Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 505

Episode 505 Roses have thorns. (3)

“Bring all the craftsmen.”

“Yes, Your Excellency the Duke.”

Pedro, who received the report that ‘reproduction was impossible’, immediately called the craftsmen.

Pedro, having gathered the craftsmen, got straight to the point.

“I just don’t understand. I would understand it if you wrote, ‘Replication is difficult’ or ‘It takes a lot of effort.’ however. Totally impossible? “What does this mean?”

The head of the artisans bowed his head and answered Pedro’s question.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t make something like this Arcebus with our abilities.”

Pedro’s voice became louder as the head craftsman spoke.

“So why! Why is it impossible! “Isn’t it made of the same iron and wood?”

The head craftsman gave a short answer to Pedro’s criticism.

“It’s not the same steel.”

“huh?”

The head craftsman, seeing Pedro’s confused expression, asked Henrik, who was standing next to him.

“Can I bring the Arcebus that you handed over to us and explain it to us?”

“Like that.”

According to the order of the head craftsman who obtained Henry’s permission, a large table filled with long guns was brought into the conference room.

“why not?”

The moment Pedro, who suddenly saw a large statue coming in, opened his mouth, the head craftsman answered first.

“I had to bring it like this in case I lost even a small part.”

“I see…”

Pedro looked down at the table while listening to the head craftsman’s answer and frowned slightly.

On the table were three Korean-made Arcebus in good condition and a large number of completely disassembled Arcebus parts.

“Have you disassembled 7 tablets?”

“yes. However, when we disassembled it further and looked at it, we decided it was useless and stopped.”

Pedro looked astonished at the head craftsman’s answer.

“The conclusion obtained by disassembling it like that is impossible…”

Pedro, who was unable to finish his sentence, glared at the head craftsman.

“Let me explain it properly. “If you don’t convince me, you will be held accountable!”

Despite Pedro’s harsh warning, the head craftsman did not look scared. No, it was a detached expression.

“No matter what the Duke says, impossible is impossible. “Let me explain why.”

The head craftsman began his explanation by holding up the disassembled gun barrel and various parts.

“As you can see, Joseon’s Arcebus was made of iron, even the parts that we use copper for.”

“Is that the problem?”

“The problem is that it is steel, not plain iron.”

The explanation of the head craftsman was as follows.

– First of all, the Portuguese barrel is made of cast iron and heat treated. However, Joseon-made steel is made of steel. Of course, casting from steel is not impossible, but it takes a lot more effort.

– Another evidence that it is not cast is that the surface and interior of the Korean-made barrel are very smooth. Of course, you can clean the surface by filing. However, what the Joseon Dynasty shows is not at a level that can be achieved with filing. No matter how hard I try, I can’t figure out how to make something like this.

“Even though I am an ignorant craftsman, I can swear to the Duke in the name of God. “If I could obtain and sell the steel used in that Joseon-made Arquebus, it would not be enough to receive the same weight of silver as payment.”

“Huh…”

After listening to the head craftsman’s explanation, Pedro still had to make a bewildered expression. But Pedro also did not back down easily.

“Yes, the problem is that the shipbuilding steel is very excellent. “But couldn’t that part be replaced with cast iron and bronze?”

In response to Pedro’s point, the head craftsman continued by pointing to the parts gathered on one side.

“The problem is this percussion unit. We cannot make an exact copy of this percussion unit. “The Koreans had a hand in this.”

“You wrote it by hand?”

“The moment we disassembled it to examine its internal structure, all the parts popped out. “Thanks to this, we can’t even think about reassembling it.”

“huh?”

“It is clear that this is why the Koreans made this part into a device.”

“Then if you just remove the part you touched, wouldn’t you be able to know the rest?”

This time, the head craftsman looked astonished at Pedro’s point.

“Do you know which part it is and remove it? How can you be sure that it will work properly once you remove the guesswork?”

Duke Pedro’s mouth was tightly shut in response to the head father-in-law’s rebuttal.

As soon as Pedro’s mouth closed, Henrik, who was next to him, joined the conversation.

“Okay, let’s say we don’t know the exact structure. Even so, wouldn’t you be able to roughly understand the principle?”

The head craftsman nodded to Henry’s question.

“Yes, I can roughly guess how it moves.”

“Then wouldn’t it be okay if we made it based on that guess?”

In response to Henry’s question, the head craftsman held up the spring on the table and showed it.

“The first problem raised in that regard is that we do not have steel of the same quality as ship-made steel. The steel used in this ship-made Arquebus is not all the same. No, steel is steel, but its properties are subtly different depending on where it goes. Replace it with cast iron or bronze? It will not be Archebus, but a musket, or something bigger than a musket, will be made. To put it simply, the size of this small mola spring will increase several times.”

“Huh…”

Following Pedro, even Henrik looked perplexed, but the head craftsman spoke of the cold reality.

“There is also a problem with this method of triggering. “I swear to God, there is no craftsman in Portugal or neighboring Spain who can properly implement the firing method used by the Koreans.”

“What does that mean?”

“The reason is…”

* * *

The meeting, which started with Pedro’s call after receiving the report, lasted for nearly three hours.

Most of the meeting consisted of the head craftsman explaining why it was impossible, and Pedro and Henri had to painfully realize the harsh reality.

“…Therefore, if there are people who can make something similar to this, it is probably only a very small number of craftsmen from famous guilds in Italy.”

At the head craftsman’s conclusion, Henrique turned to Pedro.

“Shall we ask Cosimo de’ Medici?”

Pedro shook his head in response to Henrique’s question.

“No matter how Medici, would you give up such a craftsman? There is no way. And what good would it do to bring in one or two such artisans? No matter how much subsidies are provided, will it be able to meet the demand? “Have you already heard the explanation?”

“Ah…”

* * *

What completely discouraged Pedro and Henrik was the leader explaining the trigger method.

“…So the method used by the Koreans is the method we have abandoned.”

“Why did you give up?”

“Because it is dangerous to use and difficult to make.”

The percussion method used in thermal long guns was to use the force of a spring to hit the door cover when the trigger was pulled. It was a very familiar and natural method for those with knowledge in the 21st century, but it was a very dangerous and difficult method at this time.

The reason it was dangerous was that if the trigger was pulled even slightly incorrectly, it could cause a misfire. To prevent this, the trigger pressure had to be adjusted very precisely, which made production difficult.

Therefore, the archebuses and muskets of this period in Europe were made to be interlocked by connecting the trigger and spring with a link. Of course, springs were also used, but the purpose of the spring was to fix the lattice bar so that it does not touch the fire door.

Simply put, the way it worked was the exact opposite. And there were very few craftsmen who could understand and properly implement this opposite operating method.

And this, along with the black box, was what made us confident that the scent could not be duplicated.

* * *

When Hyang first announced that it would sell to Europe, Icheon was similarly worried as the Four.

“I used dark numbers, but I feel uneasy. “Aren’t they also familiar with firearms?”

However, after hearing Lee Cheon’s concerns, Hyang slightly smiled and shook her head.

“That won’t happen.”

“Why?”

In response to Icheon’s question, Hyang explained the reason. The explanation of incense given to Icheon was very similar to what the head craftsman gave to Pedro.

And Icheon’s point was similar to that of Pedro and Henry.

“Wouldn’t it be better to replace the problem of steel with cast iron and bronze, and to mimic the problem of the firing method similarly?”

At Lee Cheon’s point, Hyang smiled even more bitterly and asked back.

“Have you forgotten how strong a spring must be made to strike a flint bitten by a bird’s head and create a spark?”

Icheon responded to Hyang’s question with a loud exclamation.

“ah! “I forgot when I first made the armored rifle!”

* * *

When Hyang, Choi Haesan, Icheon and craftsmen first made the Gap-sik long gun, one of the most difficult parts was the spring that goes into the percussion part. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get enough power, and when the misfire rate increased, Hyang threw the adventure tree.

“In this regard, it would be better to continue to improve the quality of steel and use other methods.”

The second method chosen by the fragrance was to increase the ratio of the brain-red mixture in the donghwamo (??? detonator).

The safe way to use Noehong, which is extremely sensitive to shock and has a high risk of spontaneous combustion even if left alone, was to mix it with impurities to reduce its purity.

However, the technology possessed by Joseon in the early days of Gyeongjang was unable to produce a spring of the desired quality, and the trick of using it in the detonator was to increase the ratio of Noehong to a level that was dangerous.

And as the technology progressed and better quality steel was produced in large quantities, Hyang continued to eliminate the risk factors of the Gap-sik long rifle.

* * *

Hyang, who explained the reason by recalling memories of the bad battle they had experienced, continued further.

“Of course, since Europe has a lot of people, there may be craftsmen who can make a long gun with similar performance and safety as the thermal long gun we are sending. But yes. “Even if one or two such craftsmen jump into production, how many can they make?”

The smile on Hyang’s face as she asked Lee Cheon was even more bitter than before.

‘It’s still at a primitive level, but Fordism is a cheat!’

When establishing a mass production system at the steel mill and Royal Workshop Area 51, the township actively embraced Fordism.

“Even if mass consumption is a bit difficult, mass production can be made possible! And the key to mass production is standardization!”

And the representative products that came out of this process were the firearms used by the Joseon military.

Therefore, it was not possible to compete with Joseon by still producing from beginning to end by craftsmen with one or two apprentices in a blacksmith shop.

‘The high-end craftsmanship of this period is like high-performance machine tools in the 21st century. The problem is that high-performance machine tools can be mass-produced from the machine itself, but craftsmen cannot?’

Icheon was a bit confused by the explanation of the scent, but I still had a lot of worries.

“But isn’t the price too expensive? “When I hand it over to Daenae, there will be a lot of comments compared to the price.”

“The case is different from Daenae. In the case of the Daenae clan, we had to protect the interests of Joseon through the Daenae clan, so we sold it at a slightly higher price than the original price, but isn’t this Europe? And bargaining is the basis of business. If you buy a lot, shouldn’t you get a discount?”

It was Icheon where there was nothing more to say.