readx;

Wu Feng has convened the meeting of important ministers for the third time in half a month, and there is only one topic for these three meetings, that is, how to speed up the development of the imperial economy to cope with the rapid development situation of the entire continent, especially the challenge from the western continent, under the influence of this problem, even the conquest of Kaman and Siathrow seems to be placed in the second place, which also makes the important ministers of the empire realize that His Majesty the Emperor values this matter. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

The reason for the matter is very simple, it originated from a comprehensive intelligence information submitted by the Imperial Intelligence Agency to His Majesty the Emperor, this intelligence information was sprinkled with nearly 100,000 words, which listed a large number of figures and detailed information, and provided a comprehensive analysis of the Imperial Intelligence Agency, this information made Wu Feng, who had just had time to relax, realize the new pressure that the empire was about to face.

The intelligence information submitted by the Imperial Intelligence Administration is in fact a comprehensive report of the Imperial Intelligence Administration on the economic development of the powerful countries in the entire Western Continent in the past few years, among which the five powers: the Leeds Kingdom, the Famini Empire, the Baroz Kingdom, the Augsburg Empire, and the Hansen Alliance are the mainstays.

It can be said that this information allows Wu Feng to really have a real understanding of the development of the powers in the Western Continent, the original intelligence is more of a collection of political intelligence of the powers, but this time it is a comprehensive analysis report, especially a more detailed introduction to the economic development of the countries, which makes Wu Feng feel great pressure for the first time.

The pressure comes from the speed of development of the Western Continent powers, and the General Intelligence Agency has listed the Leeds Kingdom and the Famini Empire as the first-rate powers, although the military strength of the two countries is far from being comparable to the huge imperial power, but the average military quality and military industry development capacity of the two [***] teams have surpassed the empire, which is also the conclusion reached by Wu Feng after carefully comparing the comprehensive military capabilities of the empire and the two countries. According to the time, the time when these two countries developed the firecrackers should be earlier than the empire, but the empire is more sensitive at this point, because the war is still ongoing, so it will do its best to make this achievement into practical use.

The Leeds Kingdom's superiority at sea has been fully demonstrated, the Leeds Navy has spread its tentacles all over the west coast of the New World, and continues to extend to the south and east, its super naval strength has made all the powers of the Western Continent have to retreat when facing it alone, the naval strength of the Leeds Kingdom is not only reflected in the fact that they have set up the thunderbolt (the Western Continent people call it artillery) on the ship and used it in actual combat, the rocket and the side battle has retreated to the second place, especially the traditional rocket attack has a tendency to be completely eliminated, and the fire gun (the Western Continenter calls it the musket) has also begun to be equipped on the naval sailorsObviously, they have solved the problem of waterproof and moisture-proof firecrackers. The use of thunderbolts and firebolts in the navy is still a matter that the Imperial Navy has just had time to consider, and the Leeds have successfully done this, according to the intelligence response, both the Famini and Baroz navies are catching up, they do not want to see the Leeds Navy dominate the storm ocean, but this gap even has a tendency to widen.

If the Leeds Kingdom is a dominant country in the navy, then the Famini Empire is the leader in the army, although in the early stage of the sea competition in the face of the strength of the Leeds Navy, the Famini Empire Navy was deflated, but when the Leeds Kingdom thought that it could also suppress the Famini in the army, it was completely shattered by the Famini Army, and a battle in the Dunkel area made the Leeds finally understand that if they want to dominate the land of the Western Continent, they have to ask the Famini if they agree.

The competition between the two countries in the western and northern colonies of the New World is also fierce, which has also led to the continuous increase of investment in the military of the two countries, and the military demand has also led to the rapid development of the two countries' industries related to the military industry.

Just when Wu Feng was depressed about this, the General Intelligence Agency also mentioned that the steelmaking enterprises in the Kingdom of Leeds seemed to be seeking a breakthrough in fuel, and the traditional coal steelmaking was becoming less and less suitable for the demand for steel in various industries, which also forced the steel companies to hope for a breakthrough in technology, and the new technology that the Imperial Science and Technology Development Department had just developed - Coke steelmaking seems to have made a breakthrough in the Kingdom of Leeds, which makes Wu Feng feel a huge pressure, everyone knows what the production and quality of steel means to a country, and the need for fire guns (muskets) and thunderbolts (artillery) alone is an astronomical amount.

The technological superiority achieved by the two great powers of the Western Continent in the most important industries made Wufeng realize that if the empire stepped up to catch up, he was afraid that in the future competition for the new continent, the empire would have to be in a very dangerous disadvantageous situation, especially the Leeds Kingdom's naval superiority made Wufeng anxious, once the Leeds Kingdom really extended its tentacles to the Latin Ocean, the empire's interests in the New World would not only be threatened, but also its position in the Latin Ocean and the Great South Ocean would be shaken.

Thinking of all this, Wu Feng was anxious, the countries of the Western Continent were far from being comparable to the empire in terms of territory, and the population was also very different, but Wu Feng also knew that the empire controlled a large empire with a mixture of many nationalities, but its dominance in many territories was quite weak, especially in the Central Continent, and it was completely dependent on military strength and economic attractiveness to maintain, once the people of all ethnic groups in these regions realized that the Tang Dynasty could not even compare with the countries of the Western Continent, the empire's control over them would be greatly weakened, and no one could predict what would happen at that time。

The information from the General Intelligence Agency is not limited to these, just when all walks of life in the empire are complacent about the huge development of the textile industry brought about by the rapid technological development of the textile industry in the Jiangnan region, the wool industry of the Leeds Kingdom and the Augsburg Empire has already carried out a larger and more profound technological revolution before the Jiangnan textile industry, which directly led to the fact that the woolen products of the Leeds Kingdom and the Augsburg Empire almost monopolized the entire Western Continent, and the woolen products were continuously exported to the Central Continent.

What shocked Wu Feng the most was that the Kingdom of Leeds began to widely use a thing called a steam engine in the mining industry to drain water, this kind of machine is said to have a fairly good effect on mining drainage, and it is said that if this steam engine can be improved, it will have a huge prospect, and even bring unprecedented changes to the power demand, but the specific intelligence agency is not very clear, but judging from the degree of attention to this technology in the Kingdom of Leeds, it should be a very important technological invention.

The rapid development of the Western Continent's powerhouses in various industries made the imperial ministers who circulated this economic information summary in a heavy mood, especially Xiao Tang, Su Qin, and officials from the Imperial Ministry of Economic Development, Commerce and Trade, Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Construction, etc., and the achievements of the Western Continent in these aspects will soon be transformed into productivity, and the improvement of productivity will soon be reflected in the national strength of various countries, which will be a huge challenge for the empire.

The Kingdom of Leeds is undoubtedly the most obvious example of this, as the powerful steelmaking capacity has been translated into military and shipbuilding capabilities, and these capabilities will also lead to the rapid increase in the military power of these countries. It is said that in order to counter the threat of a large number of warships in the Famini Empire starting to fully equip their warships with large-caliber artillery, the Kingdom of Leeds is pushing forward with a plan to fully equip the warships of the Leeds Navy with iron armor, which can fully cover the important parts of the ship and greatly reduce the damage of artillery to wooden ships.

"Everyone, I've read this economic intelligence summary, I asked you to go back and think about it carefully, I don't know if you have any ideas?" Wu Feng's eyes wandered on the faces of the courtiers, he could see that this intelligence summary made everyone here feel great pressure, this is a good phenomenon, if everyone is at a loss or indifferent, that is the real crisis.

"Your Majesty, the minister has been carefully reflecting on it for the past few days, why the development speed of small border countries like the Leeds Kingdom and the Famini Empire is so fast, and the economic strength is also changing with each passing day, the minister feels that this is worth our careful consideration, the empire has been listed as the main goal of military operations in recent years, and it has indeed made brilliant achievements, but looking at the areas controlled by the empire, we have to admit that the economic development of many regions of the empire and even some regions of the empire is quite backward, and the economic development of the entire empire is extremely unbalanced, especially in some newly occupied areas, and the people's identification with the empire is quite weakIn order to strengthen the control of these regions, in addition to strengthening cultural assimilation, it is more important to speed up the economic development of these regions, so that the local people can feel the benefits of the prosperity and strength of the empire, rather than blindly relying on military occupation and repression to enhance the prestige of the empire. ”

As the Prime Minister of the Imperial Council, Xiao Tang naturally wanted to stand up and express his thoughts, in fact, he was also shocked by this intelligence summary, the economic development level of those small countries in the Western Continent actually exceeded the level of the most economically developed areas of the Empire, how could he not feel pressured by such a contrast.

(To be continued)