American: Native Empire

Chapter 174: The Canal.

To firmly rule over the frozen land in the future, it was more advantageous to move the capital there.

“It makes a lot of sense if you only consider the size of the territory. But you must be aware that the land you mentioned is all frozen, making it difficult for people to live there.”

“Of course. I have heard that the cold in these regions is beyond imagination. But that does not mean that there are no underground resources. Think about how much resources can be extracted from this vast territory. I expect that the Siberian region will become important in the future.”

The debate continued after that.

The issue of moving the capital was very sensitive, so it was not easy to reach a conclusion.

But as the discussion went on, the argument for moving the capital gained more strength. 

There was also the example of the Wakan Tanka Empire, which had moved its capital to the north and achieved successful results. And above all, Lee Yi’s proposal shook the hearts of the ministers.

“Joseon is no longer a peninsula country. If we want to manage the continent, we should start anew in a region that suits it.”

“Joseon in the continent…”

“Indeed, there is a saying that new wine should be put in new wineskins.”

The word continent was a magical word that stirred the hearts of Joseon people who had been trapped in the peninsula.

And soon after, the report of the sturdy pickaxe, who had explored part of Siberia and returned, played a decisive role.

“I still need to explore more, but there were also many resources buried here.”

Even though he had not progressed much in his exploration, Lee Yi’s claim was somewhat proven to be true. 

This gave more momentum to moving the capital to Manchuria.

Finally, after a long discussion, they reached a decision.

“I understand your opinions. I also think that the proposal of the foreign minister is reasonable, so I approve moving the capital to Manchuria.”

Of course, moving the capital would not happen right away. 

It was a matter of moving the capital of a country, and that too of Joseon, which was growing faster than anyone else except for the Wakan Tanka Empire.

Lee Ho made this clear.

“However, this will only take place after Manchuria becomes suitable for Joseon’s capital. So we must develop the north as soon as possible.”

“Your Majesty is wise!”

***

“Oh my! How can we leave our hometown and live in that faraway north!”

“Wahhh!”

People who would move to Manchuria began to be selected.

Because there were so many people, for a while, cries were heard in most regions.

“I can’t go, you bastards! If you want to take me to the north, just kill me!”

“This is political retaliation! Aren’t you afraid of heaven!”

Especially, the resistance of the scholar class, who had already lost their strength, was more severe. 

Because they deliberately selected more local elites and scholars to uproot their power in this opportunity. 

The court decided to scatter them everywhere.

“How dare you not accept our orders!”

“Kugh…!”

But their answer was cold as ice. 

They were already relics of the past. 

They were useless beings who did not help Joseon’s modernization.

Their words were not beautiful as those who had fallen politically in a royal state.

They had been hiding and cowering until now, but they could no longer threaten the court when they were forcibly moved to Manchuria, where they had no ties.

“We have to finish building the railroad as soon as possible so we can start developing Manchuria. So let’s all work hard even if it’s hard.”

Naturally, the first thing that happened was connecting the railroad to Manchuria. 

Since there were already many railroads laid out in the peninsula, it was just a matter of extending them to Manchuria.

Thanks to that, when some of the immigrants to Manchuria were sorted out, the railroad to Manchuria was opened. 

And then, the actual migration began.

The railroad stations in various parts of Joseon were crowded with immigrants. 

And their expressions were not very bright.

“Sigh. How can we live in that cold north? And I heard that it’s not even properly developed there…”

They could see the hardships ahead of them clearly, so it was inevitable.

The only hope for them was moving the capital to Manchuria.

“Yeah. They’re going to move the entire capital to Manchuria…”

The people who had been despairing when they were selected as northern immigrants found some consolation in this news.

Many people flocked to the area designated as a priority development area in Manchuria.

It was the moment when the era of Manchurian colonization began.

***

After the establishment of the World Union, the upper class of the Wakan Tanka Empire smuggled countless goods between the member countries and the empire.

As a result, the global cargo volume increased incomparably to before. 

Even though many iron ships built by the empire sailed across the sea, the increase in cargo volume was very steep as time passed.

Because of this, the empire’s shipping tycoons literally hit the jackpot, but they also faced many cases of failing to meet the delivery deadlines.

“No, you assured me that you wouldn’t be late this time. If we don’t have the materials, the construction will be delayed. How are you going to compensate for this loss?”

“I’m really sorry. There were much more ships than expected at the port…”

“If you keep doing this, I can’t continue to do business with you.”

“I’ll make sure to meet the deadline next time. Please trust me.”

Most of the construction projects in various countries were handled by either imperial tycoons or dispatched engineers. 

The shipping tycoons had been in this business for a long time, and they hated to lose their credibility with them.

“We need some countermeasures.”

Therefore, the shipping tycoons thought hard to solve this situation. 

But they couldn’t find any clue.

While they were racking their brains, this news was also reported to Kim Ki-woo.

“Hmm. The cargo volume is too much to handle.”

“That’s right, Your Majesty.”

Kim Ki-woo nodded at the answer of the transportation minister.

“The biggest problem is that it takes too much time to load and unload the goods.”

They could increase the number of ships if they wanted to. 

And in fact, the size and number of ships were rapidly increasing as the cargo volume increased.

However, there was a limit to how many ships could dock at a port at once.

If the loading and unloading of these docked ships were delayed, the ships that came later had no choice but to wait until the previous ships finished their work.

“In my opinion, we need to reduce the time spent on loading and unloading to solve this problem. What do you think?”

“If we could do that, I think it would solve a lot of our troubles. But, it’s not easy to find a way to do that.”

“Of course, if we stick to the current method, there’s no way around it.”

Currently, most of the ship loading and unloading work was done by manpower. This method had its limits to solve the current problem.

The transportation minister asked Kim Ki-woo with a desperate look in his eyes.

“…I couldn’t find any solution with my own head. May I ask for your opinion, Your Majesty?”

Kim Ki-woo smiled brightly.

“Most of the ship loading and unloading work is done by manpower, right?”

“Yes.”

“Do we really need to do that? As times change, so should the way we load and unload goods. Why do we only use heavy equipment at construction sites?”

“Um… It’s not that we haven’t tried that before. But, using heavy equipment actually took longer in many cases…”

The shipping businessmen were not fools. 

They naturally tried to use heavy equipment like cranes that could carry heavy objects for loading and unloading work.

But it was not as efficient as they expected. 

Due to the nature of heavy equipment, they had to operate it slowly for safety reasons, and if they accidentally dropped a heavy object, it could damage other goods below.

“Of course, if you just load goods directly like now, that’s bound to happen. Do you want to hear my idea?”josei

“I’m all ears.”

Kim Ki-woo took out a blank white paper and drew a picture on it.

He had drawn blueprints so many times that he was sick of them, so he quickly drew a refined picture on paper.

“This is…”

“I call this a container.”

“A container? It looks like a very big and long box made of metal.”

“That’s right. It’s a large iron box with an empty inside in the shape of a rectangle. You make all containers according to standards. And then you put goods inside them and use heavy equipment to load and unload these containers themselves on and off ships.”

“…Ah!”

The transportation minister thought for a moment and then understood the concept of containers. 

He opened his eyes wide.

“If that’s the case, then the containers would have the same specifications, so they could be stacked neatly on the steel ships, right? I guarantee you, this method would be much better than stacking them haphazardly like now.”

“That’s true. It would be much easier and faster to load and unload the ships if we just preloaded the goods into the containers and used heavy equipment to move them. The containers are made of steel, so they would also minimize the damage to the contents.”

“That’s right. Of course, we would have to standardize all the specifications for this. It would be risky if the containers had different sizes. It would only cause confusion and accidents. You should take care of the standardization of the specifications.”

“I will follow your will, Your Majesty.”

***

The container was nothing less than a revolution in the shipping industry.

“Is this really right?”

“…I never thought I’d see such strange machines in this port.”

Of course, at first, many shippers and workers were skeptical.

The containers themselves were heavy, and they wondered if they had to load them like this.

“But His Majesty advised the Minister of Transportation on this matter, so maybe there will be some benefits.”

The reason why the container could be popularized faster was thanks to Kim Ki-woo’s influence.

But as soon as the containers and heavy equipment were installed in some ports, the doubts disappeared.

There was a big difference in loading and unloading time and quantity between the shippers who accepted the containers and those who were lukewarm.

Of course, for this, they had to prepare heavy equipment in each country’s ports, but it was a small effort compared to the benefits they would get.

“Order a large number of containers right away!”

“Yes, sir!”

In the end, the shippers who were lukewarm had to adapt to the change. 

In this golden age, cargo volume was money.

Kim Ki-woo reacted as if it was natural while watching this series of situations.

‘The difference between having containers and not having them is like heaven and earth… The timing was perfect.’

Steamships were relics of the past in the empire. 

They had already switched to internal combustion engines long ago.

And the size of the ships had grown enormously. 

It was a natural change because larger ships were more advantageous for shipping.

In this situation, when heavy equipment became popularized, it was a good time to introduce the container system to the shipping industry.

‘But it takes a long time to transport cargo, not just because of loading and unloading problems. For this…’

Kim Ki-woo looked at the vast world map and thought.

‘I need to dig canals.’

In Kim Ki-woo’s eyes, two planned canal sites came into view.

They were none other than the Suez Canal that connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, and the Panama Canal that connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

‘Now I have enough conditions to dig these two canals…’

Among them, the Panama Canal was within the territory of the empire.

If completed, it would bring enormous economic benefits.