"I will think a bit more about the personnel part. Since the officials of the research institute are working so hard, we must support them properly."
"Thank you for your grace!"
King Sejong, who gave a positive response to Jeongcho's plea, began a full-scale inspection with his ministers.
"Here are the ledgers."
The ministers began to meticulously examine the ledgers that recorded all the expenses used by the research institute.
While the ministers were conducting the inspection, King Sejong led Hyang to look around the items being used or made in the research institute.
"It's finished."
"Is that so? How is it?"
In response to King Sejong's question, Hwang Hee answered.
"There are no discrepancies in the ledgers."
"Is that so?"
"However, 60% of the funds were allocated to Area 51. An inspection of Area 51 is necessary."
At Hwang Hee's words, King Sejong looked out the window.
Seeing the sky transitioning from afternoon to evening, King Sejong made a decision.
"Crown Prince, we will conduct an inspection of Area 51 tomorrow."
"I will follow your command."
Early the next morning, King Sejong left the palace with his ministers.
"Area 51... what could it possibly mean?"
In response to King Sejong's question, Hyang showed a slightly troubled expression.
"Is there some unspeakable reason?"
"No, it's just that we borrowed the name of a research institute known for its outstanding achievements in the Westerners' country. I was embarrassed to mention it. I thought we might be criticized for using too much of the Westerners' things before fully understanding our own."
'There were rumors that aliens were being dissected in that neighborhood's Area 51, but not a single alien has fallen in Joseon?' King Sejong nodded at Hyang's answer.
"Indeed. As the saying goes, 'too much is as bad as too little.' You should already know when it's too much and maintain moderation."
"Yes, Father."
"By the way, it's nice to ride and talk like this between father and son."
"Indeed, it is."
Both King Sejong and Hyang were riding horses, wearing military coats and helmets.
King Sejong rode a white horse, while Hyang rode a brown horse, moving side by side towards Area 51. The ministers also followed on horseback behind King Sejong and Hyang.
The Area 51 that Hyang had prepared was a bit southeast of the military arsenal.
In the geography of the 21st century, the military arsenal was near Seoul City Hall, and Area 51 was in the Hoehyeon-dong area.
"It's quite a large site."
"Yes. That's why a considerable amount of wealth was spent on purchasing the land."
"Well done. No matter how much it's for state affairs, you shouldn't recklessly take away the people's property."
King Sejong seemed pleased with Hyang's handling of the matter and did not hold back his praise.
'Unlike the 21st century, since it's for state affairs, they only charged the market price!'
When King Sejong and Hyang's party arrived at the main gate of Area 51, the commander of the soldiers guarding the gate stepped forward.
"Halt! Only authorized personnel may enter here! Show your identification!"
At the commander's words, Hyang rode forward.
Arriving in front of the commander, Hyang took out a small wooden plaque from his bosom and handed it to the commander.
"Here it is."
After confirming the pattern on the wooden plaque, the commander stepped back and saluted with military courtesy.
"Attention!"
At the commander's gesture, the soldiers guarding the gate opened the main gate wide.
Hyang, who returned to King Sejong's side, guided him.
"Father, please enter."
"Let's do so. The security is indeed thorough."
"Without the identification, even I cannot enter."
At Hyang's answer, King Sejong looked surprised.
"Is that so? Our Crown Prince has indeed paid a lot of attention."
"It's because security is the most important here."
After passing through the main gate, King Sejong shook his head and looked at Hyang with a tired expression.
"It's almost obsessive."
Contrary to the expectation that they would enter directly inside after passing the main gate, King Sejong's party moved along a white passage to the right.
The passage was blocked on both sides by high wooden fences, and behind the fences, soldiers stood at regular intervals, monitoring the passage.
Seeing the soldiers saluting him, King Sejong looked back at Hyang.
"What on earth are you doing inside that requires such strict measures?"
"These are matters where confidentiality is vital."
"Hmm..."
Meanwhile, the ministers following behind King Sejong and Hyang all had serious expressions.
"Is such a strict facility really a research institute?"
"What on earth are they researching?"
"This is definitely a waste of budget!"
Amidst various comments, Hwang Hee glared at Jeongcho.
"Minister! What were you doing while the Crown Prince was conducting such activities? Aren't you also a minister of Joseon? With this level of expenditure, you should have stepped forward and reported it!"
At Hwang Hee's rebuke, Jeongcho responded with a carefree expression.
"I stayed put because I am a minister. In my current state of mind, even this is insufficient. Ahem!"
"What did you say?"
Although Hwang Hee raised his voice, Jeongcho continued to mumble to himself, looking into the distance.
"A nobleman should be composed. With such haste, where..."
"Minister Jeong!"
Even as Hwang Hee shouted, Jeongcho continued his soliloquy.
"This is why bookish people are no good. It's not too late to talk after seeing the site..."
"Minister Jeong!"
Just as the situation seemed ready to escalate, the second gate opened, and King Sejong and Hyang entered inside.
"Hmm..."
Upon entering, King Sejong let out an exclamation.
Buildings were erected on a vast site—according to Hyang's rough calculation, about two-thirds the size of the 21st-century Hoehyeon-dong, Myeong-dong, and Euljiro areas—and black smoke was rising from one side.
To greet King Sejong's party, soldiers from the training center and the royal guard, as well as craftsmen from the military arsenal and the tailoring office, stood in rows and columns.
"Salute!"
"Attention!"
At the command of the commander, Choi Haesan, the soldiers saluted, and the craftsmen knelt on the ground and bowed.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"Thank you!"
Following King Sejong's commendation, Choi Haesan gave orders to the soldiers.
"Dismissed!"
At Choi Haesan's dismissal order, the soldiers and craftsmen returned to their positions.
After dismounting, King Sejong's party moved along with the guidance of Choi Haesan and Lee Cheon.
"It's truly an impressive facility."
"Thank you. However, most of the facilities were influenced by the Crown Prince."
"Is that so? Then what is the main work done here?"
"The improvement of gunpowder and the development of new gunpowder, the improvement of cannons and firearms, the development of new cannons and firearms, the development of new armor, and the development of tactics using newly made weapons, among others."
As soon as Choi Haesan finished speaking, Lee Cheon continued.
"In short, we are working on everything related to the military, except for ships."
"Is that so?"
Listening to Choi Haesan and Lee Cheon's answers, King Sejong looked around.
The uniforms worn by the soldiers and officers were quite different from the military attire he had seen before.
"Even the uniforms are being modified?"
Letting out a nasal sound, King Sejong surveyed the surroundings and looked at Hyang.
"Then let's see what has been done so far."
"Yes, Father. Generals."
"Yes! Your Majesty, please come this way."
Choi Haesan and Lee Cheon guided King Sejong and the ministers to a wide open space.
In the open space where Choi Haesan and Lee Cheon led them, there were long tables and several items.
Leading the people to the tables, Choi Haesan began his explanation.
"The first thing we will show Your Majesty is the gunpowder."
"Gunpowder?"
"Yes."
Choi Haesan pointed to the plates on the table.
On the copper plates, small amounts of gunpowder were placed.
"First, from the far left, is the gunpowder that our Joseon army has been using. We named it Gap-style gunpowder in our research institute. Next is Eul-style gunpowder, which adjusted the components of Gap-style gunpowder. Beside it is Explosive Silver, developed by the Crown Prince, and next to it is Explosive Oil, also made by the Crown Prince. Beside that is a prototype of cotton gunpowder made using nitric acid and various acids with cotton, and finally, Deok Gap-style gunpowder, which is made more convenient to use."
"Hmm..."
Examining the gunpowder at Choi Haesan's explanation, King Sejong asked a question.
"How are each of these gunpowders different? And you said it was made more convenient to use, how was that achieved?"
"I will explain."
Choi Haesan explained to King Sejong how it was made more convenient to use.
The improvement started almost the same as the existing method.
- Mix the raw materials of the gunpowder well, then sprinkle water to make it sticky and form it into small blocks like meju (fermented soybean blocks) and dry them.
- Crush the appropriately dried gunpowder blocks and sift them through a sieve.
Up to this point, it was the same as before.
The existing method involved mixing clean oil for storage at this stage, but Hyang added a few steps here.
- When sifting the crushed gunpowder blocks, use sieves of various thicknesses.
The finest powder that passes through the sieve is used for firearms, and the powder filtered at the next thickness is used for cannons.
- Mix the filtered gunpowder with graphite powder.
"Graphite?"
Hearing the unfamiliar word 'graphite' for the first time, King Sejong showed curiosity.
Hyang interjected at King Sejong's reaction.
"It's a mineral I added to the list when the Resource Office was established and prospectors were dispatched."
"Is that so? What benefits does it have?"
"It prevents moisture penetration and prevents the gunpowder from self-detonating when it collides. There are many other benefits, but I will explain those later."
At Hyang's vague answer, King Sejong squinted at Hyang.
'What is this kid up to again...'
"Hmm... I understand. General, please continue."
"Yes, Your Majesty. As the Crown Prince explained, mixing with graphite, or rather, coating it with graphite, makes storage very easy. Of course, we also added the process of making the box containing the gunpowder double-layered, filling the space between the inner and outer boxes with charcoal, and covering it with oil-soaked paper to block moisture as much as possible, but it's true that graphite does the most work."
"Coating?"
Once again, hearing an unfamiliar word, King Sejong showed curiosity.
Hyang quickly interjected.
"It's a term from the Westerners. Since a lot of Western knowledge was used in the gunpowder improvement work, Western words were often used. We are in the process of translating them into our language, but..."
King Sejong raised his hand to stop Hyang's words.
"I understand the situation. That's not the important part, General, please continue."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Watching King Sejong's reaction from the side, Hyang clenched his hands behind his back.
'Success! With this, I've crossed the 80% threshold of laundering the source!'
As he began his hobby in earnest, Hyang pondered how to deal with English words that slipped out unconsciously.
And what came out of that was the bookshelves filled with books from the Eastern Roman Empire and Europe.
Since then, whenever English slipped out unconsciously, Hyang would say the following and get through the crisis.
"I'm sorry. I've been reading too many books from the Westerners..."
The problem was that as such incidents became more frequent, those working with Hyang also became accustomed to using English or Latin, German words.
In any case, Choi Haesan continued his explanation.
"Next is the Eul-style gunpowder we improved this time. The main focus was changing the raw material components. We removed sulfur."
"Removing sulfur?"
At Choi Haesan's statement, not only King Sejong but also the ministers began to murmur.
"Does gunpowder explode without sulfur?"
"It does."
At Choi Haesan's answer, the Minister of Finance's eyes began to sparkle.
Although prospectors had found several sulfur mines, the locations were not favorable, making the cost of mining quite high.
'We can save on the budget! Hooray!'
Unlike the delighted Minister of Finance, King Sejong questioned seriously.
"Is there no problem with removing sulfur? For example, does it not reduce the explosive power?"
"The explosive power is almost the same."
"But adding sulfur to gunpowder has been done for a long time, so there must be a reason for it. Are you sure it's okay to remove sulfur?"
"That's a valid point."
After taking a moment to catch his breath, Choi Haesan answered King Sejong's question.
"When sulfur is removed from gunpowder, it gains a characteristic that can be both an advantage and a disadvantage."
"What characteristic?"
"With an ordinary fuse, the gunpowder won't ignite."
"Then it's useless... Ah!"
Just as King Sejong was about to point out, he looked at Hyang and Choi Haesan.
"So our Joseon army has a way to ignite that gunpowder! That's why it's both an advantage and a disadvantage! Our Joseon army can use it, but the enemy can't use it even if they capture it, so the disadvantage becomes an advantage! Is that it?"
"Yes, that's correct."
At King Sejong's words, Hyang, Choi Haesan, and Lee Cheon bowed their heads in response.
King Sejong continued to express his admiration.
"What a clever strategy! So, are there any other advantages?"
"Yes. The biggest advantage is that by not using sulfur, the production cost is greatly reduced. Also, both saltpeter and sulfur corrode the insides of firearms and cannons, but by removing sulfur, the corrosion is lessened. This means the lifespan of firearms and cannons is extended. Lastly, there is less smoke when fired."
At Choi Haesan's explanation, King Sejong stroked his beard with a face full of questions.
"With so many advantages, why doesn't Ming... Ah! Is it because of the ignition issue you mentioned earlier?"
"Yes, that's correct."
At King Sejong's self-questioning, Choi Haesan, Lee Cheon, and Hyang nodded.
Hyang, in particular, nodded more vigorously.
'Thank you, internet!'
Removing sulfur from black powder was something Hyang learned while searching the internet in the 21st century.
However, there was only one site where this fact was mentioned, and there was no exact ratio, so Hyang and the craftsmen had to go through numerous trials and errors.
After those trials and errors, they were able to find the optimal mixing ratio and select the wood to be used for charcoal.
And it was classified as top-secret and stored in a safe made in the deepest part of the research institute.