Empire of the Ring

“I think we should make you a ministerial office in the royal palace.”

“Oh, thank you for your consideration, Your Highness, but Secretary Suh has set up a separate office for me at the administration building. It’s rather comfortable there because I have to have frequent meetings with working-level officials.”

“I asked you to come to see me because I wanted to find sites to build some leisure facilities. It’s sad that our people don’t have many facilities for leisure activities.”

“Kazakhstan is a vast country that there are too many fields and mountains. Transportation is quite inconvenient even if people wanted to go enjoy leisure activities.”

“That’s why I want to build such facilities all over the nation. If they’re near your home, you don’t have to go far, do they?”

“With the exception of the eastern and southern parts of the country, we don’t have any special scenic spots. Midwest and West are only filled with wilderness, and there’s no place to go. The only place to see would be the Caspian Sea.”

“The Caspian Sea can be a sight to see? ”

“Most of the Kazakhs are people who haven’t even seen the sea. The same goes for people in other countries in Central Asia. If we build a recreational facility where the Caspian Sea is right in sight, we can also do marine sports. It will be a fine facility.”

The fact that the Caspian Sea could become a national recreation facility was good news because Kazakhstan’s coastline of the Caspian Sea was twice as long as other adjacent countries’ coastlines such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Iran.

The international waters of the Caspian Sea were also the place where the Kazakh Navy exercised the overwhelming force of all.

“It’s not just fine. With accommodations, it’ll be a great resort in itself.”

“This is your chance to showcase the naval capabilities to our people. People will feel infinite pride when they look at the overwhelming naval power.”

“It’s not a big deal with a few missile ships, but it’s true that we have no opponent in the Caspian Sea since we’re also guarding the waters off Azerbaijan.”

Even though Russia wanted to build up its naval power in the Caspian Sea, it was unable to do so because of its economic power.

In the meantime, Kazakhstan introduced three 500-ton-class missile ships and brought in about missile ships modified from retired U.S. coastal patrol boats. If Russia knew that even small-sized submarines were secretly being built, it would flip out.

“Minister, can you search for a suitable place for a vacation spot along the coastline?”

“I don`t know if there is a suitable site because most of the coastline is covered with an offshore oilfield. Some of the beaches will be polluted.”

“I heard that many Chinese companies participated in offshore oil fields, right?”

“They took over Canadian and U.S. companies this time after being restricted from developing land-based oil fields due to environmental pollution. They haven’t started production yet, but there’s a good chance that it will become a source of pollution.”

“We’ve been working recklessly on oil development, but I’m going to put environmental issues first. If they don’t meet our environmental standards, make sure to shut them down.”

“I will contact the Minister of Energy and the Minister of Environment immediately to implement your message.”

“Please ask them to come to the royal territory too. Let’s have a tour along the coastline on a car ferry icebreaker.”

Youngho planned to meet with related ministers to effectively develop the coast of Kazakhstan while also cracking down on the status of maritime oil fields.

If Kazakhstan wanted to enter the league of the advanced world, it should pay attention to environmental issues from now.

The environment had been neglected to the point where there was even a saying that the snow falling in the mining area of the northern region was black.

***

All ministers from each ministry of Kazakhstan gathered at the Arirang royal territory’s wharf. Youngho had only called the energy minister and the environment minister, but the rest of the ministers also crowded in.

“Mr. Prime Minister, aren’t you busy?”

“The budget bill for next year has already passed the National Assembly, and it will be our end of the year holiday soon. I thought I’d take the chance to catch a cruise ship, rather than goofing around at home.”

Because of the harsh winter weather, Kazakh people generally had the perception that resting at home was a vacation. Especially the temperature of Astana, the capital, went as low as minus 30 degrees in Celsius in winter. It would be boring to spend the whole winter sitting at home.

“It’s unusually cold this year, the north of the Caspian Sea is already frozen. Would the car ferry icebreaker work?”

“The ice is not as thick as the Arctic Ocean’s, so the car ferry is enough. Ice less than 50 centimeters is just a piece of paper.”

“Who dares to think of launching an icebreaker in the Caspian Sea? You’ve got great insight.”

“It doesn’t make sense to be stuck for three months when you can sail on it if you break the ice. It’s also an economic loss that we have to give up in the winter.”

The two icebreakers that belonged to the royal territory made it possible to transport grains in the winter, which helped stabilize winter grain prices in Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The 3,000-ton and 5,000-ton icebreakers were not only active in the Caspian Sea.

From early spring to late fall, they did a great job of carrying Siberian timber around the Siberian coast.

Since they broke the ice on the Volga and Moscow rivers with other Russian icebreakers, the Russian government also appreciated ships from Kazakhstan.

On the deck of the car ferry, all ministers came out despite the biting wind to see the scene where the ice broke apart. It was a spectacular sight to see 30 to 40 centimeter-thick ice broke off.

Prime Minister Kasim, who was watching the interior of the car ferry slowly but steadily breaking through the ice, came up to Youngho, with his eyes glistening.

“Your Highness, the car ferry is quite well-armed for a private ship.”

“You recognize it immediately since you had been in the military for long. The Director of Intelligence Service, Park, insisted on setting it up, but he went a little too far.”

“Do all the private ships that the royal family owns have this much defense?”

“Yes. It’s only because there are pirate ships in other waters. It’s enough to deal with any coast guard.”

“Wow, I guess there will be no one that will threaten us in the Caspian Sea. By the way, the royal shipyard had a restricted area. Is that where you are building the submarine you’ve been talking about?”

“Yes, we will be able to test drive it by the end of next year. We think we’ll make some more of it and deploy them on the Mediterranean island.”

“Can a submarine pass through the Volga-Don Canal when Russia is watching?”

“They’ll be small enough to be carried on a cargo ship. I don’t think Russia will inspect royal ships.”

“I see. You’ve already had a plan.”

“We’ll hide it to other countries as long as possible even if it’s an ally, to avoid any misunderstanding. I just hope that there would be no situation where we should use our submarines.”

“I wish other countries are just like us. It’s unfortunate that we’re surrounded by greedy powers.”

“On the bright side, we are always on our guard because of them. It also brings our people together.”

***

It took two full days to look around Kazakhstan’s waters.

The sail was relatively slow because the ship broke the ice and was delayed a bit because the environment minister frequently stops the ship to see if there was any contamination around the offshore oil field.

It was difficult to see things in the icy waters, but the minister was someone with great motivation, so Youngho did not stop him. Until now, Youngho had to take the lead, but it was time for the ministers to come forward.

They must have not kept their mouths shut because they were inferior to Youngho. It was because they were afraid of Youngho’s position. It was a learned behavior because the previous regime was so authoritative and powerful. However, it was about time that they took the initiative to work with their own beliefs.

It was a big harvest just to spend the night together on the ship, have a time discussing the development of Kazakhstan with the ministers and to find out about five suitable places for national recreation by two days of sailing.

In the Caspian Sea; there was usually a severe winter wind, but there was no wave due to the frozen waters, so they had a relatively relaxing voyage.

The ministers’ faces after arriving at the Arirang wharf were brighter than ever.

“The ministers were very encouraged by your presence, Your Highness.”

“It wasn’t planned, but it turned out to be great. I’m just happy to learn that the ministers are now running state affairs on their own initiative and beliefs. Thank you so much for taking them this far, Mr. Prime Minister.”

“If Kazakhstan’s future is the same as it is today, there’ll be nothing to envy about.”

“I should say thank you to China and Russia for creating the proper tension that we need.”

“I’m excited to know that our national power will be built soon that everyone will envy us.”

“I’m not scared even if other countries provoke us now. If they do, they’ll be the ones to be shamed.”

Young-ho’s thought that other countries would not be able to touch Kazakhstan because of the geographical location and geographical resources.

Unless Kazakhstan was to be taken by force at a gulp, any country that provoked Kazakhstan would have a lot to lose at the same time.

Recently, he re-realized the fact that Kazakhstan’s potential was infinite. It had every resource buried in its land that it was easier to find what was not there.

Moreover, it was a great mystery what was buried at the foot of the Tian Shan Mountains in Kyrgyzstan, a federal state of Kazakhstan.

His heart leaped at the thought of it.