While Woo continued to steel his resolve, Hyang, Wan, and Hyeon proceeded to the main topic.
“Then, would you show us how it moves?”
“Of course, I must show you!”
Wan, responding confidently to Hyang’s request, gestured to the craftsmen. Seeing Wan’s signal, the craftsmen approached the displayed internal combustion engine. Wan then explained their actions.
“The starting of this new type of engine utilizes that lever bent in an ‘L’ shape.”
At Wan’s explanation, one of the craftsmen held the lever in question high. Seeing the lever in the craftsman’s hand, Hyang muttered inwardly.
- That looks a lot like something I’ve seen in movies.
In movies or dramas set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there were scenes of starting cars using a similar-looking crank handle. Even in domestic dramas or movies, scenes of starting cultivators in rural areas used something similar.
- Wait. Come to think of it… some of those scenes were metaphors for erotic moments, weren’t they? That’s really… Ah! I’m getting sidetracked again!
Barely stopping himself from going off on another tangent, Hyang hurriedly focused his attention on the demonstration. As Hyang expected, the craftsman holding the lever inserted its shaft into a small protrusion on the new power system.
“Then, open the valve on the brass pipe connecting the engine and the fuel tank to send fuel to the engine.”
At Wan’s explanation, another craftsman operated the valve on the fuel tank located above the head of the new power system.
“With this, all preparations for starting are complete. Now, start!”
“Start!”
The craftsman, repeating the order loudly, began to turn the lever.
Squeak, squeak, squeak, squeak, skrrr, skrrr Phut, phisssh, phut, poong! Pu-poong! Poong-poong-poong!
The lever, which began turning slowly with a grating metallic friction sound, soon picked up speed. In sync with the turning lever, exhaust fumes puffed from the engine’s exhaust port. Then, at some point, the fumes almost disappeared, and a haze began to rise along with yellow and blue flames.
Bang-bang-bang-bang~.
The properly started new engine moved with a loud roar. A small yellow-painted propeller was attached to the power shaft of the new engine. As the engine turned properly, the propeller spun rapidly, creating an optical illusion as if a yellow circle existed in its place.
“Impressive! Then how does one stop that engine?”
At Hyang’s question, Wan signaled the craftsmen. Seeing Wan’s gesture, the craftsmen closed the valve on the fuel line.
Phut-dung! Phut-dung! Phut-duduk.
As the fuel was cut off, the new engine stopped with a loud noise. Once the engine had completely stopped, Hyang and Hyeon approached to examine it closely.
“I want to see the internal structure.”
“Yes.”
At Hyang’s request, Wan signaled the craftsmen again. At Wan’s gesture, the craftsmen brought a large table covered with a cloth. When the cloth was removed, a model showing the interior of the new power system was revealed.
Wan picked up a pointer and explained the structure of the new power system, pointing here and there on the model. Listening to the explanation while examining the structure of the model, Hyang’s mind became complicated.
- Although slightly different, isn’t this a typical four-stroke? Was four-stroke first, or two-stroke? Leaving that aside, this was possible even without a battery! Did the first cars also lack batteries?
As Hyang pointed out, the new engine did not have a battery, or ‘Jeonji’ (Electricity Pond) in the Imperial language. Although the word meant ‘a pond that stores electricity,’ a product worthy of the name had not yet been produced. Thanks to this, the new engine was equipped with a generator that produced electricity. And that generator was connected to the power shaft. The generator, turned by the power transmitted from the power shaft, supplied power to the igniter.
“Hmm… Then, are there two ways to stop this engine? Cutting off the fuel, or stopping the generator.”
“Theoretically two, but in practice, we chose only cutting off the fuel.”
“I see…”
Hearing Wan’s explanation, Hyang nodded.
“What do you think?”
“It looks decent. My slight worry is when restarting an engine that stopped during operation… but this part is the same for other engines as well…”
Engines used in flying machines—steam engines and Stirling engines—also occasionally stopped in the sky due to unexpected accidents. When encountering such an accident, repairing the engine and restarting it was nearly impossible, even for an external combustion engine. Therefore, crew members boarding flying machines were required to carry parachutes.
“It can’t be helped that restarting is difficult, but the mishap of stopping mid-operation will not happen easily. We tested it, and even when running continuously until the end of the engine’s lifespan, such an event did not occur.”
“So, what is the lifespan of the engine?”
“50 sijin (approx. 100 hours)… it is.”
“Huh?”
“Ha!”
At the hesitant answer, both Hyang and Hyeon wore expressions of disbelief.
“Isn’t that far too short?”
At Hyang’s criticism, Wan answered urgently, ”It has only just hatched from the egg. Isn’t it unreasonable to ask a child who can’t even crawl yet to run? Well, they say the Buddha walked seven steps and declared ‘I alone am the honored one in heaven and earth’ as soon as he was born, but this engine isn’t the Buddha, is it?”
“That is true.”
Nodding at Wan’s words, Hyang smiled bitterly inside.
- Buddhism is still getting bashed enthusiastically…
***
The policy of promoting Confucianism and suppressing Buddhism, strictly implemented since the founding of Joseon, had continued tenaciously even after the change to the Empire. Of course, it wasn’t overt oppression, but they were managing it very meticulously by creating a ‘Religious Act.’
And among the people of the Empire, especially the leadership of the mainland, Buddhism was still in a position of ‘being bashed first and asked questions later.’ Interestingly, Catholicism had been added to this list some time ago.
Previously, after receiving the Vatican’s surrender in the Italian Unification War, Catholicism was able to obtain the right to propagate. However, there was a precondition of ‘strictly observing the Religious Act,’ and as time passed, Catholicism was gradually expanding its influence. In this situation, the leadership of the Imperial mainland lumped Catholicism and Islam together and engaged in ‘universal bashing.’
“Have you heard? They say the one god believed by Catholics and the one god believed by Muslims are the same god.”
“But weren’t Catholics and Muslims sworn enemies? Cursing each other as heathens?”
“That is why it is ridiculous. This is why religion is scary. Deceiving the world and misleading the people is a daily occurrence…”
The scholar-officials who were the protagonists of Joseon’s founding were atheists. Or rather, they loathed religion itself. From shamans serving ten thousand gods to Buddhism, Islam, and the most recently introduced Catholicism, they viewed all as ‘evils that deceive the world and mislead the people.’ And Hyang was including these scholar-officials in his ‘universal bashing.’
“Hmph! Is that why they later caused such a fuss about ‘traitors to Confucianism’?”
It was a criticism of the dogmatism of the leadership and Confucian scholars of the late Joseon period in the history before Hyang’s intervention. Eventually, Hyang gathered famous scholar-monks and even Catholic monks and had them join the Institute of Science.
“I don’t know if a delicious bibimbap will come out or dog food, but fight it out fiercely once. So create a philosophy that will be helpful to the Empire!”
***
- Ah! I got sidetracked again! Is it because my time to go is near? I keep getting sidetracked.
Catching his thoughts wandering again at Wan’s command, Hyang asked Wan once more.
“By the way, have you tried attaching it to a flying machine? Does it seem usable?”
At Hyang’s question, Wan answered honestly.
“I haven’t tried attaching it yet. Honestly, there is still a long way to go. It certainly has many advantages over steam engines or the new external combustion engines, but it is still heavy compared to the power it produces. It needs more improvement.”
“How do you plan to improve it?”
“Performance improvement of the just-completed new power system is needed, but it seems the design of the flying machine also needs to be redone.”
“Hmm, I see… But the biggest problem is the budget, after all?”
“Yes, it is the budget.”
Mentioning ‘budget,’ Hyang and Wan looked at Hyeon simultaneously. Receiving the gaze attack from the two, Hyeon let out a long sigh and spoke.
“Phew… Yes, I will organize the budget before abdication.”
“As expected of the Emperor.”
“I am simply grateful.”
“However, opposition will be severe. My ears will likely hurt quite a bit.”
At Hyeon’s grumbling, Hyang immediately followed up.
“Only when a usable power system is created can a properly usable flying machine be made. Shouldn’t such a flying machine emerge for an aircraft carrier to be built?”
“Ah!”
At Hyang’s words, Hyeon’s expression suddenly changed.
- Right! Only when a truly usable flying machine comes out can an aircraft carrier be built to match its size! If we make it blindly and it becomes like clothes that don’t fit, it will immediately become a nuisance!
Realizing that his own hobby could be threatened, Hyeon spoke with a determined expression.
“I will do my best to pass the budget. If necessary, I will use expediency.”
“I will trust you.”
When Hyeon mentioned expediency, Woo, who was behind him, intervened in the conversation.
“If Your Majesty, who is about to abdicate soon, uses expediency, you may receive unnecessary criticism. Wouldn’t it be better for me to ascend the throne and handle it?”
It was certain that the process of improving that new power system to be properly usable would require a massive budget. And without even a plan for when it would be executed until. Of course, that budget wouldn’t be executed all at once, but the problem was the situation of not specifying, or rather not being able to specify, the ‘until when’ mentioned above.
Naturally, if Hyeon pushed this through, talk would surely arise.
- He’s doing something senile under the pretext of abdicating!
This wasn’t good for Woo either. It was obvious that talk would circulate saying, ‘He dumped the work on the former Emperor for his own convenience!’
“I will step forward to organize and execute the budget.”
At Woo’s words, Hyeon smiled and spoke.
“It is not that I do not know what worries prompt the Crown Prince to say such things. However, this is something Jim (I, the royal ‘we’) must do.”
“But…”
“Does the Crown Prince know the term ‘Myeonsinrye’ (hazing of new officials)?”
“Yes. I understand that the Venerable Emperor, His Majesty, the Venerable Emperor Sejong, punished it severely and eradicated it.”
At the Crown Prince’s answer, Hyang and Wan, who were listening, whispered softly.
“It was a long and tedious fight, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, thanks to that, there was never a shortage of people in the Office of Records.”
“Whatever that ‘custom’ is…”
“Indeed.”
***
As Sejong banned Myeonsinrye, those who violated it had to face the punishment of being stuck in the Office of Records. However, the tradition of Myeonsinrye hid in the shadows and continued persistently until the era of Hyang and Wan.
“Do the Imperial command and national law look ridiculous to you?!”
“It is a custom, Your Majesty!”
“Is that so? Then I will make it a ‘custom’ that you cannot even dream of promotion!”
“Myeonsinrye again? Custom again this time? Not only sending to the Office of Records, but I will strip you of office, and make it so that the sinner’s family cannot take the civil service examination for the next 100 years!”
Stripping of office meant taking away the person’s current rank and position and turning all the career and achievements built up so far into nothing. If receiving this disposition, the person’s career would be erased, and they would not receive any benefits, including the pension provided by the country after retirement.
The pension was one thing, but losing the benefit of being buried in the Imperial National Cemetery after death was a tremendous punishment. It was because they lost the ‘honor of being with the Emperor even in death.’ This was personal honor, but also the honor of the family. Furthermore, ‘prohibition of government service for 100 years’ was a punishment that determined the rise and fall of a family.
Now, it had been a long time since the discrimination of scholar-farmer-artisan-merchant disappeared, and it became an era where there were tremendous merchants to whom even a decent scholar-official would bow first. However, despite that, for many scholar-officials, passing the civil service examination and entering government service was the highest goal. Because of this background, ‘prohibition of government service for 100 years’ was a disgrace that caused the family to collapse.
Therefore, when receiving such a punishment, the clan took measures to completely remove the person and their family from the genealogy. It was to avoid the ‘prohibition of government service’ and wash away the disgrace through that measure. Because of that, there were often those who lost everything and made extreme choices. However, there was not a single person, from the Emperor to the people, who pitied them.
***
“But why do you suddenly bring up Myeonsinrye?”
“Think of the first 3 years after becoming Emperor as that very Myeonsinrye.”
“Yes?”