Impatience
The meeting had dragged on for hours.
Coordinating the various departments and preparing for the Japanese delegation selection, not to mention activating the massive grain market connecting Incheon, Gunsan, and Busan, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Interior were putting everything on the line.
‘Isn’t it that every person in this country is interested in the grain market?’
Rice, originally white rice, is a symbol of wealth for every layer of this country’s society. Despite the fact that the republic only has two newspapers nationwide, countless ordinary people in this country were staring with wide eyes at the government’s reform announcement.
The Confucian literati faction based in the Three Southern Provinces and their patrons, the local gentry and landlords; the enlightenment party bureaucrats actively utilizing the network of the Incheon treaty port and foreign settlements; the Farmers’ Party centered around the Dongmaenghoe, my political base and the only mass-based party in the country; and finally, the Chokseonghoe, which has been steadily conducting large-scale exchanges based in the capital Hanseong and Pyongyang, and so on.
The only exception here was the military, which was divided into the Sojang faction and the Revolutionary Party’s core, but since they were preoccupied with the revolutionary war, they were excluded. After all, even if I wanted to care, there was no position or status to care about.
The long meeting tired everyone’s hearts, and since their heads were already stiff, they would just turn into parrots repeating the same words. Taking advantage of the fact that tomorrow was a holiday, I gestured to the tired ministers and ministers.
“Then, let’s call it a day today.”
At that, people stood up from their seats with bright faces.
“Thank you for your hard work!”
I let out a dry laugh at the sight of them hurriedly packing their things, and without hesitation, I moved to my seat.
After I adjourned the meeting, leaving the ministers exiting the office behind, when I went to the wide window overlooking the cityscape, the deep darkness had already begun to push out the orange sun in the city, and the streets were becoming deserted.
Looking at the cabinet ministers and ministers disappearing outside the gate in the distance, the representatives from the Chokseonghoe and Daegyeongryeon, and the commercial representatives dispatched from them, I let out a sigh.
“Huu.”
Those with sharp eyes would already know, but the proposals I made to the Japanese government right now were largely two. One was ODA (Official Development Assistance), and the other was the basic currency swap of the won-yen.
‘Both are the very basics of economic leashes.’
Of course, there might be a slight sense of bewilderment. Why would I lend the Japanese government an interest-free loan for ODA to put a leash on them, and expel Japanese banknotes that have spread like mold in the Three Southern Provinces through won currency swaps?
To explain that, first, I had to explain to you about our government’s activation of the domestic financial market.
“Sudden influx of funds is no better than nothing.”
Aware of the red matchstick heads burning, I secretly lit the bond I had hidden under the table.
Taking a careful sip, the familiar scent entering my lungs. A slightly stuffy feeling was somewhat purified by the thick smoke.
“I expected it, but the French government’s check is too big. Now, I’m in a position where I have to worry about repaying the debt.”
In a joking tone, like the French, who are nicknamed the China of 21st-century Europe, the 19th-century France was not less than that.
Like the Gauls who often die for honor and drown in pride, the French government and parliament were generously pouring out interest-free and interest-bearing loans amounting to seven times our government’s budget (which is easily deceived by the unhealthy collection system, inaccurate statistics, and corruption of bureaucrats).
The decisive problem was that before our government could even discuss the repayment and principal of that amount and loans, the Paris parliament and the Jules Ferry cabinet had already poured out the money bomb.
In this way, the administrative capacity of our government preparing for land reform, collection system reform, tax reform, and administrative and bureaucratic reform, and the preparation of the constitutional assembly to gather the will of the entire country, is pushed to the back.
‘All government capacity must be focused solely on economic development, tsk.’
If I were just a dictator of the Third World, I would have gladly welcomed today’s good fortune. If I dumped an enormous amount of funds equivalent to seven times the national budget into the central bank, wasted it like water on social infrastructure construction, or indulged in luxury, the economy would naturally take care of itself by bringing that huge capital into the market.
But I am not a dictator. The economy is not a nature that can naturally flow with laziness and indifference. Sudden influx of market funds will show a brief boom, but soon it will show inflation, the product of deep recession.
Our republic’s situation right now was like that.
The United States Congress and government were also actively negotiating loans and assistance like France, and the Western banknotes had already pushed a loan of 2 million dollars to our government in advance.
The total economic support reaching 5 million francs.
If I wanted, it was a chilling amount that could control the economy of one country, a medium-sized nation with several small countries in the 19th century standard.
As a result, despite the war’s aftermath, in Han Yang and Incheon, people were buying with dollars and francs. Don’t be surprised yet; port cities with Gyeonggi and the treaty port already had dock workers eating rice with the suddenly imported foreign currency.
The reason I was not happy even though I confidently said I could expel Japanese banknotes from the Three Southern Provinces was exactly this.
‘We didn’t establish the central bank yet, and it would come back as poison.’
Because the revolutionary war took priority, the reason all available government assets were concentrated in the military was the biggest factor.
Fortunately, when I, who had encountered this phenomenon, rushed into the Takjibu, the minister Eo Yun-jung had already anticipated this and was preparing countermeasures.
“Now, we must secure gold and silver immediately.”
“Immediately?”
“Yes, Your Excellency. To change francs and dollars into our base currency, we must establish a central bank and hold at least 20 tons of precious metals in the center at the same time. With that, the mint must issue new currency. That is the standard.”
He said that since we were victorious in the war, if we could seize it, melt the Qing currency and mint new silver coins.
But it would be too late. Because the French government had not intended it, but the currencies of each allied country had already been occupying our government’s market from the beginning of the founding.
Therefore, I eventually decided to use a workaround.
The Japanese government would redirect the French-secured loans to our banks. Of course, reappraised in won value.
‘The Japanese government will have the French loan repayment delegated to our central bank, lending to the French Paris market on behalf of the Japanese government. We have francs and dollars piled up like mountains that are currently difficult to handle.’
The intermediary fee could also be significantly saved, and from the Japanese government’s perspective, it would be very tempting. We already had bonds transferred from the French government and the United States government, and a delegation with full powers transferred for smooth cooperation and negotiations in the Tripartite Alliance was stationed in Hanseong.
‘And before the opening of the grain market, if we prevent the sharp drop in exchange rate of Japanese banknotes, we can firmly establish the perception of Japanese businessmen. We can increase the influence of the Republic’s economy in the Osaka Dojima grain market.’
After the Treaty of Ganghwa, just as Japanese companies had been devouring the economic power of the Three Southern Provinces, our companies, the Chokseonghoe’s companies, could control the Japanese grain market starting from the grain market to be installed in Osaka.
And to grow our domestic market to the point of threatening the Japanese grain market and their food security, land reform, corporate farm development, and finally, Liaodong and Manchuria must be our territory.
“An interim agreement has been reached, at least.”
Above all, our republic was desperate for land reform, focusing on securing self-cultivating farms and corporate farms, and regardless of the direction of the war, the central government ministers who had thrown themselves at me persuaded their own families and household members first. Then came relatives, then acquaintances, and finally neighbors.
In this way, I was able to conclude two agreements and transactions with the gentry and literati from the Three Southern Provinces and Gihang Provinces, who were former members of the Gaehwadang.
To use the wealth of the French correctly in politics.
To guarantee the wealth of the French.
‘Well, thanks to this, Liaodong and Manchuria are no longer subjects of negotiation.’
In the end, the conclusion and solution converged on more territory, more resources.
I declared at the Dongmaenghoe that I would embrace the Liaodong and Manchuria in their arms even if they burst from eating too much, not just the Three Southern Provinces, and for the landlords who were dissatisfied with the land reform, instead of giving up the large land south of the Yalu River, I added a new phrase to the newly issued Land Value Certificates.
To summarize, it was as follows.
“... The Republic government will preferentially sell at appropriate prices the virgin lands equivalent to three times the agricultural land on the border of Gando and Manchuria to be newly developed, and the reclamation areas in Liaodong, to landowners who actively cooperated with the land reform...”
It was not an empty promise; the land reform controversy quickly subsided with the government’s promise to sell three times the land that had been passed down from ancestors for generations at the same price.
No, rather, the few rich farmers, small and medium landlords, and self-cultivating farmers in the Three Southern Provinces that the revolutionary government was ambitiously raising were busy rejecting their applications to go to the Liaodong-Manchuria reclamation as the ‘Liaodong-Manchuria Reclamation Corps’.
These bastards, by turning over the branches of the various Dongmaenghoe, caused chaos, and some police forces were dispatched, and it was a mess.
Fortunately, there was also a point.
‘Surprisingly progressive.’
That is, the ‘corporate farming of grain export by local gentry and landlords’ I proposed as a countermeasure to the land reform was gaining momentum.
The Koreans who had been greatly shocked by the revolution were gradually becoming enlightened Koreans.
The evidence was those who voluntarily settled their assets to go to the Liaodong and Manchuria reclamation by agreeing with the reclamation companies of the large landlords.
Meanwhile, with the land reform south of the Yalu River confirmed, the movements of the companies like Chokseonghoe and Daegyeongryeon were clear.
“We must all put all our efforts into the development of the West Sea coast.”
They were either receiving warships from the navy or trading the fleets of the United States and France that were nearing retirement to focus on building the West Sea distribution network, and in any case, they were crossing the government threshold every day to build a massive grain distribution network connecting Wonsan, Manchuria, and Busan starting from Wonsan port. If they successfully promoted the modernization of Wonsan port, they could even give birth to a great East Sea distribution network connecting Vladivostok, Busan, and Kumamoto 30 years earlier.
It was truly progressive and a wonderful spiritual maturity.
While the growth of the domestic grain market preparing for the post-war and the agricultural situation reform based on the first economic plan were gaining momentum, the sudden influx of foreign currency was another concern for the central government.
Currency.
The kings who changed policies like currency war in front of Qing currency, Sangpyeong Tongbo, and Japanese gold coins, and the Daewongun who took strong temporary measures against the unprecedented national disaster, and King Gojong, who was more focused on his own power than the economy, were exceptions.
That man didn’t care about the country’s economy at all, and his own prestige was more important, so he was in a hurry to expand even problems that could be solved with simple decrees.
But I am different.
“Mission.”
Yes, I have a mission. Or a cause.
As I had told the cabinet officials and ministers who had been sitting in the meeting room for a long time, I hate the product of Japanese politics, the politics of warlords and clan politics.
A dictatorship with all decision-making authority to one person is better than that. After all, if the country goes wrong, just pull that guy down, and the others will naturally follow and be resolved.
Absolute monarchy? From the fact that I saw King Gojong, who could have been saved if I had tried or given cheap benevolence, was lost, do you not know?
Absolute monarchy is not a dictatorship. It is a political system with a symbol next to it where a small political group together corrupts the country. Modern Japanese politics originates from here.
“Huu,”
With a short sigh from my mouth, the end of the bond burned red.
In my personal opinion, the essence of politics is the wealth of each individual citizen. Unless the citizens themselves fight for freedom from economic oppression, politics was nothing more than the property of those who had more.
So
‘To have the absolute majority of the people break the average point, direct election is possible.’
I needed a sturdy middle class and diligent common people rather than a hero who could reverse the fate of a country. The common people with hope of social advancement taking on the major arteries of society, and the middle class with the highest value of social justice taking on the heart, the republic would shine.
Like a human body that beats vigorously without stopping from birth to death.
That was the new country I wanted.
“...”
So, while I was working hard, I was educating the tycoons of the Three Southern Provinces, who were still dreaming of grand dreams with weak capital, as corporate farms familiar to them in Manchuria, handing over social infrastructure construction and public projects to the companies of the Chokseonghoe and Daegyeongryeon, to accumulate experience and capital.
Of course, the absolute majority of self-cultivating farmers and rich farmers who would remain on the peninsula would become the blood vessels of the economy.
The reason the French government gave us funds was because they wanted to have a huge economic sphere encompassing Indochina Peninsula, Yunnan, and Guangdong as their influence zone, and to place us, their only police in the Far East, in the long economic core connecting Taiwan, Liaodong, and Manchuria, but I was different.
That money was the blood price of our people, and I had to handle that blood price most precious.
With eyes pressed by fatigue, I took out the thin document I had hidden under the table and stroked it with a mixed gaze of affection and resentment.
“Economic Development Plan.”
When I flicked it with my finger with a ‘pararak!’ sound, the Arabic numbers appeared.
First, second, third, fourth—
“...”
Now, it was a time focused on the cornerstone of economic reform that was not even called the first.
We had to make desperate efforts for national capacity and tax normalization after the war that was coming to an end, and the allocated time was too short to enjoy the luxury of victory.
‘The independence army is right in front of us.’
The back of the young boy worrying about the republic’s, the people’s future looked particularly precarious today.