As Hyang read through the proposal, his expression shifted from disbelief to curiosity.

“Hmm… How did you come up with this idea? Who first conceived it? Bring them here.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

About half a sijan (approximately 1 hour) after Hyang’s command, a young naval officer entered Geunjeongjeon Hall.

After the officer performed the military salute and took his seat, Hyang began his questions.

“You were the first to conceive this proposal?”

“I did not develop it entirely, Your Majesty. The Duke of Gwangju first raised the idea.”

Hyang’s eyes lit up at the naval officer’s response.

“The Duke of Gwangju? That child Du[1]?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm…”

Lightly stroking his chin while organizing his thoughts, Hyang ordered Min Sin:

“Summon the Duke of Gwangju.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Shortly after, Du entered Geunjeongjeon with a haggard face and paid his respects.

“You don’t look well. Is something the matter?”

Du responded to Hyang’s question with a slightly awkward expression:

“Overseeing the navy’s year-end settlement preparations…”

“Ah…”

At Du’s response, all the ministers in the hall simultaneously nodded and muttered internally:

The year-end settlement truly is a killer…

Even the mighty Ministry of Finance is helpless before the year-end settlement…

Every autumn, all imperial government departments began preparing their year-end settlements. These had to be error-free to avoid issues with budget allocations for the year after next.

As a result, this saying circulated among officials:

If war broke out during the year-end settlement preparation and processing period, officials would grab rifles and rush to the front lines before the soldiers.

Knowing these circumstances, Hyang avoided further mention.

So you’re following in Pyeongwon’s footsteps.

After the Reformation successfully took root, Sejong began placing royal family members in government positions.

Though this meant dealing with various political issues, they were still of the same bloodline and had received proper higher education.

Following Sejong’s decision, the royal family members who entered government were dispersed across various organizations according to their aptitudes.

Jinpyeong, who went to Area 51 and the Railway Construction Authority, and Anpyeong, who joined the Culture Agency under the Ministry of Education, were prime examples.

When these royal family members first entered as a sort of parachute appointment, career officials responded with indifference or negativity.

However, they soon welcomed the royal family members.

Thanks to being placed according to their aptitudes, they demonstrated excellent work capabilities and never flaunted their royal status inappropriately.

Above all, they proved most valuable during budget battles. When negotiating with Ministry of Finance representatives, placing royal family members—especially Sejong’s children—at the forefront meant most matters would pass without issue.

Eventually, when royalty took the lead this way, the Ministry of Finance had to respond with either their minister or Kim Jeom personally.

Though this reduced the advantage afterward, various departments, especially the military, continued bringing in royal family members for budget-related matters.

“It’s definitely better than having nobody!”

Looking at Du with slight concern, Hyang soon composed his expression and spoke:

“Why did you think to put flying vessels on ships?”

Du answered Hyang’s question immediately:

“Because the sea is vastly wider than land, Your Majesty. Just as land has roads, the sea has sea routes. However, these routes are incomparably wider than land roads. Surveying these sea routes by ship alone is no easy task. But flying vessels, especially self-powered ones, can observe vast maritime areas from above, making them ideal equipment.”

Hyang and the ministers all nodded at Du’s response.

Hyang continued his questioning:

“Why remove all sails and masts to install only steam engines?”

“To safely launch and recover flying vessels, Your Majesty.”

“Wouldn’t steam engines alone provide insufficient speed? No, the speed might be adequate, but wouldn’t the range be limited? Isn’t limited operational range one of the major drawbacks of assault ghost ships?”

Hyang’s point was valid.

The assault ghost ships, the empire’s most powerful warships, had shorter range compared to Challenger-class vessels. With coal loaded at 110% capacity, they could cruise as far as South-Western Island (Taiwan) under normal conditions. However, this was just for cruising. If combat operations were expected, supply ships carrying coal had to accompany them.

Du immediately responded to Hyang’s observation:

“The vessel I’ve proposed isn’t intended for combat, Your Majesty, but rather to operate flying vessels from behind the fleet. Therefore, it would rarely need to move at combat speeds. By my calculations, with a hull the size of a large merchant vessel moving at patrol ship speeds, it could sail independently without coal resupply from Tsushima to South-Western Island, or from South-Western Island to Temasek.”

“Is that also why the armament and hull protection are inferior to Challenger-class vessels?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. As I mentioned, this vessel’s operational purpose is to deploy flying vessels from behind the fleet. I believe minimal self-defense capability would suffice.”

Du’s answers were fluent and his objectives reasonable. Consequently, Kim Jeom and Finance Minister Park Jong-wu were quietly preparing to loosen their purse strings.

Hmm… How much additional allocation will we need?

However, Hyang slightly furrowed his brow and continued his questioning:

“As you know, flying vessels have virtually no protection.”

“But flying vessels can ascend beyond the reach of gunfire, Your Majesty. Protection isn’t an issue.”

“Do you truly believe operating flying vessels over the sea will be as useful as anticipated?”

“For ordinary flying vessels, a dedicated ship wouldn’t be necessary, Your Majesty. They can’t move under their own power and drift aimlessly with the wind. However, the newly demonstrated self-powered flying vessel can move wherever desired. With its considerable range, it’s ideal for surveying vast seas.”

“But even if you spot enemies from afar, don’t you lack means for rapid communication? Light signaling devices exist, certainly, but don’t they have limitations?”

“Regarding that aspect, as written in the proposal…”

Hyang cut off Du’s words.

“I’ve read the proposal. According to your plan, you’d need six flying vessels and at least three Sea Response warships at once.”

Du and the naval officers had envisioned operating the flying vessels as follows:

• Deploy six flying vessels at once, operating in pairs. 
• Examining the flight paths, divide three concentric circles centered on the fleet into three zones, assigning one pair of vessels and one Sea Response warship to each. 
• When vessels in the outermost circle spot enemies, they immediately turn to approach other vessels flying in the inner circle to relay information. 
• Vessels receiving information in the inner circle either relay it to Sea Response warships operating further inside or head to the main fleet to deliver information.

Hyang pointed out the problem with this operational method:

“This plan would require more funding than expected. Not only would the construction of Sea Response warships, flying vessels, and dedicated ships be costly, but training personnel would be even more expensive. Think about it. Even with predetermined routes, various circumstances will cause scattered movement across the vast sea—do you think coordinating this precisely would be simple? You’d naturally need to recruit several times the required personnel for selection, then maintain their skills through constant training afterward. This means the cost would be far higher than you’ve estimated. Therefore…”

Pausing briefly, Hyang concluded with genuine regret:

“Though I truly regret it, this plan cannot be implemented now. It will only become feasible after we develop methods for rapid and accurate long-distance communication.”

“Then…”

“It’s suspended for now. Indefinitely. If you want to advance the timeline, request research into communication methods from the institute.”

Du bowed his head at Hyang’s decision and responded:

“I shall comply with your command.”

Meanwhile, Kim Jeom and Park Jong-wu unconsciously sighed in relief, then frantically checked if others had noticed.

“Whew~ Eep!”

That night, sitting alone in Gangnyeongjeon, Hyang grumbled while holding his forehead:

“Ah~ I miss electricity and rubber.”

He continued, licking his lips:

“The electrical part is under research, so that’s one thing, but rubber is the problem…”

When Hyang had previously assigned homework on mechanics, he had also assigned research on electricity, which he named ‘thunder energy.’

Consequently, this research was currently in full swing at the institute.

Of course, though it was highest-grade in the challenge records, Hyang remained optimistic.

But rubber was the problem.

As trade with Southeast Asia intensified, Hyang had argued to Sejong about the need to investigate rubber.

“You say we need to investigate the sap of trees growing in those countries? Why?”

“Currently in our Joseon, tree saps, starting with pine resin, are being well utilized in various areas. The trees growing in those southern countries are vastly different from ours, so examining their saps could lead us to something beneficial.”

“Hmm…”

After contemplating Hyang’s words, Sejong made his decision some time later.

“I’ve ordered the navy.”

“Thank you!”

Thus began the collection and analysis of saps from Southeast Asia and India. However, apart from what was collected in India, they found nothing related to the rubber Hyang desperately sought.

But the rubber obtained from India was concluded to be “economically unfeasible,” and even then, Hyang had grumbled while holding his forehead:

“Should I really send people all the way to Central or South America… No, even if we send them, what excuse could we use? ‘I saw it in a dream’? Or ‘I have divine inspiration’? Or perhaps ‘I read it in Western books’? Hah! I wouldn’t believe it myself!”

Hyang shook his head, unable to hide his frustration.

“The conclusion is we have to keep quiet and wait until the Americas are discovered…”

After reaching this conclusion, Hyang’s thoughts drifted:

“But if the people we send see those brutal human sacrifices in the South American empires, they’d probably demand immediate extermination.”

Recalling past memories over the rubber problem, Hyang sighed again.

“Whew~ We’ve reached the New Frontier, but we haven’t even properly digested North America yet… Population really is king.”

Though Sejong, staying in the New Frontier, was actively working to integrate the North American region, progress was slow.

The main reason was insufficient personnel to send from the main territory to the New Frontier.

In the process of teaching and deploying the native inhabitants who had submitted to the empire, the biggest problem was the shortage of personnel to educate these natives.

As a result, they were selecting and training educators from among the natives, but it would still take considerable time before they could be deployed in the field.