Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 722

Episode 722: Seonwi (4)

This soup began to spread throughout the new land following the imperial army and the monopoly, and many natives also tasted this soup.

“It tastes like this!”

Since the natives were also not ignorant of the taste, it wasn’t long before dishes similar to jangguk began to circulate among the natives.

Meanwhile, some of the natives with a talent for cooking began adding salt and spices to the pemmican they made, imitating the beef jerky produced in the empire.

“…So meat rice cakes with various flavors began to appear.”

Hyang began to show more and more curiosity at Sooksu’s explanation.

“Do native people like spices?”

“There are people who have not encountered it yet, but there is no one who has eaten it just once.”

“Surprisingly.”

Sooksu explained Hyang’s words in more detail.

“When indigenous people make meat rice cakes, they buy fruits instead of grain powder. However, if you look at these fruits, you will see that although some of them fill the stomach, there are also some that are added to satisfy the enjoyment.”

Hyang nodded at Sooksu’s explanation as if she finally understood.

“Is this the same as the vinegar we often use here?”

“That’s right.”

Hyang, who had been nodding repeatedly to Suksu’s explanation, asked a question to the official next to him.

“You mentioned military service earlier, and I’m curious about the process.”

“Let me tell you. The beginning was….”

* * *

Native people who came into contact with spices through monopoly stores began to actively use them when making pemmican.

The people of the empire who saw this and tasted the newly created pemmican all nodded and said similar things.

“I heard people have different tastes….”

“I thought Shinji people had very unique tastes.”

The imperial people who tasted the new pemmican soon realized one thing.

“Is this fun?”

“yes?”

“It’s not even ours…”

The flavor of pemmican, newly created by indigenous people, was subtly different depending on the tribe that made it or who made it.

It was similar to how the soybean paste and soy sauce made at home in the Imperial headquarters tasted slightly different from home to home.

Soon, obtaining and tasting various types of pemmican from nearby tribes became a new pastime among the people living in the new land.

And the imperial cavalry stationed in Shinji began to use this pemmican as combat rations.

Preserved foods such as pemmican were not unfamiliar to the Imperial cavalry. There was dry food made and distributed by the local government right away, and there was also beef jerky that I personally purchased. And if you look a little further away, there was Bortz that was introduced during the Mongol invasion.

Thanks to this, the imperial cavalry became familiar with pemmican faster than other imperial troops. The wagons carrying the saddles and supplies of the Imperial cavalry on long-distance patrols always had sacks containing pemmican.

Eating hot stew made with pemmican in a vast plain or dense forest was another delicacy.

And the stew made with pemmican was like a notice to nearby tribes announcing the arrival of the imperial cavalry.

This was because the smell of soybean paste used in the soup could be smelled from far away.

Thanks to this, not only the tribes that were noble to the empire, but also the tribes that were not yet noble were able to smell this soup and prepare it.

And the imperial cavalry used this very cleverly.

It was used as a distraction when going to subdue tribes that were hostile to the empire.

The imperial cavalry replaced meals by putting dried dry food in their mouths and drinking water, or sent a small detachment to the other side to boil stew and spread the smell.

In this way, the hostile tribes were confused about the location of the imperial cavalry.

Afterwards, the imperial cavalry put muzzles on their horses, put on galoshes on their hooves, and approached the hostile tribes while moving slowly and making no noise.

The best tactic used by the imperial cavalry stationed in Shinji was to approach secretly and strike the back of the head of a hostile tribe that was caught off guard or distracted.

A small entertainment soon arose among the Imperial cavalry, who had become accustomed to pemmican.

The plan was to take turns eating the pemmican made by the tribes in their area and evaluate its taste. And this gradually expanded its scope and developed into a situation where it was exchanged for the pemmican eaten by other imperial troops.

And after some time, it was discovered that the pemmican made by certain tribes suited the tastes of the imperial people.

“If I do this well, will I make money?”

Imperial troops and officials who smelled money here contacted the tribe and signed a supply contract.

In addition, the mixing ratio of pemmican produced by the tribe was registered as intellectual property.

Not only that, but some pemmicans that were particularly well-received were even distributed in large quantities throughout the new territory by resellers.

* * *

Hyang, who had heard the explanation up to that point, could not hide his curiosity and continued to ask questions.

“As far as I know, indigenous people have almost no concept of owning property or wealth. Don’t they?”

The official answered Hyang’s question with a slightly embarrassed expression.

“It was like that at first. However, as more and more people became accustomed to using monopoly stores and became imperial officials and soldiers, they became very familiar with the concepts of property and wealth. “If we look at the current situation, it is very common for natives to think faster than most imperial people.”

Hyang muttered to himself at the official’s answer.

‘After all, the power of capitalism!’

Hyang, who was emptying the soup bowl while admiring the powerful influence of the monopoly, muttered to himself when he learned another fact.

‘This is it… At least there’s one more reason to push down to Mexico. I need to get some peppers too.’

Pepper or pepper alone could not match the spicy and sharp taste unique to pepper. Therefore, it was a scent that made me feel the need to move south again.

‘For rubber, we looked for something similar in India, but it wasn’t profitable. It is difficult to discuss the profitability of using dandelion sap, which I saw on the Internet in the 21st century, unless DNA manipulation is involved. The starting point for peppers, along with potatoes and sweet potatoes, is the town down there… The only conclusion is Namjin.’

* * *

The incense arrived in Mishgama two months and ten days after departing from Chosi on an iron horse.

Arriving at Mishgama, the scent coming from the iron horse made me relax my stiff back and stick out my tongue.

“It’s a very large piece of land.”

‘It’s a town that takes almost a day to cross from east to west even if you take a plane…’

Jinpyeong, who was also relaxing his stiff body next to him, nodded at Hyang’s words.

“That is certainly true. They said the Bukjido is large, but Shinji is a place of a completely different level. I think we need to pay attention not only to the iron, but also to the iron horse. In the main branch, it was considered very fast, and in the northern area, it felt a little slow, but here, the speed of a turtle is that of an older brother…”

Hyang nodded at Jinpyeong’s complaint.

* * *

Even after the iron horse became a full-fledged means of transportation, steady improvements continued.

The most important thing was durability, followed by speed. After constant improvement, the iron horse boasted overwhelming durability and reliability compared to the famous iron horse.

No, it was more accurate to say that the quality of the iron horses made by the Ming Dynasty was very poor compared to those made by the Empire.

In any case, the next task for Cheolma, which had secured reliability, was speed.

Through constant improvements in materials, the speed of the iron horse was able to be maintained steadily from 180 ri per hour to 200 ri per hour.

If converted to metric system, the speed increased from 36 km/h to 40 km/h. Of course, if overloaded, the speed could go up to 70-80 per hour, but stable operation could not be guaranteed.

The iron horses that arrived in Shinji were improved iron horses like this. However, the enormous area of Shinji turned these iron horses into turtles.

* * *

While nodding to Jinpyeong’s grumbling, Hyang passionately defended Cheolma.

“The iron horse was slow, but shouldn’t the time it stopped in the middle also be taken into account?”

As Hyang said, it was not a non-stop journey from Chosi to Mishgama.

We had to stop three times a day for a meal, spending at least half a hour (about an hour) each time.

Among the carriages connected to the iron horse, 4 were for kitchen use – 1 car was for incense and important guests, another car was for guard troops and court ladies, and another car was for low-level officials, and another car was for dishwashing, and the last car was for drinking water and water storage. And even though I prepared meals in advance while driving, that time was wasted.

In addition, to ensure safe travel, operations were stopped at night. When the sun went down, a tent was set up next to the stopped iron horse, and Hyang and his group went to sleep there.

Additionally, to ensure the health of the ship, it stopped operating for one day every ten days and rested.

As a result, it took two months and ten days from Chosi to Mishgama.

* * *

“Even so, it is too slow. In order for the iron horse to establish itself properly in Shinji, its speed must be even faster than it is now. “I heard that when creating the specifications for the railway on which the iron horse runs now, His Majesty the King expected a speed several times faster than this.”

Hyang responded to Jinpyeong’s words with a slightly bitter smile.

“I did. However, since the standard was set using a scaled model without proper actual measurements, the error will be significant.”

When railroad tracks were first laid across the country, the speed of trains familiar to the 21st century was used as the standard. Of course, it was not as fast as KTX, but the speed of a typical diesel train.

“No narrow gauge! Even if you lose a lot of money, you have to start right from the start! “If you do it wrong, you’ll look like Japan!”

Hyang, who had learned about the problems of Japanese railways through the Internet – most of them, except for the Shinkansen, were narrow gauge, making them unable to transport logistics efficiently – insisted on broad gauge.

The problem was that although I knew the term broad gauge, I did not know the exact specifications.

To solve this problem, Hyang created a scale model of an iron horse with various lengths of track (the distance between the left and right wheels of a wheel) and began experiments by creating model railroad tracks with various curvatures and widths.

Of course, it was not possible to test all cases, so we had to create 5 iron horse models and 10 railway models to conduct repeated experiments and create calculation formulas based on the data obtained from these.

Of course, this was a formula created through the blood, sweat, and tears of the institute’s researchers. However, Sunji Lee was very happy.

The specifications of the railway determined through the calculation formula could theoretically run up to 500 ri (100 km per hour) per hour.

And Jinpyeong pointed this out.

* * *

“But wouldn’t it be faster than now?”

“That’s right.”

“Then you have to study it.”

“Budget is the problem.”

“I understand that a large portion of the compensation from Ming will go to Shinji?”

“Isn’t there a lot of room to write about? “You have to save it.”

In response to Hyang’s response, Jinpyeong looked at Hyang with strange eyes.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“What Sangwang always told Tae Sanghang was about time and budget…”

“You bastard!”