Wings of Freedom #4: The Great Rubber Dump
1905, Asia – Korean Empire, Pyongyang
“So, Ok-gyun, you’re saying we should make some cash this time around?”
“Yes.”
“And now we’ve got regular shipping lines, right?”
“That’s true.”
Britain had finally opened up regular shipping between Korea and England. All that “just wait a bit longer” talk about canal capacity limits had finally borne fruit. Sure, the ships were British, but now we could export to Britain—and through them, to Europe. At long last. It had been one hell of a long wait for those exports.
“Got anything worth selling?”
“Excluding what we’ve been shipping so far… rubber. Tires, to be precise.”
Rubber prices were skyrocketing year after year. Southeast Asia had long been turned into vast rubber plantations. The plan was to process that rubber into tires and sell them.
“And?”
“That’s it. Maybe booze at a stretch? We’ve already sold everything else.”
“So, tires it is?”
“We gotta sell the expensive stuff.”
“Fair point.”
I nodded automatically. Tires were consumables, and with rubber as the raw material, few industrialists would complain if we started producing them. They were intermediate goods, after all.
Come to think of it, rubber brought one guy to mind. The legendary wrist collector, savior of the blacks, guardian of Africa. That bastard was still kicking strong in the field.
Leaving Kim Ok-gyun behind, I slowly flipped through the report Lee Wan-yong had submitted.
“Rubber trading makes good money, huh?”
“Yes.”
“Great. Sell it. Rubber.”
“How much?”
“All of it.”
“Pardon?”
“Every rubber plantation we’ve got, including the new ones we just set up.”
“The plantations? You’re joking, right?”
“No joke.”
I planned to use this ‘wrist collector’ opportunity to score big.
Congo Slave State: Protest Against the New African Slave System
King Leopold’s Soliloquy
Casement Report (Cd. 1933)
The endless stream of reports and news alone was enough to set Europe boiling against the king of wrist collection. In other words, it was the perfect time to exit the rubber plantation business.
The bigger the scale, the more ‘legitimate reason’ you needed to fetch top dollar. Otherwise, people suspected a fire sale right away.
“You’re really handing all this over to us?”
“Of course. Europe’s short on rubber—we should sell it to them.”
“Wow.”
“If you’d like, you can invest in the new rubber plantations we’re setting up in Taiwan this time too.”
“Now that’s intriguing.”
I didn’t nod easily as I eyed the Dutch ambassador to Korea, William, and opened with an explanation for the sale.
“Our king owns rubber plantations.”
“Ah, then you have to sell them.”
Free pass, as expected. Thanks, Leopold!
I wouldn’t bow to the king, but I sold off all the rubber plantations he and I owned—rights and all—then laid out the next scheme.
“So, you’re saying we screw over the Belgians with this sale?”
The Supreme Leader nodded twice.
“I like it. Mind if I summarize the plan and pass it along?”
Another nod.
“I didn’t want to sell the plantations, so honestly, I can’t help feeling something about it. Even as a fellow human.”
“Hahaha. I get it. But it was a wise choice. Coming to us like this too.”
If it was about sticking it to Belgium, the Dutch would lay out the perfect stage. Reliable as ever. Sure enough, Leopold had already become “worse than yellow races” in newspaper editorials.
As a yellow man, it stung a bit, but it fell short. As expected from has-beens. No surprise there—his rubber business would chug along anyway, so it’d just look like competitor slander. Boring.
Time to put the first baseman in position and swing for a home run.
I called in the heavy hitter and explained why I’d sold the rubber plantations to the Dutch and our countermeasures.
“This produces rubber?”
“Quality and quantity are crude, but yes.”
I showed the British ambassador to Korea, MacDonald, the ‘soo-o-o-o-ore dandelions’ and the latex extracted from them.
MacDonald eyed me with deep suspicion. Fair enough—Britain was a major rubber consumer too.
I knew that much. Malaysia being a sea of rubber plantations was no secret anymore.
Not fun news for Britain, which was why I’d set up this meeting.
“Honestly, it can’t compare to rubber trees.”
“I see.”
“Help us open some sales channels?”
“……?”
“We’re building a massive tire company in Korea, Sir Jack MacDonald.”
“There’s no ‘Jack’ in my name……”
He looked thoroughly displeased, but it wasn’t a losing deal. Labor costs were cheap, for one.
But—why Korea, of all places?
“Building tire factories even in Southeast Asia—good for Britain?”
“Why do you think that?”
“Producing at the source cuts costs, doesn’t it?”
“Tires are expensive.”
“Spot on.”
High tire prices meant local rubber farmers demanded more from factory owners. Those country bumpkins mistakenly thought high tire value meant high rubber value too.
So better to keep precious industries far from potential highway robbers—that was the Supreme Leader’s point. Not wrong.
Put a tire factory in Korea, with none nearby, and all they could do was squeeze rubber. They’d behave and stick to that.
“Best part? Accessibility. Korea just got shipping routes.”
“Yes, true.”
“Ships hauling goods to India and back will stop in Southeast Asia, then Korea?”
“Probably.”
“Load ’em up with rubber on the empty return.”
“Turn that rubber into tires and ship to Britain, you mean?”
“Exactly. Mix in plenty of dandelion rubber too.”
Damn.
“Ha, you’re quite the businessman.”
“I do alright.”
“Haven’t checked with the home office yet, but they’ll agree. Fifty-fifty split? But those dandelions……”
“Quality’s crude, honestly. But blend ’em in right, no issue.”
“Not that—takes a lot of land, no?”
“We’re fine. Not growing it here in Korea.”
“?”
“We’ll outsource. To the Qing.”
To be precise, we already had. That massive report from Lee Wan-yong was the proof.
“The Qing……”
The Qing. Britain’s old nemesis.
But maybe the Qing’s very existence was the spark that forged the man before him.
“Not thrilled to hear it. But if it boosts rubber supply—and cuts costs—even better.”
MacDonald had orders from home: “Pull the Supreme Leader into Britain’s camp as much as possible.” He partly agreed.
The guy was no fun as an enemy. Patient, resourceful, decisive—and above all, reasonable.
The Supreme Leader might’ve jumped into the Han River hearing that, but to MacDonald, he was a damn fine Oriental.
He grumbled, but left room for compromise.
“Fine. I can greenlight this on my own.”
They reached an amicable deal. Then chit-chat to bridge their mental gaps.
“Speaking of joint ventures, something comes to mind.”
“Yes?”
“You gave us that diesel engine last time.”
“Like it?”
“Could we get in on your Middle East ventures—ones Britain’s investing in or planning to? We produce not a drop of oil……”
“……”
“You gave us the chance to school Leopold and the Dutch together.”
“For Britain, third wheel in rubber, this is huge. Smash the brutal plantations and shine alone.”
“It’ll sting the Dutch hard—they just borrowed big to buy my plantations.”
“Confident?”
I handed over a potted dandelion as I spoke.
“So, a little opportunity for us?”
The Supreme Leader never missed a day of uncomfortable truths. Getting blatant now.
But he had the creds for it. Good enough.
MacDonald smiled.
“I’ll consider it.”
“Korea’s investing in the Middle East. Joint venture with Britain for oil security.”
“Britain allowed that?”
“…Yes.”
Tremble tremble tremble. How many rejections had we gotten?
Engines. This engine before him was Japan’s future. Anyone with eyes would be captivated.
Prime Minister Shibusawa thought so.
But
“Japan has no oil…!”
“Nope.”
“Couldn’t we really?”
“Might work.”
“The joint venture?”
“No, the engine you’re looking at, sir.”
Oil? Korea’d hand it over if we asked. Scary thing was, that Supreme Leader probably would.
But we couldn’t.
“That black liquid’ll power every industry ahead—rely totally on Korea?”
“Britain’s got it. America too. Just import.”
“I don’t say this lightly, but depending on imports for oil? Too much.”
Korea itself was joint-venturing with Britain for self-sufficiency over buying. Japan had to at least match that.
“Try America for a joint venture?”
America?
“No!!”
“Pardon?”
“Not America! Anyone but them!”
The Supreme Leader had hinted at what America offered him to take Japan. Couldn’t trust them there. Unless straight buying.
“Then Britain’s our only shot. I’ll make the approach.”
“Hm… yeah, that’s it.”
Still, Japan couldn’t keep trailing Korea forever.
Japan thought so.