Time passed like a shuttle, and 6 years passed in a blink of an eye.

After the Spring Festival in 1885, a group of courtiers were full of excitement about the upcoming celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Holy Emperor's accession to the throne next year, and then left the Ming court one after another, and came to Danfengmen Square to leave by car.

After 39 years of rapid development, Chang'an, the imperial capital, is now the world's second largest metropolis with a population of 3.17 million, firmly ranking as the largest city in the Americas, and is famous for its urban architectural landscape and prosperous economy.

The Tang Empire is the country leading the second wave of industrial revolution, especially known for its cutting-edge chemical and electrification technologies, and enjoys a high reputation around the world.

The imperial capital of Chang'an, Los Angeles, Chicago, Taoyuan, Salem, Seattle, Detroit and other large industrial cities with a population of one million, together with more small and medium-sized cities, have formed the most complete industrial system in the world today, ranking first in output in more than 170 industrial categories.

If coupled with the strong agricultural and animal husbandry production capacity, the Tang Empire can be said to be an excellent economic student with excellent character and learning, and industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, and foreign trade are all among the world's advanced.

Six years in the blink of an eye

The Tang Empire has been speeding all the way on the road of economic development, and has thrown off most of the United Kingdom, which ranks second, and its economic aggregate is about 1.36 times that of the United Kingdom, that is, the sum of the total economic output of one Britain and one France.

If we talk about the changes in the past six years, the biggest one is the little-known Germany.

After the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the economy of the German Empire soared with the help of huge franc reparations, and since then it has been on the road to industrialization by leaps and bounds, ranking first in the world in terms of industrial economic growth for 14 consecutive years.

As early as 1870, Germany's economic aggregate had surpassed France to rank third in the world, and now it is making great strides towards Britain, reaching more than 70% of Britain's total economic output in 1884.

From 1870, the size of the German economy was about one-third of that of Britain, and by 1884, the total economic volume of Germany had doubled and a half, reaching more than 70% of the total economic volume of Britain, showing a momentum of rapid catch-up.

And in these 6 years, a lot of big things have happened in the world.

On September 16, 1883, the Pacific Railroad connecting the entire North American continent was finally completed, with a total length of 18,900 kilometers, starting from the city of Tierra del Fuego in the Storm Province of South America, and ending at the northernmost town of Snowy Town, 371 kilometers north of Vancouver.

This railway, also known as the railway project of the century, together with the Nicaragua Canal, was shortlisted as the second of the ten historical projects of the empire, and will forever go down in history.

Since the launch of the South American desert expedition in 1862, which lasted 22 years, the total population of the Andean Viceroyalty grew to more than 4.6 million.

On January 1, 1884, His Majesty the Emperor issued an edict establishing 11 new imperial provinces in the former Andean Viceroyalty, and Storm was the southernmost province of the empire.

These 11 imperial provinces were transferred from the former colonial ministry to the direct jurisdiction of the imperial government, and since then they have been rid of their colonial status and have become part of the official territory of the empire.

The Andean Viceroyalty, a colonial institution, was abolished and became a historical term.

In 1884, French colonial forces occupied the Kingdom of Cambodia and launched the Qing War, which led to the outbreak of the Sino-French War.

The Manchu army rose up to defeat the French invaders and defended half of the southern part of the Qing Dynasty, giving the French a taste of defeat.

The official "World Journal" of the Tang Empire commented on this;

The French, with their rotten teeth and incredibly good appetites, suffered a humiliating defeat in the most populous Qing Empire, which presumably sobered them up a little.

This sarcasm, full of sarcasm, instantly became popular in Europe, and simply amused the English and Germans.

At the mention of this vitriolic ridicule, they all slapped their thighs with laughter, and "Frenchman with rotten teeth" became a popular word in European high society, and the group was happy for a while.

The bitter ridicule of the Tang Empire made the French angry, but in the face of the powerful Tang Empire on the other side of the Atlantic, it was just incompetent and furious.

After the news of the defeat of the French army reached Paris, the French parliament voted 306 to 149 without hesitation to reject the military surcharge, and Prime Minister Jules Ferry was forced to resign.

The unwilling France immediately proposed;

An additional 50 million francs of military spending was added to the French army stationed in Indochina, and the domestic public opinion was full of voices about declaring war on the Qing State, and the French people, stimulated by high patriotic sentiments, could not sit still at all.

At this time, the cunning Englishman came out again, and London issued a statement;

France's irresponsible expansion of the war aroused deep concern in London, and after consulting with the high-level officials of the Tang government, it was believed that this reckless invasion should be put to an end and the situation in East Asia should be restored to a peaceful and stable environment.

In a word, don't fight.

France is one of the oldest players at the world table, and that's how clever it is to disappear at the slightest hint of a glance.

Thinking back to the battle of 1853, Tsar Nicholas I confidently said to the English envoy; "Don't threaten me, I still have Prussian and Austrian allies to rely on."

The result?

Tsarist Russia was besieged by the British, French, Tang and Ao plus the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the beating was called a blue nose and swollen face. The good brother and ally of the Austrian Emperor Joseph was busy marrying Princess Sissi, and Prussia pretended not to see it.

Tsar Nicholas I was beaten by the cruel international reality and finally died in a fit of rage......

The French are smart to do, and he can't afford to provoke the Yingtang pair, even if he is unwilling in his heart, he still has to abandon his son and admit defeat.

Speaking of France, we have to mention the Triple Alliance.

After the Franco-Prussian War, Germany and France forged an indissoluble enmity, which was really endless.

German Chancellor Bismarck, fearing retaliation from France, adopted an alliance policy to contain France, which led to the formation of the "Three Emperors Alliance" between Germany and Austria-Hungary and Russia.

Later, however, Russia clashed with Austria-Hungary in the Balkans, resulting in a war that resulted in the Treaty of Berlin, in which the Great Powers participated, almost deprived of most of the fruits of victory.

This left a deep estrangement in the hearts of Tsarist Russia, and Russia did not want Germany to become strong, which made the Three Emperors Alliance only in name.

Tsarist Russia couldn't help but ask itself;

What is the value of the Three Emperors' Alliance, which gives Germany two allies and Austria one and a half allies, while Tsarist Russia has only half allies?

If a war really breaks out in Europe, no one knows what choice Tsarist Russia will make?

In the final presidential election held in September 1881, the presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, former President Zhang Zongliang, defeated his opponent to run for re-election by virtue of a narrow margin of 11 electoral votes.

This presidential election was frantically attacked by the Republican Party and the Democratic Party of Mi, believing that there were many shady scenes of unfairness, but the results of the election could not be changed.

In 1881, France invaded Tunisia from Algeria and turned it into its protectorate, much to the envy of the Kingdom of Italy.

Italy had long coveted Tunisia, but due to its lack of strength, it could not fight France alone, so after thinking twice, it turned to the German brothers Germany and Austria.

German Chancellor Bismarck was keenly aware of the opportunity for an alliance, so after negotiations, on May 20, 1882, Germany, Austria and Italy signed an alliance treaty in Vienna, which was the Triple Alliance.

The Triple Alliance and the Triple Alliance existed at the same time, and it was German Chancellor Bismarck who put two iron chains around France's neck to limit its military expansion on the European continent and add a double guarantee to Germany's security.

On January 9, 1885, Fusang invaded the Korean Peninsula and signed the Treaty of Seoul with the Kingdom of Korea, and Korea became a dual colony of the Qing Dynasty and Fuso.

The Fuso had intervened in the coup d'état, but were defeated by the Qing army stationed in Korea, and their colonial ambitions suffered a major setback.

After the incident, Fuso demanded that the DPRK apologize, punish the culprits, and pay compensation under the pretext that "the embassy was burned" and "the overseas Chinese were killed," and sent Foreign Secretary Inoue Shin as an ambassador to the DPRK to force the DPRK to sign the "Seoul Treaty."

The treaty not only enabled Fuso to recover its losses in the Kashin coup, but also pushed the invading forces deeper into Korea.

And this sowed the seeds of hatred for the outbreak of sharp contradictions between the Qing and Japanese countries.

From March 15, 1885, the 12th World's Fair will be held in Los Angeles, which will be the largest, grandest, and most diverse World's Fair ever.

At this expo, many factories and enterprises in the Tang Empire launched countless new inventions, the world's first motorcycle, the world's first pickup truck, the world's first wireless transmitter invented by the Chinese Mr. Zheng Zongshen, advanced industrial machine tools, a single 5000 horsepower marine three-expansion steam turbine, a new steam locomotive, a full range of industrial generators, a dazzling array of chemical products and so on.

The National No. 2 Heavy Machinery Factory in Los Angeles even moved the production and assembly workshop of the "Fukang" brand gasoline-powered car produced by the factory directly to the exhibition site to show visitors how to produce a family car.

At the exhibition site

An old man with white hair and a tall middle-aged man were visiting with relish, surrounded by a crowd of people dressed in different clothes, intentionally or unintentionally separating them from the other visitors.

The tall and tall woman is the emperor Richard in disguise, and his majesty is now fully restrained, implicit but not revealed, with a pair of gold-rimmed glasses on his face, looking polite and polite.

Next to him is the current Prime Minister Chen Cailiang, who also made a disguise, wearing a bowler hat on his head, and a thick wool checkered scarf covering half of his face, which is difficult for outsiders to see.

The two watched and chatted, but the topic of conversation was completely different from the on-site automobile assembly workshop.

"My lord, the northern separatist independence movement instigated by the British, although it is still difficult to eradicate it under the repeated heavy blows of the government. On the contrary, it has formed a growing influence, and President Zhang Zongliang is deeply worried about this! ”

"No one wants to move forward with heavy debts. The heavy taxation policy implemented by the United States is the first among the great powers, and it is not surprising that the people are resentful and deviate from Germany, which is a natural ill of a country of immigrants. ”

"Master, my country has never been like this!"

"This is because our country has always been on the path of victory, expansion after victory, and victory after expansion. The industrial and agricultural economy is on the rise, which masks the internal contradictions and divisions of the immigrant countries, bridges the ethnic differences, and the contradictions do not always erupt. The most important ...... It is the mainstream ethnic group that is mainly Chinese, which is the ballast stone of society. ”

"The old man is insightful, and the old servant admires it. It's just that the big ship of the US side leaking everywhere can't be covered, and the momentum of independence and separatism is getting stronger and stronger. ”

"What's the panic? Only the French suffered the most from the independence of the Yankees, who concentrated their immigration to Pittsburgh in the north and Philadelphia in New York over the years, which has dramatically changed the local demographics. Seeing that 1887 is not long away, we are not in a hurry now, it is the French who are in a hurry. ”

"That'...... Sir, we're not going to really withdraw our troops then, are we? ”

"We just want to withdraw, and the French will cry and shout for us not to go, and the French will definitely send more troops to North America."

"This ...... My lord, North America is our home turf after all, how can we let the French send troops in? Liu Xianjunism emphasizes that the Americas are the Americas of the Americans, so the face of the empire does not seem to look good, right? ”

"Hehehe...... This is called caring and messing up! Richard chuckled, walked to a carriage assembly site, and watched the workers skillfully assembling the components of the car, and stood by to watch, but said;

"We really don't want the world powers to meddle in the affairs of the Americas, but in fact we can't, in South America there are Dutch Suriname, Britain, France, and Belgian Guiana, and in North America there is British Canada, and the European powers have more or less garrisons.

It's just that the distance is far away, and everyone's feelings are not deep.

It will not be possible to completely eliminate the garrison of foreign powers in the whole of America in another 100 years.

Because the Americas are not a whole, but a family of 16 countries, each with its own independent mind, how can it be stopped?

The essence of Yoo Hyunjun's doctrine is to be

There is a great difference between always taking the initiative in the Americas and not excluding all the world powers from the Americas.

Just like the current problem in the United States, the United Kingdom spends more than 2 million pounds a year. With the Carolina Republic and Canada as the two fulcrums, it housed a large number of civil rights activists who split the independence of the United States, and tried to separate the North.

The aim of the British is to weaken and attack Tang and France, because we also have bank loans of up to 300 million Tang dollars in these countries.

Oh...... By the way, are there so many more? ”

"Master, there haven't been so many for a long time, in the past few years, the major imperial consortia have been restricting the issuance of loans to the United States, recovering the principal and interest of 1 million loans, and basically sending out another 300,000 or 400,000. The total amount of existing loans is about 240 million Tang Yuan. On the contrary, franc loans have increased again. ”

"Huh...... The usury kingdom is not remembered. Remember, if an internal policy is issued, the existing loan balance will only be collected and not loaned, and the financial risk exposure will be reduced as much as possible, and the total amount of loans will be pressed to less than 200 million Tang Yuan, and most of them can be recovered by relying on innate convenience. ”

"Uh...... The old servant knows. ”

"Prevention is better than prevention."

Speaking of which

Richard looked at the skillful assembly of the auto worker, but said in his mouth;

"If you want to play with your heart, the French are no match for the British in any case, and this time I am afraid that I will have to make a big mistake.

But I estimate

Before 1887, the British were not absolutely sure that they would not launch a full-scale campaign to split the United States, because they feared our existence.

There are two prerequisites for the British to make a move;

The first is that the Anglo-Saxons win the next presidential election, and this condition will probably be met this year.

After suffering losses in two presidential elections in a row, the Republican and Democratic parties of the United States are now highly focused on the ballot box, and the British have also sent election monitoring commissioners to prevent us from committing crimes.

With all kinds of unfavorable conditions, it is impossible to think about "changing the tanuki for the prince" this year, and Chen Huichuan, the new presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, is also ineffective, and losing the election is a high probability event.

The second condition is that the "North American Post-War Treaty" expires, and the war reparations are paid off in full, putting an end to the excuse for our Tang Empire to meddle in American affairs again.

With these two prerequisites fully met, the British dared to do it.

After all, he is the hegemon of the world, and he acts somewhat unscrupulously. ”

Richard explained for the British without moving, and he looked a little helpless.

The invasion of the Tang Empire is indeed strong, but the British Empire is not weak either!

After the glory of the Victorian period, now at the end of the Victorian rule, the British Empire has shown signs of faltering, economic development has been sluggish for more than ten years, and the total economic growth is hovering around 1%, and the stamina is weak.

But after all, with hundreds of years of profound accumulation, with a vast colony of more than 30 million square kilometers, with the strong foundation of "India and Afghanistan do not shed blood, the British Empire will not fail", with the world's invincible Royal Navy, with a number of European followers, London can indeed be unscrupulous.

There's also bad news this year;

That is, after a seven-year regrouping of the Liberal Party, former Colonial Minister William Cecil led the Liberal Party all the way through this year's prime minister's election, and it is not surprising that he will win the final election.

If all goes well, he will be inaugurated as the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on June 23, 1885, which is an old rival.

If many people forget, then a reminder;

During the tenure of Lord William Yurt Gladstone, he served as an important minister of the colonial ministry, and was a far-reaching political veteran who had many bad ideas to limit the Tang Empire more than a decade ago.

But Richard was not afraid of him at all, because the Tang Empire was no longer what it was more than ten years ago, with a population of 121 million, and Chinese residents firmly accounted for 86.4%, and it was a prosperous scene from the inside out.

The new colonies of Colombia, as well as Cuba, Luzon and Zhongzhou provinces, have been largely digested, forming a basic social structure dominated by Chinese, and becoming one of the most powerful overseas provinces of the empire.

It is expected that by the end of this century or so, these overseas provinces, which were temporarily subordinate to the colonial ministry, will be reborn, so that they will be truly integrated into the ranks of the empire's native territory and complete their long-term strategic goals.

With such a strong foundation, even in the face of the British Empire, he is not afraid at all.

On the other hand, the British Empire did not frighten the Tang State at all, because although the strength of the Tang State was strong, it was impossible to put such strength into Europe and thus change the situation in Europe.

As long as the British Royal Navy does not allow it, the vast Atlantic Ocean is a forbidden land.

(End of chapter)