Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 689

Episode 689: Virtue never rests. (3)

Portuguese and Italian merchants learned about semtle and semtle barrel through the surveyors of the railway construction team dispatched to Suez.

* * *

The surveyors who first arrived at Suez had one request before starting work.

-Guides who are familiar with the geography of this area

-A map that records the geography of this area.

At the request of the surveyors, the Ottomans and Portuguese arranged for guides familiar with the nearby geography and sought maps.

However, the Ottomans and Portuguese who sought guidance looked perplexed.

“Do you think I will be criticized if I just give this away?”

The map they had only showed the huge freshwater lake ‘البحيرة المرة الكبرى (al-Buḥayrah al-Murra al-Kubrā)’ in the middle and the Nile Delta area to the west, and the rest was blank.

No, to be exact, it was a blank area marked as a desert.

And the reaction of the imperial people who received this map was just as they expected.

“Is this a map? Is this a map?”

“Eray shit!”

The surveying team members, who had started swearing as soon as they saw the map, soon had no choice but to face reality.

“Use it! “I can’t help it!”

“Our people are like this!”

That’s how the surveying work began.

*

…

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

Under heavy guard by Ottoman, Portuguese and French soldiers, the surveyors went north and meticulously recorded the locations of potential water sources and the distances between them.

The surveying team members who traveled back and forth between North and South Korea for six months soon began writing long reports and at the same time creating new maps based on the data they recorded.

And the soldiers of Portugal and Ottoman France were frightened when they saw the map made in that way.

“Oh my god, such a precise map!”

The soldiers of the three countries were surprised to see a map made with greater precision than the maps at the time, and looked at the surveying team members with expressions of novelty.

* * *

Meanwhile, the members of the imperial surveying team they had seen were people with swear words in their mouths. To put it mildly, all kinds of imperial insults were used as a daily routine among soldiers from various countries who lived alongside the imperialists during those months.

What’s interesting is that when we got into a situation where we were talking in our native language mixed with profanity, the interpreter became free at some point.

In addition to swear words and necessary words – water, rice, alcohol, woman, difficult, etc. – and with simple hand gestures and body language, most conversations became possible.

Thanks to this, the place where the surveyors and the soldiers guarding them gathered was a mess with swear words from all countries mixed up. And the French, Ottoman and Portuguese nobles who visited this place frowned and did not hesitate to call it Pandemonium.

* * *

In any case, nobles from various countries were impressed by the maps created by the surveyors and asked them to teach them map-making techniques.

However, the imperial surveying team members who received their request responded by snorting.

“joy! “I’m too busy measuring to lay the railroad right now, but I’m sick of it!”

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

“I am too busy with my current job to accept your request. sorry. If you truly want to make precise maps or learn techniques, please apply to the Imperial Research Institute.”

“You mean the Imperial Research Institute?”

“That’s right. “There are real map-making masters there.”

“Ah…”

After hearing the answer from the surveying officer, the nobles had no choice but to quench their appetite or leave with a bitter smile. The Imperial Research Institute was a difficult place to access, even if it was less than Area 51.

“I thought it would be a little easier to get there, but are you saying that in the end, diplomatic means are the only way to go?”

“That’s a pretty cool way to refuse.”

But what the surveying officer said was true.

* * *

When the research institute was first established, the question ‘Is the world flat or round?’ The controversy forced researchers to travel throughout Joseon at the time. And the township did not miss the opportunity and began producing precise maps.

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

But theory was theory and reality was reality. Thanks to this, researchers at the time had no choice but to produce maps through numerous trials and errors.

Still, through trial and error, the map I created became more and more precise.

And once such a precise map was created, the idea of abolishing the map arose.

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

King Sejong, who received the appeal at the time, was furious and refuted it.

“Indeed, you only know one and do not know the other! Not everyone in Joseon knows all eight provinces of Joseon, so how can they move without a map? Threat from an external enemy? Shouldn’t our Joseon military know where it is before moving? “Who on earth is this idiot who posted such a stupid complaint?”

King Sejong was so angry that he even used the egregious expression ‘a waste of money’.

* * *

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

“The desert is the problem….”

“The desert is a desert, but water is a bigger problem. “Fresh water is fresh water, but…”

What troubled the surveyors was the quality of the water in the oases dotted throughout the desert and in the huge freshwater lake along the route – known in history as the “Great Bitter Lake” before the intervention of the township.

* * *

“You’re drinking this?”

When the surveying team members saw the water in the oasis guided by the guide, they looked astonished.

The small lake in front of me was filled with cloudy water.

The guide asked back with an expression that he did not understand what the surveying team members said.

“Isn’t it obvious? “If we don’t get water from here, it will dry up in just a few days.”

“But the water quality is really bad, isn’t it?”

“You won’t die even if you eat it.”

“….”

The surveying team members, who were silent at the guide’s words, took out their notes and added information.

-You must have a water purification frame.

And these water quality problems were the same even after arriving at the large freshwater lake. The water quality was relatively clear compared to the oases we passed through on the way, but it was still very turbid compared to the water we commonly see and drink in the empire.

“Well… I heard that sailors were playing a fresh game by piling up a lot of purification bottles in Aden and Suez and purifying everything from drinking water to washing up.” “If the

clean water looks like this, then there is nothing to say There isn’t anything…”

* * *

“Water is water, but somehow getting rid of that sand is also work.”

When one person grumbled while writing a report, everyone else nodded.

The biggest enemy in the construction of the railroad was the desert sand. Railroad construction was impossible until the problem of sinking sand was solved.

To solve this problem, surveyors asked the guides for geographic information.

The members of the surveying party, who had obtained some information, made a request to the nobles of the alliance.

“You want me to save the workers? how much?”

“The more the better.”

“Then it’s hard to get a feel for it…”

“Please save about 3,000 people first.”

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

The surveyors who were assigned slaves began mobilizing the slaves to dig up the deserts north of Suez.

“There is no need to go far, let’s just dig about 100 pieces (about 300m).”

So the surveyors who had been working for a month on the northern border of Suez nodded.

“As expected, there is bare ground.”

“If we dig down about 4 to 5 pieces (approximately 12m to 15m), we can strengthen the foundation.”

With that in mind, the surveyors began calculating to come up with more specific figures.

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

“Is it possible to make such accurate calculations with those tree branches?”

Among the tools used by surveying team members, the abacus was one they were familiar with. However, mountain branches were an area that I could not understand. The calculation was completed by arranging the trimmed tree branches here and there and moving them again. What’s even more surprising is that when you look at the results later, there are almost no mistakes.

“What magic!”

“Is that the mystery of the East?”

While the nobles of the alliance were amazed, the members of the surveying party were becoming more and more troubled.

“That damn sand!”

“If I do this wrong, I won’t have enough branches, right?”

Just then, the Semptel and Sempteltong sent by Jinpyeong arrived.

“I can’t just ignore my babies suffering!”

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

“hurray!”

“I survived!”

“Long live your Majesty the Emperor! May you live long!”

* * *

With the arrival of the measuring frame and measuring tank, the survey team members’ work accelerated and the numbers became more precise.

Allied nobles and Italian merchants who were observing them from the side began to focus on these semtles and semtle barrels.

It was amazing to see the results coming out right away when you pressed the keys with numbers engraved on them and pulled the lever, but what was even more amazing was the Sempttong.

This was a miracle in itself, as you entered numbers and calculation methods by manipulating the number pads located around the barrel, then turned the crank on the lid once, and the results came out with a loud sound.

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

“It’s such a small thing, but it can even perform the four basic arithmetic operations!”

In reality, the size of the sedge was about the size of two gourds put together, which was not small, but it was small enough in the eyes of the alliance’s nobles and Italian merchants.

“We absolutely need that!”

And Italian and Portuguese merchants who immediately realized its value rushed to the empire.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hyang heard from the Minister of Finance and Economy that Europeans prefer shemtle barrels because they are small, and muttered to himself.

‘that is? Well… considering the current era, it would be an ultra-small, cutting-edge device.’

On the other hand, Europe, which had obtained the semtle and the semtle barrel, naturally tried to understand the structure.

However, the moment they turned the tray and container over for disassembly, they looked helpless.

There was a strong seal attached to the joint of the floor, and a warning sign next to it.

-Warning Products with broken seals cannot be repaired.

“Holy shit…”

However, there were some who ignored such warnings and attempted to disassemble it. However, a black box that the scent had been using for a long time was installed inside.

The moment they opened the lid, a few of the smallest, most difficult-to-find cogs flew out and broke off the deliberately thin shaft.

Thanks to this, the craftsmen who opened it sat down with their heads covered.