News of the aerial combat over Lorraine soon reached the workshops of Area 51. When the veteran artisans heard the reports, they went pale, pressing their hands to their foreheads.
“Aigoo-ya…”
“I’m… I’m getting dizzy…”
“What’s gotten into you?” a younger artisan asked. “Haven’t we talked about ‘maybe we should mount a hwacha‘ plenty of times ourselves?”
The veterans, still cradling their heads, answered the younger artisans’ questions. “If we had been the ones to do it first, I wouldn’t be worried.”
“That was our mistake. We should have just done it when we had the idea.”
“I still don’t get it. What’s the problem? We can just do it now, can’t we?”
At that, the senior artisans let out a collective, exasperated sigh.
“Haaaah… You’ve all been working here for more than a day or two. How do you still not get it?”
“Get what?”
“You’ve forgotten what the higher-ups are like, haven’t you? The moment something looks even remotely promising, it doesn’t matter if they’re a civil official or a military official, they all ask the same thing: ‘So, what if we mounted a cannon on it?’ And now, they’re already mounting hwachas in Europe? What do you think happens next? You can bet they’re already drafting the order, ‘Forget the hwacha, we’re mounting a full-sized artillery piece!’ I’d wager my life on it!”
“Ah…”
Just then, the desolate voice of Chief Gong drifted over from behind them. “No need to make that bet. The order just arrived.”
“AIGOOOO!”
****
The artisans let out a collective wail, but it wasn’t long before they were all throwing themselves into the work with a fiery passion. “The airship and the self propelled airships… our Empire made them both first! We can’t be shown up like this!”
Whatever their complaints, it was now a matter of professional pride.
A short time later, a more detailed intelligence report arrived from Europe.
- European self-propelled airships, like Imperial models, are equipped with steam engines.
- They use the steam engine to provide hot air for the envelope (gasbag) and to generate thrust, identical to our method.
- The problem is the steam engine itself. Its performance is markedly inferior to Imperial engines.
- Consequently, the engines mounted on their airships can barely provide enough power to lift the craft and move it.
- Their speed is slower, their operational range is shorter, and their payload capacity is significantly smaller.
- An assessment of the airships currently in combat over Lorraine reveals the following compromises:
- A. They carry the absolute minimum amount of coal and water.
- B. The engine block (boiler) is manufactured to be as thin as possible, reducing weight while maintaining only the bare minimum safety margin. They have completely sacrificed durability and engine lifespan for this.
- C. The number of hwachas (light cannons) carried is limited to two or, at most, three.
The artisans, after reviewing the intel, were skeptical.
“Hmm…”
“A and C make perfect sense. But B is… strange. They’re making the boiler plates that thin, just to the bare edge of safety? That’s not something you can just do. The war’s only been on for a few months. Are their metallurgists really that good?”
“Even if you’re sacrificing the engine’s life, that’s not an easy job. You get it wrong, and it’s not the engine’s life you’re shortening—it’s the crew’s. And the career of the guy who built it.”
Properly engineering the steel plates for a boiler and a high-pressure steam tank, making them light yet strong enough, required immense experience. As if in answer to their questions, a follow-up report arrived.
“…So, they’ve been researching this ever since they first saw our airships.”
“That explains it.”
“Of course. The part about minimal coal and water did seem strange.”
“In that case…”
“Alright! We’re splitting up!”
Under Chief Gong’s direction, the Area 51 workshops divided into two main teams. The first team immediately began upgrading the self propelled airships. Their very first action was to rip out the entire steam engine assembly. In its place, they installed the new-model external combustion engine—the Stirling engine.
In the years since Hyang had first introduced the concept, the engine had seen remarkable progress. At first, it could barely lift a small model, but it had now been refined into a practical, reliable power plant.
“It’s still nowhere near powerful enough for a locomotive or a warship,” one artisan remarked, “but for an airship? It’s perfect.”
“And the best part? It runs on petroleum. No more hauling tons of coal or water!”
As the artisans said, the new engine was a perfect match for the airship. Petroleum was far more energy-dense than coal, meaning they needed less fuel. And eliminating the need for water was the greatest gift of all. This, combined with the use of improved steel alloys and balsa wood, made the airframe itself both lighter and more rigid. The sum of these upgrades resulted in a new-generation self propelled airships that was faster, sturdier, and had a much longer range.
The second team was tasked with the armament.
“We can’t just bolt on a standard Army or Navy cannon.”
“But just using the old hwacha feels… inadequate.”
After agonizing over the problem, the artisans went to see Hyang.
“Hmm… so that’s the situation.” Hyang listened to their troubles, pondered for a moment, and then posed a question. “What’s the current caliber for the standard long gun and the hwacha?”
“It is 2 hal (0.2 chi), Your Highness.”
“Right, two-tenths of a chi. In that case, let’s increase the caliber to 5 hal (0.5 chi) and up the propellant charge. But… and this is key… you must maintain the rapid-fire capability.”
The artisans’ eyes lit up. They instantly understood what he was asking for. Bowing deeply, their faces beamed. “We will begin immediately! Your grace is boundless!”
As he watched them scurry away, buzzing with excitement, Hyang muttered to himself with a dark smirk. “I guess the infamy of the ‘cal.50’ is about to begin anew.”
Hyang had pointed the way, but the actual development was hell. “We’ve got a fantastic round, but the problem is the… the thing to fire it. Is it a hwacha? Is it a cannon?” The main stumbling block was Hyang’s demand to “maintain rapid-fire.” Simply scaling up the existing Byeong-type Hwacha made the weapon far too heavy. But scaling down a standard field gun meant sacrificing the rate of fire.
In the end, Hyang had to intervene personally. “This is really a problem for Browning, not da Vinci… but he won’t be born for another 300 years… Tsk.” Hyang smacked his lips, annoyed, and dredged up his memories. “Wait a minute… that one time, that Western military geek gramps completely disassembled an M2 for me… how did that mechanism work again…?”
Combining his 21st-century knowledge with his vast experience in Joseon, Hyang designed a new weapon. It was the birth of the ‘Gap-type Heavy Hwacha’.
When the new round, the new weapon, and its steel-alloy disintegrating belt were all perfected, a grand demonstration was held, attended by Emperor Hyeon and the entire court. The moment the high commanders of the Army and Navy saw its performance, they rushed to Hyeon and implored him.
“That jung-hwacha… it must be mass-produced, Your Majesty!”
“Is it necessary for both the Army and the Navy?”
“Absolutely, Your Majesty!”
[Navy’s Justification]: “At sea, we constantly face awkward engagement windows. An enemy is too close or too small for our main cannons, but too far or too well-protected for our existing hwachas. This new heavy hwacha is the perfect solution.”
[Army’s Justification]: “The Army faces the same problem. There is far too much field cover that can stop a standard rifle or hwacha round. But this… this can tear right through it.”
“Hmm…”
Seeing the Emperor hesitate for even a second, the commanders pressed their advantage. “And if we commit to mass production, we can drive the unit cost way down!”
“I will… consider it positively.”
“Your Majesty’s grace is boundless!”
When the Emperor said he would “consider it positively,” everyone knew it meant “approved.” And indeed, the decision for the mass production and official adoption of the new Gap-type Heavy Hwacha was made. This weapon, born from Hyang’s decision, would go on to earn nicknames like ‘The Most Imperial Weapon’ and ‘The Old Soldier of Land, Sea, and Air.’
***
While the Gap-type Heavy Hwacha was in the thick of development, Hyang received a letter from his rival, Wan.
“I knew this was coming…”
Wan’s letter was simple and to the point.
“The skies will now be ruled by the Flying Machine! Hahaha!”
“He’s even more of a fanatic about airplanes than I am… Tsk.” Hyang smacked his lips, reading the letter, then smiled a strange, competitive smile. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to just let him win. I’m the one who started this whole thing, after all. And I… I have a cheat key.”
Muttering to himself, Hyang rummaged in a nearby drawer and then called out. “Is there an attendant on duty?”
“You called, Your Highness?”
“Go and fetch da Vinci.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
When da Vinci arrived a short time later, Hyang unrolled a new drawing across his desk. “It’s a flying machine design I’ve been considering.”
“Oh? Is this… mounting the new external combustion engine to it?”
“It is.”
“Hmm…” Da Vinci’s eyes lit up as he scrutinized the concept diagram. “It will be impossible to know for sure until we’ve completed a proper design and built a prototype. However… the potential for success looks… quite high.”
“My thoughts exactly. I’m leaving it in your hands.”
“I understand completely.”
After receiving his new “assignment,” da Vinci went straight to Area 51 to find Chief Gong.
“The Emperor Emeritus summoned you? What for?”
“Exactly what we’ve been expecting.”
“The flying machine.”
“The flying machine.”
Chief Gong just nodded, not surprised. The two of them had been keeping up with news from Area 52 via the regular packet ship. They knew that ever since the “Situation” (Grand Emperor Wan) had been posted to the New Frontier, his research into flying machines had been gaining serious momentum.
“It’s his favorite obsession. It was only a matter of time,” Chief Gong had said.
And then, the news from Lorraine had arrived. It was obvious Wan wouldn’t just sit on that information. And if Wan was moving… “The Emperor Emeritus wasn’t going to be left behind.”
Because of this, Chief Gong and da Vinci had already been making their own preparations. Unrolling Hyang’s new diagram, Chief Gong studied it carefully and grinned at da Vinci.
“This is going to be fun.”
“Isn’t it?”
“I’ll need to assemble the team.”
“We’ll have to send word to the Department of Mathematics for help, too?”
“Of course! We need people who can actually run the numbers. Wait… hmm… I’d better petition His Highness the Crown Prince directly. The academics at the institute are all so rooted to their desks, they’ll never move otherwise.”
And so, based on Hyang’s concept, the development of a true airplane began anew.
While da Vinci, Chief Gong, and their teams threw themselves into the flying machine project, Hyang was… thinking about something else.
“Let’s see… aerial combat is already a fact in Lorraine. And a self-propelled flying machine—an airplane—is on its way, even if it fails a few more times. Logically, the next step is people wanting to mount a hwacha on the airplane. That’s how history went… in that case… maybe I can earn a little ‘pocket money’ from this?”
With a sly grin, Hyang began sketching on a fresh sheet of paper.
The little “pocket money” device Hyang was contemplating was a “linked trigger mechanism using a synchronized gear.”
“Mounting a machine gun on the wings is impossible without an electric trigger. But,” he mused, “a machine gun mounted on the nose… that’s doable with just high-quality cables and gears. Hell, you don’t even need the cable, the pilot could just pull the trigger directly. But if it’s on the nose, firing through the propeller, this synchronization linkage is absolutely essential, no matter what.”