Chapter 157: Violating the Palace (3)
"A throwing grenade?"
"Yes. You could call it a small Flying Thunderbolt that ordinary soldiers can use."
"Hmm...."
When the Commander of the Inner Gold Guard picked up the throwing grenade and examined it from various angles, Hyang called over a soldier standing beside him.
"Let me show you how to use it."
"Yes, sir."
Once the soldier stood beside him, Hyang twisted and opened the bottom cap of the throwing grenade. The opened bottom of the pouch was sealed with paper, with a protruding center.
"The detonator is inside this protruding part. And through the pouch, the fuse connects to the warhead above."
After finishing his explanation of the main parts, Hyang handed the throwing grenade to the soldier.
"Throw! Throw! Throw!"
The soldier who received the grenade canister shouted warnings in all directions, then struck the protruding bottom part of the grenade against the protective wall, threw it far away, and ducked below the wall. At the same time as the soldier, Hyang and the Commander also hid their bodies below the protective wall.
Boom!
Before long, a loud explosion rang out. When the grenade exploded without issue, Hyang raised his body and looked at the Commander.
"How was it?"
The Commander, who examined the explosion site, stroked his beard and spoke.
"It's similar to the explosive cannon."
"It's more convenient than that. There's no need to carry fire around."
"I see...."
The Commander nodded and looked at Hyang.
"How much stock do we have now?"
Depending on the Commander's decision, a large quantity of throwing grenades was divided into smaller portions and brought into Gyeongbok Palace.
Meanwhile, as the situation grew increasingly serious, Hyang called the Commander and asked.
"By any chance, is there an evacuation plan prepared for His Majesty the King?"
"Not yet...."
"What about the emergency evacuation plan for Her Majesty the Queen at Junggung Palace?"
"Not yet...."
At the Commander's answers, Hyang let out a small sigh.
"Haa~."
'There was a reason the King couldn't even escape and was captured whenever a political coup occurred.'
Seeing the Commander's face unable to hide his guilt as he stood there, Hyang calmly took out paper.
"Let's prepare one."
While creating an evacuation plan for emergencies, Hyang called the Crown Princess, the royal consorts, and a very small number of trusted eunuchs to explain the escape plan.
"This is the plan. Memorize it well, and if an incident occurs, act accordingly."
When Hyang finished speaking, the Crown Princess asked him.
"Will Your Highness not accompany us?"
At the Crown Princess's question, Hyang answered firmly.
"I must stay behind and suppress the rebels."
At Hyang's answer, the Crown Princess bit her lip and made a shocking declaration.
"Then this humble wife will also stay."
"Crown Princess! It's dangerous!"
"If something happens to Your Highness, would living even be a life worth living? Whether I die or live, this humble wife will remain with Your Highness!"
At the Crown Princess's words, Yang-je and Yang-won also stepped forward.
"This humble concubine will also stay!"
"This humble concubine as well...."
At the declarations of the Crown Princess, Yang-je, and Yang-won, Hyang's expression became troubled.
"Heuh...."
However, Hyang did not stop trying to persuade them.
"If an incident occurs, a great battle will unfold. It's dangerous."
At Hyang's words, the Crown Princess smiled and asked in return.
"Have you forgotten? That this humble wife's marksmanship is better than Your Highness's."
"Ah...."
Hyang had no choice but to fall silent.
* * *
On the first night, trying to break the awkward atmosphere, Hyang had been talking with the Crown Princess when the topic of firearms came up.
When the Crown Princess said she had some confidence in archery, Hyang's curiosity was piqued, and he taught her the marksmanship for the Gap-sik long firearm and the Gap-sik horse-mounted firearm.
And the result was....
'Neighbors! There's a sniper here!'
Seeing the Crown Princess's divine skill of piercing the center of a target 50 paces (about 60m) away with a Gap-sik horse-mounted firearm, which was notorious for its accuracy dropping beyond 30 paces (about 36m), Hyang screamed silently.
"How does it feel to fire a firearm?"
"It's better than archery!"
The Crown Princess answered with a flushed face.
The Crown Princess, having developed a taste for firearm shooting, made it her daily routine to drag Yang-je and Yang-won to the shooting range.
With such frequent shooting, feedback was naturally bound to come out.
"Your Highness, I have something to say...."
When the Crown Princess approached him hesitantly, Hyang asked with a smile.
"Go ahead. What is it?"
At Hyang's question, the hesitant Crown Princess got to the main point.
"After shooting the firearm frequently, there are some problems...."
At the Crown Princess's words, Hyang's expression became serious.
"Problems? Has something gone wrong somewhere? Enough to call the royal physician?"
"That's not it. It's just that when shooting the Gap-sik horse-mounted firearm, I wondered if there could be something to support it...."
"Something to support it? Tell me more."
When Hyang showed interest instead of scolding, the Crown Princess explained with a bit more confidence.
"It would be good to have something to support the firearm against the shoulder, like with the Gap-sik long firearm."
"Hmm?"
At the Crown Princess's words, numerous photos passed through Hyang's mind. Photos of pistols with shoulder stocks he had seen on the internet in the 21st century.
'A stock on a six-shot revolver?'
Wondering whether it would suit the firearm, Hyang recalled seeing similar pistols in Western films and nodded.
'Seems like it would work.'
"Understood. I'll think about it."
"And they say the longer the firearm barrel, the better it hits at distance, so I hope the length could be increased as well."
"I'll think about that too."
"Thank you, Your Highness."
"Then... let's do it!"
"Ah-hng!"
It was a passionately burning newlywed period.
* * *
And before long, Hyang created the custom horse-mounted firearm the Crown Princess had wanted. Looking at the custom horse-mounted firearm with a detachable stock and an extended barrel, Hyang burst into a chuckle.
"In this world... I'm probably the only one who'd make a custom pistol for his wife."
And taking that custom pistol that was thus born, Hyang went to the shooting range with the Crown Princess and couldn't help but gasp.
The Crown Princess had turned the center of a target 80 paces (about 96m) away into a beehive.
As an epilogue, the Military Ministry, seeing the newly improved horse-mounted firearm, came to Hyang and pleaded.
"Please supply that firearm to the military!"
"Why?"
"It's the best weapon for cavalry! The horse-mounted firearm is useful in close combat, but its effective range is short. The Gap-sik long firearm is only good for one shot before it becomes nothing more than a club!"
"Ah...."
In the end, Hyang's custom pistol was supplied to the cavalry under the name 'Eul-sik horse-mounted firearm.'
When the craftsmen received the blueprints for the Eul-sik horse-mounted firearm, they tilted their heads looking at the Western characters written at the top of the blueprint.
"What does this say?"
"Don't know. Must be His Highness the Crown Prince's eccentricity again, I suppose."
Next to 'Eul-sik horse-mounted firearm' written at the very top of the blueprint, this was written in English:
-Queen's custom
* * *
When the Crown Princess mentioned her marksmanship, Hyang had no choice but to fall silent.
"Then at least the others...."
"This humble concubine is the same."
"If it's marksmanship, this humble concubine can also manage to fend for herself."
"Tsk...."
At Yang-won and Yang-je's declarations, Hyang had no choice but to click his tongue.
As Hyang and the Crown Princess grew closer through firearm shooting as a medium, Yang-je and Yang-won also devoted themselves to practicing marksmanship. Thanks to this, the two came to be evaluated as having marksmanship superior to the Inner Gold Guard, and for the sake of family peace, Hyang had to make custom pistols again as gifts.
As a butterfly effect from this, Sejong had to suffer for a while.
This was because, from Queen Soheon to the royal consorts, they subtly pressured Sejong.
Sejong examined the reason for the suddenly cold reactions of the Queen and consorts. As a result, learning that the cause was the gifts Hyang had given to his wives, Sejong muttered quietly.
"Then should I make a cannon and present it?"
At Sejong's words, Sang-seon shook his head.
"Surely not that?"
'If you do that, you'll be firing cannons from Junggung Palace to Gangnyeong Palace.'
In the end, Sejong had to empty his pockets.
* * *
When the 'Three Legal Code Reform' was announced, the local Hyang-ban (local nobles), especially those in the Three Southern Provinces, had to steel their resolve.
"This is now a dead end! There's no choice! We must rise up!"
The number of nobles advocating for uprising increased, but there were also quite a few who tried to stop them.
"Stop it! That's rebellion! Just write a petition instead! A petition!"
"How many times have we written petitions so far, and what was the answer? It was like reading sutras to a cow's ear! Now there's no solution but force!"
"But if we rise up, it's nothing but rebellion!"
Fierce pros and cons arose regarding armed uprising, but everyone agreed on one thing.
"It's the end if we stay like this!"
"But we have no justification! No justification!"
While those who decided to rise up were agonizing over finding justification, a few people found a plausible one.
"'Eliminating Traitorous Officials' would be good!"
"Eliminating Traitorous Officials?"
"Right now, traitorous officials have blocked His Majesty's eyes and ears, leading to this situation! So we must eliminate those traitors and brighten His Majesty's eyes and ears!"
"Oh oh!"
"That's right!"
"Eliminate Traitorous Officials! Eliminate Traitorous Officials!"
Those who united in their intention to rise up began gathering comrades under the justification of 'Eliminating Traitorous Officials.'
When a certain number of influential figures gathered, the discussion began to gain momentum in earnest.
"Regarding the issue of troops...."
"Each family has private soldiers, don't they? Let's mobilize them."
With Japanese pirates running rampant, the southern provincial nobles had raised private soldiers under the justification of 'blocking the Japanese pirates.'
However, nobles who had learned some military strategy pointed out another problem.
"Those alone aren't enough. We need to fill the numbers."
"That can be solved by mobilizing the slaves."
"Slaves?"
At the words 'mobilize slaves,' the nobles who had been thinking deeply all nodded.
"That would work. Just whisper the word 'freedom from slave status' and they'll fight like madmen."
"As for armament...."
"Spears will suffice for the slaves."
"Hmm...."
After continued discussion, the Hyang-ban who had established a certain plan put their heads together to solve the last remaining problem.
"When would be a good time to raise an army?"
"It shouldn't be too hot, and it shouldn't be after the harvest either. After the harvest, winter comes right away."
After various heated debates, the determined date for raising an army was 'three days after Chuseok.'
"On the Mid-Autumn Festival, all family members gather, so we can rally more people."
"And we can avoid the unfilial act of missing the Mid-Autumn Festival ancestral rites."
"Let us pray for the success of our undertaking to our ancestors and the spirits of heaven through the rites."
"Let's do so!"
However, when many people gather, words are bound to leak, and some local officials who obtained intelligence reported this to Hanyang.
And a few days later, the local officials who had submitted the intelligence met the Royal Guard who came secretly.
"This is a secret reply from His Majesty."
At the Royal Guard's words, the local official examined the Royal Guard with eyes full of suspicion.
"Without any prior notice? And why the attire?"
In normal circumstances, a properly dressed military official or administrator would come and read or deliver documents in front of everyone. But the person before him was wearing an ordinary coat, claiming to be a guest from Hanyang who had come to find him.
At the local official's question, the Royal Guard looked around and whispered quietly.
"It's confidential. Please accept this secret reply."
"Ah...."
The local official who broke the seal of the letter at the Royal Guard's words set down the letter and made a deep bow.
The letter bearing King Sejong's seal was written in Sejong's own hand.
With trembling hands, the local official read the contents of the letter.
-In order to wipe out the machinations of the seditious elements at once, refrain from rash actions. If an incident occurs, use all efforts to move the household registers and land registers to a safe zone.
After confirming the contents, the local official looked at the Royal Guard.
"I have confirmed it."
"Then please return the letter."
"Why?"
"It's a royal command."
"Ah...."
At the Royal Guard's words, the local official returned the letter without another word. The Royal Guard who received the letter immediately burned it. Seeing this, the local official became agitated.
"Wait! That precious thing! His Majesty's own handwriting!"
"It's a royal command."
"Damn it...."