Fatel is now covered in knots.
Ever since the encounter with the Phoenix Kingdom, everything has been a mess.
First, he found that the cost of winning the Phoenix Kingdom was unacceptable, so he decided to improve his productivity, began to build large-scale metallurgy, railways, and introduced locomotives.
As a result, a new round of drastic changes began before it even landed here.
The drastic change was accompanied by an increasingly obvious copper shortage, so that Fatel had to introduce banknotes during this period.
The result was, of course, a mess.
Although the fartel banknotes are nominally linked to gold, the nobles who have used precious metal coins for hundreds of years do not want them. No matter how high they are, they are still made of paper.
The nobles who were closer to the imperial city were more constrained and had to pinch their noses to use banknotes, but far away, the influence of Falter VI was relatively limited.
The attitude of the nobles directly led to the issuance of paper money, but most of the taxes borne by the people were still in the form of precious metals and materials, and the small amount of paper money collected was only used to pay the kingdom's taxes.
This kind of multiple valuations has led to huge differences in market prices in various places. For example, one yuan of new Fartel currency can buy a pound of grain in the Imperial City, but near the southern border, it costs ten yuan.
In normal times, this kind of price difference would soon converge through the activities of merchants, but now the floating island is still in progress, all kinds of roads are interrupted, and merchants are helpless.
As time went by, things developed to the point where they began to threaten the power of the Fatel king.
Currency is the core of a country. When the nobles far away from the royal city discovered that the empire did not have the power to control currency, they began to come up with various ideas, especially in the context of floating islands, uniting several local powerful people to defend a floating island. It seems that the island is not impossible to realize, and there will be undercurrents.
This situation was intolerable to King Fatel VI. Even in his distress, he still took out his hand and chopped off a few heads.
It cannot be said that the hidden dangers have been completely eliminated. At least for the time being, no one dares to openly disobey, and the progress of paper money has been pushed forward.
What really worries Sixth Generation is productivity.
The Phoenix Kingdom has become a thorn in his side, and the more he understands this opponent, the more he feels that productivity is a threshold that cannot be bypassed.
There are several levels of argument here.
From a military perspective, the Phoenix Kingdom's huge production efficiency advantage can bring about a very outrageous recruitment ratio.
Fatal's predecessors had done actuarial calculations during the war, and the ratio of soldiers to population could not be higher than 1:60. Once it was higher than this number, the entire social layer would begin to collapse from the agricultural side. The maintenance ratio of non-temporary armies should be lower, between 1:80 and 1:100.
Regarding the production efficiency of the Phoenix Kingdom, using the same factors to calculate, if all its food import channels cannot be blocked, her recruitment ratio can reach 1:10, or even 1:8, and the temporary mobilization ability in the face of life and death can continue to push the ratio higher. And last for at least one year!
In fact, due to the reserve of sugar, salt and other supplies, even if the food channels are really blocked, it will not be able to stop it from going crazy in the short term.
This means that although the Phoenix Kingdom is a small country with only a few hundred thousand people, its real mobilization will be very exaggerated. Its equipment advantages and unique tactical system, the advantage in troop survival rate brought by the defensive location, and the logistic pressure brought by the distance between the two sides Added up, it would be difficult to destroy it without a million-strong army.
Not counting the 200,000 logistics personnel in a million-strong army, can Fatel be able to raise an army of 800,000?
The answer is, no!
Slaves can be cannon fodder but cannot be counted as soldiers. Even if they have the will, their physical strength does not allow it.
If slaves are not counted, the entire population of Fatel cannot support a standing army of 800,000 people with a certain military level. Moreover, having 800,000 troops does not mean that 800,000 troops can be mobilized for conquest. The actual number is far different. .
The second level is the economic level.
The Phoenix Kingdom's production capacity exceeds traditional perceptions and brings a huge amount of surplus products for overseas distribution. Only raw materials can be sent in from overseas. This will lead to the rapid inflow of precious metals and more raw materials from overseas. Phoenix Kingdom.
This has resulted in an increasing shortage of precious metal currencies outside, forcing the use of alternative currencies, which is why Fatel's new banknotes were launched.
But even if the Phoenix Kingdom recognized paper currency transactions, it would only delay the problem but not solve it.
When one day the Phoenix Kingdom accumulates enough Fartel banknotes, there is no need to start a war. As long as the huge amount of banknotes are scattered within the territory of the Fartel Kingdom for free or in the form of concessions, it will be enough to collapse the empire.
The third level is the cultural level.
The Phoenix Kingdom's high production efficiency allows many people to get out of work and maintain a large proportion of study, administrative, and military populations.
Among them, learning to become illiterate will have a greater impact on surrounding areas.
Intelligence agents have secretly conducted investigations. As long as they are not wealthy residents, the residents of the Phoenix Kingdom have a deep hatred for serfs and slavery. In some cities, these topics cannot even be discussed. This will not only push up the temporary recruitment ratio at the military level. , and has even affected surrounding areas.
The illiterate population has higher self-sufficiency and does not use crude methods to directly interfere with overseas slavery. However, they will deliberately charge extremely outrageous prices when doing business with slave holders. Even the business of large companies will be affected by the emotions of their employees.
Over the years, overseas slave owners who needed direct contact either were secretive and did not dare to let others know, or they simply changed to the employment system.
For example, for the salt merchants in the empire, no Phoenix people would come to join them after they docked in Pangxun City. Local merchants in Pangxun would pick up the goods and sell them to the border. The price is still low, I would rather pay a little more than the dealer.
As a last resort, the salt merchants had to pretend that they had reformed their evil ways and had no slaves, so that they could sell the salt for a few cents more.
This scope of influence continues to advance with the expansion of commodities, and it has a tendency to threaten the aristocratic system and foundation.
If Fatel wants to counter the Phoenix Kingdom's influence in all aspects, it must also promote productivity. No matter how difficult it is, it must be done. Otherwise, when the opponent has a population of millions, the current only population advantage will be nothing more than a drag.
In actual operation, certain results have been achieved even before the acceleration of floating islands.
For example, a single-cylinder engine.
It is true that the empire did not master the cast iron formula and related processes, and could only use pig iron and molten iron to inject molds. However, it does not matter, Heishui and Pang Xun's hand-rubbing process can still be used as a reference.
If there is no cast iron shell, use a forged one. If the strength is not enough, use less oil, increase the piston stroke, and quickly create a single-cylinder engine with about three kilowatts in Phoenix Kingdom units.
Although it breaks down at every turn, the machine with only 3 kilowatts has already demonstrated the advantages of the internal combustion engine, which is more powerful and stable than the ox cart.
Floating islandization disrupted the pace of industrial deployment, but Sixth Generation did not directly abandon it.
...cannot ignore it, because in recent months, several territories on the border of Fatel have been discussing with the Phoenix Kingdom matters such as air transportation and trade after the floating island. In other words, even if they fly into the sky, Fatel cannot get rid of the Phoenix. Shadows of the Kingdom.
