Chapter 140

Chapter 140: The Meeting.

“Your Majesty, the finance minister is here.”

“Speak.”

As soon as Kim Ki-woo gave his permission, the finance minister recited in a low voice.

“The gun sales that started with the easing of the sailing ban have decreased for the first time.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

“Since gun sales have a great impact on the empire’s economy, don’t you think we should take urgent measures?”

At that, Kim Ki-woo nodded.

‘It seems that there is a limit to the sales of firecrackers.’

In fact, the firecrackers that had been produced in the past were almost all sold at the beginning of the trade. 

The firecrackers that had been sold until now were the ones produced by the gun factory.

The demand for guns was so high worldwide that they were able to make a decent income by making and selling firecrackers, and this was one of the pillars of the vast national budget.

But now, most of the regions had enough firecrackers or were able to produce them themselves.

‘Firecrackers are easy to produce by themselves.’

The structure of firecrackers was simple, and the wage difference between the empire and other countries was so severe that it was cheaper to make them by themselves.

In fact, the answer to this was simple.

‘Just sell better guns.’

There was nothing that could threaten the empire’s position even if they released better guns than that all over the world.

The machine guns were already supplied to the imperial army. It didn’t matter much if they started selling flintlocks, which were one step better than firecrackers.

Kim Ki-woo mentioned what he had in mind.

“Even if the sales of firecrackers decrease, there will be a steady demand for them for a while. Keep selling them, but start selling the next generation of guns slowly.”

“I will follow your orders.”

Selling the next generation of guns had been discussed for a long time. 

Therefore, there was no minister who objected to Kim Ki-woo’s words.

From the beginning, there had been requests from various places to sell better guns than firecrackers.

‘It’s uncomfortable to sell weapons…’

It was an act of making money by exploiting conflicts in other countries, so he felt some guilt. 

However, he should not have sold weapons to other countries in the first place if he felt that way.

No matter how much other countries wanted guns, it was Kim Ki-woo himself who decided to sell them.

He had no intention of pretending to be innocent now.

He was able to maintain a rich national budget with the proceeds from selling guns.

And now he was selling more than just guns.

“How are the sales of warships going?”

The one who answered Kim Ki-woo’s question was the commerce minister.

“Haha. It’s at a level where we can’t sell them because they’re gone.”

His face was full of smiles. 

As soon as the imperial warships started selling, their demand was explosive.

‘Now we don’t need warships anymore.’

The shipbuilding market in the empire had already moved beyond wooden warships to iron steamships.

This naturally pushed out the wooden warships that had been used in the past. 

But it was a bit too much to just leave them alone.

The empire had naturally phased out wooden warships because of iron ships, but they were better than wooden warships in other countries in many ways.

‘And we can’t just leave the shipbuilders who used to make wooden warships on the streets overnight.’

Of course, he intended to gradually guide them to iron ship production, but it was not good if it happened too quickly.

“Good. If there is any problem, report it immediately.”

“I understand.”

Selling wooden warships had been discussed for a long time. 

There was no minister who opposed it.

There had been requests from various places to sell better ships than wooden warships since a long time ago.

‘Selling weapons is uncomfortable…’

It was an act of making money by exploiting conflicts in other countries, so he felt some guilt. 

However, he should not have sold weapons to other countries in the first place if he felt that way.

No matter how much other countries wanted guns, it was Kim Ki-woo himself who decided to sell them. 

He had no intention of pretending to be innocent now.

He was able to maintain a rich national budget with the proceeds from selling guns.

And now he was selling more than just guns.

“What about imports? How are they going?”

“They are going well as per your Majesty’s orders.”

“I see. Importing raw materials is very sensitive, so keep an eye on it at all times.”

Well, to be precise, this matter was reported to Kim Ki-woo regularly. 

He just mentioned it now to move on.

The production of raw materials in Wakan Tanka Empire’s mainland had been reduced continuously. 

They imported these from overseas.

The representative examples were rubber, cotton, sugar, tobacco, minerals, etc.

Tea, coffee, cocoa, spices, and so on were also included in this.

After settling some trade-related issues, Kim Kiwoo moved on to the next agenda.

“Your Majesty, the Chief Inspector is here.”

Shudder!

As the Chief Inspector stepped forward and spoke, some of the department heads trembled.

It couldn’t be helped.

The Inspection Department was the most dreaded and grim reaper-like department for all the other departments in the empire.

If they got caught by the Inspection Department, they could lose their rank. 

The empire had applied aggravated punishment for public officials since its early days.

Of course, he was just speaking for a regular inspection report.

“Speak.”

“The frequency of corruption related to various construction projects is increasing as more and more projects are being carried out.”

“Is that so.”

Kim Kiwoo nodded heavily.

‘Do they think they won’t get caught… Tsk!’

Kim Kiwoo had reinvested the empire’s vast finances in many fields.

He laid railways, paved roads, built bridges, erected buildings, and established various factories.

These things created a lot of jobs, lowered the unemployment rate, and made the empire’s economy run smoothly.

However, as these things were happening simultaneously in various regions of the vast continent, corruption was rampant.

Human greed was endless, and they repeated the same mistakes.

The Chief Inspector continued.

“Moreover, the problem of surveillance agents boarding private merchant ships is also quite serious.”

“Cough.”

As he mentioned the surveillance agents, the Foreign Affairs Director coughed lightly.

The job of a surveillance agent was simple.

They monitored whether anything illegal happened on the private merchant ships they boarded.

‘The merchants’ greed is endless.’

Kim Kiwoo knew human greed for money too well. 

Among them, merchants were the ones who reached the peak.

They were scoundrels who would commit all kinds of horrible things without blinking an eye if they could make money.

‘The empire’s technology level is incomparable to other countries. If we don’t monitor them, they will cause all kinds of incidents and accidents overseas as if it’s natural.’

Even with the existence of surveillance agents, there were constant noises from various incidents.

“Do you have anything to say, Foreign Affairs Director?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The management of these surveillance agents was handled by the Foreign Affairs Department.

In the past, the Foreign Affairs Department was one of the departments with the least work to do, but now it was one of the busiest ones.

They interacted with various foreign governments and also managed the surveillance agents who boarded ships.

“As you know, Your Majesty, our department’s recruitment rate is continuously declining. There are too many cases where surveillance agents who boarded private merchant ships never returned.”

“Hmm…”

This was one of the two problems with surveillance agents.

‘Damn those unscrupulous merchants.’

What would merchants do if something went wrong overseas?

Kim Kiwoo knew this well.

‘They would either bribe or kill the surveillance agents.’

In the past, bribery attempts were common. 

If all the accompanying surveillance agents died, a high-intensity investigation would be conducted by the empire.

The Foreign Affairs Department even gave instructions to pretend to be bribed for the safety of surveillance agents.

There was a rule that bribery caused by such threats to life would not be punished. 

Of course, if they reported it truthfully after returning.

However, as time passed and this fact became widely known among merchants, bribery attempts decreased significantly.

He decided that it would be better to kill them cleanly and let them keep their mouths shut, since he was going to return to the mainland and receive his reward anyway.

‘Or kill the monitor and run away to a faraway wilderness where they can’t chase me.’

Although it was not yet serious enough to affect their normal lives, since they would not be able to survive without the empire’s support, the frequency of such accidents was gradually increasing.

“I understand your concern, Minister of Foreign Affairs. For now, I will increase the number of monitors boarding the ships, and strengthen the investigation of the merchants.”

“I see.”

It was clearly a temporary measure, but there was no better way at the moment.

But the Minister of Inspection was not done yet.

“Your Majesty. Not only the sacrifice of the monitors, but also their corruption is increasing. Isn’t that right, Minister of Foreign Affairs?”

“…Sigh. I admit it.”

It was a shame that his department had a lot of corruption. 

But it was inevitable given the nature of the foreign affairs department.

‘It’s hard to find out what happened here if they commit any illegal acts overseas and the monitors keep their mouths shut.’

This was not about covering up the monitors’ mouths when something happened by accident, but about crimes committed by colluding with the merchants from the beginning.

Of course, there were some safety measures.

They made several monitors accompany each other and watch each other, and they could not board the same ship again once the voyage was over.

If they could board the same ship repeatedly, it would be easier for collusion to occur.

But…

‘Money has a devilish power to break down all barriers.’

What if they offered astronomical amounts of money to the monitors in exchange for turning a blind eye to their illegal acts?

Could they be sure that they would not waver at all?

Kim Ki-woo thought not.

“Do you have a solution for this, Minister of Inspection?”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs looked at the Minister of Inspection with sharp eyes.

The Minister of Inspection replied briefly.

“I have a humble opinion.”

“Oh? Let’s hear it.”

After Kim Ki-woo’s words continued, the Minister of Inspection cautiously opened his mouth.

“It is to disguise trained elite agents as monitors.”

“Disguise…”

“Yes. If we do that, there are two advantages.”

“Tell me.”

The Minister of Inspection took a breath and listed his thoughts.

“First, we can definitely catch those who try to bribe the monitors.”

“They won’t be bribed, I guess.”

He thought they wouldn’t be bribed, since they were infiltrating to catch the wicked merchants who tried to bribe them in the first place.

“And because they are trained in various high-intensity skills, their survival rate will increase in case of emergency. Most of the accidental accidents overseas happen locally.”

That was true.

If it was an area that traded with the empire, other imperial merchants would visit frequently, and they could escape and return to the empire by boarding their ships.

Kim Ki-woo looked at the other ministers and asked.

“What do you all think of the Minister of Inspection’s opinion?”

“It certainly seems better than doing nothing.”

“The wicked merchants who hinder the empire’s plan should be expelled from the empire as soon as possible. For now, I think it would be good to do as the Minister of Inspection wishes.”

“I agree with that, Your Majesty.”

It didn’t matter much to the other departments whether or not the inspection department agents infiltrated in disguise.

It was their job to train and perform dangerous missions anyway.

Kim Ki-woo listened to all the ministers’ opinions and opened his mouth.

“Minister of Inspection.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I will support you with related budget for the inspection department, so try your best to produce good results.”

At Kim Ki-woo’s words, the Minister of Inspection bowed his head firmly.

“I will live up to your expectations.