Empire of the Ring

Although it was the end of February, it was snowing once in two or four days as the wet season just began in Kazakhstan.

It had been three days since a regiment of troops was deployed to Afghanistan and special soldiers of the Royal Bodyguards left to punish China. They must be suffering hard because of the snow on top of the cold weather.

The troops that went to Afghanistan took a train to Kyrgyzstan and used armored vehicles or trucks to get to Afghanistan. It must be difficult for them to move in mountainous regions as they camped outside.

Although the soldiers deployed to Afghanistan were honored by people before they left as they were going under the name of peacekeepers, the special Royal Bodyguards did not even get such cheers as they had to sneak out the royal territory like sneaky cats.

It would be best if they came back safe and sound, but it must not be easy.

Looking out the window, Youngho’s mind was busy.

Although the precipitation was not heavy, the roads turned icy and the traffic was paralyzed due to small and large accidents.

“If there had not been the median strip in the middle of the roads, there must have been a lot of casualties.”

“Your Grace, we need to bring in plowing equipment since the traffic load has increased.”

Kim Chun got anxious as the road was congested.

“We have more frequent snow this year. It’ll be a blessing if it is like this every year. I’d take this much inconvenience at any time.”

Youngho and Kim Chun had just been to the groundbreaking ceremony of the textile factory in the newly built Kurdish settlement village.

Since all drivers were driving carefully, there were only minor accidents with no major injuries.

Hoping for more snow in the royal territory, Youngho was patiently waiting for the traffic congestion to clear up. Rain or snow was a gift from heaven in dry Kazakhstan.

“Your Grace, should I call the police?”

“Oh, just leave it alone. Our guards are clearing the road. Since they’re minor accidents, it will be cleared soon.”

“It’s not suitable for the authority of the royal territory that you’re traveling this simply even in the royal territory. You should have more guards and cars following you.”

“Well, I’d agree if it was the Queen’s visit, but I’m fine just like this. Besides, if we have more guards and big entourage, it will cause inconvenience to residents. Besides, I visit places multiple times every day. How can I stick to formality every time? Please don’t do that.”

“You need to think about your security, too. You won’t lose anything for doing so. We just had criminals walking on the streets in our city, remember?”

“We shouldn’t worry about that anymore. Thanks to them, the security of the whole region of Kazakhstan is perfect now.”

“Well, I’m thankful for that. I want to give them a reward for that.”

After the Romanian criminals’ appearance in the royal territory was discovered, the security system of airports all over the country was improved and security and inspection equipment were replaced. It was processed secretly from the public’s eye.

Especially, Chinese people who lived in big cities such as Almaty were under a close watch. It was because the members of the Black Society, the notorious gang group in China, were connected to Chinese merchants as they were in Kazakhstan disguising themselves as employees of Chinese businesses. To root them out, all the Chinese were being closely watched.

***

“Mr. Prime Minister, I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you a heads up on the current operation.”

“No worries at all. This kind of operation must be kept secret. In fact, you shouldn’t have told me until the end.”

Prime Minister Kasim seemed surprised to find out about the deployment of special Royal Bodyguards to Xinjing Uyghur but soon he was relieved as no news about Kazakhstan being related to Xinjiang Uyghur was heard.

“I’m glad you understand, but I thought that ministers in the diplomacy and national defense line should know about this in case of unexpected situations…”

“Well, I think it’s going to be hard for them to keep their poker face when the Chinese government suspects us. I’ll keep it to myself for a while.”

As strong terrorist attacks occurred in Xinjiang Uyghur consecutively recently, the tension at the borderline was intensified than ever. Since the Chinese government was afraid of other Central Asian countries’ intervention in the region, rather than Uyghur people, it reinforced border security whenever there were incidents in the region.

Worried about the potential negative impact of the tension at the border, Kasim visited the royal palace.

“The current attacks are intended to give hope to Uyghurs rather than to retaliate. From now on, Uyghur rebels who are going to be trained in Afghanistan will start their independence movement. I don’t want war against China, but I don’t want to be passive against China, either. Although we are weak, I’m not afraid as our people are united with one heart.”

“I’m kind of worried about how China will react but I’m very excited about our active measure against China. It’s quite different than our past government. Hopefully, China will learn about the new Kazakhstan, soon.”

“Even if our involvement in the recent attacks on Xinjiang Uyghur is revealed, I’m not afraid. If not war, we’re capable of local battles. We’ll soon have such power.”

“Hearing your words gives me confidence. Are you talking about the laser technology transferred from Korea when you say ‘such power’?”

“That is one thing, but we’ll soon have another, too.”

What Youngho was talking about was the nuclear bomb.

The technology to make a nuclear bomb was already accumulated in the royal territory’s weapons lab.

There was a nuclear plant in operation already, and Kazakhstan had the second most uranium resource deposits in the world, which was the base material for nuclear power generation.

If Kazakhstan fell into danger, he was ready to order to make one regardless of other nations. Neighboring nations already assumed that Kazakhstan had one, so it would not be a matter if Kazakhstan had one. Of course, it would stir up disputes, but the country was already surrounded by nuclear states. There was a rational cause which was to protect national underground resources. Since Kazakhstan was a resource-rich country, other nations eventually would have to comply with the Kazakh government and royal family to get resources.

“Are you talking about what you mentioned before?”

“You are right. Other nations won’t be able to do anything since they already think we didn’t destroy nuclear missiles that were made during the Soviet era.”

“There will be heavy pressure.”

“Well, wouldn’t developing one be the same as announcing what we already had? In order to survive against China or Russia, we should let them know that we are a threat to them.”

“I’m worried but strangely comforted by your assertiveness. Could there be nuclear weapons left somewhere In Kazakhstan since others guess that?”

“I wish that was true. We mobilized our intelligence agents and military, but couldn’t find one.”

“We should thoroughly investigate it. The former president is someone who’s likely to have such weapons kept secret in somewhere. He was no less than you when it came to national defense as you know well.”

When Kasim leaned toward the possibility of the existence of nuclear weapons, Youngho was also excited. If a regime changed properly, there would have been transfer of duties and information, but this was not the case in Kazakhstan as the former president Nazarbayev had fled hastily. Because of this, there were a lot of difficulties in the early days of the current regime.

Especially, the former regime had so many secrets since it had been in power for twenty years. So there were numerous mysteries that had not been solved yet in the previous government’s conducts.

There might be another safe existing somewhere in Kazakhstan for Nazarbayev’s slush funds.

If he wanted to keep his regime forever, would he not have done something about nuclear weapons that were not claimed? If it were Youngho, he would have snuck out a few of them already.

He must be a peacenik if he did not covet such strong weapons that could cover the weak defense power of a newly formed nation. Moreover, if they were already made, it would not have been easy just to give up and destroy them.

“If those weapons exist somewhere we don’t know, we should take a big bow to Former President Nazarbayev.”

“He must’ve left a few since Kazakhstan used to be a nuclear lab of the Soviet Union.”