Empire of the Ring

Chapter 426: Soar (2)

As the new year came, the busiest person in the state was Kim Chun.

He was busy with paperwork and adjustment of arable land and pasturelands for new residents of the autonomous state. Farmers who lived near the Ural River owned about 10-30 acres of farmland and per household. Most of the land was used for a mixture of wheat farming and fruit farming.

Since the land policy of the autonomous state was not a concept of ownership but a concept of use, the administration decided to buy farmland or pasture land that originally belonged to the residents of the newly added territory.

If those farmlands were added to the state, it would be developed soon. And, inevitably the land prices would rise. If that happened, the original residents who did not own land would feel relatively deprived.

The new residents who were transferred sold their land without complaint. For them, it was interesting to sell farmland. In Kazakhstan, where there were plenty of empty lands, ranchers and farmers would just leave their land and find a new site when they failed farming. It did not make sense to buy other people’s land for farming since they did not have to.

Even though they sold farmland to the autonomous state for money, they could farm on their farming site. So, for them, there was no reason not to give up their ownership.

In addition, the autonomous state promised machine farming to the farmers. If it was adopted, one person from each family could take care of farming while others went to work in factories run by the state because farming would be easier and faster with machines. This would lead to a sharp increase in income per household.

Kim Chun smiled emptily as the problem of buying ownerships from the new residents was resolved so easily.

“I think we might’ve been too naive. We could have just told them to exchange their ownership for farming machines and equipment.”

“It’s even more troublesome if they bring a lawsuit against the state in the future. The price of the land was not expensive anyway. It’s better to pay the full price and not get complaints later on.”

“The new residents said that they’ll build their own house with the money they earned by selling the land. We need to wrap up the city plan in a hurry and start building a new city in the spring.”

“Please support the building materials for their house generously. We have to make sure that they don’t feel discriminated.”

“Sure. Since they’ve seen the lives of our original residents nearby, I will make sure that they’ll be treated the same.”

“Did you get population statistics?”

“There are 6,250 people in 1,040 households.”

The greatest gain from the increase of the land was by far the increase in population.

Since more than a third of the county’s population was added, Youngho wanted to dance in joy. He searched the Balkans to increase the number of people, but now, a huge number of people were added at once.

If Kim Chun was busy dealing with the incorporated land and people, Cho Chul-hwan was agonizing over establishing a regional boundary and building guard posts for ensured security. The number of the Countryside Force was not enough to guard the wide area. So, he came to persuade Youngho to recruit more guards from the newly incorporated residents.

“There are young people, but they were just farmers and cattle ranchers. They’re too naïve to fit in as Countryside Force.”

“It’s true that there are more innocent young people. All the original guards would stay only as a sergeant, so we need to recruit more people. It’s a good chance to secure at least 300 guards.”

“Isn’t there too many soldiers in the Countryside Force?”

“That can be dealt with later when there’s a problem. But, if you don’t increase the force now, we might not have a chance later since they’re all going to be recruited in other places.”

“Let’s put out a recruitment notice. Let’s take all the young people who want to come in, but we should limit their age, and say that only one person per household can apply.”

“If the brothers want to come in, we can assign one into the Vigilante Army. What’s the matter?”

***

When the announcement was made to recruit Countryside Force for the new residents, everyone wrote applications, and all the young people who were tired of their family business, farming and ranching desired to join the force. Rather than learning new skills and getting a job at a factory, they wanted to be in the military since they could use the experience of using a shotgun.

“How many people have applied?”

“There are a little over 600 people. I think all of the young people applied, except the students who are attending school. There are more than 100 girls among them.”

“That’s crazy. I thought the managers of each factory were expecting new workers. They must be disappointed to hear this.”

“Everyone passed the physical fitness test safely.”

“They’ve been running around in the field since young, so they must have a basic physical strength.”

“Well, how about we take them all? They’re a clean resource with a blank slate. I’d love to train them. I think they’ll be a strong guard if they receive the mind education right.”

“You sound like you’re going to brainwash them.”

“Oh, you make me sound bad. I’ll take out some of the smart ones and make them intelligence agents. How is that?”

“Did you find bright ones that could be agents?”

“Hey, I haven’t even trained them yet. They’ll stand out during the training period. ”

“Jong-il would love to hear that.”

“Keep quiet for him. Otherwise, he will show up at the training camp every day and make a fuss.”

The road along the Ural River, which had become the territory of the autonomous state, was about 40 kilometers long. The Ural River originated in Russia’s Ural Mountains and flew across western Kazakhstan into the Caspian Sea. It was a 2,534 kilometer-long river.

The Arirang Autonomous State was located in the lower reaches of the river, so there was a large volume of water, and a river width was more than one kilometer.

“How did you decide to operate the river’s guard post?”

“How can we cover the whole 40 kilometers of length? I left the riverside to the drone squadron. I’m not worried about the daytime but I’m worried about the night time.”

“Man, it’s great that we’ve got the Ural River now, but there’s another problem.”

“It’s hard to get close because it’s mostly high hills, but there’s a flat section that stretches about ten kilometers. This section must be tightly guarded. It will cost some money, but we have no choice but to intensively install security lights and CC-TVs in that section.”

“I’m afraid we’re way short of electricity for that. I should find a place to build a solar power plant along the river.”

“Solar energy again? Shouldn’t we have a small thermal power plant? We need more electricity to build armored vehicle assembly plant and aircraft factories in the future. Solar power will be far short of electricity.”

As the size of the state had grown, electricity use would increase by a lot in the future, but solar power was not enough. Although it was possible to attract electricity, it was also difficult to pay for the construction of a power transmission tower. It was not difficult for the state administration to afford it, but building power towers for hundreds of kilometers was a pure waste.

“A small thermal power plant? If you use coal, it’s a mess around.”

“Hey, this is a place full of natural gas. What are you worried about?”

“That’s brilliant! Replacing fuel with natural gas will solve the environmental problem.”

“It’s safe to keep the solar energy plant and make the power plant an emergency generator. It’ll be also great to use the President’s money to produce industrial electricity.”

The power plant was a must-have facility in the long run.

Electricity produced by solar power was so sensitive to climate change that during the winter months, the produced energy was only sufficient for household use.

So the factories of the industrial complex near the Arirang Wharf each used a large generator in the winter. Although an electric charging station was being built with the technology that was given by Eriksson, the amount of electricity produced with solar power was still bound to be limited.

***

“Prince consort, it’s been such a long time. I thought you forgot about Korean companies.”

“Oh, that’s not going to happen. If there was a project for Korean companies to participate, I would have stepped forward and give an opportunity for them.”

“By the time our power plant project and the road construction are finished, we will need your help foremost.”

“I sure will help you. Do you think I’ll take the back seat in helping out my fellow countrymen?”

“I haven’t been able to come here often because of the work overload at the train factory, but I won’t be busy from now. The power plant will be in full operation from spring.”

“Congratulations. It’s finally coming to fruition.”

“So, I assume there’s a business to do since you called me?”

Kim Joo-hyuk was eager to know why Youngho wanted to see him.

He had been working busily in Astana. When he called Youngho to say the new year’s greeting, Youngho asked him to visit sometime.

“I heard that you couldn’t go to visit your home country during the holiday season, so I thought I’d treat you to a meal. Of course, there’s a little business to do.”

“I don’t really care because I’ve been away from my family for so many times. I rather find joy in working.”

“You have every reason to call a Korean businessman a workaholic.”

“I bet you are the same. You’re always traveling from a country to another.”

Kim Joo-hyuk sat close when Youngho mentioned building a small power plant.

“I thought there should be a power plant in our state in the long run.”

“Of course. There must be a limit to the solar energy. Our group has a lot of know-how in building power plants, so we can build any size.”

“How big the plant should be in order to run factories with 20,000 workers?”

“I’m an outsider in the field of development, so I only have light knowledge of this. I think you’ll need at least one 50 MW powerplant to cover your needs. I’ll talk to the construction department for more details.”

He also informed Youngho of the basic knowledge about the power generation facilities.

Power generation facilities that used natural liquefied natural gas as fuel were somewhat more expensive than a coal power plant but produced eco-friendly energy.

The strength of the small powerplant was that auxiliary facilities could be minimized since the plant would be near to the power consumption centers.

In the case of the autonomous state, the Ural River was located on the side, so there were also conditions for unrestricted access to industrial water required for power plants.

“We will build a power plant and it will be the factory cost in return for helping our company’s work in Kazakhstan.”

“Hahaha… It’s just a planning phase, and you’re getting ahead of yourself.”

“I think you’ve already made up your mind, so give us a chance. I already know that you don’t like Korean companies or the government very much, but please think of us as a global company.”

“I haven’t even met many Korean companies so far, and you’ve contributed to Kazakhstan’s development by a lot. I’m thankful for you and your company, Mr. Kim. Also, your company didn’t have any ties with the Korean government either.”

“While staying in Astana, I often visited the Korean Embassy. The officials there were a little disappointed that they weren’t even invited to big events held in the Arirang Autonomous State.”

“We couldn`t invite the Korean ambassador only. It would be misleading to invite the Korean ambassador to other countries since we didn’t invite any. The country is a member of Kazakhstan anyway, not a member of the Republic of Korea.”

“I see.”

“I would’ve invited the Korean ambassador if I had a personal affection for the Korean government, but to be honest, dealing with Korean officials is a hassle.”

“I agree with you on that. I think it’s better to delegate consular service to civilians.”

While dealing with bureaucrats was also a nuisance, the Korean embassies overseas tended to practice their authority over their compatriots overseas. From the perspective of Korean overseas; who have built their foundation in foreign countries, the presence of the embassy from their home country was a nuisance, let alone being helped by the embassy.

It was often the case that Korean embassies brought in local ethnic Koreans and entrepreneurs to the embassy to impress politicians visiting from Korea. So, Youngho was distancing himself from the Korean Embassy. Some Korean companies were also avoiding contact as much as possible, as the Korean officials were only thinking of using ethnic Koreans or local businessmen. It was a shame that the embassy was no help for Korean overseas.