Wild North America 1846

Chapter 639: Strong increase in strength

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 639: Strong increase in strength

After the total population exceeded the 100 million mark at the end of 1875, the weight of the Tang Empire was already extraordinary. Its total population exceeded that of Tsarist Russia and was approximately the combined population of Britain, France, and Italy.

also in this year

The economic aggregate of the Datang Empire surpassed that of Britain and ranked first in the world economy. Finally, in 1876, its output of pig iron and steel ranked first in the world, achieving remarkable economic achievements.

The weird thing is

The media in various European countries did not publicize these, and seemed to have forgotten them or simply pretended not to see them. Even the famous "The Times" in the UK did not report on the relevant economic achievements. Instead, it always liked to label the Tang Empire as "nouveau riche".

Label.

From this we can see that the Europeans are really small-minded and not very ambitious. They are neither willing to publicize the brilliant economic achievements of the Tang Dynasty nor to show off its power.

On the other hand, the news media of the Tang Empire reported endlessly on the empire's brilliant achievements in the economic field, building the world's most complete and largest industrial system from scratch, and ranking among the top in the world in many fields.

This greatly inspired the self-confidence of the people of the empire, won higher prestige for the royal family and the government, and gained widespread support from the people.

In the world's turbulent environment, North America does not appear to be calm.

The main source of turmoil is the United States (Northern) region.

In the first week of February 1877, after the new Chinese-American President Zhang Zongliang was sworn in, he immediately launched several political proposals vigorously and resolutely, and the "Restriction of Italian Aliens Act" was one of them.

besides

The new government has intensified the anti-corruption judicial investigation that has been widely clamored by the public, and has been pursuing the corruption cases involving outgoing President Benjamin Disraeli fiercely. Hot topics have emerged frequently and become one of the hot spots in North American politics today.

These measures have boosted President Zhang Zongliang's reputation as an honest and upright person, but inevitably damaged the government's prestige, triggered a strong backlash from the Republican Party, and further contributed to political divisions.

The original tacit understanding of hello, me, and everyone is broken. Former President Benjamin Disraeli may become the first president to be imprisoned because of his involvement in serious corruption cases.

It is said that being an official for thousands of miles is only for wealth.

After the founding of the early democratic sages in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the political arena in the United States (north) has become increasingly conservative and corrupt for more than a hundred years. The traditional political elite has always been in the upper-class English small circle, and has inevitably been contaminated by the outdated and conservative practices of the original sovereign country.

Political ideas are tacitly understood by each other.

After the new Chinese-American President Zhang Zongliang entered the White House, he immediately set off a new reform trend to eliminate long-standing abuses. He introduced the mechanism of the Independent Commission Against Corruption of the Tang Dynasty, introduced the advanced system of inspecting officials of the Tang Dynasty, and implemented strict exit audits.

This series of combined punches caused a huge stir in the originally stagnant American political arena. Many old corrupt officials were uncovered, and the reputation of some traditional political families fell to the bottom. What followed was hysteria.

furious.

Some local forces expressed dissatisfaction with the government of the United States and vigorously promoted local protectionism, which occurred one after another in Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and even New York.

Some celebrities have jumped out and advocated the establishment of the Republic of Boston, the Republic of Pittsburgh and even the Republic of New York, which are independent of the United States (North), and local separatist tendencies have further emerged.

Generally speaking

As long as the government takes measures to severely crack down on this separatist force, it will soon disappear.

However, the White House obviously has no intention of doing this. It adopts a tolerant and generous attitude towards local speeches and sits back and watches as local separatist sentiments grow stronger...

There has been resentment across North America for a long time. Since the defeat of the unprecedentedly tragic Third North American War, the rising patriotic sentiment in the United States (North) has been greatly dampened. The country is facing dismemberment and is under tremendous pressure from heavy war debts.

The United States (North) has been implementing a heavy tax policy for more than ten years. No matter factories, enterprises, commercial banks or individuals bear a heavy tax burden, life is extremely difficult.

This has also led to the alienation of local governments in the United States (North), and the serious corruption cases that are constantly being exposed have intensified the anger and disappointment of the people.

At this time, local separatism is like dry wood meeting a raging fire. Under suitable circumstances, it quickly burns brightly...

in central america

The Cuban uprising that broke out in April 1869 has lasted for a full eight years. President Deses Pérez led the revolting Cuban people and fought with the Spanish colonists in the jungle for eight years. Now they have entered an extremely difficult era.

Hou.

In the original history

With neither friendly troops nor foreign aid, the Cuban rebels fought with the Spanish colonists for 10 years, causing more than 200,000 casualties to the Spanish colonial troops and suffering huge losses themselves.

With no hope of victory, they were finally forced to surrender.

Today, history is different. The Cuban rebels received successive aid from the Tang Dynasty and other countries in South America. They gritted their teeth and fought the Spanish colonial army to the bitter end, preferring to die rather than surrender.

This has also directly led to the current Cuban civil war being more cruel, bloody and with greater losses. The population has more than halved from the 1.51 million at the beginning of the civil war, leaving only about 700,000.

South America

In June 1877, large-scale armed riots by indigenous Indians broke out in Cartagena and Bogota in the northern part of Colombia's new colonial zone. The bloody oppression of the Tang Empire was the main factor that contributed to the civil war.

The Tang Empire immediately sent massive reinforcements to the new colonial areas, and adopted resolute suppression measures of surrounding the rioting areas with iron walls. All aboriginal villages and towns were cleared away, leaving no hidden dangers.

These indigenous Indian villages and towns are important supply points for bandits hiding in the rainforest. As long as these villages and towns exist, the rebels in the jungle will be able to hold on.

The Southern Army adopted a strategy of complete evacuation. Women and children were all loaded onto trains and transported away. Men who resisted were shot on the spot, and the rest were thrown into hard labor camps.

This ruthless repressive measure quickly emptied many towns in central and southern China and cut off the rebels' only hope of survival.

In these emptied central and southern areas, as long as there are local Indians or native white people, they must be rebels. There is no second possibility.

While carrying out a large-scale suppression of the area, the Southern Army deliberately blocked the news, blocked the roads, stationed troops on long-term duty in the villages and towns along the way, and strictly prohibited all living materials from flowing into the area.

Various measures made the rebels hide in the jungle and could only drink dirty water and chew tree bark. Many people died tragically due to infection with tropical malaria, cholera, diarrhea or plague, and their strength was very serious.

In despair, the remaining people could only attack in vain the villages and towns camps where the army was holding, and died miserably under the gunfire.

With wars raging all over the world, the Colombian Civil War seemed very inconspicuous, and not many countries paid attention to it, so it was quietly submerged in history.

actually

The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty spoke very highly of the Colombian Civil War and believed that it was a successful battle to bring security and chaos to the new colonial area. It helped to complete the demographic structure changes in the area 10 years ahead of schedule. While reducing his own losses, he also realized a major colonial strategy.

Target.

This Colombian civil war, which lasted for a full year and a half, was not much mentioned in the history of the imperial army and was not reported much by the news media. There was no particularly significant and glorious battle, but it was composed of hundreds or thousands of small and medium-sized battles.

There are not many descriptions of this period in history, and most of them have been mentioned in a cursory way. There are no accurate data and historical materials. Later generations mostly speculated on this period of history.

With the advancement of railways and highways, the Tang Empire truly took control of the residential areas of New Columbia. It was after the Civil War that a large wave of Chinese immigrants entered the central and northern regions, and their rule penetrated into every village, town and field.

After the Colombian Civil War, Marshal Mai Xiaozu, the commander-in-chief of the Southern Military Region, returned to the Imperial Center to serve as Army Chief of Staff, surpassing several senior deputy chiefs of staff. It is said that the real reason was that his outstanding performance in the civil war won the special favor of His Majesty the Emperor.

Of course, this is all hearsay and cannot be relied upon at all.

Some local celebrities angrily called Marshal Mai Xiaozu the "Butcher of Colombia", "The Executioner with Bloody Hands" and "The Devil of the Andes", believing that he was the main culprit that caused the drastic decline in the indigenous population of Colombia.

These are all folk opinions, and even some radical opinions have triggered some reputational lawsuits, but that is a story for another day.

Judging from the colonial techniques of various countries around the world, as an emerging world colonial power, the colonial policy of the Tang Empire was similar to that of France and Russia, and it tended to adopt direct management policies with reference to the local area.

The most obvious example of France is the colony of Algeria in North Africa, which is a French territory north of the Mediterranean Sea and is very close to mainland France.

French Algeria also has a high status in the French government, much higher than ordinary colonies, and its policy treatment is only slightly lower than that of the native provinces.

France has invested heavily in the construction of railways, roads, bridges, and docks, and has built farmland, water conservancy facilities and towns. It has also immigrated to the area in large numbers and provided various policy conveniences to support its economic development.

All this is no different from the colonial measures of the Tang Empire.

The number of French immigrants to North America was very small. In the ten years from 1860 to 1870, there were only more than 27,000 people, and the average annual number was only 2,700.

This is because a large number of French white immigrants went to French Algeria nearby, where they enjoyed super-national treatment and were served by black slaves. Wouldn’t it be so beautiful that their noses are bubbling?

You have a colony at home, so why would you want to be a second-class citizen in someone else's territory?

If that doesn't work, the French can also immigrate to other French African colonies, Syria and Lebanon in the Near East, Indochina, Brazil, French Guiana and other places.

There are many destinations for French immigrants, and immigrating to North America is a relatively low-end choice, so French immigrants don’t even have a fraction of the numbers in England, Germany, or Italy.

After the first-of-its-kind bill restricting Italian immigration in the United States (North), it aroused the incompetent fury of the Italian Kingdom, which vowed to take revenge with fierce words.

Later, the Kingdom of Italy discovered that the impact was not that great.

Unable to go to North America, many Italian immigrants chose to go to South American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, as well as Venezuela and Chile, and some also flowed into the southern United States.

You still have to go, but you go to a different place.

This gave the severely traumatized Italians a certain degree of comfort, and the tone of their condemnation of the United States of America became less high.

My family knows their own affairs. Compared with the United States (North), Italy is slightly inferior in strength.

At the end of 1876, Italy had a population of more than 35.7 million and a total national economy of approximately US$1.26 billion, ranking at the bottom of the second tier among the European powers.

During the same period, the United States of America had a population of 26 million and a total national economy of about US$1.72 billion, basically reaching the level of the north 20 years ago before the American Civil War (note, the territory shrank significantly).

The Kingdom of Italy has an army and a navy, and its strength on paper is considerable, but transatlantic operations far exceed its capabilities and are an unbearable burden.

The United States has no army or navy, only the National Guard and Coast Guard. Its national security is guaranteed by the Tang Empire's garrison, which is an obligation stipulated in the post-war treaty.

Of course, the United States needs to provide military bases and all logistical conveniences, and bear half of the military garrison costs.

So once the Italian Kingdom's army gets confused and crosses the long Atlantic Ocean for an expedition to North America, they will be surprised to find that they are facing the Tang Empire's army, which is armed to the teeth. The strength of the two is not on the same level at all.

Although European countries were unwilling to acknowledge the excellence of the Tang Empire and belittled the economic strength of the Tang Dynasty, the empire's powerful military power that emerged from the war was generally respected by the international community.

In this world where strength is valued, there is no more convincing fact than the black muzzle of a cannon.

By August 1877

The Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty, "Zhenyang", "Zhenhai", and "Zhenjiang" were all completed and put into service, and its three extended-range ships "Zhendong", "Zhennan", and "Zhenbei" were put into service

, the "Zhenxi" is being launched and outfitted, and will be completed and put into service before the end of the year.

The 11,000-ton "Duke"-class ironclads with enhanced firepower have been completed and put into service, "Duke of Hawaii", "Duke of Panama", and "Duke of Alaska", a total of three powerful first-class ironclads.

The "Duke of Costa Rica" has been launched and outfitted, the construction progress of the "Duke of California" has reached 60%, and the construction of the "Duke of Colorado" has begun in the dock. Everything is progressing in an orderly manner as planned.

What is particularly important is

After nearly nine years of arduous construction, the Nicaragua Canal's massive double-line three-level ship locks have been basically completed and are in the installation and commissioning stage. It is expected to be open to trial navigation by the middle to late next year.

The completion of this grand cross-century project will greatly enhance the Royal Navy's ability to mobilize its main fleet from the east and west coasts, enhance its ability to engage in decisive battles at sea, strongly promote economic exchanges between the east and west coasts, and further enhance the strength of the Tang Empire.

As a powerful empire spanning North and South America, the completion of the Nicaragua Canal was of particularly great significance to the Tang Empire.

Regardless of political influence, military influence, or economic influence, it will be multiplied to establish its unshakable dominance in the entire Americas.

When the five fingers of the iron fist can be clenched together tightly, it is naturally extremely powerful and no one can bear the blow.

(End of chapter)