Wild North America 1846

Chapter 625 Comparison of economic size between Tang and Britain

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 625 Comparison of economic size between Tang and Britain

"For more than a month

The British once again mentioned the matter of investing in the Nicaragua Canal, and the French also expressed similar intentions. The imperial government declined politely, leaving no room for it.

The French expressed understanding, while the British attitude was much tougher. London expressed this on many different occasions;

We will not give up our efforts to gain a say in this important canal project, which is an indispensable part of Britain's global influence.

The global economic crisis has lasted for two years, and there is still no sign of easing. This has had a serious negative impact on the overall economic development of the empire.

In the fourth quarter of 1874, the overall economic growth was weak, with growth falling back to between 2.8% and 2.9% compared with the same period last year, which was lower than the average of 3.4% in the first three quarters.

Due to the large size of the empire's economy, it relied entirely on domestic demand and lacked an international market, so demand appeared to be sluggish.

Looking forward to the first quarter of 1875, the economic outlook is not optimistic..."

Prime Minister Count Dongjie is reporting on the economic statistics for the fourth quarter of 1874, as well as relevant assessments of the international situation, paving the way for the work of the imperial government in the next year.

Emperor Richard sat on the dragon couch, playing with an emerald jade treasure in his hand. He did not make any expression in his expression, which meant "I am aware of it" and the government responded appropriately.

The Nicaragua Canal has been advancing for six years, with nearly 70% of the overall project completed. The river channel on the Atlantic side has been completely dredged, widened and deepened, and is basically nearing completion.

The concrete pouring volume of the double-line three-level ship lock on the Pacific side has reached 85%. It has now been transferred to the coastal concrete slope protection, and the project of blasting the narrow isthmus, widening and deepening the river channel continues.

Beginning in June next year, the installation of ultra-large steel components, including large gates of unparalleled size, attached over-large components, etc., will take about a year and a half.

From transportation to installation to debugging, every step of the way will involve the engineering staff putting a lot of effort into it.

The large-scale international terminal in Hebang City, the Royal Navy base, the international storage and transportation warehouse area, roads and bridges and other facilities affiliated with the Nicaragua Canal Project are also being steadily constructed.

It won't take long

This worldwide shipping channel is about to be built, smoothly connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and more closely linking the developed urban agglomerations on the west coast of the Tang Empire with Europe.

Seeing that the grand project of the Nicaragua Canal is coming to an end step by step, the British cannot help but stand up and make judgmental comments, let alone the envy and jealousy in their hearts.

The smell of sour vinegar can be smelled across the Atlantic by the British media, which constantly urges the London government to demonstrate its world leadership in this century-old project.

The British Times reported;

"The Nicaragua Canal Project will be a glorious feat that combines top civil engineering technology and water conservancy technology in the history of human engineering so far, and it will be recorded in history forever."

"The volume and difficulty of the project far exceed that of the Suez Canal, and the total investment is 4.5 times that of the canal. A total of 563,000 workers were used. It can be called a miracle in the history of human architecture."

"It is regrettable that... the world leader Britain is absent from this project, and the Tang State's "eating alone" image in this project has been criticized by the international community..."

"The British Royal Navy is committed to maintaining global maritime security and peace, and cannot lack the key puzzle piece of the Americas. The Nicaragua Canal is the key to guarding the two-ocean channel, and its importance is increasingly recognized by the world..."

"It is unimaginable that... such an important international shipping chokepoint does not have British capital involved."

The views of the British "Times" represent the mainstream public opinion trend, and what makes them furious is;

The Tang imperial government never relented from the beginning to the end.

Learn from those who have gone before and learn from those behind.

The performance of the British in the dispute over the rights to the Suez Canal is untrustworthy. Of course, the Tang Imperial government will not make such low-level mistakes again.

Looking at the current plight of the French, who had fully presided over the construction of the Suez Canal project, we know that the British must not be allowed in.

As long as you open the door a little and let the British put their hands in, they will find a way to put their arms in, then their legs and body, and finally occupy the magpie's nest and become the controlling party that dominates the Suez Canal.

And the Suez Canal, which the French worked so hard to build, is now being obstructed by the British at every turn. How can this frustration be justified?

The French now only have 12% of the shares in their hands. Even so, the British have been squeezing and suppressing them, and they actually want to eat up the last bit of the French shares.

However, France colonized the Indochina Peninsula and urgently needed the Suez Canal channel. It had to compromise with the British in many aspects, which was extremely frustrating.

With all these actions, the UK is really not a good partner.

Emperor Richard sat on the dragon chair, thinking repeatedly about the current weak economic growth situation. This was his primary concern.

After thinking about it, I feel that almost all the policies that can be used have been used. The social demand for expanding infrastructure and launching wars is getting weaker and weaker, and there is almost nothing that can be done.

The Tang Empire implemented a gold standard in which currency was linked to gold. It was impossible to issue banknotes indiscriminately. It was necessary to issue as much currency as there were gold reserves. Excessive issuance could only be controlled within a certain limit.

There was neither inflation nor deflation in this era. The currency value of the Tang and Yuan Dynasties was incredibly strong, and its purchasing power was very strong.

Looking back at the economic development of the Tang Empire, after the North American War, the North American Unified Market eliminated trade tariff barriers, and the imperial capitalist industry achieved rapid development.

The Tang Empire's railway construction boom began in the 1950s and lasted until the mid-1970s. It was an important force driving social demand.

In the ten years from 1862 to 1872, the total length of new railways was 31,092 miles, basically establishing a railway network throughout the North American continent and as far south as Mexico and Texas.

From 1873 to the end of 1874, a large-scale economic crisis swept across the world. In order to strongly stimulate social demand, increase employment and get rid of the serious economic crisis.

The newly built railways in the past two years are more than 9 times the number of new railways built between 1862 and 1872. The large-scale railway investment has driven the surrounding industries and put forward increasingly higher requirements for the steel and energy industries, thus promoting the metallurgical industry, coal industry and petroleum industry.

The industry developed rapidly and had a positive impact.

In the two years from 1873 to 1874, when European countries generally fell into a serious economic crisis (note: Germany was excluded), the Tang Empire was still able to maintain a development rate of 3.2% to 3.5%, which was indispensable to the boost of domestic demand.

During this period, the operating mileage of the Tang Empire's railways increased from 35,085 miles to 76,171 miles, equivalent to 122,500 kilometers. The smooth railway network connected almost all major, medium and small cities in the empire, forming the largest modern railway network in the world.

From 1865 to 1873, the pig iron output of the Tang Empire increased from 755,000 tons to 6.323 million tons, an increase of 8.5 times.

Coal production increased from 22.159 million tons to 95.917 million tons, an increase of 3.3 times.

Oil production increased from 150 million gallons in 1865 to 616 million gallons at the end of 1874, an increase of 3.4 times, a huge leap.

at the same time

The emerging petrochemical industry and the special steel and machinery industry have become new highlights, establishing the Datang Empire as the pioneer of the second industrial wave represented by petrochemical industry and electrification, leading the new trend of world industrial development, and becoming more

unbreakable.

The so-called world economic crisis has both "dangers" and "opportunities". The German Empire was the most dazzling top student in the entire world economic crisis, but its success cannot be replicated.

The huge war reparations of 5 billion francs were injected into the German economy in just two years, creating a miraculous effect that others could not envy.

The economic performance of the Datang Empire is excellent. In the new year, it is expected to surpass the British Empire sometime in the second quarter and become the largest economy in the world.

In the second quarter of 1875, the population of the Tang Empire would be close to 97.5 to 98 million, and it was only one step away from exceeding hundreds of millions of people by the end of the year.

As the Tang Dynasty developed, Britain did not stop either.

Between 1865 and 1874, its heavy industry also developed rapidly during this period.

British coal production increased for eight consecutive years from 1865 to 1873, from 105 million tons to 131 million tons, a total increase of 25%, and the annual increase was relatively small.

Pig iron continued to grow for seven years from 1865 to 1872. It was not until the storm of the world economic crisis in 1873 that it fell back.

Its total pig iron output increased from 4.597 million tons in 1865 to 6.85 million tons in 1872, an increase of 49%.

In the two years of 1873 and 1874, its total pig iron production fell back below 6 million tons.

British capital was also heavily involved in railway construction in the United States of America and other countries, and exported pig iron, rails, rolling stock and machinery required for railway construction to these countries, thereby promoting the development of domestic heavy industry.

The economic development of the Tang Dynasty and Britain was a race. They always maintained a high development speed. The Tang Empire was full of stamina. Although it was hit by the global economic crisis, it was still able to achieve its goal of overtaking in corners.

In order to avoid irritating the sensitive nerves of the British, public opinion in the Tang Empire generally kept a low profile and never mentioned the surpassing of the economic aggregate. Instead, they always made a fuss about the low per capita income.

Statistics display;

The per capita income of the Tang Empire in 1874 was 98.72 yuan, which was one step away from breaking through the per capita income of 100 yuan. This income level was more than double that of the United Kingdom.

Britain's per capita income in 1874 was about 237 Tang Yuan, more than double the income of the Tang Empire, and it was generally richer.

This is because the Tang Empire was a typical immigrant country, with a population that was growing at a rapid rate, and was constantly expanding its colonial expansion, including a population of 4 million in new colonial areas like Colombia. This would also lower the income level.

Most of the new immigrants are illiterate, their incomes are generally low, and the proportion of the agricultural population is relatively high, which has also lowered the average annual income level.

Due to the superposition of several factors, the overall average annual income level of residents is far lower than that of the United Kingdom, and is almost 20% higher than that of France.

(End of chapter)