Empire of the Ring

Taking over Uzbekistan's gold mine was the fastest way to secure Uzbekistan.

When Youngho expressed his intention to actively participate in Uzbek economic development, the Uzbek government responded that it would hand over the gold mine to the Kazakh royal family.

While Kazakhstan was struggling with economic development, it was ridiculous that Kazakhstan would help Uzbekistan's economic growth, but Youngho had a solution to this. He planned to attract Western European powers who opposed China's attempt to take over the European market. They were also bent over to increase their gold holdings like Germany, so he would use gold produced from the Uzbek gold mine to attract European countries.

If Kazakhstan promised to give them a certain amount of gold, no country would hesitate to invest in Uzbekistan.

This was a win-win business that would bring the Uzbek economy to life and improve Kazakhstan's relationship with European countries with gold produced in Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan, which was the country of the world's fifth-largest gold reserves, was producing about 70 tons of gold a year.

The gold mine in Muruntau, the largest mine in the world, was rich enough to reach about 5,000 tons of gold deposits.

What Youngho was after was the open gold mine that China wanted. Since it was an open mine, it could keep production going indefinitely with modern equipment. China had already completed a thorough investigation on the mine before offering 4.5 billion dollars to the Uzbek government, so its commercial viability was tantamount to guaranteed. If there were not many gold deposits, why would China spend such a large sum on it?

Looking at the map of the Uzbek gold mine, Youngho sipped on his vodka in a glass.

Eriksson also followed Youngho and drank his glass, but soon he started coughing. He had forgotten that it was a strong vodka that he was drinking. He was too excited to remember that.

"Eriksson, don't you automatically want to drink when you look at this map?"

"You are right. I want to drink too. I guess I'm just as crazy as you when it comes to gold."

"Hahaha…"

Not long ago, Youngho showed Eriksson gold bars, dollars, and U.S. treasury bonds that were kept in the palace vault. It was because Youngho now had full confidence in Eriksson.

Also, Eriksson should know exactly what the royal property was so that he could manage it effectively in accordance with Youngho's plans.

Youngho had never told him about stealing slush funds from President Nazarbayev's family, but now he thought that he could open it as a legacy of the Serbian Kingdom.

When he showed the vault, Eriksson almost fainted as there were more than 500 tons of gold. He was also shocked by the fact that about sixty tons of gold were piling up every year, plus more than two tons of gold a year in Baku's gold mine in Azerbaijan was being produced.

"Well, Uzbeks are very encouraged by your acceptance of the Kurds. They believe that you are showing compassion regardless of nationality."

"But I won't help a country that is well-fed and doing well."

"Most of the Uzbeks are suffering from working as laborers overseas. I'm envious of the Kirghiz returning to their homeland because they can't afford to see more jobs and better off living as they become a federation of Zach."

"You don't think Uzbekistan should be our federal state, do you? They're too tough for us to handle."

"They're just regular Central Asians who are no different than us except for hard-line Muslims."

"Their sense of independence is exceptionally strong. They may be defeated, but they are the kind of people who will never bow their heads. And they've been disadvantaged by Kazakhstan's nationalist policies in the past."

Until now, Uzbeks in Kazakhstan had been frequently penalized. Although the former president had successfully revived the characteristics of a multi-ethnic nation, he did not show generosity toward ethnic groups of the neighboring nations in the country because Uzbeks and Kyrgyzs had plotted their own autonomous states before.

Their reason for claiming autonomy was not at all absurd. Most of them were separated from their homeland because of the wrong border drawn during their time in the Soviet era, so their claim was reasonable.

The new government readjusted the borderline, and if they still wanted to remain in Kazakhstan, the government allowed them to stay. This had given the Uzbek people a good image of the new Kazakhstan.

"Now times have changed, and they think the royal family is the center of Central Asia."

"So, they want me to help them whenever they reach out their hand for help?"

"Yes. That's why the Uzbek government withheld the deal with China after receiving your letter. If we can't help Uzbeks on our own, we should borrow some power from our allies to help them. That's the only way Uzbeks could be incorporated into Kazakhstan in the future."

"I can take Tajikistan, but Uzbekistan is not going to be easy."

Tajikistan was a country that was a little smaller than Kyrgyzstan, and it bordered China and Afghanistan. It was another barrier to China's advance, so Youngho had his eye on it even before then.

"If you don't want to do so, it doesn't matter as long as Uzbekistan will remain under our absolute influence."

"I'm not going to subjugate it economically and take advantage of it. If we can live as strong allies, that'll be the best."

"Uzbekistan is already under the Southern Kazakh economic bloc. Its economic interaction was so active that the border was meaningless. It's proof that Uzbeks trust us that much."

"If what you're saying is right, how can they weigh us on the same lines as China?"

"They have to do so since their national interest is on the line. We are in the position to help Uzbekistan anyway, so why don't we use it to our own advantage? Helping Uzbekistan is helping Kazakhstan."

***

As Youngho stepped forward to help Uzbeks after Kurds, Western European countries also soon joined him to help out Uzbeks. Some countries stepped up because they were feeling threatened by China's advance, but many were also expecting to get some of Uzbekistan's gold.

Germany was the first one that said it would provide loans to Uzbekistan. It wanted to actively get involved to get more gold. As a response to its decision, the Kazakh government sent a large delegation to Germany. It was a gesture of showing its intention to seek economic cooperation with the German government.

As Kazakhstan jumped in on Syria's Kurdish problem and began closely consulting with European countries to prevent Uzbekistan from becoming subjugated by China, the U.S. had no choice but to get involved in Central Asia's situation.

The U.S. could not watch its influence be diminished in Central Asia. Despite Russia's check, it had been supporting Central Asia through military cooperation, but now as many European countries were involved, the U.S. position as the world police was being threatened.

Michael of the US CIA came to see Youngho in Kazakhstan to discuss this.

"These days, the status of the United States has fallen to the ground due to the Kazakh royal family. You should've let me first when you were going to get Europe involved."

"The Uzbek gold mine was about to be turned over to China, so I had to put out the immediate fire first."

"Since when have you been so close to Germany? I'm quite upset."

"What are you talking about? It's just the beginning. I was going to call you and discuss it."

"Can I believe that?"

"Of course, which country can match the power of the United States? We are just contacting Germany because of our gold deal."

"We knew China was eyeing Uzbek gold mine, but we are not in a position to put pressure on the Uzbek government, so we've stepped back."

"Oh, you're saying you were not holding back because of their fear of China? The U.S. didn't say a word when China was shaking Uzbekistan, wasn't it?"

"What was Kazakhstan doing then? Don't you call yourselves the head country of Central Asia?"

"We were waiting for the right time, so we can catch China off guard."

"Are you turning your back on U.S. by any chance? Did you make a deal with Putin behind my back? Did he promise you to look after Kazakhstan?"

"Oh, I've done plenty of deals like that with him. Which deal are you talking about?"

"I'm not kidding. China's recent movement is serious. The Chinese government thinks that Kazakhstan is holding back every move it makes."

"We just acted to defend ourselves. We couldn't watch China take the gold mine from Uzbekistan."

"I hope you don't push it too hard. I'm afraid it's going to lead to armed conflict."

"It sounds like the U.S. is not going to join when there's an armed conflict. Don't tell me you're going to ignore us."

Michael's face hardened as if Youngho pointed out his intention.

"I don't care if you don't help Kazakhstan. If there were any problems, China would have to deal with the whole of Central Asia. Moreover, it will lose its relationship with all the Commonwealth of Independent States."

"I'm here to prevent that from happening. Northeast Asia is also in danger, so we don't want any conflict in Central Asia. It's not like we can intervene either because we can't ignore our economic relationship with China."

"You're not saying you want me to make concessions, are you?"

"I'm asking you to do it in moderation."

"We just won an open competition over an Uzbek gold mine against China. Resource development is a gunless war."

"The Chinese government won't openly complain because it still needs your help for its One Belt One Road, but it should be looking for any chance to pay back to Kazakhstan."

"That's why we're trying to attract European countries. There's no reason for China to be wary of expanding investment and lending loans to Uzbekistan."

"That's why we're going to be involved, too. Our involvement will suppress China from making any dangerous move."

"That's great to hear. It will also help the U.S. national interest."

"We've already discussed it with the Uzbek government, so you should take it a little more easy on China. There's conflict everywhere, and we can't afford to look over them all."

This meant that if Kazakhstan and China were in a tense situation, the U.S. would be in trouble too.

China was also disputing with India over the resort island of Maldives in the Indian Ocean, causing tension in the surrounding waters.

The U.S. was paying keen attention to the situation by deploying additional aircraft carriers to the U.S. 7th Fleet in case of a collision. When the tension reached Central Asia, it would be a huge burden to the United States.

That was why Michael made a hurried visit to Kazakhstan to prevent it from happening.