Chapter 1008

Episode 1008: The name of firewood is the arms race (1)

Naniwa merchants, who had a lot of fun selling military supplies to Europe, listened more actively to European trends.

“The East is like stagnant water, with little movement. But Europa is like boiling water, full of opportunities!”

“Let’s go to Europe! To the land of opportunity!”

Thanks to this, about two years after the end of the Italian Unification War, many Japanese merchants came to stay in Europe. Japanese merchants who settled in Europe did not only build commercial buildings.

Next to it, a Japanese-style kiru was built. Geishas from Japan soon became a hot topic among the European upper class. And perhaps by coincidence, this Giru became a good source of information for Japanese merchants.

* * *

While running Giru, merchants were forced to use only Japanese, except for those in charge of greeting customers and paying bills. Since many Europeans were already visiting Japan, it was common for geishas and store clerks to be able to speak foreign languages. Even the geishas brought to Europe were people who could speak French or Latin.

“I understand that you deliberately paid a lot of money to buy us because we know how to speak foreign languages. But why?’

The courtesans expressed their doubts. The money paid by the merchants became the geishas’ debt. In order to repay this debt as quickly as possible, they had to capture rich customers as householders. In other words, they had to gently melt down the upper class of Europe and capture them as householders. For this, conversation was absolutely necessary.

To the gisaeng’s words, the merchants answered simply and clearly,

“We need ears that listen well, not mouths that can speak well.”

“Then it’s hard to repay the debt...”

“Face. And there is a body. If you do as I’m told and ask for good news, I’ll reduce your debt further.”

“Do you get what you promised?”

“I promise.”

Nani and the merchants’ cunning strategy worked very well. The European upper class who sought out the geishas were secretly seeking out geishas. We ended up sharing more intimate stories than the conversations we had at the base of .

“Can we have this conversation here?”

“It’s okay. Those girls don’t understand us.”

“Really?”

“I bet. Oi (おい)! Uta (歌)!”

“Hi (はい).”

And the geishas reported to the merchants the stories they heard while drinking. The executives of the Milwi and Hyeonhyang, who learned of this information in the process of delivering the empire’s special multi-colored liquor to Kiru, Japan, or through agents planted in Japan, all smiled bitterly.

“Everything people think about goes there.”

In any case, through this process, Japanese merchants were able to secure European information more efficiently. It was through this article that information about the new gunpowder that had begun to spread throughout Europe, starting from England, was obtained.

* * *

Japanese merchants, having received intelligence about the new gunpowder, once again contacted the government. After receiving intelligence from merchants, the Japanese government once again sent messengers to the empire. The imperial government, which had already received similar intelligence through the imperial troops stationed in Italy, came to the same conclusion as before.

“There is already gunpowder that is easier to handle and has stronger explosive power, so I think it’s okay to hand it over.”

“It’s a good time to show off since new gunpowder has already begun to spread.”

This was because, while disassembling a cannon that was lifted with a loaded shell, an explosion occurred while disassembling a shell equipped with a fuse. France, which succeeded in disassembling it despite the loss of life, began reverse engineering based on this. However, the prototype created through reverse engineering showed performance that was significantly inferior to the original.

“why?”

“It was made with the same iron and the same figures, but why?”

High-ranking officials in the French military, who could not accept the results, scolded the craftsmen. The answers the craftsmen gave to the advice of high-ranking people were the same.

“It’s not the same iron!”

French steel was of very poor quality compared to imperial steel. The French military confirmed the problem and immediately reported it to Charles VIII. After receiving the report, Charles VIII and his ministers chose one policy and one alternative.

-Strengthen national support for the development of better steelmaking technology.

-Adjust the values to match the French steel currently being produced.

Both required huge budgets and trial and error. But it was unavoidable. The good news was that French commercial powers actively cooperated to ensure the success of the ‘iron technology development policy.’

In order to make greater profits from the railroads that are still being built, better quality tracks and better-performing iron horses were needed, and for this, better quality steel was needed.

Thanks to a kind of ‘global support’, the development of new cannons and shells was able to succeed faster than expected. However, just when we were optimistic that everything would proceed smoothly from now on, a major accident occurred.

Spain had handed over key information, including blueprints for new cannons and shells, to England.

* * *

Spain, which suffered heavy losses in the War of Italian Unification and lost strategic points in the Mediterranean region, including Gibraltar and Algeciras, to the Empire, joined hands with France again. The biggest cause of the collapse of Spain, which had been actively cooperating with France by providing funds and personnel, was sugar liquor.

France, which took over the empire’s sugar liquor distillery, exported large quantities of sugar liquor to Spain and made a lot of profit. Spain, which was faced with many social and economic problems, strongly protested against France and announced a ban on the import of sugar liquor.

When the import of sugar liquor was banned, sugar smuggling began to increase on the Spanish border. As smuggling continued no matter how much they cracked down, Spain began to suspect the French government.

“Aren’t you ignoring it on purpose?”

Day after day, the Spanish ambassador visited King Charles VIII and French ministers to ask for a solution to the problem, but as progress was still sluggish, Spain’s suspicions turned into confidence. Eventually, Spain began to seriously consider colluding with England.

-If we think about the border issue, we cannot stay together with France forever.

-France may be using smuggling to find a way to break through the border.

-England and France are known enemies.

-If England becomes stronger, France will be so focused on England that it will not be able to pay attention to the border with us.

-England’s sugar liquor is also a problem, but England has to travel by sea. It can be blocked more easily.

After reviewing these circumstances, Spain joined hands with England to attack France.

* * *

England’s development of new cannons, which had handed over key information to England, did not slow down at all.

‘Why? Why?’

España could not hide her frustration as the situation was much different than expected. And Hyang, who received information about this, smiled and muttered an answer.

“There are two answers. One is the quality of the steel and the other is the unit.”