Empire of the Ring

Youngho had to leave Baku for Kazakhstan because of the Uyghur problem.

It was not something that could be overlooked.

The Chinese government was conducting an organizational extermination policy against the Uyghurs and if he turned a blind eye to it as a leading state of Central Asia, the Kazakh royal family would be blamed by the federal citizens. This could shake the whole federal kingdom.

The result of an investigation found that there were at least 500,000 to a million political prisoners in Xinjiang Uyghur. Hearing such a shocking result, he could not stay at peace in Baku.

According to a disclosure of an institution under the UN, the Chinese government spent about 2.4 billion dollars to establish camps. If such an amount was invested, it could be said that the whole region of Xinjiang Uyghur was a political prisoner camp.

However, the Chinese government insisted that those camps were vocational training centers for the Uyghurs.

It was a laughable excuse as the Chinese government could not do such a big favor for the despised Uyghurs ignoring the unemployed Han people crowding to big cities.

Also, if such vocational training was going on, the employment rate of the Uyghurs should have gone up, but there were no statistics showing such a result.

It was obvious what kind of treatments were given to the Uyghurs who were locked in the political prisoner camps which were human rights blind spots.

Youngho deployed intelligence agents to capture what kind of crimes were being committed against humanity.

The agents inquired here and there to meet people who were luckily discharged from the camp and investigated on human flesh transactions after sneaking into those camps.

Despite such efforts, they could not find hard evidence.

“We can’t just rely on rumors. Even if there was evidence, the Chinese government will feign innocence, so we need to have tangible proof that can trap them.”

Jong-il seemed troubled at Youngho’s words.

No matter how hard his agents tried, it was difficult to find the proof of human flesh dealings.

Since it was an illegal activity, it was not going to be performed openly at the political prisoner camps.

“It must not be conducted at the level of the government but should be dealt between camp staff and food manufacturers.”

Youngho was convulsed with anger as he was having an unspeakable conversation.

It did not make sense that there were food manufacturers who dealt with human flesh as if it was animal skin.

“Those people must operate in a point organization and never come out to the surface. What kind of people eat human flesh unless they’re not insane?”

Youngho did not get why people would eat human flesh unless there was a bad famine.

It was proof that there were some people who liked to eat strange things for their health and beauty.

There was no way that the communist government that watched every move of the residents did not know of such illegal activities.

“Should I inform the autonomous government in Kashgar and ask for their help? Wouldn’t they want to help if their countrymen are being sold for their flesh?”

If the Uyghurs in Kashgar knew, they would lose their reason and go wild against the Chinese government. If terrorist attacks were performed all over the place, it would only give a chance for the government to hide any evidence.

“If we stir things up now, the Chinese government will erase all the evidence.”

“Then it will stop such wrongdoing in fear of such rumors. Shouldn’t we have to stop it to prevent more people from being victimized?”

Park Jong-il had a point.

Detailed evidence was necessary to expose the Chinese government’s anti-human crimes, but the priority was saving the victims.

In order to stop the Chinese government from committing such a crime any longer, a strong action should be taken.

Not clinging to the evidence, it was time to announce it to the world as if it had already happened.

It was because unspeakable things were happening somewhere in Xinjiang Uyghur right now.

“Okay. Inform the media first. Mobilize all broadcasting stations of each country and interview people who escaped Xinjiang Uyghur. We need to pressure China.”

***

When an article exposing the situations in the political prisoner camps in Xinjiang Uyghur, the world was shocked.

The ethnic minority people living in Xinjiang Uyghur were about ten million, but it was shocking to know that one-tenth of them were forcibly sent to the camps that were so-called vocational training centers.

Obviously, they were being persecuted under the ethnic minority extermination policy.

Global human rights groups rose together to pressure China, but the Chinese government did not budge an inch. Instead, it criticized the Kazakh government for publicizing it.

“I knew it. It’ll be weird if they admit it. What are we going to do now? What is the Kashgar government doing about this?”

Park Jong-il was outrageous.

“Just wait and see. I’m going to mobilize the Kashgar militias as soon as their training is finished.”

If the U.S. and Russia would promise to back it up, Youngho was going to enter an independence war for the Uyghurs.

Since there were a lot of ethnic Kazakhs, Kyrgyzs, Tajiks, and other ethnic minorities of the federal kingdom residing in Xinjiang Uyghur, Kazakhstan had enough justification to intervene. He was not going to mobilize the Kazakh military but was going to mobilize the private military company and the Royal Bodyguards disguised as the Uyghur militias.

While Youngho was thinking about this, the Chinese government was still bashing on Kazakhstan. It also made a threat by saying it would take a special measure if Kazakhstan kept bothering with Xinjiang Uyghur.

The Kazakh military leadership could not hold back upon hearing the Chinese government’s stance, the Kazakh military leadership urging the Kazakh government’s strong response.

They did not want a compromise this time as the Chinese government’s provocation was continuous.

When the military was enraged, Kasim hastily visited the royal palace.

“Your Highness. The military’s atmosphere is concerning. I’m afraid our military might provoke the Chinese side first if we leave it alone.”

“Are you saying our military will take an action ignoring the government’s command?”

“That’s not likely, but it could cause a collision on purpose and make it a stepping stone to push a battle.”

There was a high possibility that it could happen as the Kazakh border forces could take action before first and report it later when there was a battle.

It could even use missiles or fighters to target the enemy’s side.

“I understand what you’re saying. I should meet the military leadership right away. Can you please summon a meeting?”

This happened because Youngho’s intent was not delivered clearly.

The military leadership of Kazakhstan misunderstood that the Kazakh royal family was intimidated by the Chinese government’s hard-line policy.

“Your Highness, please don’t rebuke the military leadership at the meeting. Our military was regrettable that the last dispute with China ended without a closure because of the U.S. intervention. The military leadership wants to thoroughly punish China if it provokes again so that it won’t underestimate Kazakhstan again.”

“Oh, we will have a closure for sure this time and there will be no compromise whatsoever. I’m with them.”

***

The atmosphere of the meeting with the military leadership was heavy.

It was because Youngho said not to act recklessly to the military that was insisting war.

Military leaders were not fond of the Duke’s command to sit still and watch the Chinese side even though Kazakhstan’s defense power was enough to combat the Chinese military.

Prime Minister Kasim did not know what to do in the middle.

“Your Royal Highness. The commanders are not saying they will fight the Chinese side for no reason, but they just want to charge without limits if they provoked us.”

“It’s not that I don’t know your hearts, but how far are you going to go? You want to go to their mainland? What do we gain from it? It doesn’t make sense to have an all-out war just to recover our pride. I want to make sure to be more cautious unless we are going to take over Uyghur. The Kazakh troops won’t cross the Chinese border.”

If there was no support from Kazakhstan, how would Uyghur fight for independence?

The Army Chief of Staff made an opposing opinion at Youngho’s remark.

“Your Highness, the Uyghur militia alone can’t win independence against China.”

“If we intervene, China will naturally expect an all-out war which will be prolonged. If that happens, our economic power won’t be able to handle it. If our troops cross the Chinese border and directly fight the Chinese troops, there will be an irrevocable situation. I don’t want to bet our nation’s luck on the Uyghur problem, but our military will play a role of an invisible hand.”

The military officers were intrigued at the mention of an invisible hand.

They waited to hear more about it from Youngho.

“As all of you well know, our military strength is far short of that of the Chinese troops at the western border. There is no plan B if we lose our regular troops, so I’m thinking of unconventional warfare. We will help the militias from behind.”

Unconventional warfare meant that special units would be mobilized for guerrilla warfare.

Kazakhstan’s asymmetric forces were the forces of the Royal Bodyguard forces, and as they were not regular forces, there was no political burden.

Only then did military commanders nod their heads.

The military leaders were only ahead of their will, but they forgot about the reality of the Kazakh military for a while.

Military commanders tended to underestimate China, intoxicated with a couple of local victories against China even though they could not be sure if China properly prepared for war and crossed the border.

“I think we troubled you with our opinions that were not well thought out. We’ve forgotten the reality of our military for a moment. I apologize on behalf of the entire military.”

The Ministry of Defense apologized to Youngho immediately as having a military conference like this against the royal family was insubordination to the royal family.

“No. It’s rather my fault. I should’ve discussed my plan with the military leadership in advance. I’m sorry for such a mistake, and by the way, I am very proud for all of you.”

Everyone looked puzzled as the Duke did not rebuke them for their mishap but complimented them.

“I thank you for showing the will to risk an all-out war against China even though you are aware of our military’s reality. You are loyal defenders of our country.”

Sometimes, a compliment rather than a rebuke could make a person more embarrassed.

The military leaders were flustered as they did not know what to say.

“We are sorry that we didn’t understand your profound thoughts early enough.”

“It’s caused by the lack of communication and it’s on me. Please understand my stance. I had to keep it a secret in order not to expose it to the enemies.”

After discussing and organizing the further plans, the meeting was processed like a smooth sail.

The military command also decided to send mountain troops to Uyghur, hoping to deploy them to unconventional warfare.

Uyghur had many mountainous areas, so mountain troops could operate more efficiently than the Royal Bodyguards’ forces.

The Chinese military would have to face another uphill battle against asymmetric forces.

Any operation was meaningless to the determined and aggressive opponent.

The unconventional warfare in China’s territory, not on the border, would be an insurmountable chaos even for China especially if the opponent was a special force dressed up as Uyghur militia.