Empire of the Ring

Youngho reported to the Kazakh Army that the Countryside Force would be leaving the Arirang Autonomous State to guard the road construction survey team. It was not something that the state could decide without the Kazakh military’s consent since soldiers of the Countryside Force would leave the state on light-armored vehicles.

He had been strictly reporting every movement of the Countryside Force if any of the soldiers on duty was leaving the state since the Countryside Force could be considered as a threatening armed force to the Kazakh military.

As Youngho was still waiting for the military’s approval, there was a lot to prepare for the Countryside Force and the H Corporation’s highway construction consortium. He got some gifts to the occupational troop at the border and things needed for the construction survey team.

There were only ten members of the survey team and ten Countryside Force guards to travel to remote places; they would need a lot of things including water, gas, and daily supplies. If they could not camp out, they would have to stay at the vehicles—so one vehicle was assigned to only four people at a time.

In several days, the Kazakh Army’s approval was received. Recognizing the importance of the national project, the Army agreed to send a commissioned officer along with the survey team. This meant that the Kazakh Army approved the Countryside Force as part of its branch.

“I guess the army sent an officer in exchange for the light-armored vehicles.”

“Whatever their reason is, let’s just be glad that the army approves us now.”

Youngho recently sent a document of free transfer of the light-armored vehicles that the state had rented to the army troops in west Kazakhstan. It was an appreciative gesture of the army for saving its face. The army in west Kazakhstan had been dissatisfied since only the troops that were near the Chinese border were equipped with brand-new armored vehicles. With the light-armored vehicles received by the autonomous state, the west Kazakh Army was now equipped with more legitimate vehicles.

“We’ll be on the road for more than ten days from forward. Are there more supplies we should bring?”

It would take them at least ten days for them to cross the country that was twelve times larger than the Korean Peninsula when the road condition was at its best. Since they would have to drive on the rough, unpaved road most of the time of their trip, it would probably take them more than that.

“Except for the existence of the bathroom inside, the vehicles are modified so that you can eat and sleep inside it. You’ll have everything you need.”

Since the vehicles could seat ten fully-armed soldiers, it had enough room for four people to lie down, when several seats were removed. They would be able to sleep on thick mattresses inside.

It could be fatal to camp outside in the severe cold of Kazakhstan’s winter and at an altitude of 2,000 meters. Also, the guards would have to be on their duty overnight if they camped outside. Since it was going to be a long trip, it would wear them out slowly. Thus, sleeping inside the vehicle would be warmer and safer for the survey team.

Moreover, the light-armored vehicles were sturdy enough to protect people from accidents that frequently happened because of Kazakhstan’s rough road conditions. People in Kazakhstan were known to drive violently as well, but there would be no driver who would rush themselves toward light-armored vehicles.

“I’m concerned since it’ll be hard to find gas stations once they enter Kyrgyzstan.”

“Commissioner. How about sending a small tanker with them?”

“Oh! There’s our solution. That’s a hundred times better than running out of gas in the middle of nowhere.”

They had to be prepared for any emergency situation since they were traveling a long distance in appalling conditions.

***

Although it was now an offseason for farming, there were hardly any drunken people on the streets at the autonomous state. It was partly because of the state-regulated alcohol consumption, and it was also because the whole state was busy preparing for the coming winter. People had no time to drink at the moment.

Serbians at the state had a distorted drinking culture since they had lived in isolation, and in a mountainous area for a long time. It was also because the Serbian Orthodox Church allowed drinking. The reason that the state limited alcohol consumption was that too many people were used to heavy drinking and that could cause problems in families and communities.

“There are not many residents who drink too much lately, isn’t it?”

“It’s because you are a great role model for them, Boss.”

“Why are you pulling me into this?”

“I made a rumor that the prince consort of the Archduchess stopped drinking for health. That was quite effective, I think.”

“I drank with visitors of the state. Who’d believe that?”

“You drank for guests, not for yourself.”

“Oh, we’ll be having frequent visitors from Volgograd from now on. I should be sneaky to drink with them.”

Yaniv and Sergey were extreme heavy drinkers that their way of greeting was to offer a drink. It was quite strange to Youngho that how people who belonged to the Orthodox Church drank more than people who did not go to church.

He had heard that Russia adopted the Orthodox Church because it allowed drinking. Islam was not a suitable religion for cold Russia since religion prohibited pork and alcoholic drinks. The Orthodox Church tried to suppress heavy drinking culture but it never had success because it could not stop the aristocrats’ privilege of making and selling vodka.

Recently, the Russian government had been trying to improve the excessive drinking culture but it was not as successful as the autonomous state. It seemed that the people of the Arirang Autonomous State, which consisted of immigrants, were strong-willed to adapt to the new environment and establish the new kingdom.

People of the state who ranched were now busy picking up hay that was made in the summer and fixing cattle sheds. Farmers, although it was an off-season for farming, were now working at developing new farmland and building stonewalls to block winds.

The state planned to double the size of farmland by next year. There would be beans planted in the new farmland by next year. The soil would be maintaining its rich condition as beans and wheat would be alternatively planted every year. The rest of the land would be turned into pasture and used to raise cattle.

Even with the new farmland developed, the state would only be able to produce a few tons of wheat at max, so most of it went to Azerbaijan. It was because the autonomous state had signed a contract with the Azerbaijani government to provide wheat for the country for several years. The plan to sell whole wheat flour was postponed since there was a lot to figure out before the state could actually secure the market for whole wheat. Youngho decided to let Suh Min-seok and Kim In-hwa figure out the details of the whole wheat business.

“You don’t have to rush it. Just thoroughly examine it.”

“I’m going to try to find a market in Korea first, but I highly doubt that there’s high demand. So, I’m going to also look for a place around the Caucasus.”

Suh Min-seok showed great enthusiasm.

“Wheat is the major people’s diet here. People prefer whole wheat bread and you can’t expect to get paid highly for it as you would in Korea, or else, you will get kicked out from the market right away.”

Youngho was giving the couple a challenging job because he wanted to test their capability. Wheat farming was not the major business of the state, so it was not going to be a terrible thing if the whole wheat business failed.

***

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the heating system of most households was a stove. In urban homes, electric stoves or furnaces were used, but wealthy people used fireplaces to heat their houses. It was an expensive option especially for urban people because firewood cost a lot to keep houses warm throughout the whole winter.

Except for the people who lived in rural places with lots of trees, it was not easy to get firewood. So, people naturally wore thick clothes even inside their houses to stay warm throughout the winter.

However, the houses at the autonomous state had floor heating system which was adopted from Korea, and people could last the winter wearing t-shirts inside their houses. With thick outer walls, the houses were designed to keep cool air during the summer, and warm air during the winter. And as the floor was heated, each house was bound to be warm due to the circulation of air.

When the residents lived in Serbia, they used fireplaces and it used to cause them cold and pneumonia due to the polluted air and dryness. They liked that their chronic illnesses were gone ever since they moved to the autonomous state.

Youngho visited the hospital at the autonomous state in a long time to see Doctor Kim Dong-sung.

“Director, I heard that you’re bored and that you don’t get many patients here lately.”

“We don’t have many patients from the state but the patients from outside had been increasing. I’m concerned that we’ll run out of wards for the patients soon.”

The medical team at the autonomous state was now popular in other cities such as Atyrau and Astana in Kazakhstan and people traveled far to get hospitalized for their illness. They would have gone to Russia or Europe to get treated in the past, but now they were crowding into the autonomous state.

The general hospital was still being built with more wards and facilities but it would be completed in next year.

“You should prepare for the winter when you’re not busy.”

“What does a doctor need to prepare for winter?”

There was nothing that a hospital should prepare for the winter except for its regular duties such as, buying regular hospital supplies.

“Wouldn’t you need some wolf fur?”

His face brightened as he finally understood what Youngho meant.

Since the doctor was already over 60, he would not be able to hunt in the severe mid-winter’s weather. Now was the best time for him to get outside now and hunt wolf with Youngho before it became too cold.

“I was going to visit the gold mine before the water freezes but I guess I should be satisfied with hunting wolves. My head gets cold these days and I was thinking to buy a hat for myself. Wolf fur sounds perfect for that!”

He loved gold indeed.

Youngho heard that the doctors had been gathering on Friday afternoons. It seemed that they had been thinking about going to the gold mine. Youngho had postponed the trip to the mine multiple times because it did not look good to the residents when they were so busy preparing the state for the coming winter. The weather had turned so cold that it frosted every morning now, and it seemed that the gold mine season was off for this year.

Instead, he was willing to satisfy the doctors’ desires with hunting wolves and bunnies.

The next day, Youngho received a call from Eriksson when he was taking a rest in his home after returning from hunting with Kim Dong-sung and other doctors.

“Lee. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about that. They say that no news is good news.”

“Hahaha… That’s a way to look at it. A gift must have arrived to you, Lee. I’ll stop by at Frankfurt sometime soon. Let’s grab some coffee.”

“I have a monthly meeting next month. Let’s meet at the place where we always meet after my meeting.”

Eriksson hung up as soon as Youngho agreed to see him. It was a straightforward call without unnecessary information. He must have something to discuss with Youngho since he asked to meet him.

Any business with Information Agency was beneficial to Youngho, so he would not refuse to meet Eriksson at any time.

He checked his bank account immediately, and 25 million dollars was deposited to his account. It was an amount more than enough to make up for what he had lost from Russia’s situation. Youngho wondered how much the clients of Information Agency would have made from the Chechnya’s oil pipeline explosion incident since 25 million dollars was only his portion and the agency must have made more than him.

There must be other parties that lost this much amount of money when there were people who made this much. There were many groups that utilized such information that he had slipped to Eriksson.

Youngho was again reminded of the importance of information.

This was why Youngho tried hard to acquire any piece of important information about Central Asia. Fast information meant money.

Youngho quickly called Jong-il to share his thought. He thought that Jong-il’s intelligence team should have a base in Almaty as soon as possible.

He also called Agent Smith in Astana to ask to find an office for H Corporation’s road construction consortium. Although he traveled to Almaty often, he did not have many connections as Agent Smith.

“Whoa, I didn’t know you can call first, Mr. Lee.”

“You know that a Korean corporation is building roads in Kyrgyzstan, right?”

“Do you have any idea how much I was criticized for that because there was no information for American corporations?”

“What are you talking about? I helped you with the power plant business. I wasn’t going to get an American corporation involved but I still told you because I cared about you.”

“Those corporations would never thank you for such a job. They just think that it was going to be theirs anyway.”

“I need an office in Almaty for H Corporation. Could you please look for a good site?”

“Will you count me in this too?”

If American corporations would get involved in this, Youngho was willing to make a position for them since Kazakhstan was full of Russian companies. The country needed more foreign businesses to fight against Russian companies.

“Depends on how well you do the job.”