The Iron Tide
Even after the monumental event known as the Iron-Blood Alliance Army had concluded, the world remained abuzz with both great and small affairs. With the war ending in Qin's defeat, the state of Qi that had sided with them lived in constant fear of retaliation, their nerves stretched taut. It had been barely forty years since they had nearly been annihilated by the wicked and the Alliance Army. Many still remembered the nightmare of that day, and those who had only heard the stories from them whispered anxiously that perhaps they should flee before it was too late.
If Qi suffered the greatest anxiety, the state whose overall atmosphere was most unsettled was actually Wei, the core victor of the war. The conflict between Lord Xinling and the King of Wei had grown fierce. The King of Wei possessed the authority of the throne, while Lord Xinling carried the illustrious reputation of one of the Four Gentlemen of the Warring States. The king had no remarkable achievements to his name, but conversely, he had committed no grave blunders either. Lord Xinling, having twice served as supreme commander of the Alliance Army and utterly crushed the strongest state of Qin on both occasions—an earth-shaking feat—had nevertheless committed the grave sin of murdering General Jin Bi, who had enjoyed the trust of Wei's people. Though he now stood at the pinnacle of Wei's military as General-in-Chief, the soldiers who had served under Jin Bi still harbored deep resentment toward him.
The triumphant return of Lord Xinling, and the followers flocking to him. The royalist faction gathering around the King of Wei in wary opposition, along with the retainers and soldiers formerly under Jin Bi. As long as Qin existed, they would not descend into civil war, yet the internal mood in Wei had grown exceedingly ominous.
In Zhao, they appeared to be pressuring Wei in disapproval of their attempt to sideline Lord Xinling, their nation's savior. In Chu, they were openly plotting to teach a lesson to Qi, which obstructed them at every turn. The now-minor state of Han, having struck a solid blow to Qin's rear, had no leisure to look elsewhere. Their best course was to constantly monitor Qin's movements and prepare to immediately send requests for aid to the other states should they stir.
Yet the very state of Qin that Han watched so warily showed no signs of wanting to wage war for the time being. Setting aside the loss of an army well over one hundred thousand in the great campaign launched by the previous king, they were overwhelmed by internal problems alone.
Yes. The previous king.
Ying Zichu, who had burned with vengeful fury toward Zhao and raised a massive army, had received the posthumous title of King Zhuangyang and was now known as King Zhuangyang of Qin. The moment his revenge was thwarted by the Alliance Army, King Zhuangyang—already wasting away from illness—had finally released the last thread of his will to live. And the one who ascended the throne was a thirteen-year-old girl.
Ying Zheng.
The young queen who had taken the throne at far too tender an age had granted her mother the right of curtain regency, appointed Chancellor Lu Buwei as Upper Minister to handle state affairs in her stead, and was thus called nothing more than a puppet by the world at large. But those who had been on the battlefield knew better.
The brilliant move of sensing the crisis and leading Xianyang's defense forces to protect the Qin army from the Alliance Army. The Qin generals present had witnessed firsthand just how worthy of the throne this girl named Ying Zheng truly was.
The young Queen Ying Zheng, who had secured the support of Qin's military, Lu Buwei who dominated the court as both Upper Minister and regent, and Zhao Ji, the Queen Dowager who held the strongest justification for power through her curtain regency. Qin was busy dancing to the tune of this trio's intricate performance.
It was a delicate balance. Originally, Ying Zheng would have fallen one step behind, with the powerful minister Lu Buwei and the Queen Dowager Zhao Ji becoming the true powers manipulating Qin. But thanks to the Alliance Army, she had managed to establish a foothold from which she could make her voice heard in court.
'It's too late. The tiger has already begun to run.'
I mulled over the words Jeong had left me during our second farewell. Riding the tiger's back. She had already mounted the tiger. If she could not stand alone as king, she would become a powerless puppet whose authority had been completely stripped away. And the only means available to her to prevent that was war.
Accepting me would stop the war. To her, it must have sounded like an invitation to abandon all her power and ambition, to live contentedly by my side. The fact that she had wavered even for a moment showed just how much she valued me. Yet in the end, she had walked past the hand I offered to help her dismount the tiger.
Then I would build her a throne. I would stop the tiger in its tracks, skin it, and present the hide to her. In return, she would no longer be able to ride that tiger and race off into the distance.
Back in Yan, the first stage of that plan had already been completed.
"It's finally finished. The steel."
I stared at the sword in my hand, transfixed with deep emotion. Its smooth, lustrous blade—utterly different in texture from cheap iron swords—reflected my face back at me.
Yan too was outwardly caught up in a power struggle between the king and the crown prince, but in reality, the King of Yan was the only one shadowboxing. I had already seized control of Yan's core.
The King of Yan had Upper Minister Jang Geo and General Yeong Bun, but they were far from enough. Jang Geo was so upright in his speech that, despite being part of the king's inner circle, he was not particularly favored. Having risen to Upper Minister through Zhao's influence, he also lacked the proper authority and respect the position demanded. Yeong Bun was much the same. He had some minor merits in defending against invasions, but he possessed no true record of victory.
I, however, had the distinguished achievement of participating in the Alliance Army and crushing Qin. Moreover, with even the newly appointed Upper Minister So Dae now supporting my side, the balance of power had long since collapsed.
Since I held the real authority in Yan from behind the scenes, secretly bringing Song Eok from Changseong was no difficult task.
I had summoned Song Eok after receiving a report from Han Jing. The report that the steel smelting method had been completed.
Yet despite having invented a steelmaking technique that would go down in history, Song Eok's expression was far from pleased. Not only that, he bowed so low it was as if he were a criminal, offering me an apology.
"This servant begs your forgiveness, but the Cho-gang-beop that Your Highness commanded us to perfect has not yet been completed."
"Hmm?"
I couldn't understand. Song Eok had clearly said he had discovered a method to produce steel and had achieved its mass production. As proof, Han Jing's report had stated that besides the steel sword now presented to me, countless iron weapons and farming tools were stored in Changseong's warehouses. Yet he claimed the Cho-gang-beop was incomplete?
"The Cho-gang-beop is the method you described, Your Highness—sprinkling yellow soil, tidal flat mud, or powdered rust onto molten pig iron while stirring. Indeed, we were able to produce steel through this method as you instructed. However, the stirring is never consistent, and the results vary greatly depending on the type, amount, and timing of the materials sprinkled. As a result, most of the output was of poor quality."
That was simply how the Cho-gang-beop worked. If two or three out of ten attempts successfully produced proper steel, it was a great success. The remaining seven or eight failures? Why call them failures? They were still iron. They might not be suitable for weapons, but iron had countless other uses. They could make farming tools, or even if used as mere lumps of metal, there would always be somewhere they could be applied.
But it seemed Song Eok and Han Jing thought differently.
'This is my fault. I was only focused on replicating the Cho-gang-beop and didn't give them a proper explanation.'
There had been so many other things to consider. In any case, since I wasn't going to punish them, I should simply praise their efforts and tell them to continue as they were—such thoughts were on my lips when Song Eok continued first.
"Then, by chance, we discovered another method."
"Hmm? Another method?"
"Yes. For now, we have tentatively named it the Guan-gang-beop."
The character guan (灌) meant "to pour" or "to flow in." Literally, it meant the method of pouring to create steel. Considering that the Cho-gang-beop was the method of stir-frying to make steel, the name Guan-gang-beop likewise described the manufacturing process in a single word.
'But what exactly are they pouring?'
"Molten iron flows in."
'Ah, so it's the "flow in" meaning rather than "pour."'
"Do you remember the types of iron I explained to you before, Your Highness?"
"I remember. Pig iron, steel, wrought iron, and pure iron, correct?"
"Among them, steel is supreme because pig iron is hard but brittle, while pure iron and wrought iron do not break easily but are too soft."
Song Eok clapped his hands together with a sharp sound.
"Then what if we mixed the two?"
"Mix them? Pig iron and wrought iron?"
"Yes. Using the waterwheel Your Highness invented, we can stoke the flames far more intensely. Thanks to that, we can now melt not only pig iron but pure iron as well. Therefore, by melting pig iron and wrought iron together, we create steel that combines only the advantages of both."
Pig iron melts first, after which the wrought iron or pure iron melts and mixes with it. During this process, carbon migrates from the carbon-rich pig iron toward the carbon-poor pure iron, resulting in steel with an appropriate carbon content. It was a far simpler manufacturing method than the Cho-gang-beop. Moreover, if the ratio of pig iron to wrought iron was properly adjusted, the success rate of producing steel was much higher than with the Cho-gang-beop.
Unlike the Cho-gang-beop, which produced steel alongside other results, the Guan-gang-beop was a manufacturing technique that produced nothing but steel!
"My god…."
I could hear it. The ringing sound of iron. I could feel it. The vibration of steel clashing against steel. It was coming. The wave of steel that would bring an end to the Bronze Age. The wall of steel that would block the crossing of the river and halt Qin's fierce advance.
At last, it was the Iron Age.