Empire of the Ring

Bioindustry was an industry that could make an astronomical amount of money and worldwide fame by developing a new medicine at a palm-sized laboratory. In advanced countries, the subject of bio-minerals had been a newly-rising study. It was a study to research how minerals affect the human body and apply that knowledge to create new medicines and different categories of life and studies.

Youngho heard that global companies in the food and medical industry were racing to create health supplements and anticancer drugs using natural mineral resources.

This meant that there was a high demand for minerals.

Although the autonomous state might not be able to develop new medicine since there were not enough researchers, Youngho wanted to develop the Bentonite industry so it could be one of the businesses that best represented the autonomous state. If the Bentonite buried under the ground was proven to be of high quality, it was not a reckless dream to expect a successful business.

“First, we’ll need some laboratory equipment for now.”

It was Park Youngsun’s words. Youngho also expected that from him since the business would not be a temporary fling, but a staple one in the state.

“How big do you want it to be?”

“I need a facility that could produce 0.5 tons of clay. This will be enough to produce refined clay and sell it to medical companies. From then on, we shall see the reaction of the market. Once we have accumulated enough technologies, we’ll be able to produce about ten tons a year, which makes the profit that’s equal to the money made for trading 500 tons of Bentonite clay for industrial purposes.”

Youngho was astounded to hear that.

The refined Bentonite clay was almost valuable as gold bars. Of course, the expense for laboratory and refinery facilities would be huge—but it was not a problem compared to the profit it would bring to the state.

There were different steps in the refining process such as, smashing, purification, sterilization, drying, packaging, and storing but since the refinery was eco-friendly, it was no big deal. The only impurities in the clay would be riprap, sand, and microorganisms living in the earth. They would not affect the state’s environment in any way.

The total amount of deposit was hard to estimate but the amount that could be dug up at the moment was about 50 tons. The yearly amount of Bentonite clay that was mined in the whole world was about 15 tons only. The Bentonite field found in the autonomous state was grand-scale.

“Mr. Lee, we had money buried in our front yard! This won’t last forever but it would last us a several hundred years at least. What do you think of making a bioresearch complex near the Bentonite field?”

“Doctor, isn’t that too grandiose?”

“If you really think about the future of the autonomous state, we’ll have to start preparing now. The bio industry is truly the future of mankind. The medical field is looking at the clay as a great medical ingredient. Medicines made out of natural ingredients don’t have many side effects like the ones made from chemical ingredients.”

If doctor Kim Dong-sung—an acknowledged surgeon, saw a great potential out of Bentonite clay, he was probably right. Youngho did not have to hesitate upon his advice.

Jong-il, who had been busy monitoring the yacht building process lately, came to Youngho’s office after hearing about the clay.

“Man, I didn’t know that white mud field is as worthy as the gold mine. I’ve seen those every time I played in the back hills when I was young. It’s interesting how they can make money from it now.”

Come to think of it, Korea had a large deposit of Bentonite clay as well.

“It’s going to take some time until we have all the facilities set up and researchers ready, but Dr. Kim Dong-sung said it wouldn’t be too hard. He can find as many researchers we want in Korea.”

Any students who had a bachelor of natural science degree could work at the laboratory. They did not need to be doctors, and it should be easy to find graduates who needed a job and money.

“You think they’ll come to this rural area? They must be all dreaming about working in an advanced country.”

“We’ll have to convince them. Dr. Park Youngsun and Dr. Kim Dong-sung said that they will find people from their connections. I guess they’ll be more convincing than us.”

“If only Russia was quiet, this place would be considered a peaceful place. I’m just worried that people would think this region as a battlefield.”

“Oh, well. Hey, when is the yacht going to be ready?”

“We’re only repairing the inside of a used ship. It’s not a long process. It’s just taking time because I’m installing secret weapons.”

“I need to go to Volgograd next week. You think I can ride it by then?”

“Are you going there to buy warships? Yeah, I will for sure finish it by then.”

Jong-il was excited to hear about the trip to Volgograd, for they would be buying warships.

***

The wheat field that was busily occupied by workers was finally calm now.

The plowing process took days to finish. If it was not plowed, straws would be blown away. The field would be plowed again in the next spring.

As the whole state was focusing on wheat farming, other plantations were close to nonexistent. That was why other farm produce was imported from outside, but their prices were high.

Fruit trees were planted in every yard of the towns but it would take a few more years until they could bear fruits. They were now only as tall as a male adult. People grew their own green vegetables in the community garden but they did not farm potatoes and beans, which were quite important.

To grow more variety of products starting from next year, Youngho asked Kim Chun to pick some kinds. The next day, Kim Chun came with all sorts of seeds.

“Usually, beans are the first ones people sow but I got carried away with wheat farming.”

“Why is that so?”

“Elders say that beans would improve the fertility of the soil. When Koryoins first came here, they sustained their life with beans and potatoes.”

“Then we should sow beans in some parts of the wheat fields where the crop was not so great, so the quality of the soil would improve.”

“We have enough wheat now that we won’t have to worry about it for the next few years. I was thinking that we should reduce the wheat field in half and replace the half of the field with beans, potatoes, and corns.”

Kim Chun did not want to let go of any wheat.

“Why don’t we still export some of the wheat to Azerbaijan this year? We already agreed upon this with the Azerbaijani government and we can’t change words. The price of wheat this year is ten dollars a bushel. It’s going to help the autonomous state’s finance.”

Kim Chun was only convinced after calculating how much profit would be made from trading wheat. Corners of his mouth turned up as he concluded that the profit of 1.85 million dollars would be made when 5,000 tons of wheat was sold.

Kim Chun listed the kind of vegetables that the state could grow, and there were more than ten kinds. With the number of farmers that the state had, it was impossible to grow all of them. So, Youngho picked some of them from the list.

“Well, let’s try beans, potatoes, and corns first since they can be harvested with the combine harvesters. We can also test grow tomatoes, carrots, and onions in the little yard near the towns.”

“Okay, that sounds good. Do you have other things in mind?”

“I want to grow rice too but everybody knows that rice farming is not a good idea, so I’ll give that up.”

Every Korean would know that rice farming was difficult and complicated. It also required high precipitation. It would be crazy if anyone tried rice farming in West Kazakhstan.

“Commissioner, you are such a rational person.”

“Are you trying to flatter me again?”

“I’m just saying.”

There was a reason that Youngho complimented him.

He was, of course, a good worker but since the biggest event of the autonomous state, wheat harvest was finished, and Bentonite clay was found, it was a good time to have a celebration. Now that people have worked so hard for the harvest, they would probably need some entertainment.

“Commissioner, the harvest was finished now. Shouldn’t we have a festival? You know, when the Archduchess was still here.”

“You’re not trying to have a legal drinking day, are you?”

He was indeed quick-witted.

***

Even Kim Chun, who was always stingy about spending money, had also used quite a lot to decorate the state for the festival.

The state would have invited guests from outside of the state but for this time, no guests were invited because Youngho requested to keep a low profile for a while. In addition to that, people only promoted the Arirang Autonomous State as a state that only relied on its farming business. But, Youngho’s wealth was magnified to seem like the state was highly reliant on Youngho’s personal funds. This was only to emphasize that the state was only a poor land that would not be a threat to Kazakhstan.

“So, I said that we shouldn’t be charged for tax just because we produce some wheat. We’ve invested so much so far for the development of the farmland and how dare they charge us tax? When factories are built, any money made from them is not profits, until they had collected the initial investment.”

As everyone carefully listened to Kim Chun’s story, he became even excited. He sipped some water then continued on talking.

“I said we still have a long way to go until we retrieve our initial investment. We didn’t receive any profit, so we can’t pay tax. If they should charge us tax, they should take wheat instead of money. They went away as soon as I finished my words.”

At a table set up on one side of the fairground, everyone was listening to Kim Chun’s long story. He was talking about the time when taxmen of Kazakhstan’s taxation authority came to the state to impose a duty on the wheat farm as the authority had decided the autonomous state was producing a lot of wheat. Kim Chun refused to pay tax and managed to convince the taxmen with his speech.

Youngho would pay tax for the profits made from selling industrial products and minerals, but any crops produced by the autonomous state were an exception. If he considered the investment he made for developing a deserted land, the government rather would have to give him money for support. Also, since the crop was the only half amount of what other farms would produce, it was technically a bad crop. Youngho would have done the same if he had met the taxmen.

“I see. But still, why didn’t you give them some money?”

“Oh, Mr. Lee. Who am I? I would never be that senseless. I gave them some money before they left. They must have sneaked here without even reporting it.”

If they really came to the state to investigate for taxes, the high officials of the taxation authority would have hastily stopped the taxmen from visiting the state. The autonomous state always paid taxes for any traded goods just in time, when other businessmen never paid taxes properly and in time. It was the same in the Caucasus and Central Asia.

They were immensely thankful for the autonomous state and did not want to cause any trouble for upsetting the administration of the state, especially since other foreign investors were leaving Kazakhstan because of complicated taxation standards and frequent double taxation.

The central government claimed that the taxation rules would be changed soon, but nobody would ever know how soon the changes would be made.