Chapter 24

Chapter 24 <The First Colony>

“Do you think the founding ceremony is over by now?”

“Why, do you miss it?”

“Haha. I do feel a little regretful. I wanted to see His Majesty proclaiming the founding with my own eyes. And the founding festival too…”

The Solid Steel Sword nodded at his subordinate’s words. He felt the same way as his men.

But once an order came from above, he had no choice but to follow it. No matter what kind of order it was.

He had been doing so until now, and that was how the Solid Steel Sword was able to rise to the position of a captain leading a unit at the youngest age.

Then, another man interrupted their conversation.

“Captain, it seems like this is the place His Majesty told us about.”

“Really?”

“What do you want to do?”

The Solid Steel Sword gazed at the faintly visible land.

‘Is that it?’

Kim Ki-woo had drawn a rough sketch of the terrain of the target point based on the world map and handed it over to the Solid Steel Sword.

For the past fortnight, the Solid Steel Sword had been drawing the surrounding coastline one by one and comparing it thoroughly with the map Kim Ki-woo gave him.

There seemed to be nothing more he could confirm here.

The Solid Steel Sword made a decision.

“Let’s land on the land ahead.”

“Finally!”

A smile bloomed on the weary faces of his men.

The warriors had received as much sailing adaptation training as possible before going out to sea.

But the river and the sea were very different.

Every time the boat rocked because of the waves, their stomachs turned upside down mercilessly. They had a reason to like it.

Meanwhile, five ships of the empire reached their destination.

“There are people over there!”

A subordinate pointed at a spot and shouted. The Solid Steel Sword squinted his eyes and looked there.

He could vaguely see human figures in the distance. Their appearance became clearer as they approached closer to the land.

‘The natives living here, huh? Their level is not bad.’

The Solid Steel Sword was a veteran of war. He had fought countless battles while subjugating numerous tribes in North America.

The natives’ clothing was certainly made of cloth, but it was incomparable to the empire’s clothing.

Moreover, he couldn’t see any decent weapons or tools.

They looked similar to the various tribes in North America.

In contrast, the unit led by the Solid Steel Sword was composed of warriors armed with iron weapons and armor.

When the boat was almost there, the natives started to run away frantically.

“Should we just leave them alone?”

“Let them go.”

“Yes.”

He could have intercepted them with crossbows at this distance, but the Solid Steel Sword didn’t bother.

The natives were probably going to tell their tribe what they saw.

A clash with them was inevitable anyway.

But he wasn’t even a bit anxious about it.

He trusted the strong warriors of the empire who followed him here.

“How’s the situation around?”

“I can see a village in the distance, but the coast seems safe.”

“Then let’s land our boat first.”

“Yes.”

Soon, a green flag fluttered. It was a signal to request covering fire.

After that, the warriors began to land on land in an orderly manner, with the Solid Steel Sword at their head.

The boat was anchored and there was no surprise attack until all the warriors landed.

“Any problems?”

“None.”

“Good. Take a break for now.”

“Yes!”

It was supposed to be January by imperial calendar, but the weather was quite hot. The powerful archer was right.

They had been on a boat for a long time, so they needed some time to rest and adapt to land.

As they were resting,

Roar!

Thousands of native warriors armed with stone weapons rushed toward the coast.

As expected.

They showed a hostile reaction to the strange-looking warriors of the empire with unfamiliar weapons and clothing.

Well. They brought so many warriors without saying anything. How many tribes would react kindly in this situation?

“Everyone, get ready for battle!”

“Battle ready!”

The Solid Steel Sword shouted loudly.

Then, his men stopped resting and drew their weapons.

That’s how the standoff between two forces began.

“What do you want to do?”

The lieutenant’s question.

It was about whether to try peaceful negotiations or subdue them by force.

But the answer was already clear.

The Solid Steel Sword made a quick decision.

“We have to show them an example.”

The natives were still shouting something. But he couldn’t understand what they were saying at all.

They were people who didn’t even speak his language. Negotiating with them would be very difficult.

The Solid Steel Sword’s mission was to occupy this area and build ships on the other side of the sea.

He had to show them an overwhelming difference in power to complete the future orders.

“Capture as many as possible, but you can kill anyone who resists to the end.”

“Understood.”

The lieutenant bowed briefly to the Solid Steel Sword and then

Clang!

He drew his sword and raised it high in the sky.

“Prioritize neutralizing the enemies! All troops, charge!”

“Waaaaah!”

That’s how the construction of the first colony of the Wakan Tanka Empire began.

*

After the founding, a week-long festival was held.

During that period, a huge amount of grains, chickens, beef obtained from the recently activated bison hunting, and alcohol disappeared into the stomachs of the imperial citizens.

During the festival, many works were suspended except for the necessary ones.

As a result, a lot of inconvenience was caused.

Nevertheless, the festival’s enthusiasm was very hot.

But festivals are finite. Before long, quite some time had passed since the festival ended.

“How does it feel to be a director?”

“Only my title has changed, but isn’t my work the same?”

“But your salary must have increased as your rank went up.”

“That seems good.”

In fact, there was no room for any dramatic changes to happen just because the empire was proclaimed.

The rough system had already been set up almost before the proclamation of the empire.

The only thing that changed was that the Ministry of Internal Affairs was newly added.

Of course, it was nothing more than expanding the secretariat, but its authority over domestic affairs was slightly expanded.

Naturally, the director of internal affairs was Straight Tree. He earned the title of youngest director thanks to his good assistance to Kim Ki-woo.

Kim Ki-woo and Straight Tree finished their conversation.

By then, all the imperial leaders who attended the imperial meeting had taken their seats.

Today’s regular meeting began again.

“Is the Public Security Bureau doing better?”

The Public Security Bureau was in charge of governing each village under the orders of the central government.

As the centralization of power in the empire progressed, the demand for public security officials increased.

Therefore, most of the people who received administrative education in middle school were assigned to public security bureaus in each village.

“It’s still very chaotic. I think it will take time to meet His Majesty’s expectations.”

Practical work is not something that can be mastered overnight. It is something that is perfected by rolling under seniors.

This was something Kim Ki-woo couldn’t do anything about. But he had to prevent what he could prevent.

“Surely there will be more scoundrels who have other thoughts in the Public Security Bureau. Aren’t quite a few being caught already?”

“…I’m sorry. It’s all my fault.”

“Haha. How can you blame only the public security director? I understand enough about the difficulties of public security. You don’t have to feel too sorry.”

If a public official commits corruption, he or she receives a heavier punishment. But just by strengthening punishment, he couldn’t completely prevent such corruption.

Kim Ki-woo especially didn’t trust these people who had even a little bit of power in their hands. In fact, as soon as he investigated a little bit, didn’t countless irregularities get caught?

Especially in villages far away from the capital, this tendency was more pronounced.

The workload of the central government was enormous. It was very difficult to pay attention to every village far away.

“But we have to instill a strong awareness that they will be caught if they commit corruption from the beginning. If we try to correct this later, it will be harder.”

“Do you have any good ideas?”

“Not only corruption is happening in public security bureau, so I would like to add a department related to this on this occasion.”

Kim Ki-woo finally pulled out his card he had been thinking about.

The director of education tilted his head and asked.

“What kind of department are you talking about?”

“As it says, an institution that corrects corruption and wrongdoing of public officials. Targeting all public institutions in the empire. The name is… How about Inspection Bureau?”

Then, the air in the meeting room became quite cold.

It was a natural reaction.

It meant creating a department that could hold their leash.

But Kim Ki-woo didn’t care about their implicit discomfort at all.

“Why are you making such uncomfortable faces? The purpose of creating an inspection bureau is not to falsely accuse you. Didn’t you also want to catch those who are eating off from empire? Unless you are committing corruption…”

Kim Ki-woo narrowed his eyes and scanned them thoroughly.

This was a subtle warning.

After all, they were most exposed and easy to hide power-type corruption among them, heads of each department.

Kim Ki-woo didn’t think they would do their work fairly and cleanly in future either.

That’s what power is like.

There are bound to be people who deviate from his expectations.

“…”

The friendly atmosphere at first was gone.

“Why are you all keeping your mouths shut? Don’t tell me you had such thoughts?”

“No.”

“Of course not.”

“Then you have no reason to oppose the establishment of the Inspection Bureau, do you?”

Kim Ki-woo was firm. He didn’t show any sign of backing down.

The directors who had been by Kim Ki-woo’s side for a long time knew well that Kim Ki-woo with such a strong attitude never backed down.

The directors looked at each other’s faces, wondering how to behave. But in the end, the winner of this fight was Kim Ki-woo.

“We understand Your Majesty’s intention.”

“Please do as Your Majesty wishes.”

“We will follow.”

It was a fight they couldn’t win.

First of all, the reason was clear. They all agreed that corruption should be eliminated.

Moreover, it was a time when the empire had just been founded.

That is, it was the strongest time for Kim Ki-woo’s power so far.

Kim Ki-woo finally relaxed his expression. And he gently comforted the directors with uncomfortable expressions.

“Don’t be too upset. I swear I won’t use the Inspection Bureau unjustly.”

Of course, he didn’t know about the future. 

In politics, there could be times when a certain person or political group became powerful.

Kim Ki-woo would boldly eliminate them without regard to means and methods if he judged that they would prevent him from achieving what he wanted to do.

“And there’s more than one department I want to add this time.”

“There’s more?”

“Yes. I think we should also create a department related to hygiene on this occasion.”

“That’s right!”

As soon as Kim Ki-woo finished speaking, the director of agriculture, who had been quiet until now, exclaimed with delight.

He had a reason to do so.

Currently, the work of collecting and storing feces and making fertilizer from them was supervised by the Ministry of Agriculture.

Fertilizer was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture, so they reluctantly took charge of it.

But the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture had been very unhappy about this.

Of course, it was right to use fertilizer for farming. But why did they have to supervise the whole process of making it?

Even cleaning up the feces in the outhouse!

“Haha. Don’t you like it too much?”

“I’m sorry.”

“No. But you’ll still have to take care of making fertilizer. The Ministry of Hygiene will only be responsible for moving the feces from the toilet to the waste treatment plant.”

“That’s enough.”

Of course, that wasn’t all the Ministry of Hygiene did.

As it says, it would carry out everything related to hygiene.

‘I need to improve the hygiene of the capital.’

It was an inevitable phenomenon when population density increased.

The Ministry of Hygiene would be in charge of hygiene not only in the capital but also in cities that emerged along rivers.

‘I want to make water and sewage systems as soon as possible…’

He didn’t have enough resources to pay attention to that yet.

That’s how two departments were added. Then, the next agenda was discussed.

“The occupation of Yanghae area is complete.”

“Oh, really?”

Kim Ki-woo brightened up at the report from the director of military affairs.

Yanghae area was where modern Panama is located.

It means where two seas meet.

He had sent troops there several times so far.

The number of tribes living in Panama area was enormous. It was almost half to a third of the current empire’s population.

But the difference in weapons overcame such a difference in population.

‘Considering how much effort I’ve put in…’

Still, the damage was severe.

During sea expeditions, many accidents occurred. And because of Panama natives’ resistance, the damage was not trivial.

Kim Ki-woo tried not to make colonies away from mainland as much as possible because of this.

But Panama was special.

Where modern Panama Canal is located. 

In modern times, ships can pass from Pacific Ocean to Atlantic Ocean and from Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Ocean through this canal.

That means Panama area is close to both seas.

The mainland of Wakan Tanka Empire is adjacent to Atlantic Ocean. 

That is, to go to Pacific Ocean, he had to cross Magellan Strait at bottom of South America.

It was hard to get there with current boats. Even if possible, it was too far away.

‘I have to go through Panama.’

It doesn’t mean digging a canal. He wanted to occupy Panama and build a shipyard at a port adjacent to Pacific Ocean.

Then he could go to places adjacent to Pacific Ocean with minimal effort.

‘It’s the only way to trade with Andes for now.’

The Andes Mountains are adjacent to Pacific Ocean.

There are llamas there as well as guano and gold and silver.

Wakan Tanka Empire, which had occupied the blessed land of southeastern North America, had to go there to grow faster.

<The First Colony> End