Empire of the Ring

Chapter 51: A Dangerous Gamble (2)

On the news, the scene of Armenian troops hurriedly evacuating the battlefield was shown repeatedly. The news anchor claimed that their enemies decided to pull out after a few threat flights of combat planes. The Azerbaijan army had set their D-day to carry out a full-scale attack a few days later, but due to Armenia’s evacuation they lost their chance.

However, it was as equal as Azerbaijan defeating Armenian army without any large-scale attack. So, they were claiming to have achieved a victory in the battle to the public.

Youngho’s information played a key role in the evacuation of Armenian army. It looked like Armenia decided to believe his information since they completely changed their attitude. The Tartar district that they were fighting over was not a strategically important point to protect losing thousands of soldiers. They must have decided to fall back because they did not want to lose their men, tanks, and self-propelled artilleries due to large-scale bombing.

Edward called in a bright tone.

“Lee, we were lucky. Armenia trusted our information and acted upon it. You have saved many lives.”

Youngho could feel the excitement from Edward’s voice, which was unlikely for the calm agent. He seemed to be happy to have stopped sacrificing his peoples’ lives.

Youngho was relieved to have maintained the status quo of the two countries for now. Even though they decided to evacuate the battlefield, nobody knew just yet when they would decide to come back again.

Oil produced in the Caspian Sea were provided to eleven companies from developed countries including American big oil companies through a pipeline that went through Baku, Tbilisi, and Ceyhan.

Although the pipeline did not pass through Armenia, the oil corporations would not stand it if Armenia caused a problem in the oil production line due to war. The Western politicians who had been lobbied by the large oil corporations could change the Armenian government, or in the worst case scenario, Armenia could disappear on the map by force. Giant oil corporations had more than enough power to wipe out a country. The CIA might be already under pressure from the government lobbied by the oil corporations.

If that was the case, Russia would not just sit still and wait. What about Edward? He could act against the CIA’s instructions for his people in Armenia. Thought of this possible complicated situation got Youngho worried.

Youngho decided to take his friend Cha Insoo out of the militia. If he was to focus solely on collecting information, he needed Park Jongil’s assistance. However, with Park Jongil gone, the farm would be defenseless. So, he needed his friend Cha Insoo, who would guard the farm for them. When Youngho requested Cha Insoo’s resignation in the militia to the CIA, it was accepted right away. Cha Insoo was hired as a bodyguard of CIA agent Youngho. So, his wage was paid as an information expense from the CIA.

Youngho thought his friends who were still left in the militia, Cho Chulhwan and Um Sangtaek, should be sent back to Korea or be hired by him in Baku in due time since it was dangerous to stay in the militia. As instructors in the militia, if things went wrong, they would not be protected for having helped Armenian armed forces.

The reason that he planned to put out all of his friends from the Armenian militia was because of Edward. Even though Youngho loved him as a person and his superior, he was afraid that Edward would act recklessly for his country. Youngho may be thinking ahead but he thought he would regret later if he did not act now.

More battles were still expected and due to insecure public, the prices were shaking. The most affected product was daily necessaries, no traders sent the same amount of trading goods as usual to a country in war. They decreased the quantities of products in Azerbaijan, and the balance of supply and demand circle was broken. The prices for agricultural and marine products were rather stable but the daily necessities were inadequate in number.

Sergey in Volgograd started to sell the daily necessaries that he had stored in advance in Azerbaijan. Yaniv had called President Aliyev that he would provide inadequate daily necessities in Azerbaijan at the same price before war. Although Yaniv was still making money, Azerbaijan was impressed by him since he had provided them even before the Armenian army in Nagorno-Karabakh evacuated the district of Tartar. Now that Yaniv’s company planted a good impression of themselves, they would be in advantage for next businesses or oil development in Azerbaijan in the future.

When Youngho got a phone call from the palace of the president, he was having tea with Kamal, the head of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He almost freaked out hearing that Youngho was invited to the president’s palace. Now Kamal and Youngho’s status had switched. Kamal had to look good in front of Youngho to be able to impress the president. As Youngho left the ministry building, he smiled at Kamal who escorted him out like never before.

President Aliyev of Azerbaijan graduated from Moscow International University. He is a smart person who was once a professor at his university. He had made Putin, Russia’s president, his acquaintance since the time of Soviet Union. Although Azerbaijanis did not like Russia, Aliyev and Putin were deeply related.

Yaniv’s achievement in Azerbaijan would be reported to President Putin and this would be a great chance for him to be recognized as a businessman rather than mafia. Yaniv had also told President Aliyev that Youngho had given him the business idea. The two were great partners, since they made each other look good in front of the two heads of the two countries.

Korea and Azerbaijan’s friendship had been developing in the recent past years. The two presidents visited each other’s country and Korean businessmen were paying attention to Azerbaijan. Korea’s image in Azerbaijan was getting better day by day. And just in time, the word that a Korean investor worked for Azerbaijanis was delivered to the president. That was why President Aliyev contacted Youngho and invited him the presidential palace. Since Youngho was an investor who invested for Baku’s farm development, Aliyev wanted to see him.

The meeting only lasted 30 minutes and the president and Youngho only had a cup of tea together. The president thanked him for his achievements for donating scholarships for police families, developing wasted land for a farm, and planning to provide daily necessities during the war time, predicting the prices would skyrocket. Even though the country had overflowing oil dollars, they did not prepare the daily necessities for the citizens in advance. Because of Youngho, the prices were stabilized. The president encouraged Youngho’s investment and business in Azerbaijan.

The fact that Youngho met the president personally alone changed people’s treatment towards him. The director treated Youngho even more politely, knowing that he had put a word about him during the meeting with president. Now when Youngho visits him for tea, the chief of Main Police Department also joined them to make acquaintance with Youngho. He was recognized as a high official in Azerbaijan. Nobody could ignore him at this point.

The European chapter of the CIA also considered Youngho’s meeting with president an impressive move. The CIA treated him as an important agent. Even though Edward was Youngho’s direct supervisor, he now often received directions from the headquarters. This meant that he was given a lot of weight in the CIA now.

Park Jongil was gone for training to Frankfurt as Youngho did before.

Sergey visited the farm on the first day of the last week of July. Sergey’s excited face made Youngho curious for what was going on.

“Mr. Lee, boss has complimented you so many times. He was invited to a meeting with President Putin. I think the president will involve us in the construction of Southern transportation route. The government thinks highly of us because of the image of a businessman close with Azerbaijan’s government.

“That is great news to hear.”

“Putin is planning to stay in power for a long time. In order to earn people’s support, he needs to develop the country’s economy quickly, and that’s why he’s obsessive in opening the Southern route.”

If the railroad route that connects Russia-Azerbaijan-Iran was completed, people could reach Indian Ocean without going through the Mediterranean Sea. This could turn some trading ships that go to the Suez Panel and Russia gain some economic power.

“It was a good thing that we didn’t price the necessities highly like you suggested. It’s all because of your insight. As a way to thank you, boss sent you another gift.”

Youngho did not want to receive another bag of gold bars, since he did not report the last gift to the CIA.

“I already told you that you shouldn’t do this.”

“It’s what you deserve, you should take it.”

After a little tug-of-war of words, Youngho received ten gold bars reluctantly. From selling daily necessities in Azerbaijan, Yaniv earned reputation that’s more valuable than money. Yaniv thought Youngho deserved the gold bars.

“I’m having a yacht party next month. If you are not too busy, please join us.”

“A yacht?”

“It’s what we do sometimes in the summer. We have party on board on the Caspian Sea. You can bring your family and guests.”

It was nothing to reject, so Youngho said that he would be joining them for the party. The siblings would be happy to hear about the party. It also sounded luxurious to spend the summer on the Caspian Sea.