It Was Going So Well
***
“Why has Your Excellency lost interest?”
“I haven’t completely lost interest. I still think it’s quite suitable for war.”
Right. Even an idiot who knows nothing about war would understand that much. I had no choice but to meet with the Far East Viceroy, who happened to be visiting Gando at the time.
“Sorry to say this after so long, but how practical would this really be?”
“Pardon?”
What the hell was this guy talking about? I wasn’t about to let it slide either, but I hadn’t expected him to back out so readily.
“We’re already struggling to supply rifles to our Russian Empire infantry. Now you want us to divert resources to build airplanes on top of that? The reformists have taken control of the Duma right now. It wouldn’t be wise to push this too hard.”
Even so, the Viceroy should still wield considerable influence. What’s wrong with the Far East Viceroy? Something felt off. Was there more to this?
Couldn’t he skim some money off this deal? Sure, the Russian Empire had been a mess during the Great War, but they still produced an air force. Maybe the reformists seizing the Duma was a change brought on by history—Stolypin, perhaps. Yeah, that was possible.
“You could make quite a bit of money from this.”
“Money’s always good. But the profit only comes if you sell it to another country. It’d be difficult to sell something that could be considered a state secret. Besides, airplanes have been around for quite some time. His Majesty the Tsar wouldn’t be particularly pleased either.”
That couldn’t be right. Would he really reject something this groundbreaking? The Russian Empire had an air force, after all. Wouldn’t it make more sense to inform the Russians? Or maybe they thought the timing wasn’t right yet. I’d been hoping to squeeze quite a bit out of the Russian side with this.
“So you’re saying it’s too risky to gamble on something that isn’t even useful yet.”
Well, since the Great War hadn’t broken out yet, maybe they just weren’t that interested. Though if word reached the military, things might be different. No, actually—if the Far East Viceroy wasn’t interested in bombers or fighters, that wasn’t necessarily bad for us. Still, his eyes seemed to be looking elsewhere. Not at fighters, but something else had caught his attention.
“That’s right. No, it’s not bad. My interests just lie elsewhere.”
Alright, let’s hear it.
“Elsewhere, you say?”
What else could possibly interest him besides these airplanes? What was the Far East Viceroy after?
“That red ginseng you mentioned. I think I could use some of that.”
So he was more interested in red ginseng than military aircraft. It made sense—Allens alone wouldn’t be enough to sell in Europe. But if we could sell red ginseng to Russia through the Far East Viceroy, that would be a different story. Russia’s population was quite large around this time, wasn’t it? If we could tap into the Russian market with red ginseng, that wouldn’t be bad at all. In fact, it might be better if we produced these airplanes first ourselves. Handing over a stake in red ginseng stung a bit, but if the market expanded, the foreign revenue would still be worth it.
Red ginseng, out of nowhere. Was this guy actually a businessman at heart? There was no real downside for us. If war broke out, we’d have a monopoly on airplanes.
“Understood. Then at the very least, please don’t spread word of these airplanes.”
“It wouldn’t do for this to spread and draw attention back home. Of course not. I’ll only show interest if war breaks out later.”
The Far East Viceroy waved his hand dismissively, as if he already knew everything.
“Very well.”
In the end, it was all smoke and mirrors. Right now he couldn’t touch it because of the reformists, and the Viceroy himself was far more interested in red ginseng. After some negotiation, the deal was struck. Even if it was just a stake in red ginseng, the Far East Viceroy was in no position to refuse. Pushed aside by the reformists, he’d come looking for whatever scraps he could get. Ultimately, the Far East Viceroy dropped out of the military aircraft business, leaving only me and Choi Jae-hyung.
“You’re willing to give up a stake in red ginseng?”
Well, giving some away wasn’t ideal, but what choice did we have? We needed a reliable promoter right now.
“If we want access to the European market, we need European help. If the Far East Viceroy is interested, it’s not a bad arrangement.”
He was still glancing nervously at the reformists, but red ginseng was worth pursuing. From his perspective, he could siphon off some money through red ginseng. We’d gain a foothold in Europe, and he could operate without drawing the reformists’ attention.
I stared quietly at the early prototype bomber in front of me.
“You’ve already recruited volunteers, haven’t you?”
“Yes. We recruited them and built this.”
They’d already test-flown it? Conquering the skies had been that easy? Interesting.
“People are probably going to die doing this.”
“Don’t worry. There are plenty of others who’ve built airplanes. Some were in the blueprints you gave us, and we referenced foreign designs as well.”
“Ah, so there were others.”
I’d been an idiot. Even starting first, this was the result. No wonder the Far East Viceroy hadn’t been interested. At least we’d been the first to weaponize it, but still… disappointing.
“Well, at least we’re the first with combat in mind.”
“I see. Hmm, should I try flying it myself?”
“It’s dangerous, you know?”
Since I was an Invulnerable Transmigrator who couldn’t die, I wanted to test it. Better for me to go up myself than offer up someone else’s life.
Honestly, when I received the blueprints, I’d seen the related records, but it was better to test things thoroughly. More importantly, if airplanes were being developed around the same time elsewhere, they must have considered fighters too.
Without Choi Jae-hyung noticing, I checked Daeyeok Gallery.
Airplanes seem to have come out a bit early, but I think the concept of fighters came during the Great War.
Damn it. So they already existed. No wonder the Far East Viceroy’s interest had cooled even further.
“They’ve already been used for military purposes in other wars.”
“True, but reconnaissance was their main role. Since they weren’t developed purely for combat, their offensive capabilities are limited.”
I see. So that’s how it was. There was still so much I didn’t know about the world.
It was going so well, too.
“What a shame. I was hoping to fly the world’s first fighter plane.”
It wasn’t that I particularly wanted to fly it. But if I was the one planning it, I needed to operate it at least once beforehand. Even with procedures in place, I should personally take the controls and move it around to make it convincing. At this rate, I wouldn’t get to do that.
“I don’t know why a woman would say such things, but we only have one of these right now. It’d be dangerous if it malfunctioned and crashed. Sigh, we should have finished it sooner, but this was the best I could do while keeping it hidden and maintaining ties with Russia.”
“Hmm, with only one, it’s risky from the start. We’ll have to produce several and test them properly.”
Without the “first” title, it felt deflating. Besides, we couldn’t afford to wait while building multiple units. At least we could be satisfied that it could mount machine guns and drop bombs. Yeah. Even if the Korean Empire hadn’t been colonized, would we have obtained airplanes through our own efforts like this? Let’s look on the bright side. If the Far East Viceroy had lost interest, it essentially meant we had a monopoly. I should view this positively.
“Still, if these large aircraft were built primarily for dropping bombs, that would make a difference, wouldn’t it?”
Right. The fact that we started first would matter. Let’s just think positively. At least as a fighter, it would see proper action—since that concept emerged during the Great War.
“Yes. Please continue your efforts.”
Even on the way back from Gando to Hanseong, I felt oddly irritable. If I’d known about the Italo-Turkish War, I could have sent some there earlier. What a waste. Or maybe not. If I’d sent them there, Korea might learn about airplanes too! That would be problematic. Honestly, the Far East Viceroy backing out was still a stroke of luck for us. We needed to advance our weapons technology quickly, but our industry had only just broken ground. We still had a long way to go.
If we could indoctrinate the Japanese with Hongikism… Honestly, we didn’t need to massively expand submarines or weapons right now. We weren’t going to fight on the European front during the Great War anyway. In that case, building up our military slowly might be fine. At least until we had the capability to interfere in Europe or seize European colonies, we still had plenty of time. We could focus on building strength during the world war itself. Turning Japan into Hongikism and making them vanguards of the Hongik Ingan wouldn’t be bad either.
“Nam Sang-deok.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“Has the submarine been completed?”
“Yes. We built it based on what Germany provided. Here are the photos the navy sent.”
When I received the photos, it didn’t look exactly like the submarines I knew, but it resembled the U-boats from the Great War era.
“You got the photos that quickly?”
“Yes. I figured if you wanted to see the airplane, you’d want to see the submarine too, so I prepared them.”
Yeah, Nam Sang-deok had pretty good instincts. In the photos, I could see German naval officers and what looked like German submarine technicians. They were teaching properly without any nonsense.
“Hmm. It turned out quite well.”
It looked quite sophisticated. Shaped similarly to German U-boats—would it actually work in real combat? Could we build a submarine fleet with just these? We also had ones received from Japan, so we could probably form a fleet with those too. The problem was those warships probably weren’t in perfect condition. The Japanese weren’t idiots—they wouldn’t want to see Korea building a fleet with their ships. They’d try to sabotage us as much as possible.
“German technology seems quite excellent.”
Well, Germanophiles always said “German engineering is the best in the world!” That alone showed how advanced their technology was. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Personally, I thought Germany’s talent pool was impressive. After all, after World War II, German engineers were heavily recruited by both the US and the Soviet Union. That was proof enough.
“Even so, they’re the ones who stood against England. Of course they’re capable. More importantly, what about the warships we received from Japan? I don’t know much about the navy situation.”
“As expected, they removed some parts.”
Right. As expected. Those bastards. Tch. I should have pressed them about that back then. I could have used the fleet parts as compensation for them trying to kill me.
“Of course. Since they already lost the fleet anyway, they wouldn’t have much reason to give us anything extra.”
If there was nothing left, what use was it? Wouldn’t it just incur maintenance costs? Germany seemed willing to help, but we couldn’t rely on them too much. They wouldn’t teach us more than necessary either.
“Still, Germany said they’d help repair it so we can fix it.”
“Germany’s really playing the role of second-rate great power after Russia.”
Their eagerness to curry favor seemed excessive. It wasn’t like I’d proven I was an Invulnerable Transmigrator in front of the one-armed man. It wasn’t like he was smitten with me and offering all this help either. Hmm.
“To them, this level of support is nothing. Isn’t that right?”
“Yeah, that’s probably it.”
Throwing scraps like this to you monkeys is nothing to them. Something like that. Germany didn’t care if they tossed these things your way. I wonder how much you’ll be able to milk from it. Maybe this was some kind of monkey social experiment. Or perhaps they felt goodwill after seeing Japan, the target of the Yellow Peril theory, collapse. Still, the fact that we’d overthrown the emperor might make the Kaiser uncomfortable, since they were both imperial nations. For now, since they were providing proper submarine support, it didn’t seem like a big issue.
“Iron ore is important too.”
“I believe production has already begun at the Shinyaemi Mine in Gangwon Province.”
“It’s a shame we’re still in a position where we need help.”
Currently, the only commercially producing iron mine in Goryeo was the Shinyaemi Mine. Musan Mine had been a candidate too, but after checking Daeyeok Gallery, I’d determined it wasn’t viable yet.
Next, I looked up the Shinyaemi Mine. As mentioned before, while discussing steel mill construction, I’d already marked Shinyaemi Mine as a priority. Just because I knew about the resources in advance didn’t mean there was anything I could do about it.