The 54th story of a full-length business novel.
While reading through all this part the boy hurrahed and burbled that:
“Hum, the man was worthy of respect as a superhero. He did not fool away his life in vain. He remained loyal throughout. After coming back to his home country, he trained his private soldiers and waged the military campaign for the public security and the public order in the sea with them. Further, he committed undivided devotion to the people. Really he role-played a lofty and humane dream as a great machismo. Surely, doing such justice and charity must be admirable for a great machismo like him.”
Further he speculated on his life as below:
“In retrospect, the morning of his life was not bright but bleak. Nonetheless, he vaulted over it with new insight. Then he held the stage with indomitable courage and adventurous mind. Right, at the very point, he was really a perfect dream. As a dreamer, he daringly cultivated his own fortune and fame. Candidly, I want to be such a great adventurous man as him in the future. Hum, indeed his dream was not a waking dream. Hopefully the dream can be also applied to me.”
His heart was throbbing heavily. (Later, his respectable acts and recorded achievements would be the landmark for the boy and his son.)
Continuously the book said on the Prince’s colorful life with a broad vision as below:
“Already he became the Prince of the Sea with the impregnable castle at sea. With his seamen he protected the people and their properties. All of it was good news to the people. Hearing at the news, tens or hundreds of countrymen began to get down from highlands. Then they began to live side by side around the military garrisons and outposts. Until before the building of military fortresses and outposts, farmers, fishermen and other countrymen did not live around the seashore. They dreaded living by the sea. At that time the sea was filled with lots of pitiless and ferocious pirates. From time to time, they would disembark out of their pirate boats. Thereafter, they landed at the seashore, ransacked villages, burnt down houses. Without further ado, they looted their properties and killed or kidnapped innocent peoples as captives. Then they sold them as slaves to foreign lands. Thus, most of farmers and fishermen feared living near to the seashore of islands. For the reason, fishermen’s villages and wharfs had been extremely few until before his garrison was built up. Most of the country people had dwelt in highlands, far away from the beach or coastline. But, now, things changed. There was nothing to worry about pirates. They were not concerned about personal safety and daily lives any longer. Moreover, they got some opportunities to manage new jobs, which are international trade with foreigners. Of course, exceptionally intelligent general, Chang Bo-ko, came to pay heed to the country people’s free trade and lucrative profits from it. Then, he recognized another possibility that:
“Now, it seems that the military garrison has another merit. It is an international trade between nations. In fact, my garrison is geographically located in the middle of the sea route of Korea, China, Japan, and other foreign countries. Thus, its location seems to be appropriate for merchantable businesses at home and abroad. These days I have seen such marketing activities between the people and foreigners frequently here and there along the coastline of the islands. Now, I have read some reports on marketing and international trade written by my men and outposts. I think those are good things and profitable businesses for the countrymen and the nation. Already, public safety and public order at sea has been settled down. It will help the international trade get much safer and easier. Then the trade will help the people get rich and the nation get prosperous. That’s right. All of it will be hopeful and helpful for my countrymen and my country and further neighboring countries. If so, I had better unroll an avenue of overseas business by using the military garrison with my battleships. The battleships will be able to escort merchant ships without any concern about pirates.’
All of it was new possibilities to create a new history in the Far East. (Below is a similar image of blackbirding. HMS Rosarion seized a pirate’s ship, Daphne, and freed slaves in 1869. Source: Wikipedia)
With this sort of positive thinking, he has never forgotten constructing modernized trade harbors and quays. Of course, he had possessed how to make harbors and quays. In China, he had seen lots of sea markets and quays and learned how to construct them. By exploiting the practical knowledge and experiences, he changed the traditional ports into the modernized harbors by using stones and earthworks. So, newly-modernized harbors and quays were prepared for the international trade. Then he named the military fortress with harbors Cheonghae-Jin (淸海鎭 in Chinese). It meant the Blue City by the Sea.
And then he began a triangular trade with neighboring countries – Japan & China. Before the start of the trade, he informed Cheonghae-Jin of the neighboring countries that it would be helpful for the countries to make a commercial business and that it had been already open with harbors and quays as an ‘emporium.
Of course, he noticed that ‘Everyone can sell and buy everything freely at the Blue City as an entrepôt. Then, some real and practical notices followed. It was that he was to send his merchant fleets to China & Japan, escorted by armored warships. Thereafter, his military garrison was gradually transformed into a tenable seaport. And the City at sea, Cheonghae-Jin, became an International Trade Center or an Emporium by the Sea. Actually, the City was attractive to the neighboring countries because it had enormous geographical merits.
The first merit was that it was located in the middle of the trilateral trade between Korea, Japan and China. The second one was that the seaport was surrounded by lots of islands and that it could avoid unexpected sea storms.
The third one was that the seaport, with its military power, secured the public safety in the sea from piracy. In fact, the third one was the utmost important thing for international trade.
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