From June to September of 1918

Although no large-scale battles broke out on the entire Western Front, small-scale battles continued, and the sound of guns and artillery was repeated every day on the hundreds of kilometers long front.

Over here

A grove that has long been completely destroyed, a certain protruding high ground, will be repeatedly fought by the enemy and us dozens or hundreds of times, and it has become the norm on the battlefield on the Western Front.

Britain, France and Tang Dynasty, the world's top powers, besieged Germany with superior firepower and troops on the Western Front.

The Germans, on the other hand, fought back with stubborn resistance, generally maintaining the basic posture of the Western Front, and did not let the Allied military bloc take much advantage.

North American

Senjugyo

After Richard returned to China, he lived in seclusion in the Xianshou Palace in the imperial capital Chaoge and lived a leisurely life, occasionally going out for a walk in micro-clothes to relax.

It's the end of summer

The rockery garden by the lake is beautiful, and his long figure wanders in the garden, surrounded by several docile lions and tigers.

After Richard stopped, the beast around him would lie down on his stomach and willingly become the soft seat of his master, which was extremely spiritual.

The favorite concubine Sevilla around her often takes the youngest prince Tang Li You, who is only three years old, to accompany His Majesty the Holy Emperor, and she looks like a happy scene.

His Royal Highness Tang Li You, the 82nd prince, has not yet been knighted, although he is only three years old, he is the little uncle of the current Tang Emperor, a generation higher than Tang Yezong.

The Tang Dynasty governs the country with filial piety, and the traditional royal etiquette is more strict, and it cannot be confused at all.

Richard exempted Tang Yezong from asking for saint and peace every morning and dusk, but once a week, Tang Yezong would always bring all the princes, imperial uncles and a group of imperial disciples into the palace to greet the Holy Emperor Taizu.

When you see Uncle Xiaohuang, you must also pay a visit first according to the etiquette.

Don't say anything else

Only the little emperor uncle can always be by the side of the Holy Emperor Taizu, and he can see that the holy family is rich, which is a great glory that other princes and grandsons can't imagine.

There are many heirs of the Tang royal family, and Tang Yezong has only seen His Majesty the Holy Emperor Taizu a few times since he became an adult, and he has only seen His Majesty the Holy Emperor Taizu a few times, and it is unthinkable to live by his side.

Last time, Tang Yezong led a group of royal disciples into the palace to ask for peace and reported bad news;

Former Cuban King Don Lee died of illness in Havana at the age of 72, and the 49-year-old Crown Prince Don Lee was able to inherit the throne as the second King of Cuba.

This news kept Richard silent for a long time, and in recent years, news of the death of the prince has come almost every few months.

Under the baptism of ruthless years, less than half of the 82 princes are left.

Many royal families have passed down to the 2nd and 3rd generations, and a few have passed on to the 4th generation.

Now the Tang Empire has no hereditary royal dukes, and the three royal brothers of Tang Yezong have also been crowned vassal kings in Brazil, which has increased the number of vassal states directly under the Tang Empire to 35.

The other royal bloodlines are hereditary, and now most of them are the noble families of earls and marquises.

In another half a century, it will almost be reduced to the lowest title of royal baron, and it will remain so.

Such a policy of following the title of royal prince ensured that the imperial family would not be too large, the financial burden would not be too heavy, and a large amount of money would not be used to support a group of noble idlers.

Not every emperor of the Tang Empire had such vigorous energy as Richard, and the second emperor, Tang Qianzong, had only four sons, which was considered an emperor with fewer heirs.

The third emperor, Tang Yezong, has only seven princes so far, and two of them are still minors.

He is now faced with a lot of government affairs, and he is over fifty years old, and it is impossible to have a new prince.

Seeing so many princes and grandchildren, Richard felt that he was really old.

He plans to live in Xianshou Palace until the spring of next year, and then return to the western capital of Chang'an (San Francisco) to start his life of retirement.

After more than ten years of rapid development, the total population of Chaoge (Philadelphia) has exceeded 2.276 million, becoming the fourth largest city in North America, second only to the three major world metropolises of Chang'an, Los Angeles and New York.

Today's imperial capital Chaoge has many high-rise buildings with dozens of floors, elevated highways and subway line 1 have been completed and opened, high-rise buildings are lined up, and the bustling and noisy metropolis scene is no different from more than a hundred years later.

The streets are filled with well-dressed urban beauties and white-collar workers of large corporations, and all kinds of cars are flowing endlessly, and at night it becomes a city that never sleeps with bright lights.

Compared with the stagnant development of New York in recent years, the imperial capital of Chaoge (Philadelphia), as the capital of the Tang Empire with a population of more than 200 million, has been advancing all the way, and the city's territory has continued to expand outward, and has become the core metropolis of the East Coast.

The extreme material demand brought about by the First World War stimulated the in-depth development of the industrialization of the Tang Empire, and attracted a large number of well-known scholars from European countries to join, and the level of science and technology, culture and education has reached the world's top level.

At the same time, the war contributed to the transfer of European wealth to North America, and a large number of European elites and nobles emigrated to North America to escape war-torn Europe.

This contributed to the further integration of Eastern and Western cultures, which evolved into a characteristic culture that belonged to the Tang Empire, with the rise of movies, cars, telephones, miniskirts, underwear and bikinis, as well as a strong Tang hedonistic culture, which was also a kind of luxury life that Europeans craved.

Positivity, freedom, equality and tolerance have become the characteristics of Datang culture, which is deeply influencing the world.

Hughes Pasic, a well-known figure in British culture, commented;

"When the British and their allies joined forces to fight the Germans for a small farm worth 600 pounds, it took years and millions of pounds to fight over and at the expense of thousands of people.

The Tang Empire used the same money to build 10 factories, creating several times the wealth.

One side is destroying and the other side is creating, and that's the difference between the two.

Sadly, we can't stop this from happening......"

Of course

In order to maintain its rule, the Tang Empire brutally persecuted and suppressed democrats who demanded open democracy and anti-imperialism.

Every month, several liners depart from the east and west coasts of North America to exile criminals on remote islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Persons with such dangerous remarks and tendencies, whether or not citizens of the Empire, were severely suppressed, arrested and found to be correct, and sentenced to exile.

Once you arrive on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean, you will never be able to return for the rest of your life.

In addition, there were robbers, thieves and criminals, and those who did not commit crimes to death were generally punished by exile, which greatly reduced the pressure on the prisons of the empire itself, and had a great deterrent effect.

No one wants to leave the prosperous world of North America, and their lives will be ruined like this.

From the era of total prosperity that began in 1914 to almost its peak in 1918, millions of factories across the country were operating at full capacity to supply the almost endless and urgent needs of the war in Europe.

And at this time

Richard was well aware that the post-war Great Depression was inevitable, and the Imperial Decree ordered the Royal Home Office to begin to shrink from investments in various countries in exchange for hard currency such as gold and jewelry to return to North America.

The eight major funds and a series of holding companies under the royal family have all begun to shrink the scale of production, accumulating cash flow to prepare for the cold winter.

At the same time, the move was to sell off a large number of properties, commercial buildings and shop properties held throughout the empire, and to sell off unnecessary corporate stakes one after another, increasing the gold reserves of the holding banks.

The remaining controlling stakes of the Royal Company are concentrated on large monopolies, such as petrochemicals, emerging pharmaceuticals, precision machinery, gold, silver and iron coal mines and raw material processing, seaports and terminals, and the automotive industry, and implement a comprehensive contraction strategy.

This process will last for 2~3 years, and the gold reserves held by the Royal Holding Bank will more than double, reaching an astonishing total reserve of more than 8,000 tons.

As long as you have money in hand, whether it is to stimulate the economy or invest in basic industries, it can play a positive role in helping the national economy in the Great Depression and stabilizing the morale of the people.

From the standpoint

As the economy of the Tang Empire was in an obvious overheated boom, the domestic assets that occupied the majority were sold quite smoothly and were able to obtain a high premium.

Since the end of 1918, the eight major funds under the Royal Home Office have been implementing a strategy of comprehensive contraction quite smoothly, and they are selling off non-core assets in a step-by-step and planned manner.

Richard knew it perfectly

The First World War will come to an end, and the reconstruction of Europe and the recovery of industry and agriculture will soon be on the agenda, and the good days of the current prosperity will soon come to an end.

When tens of millions of European soldiers return home, Europe's urgent demand for imported goods will plummet, and hundreds of thousands of factories and ranchers in the Tang Empire will fall into the dilemma of blind expansion, which is the inextricable ills of the capitalist system.

The high tide of economic development is followed by the trough, and the public makes the same mistakes again and again, and the role that government guidance can play is not obvious.

Nowadays in newspaper broadcasts

There are often warnings from experts and scholars, reminding business owners of all sizes not to expand blindly and beware of the risk of economic crises in response to the overheating of the empire's economy.

As the saying goes, good words don't persuade damned ghosts.

Many business owners and investors, dazzled by their huge wealth, simply did not heed the repeated warnings from the government and threw themselves into it.

According to the economic operation report of the Tang Empire in the third quarter;

During the quarter, fixed assets increased by 14.32%, and expenses for the purchase of equipment and other industrial products increased by 19.07%, which was in the stage of overheating.

This indicates

The business owners of the Tang Empire, large and small, are enthusiastic about investing and are willing to spend more money on equipment and expand production in order to increase exports and earn more excess wealth.

But can a world war go on forever?

The answer is no.

The enormous demand stimulated by the war will be abruptly halved by an armistice treaty.

At that time, the huge risk of over-investment will crush these blindly optimistic business owners and businessmen.

The current world war was in full swing, and Richard saw the crisis early on, and warned widely through the press and public opinion.

In fact

Early warnings have had little effect, and five consecutive years of full-blown economic prosperity have made people ignore a possible economic crisis, and optimism has prevailed.