The United States in Zhu Jishi's mouth is certainly not the Confederate State of America, as the winning side of the North American War, the Confederate State has had a very prosperous life in the past 10 years. The demand for cotton is greater than in history www.biquge.info the world is now more industrialized than in history, and the price of cotton has remained high for a decade, bringing prosperity to the economies of the Allied countries. And the United States of America, which has lost the war, is now the American Empire, and has not had a hard time in the past 10 years. As a result of the British Empire's accession, British investment and loans poured in like a tidal wave—although the working people of Britain were uneasy about the possibility of the government moving to North America. However, the British capitalists were still very optimistic about the American Empire.

As a result of the defeat and currency depreciation, real wages in the United States were cut in half after the war, while British workers benefited from the economic boom and rose by 50 percent in a few years. Therefore, the wage level between the two is basically flat, and the price of resources and land in the United States is far lower than that of the United Kingdom. Unlike the United Kingdom, which only has the advantage of coal resources, the heavy industry resources in the United States are relatively complete and very concentrated, and the transportation cost is very low. So it's much more cost-effective to open a factory in the U.S. than to start the same factory in the U.K.

And soon after the end of the war, trade between the two Americas began again. The border between the Confederate States and the American Empire was too long for it to be impossible to combat smuggling. As a result, illegal trade could not be regulated at all, so from 1866 onwards, the two sides simply resumed legal trade, and in the following years the volume of trade increased steadily. Now about half of the industrial goods in the Union come from the North.

With the help of a large number of British investments. The industry of the American Empire quickly returned to pre-war levels, and then surpassed them by a large margin. By 1874, the American Empire's industrial output was 100% greater (at constant value) than the entire pre-war United States. Among them, the steel industry is growing particularly rapidly. In particular, after the advent and popularization of the Siemens-Martin furnace, the steel production of the American Empire increased several times in less than 10 years, from hundreds of thousands of tons of iron and tens of thousands of tons of steel before the war to more than 1.6 million tons of iron and 800,000 tons of steel.

Although less than the UK's 3 million tons of iron, 1.3 million tons of steel. It is far less than Daming's 4.5 million tons of iron and 2 million tons of steel. But it was 1.65 million tons of iron with France. 82 tons of steel is comparable, slightly more than Germany's 1.5 million tons of iron and 680,000 tons of steel, and more than twice as much as the combined size of both the Mexican Empire and the Confederate States of America (in 1874, Mexico had 250,000 tons of steel. The Union State had only 150,000 tons of steel). Compared with Russia and Holy Rome, the two "European powers" that have not even been able to make 100,000 tons of steel, there are too many more.

From the above data, we can see how rapid the world has grown in economic growth over the past 10 years. The world's major industrialized countries (excluding China and Mexico, of course) have almost doubled their steel production compared to the same period in history! And quite a few more capacity is being built.

China is proud to be the world's number one steel power more than 100 years ahead of schedule – slightly more than China if you combine the steel production of Britain and the American Empire. However, this advantage is not long ahead, because China's current economic situation is still strong, while the American empire is experiencing great difficulties. It was none other than the Russell Plan, the prescription given to Americans by the British Empire 10 years ago to save the economy. This opportunity brought 10 years of prosperity to the United States, but it was bad when it came time to pay off the debt.

Pan Zuyin, the prime minister of the Ming Dynasty, studied economics at Jishi University, although he was not an economist. But it is not difficult to answer Emperor Zhu's question.

He smiled faintly and said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks." Whether the British agreed to the debt moratorium or not, the American Empire was not spared. There are two reasons for this, one is that the American Empire owes too much debt. Over the past decade, the American Empire has borrowed more than £1.53 billion to pay off its debts and stabilize its currency. The average APR is over 6%. The ministers and the experts of the Ministry of Finance have calculated that it will start from the 29th year of liberation. The Imperial Government of the United States had to repay 250 million pounds a year, and it took 10 years to pay off the debt owed to the British. ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled: "Two hundred and fifty million pounds...... It's almost 800 million Chinese dollars. ”

Huayuan was the legal tender of the Ming Empire and its vassals, which practiced the composite standard of gold, silver and land. Since it is not completely linked to gold and silver. So the exchange rate of this currency is floating. It is now about 3.2 Chinese dollars to 1 pound, which is a bit depreciated from before. However, the benefits brought by this are also huge, and the issuance of Chinese dollars with land as a guarantee alone has given the Ming government an extra 100 billion out of thin air. When this huge amount of money was successively invested in the "townhouse plan" and urban infrastructure construction, it not only greatly stimulated employment, but also alleviated the deflationary pressure in the country. As a result, the price of agricultural products has returned to a reasonable position, providing a market guarantee for the success of the 100-acre farm plan. In short, the successful issuance of Huayuan is equivalent to the Ming Dynasty's economic take-off and wings, so that the Ming Dynasty's industrial production has increased by 150% in 10 years, and has now surpassed Britain to become the world's largest industrial country, even if the industry of Britain and the United States (American Empire) is combined, that is, it is equivalent to the Ming Empire (of course, all subject countries are also combined).

And spurred on by the successful example of Huayuan. The Mexican Empire, the Confederate States of America, the Brazilian Empire, the Kingdom of Argentina, the German Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eastern Roman-Russian Empire, all of which did not have sufficient reserves of precious metals and were particularly short of funds, abandoned the gold and silver standard and adopted the land standard or the gold and silver land standard.

Pan Zuyin said lightly: "The second reason that made the American Empire unable to repay its debts was the critical illness of Napoleon III. ”

"Napoleon III's critical illness is a good thing for the American Empire." Zuo Zongtang asked a little puzzled.

Liang Jingquan, the right prime minister, took the question and replied with a smile: "This matter is complicated...... As soon as Napoleon III died, the situation in Europe and the Americas was bound to be turbulent, and the world empire of France would fall apart if it did not do well. In this case, currencies on the non-gold and silver standard will definitely fall, and currencies on the gold and silver standard will definitely rise. In particular, the Mexican peso and the American dollar must have fallen sharply. ”

"What does that have to do with the American Empire?" Zuo Zongtang was still puzzled. It would be good for the old bureaucrats of his generation to understand Western industry, but it was really difficult to understand finance, currency, and so on.

"The American Imperial Dollar is pegged to the British pound, and the British pound is the gold and silver standard. The critical illness of Napoleon III will inevitably cause the rise of gold and silver, and so will the pound sterling on the gold and silver standard, and even the value of the American Imperial Dollar. In this way, the prices of the export goods of the American empire will rise, and their industrial goods will become expensive abroad. ”

Zuo Zongtang frowned: "If it's expensive, it won't be able to be sold...... That's a problem. ”

Zhu Jishi smiled and nodded. In fact, the real problem is that the increase in production brought about by the wave of global industrialization for more than ten years has exceeded the growth of demand, and a new round of global economic surplus may be just around the corner! Ten years ago, there were only a handful of industrialized countries in the world, such as Britain, the United States, France, Germany, and the Ming Dynasty. Among them, the Ming Empire has always been independent of the international market. Now, not only have the former industrial countries greatly expanded their production capacity, but even the Mexican Empire (which included Donghua, Venezuela, Colombia, etc.), the Confederate States of America, the Eastern Roman-Russian Empire, the Brazilian Empire, the Kingdom of Argentina, and the New Kingdom of Japan, which had little industry, now have many factories. In times of economic prosperity, the international market may still be able to accommodate a huge supply of industrial products, but what if the economy falls into recession? Is there enough in this international market? Is there still a share that can be left to the American Empire? At this time, wouldn't the American Empire be waiting for death to maintain Gao Qi's exchange rate? However, abandoning the policy of pegging the pound sterling will cause panic and cause the exchange rate to plummet due to the huge debt of the American Empire. (To be continued)