Episode 738: Dagger (8)
The messengers sent by the allied monarchs arrived at Suez, moving ahead and behind them.
“wee.”
The envoys who arrived greeted by the alliedmanders went straight to the main topic.
“Do you have any new information regarding the Empire’s new freight cars?”
Themanders’ answers to the envoys’ questions were the same.
“Nothing new is known about it except that it is a side-by-side boxcar.”
“Byungsik?”
When the envoys expressed doubts about the name ‘Byungsik’, the Portuguesemander exined its meaning.
“The Imperial Army gives the name ‘Gap-eul Byeong’ ording to the order in which the weapon was developed. ‘Sik’ can be thought of as having the meaning of ‘Modelo’. So, when ites to a weapon-type boxcar, you can think of it as the third boxcar developed. .”
“Third? Not second?”
“The one we introduced is said to be the second freight car developed.”
“I see…”
The envoys, who were nodding their heads as they received themanders’ reports, soon got to the point.
“So… have you found out what the performance is like?”
“I’m sorry, but I haven’t done it yet.”
At the Portuguesemander’s answer, the envoys turned to the othermanders. Seeing this, the envoys looked back at the other alliedmanders present.
The Shinigami, who saw that they all had simr expressions, looked like they didn’t understand.
“They will also be training, right? Can’t we just request an observation?”
“I was rejected.”
“If we were training outside, we might be able to sneak peeks, but we are also training inside the fortress.”
“Oh my…”
The envoys, who looked slightly embarrassed by themanders’ response, soon agreed with each other.
“First, let’s officially request to observe the training. If we go through diplomatic channels, they will have no choice but to respond.”
“Let’s do that.”
“Then let’s stop here for today.”
“That’s right. I guess I’m very tired because I came a long way.”
The envoys, who agreed to make the request through diplomatic channels, moved to the embassy built by their country.
Upon entering their own space, the envoys called themanders and secretly delivered orders.
“Try to contact a high-rankingmander in the Imperial Army. I would like to meet him personally.”
“Does that mean you will move independently?”
“Shouldn’t we use every possible method?”
Themanders looked perplexed at the envoys’ words.
“If you do it wrong, it can cause problems between allies.”
“Our interestse first. And those guys are probably all giving simr orders, right?”
Themanders, who thought for a moment when the envoy said that other allied envoys would be giving simr orders, had no choice but to give the same answer.
“…I’ll try to draw a line.”
* * *
Three dayster, Allied envoys delivered an official request to the Imperial Foreign Ministry official staying at the fortress.
-I want to see the new freight cars used by the Empire.
The Imperial Foreign Ministry official who received the request immediately sent a reply.
-The request is rted to the military. It was ryed to the military, and the militarymander requested a response from the home headquarters. I will reply as soon as I get an answer.
The Allied envoys looked helpless at the reply sent by the Imperial Foreign Ministry official stationed at the fortress.
“This is a very nice rejection.”
“It only takes half a year to go from here to the Empire and back…”
“It means I won’t show you at all.”
The faces of the French and Ottoman envoys who confirmed the reply containing the intention of rejection were suddenly filled with anger instead of despair.
“Are you looking down on our ally, France?”
As the French envoy shouted, the Ottoman envoy also nodded.
“That’s right! Even for an empire, this is rude!”
However, the Portuguese and Florentine envoys only smiled bitterly.
“I feel bad, but the Empire is not yet a member of the alliance…” ”
And diplomatically, it is difficult to find fault with it. Since they did not reject our request at all…”
Portuguese and Florentine envoys The French and Ottoman envoys had no choice but to keep quiet about the criticism.
As they pointed out, the reply sent by the Empire had no diplomatic problems.
The Empire was not a member of the Alliance. Therefore, it was okay to reject the alliance’s request as soon as it was received.
However, the imperial official responded that as soon as he received the request, he immediately contacted the home country and asked to wait for an answer.
This was a euphemistic refusal out of respect for the alliance.
Using this as an excuse to coerce the empire was an exquisite response that would only bring shame to the alliance.
“They take a hit while maintaining courtesy. I really wonder who trained them like that.”
To the words of the Florentine envoy, the Portuguese envoy nodded and added.
“Merchants who have traveled to the empire say that the people of the empire speak very politely, but are experts at turning people around. Regardless of whether they are merchants or nobles.”
* * *
Confirming the empire’s euphemistic but clear rejection, the alliance’s envoys attempted to personally negotiate a meeting.
But their attempt ended in failure. This was because the imperialmanders, who had built up close rtionships with the alliedmanders, immediately rejected the story as soon as they heard it.
“I understand why you are asking to meet, but I can never agree to it until I receive an order from my country.”
Regardless of their status, the alliedmanders had no choice but to resign after receiving consistent answers.
In the end, they once again targeted the time when the imperial army was training, but the result was the same as before.
This was because the imperial army still trained only within the fortress.
Thanks to this, loud gunfire came out of the fortress every day, but the allies had to satisfy their appetite.
But alliedmanders soon realized a scary truth.
“You train with live ammunition every day?”
* * *
Gunpowder was a very expensivemodity. Therefore, even in Florence, which was reputed to be wealthy, live ammunition training was only possible for the Florentine regr army. And that was only 4 to 5 shots per year.
The situation of the mercenaries, who were the protagonists of the war, was even worse. The training they did was either repeating the process up to the moment of shooting or forming a formation and moving.
Most of thebat training consisted of pointing an empty gun and making sounds with your mouth.
“Bam! Bam!”
“Hey! Who fires two shots so quickly!”
* * *
Alliedmanders were all experienced inbat.
-The difference between soldiers who have fired at least one live ammunition properly and those who have not is the difference between heaven and earth.
Because themanders knew this well, they became more serious about the training of the imperial army.
“As far as we know, there are about 3,000 troops stationed in that fortress. But they train with live ammunition every day?”
“I don’t think anyone would urinate in surprise at the sound of their own gun.”
“If they have so much gunpowder, they will give us some…”
These were alliedmanders having a conversation full of envy andints.
But this was their misjudgment.
There was a limit to the number of people who could train at one time at the shooting range built in the empire’s Suez Fortress.
Therefore, imperial soldiers had shooting training once every seven days.
And it wasn’t like I could shoot as much as I wanted.
“Now, this is the bullet to use for training today.”
The soldier who received the belt from Jinmu, who was in charge of supply, looked at Jinmu with a puzzled expression.
“Sir, am I and Hwacha Sasugeol?”
“So you gave me a belt?”
The soldier continued to argue and listen in his simple Seoul dialect.
“Look. With 20 rounds, you can just press the trigger once and it’s over?”
“You get it like that every time and then you argue? If you’re dissatisfied with it, you file an appeal! You say, ‘I can’t train properly because of the Ministry of Economics and Finance!’”
The soldier closed his mouth and retreated due to Jinmu’s scolding. As he walked towards the road, the soldier continued to grumble.
“This isn’t some kind of bullshit… It’s just a bunch of bullets…” *
* *
The alliance’s attempts to check the performance of the parallel boxcar continued to fail. However, the alliancemanders and envoys persistently looked for opportunities.
And their wait bore fruit thanks to an unexpected presence.
The unexpected person who helped them was the Mamluks.
The Mamluks, who lost the Suez region and the eastern Nile Delta, were eventually forced to sign an agreement ending the war.
However, the Mamluks did not give up on recovering the newnd and used their cavalry to engage in guerri warfare.
However, the Mamluks did not have enough resources to start a full-scale war again, so they disguised their cavalry as bandits and sent them in.
Because of this, the alliance could not wage war against the Mamluks even though they knew about it.
This was because if they made a mistake, they could be stigmatized as having broken the agreement first.
The Mamluk cavalry disguised as bandits traveled to the Suez region and harassed the allies.
As time passed, these disguised cavalry degenerated into real bandits.
However, since no work was done in the Mamluk region, the Mamluks sold gunpowder and firearms to them for money, but steadily provided personnel.
Those who strengthened their power in this way began targeting the imperialists building the railway in Suez.
* * *
Clink!
The railway construction headquarters was put on alert due to the sudden ringing of the emergency bell.
“what’s the matter!”
Employees who were working in the office rushed out at the sound of the emergency bell.
After a while, people covered in blood were taken out on stretchers from an iron horse that had retreated.
“Senator! Call the congressman!”
“Come this way!”
“We’re short on workers!”
While everyone nearby gathered together to unload the injured, construction manager Lee Gil-son assessed the situation.
“What happened?”
The person with the bandage on his head answered Lee Gil-son’s question.
“We were attacked by bandits.”
“Thieves? How many of them havee?”
“At least thousands…”
“Oh no! Take this friend with you!”
The person who was answering ran out of energy and copsed. Lee Gil-son looked serious as he watched the person being carried out on a stretcher.
“There were already more than 30 armed people at the scene, and about 200 allies… There must have been at least a thousand, if not thousands.”
After analyzing the situation, Lee Gil-son headed straight to the fortress.
* * *
Fortressmander Han Taek-gil, who heard the story from Lee Gil-son, made a decision right away.
“I will provide troops. Please prepare the iron horse.”
Lee Gil-son immediately nodded at Han Taek-gil’s words.
“I will prepare as soon as possible.”
After hearing the answer he wanted, Lee Gil-son immediately returned. One of themanders who was listening to the conversation next to him cautiously opened his mouth.
“Allies will be able to know the capabilities of the fire truck.”
“This is something that was already expected in Seoul. If this is enough, it willst a long time. Instead, if it is going to be seen, show it clearly. Prepare properly.”
“ancient!”
Themanders recited Han Taek-gil’s orders loudly and quickly went outside. Soon, whistles and shouts rang out from all directions, and the soldiers began to move busily.
Han Taek-gil, who was looking down at the figure, looked in the direction where the allies were and muttered.
“You were lucky….”