By the time Yuli and I returned from India, Sidimi had changed quite a bit.
The biggest change was, of course, that Gwi-hwan and Jeong-sun, along with Hong-i and Seon-hui, had gotten married and set up their own households.
But there was another significant change: the amount of reclaimed land had increased tremendously.
As the newly ordered reclamation plows and new horses arrived, the land reclamation began in earnest, and the reclaimed land grew by 160 dessiatines every month.
The land where we could plant hay eventually reached a total of 500 dessiatines.
When people naturally expected us to plant oats like last year, I spoke up.
“We do plant a lot of oats on the first reclaimed land, but the productivity of oats is a bit low. So this time, I’m planning to try planting oats, timothy, and alfalfa. We bought enough seeds in India, so we won’t run out. And let’s plant beans in the fields where we grew oats last year.”
By now, everyone believed my words almost without question, so no opposing opinions surfaced. However, Uncle Taeseok asked a question.
“Are you not going to try planting the rice we bought this time?”
“I’ll try rice next year. The rice we bought this time is for eating, and since it’s from the southern regions of Joseon, it will be hard to grow in this climate.”
“Won’t you plant more barley?”
“We can plant barley after harvesting the hay.”
We had planted barley after harvesting the hay last year.
When Yuli and I returned from abroad, they were already harvesting the barley.
Since the soil in this region wasn’t bad, the yield of the barley was quite good.
Then, the Joseon people of Sidimi, who had been there since before us, saw the barley harvest and came to find us.
“Can’t you lend us your agricultural machinery to use as well?”
Last year, they had been skeptical even while watching us reclaim land at a terrifying speed with American agricultural machinery.
They doubted whether farming could be done properly on land reclaimed so quickly.
Joseon also had cattle and horse-driven farming, and plowing was done using oxen or horses.
In Hamgyeong-do, where they came from, there were many horses, so horses were often used instead of oxen.
Using horses for farming wasn’t strange to them.
What surprised them was the speed.
They had only seen Joseon-style farming methods their whole lives and had never even heard of, let alone seen, advanced Western farming methods, so it was natural for them to be suspicious.
However, after seeing the barley harvested properly this year, they cast aside their doubts about Western farming and wanted to participate in our farming methods.
It was only natural, as we had achieved more in one year since coming here than they had in nearly ten years of hardship.
The barley we harvested this time alone was more than three times the amount all of them had harvested combined.
We were also worried about the lack of manpower, so it wasn’t a bad proposal.
No matter how much we used horses and American state-of-the-art agricultural machinery, we only had five able-bodied men, including me, who had just turned 11.
Even including the Russian Trio, there were only eight people, and since they all had other things to do, it was difficult for them to focus on farming.
Furthermore, the Joseon people of Sidimi had helped us when we first arrived here, and they were the ones who had risked their lives to fight the Honghuzi with us last winter.
I discussed with the people of our village how to accept their proposal.
Uncle Taeseok said, “We don’t object. They are the people who helped us when we first arrived last year, and didn’t we fight those Ma-jeok bastards together? However, the agricultural machinery was all bought with your money, Myeong-jin, and these results were all achieved through your ideas, so your opinion is the most important. I will follow your lead.”
No one else objected to Taeseok’s words and agreed to follow my opinion.
I called the Joseon people of Sidimi and said, “Lending the agricultural machinery is easy. However, the land you are currently farming was developed to be easy for people to farm, so it is not easy for our agricultural machinery to enter and work there. So, let’s continue farming as we are this year, and starting next year, let’s reclaim the land together with us.”
We also discussed how to distribute the harvest when reclaiming land together and what the usage fees for the agricultural machinery would be.
In matters like this, if one side yields unilaterally, problems actually arise.
This is because people start taking it for granted and think of it as a free resource.
I made it clear that the agricultural machinery belonged to me and set a definitive usage fee, and I also clarified that the land already reclaimed belonged to us.
“…Instead, there is an inexhaustible amount of unreclaimed land here in Sidimi. If we start reclaiming from next year, we could potentially allocate 100 dessiatines per household.”
In fact, there was much more land, but even with agricultural machinery, that was about the limit of the area one household could cultivate.
Unless a certain area was left fallow in between, even that much would be impossible.
However, to have our land recognized by the Russian Government, it was better to have at least that much land reclaimed.
And we discussed various issues that would arise, such as providing land when building waterways or when farming together.
“We can’t solve everything at once, so if other problems arise, let’s gather and discuss them. And for now, you must all follow my instructions because the newly reclaimed land cannot be managed using traditional farming methods.”
In the end, we reached an agreement to form the Shijimi Cooperative.
Even though it was called a cooperative, it wasn’t collective ownership or collective cultivation of land; rather, everyone entered the cooperative with their own land, and newly reclaimed land would be distributed according to the labor provided by each individual.
The usage fee for the agricultural machinery was set slightly high, considering the mortality rate of horses and the depreciation of the machinery.
And if any other individual bought agricultural machinery, it would be recognized as their own, and they could receive rental fees the same way I did.
I set the regulations to a point where I thought there would be no complaints, and Uncle Taeseok was chosen to be the head of the cooperative.
Since the Joseon people of Sidimi also couldn’t speak Russian, and I had to handle the negotiations with the Russian Government, Taeseok was the best fit.
The Russian Trio, of course, did not join this cooperative.
This was because they had no intention of farming with us and each had their own work.
First, Yuli Briner was a merchant, not a farmer.
He had no intention of farming at all, and since he had made a fairly large profit this time and secured capital to jump back into trade, he would go in that direction.
Fridolf Gek and Mikhail Yankovsky also had no intention of jumping into farming directly.
Fridolf Gek wanted to build a shipyard in Sidimi, and Mikhail Yankovsky wanted to create a ranch for raising horses and Deer.
Also, the two were outstanding naturalists, so they frequently left Sidimi to go on separate academic trips.
The two had been taught biological methodology by a biologist who happened to stop by Vladivostok for biological research in the region, so both had deep knowledge as naturalists.
They were well-versed in making specimens of various organisms and identifying biological classifications, so they often went on academic trips together for biological surveys of the area.
In fact, there were several species of animals and plants that the two had discovered and named after themselves.
For that reason, the two’s houses were filled with biology books and biological specimens they had made.
Even though they had sent some to academies and universities, there was still that much left, and they even taught me how to classify organisms and make specimens.
Mikhail Yankovsky’s ranch creation was relatively simple.
Sidimi had a naturally blessed land perfect for a ranch, and all he had to do was set up a fence and let the horses and Deer graze.
Since both horses and Deer withstand winter surprisingly well, it was enough without intentionally building a stable.
If you supplied hay bales well for them to eat in the winter and occasionally gave them a bit of feed, they would endure the winter on their own.
Already, the Yankovsky ranch was being built to a fairly large size, and there were more than ten horses and Deer.
The problem was building the fence; they decided to build some of the fences with wood and some by planting shrubs.
Shrub fencing is a method often used in the West, where if you prune the branches occasionally, the shrubs themselves become an excellent fence.
Since I heard that barbed wire had already been invented in the United States and was making fencing work easy, I ordered a large amount of barbed wire through Kunst and Albers.
The problem was the shipyard that Fridolf Gek wanted.
Even though it was called a shipyard, it wasn’t a grand shipyard for making iron ships that one might see later, but a shipyard for making small wooden Schooners.
“Since we need wood to build ships, we’ll have to build a sawmill first.”
Fridolf Gek nodded.
“There’s plenty of wood in the north of Sidimi, so we can get it by cutting it and floating it down the Sizimi River, but the problem is that this wood needs to be seasoned for a long time to build a ship.”
“So, I heard that these days they build separate drying rooms and dry the lumber by steaming it at high heat. Let’s try that method too.”
“That’s why I want to try that method, but it costs quite a bit of money.”
I laughed and said, “So you’re asking me to lend you that money, right?”
Fridolf Gek nodded, and I readily answered.
“Don’t worry about the money. I’m also interested in shipyards, so I’ll become a co-investor.”
“Will you really do that?”
“Yes, I’m very interested in shipyards. In fact, I was about to suggest that if we’re going to build a shipyard, let’s make it bigger and more professional.”
“What do you mean by professional?”
“Since we’re building a shipyard anyway, let’s not just make non-powered Schooners, but motorized ships as well. These days, many wooden ships are equipped with power. If we add engines to make fishing boats, we can challenge the fishing industry here.”
“Would there be a demand for such ships here?”
“If there’s no demand, we can create it. If people don’t buy them, I’ll purchase them and use them as fishing boats. Skipper, you’ve handled motorized ships before, right?”
“Of course I’ve handled them. However, the motorized ships I’ve handled were Schooners with power added, not full-fledged steamships.”
“That’s why I’m asking. I’d like to buy a steamship; what do you think, Skipper? Could you perhaps take on the role of captain?”
Fridolf Gek shook his head.
“I’ve handled steamships before, but they aren’t my specialty. If it’s a motorized Schooner that uses sails as well, I can handle it, but a full-fledged steamship is too much. It’s better to leave that to someone else.”
“Could you perhaps recommend a suitable captain?”
“I can certainly recommend someone, but the person I recommend will change depending on the scale of the ship you intend to buy. How many tons are you looking to buy?”
“I’m looking to buy one around a thousand tons.”
Fridolf said with a surprised look, “Ships are very expensive. Moreover, if it’s a steamship, it becomes several times more expensive. If it’s a thousand tons, it sounds like you’re trying to buy an iron-clad steamship, and that is truly expensive. Do you have that much money?”
“Didn’t you hear from Yuli that I made a lot of money this time?”
After returning from this trip, Yuli Briner had told people stories about me mixed with a lot of bluster.
He bragged that I had sold Ginseng to the head Comprador of Jardine Matheson at an incredibly high price, and that Lee Geom-min and I had become sworn siblings, claiming that Lee Geom-min was incredibly rich.
Of course, it was true that Lee Geom-min was a tremendous tycoon with over a million Chinese Silver Taels, but according to Yuli Briner’s exaggeration, she was a mysterious billionaire behind the scenes who controlled the city of Shanghai.
And he blustered as if there were enormous hidden dealings with the famous Sassoon Family in India.
While Fridolf Gek’s wife Oksana and Mikhail Yankovsky’s wife Olga believed this to be true and listened with wide eyes and great interest, Fridolf and Mikhail, seemingly aware of Yuli’s habit of exaggerating, listened with indifference, letting it go in one ear and out the other.
Fridolf Gek hadn’t really believed Yuli’s bluster, but he was startled by my statement that I could buy a thousand-ton steamship and asked again.
“You have the money to buy a thousand-ton steamship?”
“I’ve received some investment from the Shanghai tycoon Yuli mentioned, Lee Geom-min, and I have some of my own money as well.”