Lee Jinmyeong's Resolve
Hui-yeom thought to himself.
It's about time to split the businesses now that the group has gotten so large.
The Sichuan Dang Family itself was already one massive enterprise. Innovation Hall, Cheol-u-jeon, and Poison Hall produced all manner of profitable goods for sale. Those, however, were fundamental technologies that the main bloodline had to keep in an iron grip; every other business of the Dang Family ultimately rooted itself in the goods and techniques born there.
Those stay with me.
Beyond that, the enterprises currently bundled under the name Hwieon Comprehensive Group broke down as follows.
1. The first company and parent firm: Hwieon Comprehensive Trading Company.
Hwieon Comprehensive Trading had begun with Vaseline production, yet now ran an astonishingly broad portfolio. Glass, rubber goods, agricultural produce purchased through the Sichuan Agricultural Cooperative, Yunnan tea and Caffa, Guizhou sugarcane and other crops, construction materials (cement), weapons supplied to the imperial palace (gunpowder and matchlocks), pesticides and fertilizers sold by the co-op—even the small quantities of refined iron (Damascus steel) weapons and ornaments produced as hospitality gifts—all of it passed through Hwieon Comprehensive Trading. It even monopolized every coal mine across Sichuan and mined the iron ore and specialty alloys that fed the forges. In short, it did everything except the things it did not do. Even the water-purification units in Guizhou Province were, if one looked closely, products of Hwieon Comprehensive Trading. Hui-yeom served as president; the vice president was Bak Chang-eon, head of the Elders' Council.
2. The second company: Hwieon Comprehensive Finance.
In the days when Elder Gong Duchan still controlled the moneylending houses, the financial arm had been content to rank among Sichuan's three great pawnshops. Now it had absorbed the Sichuan Farmers' Cooperative and every remaining moneylending house in the province, becoming one of the great financial institutions of the Central Plains. Its principal work was lending to farmers and guaranteeing the sale of their harvests so that rural livelihoods could remain stable. For a financial house the profit margins looked thin—yet without that work Sichuan's economy could never have boomed as it had. Comprehensive Finance was the lubricant that kept Sichuan's money circulating and ensured that every affiliate received capital on time. Once the joint-stock-company policy took hold, the capital it had already accumulated would let it transform into the most profitable enterprise of them all. Again Hui-yeom was president; the vice president was Elder Jin Cheong.
3. Hwieon Comprehensive Construction.
The firm that had driven the Dang Family's explosive growth was now equal in scale to Hwieon Comprehensive Trading. Using cement and reinforced concrete, it had made possible monumental works that this era had previously considered impossible. Comprehensive Construction itself had never been a high-profit enterprise, because nearly everything it built had been either facilities for the Sichuan Dang Family's own use or public infrastructure—sewers, waterworks, paved roads. Tolls from public lavatories and water-management fees barely covered the tips of the toes. But now Comprehensive Construction had begun to handle serious money: large-scale outside contracts. The first State-run Ironworks project had already delivered a handsome surplus; the pipeline still waiting included support facilities for the Angang Water Transport Safety Management Corporation, the second State-run Ironworks, construction for the Beijing Railway Joint-Stock Company and Beijing's rail network, and the dam works in Guizhou. At least several years of rich fare had been secured, and each contract was, as befits a construction firm, enormous. Together with Comprehensive Finance—whose future role was equally promising—it would form the twin engines that pulled the family forward for the time being. President: Hui-yeom; vice president: Elder Ma Jeonggu.
4. Hwieon Comprehensive Railway Management Corporation.
After the rails had been laid through Sichuan and Yunnan, this company had been created to maintain and operate them. The Nokshan Road Traffic Safety Management Corporation—Nokshan for short—functioned as its subcontractor. The railway firm built, repaired, and serviced steam locomotives, laid track, and kept the lines open. Nokshan was technically an affiliate of Hwieon Comprehensive, yet it operated more like an outsourced contractor. Its president was not even a Dang Family man—Im Deok-sul, the former King of the Green Forest—but the entire enterprise could not exist without the family's patronage, so it might as well be treated as a collateral branch. At present it generated little direct profit; its true function was to serve as the circulatory system that moved the colossal quantities of raw materials Sichuan required and the finished goods Sichuan produced. As the Chagatai war had proven, Nokshan could also serve as a sturdy shield against external enemies. Hui-yeom was chairman and concurrently president of Comprehensive Railway; Im Deok-sul remained president of Nokshan.
A fifth enterprise occupied a similar niche: the Angang Water Transport Safety Management Corporation. Angang was still under construction and had yet to show real commercial returns, yet its Personal Boat service was already offering glimpses of its potential. Once the Lasubaegasu project around Suzhou and the Yangtze got under way, that too would become a major revenue stream for Angang.
The sixth was rather special: the Baekga-jaengsik franchise company and the Sichuan Daily. Though they were a restaurant chain and a newspaper, they also doubled as cover for Minjeongwon operations, so only Ye-eun could be entrusted with them.
Beyond these stood ventures still too small to call true companies—Caffe the One, for instance, which for now was simply one large tea house operating in Sichuan. In time, however, it would grow into a proper nationwide chain in the manner of a certain modern coffee empire. And there was Hwieon Comprehensive Scholarship Foundation, which in truth only spent money. The collateral-branch businesses that had once kept the Sichuan Dang Family afloat remained healthy as well; between them they now controlled eight-tenths of all Shu brocade produced in Sichuan. One could almost call the cloth Tang brocade.
Thus, when Hui-yeom—already running an empire far too vast to be called a mere great family—casually asked, "Want to take charge of one of the businesses?", the weight of the words was anything but ordinary. Even Dang Un-sang, who had been in hapless-grandfather mode after being thrashed by his younger sister, snapped back into the serious face of the Dang Family Head and asked:
"Are you serious?"
Hui-yeom nodded.
"Why else do you think I've kept him at my side and worked him so hard? I've been giving him intensive training so that one day he can take charge of one pillar of the family. In a way we're already late. First Secretary Ye-eun has long been running Minjeongwon, Baekga-jaengsik, and the Sichuan Daily."
"Young Master…"
A sheen of emotion rose in Lee Jinmyeong's eyes. Memories of every hardship under Hui-yeom flashed through his mind like a lantern show; his tear ducts loosened of their own accord.
Hui-yeom smiled and added:
"There's more. We also need to prepare for generational change among the elders. They're all getting on in years."
Elder Bak Chang-eon was already nearing eighty; Elder Ma Jeonggu was eighty-one. Even the relatively youthful Elder Jin Cheong was seventy-two. However long martial artists might live, the time to prepare successors had clearly arrived.
"No one will inherit an important post simply because he is an elder. The same rule will apply to the main bloodline of the Dang Family. If this house is to travel far and last long, appointments must rest solely on performance. And if the Dang Family is not to fall into outsiders' hands, those who possess that performance and ability must be of Dang blood—or the people closest to that blood. Second Secretary Lee is a loyal retainer I can trust. I have spent ten years forging his ability, and he will one day become my aunt's husband, so he is as good as main-line blood himself. There is no more suitable candidate."
"…Young Master."
At last Lee Jinmyeong lowered his head. Dang Su-jeong's eyes had also grown red; she gazed at Hui-yeom and nodded.
"Of course I can't hand him a presidency overnight. Like the other elders, he will first have to pass through a vice-presidential post. Once I judge that the venture has found its footing… I will transfer one of the presidencies I currently hold."
In truth the arrangement was not special favoritism toward Lee Jinmyeong. Hui-yeom knew that if the group grew any larger he could no longer control everything alone; he intended to carve off affiliates and hand them to people he could still manage, then take the chairman's seat and oversee them—exactly the sprawling-conglomerate model of the twenty-first century. To the people of this era, however—especially those accustomed to master-disciple succession—Hui-yeom's actions looked entirely different.
Lee Jinmyeong is none other than the personal disciple of Sichuan's Crouching Dragon, Dang Hui-yeom.
That was how the declaration rang—stronger than any other oath. Feeling that every hardship, every effort, and every loyalty had finally been repaid, Lee Jinmyeong sank to the floor in full prostration, voice thick with tears.
"This humble one, Lee Jinmyeong! Until the day I die, until my body is ground to powder, I will offer my loyalty solely to the Dang Family and to the Young Master!"
"Not quite."
"…Sir?"
"Give half of that loyalty to my aunt. I have no desire to be beaten to death by her."
Hui-yeom's mischievous quip made both Dang Su-jeong and Lee Jinmyeong flush scarlet, the solemn emotion of the moment momentarily forgotten. Eun Seol-ran sniffled at the touching scene; Sama Yun smiled; little U-ju crowed with laughter. Dang Un-sang asked:
"So which business do you intend to hand over?"
"I won't hand him a finished one. I mean to give him the building and stabilization of a new venture."
"Hm?"
After all that atmosphere suggesting a ready-made enterprise would be transferred, this was the answer? Faces turned dubious. Lee Jinmyeong's expression said, I should have known…, yet Hui-yeom remained unperturbed.
"Watching from the side and actually running the thing are completely different. The experience of building and growing a business can only be gained at that particular stage. If a small start-up fails, the loss is limited; if someone mismanages an already stable giant, the damage is catastrophic. In every respect it is better to entrust him with founding a new company."
The logic was sound; Dang Su-jeong's sulky expression eased a little. Sama Yun asked:
"Then which field do you plan to give him?"
"Second Secretary Lee—the proposal I ordered on the way to Guizhou. Is it finished?"
"Ah—yes. The logistics system utilizing the Chagatai people's superb horsemanship and the low-vibration Mongolian ponies. The framework is complete; we are currently reviewing supply of the ponies and Mongol riders."
"Bring it to me the moment it's done. I intend to build a business around it."
"So… a transport venture like Angang's Personal Boat service?"
"Exactly. The railways have eased Sichuan's transport bottlenecks a great deal, but most of the capacity still moves goods, not people. Increasing passenger runs simply isn't profitable yet. Stations exist only near major cities or places that produce or consume bulk materials, so the fine-grained movement of people remains unsolved. It's as if the great arteries are open while all the little capillaries stay clogged. I want a carriage enterprise that will clear those vessels clean through."
Lee Jinmyeong's eyes kindled.
"I will make the business succeed. Within three years—three years at the outside—I will stabilize it. And…"
He turned a burning gaze upon Dang Su-jeong.
"On the day I am recognized as a president in my own right, Su-jeong—I will formally propose to you."
And so began a venture that staked one man's pure devotion and one woman's long-delayed marriage.