Black Corporation: Joseon - Chapter 352

Northern Morocco, Ceuta.

Here stood a Portuguese naval fortress established by Prince Henry.

On the watchtower of the fortress’s northern wall, soldiers and knights in full armor and helmets were keeping watch over the sea, despite the sweltering heat.

“Those fucking Spanish bastards…”

Ricardo, the knight commanding the watchmen, gritted his teeth as he gazed at the northern horizon.

About 5 leagues (roughly 21km) north of Ceuta lay Gibraltar, home to a naval base of the United Kingdom of Castile-Aragon.

This naval base was the source of Ricardo and his soldiers’ fury.

Those arrogant pricks who called themselves “Hispania” instead of the United Kingdom, using that ancient name from Roman times as they pleased, acting like the entire Iberian Peninsula was their territory, were now eyeing Portuguese waters – or more precisely, the west coast of Africa.

***

Since Prince Henry had begun actively supporting exploration, the west coast of Africa was gradually revealing its secrets.

As Prince Henry’s expeditions pioneered new routes, scholars and merchants followed in their wake.

While scholars gathered and compiled geographical information, merchants collected anything of value – mostly slaves.

As the profits from the west African coast became substantial, Portugal – or more accurately, Prince Henry – increased their support.

Moreover, with the emergence of Joseon, the so-called “Land of Flowers,” the importance of the west African coast became increasingly apparent.

The current situation was that Islamic forces controlled the routes to Joseon and India. If Africa could be circumnavigated, the profits that had been going to Islamic powers could be seized.

Prince Henry gathered ship captains, geographers, and cartographers at Vila do Infante (Prince’s Town) in Sagres to discuss the situation.

“We already know the routes from India to Kitai and Joseon to some extent. Therefore, all we need to do is find a route around Africa! Don’t forget! Once we find the route to India and Joseon, immense wealth will fall into our hands!”

As Prince Henry showed even more enthusiasm, Portugal’s African exploration accelerated.

Thanks to this, they broke through Cape Bojador at the end of 1431, almost three years earlier than in the history before Hyang’s intervention.

Until then, it had been known as the “Cape of No Return,” with rumors that passing it meant certain death.

Once it was proven that one could survive beyond Cape Bojador, exploration gained even more momentum.

It was in this situation that those detestable Spain mongrels had stuck their noses in.

***

Ricardo, who had been grinding his teeth while glaring at Gibraltar beyond the horizon, now turned his anger towards other targets.

“Those stupid Venetian bastards. They say they build good ships…”

The ones Ricardo was calling stupid were the Venetian shipbuilders.

Venetian shipbuilding had a good reputation. True to the rumors, the ships built in Venice performed well, and the pride of the shipbuilders was sky-high.

The problem was that the ships they built were mainly galleys, and they were primarily used in the Mediterranean.

Because of this, Portugal and Venice were at odds from the very beginning of the shipbuilding process.

“We don’t need rowers! Make storage spaces instead, enlarge the hull, and reinforce its strength!”

“I understand the issue with rowers, but enlarging the hull and reinforcing its strength will take some time.”

“Can’t we just increase the size of our caracks and caravels a bit?”

“The hull expansion you’re talking about isn’t just a simple ‘little’ increase! 120 to 140 cubits (about 62m)? That’s more than twice the size of the caravels you’re currently using! And you want to reinforce the strength to carry more cannons? Do you think building ships is like baking bread in an oven? Ships are ships!”

“The Land of Flowers, I mean Joseon, built them that way!”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I’ve never heard of or seen such large ships being built!”

In reality, the galleys built in Venice weren’t weak. Florence, which mainly processed wool, was importing wool from England and France using galleys and caravels built in Venice.

However, the performance Portugal demanded was the issue.

– Hull size nearly twice that of existing ships. Hull strength capable of withstanding cannon fire.

– This is the minimum requirement. Faster speed would be even better.

The Venetian craftsmen were so agitated because of these conditions set by Portugal.

Despite Venice’s protests, Portugal remained adamant.

“I’ll say it again, Joseon’s ships are that big!”

Venice countered Portugal’s claim.

“Are you sure about that? Show us the evidence!”

“Islamic merchant sailors who traveled with Joseon ships said so. And our knights reported the same!”

“You want us to believe the words of sailors? Don’t you know how much sailors exaggerate?”

“Why are you ignoring the fact that knights reported the same thing? Are you going to say the knights are exaggerating too?”

“…”

“Thinking about future needs, we need large ships! Build the ships according to the conditions we’ve presented!”

“It takes too much time and money! No way!”

While Portugal and Venice were at an impasse, Cosimo of Florence stepped in to mediate.

“Both sides have valid points. Would you listen to this merchant’s words for a moment?”

“Very well.”

“Alright.”

The representatives of Portugal and Venice had to close their mouths.

Although he referred to himself as a merchant, Cosimo de’ Medici was one of the absolute power holders in Europe at the time. He couldn’t be ignored.

“It’s reasonable for Portugal to need large and sturdy ships. Of course, I also had my merchants observe Joseon’s ships, and they say they are indeed large.

However, Venice’s claim that it’s impossible also has merit. No matter how good you are at building ships, it’s a dangerous gamble to build large ships without experience. Considering the costs and time wasted on trial and error, it’s not the situation to insist on large ships unconditionally. So let’s do this. Venice, how much larger can you build compared to the ships you’re currently building and operating?”

“For now, about 20 cubits (about 9m) is the maximum.”

“And how many cannons can you mount on that?”

“Fourteen.”

“Hmm…”

Cosimo briefly recalled his memories at the Venetian representative’s words. Even transport ships carrying wool and other goods mounted cannons for self-defense. The outermost ships responsible for escorting the fleet carried 10 cannons.

‘Not bad.’

“Hmm…”

Although he had reached a conclusion to some extent, Cosimo pretended to ponder a bit more with a serious face.

As the tense-faced representatives of Venice and Portugal waited, Cosimo, who had maintained silence for a while, opened his mouth.

“For now, I think it’s best to be satisfied with the largest ship Venice can build. I believe that size will be sufficient to operate until a route completely circumnavigating Africa is discovered. It would be a huge loss if we were to build large ships without proper verification and then lose them. What do you think?”

Though it was phrased as a suggestion, it was actually a notification of the decision. Although Portugal, Venice, and Florence had joined hands, Florence held the largest financial stake.

The reason Florence was heavily investing in this venture was simple.

‘The more ways to get goods from India and Joseon, the better.’

***

Thus, accepting Florence’s mediation proposal, shipyards in Portugal and Venice began building ships.

However, contrary to Henry’s wishes, the new ships weren’t produced quickly.

In Venice’s case, they had to go through trial and error from the design stage because it was a new type of ship – a sailing ship relying 100% on wind power, not the existing galley.

The Portuguese shipyards were no faster. Although they were already familiar with sailing ships from building caravels and caracks, they couldn’t avoid the trial and error involved in increasing the size.

Furthermore, with those Spain rascals poaching a significant number of skilled craftsmen, the mass operation of new sailing ships was being pushed further and further back.

Given this situation, curses against Spain were overflowing not only in Ceuta but also in Sagres and Lisbon.

***

While the Portuguese were cursing like this, in Gibraltar (Gibralter in Spanish), the Spaniards were spewing profanities.

“Damn Ceuta! Damn Portuguese bastards!”

If Gibraltar was the northern pillar of the famous “Pillars of Hercules,” Ceuta was the southern pillar.

Those Portuguese bastards who had gotten their hands on Ceuta would launch a large number of warships to monitor Spanish ships whenever they sailed out of Gibraltar into the Atlantic.

It would be understandable if they reacted this way when Spanish ships headed north. After all, going north would lead directly into Portuguese territory.

But what infuriated the Spaniards most was when they headed south. Portugal was now claiming that the ports where they occasionally stopped along the way were their territory.

To avoid this, Spain had to create new stopover points for themselves, but Portugal had already occupied the optimal locations.

As a result, Spain had to find somewhat usable places and build ports themselves. However, finding such places wasn’t easy, and building ports was even more difficult.

In the end, while Portugal had broken through Cape Bojador and was gradually moving south, Spain was just rounding the northwest corner of Africa.

Despite this gloomy situation, Spain couldn’t give up on exploring West Africa. The considerable amount of wealth Portugal was gaining from the West African region was tempting, but what was even more enticing was the detour route to India and Joseon.

If they could find and secure that detour route, they could get their hands on enormous wealth, which is why Spain was sending ships southward in partnership with Genoa.

Given this situation, the Portuguese bastards entrenched in Ceuta didn’t look good to Spain. In fact, unless they encountered a critical crisis while sailing along the west coast of Africa, they couldn’t even enter ports built by Portugal.

On top of this situation, the resentment created by the history of separation from the Kingdom of Castile during the Reconquista was added. Portugal and Spain were in a situation where they cursed each other as “vile traitors” and “greedy ruffians.” With this historical background and economic issues overlapping, Gibraltar and Ceuta were in a situation where they were glaring at each other with swords drawn.