The 63rd story of a full-length business novel.
With his unexpected assassination, the fortress, Cheonghae-Jin, was not a proposition any more. Within years, it became jumbled up and chaotic.
The great navy was dismissed, too. The Blue City drifted about at the mercy of the wind. Finally it came to be shut down and disappeared. No one could see the International Trade Center in the Far East forever. Lots of feisty pirates came back there and began to swing their outrageous acts. Once again, the Yellow Sea came to deem with the pirates. Co-prosperity among Asian nations faded away in smoke. Afterwards, Korea has never seen such a great tycoon as Chang Bo-ko. It was the conclusion of the book. All of it was the thumbnail of the panoramic life on Chang Bo-ko. It was deplorable. (Below is the perspective of Jangdo as its survivor. Cheonghae-Jin headquartered in the island. Source: Korean Wikipedia, Rheo1905)
Unlike the sad story in the Far East, there are some interesting and praiseworthy accounts in the West. It was on another rising international seaport to match Cheonghae-Jin. And the Western port was built at the same time when the Korean set up the seaport off the Korean Peninsula. Yes, it was. And it was located on the quite opposite side of the Far East. Specifically, the Western seaport was situated nearby the Italian peninsula. So the seaport was abutted by the peninsula. And it was no other than Venice. Now it is called City of Water, the Floating City or Queen of the Adriatic. From this point of view, Venice and Cheonghae-Jin have the common grounds in location and the time of build-up. Yes, they were built up at the similar geographic place and at around the same time. The more intriguing thing was that the builders had the same characters.
Like the Korean, the builder of Venice was a patriotic warrior, called Dogs of Venice. And the years of his activities (836 AD to 864) were almost overlapped with those of Chang Bo-ko’s activities (828 AD to 851). Further, his goal was all the same that the Korean Chang, Bo-ko sought for. It was to fight Slavic and Saracen pirates and secure his people from them. Indeed, the Italian stood up for his people and built the City like the Korean did. Now his real name has been identified as Pietro Tradonico.(Below were their portraits. Source: www.google.co.kr/nexus &Pietro_Tradonico.jpg, Wikipedia)
It was a mystery in human history. But, their ending stories were quite different. Chang, Bo-ko was killed and his sea castle was also gone with his sudden death. On the other hand, the Italian was glorious and his Floating City prospered without discontinuity.
The main reason was that Venice had a good fortune. And it was his people and his successors. His people respected him as the genuine patriot. And his successors also cherished his MANLY SPIRIT and became faithful followers for him. So they all tried to sustain his brave act and his brilliant legacy. Thus, the humble seaport was developed into a much more powerful city over time. Then it was transformed into the Republic of Venetia in the Mediterranean Sea. All of it was true. Below was the real scene of Venice in the early 16C. A Venetian Vittore Carpaccio drew it as a painting. In this way, the useless, barren islands became a great Sea City, surrounded by luxurious marbled, sky-scraping buildings. It was seven hundreds of years after his foundation of Venice. (Below was his painting. Source: www.lisakaborycha.com)
Unlike Venice, Cheonghae-Jin was demolished shortly after his death. His motherland, Shilla, could not sustain her position by herself without great wealth and military power. Soon, Shilla was also destroyed. Her downfall was the final result of the wicked scheme. And it was the wages of the very vicious plot. In all, it was the painful lesson from the book.
Since then on, Korea has never got such a great machismo as Chang, Bo-ko to manage international trade even in the Far East, where the Sun rises earlier than in any other land in the Earth. Once again, the reason was just one point. It was that:
“Virtue was lost. Vice won.”
Indeed, the corrupt courtiers of Shilla were not fond of its sunbeam even if the Sun shone over the country brightly. Rather they enjoyed staying in the dark place. After all, the Sun had to go to the West. And there, it met another Sea City that was Venice. There the Sun stayed for a long time as if Venice had been the symbol of Virtue and Justice. And it shone its sunbeam over the Sea City in an unstinted way. Under the bright sunlight, Venice could grow up heartily like an Evergreen tree. Then it prospered with a stunning glory and a great wealth. It lasted for almost thousand years. Even now, Venice has been acclaimed as the most beautiful city in the world as if the islands had been the Land of Rainbow. In reality, innumerous first-class famous films such as Moonraker, Death in Venice, Don’t Look Now, The Wings of the Dove, and so on have been produced in Venice, but not in New York or London. All the results were from the very Venetian Pietro Tradonico.
(Shortly after the turn of the new 21st century, some of the countrymen in the island of Wando found out several relics from the underground of Jangdo. (將島) Then they realized the folklore related with the activities of Chang, Bo-ko was true as a historical fact. And they came to take a great pride in the fact that ‘he was from Wando.’ Then they have named one of the streets after his Sea City in memory of the Blue City by Sea. So its name is Cheonghaejin-ro. Further, they have made a provincial park in order not to forget him forever. And they named it Chang, Bo-ko Park. But, the time was long overdue. Already almost twelve hundreds of years have passed away after his death. Nonetheless, the local people are eager to learn and revive his adventurous mind once again in this new century. Of course, all of it is another side story.)
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