American: Native Empire

Chapter 17 <Transportation Revolution>

It was none other than the World Calendar, a calendar system that defied the conventional one.

“So today is March 27th?”

“Yes, it is. It’s Wednesday, as you said. The quarters are aligned with the weekdays.”

“Good. That makes it easier to calculate the dates.”

The World Calendar was proposed by an American woman named Elizabeth Achelis in 1930. 

However, it was a calendar system that was practically abandoned without much use.

There were certainly advantages. 

That’s why Kim Ki-woo wanted to use it.

First of all, the dates are the same for every quarter. Therefore, it does not require more than 12 sheets of paper like the Gregorian calendar. 

Only three sheets are needed to make a calendar.

Moreover, there is no need to change the calendar every year. It’s all the same whether the year changes or not. It means that a lot of paper can be saved.

‘In a situation where resources are scarce, I can’t waste them on calendars. Besides, I don’t have to reset the metal type every time the year changes.’

The best thing was that he could use the metal type for a lifetime by setting up only three types.

For example, one sheet for January, April, July, and October, one sheet for February, May, August, and November. Something like that.

By the way, January, April, July, and October have 31 days instead of 30 days.

And the rest of the eight months have 30 days each. 

Finally, by setting the last day of December as a blank day, it matches exactly 365 days.

Of course, a leap month has to be inserted every four years, but this can be easily solved by adjusting the blank day to two days every four years.

There was no religious force in America that would complain about making a blank day since there was no Sabbath.

‘In that respect, the International Fixed Calendar is better, but 13 months is a bit too much.’

If you divide it into 13 months and make each month 28 days long, then a year is exactly 364 days. If you apply the blank day as above, you can make a calendar with one sheet of paper. But there was no need to do that.

The biggest problem is that 13 is a prime number, so you can’t use quarters of three months or halves of six months. It would be hard to do statistics later.

Of course, in modern times, there was no reason to change from the Gregorian calendar to such a calendar system. 

Rather, it would only cause more confusion if changed.

But now there was no such confusion. It was rational to use a better-looking calendar system from the beginning.

“Good. Then next year will be the first year of the empire. Your names will go down in history as the astronomers who created the imperial calendar.”

“Sir, it’s an honor!”

They were all overjoyed and didn’t know what to do. 

Didn’t they say that beasts leave their skins and humans leave their names?

Kim Ki-woo left behind the enthusiastic welcome of the astronomers and left the observatory.

The next place Kim Ki-woo visited was the Supreme Court.

“You’re here.”

“…Yes. Ahem.”

There was no such hospitality as with the astronomers here. 

Of course, they were not rude. He could easily tell why they showed such lukewarm reactions by looking at their faces.

‘Are they going to die of overwork before founding?’

They had dark circles under their eyes. 

Knowing their condition before the Supreme Court was established, Kim Ki-woo felt a little sorry for them.

‘No way. Why am I worrying about them?’

Compared to them, his workload was not easy at all!

And it wasn’t just the Supreme Court that was in this state. 

For example, the administration department, education department, and industry department were also as busy as the Supreme Court.

Thinking so, Kim Ki-woo had no choice but to comfort them.

“You look very tired. Take it easy.”

“…Yes.”

A response that was about three seconds late. He thought he had been buffering for a moment.

It seemed like he was protesting something like ‘If you want us to do that, either reduce our workload or increase our staff!’

But it wasn’t easy to do that within the Creek tribe.

‘Until last year, the workload of the Supreme Court was decreasing.’

That was until last year.

When their workload decreased and they could breathe a sigh of relief…

‘The expedition started.’

It was all because of Kim Ki-woo in a way.

Anyway, as soon as the expedition began again, the population increased by a large margin. They were scattered around various villages as before.

For those who had adapted to the life of the Creek tribe, it was a sudden change to live with people who didn’t speak well with them.

Naturally, there were many conflicts between them.

The incidents that occurred were resolved by the security offices of each village.

However.

‘The security office can’t handle all the cases.’

As the population increased, new forms of conflicts emerged, and some serious matters that could not be resolved within the security office occurred.

Those things were sent to the security department, the higher authority of the security office.

But the security department was not omnipotent either. 

They also passed on things that were difficult for them to handle directly to the Supreme Court. It was the highest authority related to law.

‘It’s a structure where the work piles up in the Supreme Court. At least until the security is stabilized.’

The cases to be handled increased gradually, but it was not easy to increase the staff drastically.

Although it was incomparable to the future, the people who dealt with law had to be very competent professionals. They had to be smart and wise to handle big and new cases.

And they had to study constantly the laws that were being created and various precedents.

For this reason, the manpower replenishment to the Supreme Court was much slower than the increase in cases.

Now, even if they worked overtime like eating rice, the cases kept piling up.

But things would get better as the elementary school grew and more tribesmen learned to read and write, and even more intellectuals learned from middle school.

Of course, he didn’t know when that would happen.

Maybe the Supreme Court would be the institution that would suffer from heavy workloads for the longest time. 

Kim Ki-woo cautiously predicted.

Enough with the appreciation. He had something to do here. Kim Ki-woo winked at Straight Tree. Then Straight Tree put the documents he brought on the desk.

“What is this?”

“It’s a constitution.”

“Wow. Is this the constitution you mentioned?”

The chief justice Clear Springwater picked up the document with curiosity.

He was interested in the newly created constitution as expected of the current highest authority in law. He had already hinted at the existence of the constitution several times, so there was no big resistance.

“Read it and report any questions you have. I won’t accept any suggestions for revisions unless absolutely necessary.”

It was a constitution that he had made for a long time to suit the situation of the tribe. He considered enough that it was a pre-modern society. He didn’t want to touch it much.

Fortunately, the chief justice did not object much to Kim Ki-woo’s unilateral words.

“Yes. I will do that.”

“Good. Things will get easier when more educated people come out. Let’s work together until then.”

“Phew. I know you haven’t rested either, but I’m worried about you more than the chief justice.”

“Haha. It’s touching that you’re worried about me. But I have to finish my last job. It’s uncomfortable if you stop in the middle of pooping, right?”

“Sigh. I knew you would say that.”

The bell rang throughout the city.

Ding!

“It’s already evening. Should I go in and rest now?”

“Please do that. I’m more worried about you than the chief justice.”

The sound of bells meant it was 6 pm.

The bell tower in the middle of the square rang three times a day.

6 am, 12 pm, 6 pm.

They still measured time with a sundial, so it would take a while to make a precise clock.

Of course, he didn’t think of a spring clock.

‘It’s crazy to expect a spring clock from the craftsmen.’

What Kim Ki-woo was considering was a falling weight clock. Of course, to get power from the falling weight, the body had to be as large as 30 meters, and the usable time was less than eight days.

But it was very attractive to get accurate time. And as time passed and technology improved, he could switch to a spring clock.

Kim Ki-woo had already been experimenting with this with the craftsmen. He believed that he would soon have a decent falling weight clock.

Kim Ki-woo burned the flame of his last work while having various thoughts.

*

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Sure. Let’s have green tea today.”

“Yes.”

Straight Tree brewed green tea leaves in hot water and brought them to the office.

Squeak.

A proper amount of green tea was poured into a porcelain teacup. Kim Ki-woo smiled as he looked at the steaming green tea, teacup, and teapot.

‘I’ve come this far.’

In a little while, he would be called an emperor, not a chief. And he had some cultural aspects that were incomparable to modern times.

Gulp.

“…Good.”

The tea aroma was excellent. He felt his mind and body relax.

By the way, the room had changed a lot. 

The chief’s office in the administration department. 

This space, which would soon become the emperor’s office, was very large.

It was big enough to accommodate dozens of staff members. And it was made entirely of stone, so it was sturdy and very resistant to fire.

It wasn’t just big and sturdy. 

The beautiful pottery artworks that filled this space, the drawings made with pencils, the sculptures carved by sculptors who were still immature, and the exhibits such as swords, spears, and axes made by blacksmiths.

It was running to the end of luxury by this era’s standards.

“Grand Chief. We have to proceed with the next schedule soon.”

But he was busy in proportion to that. He hadn’t rested for long, but Straight Tree was already urging him.

“Haha. You told me to rest a while ago, but was that a lie?”

“Do you want to rest?”

“…No, no. I have to work hard to finish the remaining schedules today. Who’s going to do these piled up tasks if I rest? Right? Hahaha! Hahaha…”

Is it just me or is my vision blurry?

Kim Ki-woo left the policy department with his aides in tow. And he headed straight for the river.

The place he visited this time was a shipyard.

He could see a fairly large ship in his sight before he even got there.

“Hehehe.”

This damn mania. It seemed to be getting worse lately.

But what can he do? He naturally felt happy when he saw those pretty things.

“Grand Chief!”

“Hahaha! You guys have worked hard.”

“No, not at all. It’s all thanks to your guidance.”

You know it well.

How much time did they squeeze out to make the ship in front of them?

But he didn’t say such words in vain.

It took a long time to mass-produce ships suitable for transportation.

Some might ask if four years is fast enough.

But he already had the blueprint. He also taught them how to build ships and supported them generously. 

It only took longer to mass-produce because of the skill level of the shipbuilders and the quality of the tools.

Until now, many of the ships that were produced for trial purposes were already transporting goods, but from now on, when the mass production system of the ships in front of him was completed, ships for transportation would be built in large quantities.

If these ships were widely distributed, a revolution in transportation would take place as expected.

‘Many large cities will emerge along the river, and development will be at least several times faster.’

Raw materials and food will be cheaply and quickly distributed by water transport.

In other words, he could unite the Creek’s vast territory into one. 

One of the biggest driving forces for maintaining a centralized state, the transportation problem, was solved.

No wonder he felt affectionate about the ship in front of him.

He achieved one of the biggest achievements before transforming from a tribe into an empire.

<Transportation Revolution> End