Chapter 510: 510 The Sixth Sense
Chapter 510 510 The Sixth Sense
The most concerning news in the Tang Kingdom recently is that the once arrogant Prime Minister Zhang Ming, who covered the sky with one hand, fell.
Although the Zhang family fell into a low ebb with the fall of the Zheng Kingdom, because of its huge foundation, it was still a centipede.
Relying on their intricate local connections, the Zhang family has opened many factories and owns large tracts of land, and still maintains a great reputation.
But such a huge family was completely overthrown due to tax evasion, leaving no room for struggle.
The tax department arrested people directly, and the army cleared the area without showing any mercy. All the young men of the Zhang family were imprisoned. Zhang Ming, the old man of the Zhang family, was so angry that he fainted on the spot. When he woke up, he couldn't utter a single word.
Within a few days, the trees in the Zhang family fell and scattered, and the situation was no longer the same as before. The businesses of the Zhang family have also been state-owned and have nothing to do with the Zhang family.
To make matters worse, all the Zhang family's land was confiscated and their ancestral home was confiscated as fines. This still owes the country several million gold coins in fines. I am afraid that the Zhang family will not be able to pay back this fine with compound interest for generations to come.
Fortunately, the country has been merciful and has given the Zhang family a way to survive: filing for bankruptcy can wipe out all debts, but everything about the Zhang family now has nothing to do with the Zhang family.
Who would have thought that Zhang Ming, who was the prime minister of a country more than a year ago, and the prominent family behind Zhang Ming, would collapse overnight.
Who would have thought that all this is not a political dispute, but a simple case of tax evasion.
Throughout the entire incident, other businessmen have been very calm, because they did not dare to evade taxes, and they did benefit from the industrial reforms of Datang Group.
To be honest, the vast majority of these businessmen do not understand why they are still evading taxes in such a good time. They have made ten times and hundreds of times the profits in the past, and there is nothing wrong with the country taking away their due share. OK?
Although they also know that it is already a lot of money. But most people can still understand the simple truth that without the new Tang Kingdom, they would not be able to make so much money.
With the continuous development of time, everyone has realized the tremendous changes that the progress of productivity has brought to this society.
With the branch office of a trading company that used to have to travel for days and nights to contact, now it only takes an hour to reach a branch via telegram.
In the past, it took ten days to transport a truck of grain from Tongcheng to Chang'an, but now it only takes one day at most to load the truck from Tongcheng Railway Station to unload at Chang'an Railway Station.
What is even more astonishing is that in the past, transporting a cart of grain would have consumed at least half of the cart on the road, but now there is almost zero loss, which has more than doubled the profit.
With better seeds, the Tang Kingdom really got a huge harvest this year. Last year, the whole country was still immersed in the fear of food shortage. This year, food prices have fallen directly to the national subsidy line.
If the national food security subsidy mechanism had not been put into operation, it is estimated that food prices would have continued to fall. In previous years, if the grain harvest was good, the farmers would not be happy, but now they all have smiles on their faces, and they are even happier than having a wife.
Because of the abundant labor force, the total number of fields in the Tang Kingdom doubled compared to the Zheng Dynasty. Because of the introduction of terrace technology, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and the rational distribution of fruit trees, cotton, potatoes and sweet potatoes, the total agricultural output increased. Even more exaggerated.
In just one year, due to the reasonable overall planning and distribution by the state, all the people were able to eat vegetables, fruits, and have enough salt and spices.
This is no joke, this is a great achievement. You must know that before the birth of Datang Group, most civilians in this world rarely had access to salt, and could not afford cooking oil and spices at all.
It is precisely because there are enough condiments that enough delicacies can be developed and the happiness index of food can be improved.
Following this, ordinary people with a certain economic foundation began to consume in a retaliatory manner, boosting the domestic demand of the Tang Kingdom.
The first thing that is in short supply is various canned foods. Because they have never been eaten and are easy to preserve, various canned hams mixed with starch, cheap ham sausages, and instant noodles originally developed as military rations have become popular products.
Common people who had never seen or eaten these things were crazy about buying them. With the construction of roads, bicycles quickly became a hot commodity.
After all, not everyone has the ability to get a driver's license to drive a car or is willing to buy himself a motorcycle. But a cheap and practical bicycle is another matter. As long as you learn how to use it, this thing will be a perfect artifact whether it is used to transport goods or travel.
Next, the wealthy civilians began to pursue a higher level of happiness: they began to buy glass to make their houses more transparent and brighter; then they began to buy bricks and stones, hoping to rebuild a more livable residence.
Cement, glass, red bricks... building materials began to sell well, many farmers began to build vegetable greenhouses, and some villages and towns began to spontaneously build roads.
The slogan "If you want to be rich, build roads first" was posted everywhere in the Tang Dynasty, but the following sentence was changed to "Have more children and plant more trees"...
There is no way. For a soul from the 21st century, Tang Mo feels that a country's population of 200-300 million is not really a lot.
What's more, the population of the Tang Kingdom is actually far from this level. The census is now underway, and Roger's team estimates that the total population is around 40 million.
This is actually a very scary number, because the Tang Kingdom has been frantically absorbing foreign populations since it captured Zheng State, and even spent money to buy people.
According to Tang Mo's vision, within the next twenty years, not counting the new population gained through expansion, the population of the Tang Kingdom will exceed at least 200 million! This is an ambitious goal, or almost impossible to achieve.
In order to support this goal, Datang Group has come up with many advanced technologies. Many chicken farms were established in the Tang Kingdom, using modern, large-scale integrated methods to cultivate poultry to supply enough meat and eggs.
This technology improves the efficiency of poultry production. Although it reduces the meat quality and taste, it does ensure the most basic meat supply.
For the common people of the Tang Dynasty, these were almost no problems: they were not qualified to eat meat before, but now that there is a supply of meat and eggs, it is not too late to be happy, and who will pick problems such as taste.
The livestock industry is also highly integrated, using a large-scale farm model for mass production—this can maximize production and ensure the most basic supply quantity.
Of course, the biggest problem with high-density breeding is infectious diseases, and this problem is simply insignificant in front of Datang Group’s drug research institutions.
With Tang Mo's ideas and the continuous research of the world's most sophisticated talents, Datang Group's vaccines and drug technology have crushed the viruses and bacteria of this era.
Almost all infectious diseases such as chicken plague or bird flu can be treated, and the shortcomings of large-scale breeding do not exist for Datang Group.
Common people who had enough food, clothing, housing and transportation gradually began to pursue a higher quality of life, and lighting equipment such as gas lamps also began to be out of stock.
Villages near the city began to receive electricity and install electric lights, and even wealthy families began to use radios. Areas far away from the city are beginning to have some nightlife, at least a little bit of light.
If there was a satellite in this era that could overlook the earth, you would see that a piece of land in this world is beginning to become brighter and brighter.
This alone does not seem to reflect the changes in the Datang Kingdom over the past year or so, because in the past year or so, the entire Datang Kingdom manufactured 300 locomotives!
Yes, this is simply a miracle! On the basis of Zheng's imperfect railway network, the Tang Kingdom built more than 3,700 kilometers of new railways regardless of cost!
What is this concept? This data is equivalent to saying that in the past year of the Tang Dynasty, one country built half the length of railways in the world!
According to the current trend, in the new year, the number of railways built by the Tang Kingdom will still account for more than half of the world's total!
What makes people feel even more exaggerated is that the locomotive technology of the Tang Kingdom is the most advanced, and its performance is much better than that of locomotives from other countries.
The industrial area of Copper City has been spread out. Countless factories are emitting thick smoke day and night. These industrial areas are brightly lit and manufacturing is happening all the time.
Many people who were transferred from Bunas are familiar with this scene. It was like this when Bunas was under construction. At that time, everyone in Bunas had a happy smile on his face, and each of them was full of hope for the future.
It’s just that when Bunas was being built, it was not so fast or so good! Even these craftsmen and officials from Bunas have to admit that the hard-working Chinese are really born workers, and they may be the best producers in the world!
· Advanced production deeds are reported in newspapers every day, and countless model workers are selected and then widely publicized.
In order to create a better life and welcome a better tomorrow, all Tang people have burst out with unprecedented enthusiasm and are building the place where they are at all costs.
When the common people of Chu, Qi and even the Great China Empire saw the example of Tang, they became agitated. Countless people crossed the border, hoping to pursue a better life in Tang Dynasty.
All this naturally caused great dissatisfaction among several neighboring countries.
From the day it was born, the Tang State has been purchasing people from Chu and Qi. This matter has almost become a semi-open secret until now.
The border defenders bent the law for personal gain and regarded human trafficking as a way to make a fortune. They recruited refugee bandits and sold all of them to the Tang Dynasty.
Over time, there will be less hungry refugees who are in urgent need of relief and can be sold casually, which is also an inevitable result. As a large number of people were sold to Tang, Chu and Qi actually had enough land to settle the remaining civilians. Even if the productivity is not as good as that of the Tang Dynasty, as long as the population is low to a certain level, the land can feed everyone.
But human greed is never-ending, and it is impossible for the generals of the border army and the high-ranking officials who have received the benefits to stop human trafficking when the benefits are attractive enough.
In the eyes of these officials and generals, civilians are just tools for making money and a bargaining chip that can be sacrificed at any time.
Soon, the general colluded with the landlords, powerful, evil gentry and profiteers near the station, and began a series of violent operations.
They ignored or even supported landlords in annexing land, plundering and occupying civilian fields, and squeezing rich peasants who originally owned land into homeless people who could not survive.
Then, they continued to sell these refugees to the Tang Kingdom to earn profits to support their already inflated desires.
It has to be said that the luxury goods of the Datang Group have greatly broadened the horizons of these officials, generals, landowners and gentry, making them realize that there is no end to the road of extravagance.
At the beginning, the Datang Group used real money and silver to acquire the population. Later, these people used the population in various ways to exchange for various good things from the Datang Kingdom.
An exquisite car can be sold for a sky-high price of several hundred gold coins in Chu or Qi. A string of exquisite gemstone necklaces with a sad story can make a sentimental wealthy daughter spend tens of thousands of gold coins.
These indigenous people who had just witnessed modern technology suddenly found that there were too many things that they had never eaten or seen. For a while, they actually had a strong sense of inferiority, like sitting in a well and looking at the sky.
In order to eliminate these inferiority complexes, they began to crazily praise the products of the Tang Kingdom and spontaneously gave these commodities extra value.
How is it possible that human trafficking, which is almost semi-public, can be hidden from everyone? Just because the interests involved are so great, the senior officials of the relevant countries can only turn a blind eye.
But as time goes by, each country has found that its population values have changed contrary to common sense, and the rulers of each country have to start to stop illegal trade on the border. There are policies and countermeasures, but it is impossible to completely eliminate human trafficking at the border for a while.
Although this kind of management did not cause the Tang Kingdom to lose anything, the attitude of these neighboring countries towards the Datang Kingdom was inevitably somewhat hostile.
These hostility caused the Datang Group to lose a huge order, and also caused Cyric to draw a lot of blood. For a while, he even vaguely wanted to keep pace with the Datang Group.
Under the influence of this hostility, the Chu State first decided to purchase Cyric's weapons and equipment, including paddle steamers and new cannons and machine guns.
Subsequently, Qi State also spent money to purchase the same weapons and equipment, because Qi State learned that the Great China Empire purchased Cyric weapons and equipment.
The first batch of Cyric's weapons and equipment purchased by Dahua actually had nothing to do with the Datang Group. Dahua only saw that Mirage defeated Zheng with these new weapons, so they unilaterally felt that Cyric's new weapons were capable of Better, so I paid for some.
But then the Dahua Empire was very unhappy because of the Tang Dynasty's destruction of Zheng. In the subsequent arms procurement, Cyric was once again chosen.
Hundreds of thousands of rifles, thousands of cannons, dozens of new warships, hundreds of millions of bullets—the funds to purchase these weapons have really made Cyric a lot of money.
Subsequently, he helped the Dahua Empire to establish factories, achieve preliminary industrialization, and at the same time build railways and roads... This series of projects brought a huge amount of funds to Cyric.
With financial support, Cyric has also made its own breakthroughs in some technologies. These breakthroughs have also given Cyric's products more recognition.
At this time, after crossing thousands of mountains and rivers, the special envoy of the Lions Empire crossed the endless sea incognito and arrived at the Great China Empire.
The special envoy who had just jumped off the carriage, after revealing his identity, secretly met with Chu Muzhou, the prime minister of the Great China Empire.
"Your Majesty the Prime Minister!" The envoy from the Lions Empire who came from afar looked a little unhappy, because this trip was really uncomfortable.
In order to keep it secret, he took a boat all the way to Nanshui Port, then detoured from Nanshui to Mirage Kingdom, and finally transferred a boat in Mirage Kingdom to Qi State, where he took a carriage all the way to the Dahua Empire.
In fact, the civil war in the Trade Federation had just begun when he set out, and now the civil war seems to be over.
And the mission of this secret envoy has also changed from contacting the Great China Empire to contain the Tang Kingdom that may participate in the war, to contacting the Great China Empire to contain the Datang Kingdom in a war that may break out in the future.
Because he carries a telegraph machine with him, his tasks can be changed in time. This is a benefit brought by the technological revolution of Datang Group.
“Mr. Special Envoy!” Prime Minister Chu Muzhou of Great China was very polite when he saw this special envoy from the Lions Empire.
After all, the visitor is a guest, and this special envoy from afar seems to have brought some good news to the Great China Empire.
The Dahua Empire, which has always been dissatisfied with the Tang Kingdom, needs some more useful allies to jointly target the flourishing Datang Kingdom.
Frankly speaking, the more they understand the series of changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution, the more Chu Muzhou and Zhao Kai will be wary of the rising Tang Kingdom.
The more they understand the technological advantages of the Datang Group, the more everyone in the Dahua Empire feels that going to war against the Datang Kingdom is not a good choice.
In such an atmosphere, the Emperor of China, Zhao Kai, who wanted to regain his face, no longer even wanted to start a war with the Tang Dynasty.
"The credentials I submitted...the prime minister must have read it..." Lanes' envoy said respectfully.
Chu Muzhou nodded and said affirmatively: "I have indeed seen it. There is no problem with the cooperation between the two countries. His Majesty the Emperor of our country is very willing to form an alliance with the powerful His Majesty Lions I."
Anyway, it's just a kind of intentional cooperation. There is no price for this kind of thing. It's just a casual conversation, a few drinks, a pat on the shoulder and recognition of friends. There is no need to take it seriously.
"In addition, our country hopes to establish a consulate in your country to be responsible for future contacts..." Lines's envoy asked tentatively.
"There's no problem with this. We've even chosen an address." Chu Muzhou didn't mind providing a mansion to keep the Lions Empire's envoys.
Telegraph machines are nothing new in Dahua, and Cyric currently has no technical difficulty in mass-producing telegraph machines. From Chu Muzhou's point of view, as long as the communication is smooth, it is definitely a good thing for the Dahua Empire to form an alliance with the distant Lions Empire.
The strategic strategy of making distant friends and attacking close friends is not a profound theory. Of course, the senior officials of the Dahua Empire know that there cannot be any conflict of interest between the distant Lions Empire and the Dahua Empire. On the contrary, they have a very wide range of cooperation areas.
For example, if you just ask about the Datang Group, you will know that there are also cooperation and conflicts between the Datang Group and the Lions Empire.
Aware that it was possible to contain the currently strong Tang Kingdom in the distant Eastern Continent and distract the Tang Kingdom's attention, Chu Muzhou became interested in sending an envoy to the Eastern Continent.
The special envoy of the Lions Empire inspired Chu Muzhou and made the prime minister of the Great China Empire think of a good idea.
He thought it would be a good idea to follow the example of the Lions Empire and send envoys to the Eastern Continent to contact those national forces that were not so confrontational with the Tang Dynasty Group and create some trouble for the Tang Kingdom on the other side of the Endless Sea.
Ever since, Chu Muzhou and Lanes’ special envoys began to talk about Datang Group, Bunas and Yucheng.
Everyone is a smart person, and you can hear everyone's thoughts from between the lines - since they all want to target Datang Group, then things will be easier to handle, right?
Far away on Long Island, the deputy commander of the Tang Kingdom’s intelligence agency, a burly bartender, handed a report to Tang Mo.
"Huh?" Tang Mo saw the content above, and his eyes shone with interest. He raised his head and looked at his second-in-command in the intelligence department.
The bartender immediately explained: "People from the Electronic Detection Section screened it. Recently, the exchange of telegrams between the Dahua Empire and the Lions Empire has become more frequent, and most of the telegrams are encrypted."
"Can you decipher it?" Tang Mo seemed to have guessed part of the contents of the telegram, and tapped the report in his hand twice, making a crisp sound.
“The password used by the other party is very complicated and cannot be deciphered at the moment.” The bartender replied apologetically: “However, what is certain is that this is an official transaction and not a bad idea of a businessman.”
"Interesting, things are getting more and more interesting." Tang Mo stroked his forehead with his hand, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth: "I really didn't expect that I didn't worry about others, but others had my mind on me first. "
Although there is no evidence that there is any conspiracy between the Lions Empire and the Dahua Empire against the Tang Kingdom, Tang Mo still instinctively smelled a hint of danger.
This may be the sixth sense accumulated from years of scheming against others. It is sharp and unreasonable.
—
Two in one
(End of this chapter)