Empire of the Ring

It was time for Youngho to find out what to do with the gold ores that had impurities. They had gone through the separation process, but because too many ores were piling up, now he needed to find measures to keep them. They had been stored in a wooden storage unit in front of the dead mines, but because of Youngho’s strong drive to find gold, the storage was already about to overflow.

There were multiple ways to extract gold. He had studied the theories but he needed an expert with experience.

Since it was an old mining region, finding a retired expert was not hard, but he was not sure how many people could be counted on to keep the secret of his mines.

“Oppa, what do you do on the ranch to make you super tired?”

Youngho knew that quick-witted Fatima would find out about his secret one day, and sure enough, she soon asked a question.

He had been so occupied in digging up gold that he forgot to rest and stayed up all night in the mines. Although he had the ring on, there was a limit to his body’s capabilities.

Because he could not work on other things in the day, he excluded Kim Ilkwon from working at nights so that Ilkwon could replace Youngho in the day.

Knowing that he could not deceive Fatima, he had to come clean.

“I accidentally found veins of gold while repairing the dead mines.”

Fatima’s eyes brightened at his words.

Who would not like gold and jewels?

“Oh my word. Wow!”

She repeatedly uttered an exclamation. She seemed curious.

“I kept it a secret because the government will not sit back when the word spread out because I bought the mines to use for wine-aging storage.”

Youngho showed her a lump of gold he stored in his study and her face brightened like a child looking at something for the first time.

“That’s why you built a stone wall around the ranch.”

“No, in the beginning, I built it to protect the sheep from other animals, but it works as a primary protection now. The rest of the land I’ll just keep as pasture. It’ll look suspicious if I build stone walls everywhere when there are not a lot of people around.”

“I like the scenery there. I was going to make a summer house in there so our child can run around and play. What do you think?”

Surely, the place was 800 meters above the sea level that it would be cool even during the summer. Youngho had only thought it as a training place for the security crew since it was in a remote place, but after listening to her, he realized that the place might be safer than Zeynep Farm.

It could actually be a natural fortress since more than two-thirds of the place was surrounded by cliffs and valleys. With the entrance and the southern part secured, no one could approach the ranch.

The pasture could be left as it was since it was only used for sheep, but the preexisting land of 300 acres with its natural environment would look like a castle of a medieval time period with a little touch.

Also, as Fatima said, his soon-to-be-born child could play there safely if there was a mansion like a little castle.

He would never find how much, but there was gold buried in the land. It was a valuable land that he could leave for his descendants.

Soon, he began the construction to build a mansion in the land, thinking he was building a strong and safe place for the farm family’s vacation place that could also be a fortress in case of war. The stone walls near the entrance and southern part of the ranch were built higher and sturdier. So, even if war broke out, he would not have to worry about his family’s safety.

***

The hutches for the sheep to stay warm in the winter were already completed and the milking facility and cheese processing facility were coming close to completion.

Youngho convinced local shepherds in other local ranches and turned them into his employees with a regular salary. Since their regular salary was guaranteed, they sold their own tens or hundreds of sheep to Youngho’s ranch. The job of shepherding was not one that anyone could do. The shepherds were experts with vast experience.

They controlled herds of sheep with dozens of different whistling sounds and they could fight wolves only with a staff. Not only that, it was a hard job since they have to milk the sheep after herding them.

Although it was less tiring since there was a milking machine nowadays, milking was still a delicate process to be treated hygienically.

In due time, shepherds also had to shear sheep and took care of the newborns of their sheep. Shepherding was an all-year-round busy occupation.

A thousand sheep was a jaw-dropping number, but Youngho was looking at 10,000 sheep even though the leader of shepherds kept convincing him it was impossible.

He said that sheep would conceive twice a year and since they usually give birth to one or two lambs that the number of the herd would grow quickly. In 3,000 acres of pasture, 7,000 sheep was the limit. If the number exceeded 7,000, they would have to find other pastures to feed the sheep.

From spring to fall, grazing was possible because the land was full of grass, but in order to prepare for the winter, they had to prepare hay in advance and the amount would not last to feed 1,000 of sheep. Therefore, the shepherd leader said that the herd would starve to death if there were 1,000 sheep.

“Mr. Lee, we’re thankful that you bought our sheep and gave us decent, regular pay but we can barely handle 4,000 sheep now.”

To the shepherds who had been living in the mountains, herding hundreds of sheep and selling cheese made out of sheep’s milk, Youngho’s enterprise approach was absurd. The hays to feed the herd for the winter could be bought from outside, but they had no idea if that was possible.

It was natural since they did not experience economy of a larger scale, but Youngho was not someone who would ignore the shepherds’ experiences.

“Then let’s begin with 4,000 sheep. In order to provide cheese in the Baku market, we need that much sheep. You don’t have to worry about hay. If we don’t have enough hay, we can buy them from outside”

“Well, if you can buy hay from outside, it’s not all impossible. If the milking facility is completed, we won’t have to hire more people. I think the ten shepherds we have now can handle 4,000 sheep. If we need more manpower, our children can work too.”

The children of shepherds who used to have their own herds were usually better shepherds than inexperienced adults.

“Well, you can let them work after school. I don’t want them to drop out of school because of work.”

Youngho said that since in remote areas, many children’s education rates were low because their parents did not earn much from shepherding.

The reason that many people in the farm industry were poor was that they were isolated with only so many resources they had. The shepherds who only relied on hundreds of their sheep and farmers who owned local grape farms only made enough to live on. They still stayed poor despite their hard work since they did not have enough funds to expand their business.

Even if they were able to increase their production amount, it was difficult to find markets because of the Caucasus Mountain Range. It was blocking exchanges between people. No one would make roads in remote hilly areas in the mountains where only a handful of people lived in small villages. Many generations of people that used to live in the mountains also gave up and moved to big cities.

The regions of Caucasus had vast, untouched lands.

If an entrepreneur like Youngho paid a little more attention, there were plenty of sites to make into farms or ranches.

***

Since transportation was the major issue, Youngho made efforts to expand and pave the road to the ranch. Since only large trucks or SUVs would be going into the ranch for the business, the road did not need to be polished.

Although the Azerbaijani government had plenty of funds from oil production, there was no budget to pave the roads in the remote areas.

It was expected to cost a lot of money just to wrap a 20-kilometer or longer paths from the main road to the ranch.

The pavement work was completed only after Youngho negotiated with the government and they agreed that Youngho would pay the construction fee and worker’s wage and the government would support with asphalts and other materials. Being a byproduct of oil, asphalts were cheap in Azerbaijan.

As the area rarely had rain and there was little traffic, the roads were paved without any drains and central lines. Its benefits were enormous.

First, because accessibility was improved, laborers easily commuted to the ranch and construction materials were easily transported.

The greatest thing was that now a delicate or fragile product could be moved in good condition. The traffic had become so convenient now that the 40-minute distance had been reduced to 15 minutes.

“Man, why don’t you make a bunker already?”

Jongil clicked his tongue as he looked at Youngho’s floor plan of the mansion.

“It’s for the next generations of my descendants. We’ve experienced all sorts of things because we were poor, but I don’t want my descendants to suffer. I wish for them to live in peace.”

“Do you think this country will be a war-torn place?”

“Didn’t you see how hostile Armenians are to Azerbaijan? They want to take over the whole region of the Caucasus. It doesn’t seem feasible now, but someday, they will really do it.”

“You overreact to all things these days. What are you not telling me again? Just say it.”

“…”

Although it was just a supposition, Youngho wondered how Jongil would react if he said that Jews were shaking the whole world’s history. It would be better if Youngho looked crazy but it would be more problematic if Jongil overly reacted to the story.

“Man, you surely have something going on. I can see it from your face.”

Now, Jongil was sure that Youngho was hiding something from him.

For the next hour, Youngho explained what Eriksson told him to Jongil with a little revision.

***

“After making the second basement, we should make a passage to connect two buildings.”

Youngho was shaking his head. Jongil was a smart guy but other than his language ability, his brain seemed to be filled with muscles only. He just reacted to everything with his unique simplicity. He was now for certain that the world will be upside down soon.

The next day, he was busy going here and there with Insoo on Zeynep Farm with the farm’s map on his hand.

He even took out the Russian claymore mines that were put away in the basement’s armory and installed them around the farm for the next few days.

As if that was not enough, he ordered more from Sergey in Volgograd.

“Jongil, you’ve got to stop it. People will get scared.”

“They can get scared all they want but that’s not the problem. Can you give me my share of the gold bars? I think I should buy a missile launcher.”

Youngho ran out of his patience at that moment.

“Dude, cut it out!”

Youngho stroke the back of Jongil’s head but he kept on going.

“Anyway, I’m going to be prepared in my own way, so give me some of your money.”