The Sea Is Ours!
So we'd tried hunting pirates with a full fleet, and the slippery bastards vanished without a trace. Two years of grinding effort, and it was clear this wasn't something we could solve in a hurry.
That's why our ships started sailing armed — which worked out fine for us, at least. And then a request came in from abroad.
"So you're asking us to dispatch our fleet?"
Their thinking was obvious. They needed to trade, but their own navy was too thin, so they wanted to borrow ours.
"They're probably planning to slot their merchant ships into our convoys as they come and go."
"Yes. Why would they make such a request when it gives us nothing in return?"
Exactly. We get nothing out of it — so we should demand something else instead.
"Then tell them we want land where our fleet can stay."
"Land, my lord?"
Better to set up concession zones one by one, no? They'd serve as naval ports, sure, but they'd function as trading ports too.
"Yes. It doesn't have to be huge. Tell them we'll build a fortress and a harbor — a place for our ships and people to stay."
"Do we really need that kind of thing on foreign soil?"
Once we settle in and money starts circulating, people will naturally flock to us. Turning it into a trading port would happen in the blink of an eye.
"In the end, we're building our own exclusive trade ports and stopover points. Not a bad deal — they'd be carving out places for us to sell our goods."
"Hmm… I still don't quite see it?"
On a one- or two-year horizon, sure, it'd be drowning in red ink.
"You have to look at these things long-term. During negotiations, we need written confirmation that the land is ours alone, governed by our laws."
"Would foreigners really hand over land like that?"
Any sane government would say no. We'd need to dangle some bait or offer gifts.
"Tell them it means we consider the land part of our territory — and that if it's ever invaded, we will defend it with everything we have. That framing should get you to a compromise. Sweeten it with a few gifts too."
"Understood."
Once the terms were more or less settled, I figured I'd have to go see it for myself.
These concession zones weren't places the other side opened up willingly — so why the eagerness? For stealing our technology, all they'd get is weapons. What would they even do with rifles? Copying one or two they could manage, but arming an entire army would take production capacity they simply don't have. So what were they really after?
Was trade with us important enough for them to come asking?
"Let's see… the Mamluks, the Khmer, Delhi? I have no idea where any of these are."
"The Mamluks are in the Egypt region. Delhi lies beyond the mountain ranges south of Tibet. And the Khmer are the country below Vietnam."
So roughly: Mamluks in the Middle East, Delhi in India, and the Khmer somewhere around… Thailand, maybe?
"One thing worries me. Their kingdoms change hands so often — won't ownership become an issue?"
"Try to settle it peacefully first. If that doesn't work, we use force."
Most of it could be bought with money. If not, the place would end up a scorched wasteland — the second and third Japan.
"For now, we'll need to expand Daedo's port enormously. Big enough to hold every ship that'll be sailing to and from these ports we're calling concession zones."
"Whew… that would be a truly colossal undertaking."
Yeah. A little early, maybe, but better to think of it as building the harbor for a blue-water mobile fleet we'll need in the future.
"And the fleet stationed there, not just the overseas patrol fleet — expand it and run regular patrols through Southeast Asia. Make sure those pirates never even think about sticking their heads out."
"Yes. We'll need a great many ships."
"The Eastern Continent is full of trees, isn't it?"
I'd heard the artisans over there were absolutely thrilled about all the shipbuilding timber — and since it was within the World Tree's reach, the wood never even dried out. We could build them as many ships as we liked.
"Tell them to build an enormous city where everything arrives by rail and all they do is build ships."
"I suppose we have no choice. There's just so much ocean for us to cover."
"Don't ask me. I argued against it, but your ancestors are the ones who made the land this big."
Back in the day, I'd figured we'd fill up the Sinsi Plains and eastern Siberia, and that would be that — maybe stretching as far as Alaska.
At this point, even I had no idea how far we'd end up spreading.
"There are plenty of people with nothing to do, no? Put them to work as sailors."
"Hahaha. Anyone listening would think our people are idle layabouts."
"I'm talking about the ones who slack off doing work they hate."
We'd gone to swat one pirate and somehow the project had ballooned into this? Still, if it all worked out, the sea lanes from the Middle East to Asia would be ours! They were offering them up on a silver platter — might as well knock things out one by one!
In the year 3755 of Daehan, over the span of two years, we secured our concession zones by signing a web of treaties with the Mamluks and Delhi for the establishment of trade ports.
The reason it wasn't three countries was that, midway through, the Khmer's ruler changed — and the Southeast Asian trade port collapsed. Right at the finish line, no less.
"If they'd held out until the port was built, that would've been one thing. What a shame it fell apart when we were nearly done."
"I'd say it couldn't be helped. We didn't desperately need it anyway."
Not now, maybe — but it might sting later. I'd have to keep an eye out and snatch some ownerless island down the road to build a low-carbon supply base on.
With the concession zones secured, the common terms were these: the land was permanently leased territory, and we would garrison troops there to defend it. In exchange, we'd pay an annual tax of three thousand nyang of silver.
"Honestly, what do other countries even do with silver that makes it so valuable?"
"Even in nations that live well, it's treated as extraordinarily precious, my lord?"
We couldn't understand it. We swept up more gold and silver than anyone — and since we had nothing particular to spend it on, it just piled up in warehouses.
If it were like iron or copper, rusting away into nothing, that would've been a real problem.
The nations that began trading with Daehan grew prosperous and strong. We sold them all the food and weapons they could want.
Naturally, the fire landed on Europe's feet — the one region left out in the cold. Everyone's weapons got better and everyone's lives got easier except theirs.
"They call me a witch, a heretic — and they still want to buy my goods?"
"Yes. They're even suggesting we build a trade port in Europe."
How are we supposed to sail there? It's just so absurdly far.
"Too far. Tell them to buy their goods in Qajar or Suez."
"Hahaha. You know they're on bad terms with those places. You're saying this on purpose…"
"I know! That's exactly why."
Who exactly are they calling a witch? They paint my portrait as a monster and spit at my name. If I'd been the one to invade them, I could at least understand!
"Just leave them be. See what they do."
If they got down on their knees and begged nicely, I might forgive them.
Three years later, in 3758, the Europeans knelt — not to me, but to the Kipchak Khanate.
"Ha. Those clowns crack me up."
"Only Kipchak came out ahead."
Because of the measures I'd taken, they couldn't set foot in Mudo directly — so they bought goods in Kipchak territory and resold them to the Westerners.
"A bunch of middlemen scalpers, the lot of them…"
"Pardon? What does that mean?"
"Nothing. It's a thing from where I'm from."
Hard to say anything about it, really. These were people who'd split off ages ago and wouldn't even listen to Qajar — did we expect them to listen to us? And it's not as if we could go meddling in another country's affairs.
"That was supposed to be Qajar's role, originally. A shame."
"They live as they always have — patrolling, farming, herding. What's striking is their piety, I suppose? The share of Sky Faith followers is rising noticeably."
"Hm? It didn't grow even in Temüjin's day, and now, of all times?"
Something was happening over there. Weren't people supposed to turn to religion when the end times were nigh and all that?
"Is their society in turmoil, perhaps?"
"No? If anything, they're enjoying their most stable era yet?"
What on earth? Were they… changing the way our people did?
"Well, that's a good thing, no? Just make sure their lives don't get hard. Take care of them."
"Of course. We need them too. We may be the ones milking the arrangement, but we'll look after them accordingly."
And so, once again, peace had come to the Middle East and Europe, entirely by accident. Well, I'm sure they'd still squabble among themselves with little border wars now and then. But no big ones, right?
With less to worry about over there, time to tend to our own business.
"Is the southern gold mine all wrapped up?"
"Yes. Everyone has relocated to the island you named Sado."
As for how thoroughly the Doi Gold Mine had been picked clean — the gold and silver had been tapering off for about five years, and apparently the vein had finally run dry.
Don't gold and silver mines normally keep producing for centuries? We'd wrung ours out in a hundred and some. And I did the math — a kan of gold is what, about 3.75 kilograms? So 1,250 kan came to roughly four and a half tons, and 25,000 kan of silver was around ninety tons. Not bad for one island.
"Tell them to dig hard at Sado too. Once that's done, I doubt there'll be another big gold mine for a long while."
Later on, the Eastern Continent could be left to its own people, and the vein under Joseon's stubborn soil sat inland — that one could wait.
"Did you check how much we pulled out of Doi?"
"Yes. We had no particular use for it, so it's been sitting in the warehouses exactly as it was mined — about 1,250 kan of gold and 25,000 kan of silver."
Is that a lot? I'd need kilograms to even get a feel for this…
"So it's not much?"
"Compared to what we earn through trade, it's not much at all?"
What? Our trade volume was bigger than the output of a gold mine?
Stripping Japan's gold and silver mines was mostly about keeping them too weak to rise again, but the trade volume itself was staggering.
"We have that much to sell?"
We really did have a staggering number of ships. And since their convoys faced no real threats, they apparently sailed with one warship escorting two or three merchantmen…
"Of course. Pig-iron ingots, glass, cotton, silk, every kind of spice, even food — whatever we bring, it all sells out."
Huh? Weren't the Europeans making at least some of these themselves?
"Spices, glass, silk — sure, I get those. But iron? Food? Cotton?"
"Oh, you hadn't heard? Cotton's made by machines now. Still early days, so they're not fast, but run them all night and they outproduce any crew of hands."
"…What?"
Since when did we have that? Slow or not, that meant we'd finally stepped beyond human hands.
"That's… genuinely remarkable."
"Yes. The machines are a bit loud and awfully big, but there's more than enough room to set them up across land this vast."
Wow! That must've made life so much easier. Hold on — only the cotton machines were automated?
"Wait — is there a harvesting machine too?"
"Huh? Could something like that even be done?"
"It can't yet — but it's not impossible, right?"
So no harvesting machines after all. Everyone out there must be breaking their backs picking cotton in the fields. Harvesters really are hard to build. Nothing for it — they'd have to suffer a while longer.
Still… we'd been hoarding gold and silver for thousands of years. How much could we possibly have?
"Then how much gold and silver do we actually have?"
"You haven't been down to the warehouses, have you?"
"Even if I did, how would I know where anything is?"
It wasn't just one or two warehouses — the underground vaults were simply too vast. And this was after hauling out mountains of relics when we built the museum.
Could there really still be that much left to pick up? Didn't it just keep flowing back in as fast as it flowed out?
"Just know that there are many ingots larger than you, my lord."
"So not that much, then?"
And here I'd thought we'd brought in mountains of it. Was it all just plating?
"The size is unimpressive — but do you have any idea how heavy gold and silver are?"
"…I suppose."
So… that meant a lot. Fine.
"Hoover up every scrap of gold, no exceptions. As for the silver — take it out of storage and buy up whatever we need with it."
"Everyone abroad treats gold and silver as equally precious. Is there a reason?"
Even now, values shifted by region — silver traded at anywhere from a fifth to a tenth of gold's worth.
"There's far, far less gold than silver. Assume a one-to-twenty ratio. And if anyone offers to trade silver for gold, hand it over — quickly."
Compared to gold, silver would keep pouring out of the mines.
"Oh? One to twenty, you say? I was thinking of buying gold with silver where it's cheap and reselling it — should I not bother?"
Oh? She knew how to play exchange rates? So these weren't just a pile of pebbles after all?
"No need. Just sell goods where silver is cheap and collect it that way. Don't play those games — and whatever you do, keep hoarding. If a price collapses because someone got clever, you'll take the loss."
One big silver strike somewhere, and that scheme was a straight road to ruin.
Business on this side of the world was more or less settled. Time to go see the Eastern Continent.