Half a year had already passed since their arrival in New Frontier.
The area around the New Frontier Imperial Palace was now filled with the unmistakable sense of autumn.
Under the clear, crisp autumn sky, the New Frontier Imperial Palace resonated with the clamorous sounds of hammering, sawing, and people shouting from all directions.
This was because the reconstruction of the royal palace was in full swing.
Interestingly, just as many machines as people had been mobilized for the construction. Tow vehicles hauled wooden pillars and beams from all directions, while cranes, hoists, and forklifts raised and lowered rafters to put the roof in place.
On one side, craftsmen wrestled with glass panes to be used for windows and doors.
Once construction was properly completed, the New Frontier Imperial Palace would become the largest palace not only in the Empire, Ming, and Japan, but in all neighboring countries.
No, it would become the largest—or rather, the most expansive—palace in the world.
**
As a side note, when Louis XIV set out to build the Palace of Versailles, he had planned to create a palace larger than this New Frontier Imperial Palace.
However, the plan met with strong opposition from his ministers and citizens as soon as it was announced.
“With what budget!”
“We’re already dying from taxes!”
“The king has lost his mind! Step down!”
Facing not only strong opposition but also threats of forced abdication, Louis XIV had to abandon his original plan.
Due to this incident, Louis XIV not only suffered from mental stress that affected his health, but also had to live under the threat of assassination until his death.
And the revolutionary spirit of the French people began to sprout faster than expected.
***
While noisy construction was taking place outside, the quarters where Hyang and his consorts resided were quiet.
This was because they were located quite far from the construction.
“Ah~ the weather is damn nice.”
Hyang’s face was filled with gloom as he cursed while looking at the clear autumn sky through the window.
“Haah~.”
After exhaling a long sigh, Hyang muttered while staring at mountains of paperwork.
“I want to geek out…”
Thanks to his rule forbidding secretaries and court historians from his private office, Hyang could freely say whatever he wanted.
***
Since arriving at the New Frontier Imperial Palace, Hyang had visited Area 52 fewer than five times.
When in Seoul, despite being Emperor, he had frequented Area 51 with various excuses.
But in New Frontier, that was nearly impossible.
The main reason was that the royal palace and Area 52 were too far apart.
From the New Frontier Imperial Palace, it took a week of non-stop horseback riding, plus three days by boat to reach Area 52.
“This is clearly a conspiracy by the Venerable Emperor!”
Hyang was convinced this was Sejong’s plot.
Eventually, Hyang issued an order to Jin Pyeong.
“Put everything else aside and lay railway tracks between the New Frontier Imperial Palace and Area 52 immediately!”
“Pardon?”
“That’s an order!”
“Yes!”
Jin Pyeong, who had never been able to refuse Hyang since childhood, immediately began laying railway tracks connecting the New Frontier Imperial Palace and Area 52.
However, much time remained before the railway’s completion, and Hyang was suffering from withdrawal symptoms.
“I need to find a way… what should I do?”
Suffering from severe “geek withdrawal symptoms,” Hyang began devising a solution.
“Should I build an annex palace in Area 52? That could work… or should I establish a branch of Area 51 here? Hmm… that would be better. There’s plenty of land. And creating a branch here would cause less talk than building an annex palace in Area 52.”
Having made his decision, Hyang grinned as he looked up at the sky.
“There’s a famous quote, right? ‘We will find a way. As we always have.'”
With his resolve strengthened, Hyang took out blank paper and began drafting an order.
***
Just as Hyang was employing every method to escape his “geek withdrawal symptoms,” an official document from Wan arrived from Seoul.
“‘Request for Support’? What support? It still needs time before we can extract anything from the New Frontier?”
Tilting his head at the title, Hyang broke the seal and examined the contents. As he read, he frowned.
“This shows a complete lack of creativity!”
To summarize the document Wan had sent: ‘Please support the development of a new fire cart.’
The Type C fire cart developed by Hyang resembled the Maxim machine gun.
Despite being much smaller than the Type A fire cart, the Type C with its water-cooled system and belt-fed ammunition had overwhelming firepower that surpassed the Type B.
Consequently, the military enthusiastically welcomed the adoption of the Type C fire cart.
Its small size allowed more units to be mounted on fortresses and defensive frontlines, and the belt-fed system made it easier to operate.
However, through the recent war, the military felt the need for a new weapon.
- —We need a weapon to cover landing troops.
- —Thrown grenades and flying thundercrash mines are useful but have many limitations.
- —A weapon that continuously pours bullets at enemies to check their movements would be optimal.
- —Fire carts serve this purpose, but even the smallest Type C is too cumbersome to move alongside advancing soldiers.
- —Especially for mobile units like cavalry, operating fire carts is impractical.
- —Therefore, we need a new fire cart that can move with charging infantry or cavalry and provide support.
Having reached these conclusions, the military also set forth necessary conditions:
- —Operation by two soldiers, or in the worst case, by one soldier. —Size and weight that allows one soldier to carry it while running.
After establishing these conditions, the military submitted a report to Wan. Wan and his ministers concluded that the military’s request was reasonable and issued orders to Area 51.
And Area 51 produced a prototype, which became the problem.
Looking at the prototype’s illustration attached to the report, Hyang sighed.
“Is this the MG08/15…?”
The prototype created by Area 51 was essentially a Type C fire cart with a butt stock and trigger attached.
Of course, they had reduced the size of the cooling water tank to decrease weight and cut away excess space from the body to reduce its size.
Naturally, the response from the military was very negative.
“Is this what they made for us to use?!”
“Are they asking us to select heavy armor soldiers again?”
“It would be better to just carry the Type C fire cart on our backs!”
In fact, the military had begun experimenting with methods for soldiers to carry the Type C fire cart’s body and barrel separately on their backs.
Wan was also dissatisfied.
“There seems to be a solution somewhere, but this clearly isn’t it…”
Wan mobilized craftsmen to find his own answer.
First, they tried changing the materials or reducing the thickness of parts that made up the fire cart.
As a result, durability disappeared.
Wan continued to search for new materials and created parts of various thicknesses for experimentation, but failures continued.
Finally, Wan had no choice but to send an SOS to Hyang.
***
After understanding the situation through the report, Hyang sighed.
“Whew~. Should I call it a lack of creativity, or being too bound by existing concepts? Tsk….”
Though Hyang clicked his tongue in disappointment, he understood the position of Area 51’s craftsmen and Wan.
After all, it was still the 15th century.
In the history before Hyang’s intervention, matchlock cannons and hand cannons that ignited with a burning fuse were still cutting-edge weapons. Items like muskets were just beginning to exist as sketches on inventors’ and craftsmen’s desks.
But with Hyang’s intervention, they had skipped several stages.
Breech-loading rifles using primers and cartridge ammunition, even the Gatling gun, were revolutionary weapons.
And beyond that, belt-fed, recoil-operated continuous-fire weapons were transcendent.
Because of this, even after hearing the military’s proposal, the craftsmen could only think of such a creation.
- —Continuous firing absolutely requires a belt.
- —If the barrel overheats, problems arise, so it must be cooled, necessitating a water tank.
- —The current ammunition is the optimal result.
- —Loading rimmed cartridges requires the complex process of pulling the round back from the belt and pushing it in again, making it impossible to reduce the size of the feeding mechanism.
- —Even artillery is cooled with water when heated. To cool an overheated barrel, one must either let it sit or cool it with water.
These limitations in perception, or absence of concepts, created such a monstrosity.
“Whew~”
Understanding the situation, Hyang sighed lightly, stretched his body, and rose from his seat.
His face was exceptionally bright as he stood up.
“Wan is truly a filial son. Well then, shall we go geek out?”
***
Two weeks later, when Hyang visited Area 52, he explained the situation to Jang On.
“…so they say we need a new fire cart. Do you feel confident?”
After a moment’s hesitation, Jang On responded to Hyang’s question.
“Though I am deeply honored by your inquiry, the previous director instructed us to maintain absolute secrecy about certain items until the time was right.”
“Don’t tell me…”
Hyang muttered unconsciously at Jang On’s response, then immediately raised his voice.
“Bring it immediately! Right now! Bring everything you have! If I find anything hidden, prepare for the consequences!”
“Yes, yes!”
“No! Guide me there immediately!”
“Y-Your Majesty! Your Majesty!”
Seeing Hyang storm out shouting, a panicked Jang On hurriedly followed.
Arriving at the tightly sealed door of Jang Yeong-sil’s laboratory, Hyang commanded Jang On.
“Open it.”
“Yes.”
Upon entering the laboratory, Hyang turned to Jang On.
“Bring it.”
“Yes.”
Jang On opened a drawer in a large cabinet at one side of the laboratory and brought out a long wooden box.
Click.
After unlocking the box, Jang On opened the lid and showed the contents to Hyang.
Seeing the weapon inside the box, Hyang smiled with resignation.
“This man truly has no ethics. Keeping all the fun to himself…”
Inside the box was a gun that resembled the Soviet DP-28.
After staring at the problematic weapon with a resigned expression, Hyang glared at Jang On.
“I clearly said to bring everything.”
“This is all there is.”
“I know Jang Yeong-sil too well to believe such nonsense.”
“…”
Seeing Jang On maintain silence with a grave expression, Hyang offered a compromise.
“Fine. I don’t need everything, just bring what’s related to this matter.”
“Your Majesty…”
“Otherwise, I might search everything myself.”
“Sigh~”
Under Hyang’s threat, Jang On exhaled a long sigh and brought several more boxes.
Seeing the contents of the boxes, Hyang muttered inwardly.
“Is this man really dead? Didn’t he escape on a UFO?”