Empire of the Ring

Kyrgyzstan was a mountainous country that was called Switzerland in Central Asia. Its average altitude reached 2,700 meters, and as the water melted down from the icecaps formed rivers and lakes, the country’s alpine forest was a source of timber.

There were numbers of coniferous forests in Karakol where it adjoined Kazakhstan’s border. Hardwood was easy to find there since it was one of the major businesses of Kyrgyzstan.

The lumber imported from Volgograd was expensive since they were all processed already. The autonomous state could save money if it could find hardwood from Kyrgyzstan and process it in the state after importing it.

Kim Chun wanted to import hardwood without a middleman.

“You’re not saying we’re going to log our own trees there, are you? We need to have a middleman in Kyrgyzstan. Let’s not risk anything to save some petty money. It’ll be cheaper than buying lumber from Russia anyway.”

Whether the state hired a middleman or not, the safest way to import hardwood was to receive hardwoods inside Kazakhstan’s border. Paying cash directly to the hardwood middlemen at the border after checking the quality of wood would be the simplest and the surest method of importing it.

Kim Chun was convinced by Youngho’s explanation.

Since the best way to move the wood to the state was by train, he asked if the state could buy train cars that were produced at the factory of H Rotem.

“We can definitely transfer them to the Port of Atyrau on a train and from there, we will move them on a ship but the question is, how are we going to transport them from Arirang Wharf to each construction site? It’ll be great to have railroad tracks in the state.”

“Hmmm…”

“Think about it. It’ll be convenient in so many ways. We’ll have two more satellite towns soon, and it’ll be difficult to handle every transportation of supplies only with trucks and cars.”

“I don’t think H Rotem’s factory in Astana is making train cars yet.”

“Then do you think we can find used freighter train cars from Russia? We don’t need new ones now. The track is not going to be so long anyway.”

“That actually sounds good. I’d love to have a railroad in our state.”

Youngho was still waiting for the international business project, Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran railroad project, which he was going to be involved but it was slowed down because of situations in Russia. And it seemed that he was going to see railroad established in the Arirang Autonomous State first now.

He dreamed that one day he would be able to see the train that left the autonomous state being connected with the Trans-Siberian Railway.

***

The way how the state had assigned farmland to each farmer’s household was fair but some farmers still complained.

Some who were assigned to new farming towns claimed that they would not be farming anymore, and some ranchers also complained that the state was giving privilege to farmers only. Ranchers wanted their own land too.

Co-production was great in the beginning, but the production rate was bad since people tended to work less hard when they did not possess their own land. It was one of the reasons why socialism failed.

Kim Chun, who came to discuss the problem with Youngho, kept on sipping his coffee in stress.

“Commissioner Kim, how much area does a sheep graze this year?”

“I have no idea, Boss. I’ve never heard of a nomad who calculated the area. They just move around to seek new pasture.”

“In advanced countries, people calculated the amount of livestock’s food and prepare their hay and feed according to that.”

“That only applies to people who raise their stock in a limited area. In here, we don’t even count meat from livestock that’s not raised cage-free.”

For the people who had lived as nomads for thousands of years, any land that they trod on was theirs, but for Serbians who had lived in mountainous areas, it was a different story.

Since they had raised their stock in a limited amount of land, it was likely that they would manage their stocks effectively if they had their own properties. The only concern was that Youngho had no idea how many animals and how much big of an area should be given to each household.

“If we distribute livestock to the ranchers, wouldn’t we be able to get more cheese and meat from them?”

“That could be a case but I’ve never heard of nomads amassing a big fortune around here. They don’t live to enjoy luxury. They merely get by with what they have.”

“I should look for statistics. We have more than enough land that was developed into pastures to spare but it’s unclear if the ranchers would be able to make enough for living.”

“Phew, if only the ranchers could be satisfied with what they have now… It’s driving me crazy now that they want their own properties.”

Except for the state’s share and tax, all of the profits from produced cheese and by-products had been given to the state’s ranchers, and they earned as much as factory workers.

On the other hand, farmers of the state only earned about 10,000 dollars a year since the amount of yield was not so great yet. To make enough for their living cost, they were given construction works here and there during the farming off-season. Land distribution was a kind of reward for the farmers who had been working hard for years in different fields of work. But, it seemed that ranchers now envied farmers.

Youngho was impressed to see the data that the follower couple brought him.

Using a plausible formula, they had come up with a standard for distribution of livestock by substituting the amount and area of grass that was eaten by a sheep every year.

“All of these came from your head?”

“We found statistics from ranches and farms that have sheep in Australia and New Zealand. Of course, those areas have pastures all over their land due to the high precipitation rate. So, we applied two thirds more amount of area than the standard of Australia for our state.”

“We need 400 acres of pasture per 500 sheep? That means we need more than 16,000 acres to raise 20,000 sheep. Do we have this much pasture land in our state?”

“We majorly focus on producing hay from our pastureland. Ranchers usually raise their stock in wasteland.”

The wasteland of the state was semi-deserted, but quite an amount of grass grew in the spring because of the snow that fell in the winter. Thus, ranchers could raise their stock in there.

As for the grassy field that was developed with manpower, hay was majorly produced in preparation for winter since grass did not grow.

“Would 500 sheep make enough money for each rancher’s household?”

“They can make what they used to make only if they raise about 1,000 sheep and produce cheese, by-products, and meat at the same time. But the maximum number of sheep that could be raised by each family is 500.”

It was difficult to raise 500 sheep with only so many members in one family. There was no idle workforce that could help them in the state. On top of that, it was too much work for them to be in charge of the production of cheese, shearing, and slaughtering at the same time.

“Mr. CEO. The production of cheese, butchery, and shearing should be assigned to experts. If we could divide the profits from those businesses well, 500 sheep could be enough.”

“You’re saying breeders would be only in charge of breeding and milking.”

“Yes, that’s it. They can form a stock-raisers’ association and be members of it.”

“Very well, let’s decide it at the leadership conference then. Great job, you guys.”

“Oh, thank you, Mr. CEO.”

***

The complaints of ranchers were relieved now with the solution that the follower couple came up with.

Although they would still have complaints after the distribution of their properties, it was natural for people to take some time to adjust for new changes. But, if they could not follow the policy, they might as well leave the state since they could not live in harmony.

Since not every resident was strong and young, residents needed to learn how to care for the weak and to share some of their portion for them.

This way, the society of the state would grow mature.

Some rancher families teamed up to partner with each other by getting assigned a bigger area together. They soon learned that it was more efficient to work with other rancher groups, rather than being in charge of sheep on their own. Still, they were satisfied that they had their own properties now.

They also soon moved near to the pastureland that was given by the state since it was more convenient to work. It seemed that there would be mini towns, which consisted of only four to five ranch families, all over the state soon.

“Boss. If we’ve made a residential town already for new Koryoin immigrants from Kyrgyzstan, we would’ve regretted it. We are already going to have about 200 empty houses.”

“Didn’t you say we need to increase the number of people anyway? Please build the new residential area near the palace as planned. We never know what will happen here.”

“Then I should increase the dormitories for the kids of the new farming towns and ranching towns first. Since they’re moving away from the city, their commutes will not be so easy. I don’t want this to bother their school life and education.”

“Sounds good, Commissioner. You can do it as you want. I don’t care how much I spend if it’s for their education.”

The two kept discussing on different matters of the newly built towns.

“There are many people who would run daily necessities stores and bakeries now. But they’re not willing to sell fresh products like meat and vegetables. It’s a shame but it’s not so profitable because of the low population of the little towns.”

“If our population increases, they will naturally form business stores that will have those products.”

The low population of new towns was a problem. That was why the state was excited to receive new immigrants from Kyrgyzstan.

“By the way, the residents are very curious about the price of land properties. Chief Niksic is still opposing the transfer of the ownership of land from the state to residents. If we force it, he’s going to protest and fast in front of our office. He insists that we should transfer the right to cultivation only if we want to preserve our land.”

“Phew, he’s still talking about that lordship stuff.”

“Chief Niksic is not fully wrong. I agree with him that the autonomous state should still have the ownership of land in case of future emergencies. Also, some people are criticizing that the administration is trying to make money from the residents by selling land.”

“What? People wanted their own land before. Why are they acting this way?”

“They must’ve expected to receive land for free.”

“That’s nonsense. It’s not fair to people working in other fields either. If they’re worried about the price of their property, will they be okay with renting then?”

“It looks like they’ll be satisfied with having the right to cultivation.”

“The ranchers won’t even want to buy land at all.”

“Of course, how will they afford such huge pastureland for their sheep?”

Youngho was dumbfounded that he had gone through such trouble, but what he was getting was criticism. He thought that if they could earn their properties by paying off the price throughout the years, they would have hope and motivation for work and life. If it was in Korea, they would be glad to own land even with debt.

Youngho had no other option now.

Although not free, he was going to price land very cheap so that he could transfer the ownership to farmer and rancher families. It would be beneficial for them to own land if they wanted to live there from generations to generations, but people liked the right to cultivation better than ownership of a property. It was because nomadic people had no sense of buying land properties and having land ownership.

To him, it was not a bad idea to preserve land and sell later if they wanted to. He would even be able to sell it at higher prices in the future or he could inherit the whole region to Leon.

He was just a little disappointed that people were not ready to take a step to build their lives on a more advanced level. It seemed that things did not always happen as he wanted.

But, maybe it was better for him this way.