Empire of the Ring

The second winter of Arirang Farm was severe, but it would be remembered as a warm year by many. The elevation of the status of Arirang Farm as an autonomous republic lightened up new hope in the residents’ hearts. They were solidarized more, due to the event.

Moreover, there was a cause for the farm’s own military power. The upgraded Countryside Force now had a different uniform. They had prepared the Kazakhstan Army’s uniform and went around proudly wearing it.

The farm was permitted to have some judicial power and military power to defend and attack enemies, and that made the director of Countryside Force to become a commander.

Hearing that Cha Insoo would become a commander of Countryside Force, Park Jong-il was jealous. He had been saying that the director of the Intelligence Department was higher than a commander of Countryside Force.

“If your men are bad at what they’re doing, Intelligence Department will take over Countryside Force, do you understand?”

“You don’t even have any recruits yet. I’m not afraid of your one-man intelligence department.”

“I’ll soon have more people than you do now. Don’t come to me saying you need to exchange men later.”

The two bickered at each other, but their faces were brighter than ever since there was no one who would bother the farm for using forces. The heavy firearms that were only collecting dust in the storage units of the farm would be put into use. Although there would be no occasions to use those, in reality, they were great for demonstrative use and showing off.

“By the way, what is this term? The autonomy of the farm will be re-examined if its population doesn’t grow half as many, in a decade?”

“It’s ridiculous, but the government wants us to do whatever it takes to increase the population.”

Youngho laughed at this term when he first saw it, but this revealed the weakness of the Kazakh government. It was trying its best to increase the density of people since the country was suffering from a shortage of people. There were not many countries that forced children like this around the globe.

There were many weapons given by Russia, but because of the shortage of military soldiers, they had no chance to be used. They were only taking up space in national armories. The government could recruit more soldiers but if that happened, other industries would be paralyzed, so the law did not receive young people who were employed by large corporations. To the government, Serbian immigrants were good news since when the number of people increased, wasteland would start to be developed little by little.

Another term that was attached to the autonomy, was that the farm should complete developing the land who they had given it to.

Youngho was given land who was sized two times more than what he had originally planned. At first, the land he contracted with the government was about the half size of Seoul, and now, the land was a little bigger than Seoul. Although he was given more land, he was not happy at all.

He was still struggling to develop the land and some were developed into pasture, since farming the whole site was impossible, but the government was now forcing him to develop more land. If it was given to him in the beginning, he would have loved it, since he was crazy over land, but he now knew that having more land was not an exciting thing.

On the other hand, Kim Chun was excited to have more land. He did not mind the wasteland since the farm had more surrounding land. Now that there was double the size of land, farmers would have to plant wheat in an area that was a few times more than the current farming area.

Regardless of the quality and quantity of crop, it was better to begin farming and soiling, in order to produce fertile land. Though it would only produce one-fifth of the rich land’s crop, it was still a lot of numbers, when everything was gathered in the vast farmland.

The farm planned to make meadows in the northeastern side of the farm, to prevent sandstorm and farmland in the southeastern side.

As the territory grew in size, it would be necessary to find a way to decrease traveling time around the farm. So, Youngho would have to plan to install railroads and paved roads. It seemed that there were many things left that would drain the farm’s funds.

***

A Koryoin naval officer, Victor Jun, visited the farm.

He was the one who inspected the farm’s car ferry that carried the first generation of Serbian immigrants. He was the captain of a missile ship that protected Kazakhstan in the Caspian Sea.

He had frequently visited the farm’s wharf to receive lamb meat and by-products of sheep, and today was his official day of visit.

As the farm was now in charge of patrolling, some part of the Ural River and its branch river was under the control of the Navy, and Victor Jun was the director of the Ural River’s security patrol area. It seemed that the government wanted to strengthen the naval power since it wanted the farm to patrol the river and the even part of the Caspian Sea as well.

It was not enough to guard the vast area of waters, so the president gave some of the responsibility to the autonomous republic. Youngho wondered what level of strength the Navy required.

“Well, I see you got promoted. I would’ve missed that if I didn’t look at your uniform closely.”

“It’s because Arirang Farm was elevated as an autonomous republic and my jurisdiction was broadened. It’s mostly because of you, Mr. Lee.”

“How is that because of me? I didn’t do anything.”

“Aren’t you going to place many great vessels in the river from now on? Navy needed a higher rank to be in charge of the area.”

Youngho could see what the government was doing.

By promoting a captain to a lieutenant commander, it was going to make the farm’s strength under his control, and by making the farm to patrol around the river, the farm was inclined to buy the right vessels that suited the naval standards, and that would automatically strengthen the naval power of the area.

“Very well. What kind of strength do you want for our farm? You already know this well, but the farm has a security service company under it and the recruits are all from Korean Navy Special Forces. They have the techniques and abilities to operate decent vessels. If required, I can arrange the ones who were in the position of technical sergeant.”

Lieutenant commander Jun could not hide excitement from his face, after hearing Youngho’s remark.

If it was up to Youngho, he wanted to bring in large vessels, but it would not be suitable to have better ships than what Kazakh Navy had now. It was not also plausible to have destroyers in the Caspian Sea, which was quite small.

“A patrol boat in the 500-ton class is on the bigger side, but we don’t even have a 300-ton class vessel in our sea sector.”

“Are you talking about patrol boats of the maritime police?”

“Yes, exactly. I’d like you to help out with the maritime police. How about that?”

Youngho smirked in his mine. He was thinking about naval vessels for the farm’s Countryside Force, but patrol boats were more than enough for the force for now.

The patrol boats could have Vulcan automatic cannons and a machine gun installed on them and if needed, missiles could be loaded as well. That much strength was enough to be a luxury patrol boat.

“I will prepare vessels in the 300-ton class and the 500-ton class each. Would that save your face?”

Victor Jun widely smiled as Youngho responded.

“Where are you planning to buy those vessels?”

“Korean shipyards would do the best job for making such vessels, but the problem is the distance. So, I was thinking about France or Turkey. What do you think?”

“I’d love to have Korean vessels since I received commissioned education at the Korean Naval Academy. If needed, I’ll request it to the government.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter to me but Korean shipyards are great since they could make something like Aegis destroyer. Then, I’ll owe you one for this. The one I’m going to order this time will be an upgraded vessel that could be used as a naval vessel in the time of emergency. I’ll also increase patrol boats if necessary. All I ask you in return is to look over the autonomous republic.”

“Of course, Mr. Lee. You’re helping the Navy. Feel free to ask anything when you need help.”

Excited that the naval power would be strengthened, his shaking hand had a strong grip.

***

“Hahaha…”

Jong-il laughed his head off when Youngho told him and Kim Chun what he discussed with Victor Jun.

“Mr. Park, don’t laugh. This is quite embarrassing. What the heck is a patrol boat?”

“Commissioner. It’s still huge for Countryside Force to have armed patrol boats. I’m going to attach missiles if necessary, so don’t get too disappointed.”

“Boss. You should’ve forced him a little bit. Victor, this guy! He’s not a stranger and he’s a Koryoin. How dare he do this to us?”

The Kazakh Navy requested the most suitable job that Countryside Force could handle. Youngho could tell that the government had carefully made the decision.

A patrol boat, instead of a battleship, had a wide radius of action and was not very restricted from crossing other seas. This was because most of them played a role in preparing for disasters.

In particular, fishing boats from the Caspian Sea coastal countries did not take much trouble crossing other seas. They were not many in number and most of them could not go far because they were for offshore use. Even if they somehow intruded into other seas, their old and ragged equipment was not worth paying attention.

Each country had several small patrol boats, but they only patrolled around ports. It would not be a lie to say that they were there, to save their faces.

One good thing about the farm’s status as an autonomous republic was that the farm’s young people were freed from military drafts. Due to the farm’s own military education and training, they were exempted from the Kazakh military. Moreover, the schools in Arirang Farm did not receive official authorization yet, and there was no way to prove the students’ status. Now, all it needed was the commissioner of the farm’s authorization.

To the Kazakh government, the farm was only an autonomous region of an ethnic minority group, but it wrote ‘The Autonomous Republic of Arirang’ on any official documents issued by the farm with the Archduke family’s emblem. If there was a legitimate seal on documents, it would look very authentic.

To prepare the official seal, Kim Chun was going through European royal families’ documents on the internet.

“Boss. How about this? These are what old kingdoms in the Balkan Peninsula used to have.”

“We can use anything. What counts is that we put a seal on a document.”

“Many foreign distinguished universities sometimes verify the authenticity of their seal. Should I order a seal that has the Archduke family’s emblem in it? We won’t get into any trouble that way.”

Kim Chun was anxious to think that the students of the autonomous republic might get a disadvantage in the outside world in the future. The small-sized autonomous region and kingdom could look ridiculous to foreign people.

Youngho thought that, since there was nothing to boast about the farm now, he should at least earn more money for the farm’s people.

Now that the farm was promoted as an autonomous region, there was a need to promote the state to the public. The officials of the regional government of Atyrau would know about it already, but other regions would not have heard about it yet, and to let the people who were related to Arirang Farm through direct and indirect connections know, a huge and jazzed-up event should be held. People would acknowledge the autonomy of the farm and treat the farm’s residents respectfully when only there was an official proclamation of the autonomous state.

Youngho ordered Kim Chun to prepare for the ceremony and festival day.

Making a list of invitees and sending out invitations, he hurriedly prepared for the proclamation ceremony and it could be held at the end of November. Many people came to congratulate the farm and went back after admiring about the farm’s city.

The residents celebrated the festival for two days straight.

The main stars of the festival were, of course, Fatima, Leon, and Zeynep.

As Fatima showed up, Youngho was pushed to the back seat again. Watching this, Jong-il did not forget to make a comment.

“I said your role is a chore guy for your wife. Why don’t you serve her as your mistress from now on?”

Despite Jong-il’s tease, a smile did not leave Youngho’s face.

He could not fall asleep at night for the past several days since he was too excited with the achievement he made. He was satisfied that he had made the farm an autonomous region.

In the harsh coldness, the farm was filled with guests and residents that gathered to celebrate the autonomous state. Looking at people’s satisfied faces, Youngho responded back to Jong-il.

“Who cares I’m a chore guy if every day was like this? I’ll be happy to be a chore guy a hundred times!”