The Joseon Prince Went To America And Didn’t Return – 118



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After the wedding most of the guests returned to their base in the east.

But Morgan’s right-hand man Henry P. Davidson remained in the West and continued to assist my business.

This is because Morgan wanted to start constructing a parallel railway to the South Manchuria Railway as soon as possible.

“Yeah. You’re saying you’ll complete the funding by the end of this month?”

“yes.”

Henry became Morgan’s agent and drew up plans for setting up and operating the trust.

Because of his outstanding skills he was able to push forward with the work without any obstacles.

“I will deposit five million dollars as promised at our last meeting.”

Henry asked me touching the glasses hanging on the bridge of his nose.

“When will Your Majesty deposit the funds into the trust fund?”

“Don’t worry too much. I’m the main player in this business after all. I’ll try to get the money paid out faster than Representative Morgan. I’ll probably finish it this week.”

Henry looked at me with a slightly worried expression.

“This prince.”

“Tell me.”

“I know it may be presumptuous of me to say something but may I?”

I shrugged and gestured for him to continue.

“The funds being deposited this time.”

“okay.”

“Rather than contributing it from the Prince’s personal treasury why don’t you contribute it indirectly through a trust established in the United States?”

I tilted my head and asked back.

“Why?”

“It looks better that way.”

“okay?”

“Yes. It would avoid provoking Japan and at the same time prepare for the future.”

The United States joined forces with Britain to take the parallel construction of the South Manchuria Railway away from Japan.

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There was a bit of an emotional fight during that process and maybe that’s why our relationship became much worse than before.

‘You’re reading the mood.’

Morgan who lent a large amount of bonds to Japan seems to be afraid that Japan will come out and say “I’m full.”

Is that why?

Morgan had no intention of provoking the Japanese government any further.

‘Not a bad choice.’

Because it’s like slightly turning the money in your right pocket and taking it out from your left pocket.

Above all if I take Henry’s advice I can keep my money out of Japan’s clutches more easily.

‘It’s American company money how could they forcibly confiscate it?’

It’s good to prepare for the worst in anything.

I nodded and agreed to Henry’s suggestion.

“Okay I’ll use the American Trust Fund instead of my personal funds.”

“thank you.”

Henry was about to leave when he looked as if he remembered something.

He took a document out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“Ah! Representative Morgan asked me to convey this to the Prince. It looks like it came from the White House.”

After Henry left I read it quickly.

When I opened the document I found it was filled with a list of mines on the Korean Peninsula that had been sold to foreign countries.

“Okay.”

Another list of compensation from the Japanese government.

I now have in my hands a list of mines on the Korean peninsula.

Not all of them.

The mining rights were taken away by Western powers.

But I felt really good because I had almost all the big ones.

‘But I don’t know.’

I am not a mining expert.

That’s why.

The American language in front of me now was an alien language that I could not interpret at all.

“hmm.”

I think I might need some help.

Luckily I have a lot of mining experts around me so I just need to call one of them.

‘That guy would be nice.’

* * *

I invited my old friend Gold King Jack Milo to my house.

“Oh my prince. It’s been a while. How is your married life?”

“As you can see I am doing very well.”

“Is that so? Well you’re newlyweds so it can’t be bad. Hahaha.”

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Jack Milo began drinking the whiskey I gave him in broad daylight and smoking the cigar I had brought with me.

After inhaling the nicotine smoke for a while he regained his concentration and looked at me.

“Oh you need my advice?”

“okay.”

“Yes yes ask me anything. I will answer with all my heart.”

I am a person who does not have much time.

Without further ado I handed over the list of mines and materials I had received today to Jack Milo.

“Can you take a look at that?”

“What is it?”

Jack Milo looked surprised as he read the title of the document.

“Are you saying that all of this is underground in the Korean Empire?”

“That’s right.”

“I heard that the Korean Empire is a relatively small country. Why are there so many mines there?”

I turned my head and saw a person.

Woo Hyeon-sik who is in charge of my finances.

I looked at his face and he started talking to Jack Milo on my behalf.

“The mines listed here are just the tip of the iceberg.”

after-

Jack Milo asked Woo Hyun-sik blowing cigar smoke from his nostrils.

“More than this?”

“Yes that’s right.”

“Why didn’t I know?”

“That’s because Westerners are only interested in Joseon’s large mines.”

It takes too much time to travel from Western powers to Joseon.

It is said that it is very expensive to check each and every thing to determine profitability.

Accordingly Westerners first explored only large-scale mines.

The bigger it is the less you have to look through it to see every last detail.

“What happened to the rest?”

“I’m telling you. The Japanese took it. Everything that was useful.”

“Oh no…”

I changed the subject and tapped my finger on the document on the table.

“Enough with the dark tales let me first select the useful ones from among these. These mines here. If the original owner gives up mining I can take them back first.”

Mines that were taken over by the West and then returned.

I received this right back from the Japanese government as compensation for this attack.

Of course you have to choose the jade stone.

When the opportunity comes you need to prepare what to give up and what to take so that you can make the right choice.

“Which of these seems the most profitable?”

“Well I think…..”

Jack Milo looked over the papers for a while and then handed me two documents.

“These two look the most attractive. Then these five. You won’t lose anything up to this line.”

Of the two documents handed to me one caught my eye.

It’s a familiar mining company name.

“This is.”

“Yes. It must be the company in which the prince owns a small amount of stock. He acquired a portion of the shares when he set up a trust company with me three years ago.”

Dongyang Mining Development Co. Ltd.

It would be easy to say that it is a gold mine.

‘I currently own 5% of this company’s shares.’

Was this the best gold mine in the Korean Empire?

I looked at the documents next to me and asked Jack.

“Is the Daeyudong gold mine here as profitable as the Unsan gold mine?”

“Yes that’s right.”

I confirmed who the owner was.

Unlike the Unsan gold mine its owner is French not American.

‘oh…’

That’s perfect.

I can eat all of this.

Wouldn’t it be enough to just sneak in the operating rights during World War I?

My complicated mind began to clear up.

Because the roadmap was slowly being drawn up.

“Thank you for helping me out.”

“No. Even when I was having a hard time the prince helped me just the same.”

“still.”

“Hey Prince. It’s me Jack Milo. I’m Jack Milo a corpse if not for loyalty.”

Did that corpse guy try to scam me in the beginning leaving out his loyalty?

I chuckled and glanced at the stuffed detective model Jack had given me as a gift.

“majesty!”

That was when.

Choi Hyun-sik came to me in a hurry.

“Master Lee Wi-jong has requested an audience with Your Majesty.”

If it’s a different species.

Isn’t he the person in charge of the Ikmunsa?

“You seem busy.”

He must not have heard Choi Hyun-sik because he was whispering in Korean.

Jack quickly got up from his seat because he couldn’t hide the change in his expression.

“I will now take my leave. Please continue with what you are doing.”

As Jack stepped aside I quickly called out to Yiwijong who was waiting on the first floor.

Yi Wi-jong came into my office holding a handful of thick papers in his hand as if he had a lot to report to me.

* * *

“It seems that Katsura’s situation is worse than I thought.”

I slowly read the report that Yi Wi-jong had handed me.

The document was packed with details about Japan’s current economic and political situation.

‘The economy is a mess.’

Among the government bonds issued bonds that have reached maturity are demanding repayment instead of an extension of maturity.

In such a situation new national bond issuance continues to fail.

Because of this there was a lack of budget to execute and they were under great economic pressure.

‘The income is given but the expenditure remains the same.’

Wasn’t Japan’s most important interest in the South Manchuria Railway greatly damaged by this compensation?

In these circumstances disarmament is out of the question.

The military will react strongly.

“If we leave it like this I’ll lose power soon.”

“yes.”

Lee Wi-jong picked up the thickest document among the reports on the table and began to explain the relevant information to me.

“It is said that Saionji that rascal recently met with the Minister of the Navy along with former Minister of the Interior Takashi Hara.”

The Japanese form of government is extremely strange.

The Cabinet and the Prime Minister who is the head of the Cabinet are determined by the Cabinet Act.

Army and Navy.

So the military is placed under the Emperor (head of Japan) as stipulated by the Constitution which is higher than that.

‘You’re saying that we have the appearance of an absolute monarchy without even an absolute monarch…’

The Prime Minister has no power to appoint cabinet members.

Only recommendations and requests for resignation are possible.

Therefore if one member of a cabinet resigns without a successor the cabinet is naturally dissolved.

‘If one of the military generals resigns Katsura will step down as Prime Minister. Saionji is going to attack the Navy.’

Katsura is from the army which is currently under the control of the Choshu clan.

Therefore Saionji was focusing on attacking the Navy which was the enemy of the Army.

The moderates were usually from noble families and did not have a great relationship with the Navy so things were progressing smoothly according to Saionji’s plan.

“The Minister of the Navy is still waiting to see but if Ito returns things will be very different.”

I guess so.

Who is Ito?

He is a political tyrant who served as prime minister four times.

“A crazy dog ​​that runs without thinking and a monkey that rolls its eyes everywhere will soon come face to face.”

“yes.”

There is an old saying that the relationship between a monkey and a dog is like that of dog and fox.

Here Katsura is a mad dog and Ito is a monkey.

In nature when these two fight the monkey usually wins.

Because monkeys are smarter than dogs.

“We can’t let Ito take over as Prime Minister.”

How much privilege has Katsura extracted since he came to power?

‘On the other hand the domestic situation that Ito ruled over became even worse.’

I had quite a hard time because of the military police assistant system proposed by Ito.

As spies began to appear many of the volunteer soldiers in the Samnam region were killed.

Additionally many of my contacts in the country were arrested or persuaded.

‘I didn’t even regress or do anything but… this guy Ito is smarter than I imagined.’

In fact if it had been Ito instead of Katsura who had been Prime Minister they wouldn’t have tried to assassinate me so recklessly.

Even if he had tried he would have tried to kill me in a more sophisticated way without anyone knowing.

‘Ito must not become prime minister. He is dangerous.’

Ito has shown a very similar disposition to me so if given time he will surely restore Japan’s national power.

At the same time it was clear that some devices would be devised to keep me in check.

Even if we can’t kill him we have to use every means necessary to ensure that he never becomes Prime Minister again.

“Yes. How many Ikmunsa agents are currently dispatched to Japan?”

“There are five.”

I made a few suggestions to the other species.

Yi Wi-jong opened his eyes wide when he heard my suggestion.

“Do you intend to use the socialists?”

“okay.”

Socialist journalists today cited Katsura’s mistakes and argued that he should step down as prime minister.

In Japan where media control is relatively strong they were ostensibly the only force opposing Katsura.

“They are a thorn in Katsura’s side. In a different way from Ito.”

They had to be removed if Katsura was to remain in the Prime Minister’s seat.

Because journalists have to keep telling the ignorant people that Japan is at peace.

‘If you just throw me one I’ll bite you.’

Working in lobbying in the United States I have seen and learned a lot about how to deal with the media.

Another big thing has to happen to break this noise.

‘The original issue is covered up with another issue.’

If Katsura can once again take control of politics by pushing back on the socialists wouldn’t he be able to maintain his position as prime minister for a while?

Because it’s not easy to change the leadership position until the big thing is over.

This is especially true in more conservative societies.

“Oh and please come visit Mexico sometime soon.”

“If it’s Mexico… Ah!”

As I felt during this attack.

No matter how much I prepare there are times when things don’t go my way.

In preparation for such a situation we need to prepare one more alternative plan.

‘I need them.’

Ito cannot stay only in safe Japan.

The situation in which the United States and Britain joined hands with the Beiyang Clique to check Japan’s advance into South Manchuria.

The Japanese government needs allies to help it.

There is currently only one opponent they can join hands with.

Only Russia.

In order to negotiate with them Ito a diplomat had to step forward himself.

‘To go to Russia you must…’

You have to go through Primorsky Krai or Manchuria.

‘It will probably go through Manchuria.’

That place that is shared by all.

‘They will definitely stop by if only to promote their claim to South Manchuria.’

There is no place better for assassination than Manchuria.

Because it is a lawless zone with half the administrative power empty.

‘Ito must be killed.’

The best way is to borrow a knife.

It’s like getting rid of Ito by borrowing someone else’s hand.

But if this is difficult the only alternative is to kill them directly.

“I will quickly finish the tasks you have assigned me and leave for Tijuana.”

“okay.”

He must be training hard in Mexico right now.

‘I wonder how much he’s grown…’

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