Empire of the Ring

Kim Chun’s eyes were bloodshot.

Dividing the farmland of the autonomous state must not have been so simple.

Most of the people wanted the land near the residential place, not the land farther away from the city. To satisfy everyone, Kim Chun needed to convince the farmers and meet their needs too at the same time.

The farmers did not have financial abilities to own private vehicles or farming equipment yet, so having their farmland far away from where they lived was not desirable. But, it would not be wise to assign land randomly since the physical status of the farmers and their ages should be considered in the decision too. If they were young farmers, they would be able to endure long commutes to their land daily, but most of them were middle-aged.

“What should I do? It feels like I had poked a beehive. Everyone wants land near the city and it’s hard to decide.”

People also wanted the land that was known to produce a good crop in the previous years.

“It’s understandable since the repair shop is located in the city.”

“Boss, so I came up with an idea. Hear me out and tell me if this makes sense. How about we only divide and distribute the land near the city for now? The farmland will be smaller than we planned but that’d be the fairest way to distribute land.”

“Well, I don’t know. The size of the land is too small. People won’t be able to sustain their lives by selling such a small yield.”

According to Kim Chun’s idea, farmers would get only about 40 acres of land each but they would not be able to feed their household for farming such a small land.

Youngho did not think Kim Chun’s idea was plausible since he thought that the autonomous state should have competitiveness in farming at least. Since farming would be the state’s primary industry. Food source could be a weapon in difficult times, so the state should produce more than enough food for its sake.

As the two could not come to a conclusion, they decided to take it to the state’s leadership meeting. Distribution of farmland could not have trials and errors since it could lead to a serious division between people in the state. They had to find a fair means that could convince everyone without a complaint. Youngho wondered if there was such a perfect way.

With Chief Niksic at the last, the conference room was finally filled with every member of the leadership group.

The map of the autonomous state, which the follower couple had prepared, was projected at the screen.

Kim Chun, with his eloquent speech, got everyone’s attention to the matter of land distribution. Most of the members seemed to understand the importance of land distribution as they nodded to his speech. Now all there was left to do was to decide which means to carry on the task, and the whole room also turned into chaos just like a beehive that had been poked.

Everyone had their own opinion about who was going to get which site of farmland.

Niksic insisted with his penetrating voice to draw a lot.

“Prince consort, I don’t think people will complain about what land they’d be getting. They should be thankful that you’re giving away farmland. Drawing a lot is actually a fair way to distribute land. If they make a problem out of this, tell them that you’re not distributing it anymore.”

“Chief Niksic, I already announced that the state will be distributing the land. People will be disappointed badly if I change my word but I appreciate your opinion. Is there anyone else who wants to contribute an idea?”

“Commissioner, what are you talking about? Who does this land belong to anyway? It’s all bought with prince consort’s own money. This would be his territory and he would be our lord if it was in the past. Who’s going to tell him what to do?”

Niksic was getting carried away with anger.

Now that he mentioned the lordship of Youngho, Jong-il would be making fun of him for a while.

Then, Kim Chun, who was quick-witted, quickly comforted Niksic and continued on talking.

“If younger farmers are assigned to land near the city area, older farmers might find it unfair. If we can talk to younger farmers and convince them, they won’t mind giving older farmers a chance first.”

Then, someone else suggested another idea.

“Commissioner, I think it’d be better to distribute farmland near the city equally and divide the rest of the land according to farmers’ age and ability.”

There were more other opinions but they were narrowed down to three ideas.

“Okay, the result of our vote indicates that we should draw a lot for land distribution. But, we’ll have to pay incentives for people who’d get farmland distant from the city area. What do you think?”

“Since they’d have to commute, we should assign them vehicles as a priority, and since their yields should be less, we should deduct their tax.”

It was Park Young-sun who suggested this idea.

“How about adding one or two farming towns to the state? If new towns are formed, they won’t have to drive so long to commute. It’d be great if we have another town area at the distance of an hour from the city area. If we utilize the ranch sites, it won’t be so difficult to form a town.”

Old Kim Sung-chan was the one who voiced himself last.

It was great for the balanced development of the autonomous state.

The original city would be the center of administration and economy of the state. Having several farming towns as satellites would speed up the development of the autonomous state.

The problem was the education of kids, but small schools could be also formed according to the size of each town. As for older kids, they could use commuting bus or dormitory. If roads were established, they might be able to commute within the range of 30 minutes.

Everything was centered around the original city, and it was a reason that the autonomous state’s development was slowing down. Thus, the establishment of satellite towns was all agreed upon by the leadership group.

There were reservoirs all over the autonomous state and ranches were formed nearby them. Since most of them were completed including stone walls, building towns there did not seem to be a huge problem.

***

“Making farming towns will resolve our issue of the lack of housing in the city.”

“Do you think they’d want to leave their old houses?”

“We should give them some incentives, of course. Wouldn’t farming equipment the best gift for farmers?”

The farmland that would be distributed to each farmer’s household was about 200 acres. It seemed to be a huge area, but it was not a lot compared to what rich farmers had in Kazakhstan.

In advanced countries, 320 tons of wheat was produced from a land of 200 acres on average but the state was expecting only about 250 tons of wheat from each farmland for now due to the land’s low fertility level.

250 tons of wheat was sold at about 74,000 dollars these days, and for a small scale farming family, it was quite a lot. If the amount of yield would increase in the future, their income would increase even more. Of course, they would have to pay for farming equipment and other expenses but roughly they could even earn a billion Korean won a year. It would be a dream income in Central Asia.

“We will purchase all of the wheat produced in the state but other crops could be sold individually using local retailers in Kazakhstan.”

“Sure. It’ll be beneficial for the people to follow the market economy rather than being completely controlled by the administration of the state. When the income of the farmers and area of farmland increase, we’ll be able to have a room for a hundred more households to join farming.”

“I heard that we’re already getting calls from the residents wishing to become farmers.”

“Well, we can’t take anyone as farmers. They’d have to be equipped with the skill, passion, and endurance. Most of them are only being greedy for farmland.”

There were 152 farming households in the Arirang Autonomous State and 30,000 acres of land would need to be distributed to them but the developed farmland was only about 20,000 acres so far.

The farmers who would be moving to new towns would need to develop farmland on their own. Even after developing it, the fertility of the land would gradually increase, and they would only be able to have a decent amount of yield after a few years of working hard on the new land.

Because of this reason, Youngho was going to give exclusive treats for the ones moving to the new towns. New towns were not going to be equipped with convenient facilities as the city area where the administration was located. They would be only an hour away from the city but the psychological distance would be even farther than that. It would be only fair if there was a great incentive for the farmers who would have to move away to new towns.

Also, he would allow farmers to exchange their land once and for all after the land was distributed according to the result of the drawing.

The drawing day had finally come.

The staffs of the administration numbered each area of the autonomous state on a huge map and put the numbers on little balls. They put all of the balls randomly in a box so that each farming household could draw a ball from it.

This could be done through a computer program but the state intentionally held an official drawing at the state’s underground gym. It was to make it an official event of the state and to convince everyone that it was a fair game to all farming households.

Every time a ball with a number was picked, farmers would go to the map to check the location of their farmland. People laughed, exclaimed, and sighed together as they watched the event.

The farmers who got the land near the city were relieved that they received good, established farmland. The farmers who got new land were disappointed but they did not complain since they were hopeful for what kind of incentive they would be getting from the state.

After the drawing was completed, people were busy chatting about newly assigned farmland. Since the farmers had not registered the number of their land yet, they still could exchange their land with each other. Even after registering their land, they would be allowed to exchange land for once.

Distribution of farmland of the autonomous state ended as a great success.

All of the residents were full of excitement for the upcoming new change of the autonomous state.

***

The distribution of farmland surely had positive effects on the autonomous state.

It was rumored that the annual income of state’s residents was estimated starting from the farmers, and then each factory’s production rate had started to go up.

“What’s happening now? The drone factory’s output was increased compared to last week and it’s the same with the bearing factory.”

“The slow work pace at the shipyard has gotten a lot faster now. People are hopeful that they will make six-figure yearly income in several years.”

“Wow, I’m quite afraid that the word will spread to outside. We can’t stop people from coming to the autonomous state to settle down.”

“Phew, what are you worried about? The autonomous state should have at least 50,000 people in order to become a decent state. We barely have about 7,000 people including infants. With the next group of Koryoin immigrants from Kyrgyzstan moving in the spring, we’ll barely have about 10,000 people.”

“People who’d be moving in the spring used to be farmers unlike people from the big city, Osh, most of them would want farmland of their own. We’ll be able to make new towns in the state.”

“That’s what I mean Boss. Would you please get us some lumber from Siberia? I just think we’re paying too much for lumbers for home furniture.”

Kim Chun complained.

It was because the cost of building materials and lumbers for home furniture was quite a lot.

“That’s a little premature since we have only exchanged the memorandum of understanding so far. There is a place where we could buy them at a cheaper price.”

“Where is it? I’ll go ahead at once and negotiate it.”

“It’s Kyrgyzstan.”

“What? From Kyrgyzstan?”