In the New Frontier, Hyang was spending his time frantically busy formulating various plans against Europe and addressing numerous requests from the homeland.
“This isn’t what I had in mind…”
Hyang made a doleful expression as he stared at the reports and approval documents that showed no signs of diminishing.
Hyang’s initial plan had been this:
- —Given Venerable Emperor Sejong’s character, he would have laid a sufficient foundation during more than ten years.
- —Then I could go to New Frontier, make appropriate upgrades, and indulge in my hobbies as I please.
- —Variables? Variables could be handled with improvisation.
- —Talent procurement issues? Aren’t there natives? As Sejong demonstrated, with Hunminjeongeum and various carrots, plus appropriate sticks, rapid resolution would be possible.
- —Conclusion: After a bit of hardship initially, it would be smooth sailing afterward!
This wasn’t merely Hyang’s delusion.
According to reports from Sejong in New Frontier, he had indeed laid a solid foundation.
Not just Sejong’s reports, but various other records—material requisitions, troop support requests, etc.—guaranteed that a solid foundation had been established in New Frontier.
Therefore, Hyang had confidently brought along large numbers of personnel necessary for smooth upgrading—especially navy personnel—and was confident in his plan’s success.
But the actual experience in New Frontier was simple:
—Dreams are dreams because they are dreams.
Hyang placed his hand on his forehead and lamented.
“Whew~. I’m the idiot who forgot what kind of land New Frontier was to begin with, and that this is an era without computers…”
It was Hyang’s mistake to overlook that New Frontier’s size was that of an entire continent, and that everything had to be handled manually.
The plan to educate and utilize New Frontier’s natives as human resources had been successful.
The problem was that even after extracting such talent, it was still overwhelming to properly operate this vast New Frontier.
In the end, there was only one ultimate solution:
- —Accept people from Europe.
- —However, accept only individuals or groups, not entire nations.
“And to make this successful, we need to complete the maritime barrier and get our hands on Gibraltar…”
After organizing the situation, Hyang placed his hand on his forehead and sighed.
“Sigh~. Going in circles…”
Though he sighed and was discouraged, Hyang didn’t give up there.
“Think about trying to get limited editions! A true enthusiast never gives up! Let’s go!”
Rekindling his determination, Hyang wrestled with the documents.
***
While Hyang was struggling in New Frontier, Europe began to grow wary of the Empire at another location.
The place where Europe began to be wary of the Empire was Suez.
By taking on the task of laying railways in Suez, the Empire had acquired the right to build a naval port for the Imperial Navy through an additional treaty.
Accordingly, the Imperial Navy moved quickly.
Technical personnel for the railway construction and technical staff from the Imperial Joint Construction Corps arrived simultaneously.
***
Among the things created, operated, and used by the Empire, many were evaluated as transcending their era.
Among such evaluations were various laws and systems.
The appointment of women as government officials, guaranteed maternity leave, and childbirth promotion policies were typical examples, and the Imperial Joint Construction Corps was one of them.
—Responsible for the construction, maintenance, and repair of various buildings and facilities needed by the Imperial Armed Forces.
This was the purpose for which the Imperial Joint Construction Corps was created.
Regardless of whether it was the Imperial Army or Navy, all buildings and facilities bearing the name of the Imperial Armed Forces were invariably constructed by the hands of the Imperial Joint Construction Corps.
Construction and operations that had previously been haphazard were now managed by a single entity, bringing not only increased efficiency but also cost reduction.
Interestingly, the person who proposed the creation of the Imperial Joint Construction Corps was not Hyang but Wan.
More precisely, it was the work of the Wan-Du-Seul brothers.
Though Du and Seul had hoped to follow the path of soldiers guarding the frontlines after entering military service, due to their status as princes, they could only be placed in the budget department of the Ministry of Defense, not on the frontlines.
Thus, the brothers who ended up fighting a war with numbers rather than with enemies became budget experts before long.
And Du and Seul deeply realized the problem of budget waste while investigating a large-scale embezzlement case that occurred during the First Joseon-Ming War.
To find a permanent solution to this, Du and Seul sought out Wan, and the three brothers put their heads together to research a solution.
The result was the Imperial Joint Construction Corps.
- —Both during wartime and peacetime, facility-related aspects consistently consume large amounts of budget.
- —Looking at the current situation, the army operates separately from the navy.
- —Of course, given the vastly different nature of the army and navy, this might be unavoidable. However, there are many common aspects as well.
- —But operating separately not only leads to laxity but also reveals issues of budget waste.
- —Therefore, create a specialized organization to construct and manage buildings and facilities for the entire Imperial Armed Forces, encompassing both army and navy.
Wan’s proposal, based on these fundamentals, was immediately accepted.
The Imperial Joint Construction Corps began operating busily as soon as it was formed. Not only did talents with extensive experience in architecture and civil engineering from both the army and navy gather, but the corps also incorporated engineering units under its command, combining both theoretical and practical capabilities.
As a side note, the Imperial Joint Construction Corps was where civilian construction companies most coveted talent.
***
The technical staff of the Imperial Joint Construction Corps who arrived in Suez moved diligently.
After thoroughly surveying the Suez Gulf, the technical staff found a suitable location with a nearby water source that was neither too far nor too close to the existing port.
“We would like to build a naval port here. Would that be acceptable?”
After checking the location at the request of the Imperial official, the representatives of the alliance held a separate meeting.
“What do you think?”
“It seems fine.”
“I agree.”
Having reached a consensus, the alliance representatives immediately accepted, and the Imperial Joint Construction Corps called in engineering units and began construction.
Seeing the arrival of personnel for the naval port construction, the alliance representatives asked the Imperial official.
“How long will the construction take?”
“We’re estimating two years.”
“Two years?”
At the answer “two years,” all the alliance representatives expressed incomprehension.
Later, when the alliance representatives had a meeting among themselves, they exchanged opinions on this construction period.
“Two years? What exactly are they building?”
“The period seems too long for a simple port, but too short for a military facility.”
“I agree.”
It was a construction period that defied understanding by the common sense of the alliance representatives.
Two years was far too short to build a substantial garrison with proper defensive facilities, not just a simple temporary station.
“It’s impossible to know what kind of building they’re trying to make…”
“I agree.”
***
Once the construction corps personnel began full-scale construction, the alliance representatives could resolve their doubts.
“So they can use cementum like that.”
“The combination of cementum and iron bars… interesting.”
“To think of making bricks with cementum, truly fascinating…”
Watching the Imperials raising buildings and walls using massive amounts of mortar and rebar, the alliance representatives wore expressions as if viewing an interesting spectacle.
However, as the fortress defending the naval port gradually took shape, the expressions of the alliance military commanders became increasingly grave.
“It looks more troublesome than the damn triple walls of Constantinople…”
At the Ottoman military commander’s words, the alliance military commanders around him turned to him with surprised faces.
“Have you seen the triple walls of Constantinople?”
At the Portuguese military commander’s question, the Ottoman military commander answered with an indifferent expression.
“I barely survived trying to cross those walls.”
“Ah…”
The military commanders from Portugal, France, and Florence looked at the Ottoman military commander with meaningful eyes.
The Ottoman Empire had signed a truce with the Eastern Roman Empire to focus on the war over Suez.
However, it was an open secret that now, after seizing Suez, the Ottoman Empire was again eyeing the Eastern Roman Empire.
‘These Ottoman fellows who must still be struggling to overcome those triple walls are saying these walls are more troublesome?’
The alliance commanders, ruminating on the Ottoman commander’s words, once again carefully observed the problematic walls.
The alliance commanders, who had been observing the walls at every opportunity and studying tactics to overcome them, soon came to understand what the Ottoman military commander had meant.
Staring at the floor plan of the Imperial fortress sketched through their observations, the alliance military commanders cursed.
“Damn it…”
“I agree.”
While the Portuguese and Florentine commanders were grumbling, the French commander expressed his impression poetically.
“Walls that properly embody the malice of killing enemies. No, I should call it the sum of malice (summa malae voluntatis).”
At the French commander’s words, all the commanders present nodded.
“What do you think is the best means to overcome those walls?”
To the French commander’s question, the Florentine commander smirked and replied.
“It seems easier to make my mistresses get along than to overcome those walls.”
“Pfft!”
“Hahah!”
Though brief laughter erupted at the unexpected joke, the commanders’ faces immediately turned serious.
Although it was a joke, it meant that it seemed just as impossible.
The Florentine commander continued.
“Looking at the wall’s shape, it’s optimally arranged for cross-firing. Add to that the placement of moats and mounds, making it difficult to deploy large forces at once. The conclusion is that attackers would waste troops through sequential deployment and sequential consumption.”
“What about bombardment?”
“With walls that thick, ordinary cannons wouldn’t even scratch them.”
“Are there cannons that can reach those walls? The mounds and moats interfere with getting close, and if you go far, it’s immediately the sea…”
“And the power of cannons mounted on warships is quite ineffective…”
“Whew~.”
The commanders studying attack methods all sighed.
But inwardly, they were thinking similar thoughts.
‘I should send a report to my country. Reinforcing fortresses in this format would make the best defensive means.’
It was Hyang’s butterfly effect.
In the history before Hyang’s intervention, star forts, which began to slowly appear starting with the Italian War of 1494, now showed themselves nearly 30 years earlier.
If it had stopped there, the Empire wouldn’t have become a target of European caution.
However, the alliance military commanders stationed in Suez were individuals with rich combat experience.
Before long, they realized an even more frightening fact.
“Wait… the Imperials must know we’re observing them. Yet they showed us openly? That means they have methods to break or overcome those walls!”