At the end of the 19th century, the gap between the rich and the poor in Europe was very large, the people at the bottom were living in poverty, and the contradiction between the working class and the capitalists was very acute.
France even broke out an unsuccessful proletarian revolution and fought a civil war!
But compared with the misery of the people at the bottom of Europe, compared with the extremely poor farmers in China at that time, it was simply a paradise-like life.
As long as ordinary people in Europe do not encounter natural disasters or plagues, they can make ends meet no matter how much they beg, and they can even buy wine if they beg for more money.
The mortality rate of the lower class people in Europe remains high. In fact, most of it is due to disease and cold!
Yes, there were really not many people in Europe who starved to death at that time. Of course, the tragedy in Ireland* was a combination of natural disasters and man-made disasters.
If Britain had opened up disaster relief at that time, with the strength of the British Empire, saving a small island of Ireland would be just a joke.
Hunger does exist, but it is not the most acute problem!
What poor people fear most is disease. In that era, once you got sick, especially infectious diseases, the mortality rate was very high because there were no antibiotics.
Not only is medical expenses expensive, but it’s also because of poor technology!
In addition to death from illness, the cold in winter is also the enemy of the poor. It is difficult for the homeless poor to survive the winter. Every year, hundreds of frozen corpses are collected from the streets of London.
It does sound tragic, but if you put the anti-Korean relationship in the East, in China, which has gone downhill, then the life of the poor in Europe will be a paradise.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the extremely poor peasants did not even have food to eat. They ate Guanyin soil, gnawed tree bark, and even exchanged seeds for food. In the most serious areas, even entire townships and counties experienced population extinction!
China has suppressed commerce and restricted the movement of people for thousands of years, and the most serious consequence has been the poor circulation of materials!
Not to mention mobilizing grain from overseas, even grain from the Jiangnan region is difficult to transport across state capitals. In an era without railways and an efficient commercial logistics system, *that would be population extinction!
Historical records indicate that during the famine period in Dingmao, Shanxi, people in the family did not dare to mourn or cry if their families were starved to death. As long as others knew that someone in your family had died, a group of people would snatch the body of the deceased and eat it!
During the Guangxu period, 10 million people starved to death during the Dingwu period. If this were done in Europe, it would destroy the country!
The victims of large-scale famines may even reach millions or tens of millions. However, small regional famines all over the country and natural disasters in which hundreds of thousands of people die at a time have become commonplace!
The government doesn't take it seriously, and even private historians are unwilling to write more about it!
In the ten years of Tongzhi, there are only a few scattered records in history books about the famine in some provincial capitals, as if the death of more than 100,000 people would not affect the glory of Tongzhi Zhongxing at all.
No one cares about the names of the more than 100,000 victims who starved to death? How did they grow up, and do they have any ideals? Whether parents and relatives are sad or not... it doesn't matter.
In the eyes of the rulers, dead people are just numbers, they are all walking zombies without joy, anger or sorrow!
There is only one person who is not like this, and that is Xiao Letian. The head of state of the Chinese nation has never ignored any disaster. The Chinese nation even now has the largest strategic grain reserve system in Asia.
The Chinese had the most advanced and effective disaster relief system in the world at that time!
In Xiao Letian's fortress plan, food reserves are the strongest anchor to save the Chinese people's hearts!
The abundant rice harvest in Nanyang, the vigorous development of the offshore fishing industry, and the ever-expanding military grain production plants... For food security, the Chinese no longer rely solely on total quantity.
Instead, we use high technology to ensure that food can be stored for a long time!
Compressed biscuits are not only military rations for the army, they are also life-saving rations that can be stored for a long time and are easy to transport!
Compressed biscuits made of heavy oil, heavy salt and tightly wrapped in oil paper have a shelf life of more than three years!
The deep-sea fish is pickled with heavy salt, and even smoked on the outside using the production technology of fuso bonito dried fish. The shelf life of such dried salted fish can even reach more than ten years.
There are also a variety of canned foods that can supplement the Chinese food reserves!
Others may not know it, but the old shopkeeper Fan Lian of Ryukyu knows very well that the rice dumped to the Qing Dynasty every year through Sihai Trading Company and Mijia Liang Company is enough to reduce the price of rice in the entire Qing Dynasty by 20%!
Such a large number of new increases naturally eased the food pressure of the Qing Dynasty, which made the pressure of disaster relief on the Manchu Qing Dynasty much less in recent years.
It can be said that the Tongzhi ZTE that was touted by the Manchus was based on the Chinese grain trade. It was Xiao Letian who deliberately let go and created such a prosperous age!
It’s not that no one has complaints. The Chinese have long wanted to cut off this almost welfare-based grain trade, but under the strong suppression of the head of state, no one dares to make a mistake!
"Perhaps this is the philosophy of life that the Chinese believe in. Accumulating virtue and doing good deeds is similar to the charity taught by God..."
The queen and the crown prince shuddered when listening to the terrifying Asian ukiyo-e painted by Princess Sissi, especially the vivid and ghostly scenes.
They all thought of the previous Irish war. The tragic scene at that time was still in front of them, and the Queen kept crossing herself on her chest in shock.
"You mean, Xiao Letian is so eager to expand the land just to alleviate the crisis of the Qing Dynasty?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, you are wise. The social contradictions in China are very acute right now, and they are even very different from those in Europe... They even guarantee basic food and clothing!"
"Continuous land annexation has caused the gap between the rich and the poor to worsen day by day, and backward water conservancy infrastructure and agricultural technology have led to a decrease in unit output of farmland..."
"How to solve this problem? It is impossible for Xiao Letian to overthrow the rule of the Qing Empire... What other way out does he have besides looking overseas?"
"Refugees need new land to settle in, but there is none in the country. The offshore fishing industry needs more ports, and these Chinese are also scarce..."
"This is the fundamental reason why he keeps expanding outwards!"
"The French ceded Annan, a Chinese uprising broke out in Luzon, and Kalimantan broke away from Dutch rule and became part of the Chinese territory..."
"But these are far from being able to solve China's crisis. The country is too big and has too many people..."
"Once the refugees appear, there will be tens of millions of people. Do you expect a few islands to be able to accommodate them? It is obviously unrealistic..."
"More importantly, the development of the offshore fishing industry cannot develop without a series of seaports as logistical supply points to support it!"
