While Hyang and Hyeon were busy sketching out the blueprint for the ‘Scholars’ and Artisans’ Future—Hope and Despair Edition,’ the embers of war in Europe were once again beginning to smolder. The kindling reigniting these embers was ‘coal’.

***

After the concept of the steam engine was transmitted from the Empire, a veritable storm of steam engine development swept across Europe. The steam engine was the ultimate power source. Traditional power sources up to that time, such as human labor, animal draft, water, and wind power, all suffered from numerous limitations. But the steam engine was different.

As long as a clean supply of water could be reliably provided, the steam engine could deliver power 24 hours a day, regardless of location. This stable supply of power was not its only advantage. The size and output of a steam engine could be adjusted with relative freedom to meet specific needs.

This was an incredible blessing for the merchants and manufacturers residing in the cities. As time passed, European cities filled with factories both large and small, all running on steam engines, and ‘iron horses’ belching black smoke began to connect city to city with rail lines. As a life without the steam engine became unimaginable, the great powers of Europe found themselves facing a new problem.

The ‘problem of fuel supply’.

***

At this time, Europe’s forests were on the verge of complete annihilation. The history of European deforestation had its origins in Rome. In the process of expanding the empire’s territory, Rome had progressively destroyed Europe’s forests to build the fleets and forge the weapons it required.

Military reasons were not the only cause. Bathhouses were indispensable fixtures in Rome, the heart of the Roman Empire, as well as in all the colonial cities they built, and trees were felled to supply the heat for these baths. After Rome fell, the deforestation that had briefly paused soon picked up speed once again.

This was because iron weapons, symbolized by ‘knightly armor’, had become commonplace. As a result, the vast forested regions around Bohemia and Hungary vanished. This, in turn, triggered catastrophic climate and ecological change across Europe, and the people were tormented by famine.

It was only after the plague, which subsequently ran rampant, drastically reduced Europe’s population that its forests and ecosystems could slowly begin to recover. Now, with the introduction of the steam engine, the forests were once again in danger of disappearing.

***

It was not just the steam engine that created a fuel problem for the European powers. No, there was another, even larger and more powerful entity.

The steel mill.

‘The one thing we must have to overwhelm the others. Bigger cannons and bigger steel mills.’

To overwhelm the ‘rabble’ just across the border, a powerful military was necessary. To build that military, factories capable of mass-producing powerful weapons were needed. And to supply those factories with raw materials and transport their finished products, powerful iron horses were also required.

When all of this was consolidated, it meant that bigger steel mills, capable of producing more steel, were essential. Operating such steel mills required even more fuel, but the problem was that Europe’s forests were already showing their limits. Although they lacked a proper academic theory for it, the Europeans, having already lived through the consequences once, could not bring themselves to carelessly exploit their forests again.

It was then that a few recalled Marco Polo’s ‘The Travels of Marco Polo’.

‘In the eastern land of Cathay, they use black stones as firewood!’

It wasn’t just The Travels of Marco Polo; those who had returned from the Empire said similar things. The European powers turned their attention to the existence of coal, which they had long forgotten.

***

Among the great powers, the first to turn to coal was England. England had also used wood for fuel, and its forest depletion was severe. On top of that, England was an island nation. Unlike the powers on the continent, the cost of procuring timber was formidable.

Therefore, England’s choice was one of necessity. However, the move to coal proved to be a ‘game-changing hand’ for England.

Coal mines required a large labor force. In other words, a new employment market was created. Those who received a fixed, stable, and long-term wage were excellent consumers, and the markets that catered to them flourished.

Like interlocking gears, England’s domestic market steadily grew in size, and the merchant and industrial classes, along with the capitalists, grew progressively stronger.

***

Seeing England’s ‘virtuous cycle of development’, the other great powers also recognized the utility of coal and began to adopt it rapidly.

***

For the European powers that had chosen ‘Imperial-style industrialization’, coal was ‘black diamond’.

“No, it is more precious than diamonds!”

Just as in England, the coal mining industry created new employment and consumer markets. As time went on, more and more people flocked to this new market. Many tenant farmers left their rural villages for the mines or the cities, and the markets that supplied them with food, clothing, and shelter grew even larger.

To claim a stake in this expanding market, many jumped into commerce and industry, and the capital market that financed them grew right alongside.

However, when Hyang was informed of this, his expression soured. “At this rate, Karl Marx won’t be writing Das Kapital. It’ll be his great-grandfather or great-great-grandfather. Either that, or Rousseau or Voltaire will write it.”

***

Thanks to the significant influence of “MSG” Hyang infused into Confucianism’s ‘Way of King’ and ‘Love for the People,’ the Empire had developed a fairly advanced welfare and employment system. Alongside this were progressive attitudes in certain areas, such as the perception of the disabled, which contributed to the constant refinement of the Empire’s systems.

However, the European powers were not there yet. The laborers working in the city factories and mines were receiving fixed wages, but from the perspective of an Imperial citizen, they were at a ‘miserably paltry’ level.

“Seriously, even a cow is fed properly when you work it, but this seems too harsh.”

“Leave them be. They’ll only learn and fix things after the cow collapses. ‘Ah~’ they’ll say.”

A curious thing happened after that. Contrary to Hyang’s worries, improvements began much faster than expected. And this, too, was another of Hyang’s butterfly effects.

With Hyang and the Empire taking control of vast territories, including Northern Territories and New Frontier, Europe’s colonial expansion had come to a virtual standstill. This made the kind of ruthless labor exploitation seen in the history before Hyang’s intervention much more difficult.

In the history before Hyang, capitalists produced goods by squeezing their workers dry. They then ‘coercively’ sold these products in their colonies, reaping enormous profits. In other words, they could secure massive profits even if they completely ignored the domestic consumer market created by their own workers. Because of this, the capitalists had no need to care about the harsh working conditions or lives of their laborers.

However, now that the Empire had blocked colonial expansion, the most important market the capitalists had to secure was the consumer market created by those very same laborers.

It had become, as the Imperial citizens had said, ‘a situation where you have to feed the cow well if you want to fill your own belly’.

***

As industrialization progressed in this way, the value of ‘coal’ and ‘steel’ skyrocketed. The great powers scoured their territories, searching for coal and iron mines. However, not all the mines they found were useful.

It was a ‘problem of profitability’.

It would have been fine if profitable mines outnumbered the unprofitable ones, but when that wasn’t the case, it was a major problem. The solution in such cases was twofold: either operate the mines at a loss with more effort, or take the good mines that someone else possessed.

The continental powers mostly chose the latter. And the best examples were Alsace and Lorraine, especially Lorraine.

***

France began to covet Lorraine in earnest when coal came into full use as fuel for steam engines and steel mills. Before then, the Lorraine region’s main export had been iron ore. And even then, it was low-grade iron ore with a high sulfur content, so its price was very cheap. But as France’s industrialization kicked into high gear, the situation changed dramatically. It had become a ‘land flowing with milk and honey’, producing both iron ore and coal.

Naturally, the feudal lords and the ruling classes of the free cities who controlled the Lorraine region began to see huge profits from the export of iron and coal. As is the way of the world, when someone makes a huge profit, someone else inevitably takes a huge loss, and the one who takes the loss is bound to get spiteful.

And there was no way that a spiteful France was going to look upon them favorably.

“We have to do something about them…”

In this situation, something else ‘fanned the flames of a burning house’.

It was Lorraine’s location. If France seized Lorraine and Alsace, it could create a natural, impenetrable barrier to defend its eastern border. On the other hand, from the Habsburg perspective, losing this territory would mean their path to the Atlantic Ocean via the Rhine River would be blocked.

As far as France was concerned, the Habsburgs were by no means good friends. It was the Habsburgs who had supported the independence of the Duchy of Burgundy in the past.

Ultimately, Charles VIII and his ministers, steeling themselves for another war, began their conference.

“What is the first place we must secure?”

“Lorraine, Your Majesty. After that, Alsace.”

“Hmm…” Charles VIII nodded at his chancellor’s reply.

Louis, the Duke of Orléans, who was seated right next to Charles VIII, pointed out the problem. “The issue is our casus belli. A proper justification can, at times, wield the power of a hundred-thousand-man army.”

Louis’s point was extremely valid. Charles VIII and his ministers all nodded, murmuring to themselves.

‘He’s really matured from his entanglements with the Empire.’

Since all of the current King Charles VIII’s children had died young, the most likely successor to the throne was Louis, the Duke of Orléans. That such a man was competent was a reassuring thought.

In response to Louis’s point, the chancellor stepped forward to answer.

“We have the best possible justification. It concerns the bishoprics that the Habsburgs took during the unification of Italy.”

In the process of Italian unification, the Vatican had been forced to cough up all of its papal and episcopal territories within Italy. The only one to escape this fate was the Duchy of Romagna, which had quickly switched sides. However, the territories the Vatican relinquished were only those located within Italy. But for the great powers, this was a perfect excuse.

The powers pressured the Pope and confiscated the papal and episcopal lands within their own countries, making them their own.

“…And in this way, the Habsburgs took three bishoprics located in the Lorraine region. However, one cannot say they belong entirely to the Habsburgs. This is our justification.”

“How so?”

At Charles VIII’s question, the chancellor gave a slight smile and replied, “Who is it that inherited the Frankish Kingdom of the great Charlemagne? It is us, France. The true legitimacy is ours.”

At the chancellor’s words, Louis made a troubled face and pointed out, “Isn’t that reaching a bit too far back?”

“We must start from there and argue our case step by step. Is that not the very foundation of negotiation?”

“Aha!”

Listening to the exchange between the chancellor and Louis, Charles VIII muttered to himself, “Is this the royal court of France or the royal court of the Empire? …They’ve been too influenced.”