When they were first expelled from the Parisian court, the conservative nobles were not greatly concerned. The king’s power had indeed grown, but their own influence remained formidable.

“Let us think of it as a brief holiday, a chance to rest in our ancestral homes.”

This was the prevailing sentiment among the aristocrats forced to return to their estates. It was, however, a profound miscalculation, born from a dangerous underestimation of the changes Hyang had set in motion.

***

France had maintained relations with the Empire since the time of the previous monarch, Louis XI—or, to be more precise, since the latter years of Charles VII’s reign. To the kings of France, the emperors of the Joseon Empire embodied a form of absolute power they could only dream of. Even in the history that would have unfolded without Hyang’s influence, French monarchs, beginning in the final stages of the Hundred Years’ War, had strived to suppress the power of the nobility. The culmination of this effort would have been the ‘Sun King,’ Louis XIV. Hyang’s intervention, however, had dramatically accelerated this process.

Armed with Imperial firearms, the French king’s Royal Edict Army overwhelmed the private soldiers of the nobility. The flourishing exchange with the Empire also secured the absolute support of the city dwellers, who formed the backbone of the Edict Army’s manpower. Of the three essential elements for seizing power—military strength, popular support, and economic independence—the French kings had now secured the first two, albeit with support limited to the urban populace. Soon, they would grasp the final piece.

The Suez Railroad provided them with an independent source of economic power, liberating the monarchy from the pressures of a nobility whose influence was rooted in traditional agriculture. The aristocracy was not blind to this shift, but the conservative nobles, their worldview centered on agriculture, dismissed its significance.

“Commerce and trade? These ventures demand capital. But where does this capital come from? It originates from wheat, wool, and the land itself. Food, clothing, and everything truly valuable stem from the soil. Without these tangible goods, commerce becomes nothing more than a numbers game, a simple play on words!”

The conservative nobles held an unshakeable faith in the absolute value of tangible assets produced by agriculture. They forgot, however, that France was not the only land in the world.

***

Charles VIII was well aware that the noble factions he had ousted were biding their time, waiting for an opportunity to reclaim their power. Before long, he began to systematically strip them of their traditional authorities.

His first and most fervent effort was to seize the ‘right of taxation.’

“From this day forward, all subjects of France, regardless of station, shall pay taxes according to the rates established by the laws of the kingdom.”

Charles VIII’s radical declaration provoked a furious backlash from the noble factions. Having been pushed from the center of power, however, their protests were limited in their reach. Ultimately, the nobles demanded a convocation of the Estates-General[1], which was soon assembled. But this very assembly would prove to be the final nail in their coffin.

***

The Estates-General was a council where representatives of the nobility, the clergy, and the commoners gathered. In calling for it, the nobles had their own calculations.

Their first gambit was to dismiss the commoner representatives. Though styled as ‘representatives of the commoners,’ their true identity was that of the urban citizen class, nicknamed the ‘Third Estate.’ To be precise, these representatives of the cities’ commercial interests were staunch supporters of the king.

Their next move was to discard a more surprising group: their fellow aristocrats, specifically those who served in Charles VIII’s government. Under the successive reigns of Louis XI and Charles VIII, a new noble class had emerged. These were not the traditional aristocrats who boasted of ancient and storied lineages, but men who had been granted titles based on merit, such as valor in war. Lacking the economic foundation of the conservative nobles, such as vast ancestral estates, these new aristocrats had to offer absolute loyalty to the king for their very survival. Consequently, the conservative faction considered them a lost cause.

In the end, the conservative nobles placed their final hopes in the high-ranking clergy of the Church.

This was their fatal error. Since the unification of Italy, the Vatican had lost nearly everything. Seeing the Italian government confiscate most of the Papal States within its borders without consequence, the monarchs of other nations had rushed to seize the Church’s lands within their own kingdoms. They, too, faced no retribution.

With the disappearance of the Papal States across the European powers, the high clergy in each nation grew economically weaker. As kings confiscated Church lands with impunity, the political authority of these clerics waned. This new reality forced the high clergy to a crossroads: they could either side with the declining nobility or align themselves with the new power brokers—the urban citizens and the king. This was a drama unfolding not only in France but across the continent.

***

Thanks to these miscalculations, the nobles’ reactionary efforts through the Estates-General ended in failure. Yet, King Charles VIII did not emerge as the sole victor either.

The assembly produced three key articles:

• All people of France shall pay taxes as prescribed by law.
• However, all matters concerning taxation, including tax items, rates, and the scope of liability, must receive the consent of the Estates-General.
• Furthermore, decisions of the Estates-General shall be determined by a majority vote.

The first article could be seen as a victory for Charles VIII, and the second, a victory for the nobles. The final article, however, was a triumph for the citizen representatives. The commoners constituted the largest body within the Estates-General. To pass the first article, Charles VIII had no choice but to support the commoners’ representatives. To protect the second, the nobles also had to court their favor.

***

Regardless of the complex negotiations, the passage of the bill meant that the French nobility was stripped of its tax exemptions. After all, they, too, were ‘subjects of France.’ By revoking this single privilege, the French treasury’s coffers swelled almost overnight.

In contrast, the traditional nobility, with their agriculture-based economy, found themselves caught in a double bind—or rather, a vicious cycle. With their tax exemptions gone and their purses shrinking, the nobles raised the rents on the peasants working their manors and estates. In response, a wave of night flights began to sweep through the noble-owned manors and rural villages, as countless peasant families fled their homes under the cover of darkness.

These displaced people, who had left their ancestral lands to survive, soon flocked to the nearby cities. As the peasants departed, vast tracts of farmland were abandoned, causing the purses of the landowning nobles to shrink even further. This was the downward spiral. To survive, the nobles were forced to find new sources of income.

Many turned to raising sheep to supply wool to the burgeoning textile industries in France and Italy, while others ventured into the wine industry, particularly the production of brandy. Of these, it was brandy that the nobles pursued most aggressively.

***

Wine was a popular beverage, or rather, a daily drink enjoyed by people of all stations. However, it was notoriously fickle; the slightest neglect could cause it to spoil and turn to vinegar. At some point, brandy, a spirit distilled to prevent this from happening, began to gain popularity. The discovery of the New Frontier to the south only heightened its appeal.

The rigors of long-distance sea voyages took a heavy toll on both body and mind. To cope with this hardship, sailors often turned to alcohol. Wine, however, spoiled too quickly. Brandy had no such problem. Furthermore, its significantly higher alcohol content meant that a small amount was enough to induce a powerful state of intoxication.

Thus, it became standard practice for any ship embarking on a long voyage to begin its preparations by loading casks filled with brandy. This spirit became the new lifeline for the French aristocracy. There was hardly a noble in France who did not own a vineyard, and since they tailored the wine to their own refined palates, its quality was superb.

Brandy made from these high-quality wines boasted an exceptional aroma, flavor, and potency, soon emerging as a formidable challenger to Dasaekju.

Seeing an opportunity, the more commercially astute nobles took it a step further. They began distilling low-to-mid-priced brandy from wines of intermediate or lesser quality to capture the more affordable segment of the market. Witnessing the success of these budget brandies, other nobles quickly followed suit, creating their own similar-grade spirits and flooding the market.

And this development, once again, prompted Hyang to indulge in his particular passions.

***

With brandy’s rising popularity in the European market, the gisaeng houses run by the Secret Guards faced a crisis. The primary liquor sold in these establishments was Dasaekju. While many wealthy patrons still favored the expensive Dasaekju, the arrival of high-quality brandy on the market began to lure customers away.

The Secret Guards houses attempted to procure brandy themselves, but the guilds, seeing them as competitors, blocked their efforts. The Secret Guards leadership immediately sent an urgent dispatch to Seoul.

“While this is not our primary business, we will soon face a crisis that could force us to close our doors.”

“If the gisaeng houses are closed, we will lose our foothold in Europe.”

Upon receiving the Secret Guards’s plea for help, Hyeon immediately sought out Hyang.

“What should be done? The best solution would be to gather skilled artisans, but since this is a Secret Guards matter, it is not so simple.”

Hyang’s expression soured at Hyeon’s lament. “Hmm, that is indeed the problem. I will give this matter some thought.”

“I trust that the Emperor Emeritus will provide a wise solution.”

After Hyeon left, Hyang pondered for a long time before letting out a deep sigh.

“Hoo… In the end, this is the only answer, isn’t it? It brings back that nightmare from my college days when I, in my ignorance, chugged Bacardi straight from the bottle and nearly died.”

Shuddering slightly at the memory of his past life’s folly, Hyang soon began to sketch out a distillation method on a piece of paper, muttering to himself.

“Still, when you think of the Age of Sail, you have to have rum, right?”

Before long, rum distilleries began to spring up in the southwestern provinces and on the islands off the east coast of New Frontier, the Empire’s largest sugarcane-growing regions. This new spirit, known as Satangju, or ‘sugar liquor,’ took the European distilled spirits market by storm. It was made from the byproducts left over after producing sugar from sugarcane, which made its manufacturing cost incredibly low. Furthermore, it was sold immediately after distillation without any significant aging process, boasting an extremely high proof.

A potent but cheap liquor. You could drink yourself to death on very little money.

Thanks to these qualities, as soon as Satangju hit the European market, it captivated not only sailors but also the lower classes of the cities. Meanwhile, the Secret Guards’s gisaeng houses were supplied with cocktail recipes based on this new spirit, along with the finest crystal glasses to match.

“Until the high-quality, aged Satangju is ready, use these mixed drinks and fine glasses to maintain your clientele.”

Three years after its initial release, a properly aged, premium Satangju emerged, and it began to capture the palates of the wealthy elite.