While Louis XI ascended to the throne in France and dreamed of “imperialization,” their archrival England also experienced a change in royal power.

***

The Lancaster dynasty, which began when Henry IV overthrew Richard II, had significantly faded by the time of Henry VI, who was defeated in the Hundred Years’ War.

To restore the authority that had fallen due to the defeat in the Hundred Years’ War, Henry VI blamed the responsibility on the House of York, which had served as regents.

In response, Richard, Duke of York and head of the York family, claimed that the cause of defeat was not his fault but rather lay with Henry VI and his close associates who had failed to provide proper support.

As the situation approached extremes, the Duke of York and the House of York began to dream of seizing power.

There was some basis for this.

When Richard II died, the heir to the throne should have been Edmund Mortimer.

However, Henry IV argued that since Richard II had no children, the right of succession should naturally go to his male siblings.

But if the throne had gone to Edmund Mortimer as originally determined, it would have eventually passed to Richard, Duke of York.

Based on this claim, the civil war between the Houses of York and Lancaster—the Wars of the Roses—broke out.

After a series of back-and-forth battles, Edward, Earl of March and son of Richard, Duke of York, emerged victorious and became King Edward IV of England.

Though Edward IV had claimed the throne after a bloody struggle, it wasn’t the end.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, his greatest supporter who had helped him ascend the throne, became his most powerful adversary.

***

Interestingly, the main reason Edward IV and Richard Neville became adversaries was the Empire.

Edward IV wanted strong royal authority like the Emperor of the Empire.

To achieve such powerful authority, he had to eliminate Richard Neville.

Richard Neville was also influenced by the Empire, but not directly.

The person who most strongly influenced him was the Duke of Braganza of Portugal.

-All power was concentrated in the king, but the one who controlled the king was the Duke of Braganza, the prime minister.

Richard Neville wanted to hold a position similar to that of the Duke of Braganza.

“I am the master of England! Not Neville!”

This was Edward IV’s thinking, while Richard Neville thought differently.

“Edward? He has nothing except good looks! Oh, he can fight a bit. But besides that, he’s just a useless fellow who only cares about alcohol and women! Who does he think put the crown on his head!”

Of course, Edward IV was well aware that his power base was weaker than Richard Neville’s, and he worked to address this.

Using his looks and charm, which even Richard Neville acknowledged, Edward IV began gradually increasing his influence.

Although they disliked each other, their coalition government continued.

This was because members of the House of Lancaster still remained.

In a war fought for the survival of their houses, the victor could not afford to show mercy.

Therefore, despite their friction, Edward IV and Richard Neville joined forces to focus on eliminating the House of Lancaster.

It was a collaboration destined to end in disaster.

***

“It’s not enough to simply bring in nobles.”

Edward IV analyzed his situation as coolly as possible. According to his judgment, bringing in nobles to increase his power had both advantages and disadvantages.

The advantage was that he could quickly and easily build up his power and gain strength.

The disadvantage, however, was that he had to share his power. There was every possibility that another Richard Neville might emerge.

“Then perhaps I should win over the freemen…”

Edward IV considered the freemen. Of course, the freemen he had in mind were only those in the cities. Serfs tied to manors in the countryside were not freemen.

Freemen engaged in commerce and industry in growing cities like London were beginning to acquire increasingly powerful economic strength.

If he could gently scratch their itches and win them over, they would certainly become both the strongest sword against the nobles and a sturdy shield to protect himself.

As he pondered how to win over the freemen, Edward IV let out a small sigh.

“Is the problem still money?”

To make the freemen his allies, adopting the Empire’s institutions would be the best method.

Cities like London faced many problems due to poor sanitation. As a result, all kinds of epidemics broke out at the slightest opportunity, and large fires caused significant damage.

If he introduced the Empire’s public health system and disaster prevention measures to these cities, the urban freemen would certainly support him enthusiastically.

However, this would be a costly undertaking.

England’s finances were in shambles due to the aftermath of the recent civil war and the Hundred Years’ War.

In this situation, introducing systems requiring large-scale financial expenditures would bring complaints from the freemen.

“How can I…”

Tired from trying to find the best solution, Edward IV looked around to clear his head.

As he surveyed his surroundings, Edward IV’s eyes fell on a gold pen from the Empire.

Holding the gold pen in his hand, Edward IV looked at the map hanging on the wall. Staring blankly at the map, he quietly muttered:

“We need a place like Calais.”

In the Hundred Years’ War, England had lost most of its territories in France, but they had held onto Calais until the end.

Through Calais, English wool was exported to the Italian city-states, and cities like Florence made their famous woolen textiles from this wool for export.

Thanks to this, England was covering about 35% of its necessary finances from Calais alone.

That was why Edward IV thought he needed a trading port like Calais.

But before long, Edward IV sighed.

“Sigh~ All the good places are already taken.”

As he said, all the good spots in Europe already had owners.

“I need another method…”

Edward IV pondered how to solve the financial problems, achieve successful “imperialization,” and build a solid foundation on that basis.

As he contemplated, Edward IV looked at the map again. Scanning the Mediterranean region, he stared at Suez and muttered:

“Is there a way to get involved in that?”

***

While England and France were undergoing various changes with new kings, Wakoku (Japan) was also busily moving forward.

Imperial Year 6 (1454).

Ouchi Mochiyo, who had made the Ouchi clan the ruler of Japan, died.

He was 60 years old.

With Ouchi Mochiyo’s death, Ouchi Norihiro, the posthumous son of Ouchi Morimi, inherited power.

“Following the will of my predecessors, I shall make Japan a powerful nation!”

With this slogan, Ouchi Norihiro began transforming Wakoku more progressively.

“We too must engage in trade! As long as we only export cotton, we will never escape poverty!”

Following Norihiro’s declaration of active foreign trade, the shogunate officials prepared to enter the trading arena.

But faced with the grim reality, the officials sighed.

“We’re too inferior compared to the Empire and Ming…”

“We expected this, but still…”

The shogunate officials sighed at the poor quality of the goods produced in their country.

“It seems our best option is to focus on cotton and raw silk.”

Receiving the officials’ report, Norihiro frowned deeply.

“Aren’t the margins on cotton and raw silk quite thin? And cotton and raw silk harvests can drop significantly with just slightly bad weather. You’re suggesting we make these our main trade commodities? Does that make sense to you?”

At Norihiro’s rebuke, the officials prostrated themselves. But even in that position, they continued to explain the reality.

“That may be true, but the quality of the goods we make is too poor.”

“Compared to what the Empire and Ming make and sell, our quality is far too inferior.”

At the officials’ words, Norihiro’s expression grew serious.

“We brought many craftsmen from Ming during the last war. And we have many who have learned and trained under them. Are we still in such a situation?”

“Of course, we brought many craftsmen, but most of them were related to steam engines and weapons manufacturing…”

“This is troubling…”

Norihiro fell silent at the officials’ response.

***

During the last war, the Ouchi had brought a large number of craftsmen from Ming.

After bringing these craftsmen, the Ouchi actively worked to settle them. Sometimes through threats, sometimes by arranging women for them, their active efforts led the abducted craftsmen to begin cooperating with the Ouchi.

Once the craftsmen settled, the Ouchi moved to the next step. They selected craftsmen from their domains and boys who seemed to have some dexterity, having them educated by the Ming craftsmen.

Through such efforts, Wakoku secured technical personnel and focused on developing steam engines and gunpowder weapons.

That wasn’t all.

In the last war, the Empire lost a significant amount of weapons to Ming, and Ming carefully examined these weapons to improve their own.

Learning this intelligence, the Ouchi distributed massive bribes to smuggle imperial weapons out of Ming. Then, they meticulously analyzed these smuggled weapons, comparing them with the weapons the Empire had sold them.

When they finally managed to create their own cannons and artillery, the Empire began mass-selling Type-B rifles.

Seeing the Type-B rifles with their overwhelming performance compared to the rifles they had, the Ouchi invested a fortune to import large quantities of them.

And once again, Wakoku was hindered by the Empire.

This time, it was because of the ammunition for the Type-B rifles and gun carts.

Although Wakoku’s technology had advanced significantly, they lacked the technology to mass-produce copper shell casings and manufacture primers.

The Ouchi shogunate made both overt and covert efforts to acquire these technologies. However, while the shell forming technology might be obtainable, the method for producing the mercury fulminate used in primers was an absolute top secret.

“Eventually everyone will know it, but let’s hold out as long as possible!”

Following this decision by Hyang, the Empire blocked technology leakage as much as possible. Many agents of the Secret Agency disappeared into the darkness for this purpose.

***

“Hmm…”

Holding a folding fan in his hand and considering various options, Norihiro found one solution.

“Let’s sell weapons.”

“Pardon?”

“The weapons we make may be far inferior to the Empire’s, but they are comparable to Ming’s. Isn’t that right?”

“They are comparable to Ming’s.”

“The countries in the south also want the Empire’s weapons. But the Empire’s weapons are expensive, and they don’t sell them readily. Let’s sell our weapons to them. If we sell a bit cheaper than Ming’s products, they’ll sell well.”

“Ah!”

And so, Wakoku began selling weapons to various southern countries and sultanates.

In other words, they targeted a niche market.