Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 462

Episode 462: Caesar’s, God’s (2) After

returning from a successful visit to Joseon, Henri soon became an idol in European society.

The king’s handwritten invitations from the royal families of many European countries, excluding Spain, Portugal’s eternal enemy, were delivered to Henrik every day.

Henry politely declined most of the invitations, citing the following reasons.

“Thank you very much for the invitation. However, I regret that I cannot accept your invitation because I plan to depart for Joseon again soon.”

Although Henry declined most invitations, he had to visit only one place: Florence.

The Pope, who was taking refuge in Florence after a conflict with the Council, had sent an invitation.

I decided to visit because it was a handwritten invitation from the Pope, but also because it was a golden opportunity to send the letter Giovanni had requested and to meet Cosimo de’ Medici secretly.

* * *

On the day that Henry visited Florence, famous people from Italy and Europe visited Florence.

“Here is a letter written by Brother Giovanni. “His Holiness the Pope.”

“Thank you very much, Duke. “May the Lord’s protection be with you in the future.”

“thank you.”

Pope Eugenius IV, who received the letter from Henry, opened the letter and frowned.

“Is this another scam? Hmm….”

After reading the contents of the letter, Eugenius IV handed the letter to his aide.

“Read it aloud.”

“Yes, Your Holiness.”

The aide read the contents of the letter to the high-ranking religious figures and Italian intellectuals gathered around him.

“I’m really curious about the contents of the inked part.”

“That’s right.”

When the reading was over, all the intellectuals present were curious about what was written in the inked part.

As with Angelo’s letter, which was delivered through the Joseon merchant merchants traveling between Joseon and Alexandria, Giovanni’s letter was also in a situation where the thirst was deepening due to the stain.

Unlike those intellectuals, Eugenius IV and his associates had serious expressions for another reason.

“It’s an official document….”

“This is so embarrassing.”

“If you do something wrong, you could provide an excuse to the Council of Basel and the Duke of Savoy.”

The conflict between the Basel Council and the Pope over superiority between the Council and the Pope was still ongoing.

In the midst of such conflict, a rebellion broke out and the Pope had to flee Rome, and the Council of Basel declared Eugenius IV a heretic and declared his abdication. The Council of Basel, which ousted the Pope, recently elected Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy, as the new Pope. It was the appearance of the antipope Felix V.

In this process, Eugenius IV made several attempts to secure even a little more political advantage.

At the council convened in Florence on behalf of the Council of Basel, both sides agreed, so unity was declared with the Eastern Orthodox Church and agreement was reached with the Armenian Apostolic Church.

However, this was an agreement between sects divided under the larger framework of Christianity. If the ancestor worship practiced by non-believers in the foreign country called Joseon was ‘officially’ permitted, there could have been a huge backlash.

In the end, Eugenius IV sighed and concluded.

“Let’s think about it some more and then make a decision.”

“yes. “His Holiness the Pope.”

“I think that would be best.”

* * *

While spending time with the Pope, Henry continued to meet secretly with Cosimo.

“This is pottery brought from Joseon.”

Cosimo expressed his gratitude after seeing the bundle of Joseon bone porcelain teacups handed to him by Henry.

“Thank you, Duke.”

“Although we have already reached an agreement, I am sorry that we cannot pay dividends.”

When Duke Henry expressed regret, Cosimo waved his hand as if it was nothing.

“It’s okay. “It is actually a great benefit in that I was able to shake off the persistent flies.”

“Thank you for thinking so.”

He was Henry, a prince of the Kingdom of Portugal and a duke. But he could never see Cosimo down.

In Portugal, Henrik was a man of extremely high status and enormous power, but Cosimo was a man who dealt with the ruling classes of all of Europe. In terms of the power and economic power he could mobilize, Cosimo could not be considered one of those merchants.

Therefore, the liquidation of malicious creditors with the profits obtained this time was possible because of prior agreement with Cosimo.

-If we think about the future, we must exclude the beggars!

According to this agreement, Henry was able to liquidate his malicious creditors without any burden.

“Still, it’s amazing that it can be done in just one voyage.”

Henrik nodded to Cosimo’s evaluation.

“I was prepared to make some sacrifices, but Joseon’s military power was great. “It is safe to say that it is best to join the Joseon Navy at least when moving in the sea east of the Arabian Peninsula.”

“That much?”

Even thinking about it again, Henrik answered Cosimo’s question with a look of bewilderment.

“No matter how much you think about it, those Joseon people are crazy.”

“huh?”

“These are the people who have bombarded not only the ships moving in the ocean but also the small ships operating in the coastal waters with cannons. No matter how you look at it, you’re crazy.”

“That much?”

“Thanks to you, we can move safely while moving together, but if you think about it again, they are not in their right minds. “I wonder if an enemy has been defeated by a cannon…”

Cosimo couldn’t hide his surprise at Henrique’s words and let out an exclamation.

“Huh~. In that case, there is no way through force.”

“Force must be completely excluded.”

“Right. ah! Have you ever ridden Hanseong’s iron horse, which I’ve only heard about through rumors?”

“The iron horse is traveling not only in Hanseong but throughout Joseon. And it’s bigger and faster…”

“Huh?”

Henry explained things in more detail than he did when he spoke to the king and pope. This was because he was still the largest investor and had to do his best to receive even more investment in the future.

“Hmm…”

Cosimo stroked his chin with a serious expression after hearing Henrique’s explanation. Cosimo, who was thinking while stroking his chin, asked Henrique.

“Is that iron horse that useful?”

“It is definitely more useful than any horse or cart when transporting goods on the ground. Of course, the cost of introducing iron horses and constructing railroads is significant.”

“Hmm…”

Hearing Henry’s words, Cosimo closed his mouth and fell into thought again.

Cosimo, who had been lost in his own thoughts for a while, asked Henrique a question again.

“What do you think about the Iron Horse?”

“I believe that if we can secure the optimal location, we can achieve the best results.”

Henrik walked to the map of the Mediterranean Sea hanging on the wall of Cosimo’s office. Standing in front of the map, Henri drew an imaginary line from Suez to the north with his finger.

“If we build a railway along this route, we won’t have to bypass Africa. And there’s no need to go all the way to Alexandria.”

Cosimo countered Henry’s explanation.

“These days, there is a rumor going around that we should move west to the Strait of Gibraltar and arrive in Joseon.”

“I’ve heard that too. But…”

Henrik stopped talking and shook his head.

“If the sea west of Gibraltar is even a little wider than we think, it is absolutely impossible with the ships we have now.”

Cosimo nodded at Henry’s answer.

The biggest reason why Portugal and Spain, who explored a detour route to Joseon, and France and Britain, who were latecomers, established colonies on the African coast was because of supply.

Henry replied that the western route was impossible and added:

“ah! If it’s about the size of a ship from Joseon, the chances may be higher. The problem is that there is a high possibility that Joseon will not sell the ship.”

Cosimo nodded at Henry’s words. Henry, who was looking at the map like that, frowned and grumbled.

“Both India and Joseon are in the East, so it is a truly unfair world.”

“It must be God’s grumpiness.”

The story that had gone sideways like that soon got back on track.

“Does it have to be that area?”

“It’s the shortest distance.”

“The Mamluks will not remain silent. No, Osman won’t stay still either.”

“But if we take it to Alexandria, it will only enrich the heretics.”

“But if you take control of that area by force, you will only incur losses due to military expenses. Peacock. “If you do something wrong, you could experience the nightmare of Ceuta again.”

When Cosimo mentioned ‘Ceuta’, Henrique’s expression suddenly worsened.

* * *

Ceuta was both a symbol of Henry’s glory and a symbol of his shame.

After expelling the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula, the Kingdom of Portugal attacked Ceuta. At the time, Ceuta was the center of the Kingdom of Morocco’s trade routes. If this was taken over, trade routes between the Mediterranean and Africa would be available.

It was Henry who took the lead in the conquest of Ceuta.

However, what happened when Morocco, having lost Ceuta, used Tangier as a new trade base and at the same time turned it into a military base to keep Ceuta in check, brought great humiliation to Henry.

* * *

Henrik answered Cosimo’s point with difficulty.

“I won’t make that mistake twice. “This time we can get solid support.”

“Are you sure?”

Henrik nodded to Cosimo’s question.

“Because there are more than one person who saw a lot of money being made using items brought from Joseon.”

“If you do it wrong, flies may come back to you.”

Henrik immediately responded to Cosimo’s concerns.

“So I will persuade the regent.”

“Regent? Hmm….”

When Henry mentioned ‘regent’, Cosimo started calculating the possibilities again.

* * *

The current King Afonso V of Portugal was only eight years old.

When the previous king, Duarte, died suddenly of the Black Death, the 6-year-old Afonso V ascended to the throne. Because the king was young, the prince’s mother, Queen Leonor, and Afonso V’s uncle, Duke Pedro of Coimbra, were appointed regents.

However, as public opinion against appointing a queen from Aragon as regent reached a peak, the Portuguese parliament in 1439 decided to make Pedro sole regent. And the ousted queen went into exile in Castile.

The situation seemed to have been resolved, but political conflict broke out again.

A political conflict arose between the regent Pedro and the nobles.

In order to strengthen the king’s power and make the country wealthy, Pedro limited the power of the nobles and focused on cultivating the bourgeoisie.

This naturally led to a backlash from the nobles, and at the head of the backlash was Pedro’s half-brother, Count Afonso of Barcellus.

Barcellus was dissatisfied with the low title he received. Afonso, who acquired a huge amount of wealth by marrying the daughter of a family of founding contributors, used his wealth to recruit dissatisfied nobles and established himself as Pedro’s political rival.

Knowing Portugal’s internal situation, Cosimo began calculating probabilities again.

* * *

“It seems okay…”

Cosimo, who had been shaking his head at Henry’s opinion, asked Henry with a serious face.

“Apart from the issue of faith, let’s think about purely political issues, military issues, and the future. “How about adding another helper to ensure more success?”

“Who are you talking about?”

Cosimo gave a short answer to Henry’s question.

“Ottoman.”