Black Corporation: Joseon

Chapter 891

Chapter 891 Prologue (6)

The size of the Hungarian army that invaded Austria was 18,000, including about 4,000 cavalry.

A country that until recently had only paid attention to the Habsburgs had mobilized a considerable army.

The Hungarian army’s offensive was quite fierce.

In the last succession to the throne, Frederick III of Habsburg asked for the throne, which was the biggest reason that ignited their will to fight.

This was thanks to the fact that all Hungarians who felt unfair due to Frederick III’s intervention united as one.

Their progress seemed to be going very smoothly. From the beginning, the Hungarians were a people skilled in warfare from their very beginnings.

Although it was devastated by the Mongol invasion, the spirit of the Hungarians did not go anywhere.

In addition, Hungary’s economic power greatly improved as Matthias I, who pursued an absolute monarchy, actively imported developed culture.

The decision to invade Austria was made due to the combative temperament, the improved national power of the country, and the realistic problem of the threat of the Habsburgs.

The Hungarian army, which invaded Austria by surprise, occupied the territories of Austrian nobles in the border area and then turned its course to the northwest.

Their destination was Vienna.

With the war going more smoothly than expected, Matthias I began to secretly become greedy.

“If the Vienna invasion is successful, let’s take control of the remaining parts of Austria.”

However, as the main force of the Hungarian army began to move towards Vienna, Frederick III also began to move.

To be more precise, the army that Frederick III had carefully raised had begun to move.

* * *

The size of the Habsburg army mobilized by Frederick III was approximately 15,000, including 2,000 cavalry and 3,000 Swiss mercenaries.

Approximately 30% of the military power raised by Frederick III was mobilized.

“I wanted to mobilize everything out of greed, but…”

Friedrich trailed off, unable to hide his regret. However, there were still quite a few Austrian nobles who had a rebellious attitude, and the movements of France and Italy also hindered Frederick.

Lastly, the road conditions and poor supply system inside Austria, which were still not properly maintained, also made large-scale mobilization difficult.

In the end, 30% was the maximum power that could be used right now.

“Can we really win? “Isn’t that too little?”

Unlike Frederick III, who was anxious, his son Maximilian I responded with a confident face.

“You can win! Have faith in Your Majesty’s army!”

“Don’t believe it.”

“Then I’ll be back! “I will dedicate my victory to Your Majesty!”

Maximilian I, confident of victory, led his generals and left the royal palace.

And a few days later, the Habsburg and Hungarian armies finally faced each other.

* * *

The place where the armies of both sides met was near Pottendorf.

“It’s the perfect ground for fighting!”

The Hungarian army commander looked at the surrounding terrain and smiled in remorse.

The Pottendorf area was the largest plain in the area.

The open plain area was the best place for cavalry to move. There, Vin was just around the corner.

If the Habsburg army was destroyed here, Vienna was just around the corner.

This was Pottendorf, so close that his cavalry could move at a trot and reach Vienna in half a day.

“Vienna was too close to the border to begin with.”

Thinking of Vienna in the north, the Hungarian army commander looked back at his subordinate commanders.

“Are you ready to send a new victory report to Your Majesty?”

“yep!”

After hearing the confident answers of his subordinate commanders, the commander lifted his baton.

“Then let’s begin!”

“ancient!”

After reciting loudly, the subordinate commanders returned to their units.

After a while, cannons began firing towards the trenches where the Habsburg army was sitting.

bang! Quack!

As the cannons located at the very front of the Hungarian army camp fired in unison, pillars of earth rose here and there from the trench lines dug by the Habsburg army.

“Advance!”

As soon as the commander’s order was given, the line of Hungarian infantrymen, each holding a rifle, began to move forward.

And behind them, a line of infantry armed with Japanese-style breech-loading single-barreled rifles was waiting.

* * *

Hungary had no choice but to enter the arms race for its own survival.

“The most important things are guns and cannons!”

“Arquebuses are not the answer!”

Hungarian military commanders were well aware that guns and cannons were now the dominant force on the battlefield.

However, Hungary did not have many skilled gunsmiths who could make breech-loading rifles. They alone could not keep up with the production and development speed of other countries.

Accordingly, King Machi I had to promote domestic production and introduction from foreign countries at the same time.

However, external introduction was not easy.

“It would be best to import things made in the ‘Land of Flowers,’ but…”

However, importing imperial-made long guns was almost impossible.

The empire was strict about exporting the weapons it used. In addition to its excellent performance, the price was also scary.

If imperial weapons could not be obtained, there was a way to obtain weapons from France or other powers, but this also had many difficulties.

The great powers also found it difficult to supply supplies to their own armies. Also, even if you did get it, getting it in was a problem. This was because both land and sea routes were blocked by the Habsburgs.

“Now that I think about it, if I can’t solve this problem, it’s a problem even if I get weapons from the ‘Flower Country’.”

In the end, what the Hungarian army and King Macis I chose to solve this problem was smuggling.

And the target was Ottoman, one of Hungary’s strongest enemies.

* * *

Hungary and the Ottomans originally did not get along well.

Fortunately, the relationship between the Ottomans and Hungary softened slightly as Mehmet II, who had swallowed the great fish of Constantinople, adopted a pro-European policy.

As the Ottomans implemented a policy of appeasement and relations softened, Machis I’s subjects and Hungarian army officers disguised as merchants hid in the Ottomans.

They attempted to smuggle guns by recruiting suitable Ottoman merchants.

After several attempts, the Hungarians succeeded in smuggling and were able to bring a large amount of Japanese-style long guns and Japanese-style long guns into Hungary.

Of course, we had to spend a lot of money to obtain ammunition and maintenance parts. But the Hungarians’ faces were bright.

“We bought time! “In the current situation, time is more precious than gold!”

What’s interesting is that the Ottoman merchants they thought they had captured were also Mehmed II’s loyalists disguised as merchants.

* * *

Mehmed II could never smile as he watched the arms race in Europe.

“There’s no guarantee that they won’t do something crazy like a crusade again!”

Accordingly, the Ottomans had no choice but to join the arms race.

The problem was, of course, funding and the strictness of the empire.

“The Ottomans are a strong ally of our empire, so selling weapons would be the rule. But the current situation in Europe is problematic. “If we do something wrong, our empire could be accused of encouraging an arms race.”

In response to the imperial representative’s response, the Ottoman envoy claimed unfairness.

“So you should sell it to us instead! Because as they become stronger, we must become stronger too! That way the scales will be balanced!”

“That’s right…”

After persistent negotiations, the empire decided to sell the side-by-side freight cars. Of course, the quantity was much smaller than what Ottoman wanted.

“Too little!”

“The quantity is sufficient for defense purposes.”

“That aside! Why are long guns boycotted?”

“If we even sell long guns, the empire will get all kinds of criticism. Instead…”

The imperial representative whispered to the Ottoman envoy in a low voice.

“You are well aware that Florence has begun producing new long guns on behalf of our empire, right? “Why don’t you get it?”

“A new long gun in Florence?”

“It’s something called a Florentine rifle. Would you like to take a look?”

After examining the ‘Florentine long guns’, Ottoman immediately sent an envoy to Florence.

And after several rounds of negotiations, Florence decided to sell it to the Ottomans.

And upon hearing this report, Hyang and Hyeon both smiled in conversion.

“This allows us to put on another shackle.”

“You can also gain wealth.”

If used against only the Florentine army, the Florentine long guns were bound to suffer a loss. However, if even the Ottoman military, a major player, purchased Florentine long guns, ‘economy of scale’ would be realized, turning into a surplus.

Both Florence and the Empire.

And Florence, with more funds, would be able to strengthen its forces more faithfully, which would reduce the burden on the empire.

And here, another trap of incense came into play.

The Florentine long gun was created under the prerequisite that it ‘must be leaked.’

And according to reports from the imperial military’s intelligence network and secret service, leak attempts were increasing.

It was certain that it would leak out sooner or later, and soon the long guns of European powers would follow the ‘Florentine long guns’.

This was the same for Osman. Osman was also researching firearms to supply to his army. It was certain that once the Florentine rifles were introduced, the Ottomans would soon follow the path of the European powers.

And the Ming Dynasty and Japan would also join that path.

Although Seonghwaje was taking a pro-imperialist stance, he could not do the same when it came to national defense.

Japan was known as the ‘imperial dreamer’, but as time went by, it was trying to stand on its own.

In the end, both Ming and Japan would develop weapons based on long guns similar to the ‘Florentine long guns’.

In doing so, the Florentine rifle would become a kind of standard. Even the quality is one level lower than imperial guns.

It became a kind of ‘downward leveling’ operation targeting all of the empire’s military competitors.

This was the incense trap.

* * *

It is true that the Ottomans were a wealthy country, but they were not a country overflowing with money.

“It would be good to purchase Florentine rifles, but the funds….”

Mehmet II, who was worried about financing issues, was delighted as soon as he received the report that Hungarian disguised merchants were trying to smuggle rifles.

“Allah bless you!”

Mehmet II immediately put his loyalists in contact with the Hungarians by disguising them as corrupt merchants.

And they overpriced old firearms that were being retired from their own military and handed them over to the Hungarians.

And the Hungarian army, armed with those guns, faced the Habsburg army.

…

_ there was.

As support weapons, there were about 20 freight cars modeled after Eulsik freight cars.

However, the cannons were less than those of the Hungarian army.

To conclude, overall, the power of both sides was almost similar.

Now the game would come down to who was luckier.

“The Hungarians are coming!”

“Fire the cannon!”

bang! Quack!

The Habsburg army’s cannons began firing at the Hungarian lines advancing toward the trenches.