Black Corporation: Joseon

“Summon all the craftsmen.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Upon receiving the report stating ‘Replication impossible,’ Pedro immediately called for the craftsmen.

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

“I simply cannot understand this. If you had written ‘difficult to replicate’ or ‘requires considerable effort,’ I might have understood. But completely impossible? What nonsense is this?”

To Pedro’s question, the master craftsman bowed his head and answered.

“I apologize, but with our abilities, we cannot create something like this arquebus.”

At the master craftsman’s words, Pedro’s voice rose further.

“That’s what I’m asking! Why is it impossible! Isn’t it made of the same iron and wood?”

“It’s not the same iron.”

“Huh?”

Seeing Pedro’s confused expression, the master craftsman turned to Henry standing nearby.

“May we bring in the arquebuses given to us for explanation?”

“Do so.”

Following the master craftsman’s order, approved by Henry, a large table bearing the barrel-type muskets was brought into the conference room.

“Why on earth-“

As Pedro began to speak at the sudden appearance of the large table, the master craftsman answered first.

“We had to bring it like this lest we lose even a single small part.”

“I see…”

Looking down at the table while listening to the master craftsman’s answer, Pedro slightly furrowed his brow.

On the table lay three intact Joseon arquebuses and numerous parts from completely disassembled ones.

“You disassembled seven of them?”

“Yes. But we stopped, seeing no use in examining more.”

At the master craftsman’s answer, Pedro wore an expression of disbelief.

“And after all that disassembly, your conclusion is impossible…”

Unable to finish his sentence, Pedro glared at the master craftsman.

“Explain properly. If you fail to convince me, you’ll face punishment!”

Despite Pedro’s savage warning, the master craftsman showed no fear. No, he appeared transcendent.

“Even if Your Grace says so, impossible remains impossible. Let me explain why.”

The master craftsman began his explanation while showing the disassembled barrel and various parts.

“As you can see, the Joseon arquebus uses iron even for parts where we use copper.”

“Is that the problem?”

“The problem is that it’s not ordinary iron, but steel.”

The master craftsman’s explanation went as follows:

• First, regarding the barrel: Portuguese ones are heat-treated cast iron. But Joseon’s are steel. Though casting steel isn’t impossible, it requires far more effort.
• As evidence it’s not cast, the Joseon barrel’s surface and interior are extremely smooth. Though filing can smooth surfaces, what the Joseon product shows is beyond what’s possible with filing. No matter how much we contemplate, we cannot figure out how to achieve this.

“Though I’m just an ignorant craftsman, I can swear on God’s name to Your Grace. If we could obtain and sell the steel used in that Joseon arquebus, even receiving its weight in silver wouldn’t be enough payment.”

“Hmm…”

Hearing the master craftsman’s explanation, Pedro still wore an expression of disbelief. But Pedro didn’t back down easily.

“Fine, let’s say this Joseon steel is indeed superior. But couldn’t we substitute cast iron and bronze for those parts?”

To Pedro’s point, the master craftsman pointed to parts gathered on one side and continued.

“The problem is this firing mechanism. We cannot replicate it as is. The Joseon people have done something here.”

“Done something?”

“The moment we tried disassembling it to examine the internal structure, all parts flew outward. Thanks to that, we can’t even attempt reassembly.”

“What?”

“It’s certain the Joseon people made this part as a single mechanism for precisely that reason.”

“Then can’t we identify and remove whatever they’ve done and understand the rest?”

At Pedro’s point, this time the master craftsman wore an expression of disbelief.

“How would we know which part to remove? No, even if we removed the suspected parts, could we be confident it would work properly?”

The master craftsman’s counterpoint shut Pedro’s mouth firmly.

As Pedro fell silent, Henry, who had been standing beside him, joined the conversation.

“Fine, let’s say we can’t know the exact structure. But couldn’t we at least figure out the rough framework and principles?”

The master craftsman nodded at Henry’s question.

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

“Then couldn’t we make our own based on those guesses?”

To Henry’s question, the master craftsman held up a spring from the table.

“That’s where we hit the first problem – we don’t have steel of the same quality as Joseon’s. Not all the steel used in this Joseon arquebus is the same. No, it’s all steel, but its properties differ subtly depending on where it’s used. Replace that with cast iron or bronze? We’d end up with something bigger than a musket, not an arquebus. Simply put, even this small mola would need to be several times larger.”

“Hmm…”

After Pedro, now Henry too wore a troubled expression, but the master craftsman continued describing the harsh reality.

“Furthermore, this firing method is problematic. I swear to God there isn’t a single craftsman in Portugal or nearby Spain who could properly implement the Joseon firing method.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The reason is…”

***

The meeting, started by Pedro’s heated summons after receiving the report, continued for nearly three hours.

Most of the meeting consisted of the master craftsman explaining why replication was impossible, and Pedro and Henry had to face the harsh reality.

“…Therefore, if there are any who could make even something similar, they would only be a handful of craftsmen in famous Italian guilds, and even then only a select few.”

At the master craftsman’s conclusion, Henry turned to Pedro.

“Should we request Cosimo de’ Medici?”

Pedro shook his head at Henry’s question.

“Would even the Medici give up such craftsmen? Not a chance. And what use would bringing one or two such craftsmen be? Even with assistants, could they meet the demand? You heard the explanation too, didn’t you?”

“Ah…”

***

What drove Pedro and Henry to complete despair was the master craftsman’s explanation of the firing mechanism.

“…So, the method the Joseon people use is one we abandoned.”

“Why was it abandoned?”

“Because it’s both dangerous to use and difficult to make.”

The firing method used in the barrel-type musket involved the hammer striking the pan cover using spring force when the trigger was pulled. While this was very familiar and obvious to Hyang with his 21st-century knowledge, it was a very dangerous and difficult method in this period.

The danger lay in the risk of accidental discharge from even slightly wrong trigger pressure. Preventing this required extremely precise trigger pressure adjustment, which made production difficult.

Therefore, European arquebuses and muskets of this period connected the trigger and spring with a link for synchronized movement. Though springs were used, their purpose was to keep the firing pin from touching the pan.

In simple terms, the operating principle was completely opposite. And craftsmen who could understand and properly implement such an opposite operating method were extremely rare.

This, along with the black box, was what made Hyang confident replication was impossible.

***

When Hyang first proposed selling to Europe, Lee Chun worried similarly to the four.

“Though we’ve used hidden numbers, I’m uneasy. Aren’t the Westerners also familiar with firearms?”

But hearing Lee Chun’s concern, Hyang smiled slightly and shook his head.

“That won’t happen.”

“Why not?”

To Lee Chun’s question, Hyang explained the reasons. Hyang’s explanation to Lee Chun was nearly identical to what the master craftsman told Pedro.

And Lee Chun’s points were similar to Pedro and Henry’s.

“Couldn’t they substitute cast iron and bronze for the steel problem, and imitate the firing method similarly?”

To Lee Chun’s point, Hyang smiled more slyly and asked back.

“Have you forgotten how strong a spring must be to create sparks by striking down a flint attached to the hammer?”

Lee Chun exclaimed in realization at Hyang’s counterpoint.

“Ah! I forgot about when we first made the Type A musket!”

***

When Hyang, Choe Hae-san, Lee Chun, and the craftsmen first made the Type A musket, one of their biggest struggles was with the spring in the firing mechanism. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t get sufficient force, leading to high misfire rates, until Hyang took a gamble.

“We should continue improving steel quality for this part, but it’s better to use another method.”

Hyang’s second chosen method was increasing the fulminate ratio in the mercury fulminate mixture used in copper caps.

The safe way to use mercury fulminate, which was extremely sensitive to impact and risked spontaneous ignition even when left alone, was to mix it with impurities to lower its purity.

But with early Reform-era Joseon’s technology unable to produce springs of desired quality, Hyang had to resort to the trick of increasing the fulminate ratio in percussion caps to a risky level.

Then, as the Reforms progressed and better quality steel became mass-produced, Hyang continuously eliminated risk factors from the Type A musket.

***

After explaining the reasons while recalling their desperate struggles, Hyang added:

“Of course, in populous Europe, there might be craftsmen who could make muskets with similar performance and safety to our barrel-type muskets. However. Even if one or two such craftsmen started production, how many could they make?”

Hyang’s face bore an even more cunning smile than before as he asked Lee Chun.

Though still primitive, Fordism is truly the cheat key!

When establishing mass production systems in the ironworks, Royal Workshop, and Area 51, Hyang actively adopted Fordism.

“Even if mass consumption is a bit much, we can enable mass production! And the key to mass production is standardization!”

The weapons used by the Joseon military were prime examples of what came through this process.

Therefore, they couldn’t compete with Joseon using the method where craftsmen with one or two apprentices in blacksmith shops produced everything from start to finish.

Master craftsmen of this era are like high-performance machine tools of the 21st century. The problem is that while high-performance machine tools themselves can be mass-produced, craftsmen can’t be?

Though Lee Chun felt relieved by Hyang’s explanation, he still had many concerns.

“But isn’t the price too high? There will be much talk comparing it to the price given to the Otomo.”

“That’s a different case from the Otomo. With the Otomo, we sold at cost plus a small margin because we need to protect Joseon’s interests through them, but Europe is different, isn’t it? Besides, bargaining is fundamental in business. If they buy more, we can give discounts, can’t we?”

Lee Chun was left with nothing more to say.