Chapter 296: Nick's Arrival

This was a great place for him to realize his ambitions. Nick thought that in all of East Asia, apart from Hokkaido, Jeju Island had the most ideal conditions for raising horses.

The H800, towed by a small launch, safely docked at the pier. Because a Senator was arriving, the Marine detachment stationed at Jocheonpo sent a squad to line up on the pier to welcome him. Li Haiping was out at sea, so the highest-ranking officer present to greet Nick and his party was the Special Reconnaissance Team’s detachment leader, Xue Ziliang.

As the Marine sergeant shouted “Present arms!” and “Salute!”, the loudspeaker began to play “We Salute You, Comrade Commander!” Nick had to stand at attention and then raise his hand to salute the welcoming party.

After the music finished, Nick finally relaxed and shook hands with Xue Ziliang. Park Chang-beom had already prepared a sedan chair—or rather, a “sedan pole” by Chinese standards—to serve him.

Nick frowned. “I have feet. I don’t need this thing.”

“It’s a bit of a distance to the headquarters, and the ground is very bad,” Xue Ziliang said.

“It’s alright,” Nick waved his hand. “The real business is to have this manpower help me unload my luggage—tell them to be careful.”

“Alright, I’ll have it sent to the headquarters later.”

The road was very difficult to walk on. Due to the construction, the road, previously paved with gravel and yellow sand, had been crushed and damaged beyond repair, turning into a muddy path littered with bundles of firewood and straw mats.

Nick trudged through the mud for twenty minutes, his feet sinking deep with each step, before he reached the headquarters at the post station. His trousers and shoes were covered in yellow mud. Fortunately, a fire had been lit in the headquarters, and plenty of hot water was ready. Two “service” maids, former government slaves, rushed forward to take off his shoes and wash his feet. Nick felt very uncomfortable and quickly said he would wash them himself.

After finally cleaning up and changing into clean clothes and shoes, he was about to have Lai Bao pack away the dirty clothes and shoes when he saw that the two maids had already taken them.

“It’s alright. They’ll have them cleaned and dried for you by tomorrow morning. They’re fully skilled in serving people,” Xue Ziliang said calmly, sitting on a stool and letting a female government slave wash and massage his feet.

“Winnie, I thought you would be a bit more modern…” Nick began. He had spent a long time in Australia and couldn’t help but be influenced by “white leftist political correctness.” He felt very uncomfortable in Lin’gao, especially with the Senate’s policy of distributing maids, which he particularly opposed. Therefore, he had always refused to use his maid allowance to buy a maid. But having his apprentice do his laundry and housework was just not up to par. In the end, the General Office had to hire a maid for him to take care of his daily life.

“Nick, in another time, this place was a man’s paradise,” Xue Ziliang said with his eyes closed, enjoying the massage. His thoughts seemed to drift back to his time in the US Marine Corps, enjoying the various pleasures of Korea, a paradise for American soldiers. “What is this now…”

Nick said no more. He felt that he still didn’t fit in, even when facing a pure “banana.”

After the “enjoyment” was over and his luggage had been unloaded, Nick personally checked that the seals and packaging were intact before he felt at ease to depart. This time, he did not refuse the sedan chair. Xue Ziliang told him that the official road was very bad and that Feng Zongze was putting in manpower to repair it. Of course, he could also go by boat, but the sea conditions had been bad for the past few days, and the things he was carrying were quite important, so they had decided to go by land.

Just as he was about to depart, Nick suddenly saw about a dozen cavalrymen in the procession, wearing conical helmets and carrying swords. Their luggage was also being transported by horses. His spirits immediately lifted.

“What, you have horses?”

“Indeed, we have horses. This is the post station of Jeju. It’s not unusual to have a few horses.”

“And the cavalry?”

“They are soldiers from the Japanese Company of the Public Security Army. Don’t look down on them as grunts; I hear they were mounted samurai in Japan…” Xue Ziliang said with a smile.

“Can you give me these few soldiers?”

Xue Ziliang was taken aback, not understanding why this horse maniac had suddenly taken an interest in the Japanese devils. “It’s no problem to lend them to you for a while, but you’ll have to go through the formalities with Nangong.”

Nick and his party soon arrived at Jeju town and were welcomed into the garrison. As soon as he had settled down, he sent for Feng Zongze.

“Commissioner Feng has gone to Daejeong for an inspection and won’t be back until tomorrow,” Feng Zongze’s secretary said.

“Who else among the Senators is in Jeju?”

“Commander Nangong is…”

“Get him here immediately! Tell him I’m waiting for him and need to talk to him.”

Nick was eager to start work immediately. He would grab any local Senator he could find—they would at least be able to tell him something about the situation.

The secretary was speechless. Who is this Senator? Such arrogance!

Nick was one of the less visible Senators. He rarely participated in any collective activities and was always “holed up” at the Gaoshanling Horse Farm. If he went out, it was either to the Changhua pasture or to the horse stables of the Agriculture Committee or the army to check on the condition of the draft horses. Therefore, the Senators’ secretaries were very unfamiliar with him. Seeing his arrogant tone, Feng Zongze’s secretary did not dare to be negligent and hurried to find Nangong Wudi’s female orderly.

Nangong Wudi was in the city inspecting the renovation and disinfection of the barracks. Hearing that a “very important chief” had arrived and wanted to speak with him, he did not dare to be negligent and immediately returned to the garrison.

“So it’s you…” Nangong Wudi was at a loss for words, half amused and half exasperated. “I thought it was someone from the General Staff or the Executive Committee.”

“Whether they come or not is none of my business,” Nick said. “I’m here to investigate the horse situation. Tell me what you know.”

Nangong Wudi was choked speechless. Fortunately, he had witnessed Nick’s style in the army many times and knew he was always like this.

“Don’t be in a hurry. Old Feng isn’t here. He’ll be back tomorrow to talk to you in detail. However, we don’t have much information on the horses.”

“What?!”

Seeing Nick about to stand up, Nangong Wudi stopped him.

“Our rule on the island is still very weak. We’ve just established the basic institutions. To be frank, we haven’t even figured out the human situation, how could we have time to deal with the horses?”

The pastures on Jeju Island, both public and private, were mostly located in the Mount Halla area in the center of the island. The Jeju Island Forward Committee had discussed it and decided not to touch these horse farms for the time being, until they had established a stable rule and cultivated enough collaborators and local security forces. For now, they were focusing on gathering information. Xue Ziliang’s special recon team, with the help of some locals familiar with the island’s interior, had already conducted several foot reconnaissance missions.

“…However, it’s not that we have no horses at all,” Nangong Wudi said. “We’ve also taken over a few horse farms and stables. We have a few hundred horses.”

“Where?” Nick was about to stand up again.

“Don’t be anxious, the horses are all there!” Nangong Wudi held him down. “But they’re in several different places. You won’t be able to see them all at once. Let’s wait for Feng Zongze to come back and talk to you in detail. Please rest well today.”

Nick nodded helplessly. “Alright.” Seeing Nangong Wudi about to leave, he added, “The Japanese Public Security Army soldiers who escorted me this time, there are some mounted samurai among them. Can you assign them to me?”

Nangong Wudi readily agreed. “No problem. We have instructions from Lin’gao. You can have anyone you need here, and any grain you need. We will fully cooperate with your work. We’re all looking forward to mechanization with mules and horses.”

“Thanks!”

“You’re welcome. It would be great if you could get us some cavalry sometime.”

The night passed without further incident. The next day, Feng Zongze returned to Jeju and was immediately seized by Nick, who was waiting in his office.

Feng Zongze was prepared—he had already received notice of Nick’s impending arrival. After instructing his secretary to bring hot tea, he began to brief Nick on the situation.

The general situation of the horses and horse farms on Jeju Island had already been provided by the Grand Library and the Foreign Intelligence Bureau.

The number of government horses on Jeju Island, according to the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty, was around ten thousand. This figure should be relatively accurate. According to the tribute horse regulations established by the Joseon court, Jeju Island had to present tribute horses to the court annually for military and official use. This was called “sealing and presenting tribute horses.”

The “sealing and presenting tribute horses” ceremony was usually held on June 7th in front of the Gwandeokjeong Pavilion in the Jeju Garrison. The annual tribute was 200 horses. In addition, every three years, in the siknyeon (zodiac) years (rat, horse, rabbit, rooster), the tribute was 700 horses. On the three auspicious days (New Year’s Day, Winter Solstice, and the King’s Birthday), 20 horses were presented each time. When the magistrates of the three towns of Jeju took office, they had to present three horses. In addition, when necessary, horses could be selected irregularly by traders.

By this calculation, the government horse farms on Jeju Island had to present about 450 horses to the Joseon court annually. Based on the selection ratio of the horses, a herd of at least ten thousand horses had to be maintained to guarantee this tribute number.

As for the number of private horses, the historical records do not provide a clear figure, but Kim Man-il alone once contributed five hundred horses to the court, so he must have had at least ten thousand horses.

Adding in the scattered private pastures, the horse population on Jeju Island could very well be around thirty thousand.

Nick listened attentively to his introduction and then said, “I’ve been to Jeju Island before. It’s famous for its pony breeds. The information from the Grand Library also says so. But the horses I saw just now weren’t that small.”

The characteristic horse breed of Jeju Island was the pony, which was only 0.8 meters high. Although small, the horse had good stamina. This horse was said to have high bone density and exceptional endurance, similar to the Guoxia horse of the Yunnan-Guizhou region in China. It was tolerant of rough fodder and hard labor, but its drawbacks were its small load-bearing capacity and low height.

This so-called horse with particularly high “bone density” later gave rise to a health product sold to tourists called “horse bone powder,” which was said to be made from the bones of this horse.

After the Mongols occupied Jeju, they took a fancy to these small horses’ well-developed limbs, but because they were too small to be ridden, they sent 150 Mongolian horses to crossbreed with them, forming the later Jeju horse.

“We haven’t seen such small horses yet—at least not among the few hundred horses we’ve already seized,” Feng Zongze said. “I think the horses here are basically just ordinary Mongolian horses.”