Imperial Calendar Year 5 (1453 CE). February.
Hwang Hui passed away.
He was 91 years old.
This Hwang Hui lived one year longer than in the history before Hyang’s intervention.
During the early Reformation period, Hwang Hui received what amounted to a punishment of working as an official until death, after being implicated in his sons’ corruption.
However, as he had become severely frail in the year before his death, Hyang permitted his retirement.
On the day Hwang Hui’s resignation was accepted, high and low officials visited his home.
“Well now… Should we offer congratulations? Or express our regrets?”
At Kim Jeom’s words, who had worked alongside Hwang Hui the longest, Hwang Hui smiled and replied.
“I feel the same way. Shall we say it’s bittersweet? Thinking of all the pressure from circumstances and His Majesty over the years, it’s incredibly relieving, but considering how far the empire still has to go, I wished to remain in that position a bit longer. However, my body can no longer keep up.”
“Perhaps we should have given you more medicinal tonics?”
At Kim Jeom’s jest, Hwang Hui briefly made a sour face before quickly breaking into a smile and responding.
“I doubt anyone in this entire empire has consumed more tonics than I have. No, wait – there’s you. Didn’t you receive them directly from His Majesty?”
At Hwang Hui’s words, Kim Jeom gave a slight shudder as he continued.
“That’s when the saying ‘The day the Ministry of Finance receives imperial food’ originated.”
A few months after Hwang Hui’s retirement, the Deputy Prime Minister submitted his resignation. As the Deputy Prime Minister’s health was also quite poor, Hyang accepted his resignation.
Afterward, public attention focused on who would fill the vacancies left by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister’s departures.
“The Prime Minister will obviously be Lord Kim Jeom, so it’s a question of who will become the Left and Right Deputy Prime Ministers.”
“The Left Deputy Prime Minister seems obvious too, right? The Minister of Finance will move up, since their duties overlap.”
“Then that leaves the Right Deputy Prime Minister position – who do you think it’ll be?”
“It must be either Lord Kim Jong-seo or Lord Hwangbo In.”
As the people predicted, Hyang was seriously weighing between Hwangbo In and Kim Jong-seo.
“Their experience is similar, their abilities are similar. Considering the Gapyeo Rebellion, their loyalty is similar too…”
After much deliberation, Hyang finally reached a decision.
“Let’s go with Hwangbo In for now. There’s still no one suitable to replace Kim Jong-seo in the General Affairs Ministry. Besides, Hwangbo In is more qualified for the Right Deputy Prime Minister position.”
Though the titles had changed to Prime Minister and Left/Right Deputy Prime Ministers, the basic division of duties remained the same as the former positions of Chief State Councilor and Left/Right State Councilors.
While the Prime Minister coordinated overall administration as the highest-ranking official, the Left Deputy Prime Minister oversaw ministries like Finance, General Affairs, and Foreign Affairs, and the Right Deputy Prime Minister managed ministries like Defense and Justice.
Therefore, Hwangbo In was well-suited for the Right Deputy Prime Minister position.
With Hwangbo In decided, the vacant positions were quickly filled.
Kim Jeom became Prime Minister, Finance Minister Park Jong-wu became Left Deputy Prime Minister, and Hwangbo In became Right Deputy Minister.
Once these top positions were filled, the subsequent vacancies were promptly filled through internal promotions.
This completed the second cabinet reshuffle of Hyang’s reign.
***
When news of Hwang Hui’s death spread, Hyang suspended work according to protocol and visited the funeral hall with Wan.
They were received by Hwang Su-sin, the third and youngest legitimate son of Hwang Hui. His older brothers had to serve 10 years of hard labor for their past corruption, and even after completing their sentences, they lived in seclusion after being expelled from the family.
As the youngest, Hwang Su-sin wasn’t implicated and avoided punishment, but he was stripped of the opportunity for hereditary office.
The general consensus was that Hwang Hui’s family wouldn’t be able to return to official circles until his grandchildren came of age, which proved to be true.
Though Hwang Hui’s death left them without support, it was a great honor that Hyang and Wan had come to visit.
Thus, Hwang Su-sin received Hyang and Wan with proper courtesy.
On the way back from visiting Hwang Hui’s funeral hall, Hyang murmured while looking up at the sky.
“The great stars are disappearing one by one.”
***
Though the great star that was Hwang Hui had disappeared, the empire continued to function smoothly.
This was because Sejong and Hyang had already established a solid structure, and those who filled the vacant positions were not lacking in ability.
However, Hyang still couldn’t shake off his unease.
“Because too much has changed, that’s why.”
Compared to the history before Hyang’s intervention, far too much had changed.
Starting with the Reformation, the situation had completely diverged from the history before Hyang’s intervention, but what had provided reassurance was the presence of Sejong and capable officials with rich experience like Hwang Hui.
However, as these officials disappeared one by one, Hyang’s burden kept growing.
That’s why Hyang remained anxious.
“Nothing can be done about it. We’ll just have to be as careful as possible. We should proceed cautiously, testing the waters at each step.”
As Hyang was steeling his resolve, news arrived from the Middle East.
The war over Suez had ended.
***
The war over Suez had continued for nearly 10 years.
The war fought for monopoly control over the transit route connecting Suez to the Mediterranean had involved more countries, both openly and secretly, than expected.
Rising and established powers from the Middle East and Europe became entangled, and Italian city-states joined the war on different sides according to their interests.
As it was a war involving European and Middle Eastern countries, historians with a Eurocentric view claimed this conflict as the ‘First World War.’
Of course, historians making such claims had to face criticism as ‘racists.’
***
In any case, the nearly decade-long war over the transit route connecting Suez to the Mediterranean tilted in favor of the Portuguese-Ottoman alliance with France’s intervention.
However, the war’s conclusion was incomplete.
The territory controlled by the Portuguese-Ottoman-French alliance included the eastern coastal region of Egypt bordering the Arabian Peninsula and Red Sea, and the southern Mediterranean region connected to the Suez transit route.
While this secured the Suez transit route, it remained an incomplete conclusion because the Mamluks still controlled the Nile River’s breadbasket region.
“It’s somewhat regrettable, but let’s stop here.”
At these words from Mehmet II, who had succeeded his father as Ottoman Sultan, the representatives of Henry, Cosimo de’ Medici, and Charles VII all nodded.
“It’s somewhat concerning that the Mamluks still control the Nile region.”
In response to the French representative’s words, Henry replied.
“However, they’re already a nation in decline. It will be difficult for them to recover easily.”
The intermediary trade with the East through Alexandria had brought enormous wealth to the Mamluks. However, the problem was that this wealth had led their leadership to fall into decadence.
As the leadership became absorbed in pleasure-seeking, state administration naturally fell into disarray.
With this background, the allies had expected the Mamluks to collapse immediately when the war began.
However, Italian city-states competing with Spain and Florence intervened in the war and provided economic support, allowing them to hold out for nearly 10 years.
Though they managed to hold out, the leadership’s corruption remained unchanged, which was why Henry took a pessimistic view of the Mamluks’ future.
***
Henry’s face was also full of regret as he spoke these words.
“It would have been better if we had just a bit more war funds.”
At Henry’s words, Cosimo shrugged his shoulders.
“It couldn’t be helped. The war lasted longer than expected, and we didn’t anticipate using so much gunpowder.”
Cosimo’s words pointed to the biggest reason why this war ended incompletely.
As the war progressed, both sides deployed large numbers of gunpowder weapons.
Italian forges worked busily to supply the gunpowder weapons used by both armies.
The problem was that gunpowder weapons, especially firearms, were produced and consumed in units of at least hundreds. While armor and bladed weapons weren’t cheap either, guns and artillery were very expensive.
And gunpowder itself was by no means cheap.
Unlike previous wars, this war saw gunpowder weapons as the key factor determining victory. Therefore, the participating nations had to expend enormous war funds for victory.
In the end, the war reached an incomplete conclusion when the Italian city-states providing financial backing became exhausted first.
***
“In the end, the Empire benefited the most.”
At Henry’s words, those gathered nodded strongly.
From the su-level muskets introduced early in the war, their performance was overwhelming. Compared to the primitive hand cannons possessed by opposing countries, there was no comparison in performance, so enemy soldiers focused their efforts on capturing the Empire’s su-level rifles with burning determination.
And they attempted to create similar su-level firearms by copying these captured weapons.
Though replication wasn’t easy due to their black box construction, as they came to understand the operating principles, similar su-level firearms were mass-produced, and the war situation became more balanced.
When both sides’ military power became similar and they fell into the quagmire of a prolonged war, the Empire, having defeated Ming, introduced the eul-type long rifles and fire vehicles, which the allied nations rushed to purchase.
However, the eul-type long rifles and fire vehicles were double-edged swords. While their range and accuracy overwhelmingly surpassed su-level rifles, they were expensive and required specialized ammunition.
Therefore, though some questioned whether they were absolutely necessary, the allied nations, addicted to the sweetness of victory, decided to continue importing them. Thanks to this, the Medici family’s financial officer desperately sought divine intervention.
***
“So have you discovered the secret of that damned ‘explosive silver’?”
At the French representative’s question, Mehmet II and Cosimo shook their heads.
“We’ve mobilized alchemists for research, but still haven’t found it properly.”
“Same here.”
“Sigh~”
“Hah~”
At Mehmet II and Cosimo’s answers, Henry and the French representative exhaled long sighs.
The reason specialized ammunition was required for eul-type long rifles and fire vehicles was precisely because of that explosive silver.
If not for the explosive silver, Italy and the Ottoman Empire could have produced large quantities of ammunition. However, since they didn’t know the method for producing this explosive silver, they had to purchase specialized ammunition from the Empire at high prices.
Therefore, Cosimo commissioned research from the University of Florence, and Mehmet II gathered alchemists to research explosive silver. Though research proceeded with full support, progress remained slow.
“According to those who know Kitai characters, the ‘銀 (silver)’ character in ‘explosive silver’ refers to the metal silver. So we keep experimenting with silver, but haven’t found the answer yet. We need more time and budget.”
Though it was a series of failures due to misguided choices, Cosimo and Mehmet II couldn’t stop their support.
-If we can just learn the method for explosive silver, its applications would be endless!
-We wouldn’t have to do such dangerous things as inserting fuses into artillery and lighting them!
***
“Anyway, since the war seems to be roughly settled, let’s move on to the next matters.”
“Let’s first consider the conditions to present to Spain and the Mamluks.”
Now it was time for war at the negotiating table.
Not a war where bullets flew and lives hung in the balance, but one fought with persistent probing of weaknesses, deliberate obstruction, and shows of force.