Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 887

Chapter 887 Prologue (2)

The empire’s monopoly on Livorno and the railroad was not just for military reasons.

As mentioned earlier, the number of merchants using Livorno Port continued to increase.

Therefore, the empire built many warehouses in the port of Livorno and made profits from the goods storage business.

It wasn’t just the warehouse.

The process of loading and unloading cargo from a ship, moving it to a warehouse, moving it from a warehouse to a station, and loading it into a freight car all required a lot of manpower.

-The Empire does not recognize the use of slaves.

Thanks to this principle being clearly established from the beginning, many people were hired as laborers.

The population of Livorno, which numbered around 400 when the port was first built, had soon grown to close to 10,000.

This figure excludes imperialists living in imperial residential areas and a very small number of Italians.

As the number of residents living in Livorno soared, officials in Florence asked the imperial embassy for help.

“I will take charge of this task.”

“If it’s Captain Castle, I’m at ease.”

It was Seong Sam-moon who came forward upon receiving Florence’s request.

With the help of Seong Sam-mun and imperial officials, Livorno quickly established itself.

No, it turned into another imperial city.

Because it was a small village with almost no native inhabitants, it had to be created from scratch, and Florentine officials could not hide their embarrassment.

In response, Seong Sam-moon stepped forward.

“Our empire will take care of it.”

“Are you sure you want to?”

“The port is right next door, so if there’s a problem here, we’ll be in trouble. So we’ll take it. That’s a good way for both sides. Instead, we would like to have ownership of the land and buildings.”

“That’s right.”

“Then let’s document it.”

In this way, the empire rolled up its sleeves and carried out all urban division work in imperial style, starting with water supply and sewerage facilities.

As the city’s roads and water and sewage systems became imperial-style, the interiors of newly built houses in the village also changed to imperial-style.

“It seems a little familiar, but also unfamiliar?”

It was natural for the Italians who moved into the house to say this.

While carrying out the renovation, water and sewage systems were introduced and new houses were built accordingly, and Hyang introduced as much of the 21st century residential culture that he was familiar with as much as possible.

Because of this, it seemed familiar to Italians, but gave a feeling of unfamiliarity.

However, it was instantaneous for them to get used to the new residential culture.

And over time, Livorno became the second most livable city, regardless of Florence and its affiliated cities.

The first was the imperial residence.

As Livorno became known as a good place to live, wealthy people in Florence also began building villas in Livorno.

Naturally, the empire was in charge of supplying water supply and sewerage connections and water supply equipment.

In doing so, the housing rental and housing construction industry in Livorno became another source of income for the empire.

* * *

The empire invested the profits it made in Florence back into Florence.

The empire invested its profits in meal service and scholarship projects.

The empire provided lunch to students attending the elementary schools (Scuola elementare) founded by Lorenzo. In addition, we provided tuition assistance to students who had good grades but were struggling due to poor financial means.

If a student had excellent grades, support was provided to enter university or study abroad in the empire.

This meal service and scholarship project received great response from parents.

This was because for the lower class people in the city, just reducing the number of meals a child would eat was a big help.

The same was true for scholarship projects.

Through this reinvestment, the empire made everyone from the powerful in Florence to the common people on its side.

Of course, Lorenzo and Giovanni were not unaware of these movements of the empire.

“Should we stop it?”

Giovanni, who was troubled by Lorenzo’s words, shook his head.

“You have to be careful, but I don’t think there’s a need to stop it. “For the Empire, Italy is not a very interesting place to own.”

“Is it because of Shinji?”

Giovanni nodded to Lorenzo’s question.

The Medici family, along with the Mansur family of Aden, were the families with the longest relationship with the empire.

Naturally, both the quality and quantity of incoming information were overwhelming other competitors.

Of course, since it was an empire that extremely prevented information leaks, it was impossible to obtain truly core secrets – for example, tasks corresponding to the Ugong Isan level in Jeonjeonrok – but other minor information was constantly coming into the eyes and ears of the Medici family. .

And the talented people of the Medici family pieced together the information and reprocessed it into more valuable information.

What came out through that processing were things related to Shinji.

Thanks to that information, Giovanni was convinced that the Empire was not paying attention to Florence, Italy.

But Lorenzo could not shake off his doubts.

“But if you look at the amount the Empire is doing now, they are putting in more effort than you might think.”

“That’s the Empire’s way. “Before doing something big, take a long time and prepare step by step.”

“I’m worried that this big deal might engulf Italy.”

“As I said before, the Empire is not interested in conquering Italy. “Their interest in Italy may be due to the problems they will face if they use Italy as a battlefield.”

Lorenzo let out a long sigh at Giovanni’s words.

“Whoa~. “It’s war…”

Lorenzo was already in his 30s. I was still full of energy, but unlike when I was in my 20s, I was also more cautious.

“In the past, I only hoped for war, wondering when it would break out, but now I am increasingly afraid.”

Giovanni smiled slightly at Lorenzo’s words.

“That is the correct character of the monarch. Surprisingly, the people who don’t like fighting are the monarchs of the empire.”

“Is that so?”

“yes.”

Lorenzo’s face brightened at Giovanni’s words.

For European intellectuals of this period, the emperors of the empire were the ‘model of monarchs.’ In particular, King Sejong and Hyang were ‘the most ideal monarchs.’

“Your Majesty is as famous as the Emperor of the Empire!”

This was the highest praise that could be paid to the kings and monarchs of Europe during this period.

* * *

“Speaking of war, I think I now understand why the empire put so much effort into education.”

“It really is. “We saw it too easily.”

Lorenzo responded to Giovanni’s words with sincere reflection.

-Through elementary school education, children imprint loyalty to Florence and Italy in their minds.

This was the purpose of the Youth School and Lorenzo at the time. And they thought it was easy.

“No matter how clever, stupid, or lazy you are, you learn properly in front of a stick.”

Both the Young School and Lorenzo were wealthy intellectuals. From a young age, they had tutors and learned Greek and Roman classics and common sense.

However, even these children were subject to significant corporal punishment when they first received education.

Because of that experience, they carried out indoctrination training accompanied by violence.

However, when Seong Sam-moon and the imperial officials saw this, their expressions were frowned upon.

“I admit that when a mistake is made, the cane is used for reformation. “Because the whip is something that is meant to be used that way.”

“Is that so?”

“In other words, it is for edification, not education. “A person is not an animal, so if you try to tame him with a club, will it work out?”

In the end, Seongsammun and imperial officials also had a hand in Florence’s curriculum.

The first thing that Seong Sam-moon and the imperial officials worked on was textbooks.

Many illustrations were included in each textbook to encourage children’s curiosity and focus on learning.

And as the level of learning increased, it created a sense of loyalty and belonging to Florence and Italy.

It was a textbook based on the biography of a general famous for his prowess and loyalty during the Roman era and the story of a medieval knight, and was based on this to engrave in people’s minds a sense of belonging and loyalty to Florence and Italy.

“Is this a textbook or a storybook?…”

The first reaction of the young scholars who saw the textbook supervised by the empire was criticism. But as time passed, they had to reverse their decision.

Children who learned with the new textbook had higher academic achievement and higher motivation.

That wasn’t all.

His loyalty to Florence and Italy was also great.

“The unification of Italy is in the hands of Italians!”

“Unification of Italy through the hands of our Florentine citizens!”

Shouting these slogans, boys who had just graduated from elementary school and had just been recognized as adults, or who wanted to be recognized, applied to the military.

There was a calculation that it was the fastest way to achieve fame, but it was also because he wanted to participate in the process of creating a unified Italy.

“How could this result…”

Looking at the young students with shocked expressions, Seong Sam-moon explained the reason.

“For you, the war so far has not been ‘your war,’ but ‘other people’s war,’ and for them, it has been ‘their war.’”

“What does that mean?…”

“The wars you are familiar with were all about mercenaries fighting each other. “Where is loyalty and trust in that war?”

“Then they…”

“If you first tell them their roots, justification will come from those roots, and loyalty and trust will come out…”

Seong Sam-moon, who paused for a moment, shook his head and clicked his tongue.

“Tsk! In Europe, there were more than one person who maintained loyalty and honor, and there were more than one story of the people who went out of their way to protect their country. How did it become that ‘war is someone else’s business’? This is why loyalty and loyalty have all become bullshit.”

At least an imperialist, or even a nobleman, would have been shocked.

In the empire, it was common to hear stories of ordinary people, even slaves, stepping up to fight against foreign enemies, even if they were not soldiers or generals.

That was loyalty, trust, and loyalty.

And this was common sense among the people of the empire.

“If a foreign enemy invades, of course we have to step in and stop it!”

“Nothing like cancer!”

However, there was someone who did not take this for granted, which everyone takes for granted.

It was incense.

“Don’t take it for granted that ‘if it’s not you and me, who will protect it?’ “If you go out and neglect the people, those words won’t be natural, they’ll just become bullshit!”

Hyang continued to emphasize this to the ministers.

“Remember that there is no loyalty if you are not loyal to your people!”

For the people of the empire who were accustomed to this way of thinking, the medieval feudalistic way of thinking in Italy and Europe was an incomprehensible set of values.

“No matter where you live and the traditions are different, loyalty and loyalty are all the same….”

“Mercenaries do the war and they just make a living or just watch? “What can’t you do to fail?”

That is why there were different reactions to the young Florentine men and boys flocking to the military.

It was a ‘surprise’ to Florentine intellectuals and a ‘natural thing’ to imperial officials.