Wild North America 1846

According to statistics at the end of 1859, the gross national product surged 17.9% compared to 1.62 billion yuan at the end of the previous year, reaching a scale of 1.90998 billion yuan. Industry, international commerce, and agriculture and animal husbandry are all developing, and the prospects are promising.

Thanks to His Majesty the King’s overall strategy of pursuing comprehensive economic development on the one hand and unstoppable expansion on the other.

Even though the kingdom fully participated in the North American War in early 1860, the overall economic development of the Tang Kingdom was still not affected. The first quarter showed strong demand driven by the war and became increasingly prosperous.

This is what Richard is most satisfied with.

Today is March 21, 1860, the third day after the victory in the Battle of Garden City. According to military reports, the American Sherman Corps has been completely wiped out, and General Sherman also died in the battle.

That's fine, the best place for a general to end up is on the battlefield.

just last week

Richard was invited to the University of California to watch a 10-kilowatt generator demonstrated by German Professor Siemens. When generating electricity, it lit up 621 light bulbs at the same time, showing its huge application potential.

In order to tackle this major scientific research project, Professor Siemens and his 21 scientific research assistants worked day and night on research and development, solved more than a dozen scientific and technological problems, and finally produced this cutting-edge scientific and technological achievement that was ahead of its time.

Richard was not stingy. According to the one-year agreement, he rewarded Professor Siemens with the noble title of baron for life. It was hereditary in the family and he became a member of the upper class aristocracy of the Tang Dynasty.

Li found it worthwhile to use the title of a mere baron to win over the Siemens family, which would surely develop the company in the future. This would surely cause a sensation in the scientific and technological world.

These actions show

As long as you have outstanding abilities, the Kingdom will not hesitate to reward you with wealth and titles. The larger the Siemens enterprise, the better the publicity effect will be.

Nowadays, a dam has been built in the upper reaches of the American River to prepare for the construction of the world's first hydropower station. The generator used is a Siemens 10-kilowatt generator. 26 generators will be connected in series at the same time and driven by water to provide power to the Upper River Bay City.

Bring light.

In the suburbs of Chang'an, two thermal power plants are under construction. They adopt a more reliable steam engine power generation model, with municipal lighting and civil lighting as their main business scope, and a small number of factory electricity needs are also taken into account.

In the electrical laboratory

Professor Siemens has obtained sufficient scientific research funds and Chinese assistants, and is working on large-scale generators of 50 kilowatts and 100 kilowatts, which will bring power generation equipment of different sizes to Siemens Power Equipment Company to supply the needs of cutting-edge power equipment in the world today.

In this field, Siemens Power Equipment Company is undoubtedly the world's top enterprise, leading the development trend of the entire power generation industry and equipment.

The Tang Kingdom is very suitable for the development of the power equipment industry because it has the world's leading plastic invention patents, rich copper resources, rich experience in the field of copper processing, and no shortage of raw materials such as aluminum and steel wire. It is easy to

Can develop a wire and cable factory to supply Siemens generators.

Although the field of electric power equipment is only a small seedling with an annual output value of more than 100,000 yuan, it will develop into a towering tree in the foreseeable future and become one of the pillars of the industry of the Tang Dynasty.

Don’t think that the power equipment industry is small in scale. There is actually huge demand in society.

In the Tang Kingdom, there are more than 10 thermal power station construction plans in the queue this year, and there are 6 hydroelectric power station construction plans waiting for approval, all of which are small and medium-sized hydropower station plans.

In the lighting and industrial fields of the Tang Kingdom, the demand for power generation equipment is very large, with a compound annual growth rate of more than ten times, and has the potential for explosive growth.

Especially in the industrial field, today's power sources for machine tools and machinery equipment are mainly diesel engines and steam engines. They are hard-connected through mechanical shafts or gears, and the machinery and equipment always run at a constant speed.

It was okay at first, but as the working hours got longer, the workers felt tired and unable to stay focused for a long time: they were often too busy to keep up with the work, which would cause many accidents.

For example, workers who operate canning machines often have their fingers broken by the machine and their palms severely broken. There are many similar situations, causing more than a thousand workers to become disabled every year.

"Speed ​​regulation" is a big problem. In view of today's technological level, hard-connected diesel or steam engine power cannot solve the problem, but generators can easily adjust the operating speed of machinery and equipment by regulating current output.

From this point alone, it shows a huge advantage;

In the North American War, where the situation is becoming increasingly severe, the Tang Kingdom has shown great advantages in being stable and prosperous, and its domestic economic development is not affected. Compared with the already tattered North and South of the United States, its social and environmental advantages are even more prominent.

This attracted many white immigrants, reaching 113,000 in 1859. There was a sharp increase in early 1860. From January to February alone, the number of white immigrants entering the country reached 42,700, with an average of more than 20,000 per month, which was almost higher than the previous period.

It more than doubled year-on-year.

some of

There are many artists, scholars, businessmen, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs and other professionals who are looking for new development. They come from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and other countries. There are also some people from the north or south who are fed up with the scourge of war and simply move their families.

The Tang Kingdom settled.

For these immigrants, the Tang Kingdom opened its doors to welcome them.

Richard always believes that

Only when the outstanding cultures of all the world's nations blend together can sparks of new science and technology be created. Whether it is science, architecture, art or medicine, the Western world has its own unique features that are worth learning from.

As long as the Tang Dynasty maintains an absolute advantage of more than 90% of the Chinese population, the sky will never be overturned, and power will still be firmly in the hands of the Chinese.

According to the current population growth rate, it is estimated that one day in April, the total population of the Tang Kingdom will exceed the 20 million mark, achieving a historic leap.

Why so much emphasis on population growth?

in the 1860s

In today's competition among the world's powerful countries, population is the country's number one key strategic capability. It is also the premise and foundation of other countries' strategic capabilities, including economic development, industrialization, and self-sufficiency in agriculture and animal husbandry, all of which are inseparable from the population factor.

If the Tang Kingdom wants to participate in the global competition of great powers, the population immigration policy that it regards as the foundation of the country cannot be stopped. At the same time, it must attract talents from all over the world to use it and jointly build a prosperous Datang Kingdom. Now it has become a kingdom.

government consensus.

The prospects for future population growth of the Tang Kingdom are bright. Based on a sufficient population base, the total number of newly born children in 1859 reached 1.137 million, becoming the second largest source of population growth after mainland immigrants. Due to the good momentum of economic development,

This number continues to grow.

One million people born in a year is by no means a small number. This is due to the high population growth caused by Chinese families allowing wives and concubines. It is difficult to see such a high population growth rate in monogamous European families.

Among the major European countries such as Britain, France, and Prussia during the same period, France has long been the country with the largest population except the Habsburg Empire. This has given France a great strategic advantage.

Before the 19th century, France had always been a country with a relatively rapid population growth in Europe. The French population increased from 18 million to 26 million between 1715 and 1789, and this gave birth to the glorious Emperor Napoleon. During the period when he was traveling across the European continent, France had a powerful army.

The power terrified all of Europe.

This is a clear example of the qualitative change caused by quantitative changes in population. The Napoleonic dynasty in the late 18th and early 19th centuries firmly suppressed the British and surrounding feudal kingdoms based on France's leading population advantage, showing a strong tendency to dominate Europe.

However, this advantage began to weaken after the mid-19th century. France was the first country in Europe to start birth control. With the promotion of various contraceptive methods, French population growth had slowed down by the 19th century.

In the first half of the 19th century, France's population still grew by 30%, while Europe's average growth rate during the same period was 50%, and Britain's population growth rate reached 100%.

In 1800, France had a total of 27 million residents (Britain had only 18 million and Germany had 24.8 million), ranking first in population in Europe.

France accounted for 15.7% of Europe's total population in 1800; however, by 1850, this proportion dropped to 13.3%; by 1860, it dropped to 11.7%. This downward curve is still very obvious today.

Here, let’s not talk about the most populous and vast Russia for the moment. It was also Russia that ended Emperor Napoleon’s glorious military career. How could it be done without endless gray livestock?

France's population control policy is tantamount to self-funded military efforts. The politicians only saw that population reduction can alleviate the food conflict, but did not see the greater long-term harm. This is really short-sighted.

While France's population growth rate is slowing down, the populations of some other large European countries, especially Germany, are growing rapidly.

17th century period

Britain's population was only 4 million, France's was 16 million, and Spain's was 8 million. By 1860, Germany's population was 36.3 million, exceeding the population of Britain or France.

If the future growth momentum does not change, Germany's population will exceed 40 million in 10 years, in 1870.

Fifty years later, in 1914, Germany's population would have grown to more than 65 million (a 62% increase), exceeding the population growth rates of Britain and France.

During this period, the British population increased from 31 million to 45 million (a 45% increase), while the French population barely increased."

Corresponding to the major events in history, we can see that 1870 was the glorious period of the Franco-Prussian War, when Prussia defeated France and established the First German Empire.

And 50 years later, it was Kaiser Wilhelm II who arrogantly challenged the British Empire and launched a full-scale naval arms race, which eventually led to the unprecedented disaster of World War I...

Since the time of the Franco-Prussian War, Germans have had an advantage in the proportion of young men.

In the 1860s, the proportion of young men aged 20 to 34 in Germany was only slightly favorable to France's eastern neighbor.

However, by 1910, the Germans had increased this advantage to 1.6:1. By 1939, Germany had more than twice as many people age-qualified to join the army as France.

The changes in the population of major European countries have had a significant impact on the economic and strategic policy planning of their respective countries, and are the main factors affecting the general trend of Europe.

Without a sufficient population and a strong army, how could the Germans have the confidence to defeat France and challenge the British?

In summary

Population is the basis for participating in the struggle for hegemony among world powers, and it is precisely in this regard that the Tang Dynasty holds the king in its hands and is full of confidence in the future.