The envoys sent by the alliance rulers arrived in Suez one after another.
“Welcome.”
Welcomed by the alliance military commanders, the envoys immediately got to the point.
“Do you have any new information about the Empire’s new fire cart?”
The commanders’ answers to the envoys’ questions were identical.
“Besides it being called a Type C fire cart, nothing new has been learned.”
“Type C?”
When the envoys expressed curiosity about the name “Type C,” the Portuguese military commander explained its meaning.
“The Imperial military names their weapons according to the order of development as ‘A, B, C.’ The term ‘type’ is equivalent to ‘Modelo.’ So, a Type C fire cart means it’s the third developed fire cart.”
“The third? Not the second?”
“What we’ve adopted is reportedly the second developed fire cart.”
“I see…”
The envoys, nodding as they received the commanders’ reports, soon got to the main point.
“So… have you found out how it performs?”
“I’m sorry, but we haven’t yet.”
At the Portuguese military commander’s answer, the envoys looked at the other commanders. Seeing this, the envoys turned to the other alliance military commanders present.
Seeing that they all had similar expressions, the envoys looked puzzled.
“Surely they must conduct training? Couldn’t you request to observe?”
“We were refused.”
“Even if they trained outside, we could secretly observe, but they’re conducting training inside the fortress.”
“Well…”
The envoys, looking slightly dismayed at the commanders’ responses, soon coordinated their opinions.
“Let’s first officially request to observe their training. If we go through diplomatic channels, they’ll have to respond in some way.”
“Let’s do that.”
“Then we’ll end here for today.”
“Agreed. I’m quite tired from the long journey.”
Having agreed to make a request through diplomatic channels, the envoys moved to the legations built by their respective countries.
Once in their private spaces, the envoys summoned the commanders and secretly delivered orders.
“Try to make contact with a high-ranking Imperial military commander. Say you want to meet personally.”
“Are you saying you’ll act independently?”
“Shouldn’t we use every method available?”
At the envoys’ words, the commanders’ faces showed discomfort.
“If we make a mistake, it could cause problems between allies.”
“Our interests come first. Besides, aren’t those fellows likely giving similar orders?”
At the envoy’s suggestion that other alliance envoys were likely giving similar orders, the commanders pondered briefly but all had to give the same answer.
“…I’ll try to make contact.”
***
Three days later, the alliance envoys delivered an official request to the Imperial Ministry of Foreign Affairs official staying at the fortress.
—We wish to see the new fire cart used by the Empire.
The Imperial Foreign Affairs official who received the request immediately sent a reply.
—This request is related to the military. I’ve forwarded it to the military, and the military commander has requested an answer from the headquarters in their home country. I will respond as soon as an answer returns.
Upon receiving this reply from the Imperial Foreign Affairs official stationed at the fortress, the alliance envoys looked crestfallen.
“This is truly an elegant rejection.”
“It takes half a year just for a round trip from here to the Empire…”
“It means they have no intention of showing us.”
The faces of the French and Ottoman envoys, having confirmed the implied refusal, were now filled with anger rather than dejection.
“Are they looking down on our alliance, no, on France!”
When the French envoy burst out, the Ottoman envoy nodded.
“Right! No matter if it’s the Empire, this is disrespectful!”
However, the Portuguese and Florentine envoys merely offered bitter smiles.
“It’s unpleasant, but the Empire is not yet a member of the alliance…”
“And diplomatically, it’s hard to find fault. They haven’t outright rejected our request…”
At the observations from the Portuguese and Florentine envoys, the French and Ottoman envoys could only close their mouths.
As they pointed out, the Empire’s answer posed no diplomatic problems.
The Empire was not a member of the alliance. Therefore, they could have rejected the alliance’s request immediately without issue.
However, the Imperial official had responded that he had immediately consulted with his home country upon receiving the request and asked them to await an answer.
This was a polite refusal out of respect for the alliance.
Using this as a pretext to pressure the Empire would only make the alliance look foolish—a masterful response.
“They deliver a blow while maintaining courtesy. I’m truly curious about who trained them like this.”
At the Florentine envoy’s words, the Portuguese envoy nodded and added.
“Merchants who have gone to the Empire for business say that Imperials are experts at turning people inside out while speaking very politely. Regardless of whether they’re merchants or nobles.”
***
Having confirmed the Empire’s polite but definite refusal, the alliance envoys attempted to arrange private meetings.
However, their attempts ended in failure. Imperial military commanders who had built some rapport with alliance military commanders immediately refused when they heard the request.
“I understand why you want to meet, but I absolutely cannot comply until I receive instructions from my home country.”
Faced with this consistent answer regardless of rank, the alliance military commanders could only retreat, licking their lips in frustration.
In the end, they again tried to catch the Imperial military during training, but the result was the same as before.
This was because the Imperial military still conducted training only inside the fortress.
As a result, while loud gunfire emanated from the fortress daily, the alliance could only watch hungrily.
However, the alliance military commanders soon realized a frightening fact.
“They train with live ammunition every day?”
***
Gunpowder was a very expensive item. Because of this, even Florence, rumored to be wealthy, could only afford live ammunition training for its regular army. And even then, it was limited to just 4-5 rounds per year.
The situation was even worse for mercenaries, the main actors in wars. Their training consisted of repeatedly practicing the process leading up to firing, or repeatedly forming and moving in formations.
Most combat training routinely involved aiming empty guns and making sounds with their mouths.
“Bang! Bang bang!”
“Hey! Who fires two shots that quickly?”
***
The alliance military commanders were all men with rich combat experience.
—The difference between soldiers who have properly fired even one live round and those who haven’t is like heaven and earth.
Being well aware of this, the commanders became serious about the Imperial military’s training.
“As far as we know, the garrison in that fortress is about 3,000 strong. And they train with live ammunition every day?”
“There won’t be any men who wet themselves in surprise at their own gunshots.”
“If they have gunpowder to spare, they should give us some…”
The alliance military commanders conversed, full of envy and complaints.
However, this was their misjudgment.
The firing range created in the Empire’s Suez fortress had a limit to how many personnel could train at once.
Therefore, the Imperial soldiers’ firing training was once every seven days.
And they couldn’t fire as much as they wanted either.
“Here are the bullets for today’s training.”
The soldier who received the ammunition belt from the quartermaster looked at him with disbelief.
“Sir, for me, a fire cart gunner?”
“That’s why I gave you an ammunition belt, right?”
The soldier continued to argue in a unique Seoul dialect.
“Look. Only twenty rounds? This will be over with just one trigger pull?”
“You’ve been receiving the same amount all along, why complain now? If you’re dissatisfied, write a petition! Say ‘I can’t train properly because of the Ministry of Finance!'”
At the quartermaster’s scolding, the soldier closed his mouth and retreated. Walking toward the firing range, the soldier continued to grumble.
“What is this, a bundle of dried fish? Just twenty bullets…”
***
The alliance’s attempts to verify the performance of the Type C fire cart continued to fail. However, the alliance commanders and envoys persistently waited for an opportunity.
And their patience eventually bore fruit thanks to an unexpected entity.
The unexpected entity that helped them was the Mamluks.
The Mamluks, having lost the Suez region and the eastern Nile Delta, eventually had to sign a peace treaty.
However, the Mamluks did not give up on reclaiming their territory and conducted guerrilla warfare using their cavalry.
But lacking the resources to wage full-scale war again, the Mamluks disguised their cavalry as bandits.
Because of this, the alliance could not wage war against the Mamluks despite knowing the truth.
If they made a mistake, they could be branded as the first to break the treaty.
These disguised Mamluk cavalry units came and went as far as the Suez region, harassing the alliance forces.
As time passed, these disguised cavalry units transformed into real bandits.
However, since they didn’t cause trouble in Mamluk territories, the Mamluks sold them gunpowder and firearms for money but steadily supported them with personnel.
These groups, having strengthened their forces in this way, began targeting the Imperials constructing railways in Suez.
***
Ding ding ding!
The railway construction headquarters was put on alert by the sudden sound of an emergency bell.
“What’s happening!”
Staff working in the office rushed outside at the sound of the emergency bell.
Shortly after, bloodied people were carried down on stretchers from a train that had backed into the station.
“Doctor! Call a doctor!”
“This way!”
“We’re short on hands!”
While everyone nearby rushed to help unload the wounded, Yi Gil-son, the construction supervisor, assessed the situation.
“What happened to you?”
At Yi Gil-son’s question, a man with a bandage around his head answered.
“We were attacked by bandits.”
“Bandits? How many came?”
“At least thousands…”
“Oh no! Take this man away!”
The man who was answering collapsed midway, his strength failing. Watching him being carried away on a stretcher, Yi Gil-son’s expression turned serious.
“There were already over 30 armed men at the site, and over 200 alliance soldiers… If not thousands, there must have been at least a thousand.”
After analyzing the situation, Yi Gil-son immediately headed for the fortress.
***
Han Taek-gil, the fortress commander who heard the story from Yi Gil-son, immediately made a decision.
“I’ll provide troop support. Please prepare the train.”
At Han Taek-gil’s words, Yi Gil-son immediately nodded.
“I will prepare as quickly as possible.”
Having received the answer he wanted, Yi Gil-son promptly left. One of the commanders who had been listening to the conversation carefully spoke up.
“The alliance forces will be able to see the performance of the Type C fire cart.”
“This was already anticipated by Seoul. We’ve held out long enough. Instead, if we’re going to show them, we’ll show them properly. Prepare thoroughly.”
“Yes, sir!”
The commanders, loudly acknowledging Han Taek-gil’s order, quickly went outside. Soon after, the sound of whistles and shouts echoed from all directions as soldiers began to move busily.
Watching this scene from above, Han Taek-gil murmured while looking toward the alliance forces.
“They’ve been lucky…”