Shevelev, who was looking around the ships anchored in the Huangpu River port, spoke up.
“Oh, this ship is practically brand new. Why is a ship like this out here?”
“Is there something different about this ship?”
“This is a truly new vessel. Even if it didn’t just come out of the shipyard, there’s no rust or damage at all. How did something like this end up on the market?”
I asked the second-hand dealer for the price of the ship Shevelev pointed out.
“You have chosen a truly excellent item. It was put up for sale purely because of the state of the economy, not because there is any problem with it.”
When he mentioned the economy, both Shevelev and I understood immediately.
As of 1880, the world had not been able to escape a long depression for quite some time.
It was a prolonged recession unprecedented in history—a long-term slump whose record would only be broken by the Great Depression of 1929.
Naturally, the economy of Joseon was also in very poor shape.
Among those who had ordered and received ships from shipyards during such times, many had gone bankrupt or suffered significant financial losses.
It seemed this ship was one put on the market by someone in that situation.
“What is the price?”
“It is a real bargain. A ship with 2,000 GRT, a 1,400-horsepower triple-expansion engine, and a maximum speed of 13 knots for 15,000 pounds is practically a giveaway. So please, don’t think of haggling and give me exactly 15,000 pounds.”
To build a ship of this caliber new would cost roughly twice that amount.
Considering it was a ship in such good condition that Shevelev would vouch for it, the price was indeed quite low.
I asked Shevelev in Russian.
Since the ship broker appeared to be British, there was almost no chance he would understand Russian, making it convenient to discuss such matters.
“15,000 pounds seems reasonable, what do you think?”
“Looking at the condition of the ship, it’s definitely not expensive.
However, 15,000 pounds is a huge sum, over 90,000 Rubles. Do you have the money to buy this?”
“I have enough money to buy this ship.”
“The rumors that you all are raking in money in Sidimi were not lies, after all.”
“There’s that, but I also earned quite a bit through the Ginseng trade.”
“Ah!”
Upon hearing the word Ginseng, Shevelev wore an understanding expression.
In this region, if you give Ginseng as an excuse, everyone accepts it unconditionally.
Once the decision was made to purchase the ship, Shevelev inspected it even more thoroughly, and no particular problems were found.
“Capitan, now that we’ve bought the ship, where are we going to get the crew? Are you not going to use Russians anymore?”
“There are many competent sailors among Russians too. The ones the Military Governor pushed on us were just incompetent; not all Russians are like that.”
“The Skipper said that Russians are no good because of the alcohol.”
“That’s why those from foreign backgrounds are good. There are quite a few foreigners in Primorsky Krai, including yourself.”
“If foreigners are fine, please include some Koryo-saram as well.”
“I already have a few Koryo-saram in mind who are usable. They are still young, but they are fellows with bright futures.”
“Young?”
“Even if they are young, they aren’t as young as you, so don’t worry.”
“Anyway, since you are fluent in Chinese as well as Russian, Capitan, it’s fine to hire Chinese people too.”
Shevelev was a Sinologist who had properly studied Chinese studies and was fluent enough to be a scholar.
He could recite the Four Books and Five Classics and was so well-versed in Chinese poetry that I felt too embarrassed to even discuss Chinese classics with him.
“Chinese people aren’t bad either. As long as they are diligent, I will hire them regardless of nationality.”
Even if we were to hire a new crew in Russia, we needed a temporary crew to sail this ship to Russia, so we hired Chinese sailors with Archie’s help.
While returning the chartered ship, buying the new ship, and hiring the crew, Archie prepared the spinning machines and looms I had ordered.
Archie sent someone along to teach us how to use them.
The operation was so simple that I thought even the Joseon people in Sidimi would be able to learn it easily.
As Shevelev looked at the machinery with me, he remarked.
“At this level, we could easily manufacture these in Vladivostok as well.”
“Yes. Except for parts like the gears or springs, they are all made of wood. I think if we ask the Skipper, he could easily make them. The price is also very cheap; one machine doesn’t even cost 50 Chinese Silver Taels.”
“Since they are made so simply, they shouldn’t cost much more than that. But will the yarn or cotton cloth produced with these be competitive against British products?”
“We’ll have to try it first to see if it will be competitive or not. If it’s possible in Shanghai, I don’t see why it would be impossible in Sidimi.”
As we were preparing for the ship’s departure, Wang Guk-seong, the husband of Lee Geom-min, brought several pieces of calligraphy and paintings I had ordered.
“The owner of the Mao Gong Ding absolutely refused to sell, so I only managed to get a rubbing of it. I’ve brought other calligraphies and paintings that are quite good. This is the calligraphy and painting of Wu Changshuo that you mentioned, and this is a seal carving by Zhao Zhiqian. I was also able to obtain works by He Shaoji and Deng Shiru.”
As an educated man, Wang Guk-seong had brought artworks of a fairly high standard.
I paid him the price and also handed him a brokerage fee.
These are works whose value will skyrocket over time, even if they don’t cost much now.
Shevelev, as a skilled China hand, did not hold back his praise while looking at the artworks I purchased.
In any case, I shouldn’t just be looking for Chinese works; I need to quickly go to Paris, France, to buy some Impressionist masterpieces of this era.
However, because I haven’t had the time, I haven’t been able to make it to Paris yet.
After all the Chinese sailors were hired, Shevelev told me that the preparations for departure were complete.
The ship was already loaded with plenty of coal and cotton purchased from Archie, and we immediately set sail for Sidimi.
By the 1880s, Sidimi had already transformed into an area with a population of over 1,500 people, making it the most populous region in Primorsky Krai after Vladivostok.
However, Sidimi’s productivity relied heavily on agriculture, so it wasn’t yet at the level where it could be called a city.
Until last year, there were more Joseon people in Yeonchu (Yanchihe), but now many Joseon people from Yeonchu had moved into Sidimi, and the population had completely reversed.
Still, we couldn’t abandon the land we had cleared in Yeonchu, so we established the Yeonchu Cooperative and were lending out Western horses and agricultural machinery for clearing and farming.
As expected, by using powerful Western horses and American agricultural machinery, the agricultural productivity of Yeonchu also exploded.
Even after paying the rental fees for the Western horses and agricultural machinery in grain, a large amount of grain remained, and they were selling the entire surplus to us.
Yeonchu had already become much wealthier than before.
Even if Sidimi’s productivity relied mostly on agriculture, it meant that agricultural productivity was high, not that there was no fishing or industry.
First, there was Fridolf Gek’s shipyard, and the women on the boats built at his shipyard collected sea cucumbers wearing the diving suits I made.
And, although they weren’t powered vessels, they took out fairly large fishing boats to catch fish such as cod, pollack, and herring.
Furthermore, the rubber industry was already on track to some extent, and they were making rubber gloves in addition to diving suits.
The marketability of rubber gloves had already been confirmed in Joseon.
Besides diving suits and rubber gloves, there were also waterproof work clothes lined with rubber, which were mainly worn by fishermen when they went out to sea.
Thanks to these waterproof work clothes, we were able to catch fish even in winter.
When I mentioned wanting to build a textile factory on top of all this, there were many voices of concern.
Uncle Taeseok said.
“Myeong-jin, no one is unaware that we’ve come to live like this thanks to you, but aren’t you rushing things too much? Even now, there are no idle people in Sidimi. Not to mention the women, even the children are busy working as soon as they finish school. Even if you build a new factory with such people, won’t there be a lack of workers?”
The seven people who had left Joseon with me had all become wealthy.
They held the widest stretches of farmland in Sidimi and also had small stakes in Jankowski’s Farm.
Uncle Taeseok and Cheonjin-daek had successfully given birth and were raising children; the couples Hong-i and Seon-hui, and Gwi-hwan and Jeong-sun, also had children. Only Jae-ho was single, but last year he had secretly entered Joseon, gotten married, and brought his wife back.
Uncle Taeseok’s attempt to stop me came from a place of genuine concern.
“Don’t worry. That’s why I’m intentionally keeping the scale small to build a small factory that operates during the off-season.”
“Even so, didn’t you end up unable to use the machines brought in from the United Kingdom last year and left them stuck in the warehouse? Won’t that loss be quite large?”
“Think about the money I’ve earned in the meantime. The cost of those machines is nothing. That’s why I’ve bought a ship like this this time. I am much richer than you think, Uncle.”
Not only Uncle Taeseok, but also Fridolf Gek and Jules Brynner expressed concern that I might be rushing too much.
“Wonsan has already opened to Japan, and Incheon will open soon. And within two or three years, the United Kingdom and Russia will also establish diplomatic relations with Joseon. To establish my base in Wonsan or Incheon then, I have to create people who are familiar with machines starting now. Only then can I take those people to Joseon and build factories.”
Jules Brynner asked.
“Are you planning to move your base from Sidimi to over there?”
Fridolf Gek also asked.
“Are you thinking of leaving Sidimi?”
I shook my head.
“No, I’m not leaving completely. Sidimi is my most important base; how could I leave it completely? It’s just that I am not Russian, and I’m saying I also need a base in Joseon.”
Uncle Taeseok and these men were only offering words of concern because they knew the success I had achieved; they weren’t genuinely trying to block what I was doing.
Eventually, I installed the newly purchased Chinese spinning machines and looms in the factory where I had previously installed the ones imported from the United Kingdom.
As I expected, compared to the British machines which were impossible to operate due to constant breakdowns, the people quickly understood the principles and began to use the Chinese machines well as soon as they were brought in.
The Joseon women here are all people who have used spinning wheels and looms back in Joseon.
Since the Chinese spinning machines and looms were objects made to produce more efficiently by utilizing mechanical power based on those same principles, they had no great difficulty in understanding how they worked.
Of course, they were technically primitive and their productivity was lower, but that could be overcome with low labor costs.
However, the income level of the people in Sidimi was already quite high, so I couldn’t employ people with low labor costs like in China.
If I operated the factory solely for the purpose of selling products externally, it was clear I would only see a deficit here. But I am not operating this factory to make a profit.
As I told Fridolf Gek and Jules Brynner, I am operating it with the purpose of creating the educators who will be needed when I build a factory in Joseon in the future.
And although this cotton textile factory doesn’t make a profit and actually runs at a loss, there is something that does make a profit. It is precisely the production of silk.
Myeongju is silk woven in a simple plain weave without any patterns using raw silk drawn from silkworms, and it is the cheapest among silks.
However, saying it is cheap among silks means it is still incredibly expensive compared to other fabrics.
When I brought back a large quantity of silkworm cocoons last year, I also brought back machines for drawing raw silk and established a silk reeling factory.
Originally, this mechanical silk reeling industry was a major industry in Europe, especially in France and Italy.
However, unfortunately, about ten years ago, an epidemic spread among the silkworms in France and Italy, causing them to nearly go extinct.
The person who became famous at this time was Louis Pasteur, who discovered the cause of this disease.
However, even discovering the cause of the disease could not completely save the French silk industry.
At that time, the French silk industry almost vanished. Italy managed to survive with great difficulty, but the French silk industry never revived.
The one that emerged to replace them at that time was Japan.
Japan began to grow its silk industry into a national industry by building European-style silk reeling factories like the Tomioka Silk Mill.
They brought in female technicians from France to learn how to use the machines and even adopted French designs for factory construction, investing national resources to foster the silk reeling industry.
Because of this, as the 20th century began, the Japanese silk industry developed to the point where it almost monopolized the world silk market.
By the time of the Japanese colonial period, this silk reeling industry would even enter Joseon, but I decided to challenge it a bit earlier.
While buying European silk reeling machines, I also brought in technicians to train the Joseon women. Primorsky Krai is cold, making it difficult to raise silkworms, but silkworm cocoons can be purchased from China or Japan.
And I distributed the raw silk made this way to the people to let them weave myeongju at home.
The machines for weaving myeongju are truly simple; if you just hook the raw silk onto the machine and a person steps on the pedal, the myeongju is woven automatically.
Even if there are no idle people in Sidimi, it’s because agricultural productivity is high, not because there is no off-season.
During such times, the women of the household or the men with nothing to do could weave myeongju just by stepping on a pedal.
In this way, we came to produce myeongju at an extremely low price.