American: Native Empire

-Humans, Conquer the Sky!

From the day after the powered flight experiment took place, the news related to it spread rapidly throughout the empire, and newspapers competed to report on the success of the powered airplane.

“Huh, I thought it was only possible in novels, but it became a reality so quickly… It’s starting to scare me.”

“I knew it would happen. Why do you think so many scholars rushed to start their research? Because they saw the possibility of success.”

“True. There hasn’t been any failed research topic among those that were so heatedly competed for. Otherwise, there wouldn’t have been such a fierce competition in the first place.”

“Maybe someday, like in novels, there will be airplanes that can carry hundreds of people to the other side of the earth in a day.”

“Maybe that will be possible in the future?”

The impact of the powered airplane was much hotter than that of the balloon. The imperial citizens talked about the powered airplane every time they gathered.

The development of a powered airplane that could fly at high speed was a historic event.

And Karl Mayer, the leader of the research team that won the competition for making the powered airplane, and Black Shadow, who succeeded in the first powered flight, gained a huge reputation overnight.

“We still have a long way to go.”

But Karl Mayer didn’t relax at all. After drinking on the day of the successful flight, he resumed his work on improving the airplane.

The powered airplane was still incomplete, and there were competitors everywhere. He couldn’t rest until he succeeded in long-distance flight.

Thanks to that, the performance of the airplane improved steadily, and before long, he achieved the feat of succeeding in long-distance flight.

***

“Good. What was his name? Black Shadow? Let him enter the Imperial University as a special student.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Kim Ki-woo smiled with satisfaction as he heard the news related to the powered airplane.

Black Shadow seemed to be helpful for training pilots. 

Anyway, the number of powered airplanes would continue to increase.

However, Kim Ki-woo stopped thinking about the powered airplane at that point. 

In fact, it was only a matter of time before the powered airplane appeared, due to the desire of humans to fly in the sky and the emergence of internal combustion engines.

Kim Ki-woo was currently focusing on another field.

‘I can’t wait any longer.’

Kim Ki-woo had made a lot of efforts to raise the scientific capacity of the empire. As a result, many discoveries and inventions were being made at this moment.

But not everything went as planned. 

There were some fields that developed relatively slowly compared to others. 

Especially electromagnetism.

Kim Ki-woo had been thinking about electromagnetism since his last visit to the Imperial University, and eventually decided to get involved in it.

‘I need to install telegraphs as soon as possible.’

There were no telegraphs yet, so the speed of information delivery was too slow. 

From the perspective of an empire that unified the vast continent of Wakan Tanka, it was imperative to create a revolution in communication as soon as possible.

The decisive reason why Kim Ki-woo made this decision was because of the trains that ran on railways.

The trains were constantly being improved. 

As a result, their speed was incomparable to when they first started.

If the departure time of trains was slightly off, terrible accidents could happen.

And actually, collisions occurred every now and then. 

To minimize these accidents, they needed a communication system faster than trains, and that was why they needed telegraphs.

And today, Kim Ki-woo heard the news he had been waiting for.

“Your Majesty, they say that the research complex in Hwanggung has been completed.”

“Really?”

The research complex located in Hwanggung of Great Beginning was once a dream place for scholars. 

It was even more famous than Imperial University at one point.

It was a great blessing for them to be able to do research under Kim Ki-woo.

But at some point, Kim Ki-woo reduced the size of his research complex. 

He didn’t need to step up anymore, since many universities and research institutes were conducting quality research.

However, for innovation in communication field, Kim Ki-woo built a research complex again in one corner of Hwanggung. Of course, he didn’t intend to operate it as large as before.

“Where are the researchers?”

“All researchers have been staying at Hwanggung’s accommodation since a few days ago.”

Kim Ki-woo nodded his head. 

They probably didn’t know when he would call them, so they waited eagerly at Hwanggung. 

He could feel how happy they were about this situation.

“Then call them right away. I’m going to go to the research complex now, so get ready.”

“They are already fully prepared.”

“Ha ha. Very good. Then let’s go right away.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

After that, Kim Ki-woo and his entourage boarded a private carriage and headed to the research complex. 

And when they arrived, the researchers who had been selected this time were already gathered.

“His Majesty has arrived!”

“Hooray…!”

“We greet the great emperor, Your Majesty!”

“Long live the emperor! Long live Wakan Tanka!”

The fierce reaction of the researchers. 

But it was too familiar to Kim Ki-woo, so he smiled and waved his hand.

“Ha ha. You all look so energetic. But don’t strain yourselves and stop there.”

“Everyone, be quiet!”

“…”

The researchers stopped cheering as if they had just celebrated.

Kim Kiwoo climbed onto the makeshift podium. 

He looked around at the numerous researchers and began his speech.

“Not long ago, I heard the news of the successful long-distance flight of a powered airplane. You must have heard it too, right?”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“That’s right!”

The eyes of the imperial college graduates sparkled with pride as they heard the story of the powered airplane.

Most of the talents in front of him were scholars from the imperial college. 

The rest were also the best of their respective colleges.

It was a selection that showed how fierce the research staff recruitment process was.

“Is that all? Thanks to the invention of the internal combustion engine that made the powered airplane possible, many machines are being developed. There are also many other developments taking place. But there is one discipline that I think is very important and that is progressing slowly. I want to overcome this with you.”

“Just leave it to us!”

“We will do our best!”

****

After that day, the imperial palace research complex began to operate in earnest. 

Kim Kiwoo set his goal clearly from the first day.

“Electricity has infinite potential. Our goal is to use electricity for communication.”

Kim Kiwoo gave quite detailed instructions on the direction of the research. 

And he started several researches simultaneously.

“To use electricity properly, we need more electricity than we have now. Don’t you think so?”

“Your Majesty is right.”

“So I’m going to make a generator first.”

The theoretical foundation for electromagnetic induction was already established. 

Kim Kiwoo started developing a generator that produces induced current through electromagnetic induction.

He had clear knowledge of this in his head, so it didn’t take long for him to make a generator.

He put a coil between magnets and used power to rotate the coil, causing a change in the magnetic flux passing through the coil.

This caused an induced current to flow through the coil. 

And he also made a transformer that could convert voltage using a similar principle.

‘Good. This much generator should be enough.’

He only needed a moderate amount of electricity for now. 

He couldn’t store electricity like oil or coal anyway.

Since he had already made a generator, he expected that it would be improved by various research institutes even without him. 

He only needed enough power generation for now.

Then Kim Kiwoo headed to a laboratory that was developing a telegraph.

“You’re here, Your Majesty.”

“Yes. How is it going?”

“Please come this way.”

Kim Kiwoo quietly followed the senior researcher and listened to his explanation.

‘Good.’

He understood his intentions very well.

Kim Kiwoo retraced the original history.

‘In fact, before Morse’s telegraph came out, there were attempts to transmit signals using electricity for quite a long time.’

It started about 30 years before Morse completed his telegraph in 1837, so it wasn’t a short history.

But Kim Kiwoo didn’t want to go through such trial and error. 

He already knew the principle and used electromagnetic induction law to implement Morse’s telegraph.

He needed a communication code like Morse code because he used one wire, but it wasn’t very difficult to make it.

He also tried to simplify the receiver and transmitter using advanced clock technology.

As time passed, the shape of the telegraph gradually became clear at the imperial palace research complex.

***

And finally, the first telegraph was made at the imperial palace.

“Haha. I wonder how amazing your Majesty’s telegraph will be. I’m looking forward to it already.”

“I heard it was amazing. It would be so much easier to rule the empire if we could access information from far away in an instant.”

“The Wakan Tanka Empire will truly become one in its true sense.”

Most of the ministers gathered at the demonstration site of the telegraph. 

They were curious about the performance of Kim Kiwoo’s telegraph.

The ministers realized the impact of the telegraph on the empire before the demonstration began. 

They had been working in practice for so long that they couldn’t help but grasp the ripple effect of the telegraph.

Soon after, as soon as the scheduled time came, the demonstration of the telegraph began.

Tap, taak, tataak.

“Wow!”

“Indeed…”

People exclaimed as they saw codes printed on paper.

‘It works well.’

He had already conducted enough experiments at short distances. 

But now, the distance of transmission was quite long. 

It was from one end of the palace to another.

Nevertheless, it worked as expected. 

As long as the wire was not cut off, this distance was not much of an obstacle anyway.

It didn’t take long. 

Finally, the receiver stopped working. 

And the person in charge of decoding started to decipher the code that had the same form as Morse code.

“What does it say?”

Kim Kiwoo asked him. 

He didn’t know the content of the message yet, because it was an experiment for accurate information transmission.

The decoder wrote down the decoded content on a paper and handed it to Kim Kiwoo.

“Read it for yourself.”

Kim Kiwoo took the paper from him and read it carefully.

“Ha ha. That guy is something.”

After reading it all, Kim Kiwoo chuckled and handed it back to him.

“Burn it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Following Kim Kiwoo’s order, the man lit the paper on fire with a match.

“The demonstration was successful. From now on, we will install this transmitter in all areas of the continent, including railway stations. So make sure you all know that.”

“What was it about?”

“Well. Just someone’s lament. It’s not very important. Now, let’s disperse.”

Kim Kiwoo shrugged his shoulders and left the directors behind as he entered his private carriage.

And he thought to himself as he headed to his office.

‘You want to retire from the governor-general position and take a break? No way. I’m still working too.’

He didn’t know when he had offended the sender, but what Kim Kiwoo saw was a letter from Prince Deonbeol, the crown prince.

He said it was quite long, but it seemed that the sender had typed the letter in code as it was. 

The crown prince had often said that he wanted to step down from the governor-general position for a long time, but Kim Kiwoo had no intention of letting him rest.

There was no one else who could rule the central continent as well as the crown prince.

When he found out that his children’s lifespans were much longer than normal people, Kim Kiwoo made up his mind. 

He decided to exploit the crown prince as the governor-general for a very long time.