Chapter 859

Episode 859: Their Ambition (10)

At Wan’s declaration, the officials and the judges paused for a moment.

‘Aren’t what your Majesty said too arrogant?’

‘What if Florence’s movements are not natural?’

Although many thoughts occurred to them, they paused, but the officer and the juicer began tapping the typewriter keys again.

Their mission was to record all the happenings and conversations happening here and now.

Their personal opinions could only be written down after the records were completed.

* * *

Although the officers and governors thought Wan was arrogant, Wan was confident enough.

The empire’s army now numbered approximately 600,000, including the army and navy.

Considering that the number of Joseon troops at the time of the founding of the Joseon Dynasty was about 300,000, the current size of the empire, and the Ming army located right next to it – even though Emperor Seonghwa carried out a large-scale reduction of the army, it still numbered 1.5 million – you could think that it was a surprisingly small size.

However, the ‘300,000 army’ in the early Joseon Dynasty was just a number on the ledger.

This was because there were many refugees during the chaotic period of the late Goryeo Dynasty and early Seon Dynasty, and many of them ran away to avoid military service or became slaves.

In fact, even in the case of the Tsushima conquest that took place at the beginning of King Sejong’s reign, the military force – especially the navy – was so short that anyone who could drive a ship or know how to shoot an arrow was recruited, from the noblemen to the nobles of the Jae-ye-pae.

However, the 600,000 imperial troops were not numbers on a ledger, but actual soldiers.

They were also elites who were skilled in the weapons they wielded.

In addition, with the proper functioning of the administrative organization from the Northern Territories to the New Territories, it was possible to quickly expand to at least 2 million people. Of course, Shinji, who still had a long way to go, was left out of the reserve force mobilization plan.

This was the empire under Wan’s reign and the imperial army.

In addition to this, there was another reason why Wan was interested in Florence.

It was ‘practical experience’.

What the Imperial Army lacked now was experience.

Most of those who experienced the battles that took place between the Ming and Joseon Dynasty have retired.

Most of those who participated in the Battle of the Yellow Sea that followed became high-ranking commanders.

In other words, most of the commanders who had to fight on the front lines had very little actual combat experience.

Of course, the navy fought against pirates, and the army fought against bandits in the Mongolian border area. However, because the scale was so small and the pirates and thieves had almost dried up, it became something that only a few commanders experienced.

Fortunately, in the case of the army, many officers had experienced actual combat through the previous conquest of Shinji.

However, the people they faced in the conquest of Shinji were natives armed with obsidian weapons.

The problem for the Imperial Army was that commanders with experience fighting enemies properly armed with guns and artillery had almost disappeared.

Of course, the imperial army was sharpened through rigorous training that was close to actual combat, but training was training and actual combat was actual combat.

Similar to the imperial army, experience was needed to deal with a proper enemy.

Therefore, it was intended to actively intervene in Florence’s movements.

And Hyang also agreed to this.

– Gain as much experience as possible while shedding as little blood as possible without putting a strain on the empire.

This was Hyang and Wan’s thoughts.

And Florence’s request for cooperation was the best opportunity.

The armies of Europe were well armed with guns and artillery. It was also a place where countries that were likely to clash with the empire in the future for various reasons were concentrated.

If we made the Florentine army into another imperial army, put it into battle, and carefully observed the results, we would be able to know what needs to be changed and corrected.

* * *

“Florence’s request is certain to be helpful to our empire in many ways. But you can’t just accept it without knowing anything. Have you received any reports about the movements of cities other than Florence in Italy?”

“....”

The ministers all responded in silence to Wan’s question. Wan nodded slightly and continued to ask questions again.

“Then how about Jim comply with Florence’s request? “Our empire is also a foreign power.”

Kim Jong-seo came forward once again and answered.

“Cases are different.”

“Cases are different?”

“yes. In the case of other cities, they are trying to achieve things by borrowing the power of foreign powers, but in the case of Florence, they are asking for help in increasing their own power. “This is a different case.”

“Right. So what will our empire gain if we accept their request?”

Minister of Foreign Affairs Shin Sook-ju stepped forward and answered Wan’s question.

“Florence is one of the most influential cities in Italy and is famous for trade. If we give them grace, we can use them as a stepping stone to reach Europe and the Ottoman region more easily. Of course, even now, there are not many cases where our empire experiences inconveniences. But it gets even easier if you use Florence. It also makes it easier to protect our imperial interests in Suez.”

Following Shin Sook-ju’s words, Minister of National Defense Jang Hang-seon came forward and responded.

“It is also helpful from a military perspective. Our imperial army lacks actual combat experience. In particular, there is no experience of war with a large army armed with guns and artillery, other than the battles that took place in the Yalu River and Liaodong. Now, most of the European armies are armed with guns and artillery, so if we make the Ferencic army like the imperial army and then send it into the war as expected, we will be able to recognize and correct our shortcomings without shedding blood.”

“Good idea.”

When Jang Hang-seon expressed an opinion similar to Hyang’s and his own, Wan nodded with a satisfied expression.

The officials who saw Wan’s expression all thought the same thing.

‘The decision has been made.’

“Then do you have any other opinions?”

“....”

Because they had already figured out Wan’s intentions, there were no people except for one person who came forward to ask for differences of opinion.

The main character in question was Lim Soon-wook, who became the Minister of Finance and Economy.

“The words of Her Majesty the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Defence, while reasonable, must be limited.”

“Should there be limits?”

“yes. It is not considered a big problem to send an instructor at Florence’s request. However, permitting the production of guns and artillery rather than selling them is different.”

To summarize Lim Soon-wook’s opinions, they were as follows.

-In the eyes of other Italian cities and foreign powers, the fact that Florence produces imperial weapons means that we are Florence’s allies.

It is not just an alliance, but a military alliance.

-If you look at the current relationship between our empire and Florence, they are simply good business partners. However, if the alliance becomes a military alliance, the empire will also deploy troops as needed.

-Sending troops to Florence would cost a huge amount of money.

-No matter how bad the situation is, if there are no limits, there will be great damage to the empire’s livelihood.

“...This is why it is best to set limits.”

Shin Sook-ju came forward to express her opposition to Lim Soon-wook’s words.

“The words of His Majesty the Minister of Finance are at first glance reasonable, but some of them are unreasonable. It is reasonable to say that the empire’s livelihood should not be a burden. It is also reasonable to say that it will be a military alliance. However, even if a war breaks out and the situation of the war becomes unfavorable to Florence, it is unfair that the army should not be mobilized beyond the predetermined limit. If we do that, Europeans will consider our empire to be faithless, and no country will want to maintain good relations with the empire. There is no one who likes someone who can’t help but exclaim with admiration. This is Sotamdaesil.”

Starting with this, a war of words began between Shin Sook-ju and Lim Soon-wook.

It was a heated war of words between Shin Sook-ju, who insisted, ‘For the sake of the future, we must endure massive blood loss,’ and Lim Sun-wook, who said, ‘No matter what happens, the empire must not be harmed.’

Meanwhile, unexpected casualties occurred in the heated war of words between the two.

They were the magistrates and the magistrates.

They screamed inwardly as they pounded the keyboard desperately to record their war of words.

‘Ah-oh! ‘It’s a finger!’

‘Seed! Should I just spend the gold?’