"Therefore, I still advocate that in 10 years, we should vigorously develop heavy industry and expand armaments, and then form an alliance with Germany and Austria, completely defeat the Entente bloc, and create a new order in the world. Our strategic objectives should include the annexation of Siberia and most of Central Asia, the occupation of the western Pacific stretching to Australia, the control of all of South Asia and most of West Asia — to become the master of most of Asia, as well as the western Pacific and the Indian Ocean! Liu Yun repeated the old tune.

"Without considering U.S. involvement?" Wen Yi reminded.

"On the premise of US involvement...... Therefore, it is necessary to prepare in advance to ensure that the Allied bloc with China, Germany, Austria and Turkey as the main body can defeat the Entente bloc with the United States, Britain, France, and Russia as the main body. ”

"It seems that you don't have any illusions about the United States either."

"Of course, due to the factor of our country's accession to the Allies, the United States is likely to enter the war ahead of schedule......"

Wen Yi sighed, took pen and paper, and began to write piles of Arabic numerals.

"Look at how much difference there is between this world and the history of the Dao as we know it, speaking in numbers."

"In another time and space history, Japan's fiscal revenues in fiscal years 1899 to 1900 amounted to £20.1 million. In this world, by 1902, China's fiscal revenue was 773 million Chinese yuan, equivalent to 148.7 million pounds.

If we add Japan's fiscal revenue of 13.1 million pounds and North Korea's fiscal revenue of 4.4 million pounds in the same period, the total fiscal revenue of the East Asian Union is 166.2 million pounds. During the same period, the British Empire, including the colonies, received £230 million, while the less taxed United States revenue £139 million. In other words, by 1902, China's fiscal revenue was 64.4 percent of that of the British Empire and 107 percent of that of the United States, which was seven times that of Japan in fiscal years 1899 and 1900. Considering that the Sino-Japanese War in this world ended in our victory, it is not surprising that Japan was not able to receive a total of 40 million pounds of reparations four times the turnover of its budget, not to mention Korea and Taiwan, and that its own territory was ravaged by the flames of war, so that in 1902 the fiscal revenue of Japan was only one-fourteenth of that of Japan. ”

"China's military expenditure in 1902 was 235 million Chinese dollars, equivalent to 45.19 million pounds, accounting for 31 percent of the fiscal expenditure of that year. Japan's military spending in fiscal years 1899-1900 was only 13 million pounds, accounting for more than 50 percent of the total fiscal expenditure. ”

"Before the war with Russia, our standing army reached 800,000 people, the first and second reserve forces totaled 2.5 million people, and the total tonnage of naval ships reached 450,000 tons. In the main historical time and space, Japan's standing army in 1903 was 170,000 people, which could be expanded to 600,000 in wartime, and by the end of the Russo-Japanese War, the total number of Japanese land forces was 750,000, but it had reached the limit of mobilization, and the total tonnage of the navy before the Russo-Japanese War was only 270,000 tons. ”

"What do you mean......" Liu Yun sniffed something out of these abstract Arabic numerals.

"Don't worry, there's more." Wen Yike didn't feel tired.

In 1900, Japan's national income was about 1,215,000,000 yen, or £135,000,000. In reality, China's gross national income in 1902 was 7.73 billion Chinese dollars, equivalent to 1.487 billion pounds, which was 32.3 percent of that of the United States, 68 percent of the United Kingdom, and 11 times that of Japan. In 1902, the per capita national income of the empire was 18.54 Chinese dollars, equivalent to 3.56 pounds, which exceeded the per capita national income of Japan in 1898 of 3 pounds, 8.1 percent of the per capita national income of the United States in 1898, and 9.9 percent of the United Kingdom. ”

"In terms of industrial indicators, it was not until 1917 that Japan's steel production reached 790,000 tons.

In 1900, China's coal production rose to 17 million tons, pig iron production rose to 2.7 million tons, and steel production rose to 2.1 million tons.

synchronism

During the same period, the United States produced 245 million tons of coal, 14 million tons of pig iron and 10.3 million tons of steel, respectively.

229 million tonnes, 9.1 million tonnes and 6 million tonnes in the UK.

Germany is 150 million tonnes, 7.5 million tonnes and 6.4 million tonnes.

France is 33 million tonnes, 2.7 million tonnes and 1.6 million tonnes.

16 million tons, 2.9 million tons and 2.2 million tons in Russia.

In other words, in 1900, China's coal production reached 6.9 percent in the United States, 7.4 percent in Britain, and 11.3 percent in Germany.

Pig iron production is 19.3 percent in the United States, 29.7 percent in Britain and 36 percent in Germany.

Steel production was 20.4 percent of that of the United States, 28.6 percent of Britain, and 32.8 percent of Germany, which was 2.66 times that of Japan in 1917 in another time and space history......

"By 1902, the total length of China's railways with a land area of 11.2 million square kilometers was 41,800 kilometers, and in the backbone of historical time and space, Japan, with a land area of 370,000 square kilometers, had a total railway mileage of 8,000 kilometers by 1913, 34,850 kilometers of the United Kingdom's domestic railways with an area of 310,000 square kilometers, and 296,500 kilometers of American railways with an area of 9.58 million square kilometers......"

Liu Yun felt that he had to interrupt this partner who was on the verge of madness: "You have a good brain, and you actually pretend to be sick with us......"

"Do you see what I mean?" Wen Yi added another charge of pretending to be deaf to himself.

"There are achievements, but there are also gaps...... Liu Yun bureaucratically concluded - he just didn't want Wen Yi to have a chance to be lazy, of course Wen Yi also understood this, the two people who have been mixed together since wearing open crotch pants, and the tacit understanding that they have preserved with each other is probably incomprehensible to outsiders.

"Compared with the backbone of the historical time and space, the comparison of the strength of this world has changed greatly, and the current steady rise of the Chinese Empire is far from being comparable to the Japanese Empire, which is a small country and a weak population in that time and space, not to mention that we have also integrated the strength of the entire East Asia, and the pressure we can cause to the great powers is several times or even ten times that of Japan in that time and space. Therefore, they had to accept the mediation of the great powers and sign the New York Peace Treaty under the strong opposition of the radical forces at home......"

"In fact, the end of the war was not because the strength of the empire had reached its limit, until the peace treaty was signed, only half of the reserve army was mobilized, the temporary economic difficulties were not unbearable, and the bottleneck in supply could also be resolved by increasing investment, only the intervention of the great powers, we could not resist it with our own strength, and in the case of increasingly acute contradictions in all aspects at home and abroad, stopping the war at the right time was the best way out."

"However, it must also be noted that there is still a gap between China's comprehensive national strength and the most advanced powers, and it is still relatively backward in many aspects, such as per capita income, industrial indicators, railway density, education level, technology and machine self-sufficiency, and there are also many contradictions within the empire, and it is necessary to have a good external environment to continue to promote reform and construction in all aspects......

Liu Yun heard Wen Yi's voice: "Do you want to say that we should not focus on preparing for war, lest the great powers feel excessive oppression and strike first?" ”

"Probably in this sense, I believe that the future diplomatic course should follow the principle of combining morality and practical gain, and on the one hand, we should fully express goodwill to the great powers."

"First of all, the integrity of the empire should be demonstrated at all times, and the troops should be immediately withdrawn from the Chita region in accordance with the treaty; Second, we should follow the principle of maintaining the status quo, and before the British side proposes to abandon the Sino-British alliance, we should not take the initiative to withdraw from the treaty - even if the treaty itself loses its actual effect, we should not rashly accept the alliance requests put forward by other countries, especially the allies, and try to keep an equal distance from all aspects, not too affectionate or deliberately alienated; Thirdly, it is necessary to restrain militarist and expansionist radical rhetoric, and prevent the behavior of subordinates and even military personnel in the army. Fourth, it embodies the principle of reciprocity in its dealings with the great powers, is neither humble nor arrogant, and can follow the precedent of the great powers, especially Britain, to deal with emergencies, except for third-rate countries that are very different from China's strength; Fifth, with regard to the colonies and semi-colonies of the great powers, on the premise of giving priority to ensuring national interests, we should adopt a policy of nurturing the national liberation movement and assisting the national self-improvement movement, so as to dismantle the colonial order of the world and the world from within, and in particular, we should focus on cultivating pro-Chinese national liberation forces in the neighboring areas of Annam, Burma, Java, Malaya, India, and other places......

"On the other hand, on the premise of peaceful diplomacy, we will rapidly increase the overall national strength of the empire—"

"First of all, we must rectify the internal affairs, the Great Purge of the 16th to 18th years of Guangxu was just to eliminate the radical part of the old forces, and in order to avoid a large-scale civil war, we had to cooperate with the remaining forces of the old forces, and reserved great political and economic rights for them."

"Some of them were stubborn, dependent on the royal family to continue to own a large amount of land, brutally exploiting tenant farmers, and some evolved into industrialists and merchants after the land was bought by the state, and a few of them skillfully used bureaucratic power, state policies, and legal loopholes to obtain a large amount of power at a very small price, and quickly accumulated capital, forming the so-called chaebol power."

"These people united with the power of the old landlords to manipulate the election with their wealth, and installed spokesmen in the local councils and the National Assembly; in fact, more than half of the members of the National Assembly of the three major political parties, the Chinese People's Party, the Royalist Party, and the Liberal Party, have the influence of the chaebol and the power of the old landlords behind them."

"The plutocratic landlords, whose desire is to make the most profits, have done everything possible to block bills on compulsory social welfare, minimum wages, working hour restrictions, universal elections, tax reform, free and compulsory education, and the expansion of land reform, fearing that the cost of hiring workers will rise and the profits of the tenant farmers will decrease, and they will constantly try to reduce or reduce their own taxes and fees, and even want the state treasury to subsidize them!"

"This war has also made the new chaebols, old landlords, and foreign banks the big creditors of the government, and the reactionary forces inside must not be taken lightly, but must stand on the standpoint of the broad masses of the people, find ways to suppress them, seize the initiative in promoting reform, and then eliminate the old evils, improve the people's livelihood, develop education, and maintain stability......