Empire of the Ring

If Kazakhstan's military power could overpower the surrounding countries, there would be no need for a self-defense force at the farm. However, in the north of the country there was Russia that boasted one of the world's strongest military powers and in the east of the country, there was China which came close to Russia.

Defending the country against Russia and China with only 30,000 army soldiers was nonsense. The only reason those countries did not bother to overtake Kazakhstan was that they were using the country's resources. If Kazakhstan resisted trading its resources, the outcome would be obvious.

Although Kazakhstan was the leading power of Central Asia, its destiny was like a candlelight in the wind. That was why Youngho wanted to help out the country.

The Serbian immigrants would be living in the country for generations and generations and he wanted the country to become stronger.

The warehouse of the farm was full of weapons that he had siphoned from here and there. They would rust and get terminated in time if they would be unused. However, it was not a great idea to tell the public that he had weapons since they were illegally brought there. Therefore, he was going to make an excuse for the self-defense force for the weapons once it was established.

Having a military power in Arirang Farm would also positively influence the immigrants' self-esteems for having a decent self-defense force. Once it was officially known to the public that there was a military force in the farm, no intruders and robbers would dare to come to the farm and face the organization equipped with guns and knives.

"I mean. Establishment of Countryside Force will set us the grounds to have weapons."

Youngho was explaining pros about establishing the defense-force when Zeynep Corporation's leadership group and the elders of the immigrants were gathered to discuss the upcoming winter's preparation.

"Mr. Lee. Are you going to expose our weapons to the public, then?"

Park Youngsun raised a worrisome voice.

"There's a saying that you should hide 30 percent of your strength when fighting. We'll hide 90 percent of our defense power. It'd be more than enough to just be recognized as a group with defense strength. I'm just saying that we should make a legal basis for having weapons to prepare for emergency cases."

"Kazakhstan is a multi-ethnic nation and the government is sensitive toward minority group's arming. It fears that the minority groups might demand independence. We need to be extra careful about this."

Park Youngsun opposed Youngho's opinion to expose the weapons.

Just then, Kim Chun raised an objection.

"My family has been living here for generations and I might be able to change your mind. I understand Dr. Park's concern, but the government often ignores minority groups' arming. It's because the country is bordered on every side."

Kazakhstan was located on the trade route of the Silk Road and for this geopolitical reason, there had been many ups and downs in its history. 'Kazakh' was a word indicating people who had achieved independence from authority. It was a country established in the fifteenth century, by people who broke loose from The Mongol Empire.

Throughout its complicated history, some part of the country became a subject state of the Russian Empire and some part survived under the pressure of Qing dynasty.

Although it seemed that the country suffered from ceaseless disputes between 120 ethnic groups, they were actually living and surviving in harmony. It was so only because the Kazakhs and Russians occupied 84 percent of the whole population and other minority groups shared the rest of the percentile. Even so, minority groups were known to have contributed much to the nation in its history. Being nomads, they had involved themselves in all sorts of dissipation that the Russian Empire grew sick of them. They could be called groups of bandits. Because of their behaviors, no one dared to turn their eyes to Kazakhstan. Since this had contributed to fixing the current border of the country, they should indeed be rewarded for that.

As the descendants of the nomads, the minority groups were known to be hostile to strangers. Since they did not like strangers stepping on their territories, they naturally liked to be armed. Although their armors could be called ancient, they still continued to have armed forces.

Although there were no more horses in modern times, Russia and China would still have to face a nightmare if they wanted to violate the Kazakh border, since the minority groups in the border areas would all turn into guerilla forces and fight against the intruders.

As the intruders would be slowed down by the minority groups, the Kazakh regular army would eventually join the battle and the war would not be exciting for them at all.

The 60 percent of the country's territory was covered by half-desert regions and unless the intruders wanted to cross there and suffer the sacrifice, they would have no other option.

As Kim Chun explained the history of Kazakhstan's minority groups' armed forces, no one could oppose the establishment of the farm's own self-defense force. There might be some exaggerations in Kim Chun's words, but his story was believable.

The farm would only have insignificant number of soldiers that would not be a threat to the Kazakh military force. Kim Chun insisted about not requesting to upgrade the Arirang Farm's neighborhood watch since the government overlooked minority groups' own defense forces anyway, even though they had weapons. He did not forget to make the last comment in the end.

"Boss. We need to get a patrol ship, don't you think?"

Jong-il interrupted Kim Chun as he made a request.

"Mr. Kim, no doubt. That's basic. I was going to say that we should buy a few combat helicopters."

The whole assembly of people laughed at his remark. Jong-il instantly reversed the atmosphere that had become serious.

***

H Rotem's vice president Kim Joo-hyuk and the company's staffs who looked around the machine tool and rotor production factories wanted to expand the foundry factory in order to produce some principle components at Arirang Farm.

"Mr. Lee. It'd be perfect if you could increase the capacity current with electricity and have an automated system in your factory. I'll have to think about what parts would be produced here for the next few days. Your machineries are all brand new."

Kim Joo-hyuk pointed at the cutting machines and shelves that Youngho had bought randomly in Bulgaria.

"Some of the residents of the farm are great mechanists, so I bought them randomly, thinking to make improvised guns."

He was startled to hear about guns.

"Is it possible to make weapons on your own?"

"This is a grassy plane where wolves outnumber people. Without measures of self-defense, people can't go out in the fields freely. That's why it's not a special thing for nomads to carry weapons."

It was an unimaginable thing in Korea.

Korean people had to go through a very complicated process in order to obtain a hunting rifle and even that could not be stored by an individual but had to be stored in the armory of a police office. Despite the exacting process, there would be frequent firearm accidents, but Youngho had never heard of such thing here, even though any family would have guns in their house.

Kim Joo-hyuk's group that had thoroughly investigated all of the factories including the drone assembly line, were stimulated to see that there were more decent technicians than they had expected. Then he suggested producing the bearing that went into train cars. The high carbon chrome steel which was the raw material would be provided by H Corporation.

"Mr. Lee. I'm afraid to recommend this, but you'd have to buy automated machine tools to produce the quantity for our cars. I mean, they're quite expensive."

Although Youngho was not a mechanic, he knew about the importance of a bearing in a car. Kim Joo-hyuk was recommending a high-value component and if there were automated machine tools, Youngho would be able to produce any kinds of bearing. Kim Joo-hyuk had suggested it as a token of his appreciation.

So, Youngho answered him without hesitating.

"I will buy the automated machine tools."

He rather asked Youngho back, since the answer came out so easily from his mouth.

"Are you answering with the idea in mind about how much the milling machine and the automated machine tools cost?"

"Since it's you who's recommending them, I know they'd be worth the costs."

Kim Joo-hyuk who nodded back to him soon made another suggestion.

"It was indeed fortunate of us to meet someone like you, Mr. Lee. It's a blessing for me to be in charge of this region as well. If you don't have the funds now, our company can cosign for your loan."

"How much on earth are the automated machine tools for bearing, that you're saying this?"

A bearing was a key component of any mechanical parts. It was even called 'grain of machine' since it enabled rotational movements of machines.

In WWII, countless spies of the Allied Forces were sacrificed while locating German bearing factories. They had accepted engineers' opinion that the war would only end quickly when bearing factories were destroyed. This had become an anecdote explaining how bearing was important in machine parts.

The bearing production skills had been developing until now and in the modern times, bearings were mass produced by automated machine tools. Once the tools were installed, they would become a big asset and benefit the producers for a long time.

"I don't know how long it'll take to install all the necessary machines, but I'll take bearing production at Arirang Farm."

Since Youngho decided rather hastily, Kim Joo-hyuk who had suggested this himself rather tried to stop him.

"Mr. Lee. I'm not pressuring you here. You should take time to consider this and decide later. I have other parts suggestions for your factory as well."

"I have a gut feeling that I should take this. Once the factory begins the bearing production, I'll be able to talk through others' hats."

"It's for sure an important part, but since it's not a strategic item, you won't really talk big about this to others."