After that day, the vast sky delivered the news to Kim Ki-woo with the fastest ship.
Thanks to that, Kim Ki-woo soon learned of the resolution of the representatives.
‘Is it time to harvest?’
Kim Ki-woo looked at the vast area of the central continent.
The area around Panama was already practically an imperial territory.
That meant, if all the regions of the central continent that were located between them were incorporated, the empire’s territory would extend from the far north to the bottom of the central continent.
They were also gradually developing the coast of the southern continent adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean, so it seemed that the day when the Wakan Tanka continent became the Wakan Tanka Empire itself was not far away.
“So this is how it ends.”
It was the words of the military chief who was summoned to the office.
Kim Ki-woo replied like this.
“Are you not happy with this situation?”
“That’s not it. But I wonder if they will join the empire without resistance from the local residents. The population size itself is different from before, isn’t it?”
Kim Ki-woo agreed with that to some extent.
The population of the central continent was much larger than that of the mainland from the beginning.
Of course, thanks to various birth and childcare policies and active encouragement of naturalization, the imperial citizens had grown faster than expected.
But even if there was a huge difference in population growth rate, the central continent had a lot more people from the start, so its population increased tremendously even with a low rate.
It was because they were not short of food at least under the influence of the empire.
It was not accurate, but perhaps there were more people in the central continent than in the mainland.
But Kim Ki-woo was confident.
“I think differently. Aren’t the residents of the central continent already dyed with the color of the empire?”
There were too many languages in each region of the central continent.
Therefore, there were communication problems whenever they went to another region.
But now, Wakan Tanka’s standard language had firmly established itself as a common language in the central continent.
Religion was also the same.
Many of the residents already believed in spirit worship as a reality.
“And they voluntarily want to become part of the empire. We are just granting their earnest request.”
The recognition that they had achieved integration with the empire with their own hands would greatly reduce their resistance to the empire.
That’s why they had pursued such a complicated method to incorporate the central continent until now.
“Of course, there will be chaos for a long time, but this will be solved by time. The residents will be satisfied with the life of an imperial citizen more easily than you think when their lives become abundant.”
The most important thing in this era was food and living problems.
And as soon as the central continent became part of mainland, not an external region, inevitably, quality of life for residents would improve.
The military chief listened to all explanations silently and nodded his head.
“I understand what you mean. Then what should I do from now on?”
“Soon they will start to arm themselves with weapons for voluntary integration. There will surely be backlash from nobles. We can’t just watch them with our eyes open.”
“That’s right.”
“To prepare for this, we need to move our imperial army. Get ready to send our mainland imperial army to direct control areas in central continent.”
This force was insurance for contingencies and a show of force against nobles.
‘The fist in front of your eyes is scary.’
The tremendous power of imperial army shown at time of missionary murder case would still be vivid in nobles’ minds.
So as long as large-scale imperial army was stationed in direct control areas, they would not be able to threaten imperial citizens much at least.
“I will follow your will.”
***
“Can you do it well?”
“Don’t worry. I will surely live up to Father’s expectations.”
“…It can be dangerous. So don’t make a big deal out of unnecessary pride and think about your and imperial army’s safety as a priority.”
“Yes. I will do that.”
The blue earth bowed his head bravely.
‘It’s okay. It’s not a dangerous mission, so nothing big will happen.’
He was not a mere soldier, but the commander-in-chief of the expeditionary force. He should be safe.
The blue earth had participated in the spirit of the warrior and won the victory.
And after that, his career had gained more momentum.
He had become a strong candidate for the next military chief.
But the blue earth wanted to secure his position even more.
So he chose to be the commander-in-chief of the imperial army that was being deployed.
If he completed this mission successfully, he would have a clear advantage over his competitors.
With that in mind, he left Kim Ki-woo’s worries behind and led the imperial army to the central continent.
And he met the vast sky for the first time in a long time at the governor’s office of the direct territory.
“Haha. You! How long has it been?”
“Brother! It’s been a long time.”
The brothers exchanged pleasantries and relieved their long-awaited reunion.
But it was not a meeting just for friendship, so they got to the point.
“I’ve already finished most of the preparations before you came. The supply depot will be opened soon, and it will be delivered to the residents who are with us. So you should be prepared for any provocations from the enemies.”
“I understand, brother.”
Soon after, the operation began in earnest.
“Remember this. No matter how good your weapons are, you can’t win a war if you don’t use them well. Your role is crucial from now on. The imperial army will not participate as much as possible.”
“You’ve given us such excellent weapons, what more can we ask for? We’ve also worked hard to learn the empire’s weapons system and tactics. Don’t worry too much.”
“…I hope so.”
The blue earth could not shake off his worries even with the clear bell’s confident words.
Most of the weapons he handed over were fire guns.
Fire guns were easy to get used to, but their power was maximized when the formation was fully established by the commander.
But he could not expect that from the ordinary residents who would get guns.
Therefore, how quickly the representatives in front of him could control the residents was the key.
***
Weapons poured out from the direct territory, but transporting them was the role of the suicide squad that would carry out this coup.
They planned to deliver weapons to residents all over the country.
The scenario of the suicide squad was that residents who got weapons would rise up simultaneously.
But the central continent was so wide that it was dangerous to transport these weapons secretly, and there was a high possibility of being caught.
But one thing that comforted them was that they had many comrades.
The members of the suicide squad who were in charge of transporting weapons moved to places where there were few people and headed for their destination.
“What? A large number of weapons are being delivered to them from the direct territory?”
“Damn… So the empire has joined hands with them!”
But the nobles who had seized power in the central continent were not fools.
They noticed something from the sudden deployment of imperial troops, many residents going to the direct territory, and even mass distribution of weapons now.
How could they not know what this meant?
But no matter how much they knew, they could not do anything about the direct territory that was distributing weapons indiscriminately.
“It’s hard enough to deal with the direct territory’s forces, let alone those from the mainland who are deployed…”
There was no answer with this power gap, let alone a siege.
It was impossible to succeed.
In the end, there was only one thing that nobles could do.
“Keep an eye on them so that they don’t get any weapons from the empire! And weed out those bastards who are trying to join them right away!”
“Yes!”
“Damn it…”
As things went wrong, nobles finally began to deal with it seriously.
Thanks to them, many of the organization members who were in charge of transportation were exposed.
“Don’t move! If you move even a little, I’ll kill you on the spot!”
“…Damn it.”
The organization members who faced the nobles’ regular army frowned.
They were outnumbered and had been moving stealthily, so they had no chance of winning against the regular army that had approached them.
But they did not stop resisting.
“Fire!”
“Throw!”
Bang! Tatatatang!
Kwaang, Kwaang!
“Ugh…!”
“Those bastards!”
The organization members fired the bullets they had loaded in advance and threw bombs with lit fuses.
Of course, they did not inflict much damage on the enemies because of their low level of training.
But their purpose was different from the beginning.
Creak…
“Everyone, scatter!”
As the fire on the fuse got closer to the gunpowder lump, the organization members ran away from their spot as much as possible.
And then.
Kwaang!
“Cough!”
“Aaah!”
The gunpowder that had been piled up exploded in a chain reaction.
“This, this crazy…!”
The regular army soldiers spat out saliva at the sight.
Fortunately, there were hardly any casualties because they were quite far away, but they felt chills at the action of blowing up all the gunpowder they had brought here.
***
Explosions like this happened all over the central continent.
The organization members who were in charge of transportation blew up all the gunpowder lumps first when they faced the risk of being caught by the enemies.
As a result, some of them were injured or killed by the explosion, and the nobles’ regular army could not easily obtain gunpowder.
The empire had been very sensitive about managing the export of gunpowder, and the central continent still could not produce gunpowder on its own.
“What’s the point of these things without gunpowder!”
They had captured quite a lot of fire guns, but they had no gunpowder to shoot them.
On the other hand, although many organization members were arrested, there were also many who completed their mission.
And from the regions where weapons were sufficiently supplied, the residents began to revolt.
“All people are equal! What’s the difference between us and the nobles! We will no longer live a life of being exploited by the nobles!”
“The emperor of the empire who looked down on us as pitiful has bestowed us with weapons for our sake! What are you all afraid of! The emperor of the empire is on our side!”
“That’s right!”
“Let’s all shake off and rise up!”
Uwaaaah!
As the organization members got hold of the empire’s weapons, even ordinary people who had been watching joined them with courage.
The fact that the formidable empire was hostile to the nobles gave them courage.
And as time passed, the revolt of the residents swept across the country.
The weapons and gunpowder from the empire flowed endlessly to the residents, and as more and more residents became armed, the nobles’ regular army could no longer easily cut off their supply.
As the supply became smooth, the residents’ armed state also became more solid.
After that, the residents who were armed with fire guns fought against the nobles in earnest.
Numerous battles took place in various parts of the country.
At first, there were many cases where the residents who were gathered together lost.
But as they became more familiar with fire guns, the situation changed rapidly.
“Fire!”
Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat!
“Aaargh!”
“Ugh…!”
The bullets that were fired simultaneously formed a barrage that swept away the charging noble regulars.
No matter how good their training was, they couldn’t even get close because of the firecrackers. Everything became useless.
“We won!”
“Hahaha! They’re nothing!”
As the victory continued, the morale of the residents soared to the sky.
High morale, overwhelming numbers, and superior weapons than the enemy.
When these three factors were met, the nobles began to be pushed back miserably.
“H-how can this be…”
The nobles couldn’t believe it.
They never expected to be so brutally defeated by the lower class people they had been exploiting.
They wanted to deny the reality in front of them as soon as possible.
But no matter how much they denied it, reality didn’t change.
“Surrender! We surrender!”
“P-please spare our lives!”
Before long, the nobles from all over surrendered to the residents.