Wild North America 1846

The end of September 1855

It is the late summer season when the sky is high and the clouds are clear. In the eastern palace area of ​​the newly built Daming Palace in the Longshou District of Chang'an City, the splendid palace complex with double eaves and brackets and deep courtyards is hidden among the towering trees, which looks majestic.

And magnificent.

Inside Daming Palace

Taiye Lake is a vast lake with rippling blue waves. To the north of Taiye Lake is the main palace complex of Daming Palace under construction, to the east of Taiye Lake is the eastern palace area that has been put into use, and to the west is the western palace area under construction.

To the south is the harem building complex.

The area of ​​Taiye Lake is almost equivalent to the Daming Palace of the Tang Dynasty thousands of years ago. It separates the four major palace groups far away. There are several islands on the lake. The scenery decorated with rockeries, rocks and trees is unique and relaxing.

ideas.

The largest island in the lake is called Pudu Island, with an area of ​​about 1.3 square kilometers and a peak of 177 meters. Among the lush mountains and forests, there is a nine-story exquisite pagoda about 49 meters high, which is called the "Nine Turns of Pudu Pagoda"

, below the pagoda is the "Pudu Zen Temple", and not far away there is the "Xuantian Taoist Temple", which is a temple and a temple worshiped by the royal family.

on Pudu Island

There is a small villa built near the water. It is surrounded by towering ancient trees, rugged rocks, gurgling streams, and the scenery is particularly elegant and quiet.

In the viewing pavilion of Linshui Palace

Richard was wearing a thin Taoist robe, sitting leisurely on a cloud couch, sipping fragrant tea, and reading through some submitted memorials, as if he were an outstanding person from the outside world.

What he holds in his hands is a series of data created by the fervent development of Paradise Island, and this is a gratifying achievement achieved by investing huge amounts of money.

In just half a year

The total number of immigrants on Paradise Island exceeds 430,000. The two major port cities, one east and one west, have strong self-development capabilities. A large amount of agricultural and sideline products and grain output can not only supply the needs of the island, but also create a considerable amount of surplus.

Come November

Paradise Island will usher in its second great harvest of agricultural products. In this warm climate area, it is common for major crops to be harvested three times a year.

The two towns of Donggang and Xinxi'an on the island are located in fertile areas suitable for farming, with a wide interior hinterland, mild climate all year round, and sufficient sunshine. In addition, they are in a superior seaport location, making them suitable for the development of farming, transshipment immigration ports, and industry.

The entire Paradise Island covers an area of ​​786,000 square kilometers and has a changeable climate. The mountains, mainly the Central Mountains, stretch for more than 1,700 kilometers. The highest peak is more than 4,300 meters above sea level. The top of the mountain is covered with snow all year round and the climate is relatively cold.

On the southern and northern slopes of the Central Mountains, dozens of large rivers with astonishing water volumes have developed. Especially in the low-altitude tropical rainforest areas, rainfall is extremely abundant, with an average annual average of 3,500 to 5,000 millimeters, and the highest even reaching an annual average of 6,500 millimeters.

mm.

These areas experience heavy rains for more than half a year and are extremely humid. The dense tropical rain forests grow vigorously and are filled with streams and swamps. They are a green forbidden land that is difficult to develop. They are home to a variety of unique animals and plants that are different from those on the mainland. They are a treasure trove of animals and plants.

.

In the transition zone between mountains and humid lowlands, there are large areas with higher altitudes and mild climate, which are very suitable for agricultural and animal husbandry development.

Donggang and Xinxi'an belong to this area. The annual rainfall is between 1100 and 1650. The former's rainfall level is equivalent to northern Jiangsu, and the latter is equivalent to southern Jiangsu. They are both areas suitable for farming.

Today, the development focus of Paradise Island is precisely this area.

After more than half a year of large-scale development regardless of investment, more than one million acres of fertile farmland, approximately 1,550 square kilometers, has been opened up, accounting for one 4,800th of the entire island's developable area.

The achievements of colonization are huge. A large number of sugar mills, food processing plants, flour mills, canneries, as well as cement plants and brick cellar equipment are transported to the island via sea ships, which will establish the preliminary industrial production capacity of Paradise Island.

Because Paradise Island is relatively close to mainland China, immigration is convenient and low-cost. Ordinary steam-iron immigration ships can make two round-trip voyages in a month, transporting a large number of people to the island.

Therefore, the effect of short-term immigration is very obvious, and a large amount of labor input plays a decisive role in the development of Paradise Island.

Next step

After the island has complete immigration and cargo transfer capabilities, as well as the supply capacity of grain and agricultural and sideline products, investment in the island will gradually fade, and the intensity and scale of investment will also be greatly reduced.

It is impossible for the Tang Dynasty’s finances or the royal charity fund to make a net investment in Paradise Island for a long time regardless of the cost, thereby affecting the economic development of North America.

From the perspective of the concept of governing the country, this is to seek the end at the expense of the foundation.

There is no doubt that North America is the top priority for development at any time.

In the local economic structure of North America, when the American River gold resources, which were originally the economic pillar of the Tang Kingdom, declined sharply, the two pillar industries, mainly petrochemical and mining industries, developed rapidly, making up for the gap in the reduction of gold minerals.

, and there are still some mistakes.

on the basis of

The industrial development of the Tang Kingdom is becoming increasingly rapid. The industrial output value in January is now higher than the industrial output value in the whole year of 1851. It has developed a heavy industry system based on steel, machinery, shipbuilding, petroleum complete equipment and petrochemical industry.

The economic development momentum is very gratifying, with light industries based on textiles, clothing processing, food processing (including the canning industry), brewing and various handicraft workshops.

According to statistics, in mid-May 1855, the total population of the Tang Kingdom exceeded 10 million, achieving a historic leap in growth.

From the perspective of population structure

In mid-September 1848, after winning the Tang-American War, the Tang Kingdom annexed six states in the northwest of the United States. The population of the Tang Kingdom reached 1.33 million, and the proportion of Chinese dropped sharply from 73.2% to 44.6%. This was

The lowest point of the ratio.

Since then, as the scale of Chinese immigration has expanded year by year, economic development has gradually gotten on the right track, and the proportion of the Chinese population has increased rapidly, from 52.3% in 1849 to 59.6% the next year, and 67.1%...72.9%...78.5 the next year.

%......83.9%......

Six years after the war, it has shown a steady and powerful upward trend.

It is expected that by the end of the seventh year, that is, by the end of this year, the proportion of the Chinese population will rise to more than 86%, accounting for the unquestionable proportion of the mainstream population and further stabilizing the social foundation.

Discuss in detail

The Chinese population contains a certain amount of moisture. This is because there are a large number of white women, Mexican women, and Indian women in Chinese families. They and their children are all classified as Chinese people and are registered according to the ethnic group of the head of the household.

Over the years, the newborn population of the Tang Kingdom has been growing rapidly, with more than 95.7% of the newborns coming from Chinese families, and the share of white families accounting for no more than 5%.

This is because white families who believe in Christianity and Protestantism are all monogamous, while Chinese families are typically polygamous.

In the traditional Chinese concept of having more children, having more children is as natural as eating and drinking. Naturally, there are many more newborns than white families.

Chinese families with several wives and concubines are generally financially sound, and they can’t afford to support them, so why not have children?

Richard looked back with relief at the development results over the years. The Tang Kingdom had overcome the existential crisis at the beginning of its establishment, developed steadily step by step, and had established a foothold in North America and gained a certain status in the world.

But now is still not the time to relax. According to statistics at the end of 1854, the population of the northern United States reached 14.97 million, which was exactly one and a half times the population of the Tang Kingdom.

The economic output of the North of the United States is 131% of that of the Tang Kingdom. The two are at the same level of industrialization. The Datang Kingdom has surpassed the North of the United States in terms of per capita output, slightly ahead.

According to estimates from the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Tang Kingdom;

In the next step, the cane sugar industry, tobacco industry and the American canned industry, cotton textile industry, mainly based on Paradise Island, will further develop. In addition, the petrochemical industry and the emerging machinery industry, which have been developing vigorously, will further shrink this year and the northern United States.

The gap in industrial output value.

By next year, or the year after next at the latest, the overall industrial output of the Tang Kingdom will surpass that of the northern United States, surpassing the industrial economy of the northern United States.

Within the next 4 to 5 years

As the scale of immigration further expands, the Tang Kingdom will likely equal the northern United States in terms of population size.

At the current stage, the scale of immigrants from the Tang Kingdom is quite large, supplementing a steady stream of young and middle-aged labor force for economic development, promoting more stable and faster economic development, and further deepening the industrialization process.

But the United States is not a country of immigrants. The United States is a country of immigrants, with an average annual immigration volume of between 620,000 and 770,000. It is greatly affected by the situation in Europe.

During the Irish potato crisis, the number of immigrants surged during the Crimean War, and the number of immigrants dropped significantly during peacetime, showing an up and down wavy line.

In addition, the United States has a large population base, and the total number of newborns born every year is more than that of the Tang Dynasty. In this era, it is normal for a white family to have four, five, or seven or eight children, and more than a dozen are not uncommon.

Therefore, the Tang Kingdom has been closely following the development of the United States, especially the development of the northern industry in the United States, and has been working hard to catch up.

The Trans-Pacific Central Immigration Route was born under this development strategy. If not, the Tang Dynasty government and the royal family would not have spent huge sums of money to build two large entrepot trade and immigration ports, Donggang and New Xi'an.

With the current strength of the Tang Kingdom, it can only focus on developing these two port areas. Other places have no time to take care of it for the time being, and they do not have the ability to make large-scale investments.

From a truly long-term perspective, Paradise Island needs to have its own development capabilities, and the cane sugar and tobacco industries are special industries tailor-made for Paradise Island.

Sucrose is a typical tropical crop. Today, the three major producing areas in the world are the Dutch East Indies, Cuba and Hawaii. The annual sucrose output accounts for more than 80% of the world's total output.

Human beings have a sweet taste since ancient times. From chocolate to black tea, from hard candy to donuts, from ice cream to apple pie, Europeans can hardly do without sugar. It is one of the necessities of life.

Paradise Island's humid climate and abundant sunshine are very conducive to the development of sugar cane and tobacco planting industries. The cane sugar it produces is a scarce bulk material, so there is no need to worry about the market at all, and there are no competitors in Europe and the United States.

The main reason for the development of the tobacco growing industry was that Richard coveted the large amounts of tobacco harvested by the British in India, trafficked it to the United Kingdom, and then made it into cigarettes, which were sold throughout Europe to make huge profits.

On the Crimean battlefield, cigarettes were hard currency and were more sought-after than any other supplies. However, only the British Empire could adequately supply them, so the price remained high.

Once this thing develops, it will really make money.

Therefore, the cane sugar and tobacco industries are the two major characteristic industries for the development of Paradise Island in the future. The large amount of trade revenue and tax revenue earned from them can support Paradise Island's continuous immigration plans and gradually reclaim the deep hinterland.

The food production and agricultural and sideline production developed on the island are mainly to supply the needs of the island's population and immigrant transshipment, and are exported to the Shenzhou market if possible.

After Paradise Island had a bumper grain harvest in early August, North America has significantly reduced its grain exports to China, and has turned to Paradise Island to export grain to several southeastern provinces of China.

From an economic perspective, this is more cost-effective.

If wheat is further processed and ground into flour and rice into rice flour, the added value of these grains will be greatly increased, and exporting grain to several provinces along the southeastern coast of China will become a profitable industry.

this age

The price level of Manchuria can be understood from a table.

Beef is 58 Wen per catty, sugar is 100 Wen per catty, flour is 20 Wen per catty, mutton is 73 Wen per catty, high-quality rice is 10 Wen per catty, second-grade rice is 7 Wen per catty, and wheat is 5 Wen per catty.

It can be seen from this

The value of wheat and rice ground into powder increases by 3 to 4 times, and large-scale transportation by sea ships can effectively reduce costs and obtain considerable profits.

The price of sugar is higher than that of meat. If the price of meat can be slightly lowered and put on the market, then the amount of sucrose needed by mainland China alone will be an astonishing figure. This is a big market within easy reach.

In most areas of the central and northern parts of the Qing Dynasty, sugar beet was used to make sugar, but the quality was not flattering, the aftertaste was astringent and the sweetness was not high, and it was completely incomparable to cane sugar.

Since sucrose is produced in tropical areas, only a few areas in the south of the Qing Dynasty produced sucrose. The production volume was small, and it was mainly made by hand. In addition, transportation was inconvenient, so the price of white sugar was quite high, even more expensive than mutton.

Paradise Island has unique conditions for developing sugar cane plantations. Coupled with industrial steam sugar making equipment and world-class shipping capabilities, it has the ability to produce high-quality white sugar on a large scale. Even if it sells for 50 Wen per catty, it will still have huge profits several times.

It is indeed an advantageous industry with great potential.

Richard has a unique vision for the cane sugar and tobacco industries as bulk agricultural products for foreign trade.

besides

Paradise Island can also develop rubber plantations, spice plantations and tropical fruit plantations, but these can only be used as auxiliary products, and their world market size is small, especially natural rubber, whose applications have not yet been fully developed.

The fields where natural rubber is most widely used are now the rubber wheels of carriages, slippers and rubber shoes worn in rainy days. The applicable fields are relatively narrow, and the world market is also small, so it can only be developed slowly.