envoys and military officers of each country realized the actions of the Joseon military officer at the same time.

‘This is what they meant when they said it was useless without special ammunition!’

It was the moment when my earlier doubts became confirmed. And I found out another fact.

‘This is what Joseon confidently called for! The design of the special ammunition, let alone the Eulsik Long Rifle, cannot be easily imitated and Joseon has no intention of revealing it!’

* * *

After the demonstration, Kim Jeom came back to the front, looked back at the envoys, and opened his mouth.

“Did you read the part you were curious about? “I’ll say it again, our empire will never tell lies to you.”

At Kim Jeom’s words, all the Joseon officials around him thought the same thing.

‘But that doesn’t actually tell the whole story.’

Looking at the envoys nodding their heads at his words, Kim Jeom continued speaking.

“To be honest, it is true that exclusive ammunition is a burden. Once a bullet is fired, that’s it. Isn’t that right?”

The envoys all nodded at Kim Jeom’s words.

If it weren’t for the problem with the special ammunition, there was a lot of intention to get even two or three times the quantity originally promised.

It was because of Myeong, a wounded tiger.

Even though it was defeated by Joseon, the Ming Dynasty was the most powerful country in the East. It was a situation where there was a very high possibility that they would attack their surroundings to restore their wounded pride and make up for the damage suffered in the war.

The reason people flocked to Joseon’s declaration of empire was not simply to celebrate, but to purchase Joseon weapons.

Perhaps sensing the envoys’ feelings, Kim Jeom gestured to the soldiers next to him. At Kim Jeom’s hand signal, the soldiers placed another cartridge on the table.

Kim Jeom showed the envoys bullets taken from a new cartridge.

“This is the special ammo that was used before that special ammo. I will offer this at a low price. The price is 40 rounds and 1 Joseon silver coin.”

What Kim Jeom showed was a first-generation bullet using a cartridge made of paper and copper, which was made when the Eulsik long gun was developed.

‘We have to clean up the abandoned complex! If possible, you can get money too!’

* * *

Note 1)

https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EC%84%9C%EC%9A%B8%ED%8A%B9%EB%B3%84%EC%8B%9C