Empire of the Ring

The visit to Britain resulted in a remarkable achievement because the British government wanted economic and military cooperation actively.

Britain needed Kazakhstan to solve its economic difficulties through the partnership. It was also great for Youngho, who wanted to strengthen Kazakhstan's armed forces and promote balanced national development.

Just like Danish companies, British companies would be making their factories in the royal territory, the Arirang Autonomous State. Since it was a location with great accessibility, the UK also welcomed to make investments in the western region of Kazakhstan.

The West was a dry semi-desert zone, which made it difficult to farm, but it had a higher potential for future development as it had quite a lot of oil and gas deposits.

Geologist Park Young-sun called Kazakhstan a blessed land.

Countless conquerors crossed Kazakhstan, but the land was so barren that they left it. That was why resources could have been preserved. But there was a huge oil field beneath the deserted land, and it was now envied by many.

"Your Highness, please allow us to participate in the development of Western Kazakhstan's oil fields."

"Isn't the UK also an oil-producing country, too? I'm sure you're not short of oil."

"It's produced in the North Sea, but its production environment is extremely severe. So major companies are turning eyes to land oil fields and to the Middle East and Southeast Asia."

"I'll welcome UK companies at any time. Is there any specific site that you have in mind?"

"It doesn't matter where it is."

"Really? I've wanted to explore the entire western region, but I'll give you the opportunity to UK companies."

"Can this be decided on your own?"

"Our financial and technical skills are not enough to investigate the whole area, so who would oppose it? There is no other way to develop an underdeveloped western region than resource development. It's a national understanding, so don't worry."

"Then would you like to talk to the oil companies?"

With the oil field in the North Sea, the UK was already in the ranks of oil-producing countries. It would be much easier for UK companies to develop land oil fields compared to the oil field in the sea. A single British company in the North Sea would be able to withstand harsh conditions in western Kazakhstan.

Major oil companies, including BP, the world's second-largest oil company, had decided to participate in oil exploration and development in the western Kazakh region.

The reason why the Foreign Secretary wanted to actively invest in the region was to seize the opportunity to keep troops in Germany, that was about to be withdrawn so that UK could prevent the weakening of its military forces due to the reduction of the number of troops and raise UK's voice in Central Asia.

Youngho's European tour ended with a visit to the Swedish and Norwegian royal families. His performance in Sweden was also quite good.

In Sweden, he succeeded in attracting a Gripen fighter jet assembly plant and a car heavy equipment assembly plant in Kazakhstan. Since he had a technology partnership with Turkey for attack helicopters, the aviation industry seemed to be completed.

Sweden already had a strong relationship with the royal family of Kazakhstan through Youngho's connection to Information Agency. Previously, Sweden had promised to send their Air Force pilots if the Arirang Autonomous State was invaded. Thankfully, it did not have to, but Swedish Air Force aviation experts were still in the Arirang Autonomous State to train pilots and mechanics now.

The fighter jets Youngho bought from Sweden were retired jets from the Swedish Air Force; they could still be used for more than ten years since they were reformed. They would be used to protect Kazakhstan's sky along with American F series fighters.

***

Kazakhstan's welcome of the royal family back home from a European tour was great because it had drawn global media attention. It meant that Kazakhstan had become a free and democratic country.

With ignorant police officers who were notorious among travelers and corruption in officialdom gone, Kazakhstan's bad image was shed. The Kazakh royal family's tour overseas was a great way to prove it and promote the country.

The world's media outlets also enjoyed this event. This was because Fatima and Zeynep provided a lot of stories. Everywhere they went drew people's attention. Not to mention the extraordinary beauty, and the unpretentious acts of the queen and the princess were quite unconventional among other royal families.

They were mystical and did not expose themselves to the public very often, but Fatima and Zeynep shopped with ordinary people. They bought meals in public restaurants and ate snacks in the street stalls.

"Your Highness, did you have a good trip? We've been stuck in Kazakhstan buried under piles of work."

"Is that so? I heard the Earl had a wild night in Almaty with the intelligence agents but was it just a false rumor?"

"I don't understand what you mean."

"Man, do you think I don't know what all of the Kazakh people know about?"

"Now, that's a normal conversation. You've spoken rudely first, don't blame me. Who in the world made such a false rumor? You know, I bought drinks for our agents who are working hard day and night. I did it out of compassion."

"Do you have to drink until you pass out?"

"Thanks to them, I'm relieved of my stress, too."

"Alright. You did a good job investigating the gold miners, anyway. Thanks for taking care of the national business."

"It seems like the UK is determined this time. I hope Russia doesn't pick on us for this."

"Starting next week, we'll have a survey team coming in from Britain and Sweden. Let's be extra careful to keep the security."

"I don't know if the secret will last long. Russian spies are everywhere."

The government had reshuffled officials, but there were still plenty of officials who served as Russia's eyes and ears. They were said to hate Russia, but in front of money, they would pour out national secrets. Until now, Kazakhstan had been recognized the same as Russia's satellite state, which made it natural for people to disclose information to Russia.

"I'll have to fire anyone who spills information, regardless of rank, this time."

"We're going to have a personnel committee. If you just dismiss people, we'll be told we're a dictator."

"What kind of personnel committee are you going to hold for government officials who acted as a spy? They should be glad that they're not being arrested."

"We should put all the weapons-related facilities in the royal territory. If we don't have enough people to work, we should move people in east Kazakhstan to the west. It'll help Kazakhstan to develop evenly. And there's no place that's as secure as the royal territory in Kazakhstan."

The Arirang Autonomous State, which was now the royal territory, had a perfect defense system since Youngho built advanced defense facilities and brought in high-tech weapons for that purpose. Any military secrets would be protected if only they stayed inside the territory. The problem was that the Arirang royal territory was an isolated place. It would be hard to relocate people from the East to West unless there was an artificially implemented immigration policy.

"There are many Koryoins who want to move from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Let's receive them to the state."

"Koryoins?"

"We can't increase the population fast enough if we only take Serbians who only move little by little. And in order to maintain security, the Koryoin people are the best. They hate Russia and China to the core, there's no way they'll become spies."

"Okay. It shouldn't be difficult."

"And mobilize the agents to find weapons-making technicians. They are absolutely necessary to improve conventional weapons."

"I heard you signed a licensing agreement with British arms companies this time. What about those weapons? Are they not good enough?"

"They're old but to Kazakhstan, they're like cutting-edge. The Foreign Secretary said that it would improve so much with a little touch. So, I'd like to try. The British government will help us with it too."

"That's good to hear."

Youngho planned to expand the state's weapons research center. The royal territory would be Kazakhstan's cradle for the development of advanced technology.

"Man! We'll spend so much money on this. Money leaks everywhere in Kazakhstan."

"Well, the nationalization of the gold mine has helped us to breathe a little. If it weren't for that, we would've sold our precious underground resources."

In the process of nationalizing the gold mines, the government found a total of 30 tons of gold concealed by mine owners and mid-distributors. Now, the process of collecting gold that was sold to foreign countries was underway with intelligence agents' help.

The amount of gold produced in 200 gold mines in the country every year was estimated to exceed 100 tons, which was a whopping amount of over six billion dollars. This money would be spent on weapons modernization in the future.

"I heard something interesting from the British Foreign Secretary this time. I think we should pay attention to it. South Central Asian countries can return to socialism to maintain dictatorship."

"What are you talking about? I didn't hear anything related to that."

"What if China or Russia is encouraging?"

"People are not fools? Let's just leave it."

"It's a different story if people think it's steeper to live than it was to live in the Soviet era."

"There were more than 200,000 Koryoin people living in southern countries. We can't ignore this. We should get to the bottom of it."

"You must be crazy."

Kyrgyzstan was unlikely to do so because its people had had a track record of driving out dictatorships, and Tajikistan was not in a situation where dictatorships would arise because of the long civil war.

However, the problem was Uzbekistan or Turkmenistan. Although the majority of the people in Uzbekistan supported the current government, the pro-democracy movement was very strong. When a dictator trying to maintain power got into a corner, he would not know what to do. It was a place where Kazakhs and Koryoins made up about five percent of the population, so Kazakhstan could not allow it to fall back to socialism. If there was another hostile force under the chin, there would be more borders to guard against. It was better to take over the region rather than having trouble with the long, tedious border later.