Empire of the Ring

Chapter 678: Playing the Innocent (2)

Located about 30 kilometers from the royal palace, the underground cave was 150 meters deep from the ground and had an area of about 9 square kilometers.

The width of a wide part was one kilometer long and a narrow part was about 100 meters long. It was originally a long and winding space, but after some work and reinforcement, an evacuation facility that would allow 10,000 people to stay for about six months was established. It also stored emergency food depots for the entire population of the royal territory to eat for a year.

Such evacuation facilities were also being built throughout Kazakhstan and the royal territory.

The entrance gate to the underground cave was built in the widest section of the cave, and Apache helicopters and light armored vehicles could come in and out of it.

Even if the world were to be turned upside down by a sudden change, the cave would last several years. Youngho was inspired to develop such facilities as he was inspired by Switzerland’s countless shelter facilities.

Inspecting the cave with a pleased look, Youngho came up to the ground after ordering several things to the construction director, Min.

“Isn’t there plenty of room for utilization?”

The power generation facility and air purification facility were perfect and the artificial sun function seemed plausible for people to stay underground for a long time.

“I think it would be okay to set up major facilities here.”

“Do we really need to bring such facilities underground?”

“I mean we should install a satellite control system or supercomputer here. Then we won’t have to rush around even if an emergency happened.”

“Nobody would want to work under the ground.”

“The future war depends on who makes good use of the electronic equipment. When the ground is devastated, you can’t get anything.”

“Don’t say such things. It’s bad luck.”

“I’m just saying we should be prepared for any situation. There will be nothing to worry about if we can do it now.”

“Discuss it with Director Min. If such a facility is possible underground, let’s make it a contingency facility.”

“We’re not going to use it regularly?”

“It’s a hidden bastion but if there’s a lot of people in and out every day, it won’t be a secret anymore. It will be a reserved facility.”

“Jeez… I argued for nothing.”

“It’s better than nothing. Just know that developed countries spend astronomical amounts of money building dozens of such facilities. It’s never a waste of time to prepare for the future, even if we never get to use it.”

“Phew, alright. Can I say another thing?”

“What?”

“How about training young people of the Islamic Party of Tajikistan as a separate unit of the Royal Bodyguards?”

“You heard it from Park Jong-il.”

“I heard it’s a pretty useful organization. If we welcome them as the Royal Bodyguards, they will be a strong supporter of the royal family…”

“Will they be our people after training?”

“When the Queen visits Tajikistan, she can ask them to watch the outer perimeter. We’ll see how they react.”

***

Although it was still a chaotic time for Tajikistan, the queen’s march was another hope for the Tajiks, so she decided to go ahead.

For the poor, it was more important to give hope for the future than immediate economic assistance.

Until now, Tajikistan had been dominated by the establishment, and the gap between the rich and the poor was widening further year by year.

Youngho thought that even a small amount of attention would make them turn into a loyal group as people had been left with no safety net at all.

One of the reasons for the hurry to visit Tajikistan was to upset China, which had been interrupting from all sides.

Prior to the Queen’s visit, Park Jong-il had gone ahead to survey the current situation and came back to report the situation.

“The Islamic Party said it would be in charge of the perimeter guarding. It will have the role of a crowded wall. When the Queen visits, they would also play a role in creating an atmosphere.”

With 170,000 party members, thousands of them would be seen as a huge support force.

The mobilization of men was one of the ways of using crowd psychology.

“What did you think of the leader?”

“He’s about our age and he’s very smart. He knew our royal family very well. According to him, constitutional monarchy is best suited in Central Asia.”

“Does that man have no self-respect? It’s like his people are losing sovereignty, but he is fond of our royal family.”

“He said the group supported the idea of a federal government since the only choice left to correct corruption in the establishment was an armed uprising. What’s more, they’ve been watching how Kyrgyzstan has changed and what our royal policies are, so they became very supportive. Aside from that, I think we were meant to be together anyway. He graduated from Kazakhstan National University.”

“Really? If he came to Kazakhstan to study, his family must’ve been well-off.”

“He’s from a very poor family in the mountains, but he must have stood out because he was so smart.”

“I guess none of the officials in Tajikistan are right-minded. They are not interested in nurturing talent.”

“That’s not the case for all. We need to carefully sort out good officials from corrupt ones. Also, some companies have been forced to finance and provide convenience to politicians, so we should take a deep look at them.”

Youngho did not intend to touch private companies from the start.

This was because he was well aware of the inevitable structural problems in less developed countries. Private companies had to cater to the tastes of the government and bureaucrats who held the right to set up companies or factories.

It would not be easy to identify the jade stone from pebbles during a short survey period.

“Leave bad companies alone for the time being. If there’s a mistake, we can fix it. Tajiks already lack jobs. If we get rid of companies, the situation will get worse.”

“How many jobs would be created by a factory in the form of a domestic handicraft industry that takes even minors and overworked them?”

“If such factories close, it will be difficult for people to make ends meet.”

“For those people, we should selectively implement social security.”

“Hmm…How many such factories are there?”

“They should not even be called factories since they’re small, but there are more than a hundred. They don’t have much economic feasibility.”

“Okay. Be thorough with your research.”

***

About 800 people accompanied the Queen on the train to Tajikistan.

Such a number of people were mobilized to show the dignity of the Kazakh royal family.

Even the royal knights, the Royal Bodyguards and the honor guards of the Royal Armed Division accompanied the trip.

As the train route from the royal territory was now connected to the Atyrau-Oral mainline, they could travel to the entire Central Asian region as well as Europe.

Youngho was going to take a leisurely tour of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, as there was a train dedicated to the royal family.

With the queen’s move, the media’s attention was enormous.

World-renowned media outlets also followed the way of the visit, as the visit commemorated Tajikistan’s becoming a federal state.

As the entire Central Asia was agitated, China would look into it in real-time if it had eyes and ears.

The royal train arrived only two full days after passing through southern Kazakhstan to Almaty.

After a day in Almaty, it took only eight hours to travel through Kyrgyzstan to Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan.

If it had been a straight course like Kazakhstan, it would have taken five hours, but the railway lines of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan were connected to winding mountainous regions, so it took a lot of time.

This train trip would cause a rapid rise in rail travel products.

They were rail products across Kazakhstan’s Great Plains and a trip to the mountain regions starting from Almaty.

The reporters who accompanied the queen recorded the journey. Even if it was advertised, it was clear that the route would be loved by people around the world in the future.

What Kazakhstan needed to do was to provide luxury bed trains for European travelers to ride comfortably.

The view around the railroad was simply spectacular.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan in May were so beautiful that the Alps could not compare to them.

It was a long trip, but it was not too tiring because of the comfort of the private train.

They could have used planes to travel but decided to use the train because Fatima had entered the sixth month of pregnancy and traveling by plane could be a little overwhelming.

But the train ride was surprisingly pleasant, and Fatima seemed to be enjoying the trip as well.

Although it was not easy to stay in different cities for as long as 30 minutes or two hours to respond to the welcoming ceremony of residents, Fatima was as alert as usual.

“She’s more lively even though she’s pregnant.”

“I know she won’t like to hear this, but I think she won’t have a problem giving births to three or four more children in the future.”

Park Jong-il whispered in a small voice, lest he should be heard.

“You want me to have more children when I’m already tired by one?”

“Look at her. It’s strange that a pregnant woman can be so active like that.”

Fatima, who waved her hand to the countless crowds gathered in the square in front of the train station and did not look tired at all for someone who had just finished her long trip.

She was glowing.

“Oh, she’s only acting lively because she is the Queen and so many people are looking up to her.”

“I feel like the royal blood is different. She’s like someone who was born to be a queen. Doesn’t she look more conspicuous because we’re standing nearby?”

As Jong-il said, Youngho could almost see a halo behind Fatima.

The person who was so quiet and had little presence in the royal palace looked so noble and bright in an important setting like this.

“You should be nice to her if you should have more heirs. A lot of princes and princesses are needed to stabilize the royal family.”

“Oh, didn’t you know that the Serbian royal families in the past only had all daughters except the first son?”

“What a strange thing. Isn’t it strange that in the 21st century, what is likely to happen in fantasy novels is happening in real life?”

“Don’t think too much. If we live hard in our given situations, we’ll find out later.”

“This riddle will never be solved in our lifetime.”

“What if I can’t solve the riddle? It’s important that we were chosen.”