American: Native Empire

“Good. They are very spirited.”

Kim Kiwoo smiled contentedly as he looked at the soldiers and various weapons that were glowing with heat. 

It was a sight that contrasted perfectly with the past, when the Creek tribe had no iron, let alone bronze.

‘It’s very reassuring to see them.’

As long as he had these excellent soldiers and the strongest weapons in his sight, he felt that no beings could threaten the empire.

Currently, the world was peaceful to an unprecedented degree. 

Almost all of the countries were bound by the World Union under the empire’s leadership.

But Kim Kiwoo did not let his guard down. 

He poured more than a certain amount of budget into weapon development and production, as well as maintaining and improving the size and quality of the army.

‘The peace we have now is possible because the Wakan Tanka Empire has an overwhelming power. If the empire’s power becomes relatively weak, we don’t know what will happen.’

Humans are animals that are different when they go to the bathroom and when they come out.

Now, the member countries were holding their breath under the rules made by the empire, but he could not be sure what would happen when the modernization of the member countries reached the final stage and they gained confidence in their armament level.

To prevent this, he had to maintain a level of military force that was superior to the member countries at all times.

Kim Kiwoo organized his thoughts and gave instructions to the defense minister.

“Start.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Then, a full-scale demonstration began.

“Prepare to fire!”

“Fire!”

Tatatang! Tatatatang!

As soon as the firing command was given, ten shooters started shooting at the target.

The shooting ended in a short time. 

They fired twenty rounds each, so a total of 200 rounds were consumed. 

Fortunately, there was no accident of malfunction.

‘They look decent.’

In fact, it was more than decent. 

The semi-automatic rifle in front of him was at a level that could devour all the previous rifles.

Previously, bolt-action rifles had to be reloaded manually after each shot. 

It naturally took quite some time.

Moreover, since rifles were personal weapons, there were many problems when inexperienced people used them in real combat.

It was not easy to maintain calmness in a battlefield where bullets rained and blood and flesh flew. 

In such a situation, it was very difficult for inexperienced people to maintain their sanity to reload manually.

But the semi-automatic rifle in front of him was different. 

Unlike bolt-action rifles that had to be reloaded manually, it was reloaded automatically.

The principle was simple. 

It used some of the gas generated by firing ammunition to reload the next ammunition. 

As a result, shooters only had to pull the trigger. 

Thanks to this, they could fire quickly.

“Very good. I don’t see any guns that can compete with this one. Make sure to supply them to the whole army.”

“I understand.”

“Then let’s move on to the next one.”

Soon after, Kim Kiwoo was impressed by various kinds of cannons.

Almost all of the cannons were hydraulic recoilless guns with rear-mounted breeches. 

Thanks to this, they could fire as fast as bolt-action rifles.

Peeeeeong!

Pababang!

Various kinds of cannons showed off their performance in front of Kim Kiwoo’s eyes. 

The accuracy, firepower, and firing speed all satisfied Kim Kiwoo’s heart.

But cannons were nothing compared to rockets that appeared next.

“Ho-ho, is this it?”

“Yes. This is a rocket improved by Golden Lake, the best engineer.”

“I felt it from the first time I saw him, but he is a truly amazing talent.”

Kim Kiwoo smiled fondly as he recalled Golden Lake’s young face. 

Now he had traces of time on his face, but he was very young when he made an internal combustion engine.

After creating cars, he brought innovation to airplanes, and now he improved rockets to fly into space.

‘He’s still lacking though.’

Golden Lake judged that liquid propellants were needed instead of solid propellants to fly into space. 

So he developed the first liquid propellant rocket.

The result was the rocket in front of him. 

But it was still hard to reach space, let alone fly hundreds of meters above ground.

Whoosh!

This became clear after the rocket launch. 

The rocket, which had barely risen 100 meters, turned its head to the ground and fell.

Kim Kiwoo nodded his head and said.

“I wish that thing went beyond the sky, to space. Please tell Golden Lake not to give up on the rocket research.”

“I will convey your message.”

He hoped that his words would encourage Golden Lake. 

And indeed, Golden Lake was greatly moved by Kim Kiwoo’s support and devoted himself more to the research.

After the rocket demonstration, Kim Kiwoo’s eyes sparkled.

‘Is it finally this guy’s turn?’

His gaze was fixed on the large and majestic vehicle that was mounted on a tank.

As if noticing his attention, the tank soon started to move.

Vroom!

The sight of the tank moving forward on its caterpillar tracks was a spectacle in itself.

Of course, the tank still had a machine gun instead of a long cannon. 

In the future, when tank battles became common, tanks would have cannons, but for now, the purpose of tanks was to break through barbed wire and trenches.

‘As our tactics and weapons spread throughout the world…’

Already, most of the member states had adopted the trench and barbed wire warfare.

Even though the use of force between member states was prohibited, the empire could not stop them from arming themselves for national defense. 

There was always a possibility of something happening.

It was not a bad thing for the empire either. 

They had sold off many obsolete weapons that were no longer used in the empire.

It also reduced the burden on the empire if each member state took care of its own security.

But the problem was the countries that opposed the Wakan Tanka Empire. 

If these countries armed themselves with trenches and barbed wire…

‘They would suffer huge casualties without tanks.’

This was proven in the First World War in the original history. 

In this worst war, soldiers’ lives were nothing more than bullets.

Soldiers who charged against trenches, barbed wire, and machine guns were just big targets.

Kim Kiwoo did not want to waste his soldiers like this. 

Fortunately, the empire’s weapon developers had similar thoughts.

Thanks to them, they developed tanks that could break through trenches.

“Wow… This tank will change the face of war.”

“With tanks, we can conduct mobile warfare.”

“That’s right.”

The various officials who participated in this demonstration also expressed similar opinions to Kim Kiwoo. 

Kim Kiwoo readily agreed with them.

“As weapons develop, tactics also change. In front of this tank, trenches will become obsolete tactics. Of course, we have to change our tactics according to the development of weapons.”

“It will be done as you wish.”

There were many cases in history where tactics could not keep up with the rapid development of weapons. 

In these cases, the lagging armies suffered tremendous losses.

Kim Kiwoo had no intention of suffering such damage.

***

Shuaaaang!

Kim Kiwoo’s eyes followed the fighter squadron that quickly crossed the sky.

‘Awesome.’

In fact, he had seen the operation of these fighters before. 

He had already checked them out when Golden Lake made aluminum and fighters using it.

But it was his first time seeing such a large-scale fighter formation. 

It was enough to make a man’s heart boil.

‘The one who dominates the air wins modern warfare.’

Currently, only the empire had fighters. 

No, for a while, it would be hard for any other country to have as many fighters as the empire.

After watching all of the fighter demonstrations.

Finally, it was time for the grand finale. 

The protagonist was none other than a battleship.

“It’s very big.”

Kim Kiwoo nodded his head at the imposing battleship.

The battleship was nothing less than a symbol of the empire. 

Other countries lost their will to resist against the empire when they saw these huge and powerful battleships.

Therefore, the empire was constantly developing and operating giant cannons.

Of course, Kim Kiwoo knew the problems of the giant cannons. 

He also knew why they became obsolete in the original history.

‘It’s quite different from the original history…’

In the original history, the era of giant cannons began in 1906, when Britain commissioned the Dreadnought-class battleship.

These giant cannons were hard to counter unless they faced similar giant cannons. 

As a result, each country entered a competition to build bigger battleships.

Naturally, as the size of the battleships increased, so did the money that went into them. 

It was exponentially expensive. 

Due to this excessive arms race, the era of battleships ended with the Washington Naval Treaty in 1921 and the London Naval Treaty, which further restricted them.

The baton was passed on to aircraft carriers.

‘In fact, these huge battleships are not very cost-effective in this era either.’

The purpose of huge battleships was to catch other huge battleships. 

However, there was no need to build such large battleships in this era. 

Other countries did not have any decent battleships, let alone huge ones.

The huge battleships were just for showing off the power of the empire.

After all the weapons demonstrations were over.

Kim Kiwoo met with the developers who made the countless weapons that went into them.

“It is thanks to you that the empire can play its role as the center of the world. So be proud.”

“We are grateful for your grace, Your Majesty!”

“Good. Do you have anything to say to me? If you do, don’t hesitate to come forward.”

The people in front of him were engineers who were respected by the empire. 

Therefore, Kim Kiwoo was curious about what they were thinking.

As Kim Kiwoo spoke, many developers asked questions. 

They wanted to get advice from Kim Kiwoo, who was the greatest scientist and engineer.

Kim Kiwoo continued the conversation with a happy heart.

In the meantime.

Coincidentally, there was someone who talked about the topic he had thought about earlier.

“Your Majesty, may I ask you a question?”

“Speak.”

“I am the chief engineer of battleships, Hot Lava.”

“I saw the majesty of your battleships. You must have worked hard to make such battleships. Well, what do you want to say to me?”

“It’s nothing else, but I want to ask your opinion on the necessity of battleships.”

“Necessity…”

Hot Lava spoke with a tense face that showed his courage.

“I also know that by making huge battleships, we are showing off the power of the empire to all directions. However, I am not sure how much effect they have compared to their excessive price.”

It was unexpected.

The person who made the huge battleships said this.

Kim Kiwoo nodded at his words.

“You have a point. You’re not the only one who doubts the necessity of a giant battleship… I suppose you have an alternative in mind?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Let’s hear it then.”

With Kim Kiwoo’s permission, Hot Lava confidently pulled out a blueprint from his chest.

The blueprint had been delivered to Kim Kiwoo by the Inner Council.

And as he unfolded the blueprint, a smile appeared on Kim Kiwoo’s lips.

‘I had a hunch, but it was as I expected.’

The blueprint that Hot Lava had written contained a ship with fighter jets on board. In other words, it was an aircraft carrier.

“It seems like you need to explain this.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The explanation that followed from Hot Lava was also about the aircraft carrier itself.

“You want to load fighter jets on the ship?”

“If that’s possible…”

The people in this place were some of the best weapon developers in the empire. 

Therefore, the aircraft carrier captured their interest.

“If this ship is built, the fighter jets will fly around and sink enemy ships that are much farther away than shells. It will give us an unparalleled sea dominance compared to now.”

Hot Lava’s passionate speech made the image of the aircraft carrier naturally rise in the minds of Kim Kiwoo and the developers.

After that, a long discussion ensued among the developers. But as time passed, the need for an aircraft carrier became more and more evident.

Kim Kiwoo then asked Hot Lava.

“I think the aircraft carrier is indeed feasible. If I entrust you with the aircraft carrier project, can you make it well?”

“I will not disappoint you, Your Majesty.”

“Very well. Then go ahead and make it.”

It was a very generous answer. 

Not only Hot Lava, but also many developers’ eyes lit up.

It would take a tremendous amount of money to build an aircraft carrier, but Kim Kiwoo just briefly thought about it and approved it.

That’s how the construction of the aircraft carrier was decided.