The Chu Empire in the thirty-seventh year of Chengshun passed smoothly in war and peace as usual...
The war was because the military operations of the Great Chu Empire had never stopped... Needless to say, during the Unification War period, the Great Chu Empire was fighting every day in order to strive for hegemony in the world.
The war did not stop after the Ming Dynasty was overthrown. On the one hand, the Chu Empire continued to attack the remaining forces of the Ming army, and began to conduct large-scale operations in the southwest and even the Qingkang Plateau. At the same time, on the other hand, it continued to attack the east Captives and Monan Mongolia launched continuous military operations.
After clearing away Dongdu, taking over the Koryo Peninsula, and taking control of Monan, the large-scale military operations in the northern region came to an end, but the operations in the southwest region still did not stop.
Military attacks against indigenous people in Guangxi, Yunnan-Guizhou, western Sichuan and other regions are continuing.
Not long after, the Chu Empire started fighting again with the Mongols in the west, the Zhungeer tribe.
In the ongoing war, the Chu Empire not only completely defeated Zhungeer, but also penetrated into Central Asia, and also completely captured the Qingkang region. In the process, it also completely wiped out the chieftains in the southwest region, and A large-scale immigration operation was carried out, making the vast southwest and Qingkang areas completely the territory of the Chu people.
During the same period, the Chu Empire was still fighting with Russia in the north... and finally captured the vast Siberia all the way.
After entering the 1920s, the main expansion direction of the Chu Empire turned to the sea. It was no longer limited to small fights, and began to conquer various parts of Nanyang on a large scale. It completely drove the Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese out of Nanyang and took control of Nanyang. various places, and then expanded into India on a large scale.
During this period, it also expanded into North America on a large scale.
During this period, the main external expansion strategy of the Chu Empire was to seize a large number of overseas territories for immigration to settle more and more people. The slogan was to fight for more living space for the people of the empire... When expanding overseas, the methods adopted were also quite extreme, similar to the model of the later American Westward Expansion Movement. The imperial immigrants pushed all the way from the coast to the inland, expelling the local indigenous people along the way, and finally achieved the goal of "obtaining more living space." Strategic objectives.
This is also the reason why the Great Chu Empire occupied the areas during its overseas expansion in the 1920s, and now there are basically only Chu people... Because throughout the 1920s, and even in the early 1930s, the Chu people's external expansion did not Gold and silver don’t need the market, let alone so-called free labor. Chu people only want land... land that can grow food to feed more Chu people.
In fact, the empire's population growth rate at that time scared the empire's senior officials... They were worried every day that the empire's territory would not be able to support its people.
After entering the 1930s, this situation began to gradually change. Especially after the 35th year of Chengshun, the empire's domestic population growth slowed down, and the empire's foreign expansion policy also changed at any time. When expanding overseas, it began to be economic. Value first.
This can be specifically reflected in the empire's series of expansion actions in Africa and Europe. Basically, it is not to occupy any amount of land, but to obtain more industrial raw materials and agricultural products, and at the same time to obtain more dumping grounds for industrial products.
The European Trade Free Plan is the best embodiment of this series of policy changes.
The empire's expedition fleet went to Europe not to obtain more land, but to open up the market for more than 100 million people, trying to get more than 100 million people in Europe to provide the empire with more agricultural products and industrial raw materials, and at the same time serve as industrial consumers of the product.
To put it bluntly, they want to use more than 100 million people in that part of Europe to serve as cheap labor, and use their surplus value to supply the Chu people.
Very typical colonial economic management policy!
And war is naturally inevitable in this process.
Looking at the inside and outside, you can find that the Great Chu Empire has been accompanied by wars since the day it was established... This is still talking about some large-scale wars. If it is just an ordinary battle of hundreds or thousands of people, then More.
It can even be said that the Chu Empire has been in a state of war every day since the day it was established!
Therefore, war was a common thing, even normal, for the Chu Empire. Even ordinary Chu people were accustomed to the empire's army fighting with the natives in overseas colonies.
People are used to being beaten too much...especially the current middle social group in the empire, that is, the generation in their thirties and forties. They have been in the empire since they were young, or even from the day they were born... There was a war.
Therefore, in their cognition, war is a common thing, and it is strange that there is no war anymore.
Of course, the Great Chu Empire not only had wars, but also had peace and prosperity!
This is mainly reflected in the local area. Unlike overseas areas where wars are fought every day, there have been no wars in the local areas of the Chu Empire, especially in the traditional eighteen provinces in Guannei, especially among some core members of the Chu Empire dynasty. In the ruling areas, namely the Pearl River, Yangtze River, and Yellow River basin areas, the war ended after the unification war, and then began a large-scale restoration of people's livelihood and the development of industry and commerce.
The war is very far away from the mainland of the empire.
At the same time, after the early restoration of people's livelihood, the empire inevitably entered a so-called prosperous period.
This so-called prosperous age actually has nothing to do with the Industrial Revolution initiated by Luo Zhixue. Even if there is no industrial revolution, the Chu Empire, which has ended the unification war, will usher in a so-called prosperous age like many unified dynasties. .
After all, it had just gone through a turbulent war, the population had decreased significantly, and the land had been largely abandoned.
At the same time, after the establishment of the new dynasty, interest groups will be replaced to a certain extent. A large number of interest groups from the previous dynasty were exterminated by the new dynasty, and all their social wealth, such as land and other means of production, flowed back to society.
In addition, when a new dynasty is established, its military strength will be relatively strong. After unification, foreign campaigns will be smoother, and internal pressure will be stronger, which will avoid the outbreak of large-scale wars.
Under such circumstances, the situation of more people and less land has been alleviated, and the distribution of interests has achieved a new fragile balance. In addition, without war, as long as the rulers don't mess around, the so-called prosperous situation will easily occur.
This has nothing to do with what dynasty or ruler...it is the self-regulation of society.
So don’t be too superstitious about how powerful the second and third generations of emperors who started the prosperous dynasty were in some traditional dynasties in history decades after the founding of the country... Those are just some lucky people in history...
To put it bluntly, even if a dog is tied up as the emperor of this period, it will be a dog emperor who can usher in a prosperous age... Of course, the premise is that the dog chain must be tied up and the dog cannot be allowed to mess around.
If you mess around and disrupt the self-regulation of society, you will become a second generation and die...
If Luo Zhixue was not a person with the soul of future generations, but a native aboriginal, as long as he was not too stupid, then the Chu Empire would most likely follow the steps of a traditional feudal dynasty, and the great unification would also face the same situation twenty or thirty years later. Come to the so-called prosperous period...
But Luo Zhixue has a soul for future generations!
Therefore, the Chu Empire he established was different from the traditional feudal dynasty, and the different Chu Empire brought a different path to the land of China...
A road that China has never taken in its thousands of years of history: the Industrial Revolution!
Therefore, the prosperity of the Chu Empire today is different from the prosperity in the traditional sense of history!
In the spring of the 38th year of Chengshun, at the Wusong Naval Base, a large naval transport ship with a displacement of several thousand tons and a 55mm single-barreled rapid-fire naval gun installed on the bow and stern slowly slowly moved with the assistance of a tugboat. Close to the pier.
On the pier, there were already a group of officers in military uniforms and officials in Confucian uniforms waiting.
"Yun 367 supply ship, the prototype is our navy's third-generation steam transport ship Yun 355 class. As our navy's new generation of ocean transport ship, the 355 class' full load displacement can reach 4,500 tons, and it can carry 2,000 tons in the maximum loading mode. Eight hundred tons of various supplies.”
"Based on this transport ship as a prototype, we designed and modified the Yun 367 supply ship, installed a refrigerator, and made design adjustments to the cargo warehouse. The design goal is to provide fresh meat, Fresh food like fruits and vegetables!”
"Ocean food supply has always been a major problem that plagues our overseas operations. Although various canned and canned biscuits, chocolates, candies and other foods are good, they are expensive. In addition to canned foods, other foods that are easy to preserve and transport generally have poor taste. No, nutrition is also lacking.”
"For example, the bacon jerky, an important material in the meat supply, was generally reported by the soldiers to be too unpalatable... To be honest, the first time I ate that stuff, it almost made me vomit!"
"What's more important is that these cans and dried bacon are actually used as dry food. If the fleet sails for a long time, it is impossible for the soldiers to eat these every day. Not to mention the cost is too high, and the soldiers will also be resentful. !”
"In order to solve the ration problem for soldiers stationed overseas, in addition to advocating local food collection and self-reliance to obtain fresh food, we have also continued to work hard on the preservation and transportation of military rations!"
"We found that when the weather is cold in the north, meat, fruits and vegetables will be stored longer. We happened to know that there are domestic manufacturers of refrigeration machines, so we thought about installing refrigeration machines on large warships to preserve food. , and thus meet the fresh food needs of soldiers while sailing at sea."
"Later, I found that the effect was quite good, so I went a step further and built a refrigerated transport ship specialized in transporting fresh food to provide fresh food supplies to large fleets and some Marines stationed overseas."
"In this way, there are supply ships No. 367 and two subsequent cryo supply ships No. 368 and 369."
"After receiving a notice from our superiors to conduct a feasibility test on overseas frozen cross-ocean transport of meat, our navy specially deployed the Yun 367 frozen supply ship to carry out this mission!"
"After receiving the mission, the ship loaded 2,500 tons of fresh beef in Mumbai, India, and then transported it all the way back to China!"
At this time, a fourth-level official wearing Confucian robes said: "According to our calculations, the local beef purchase cost and transportation cost add up, and the final price is slightly higher than the local beef supply price in Songjiang!"
"But the transportation cost of military transport ships is inherently higher than that of civilian ships. If we switch to civilian refrigerated transport ships under construction, the overall cost will be the same!"
"In addition, the price of meat in Mumbai is slightly higher. If you switch to North America, the price of local meat is extremely cheap. Even if the transportation costs are included, the price of these frozen meats will still be higher than those in Songjiang City when they are shipped back to China. Fresh meat is available at much lower prices.”
“Frozen meat transfused internally has great potential!”
"The ship has docked. Let's go up and see how the beef shipped back to China is doing!"
Subsequently, a group of officers and civilian officials arrived at the dock and boarded the ship directly. It didn't take long before they saw the beef being taken out of the refrigerated warehouse.
Everyone saw that the beef in front of them was frozen hard, and it was obviously not rotten.
Later, I cooked the frozen beef on the spot and tried it. Although the meat was still good, it tasted very average.
But everyone still ate happily, even with faces full of joy.
This meat is edible!
"Tests have proven that it is feasible to import frozen meat. Although the taste is a bit worse, it is still meat anyway. It can be put on the market on a large scale to meet the needs of the people!"
A civil servant looked excited and said: "You don't know, the meat in Songjiang City is too expensive. Ordinary people can't eat much meat all year round. Nowadays, this kind of frozen meat from overseas is large in quantity and cheap. It can be huge." To improve people’s living conditions!”
"With this thing, the millions of people in Songjiang City won't have to worry about not having meat to eat. And if the millions of people in Songjiang City can be supplied with meat from overseas, they won't have to siphon off a lot of meat from surrounding areas."
"Refrigerated transportation must be vigorously promoted!"
This man's statement was unanimously agreed by others.
The emergence of refrigerated transport ships allowed the empire to obtain overseas meat supplies in large quantities and cheaply. This was a major event that could change the dining tables of the people of the empire.
Otherwise, the empire's top brass would not have considered this matter an important strategic task and even asked the Empire Grain Corporation to take the lead in cooperating with shipyards and shipping companies.
Soon, Songjiang Business News also reported on this experimental frozen meat transportation across the ocean, which instantly aroused heated discussion among the local people.
After reading the newspaper, many people couldn't help but expect that once overseas meat is supplied to the mainland on a large scale, they will also be able to eat meat.
However, this is limited to ordinary people in the middle and lower classes, and for the upper class who don't worry about daily food and drink, they don't care much.
Anyway, meat is more expensive and they can eat it if it's cheaper... and some fluctuations in meat prices have no big impact on them.
So after Sun Xu saw the news in the newspaper, he just read it for a while, and then passed it by... Anyway, with Sun Xu's income, eating meat is not a problem at all, and meat and food are not the same as Sun Xu's. Xu's industry has nothing to do with it.
Sun Xu reads Songjiang Business News on weekdays, mainly paying attention to some developments in the cotton spinning industry.
After all, this is closely related to his life and even his future.
And soon, he stopped and looked at a report in the newspaper in his hand.
This report is that Li's Machine Tool Company has successfully developed a new generation of spinning machines, and if it is matched with the company's other new generation of cotton spinning equipment to form a new cotton spinning production line, the quality and cost of the cotton yarn produced will be no better than that of Hantian. How different are the new generation products of machinery companies?
Almost three years have passed, and finally another company has bypassed the patent obstacles of a series of new cotton spinning equipment built by Hantian Machinery Company, and developed new cotton spinning equipment with its own patented technology.
what does that mean?
Sun Xu didn't know too much about esoteric things, but he was certain that the new cotton spinning equipment, which had been increasing in price for three years, would see a price drop. New cotton yarn equipment continued to be in short supply. Hantian Machinery Company was naturally in need of the market, and would look for it every once in a while. Prices are raised for various reasons...you don't want it, but others want it!
However, Lee's Machine Tool is not a small company. It is one of the core companies under Lee's Steel, one of the three largest machine tool companies in the country, and one of the main competitors of Hantian Machinery Company's machine tool business.
As these two major machine tool companies compete, there is a high probability that prices for new cotton spinning equipment will drop. At the same time, the entry threshold for the new cotton yarn industry will continue to decrease, and more manufacturers will enter.
Maybe, in less than five years, maybe in about three years, the new cotton yarn will reach the low-end market!
And is this good or bad for Anhua Textile Company and itself?
On the one hand, he can predict that as more manufacturers enter this field, professional and technical talents like him will become more in short supply... In today's market, equipment is certainly hard to find, but talent is even harder to find!
In this way, it will definitely be beneficial to them, professional and technical talents.
But as more manufacturers enter and the market gradually becomes saturated, profits begin to decrease... Will the bosses of major factories give unconventional treatment to technical talents like themselves?
It’s impossible to even think about it with your toes.
It is good for him in the short term but bad in the long term. This is Sun Xu’s view on Li’s Machine Tool’s launch of new cotton spinning equipment...
Sun Xu put down the newspaper, looked at the light drizzle outside the window, and frowned slightly: The good days now won't last long!
Sun Mengshi at the back frowned when she saw Sun Xu put down the newspaper, took two steps forward with a big belly and asked: "What's going on? Is there any bad news?"
Sun Xu turned around and smiled: "It's nothing, it's just that a company has put into production new cotton spinning equipment!"
Naturally, Sun Xu would not tell his wife too much about his worries about the future. Now that his wife was eight months pregnant and needed to be calm to raise the baby, Sun Xu would not let her worry.
Furthermore, Sun Xu is still a traditional man. He still believes in the old tradition of men taking charge of the outside and women taking charge of the house. He will not let outside things enter the home and disturb the peace of the family.
But I have already made up my mind that I can’t continue to spend too much money financially in the future, I have to save enough money for emergencies, and I have to continue to study hard at work, not only to master technology, but also to master management.
As long as the position of the section chief is secure, even if the industry goes down and corporate profits decline in the future, as long as he is still the section chief when there are layoffs and salary cuts, his salary will not be much less, no matter how small it is... Even if his income is cut in half, he still has a salary of thousands of years. .
Secondly, Sun Xu thought that after repaying the loan in two months, he would save some money to buy some investment properties.
Nowadays, the real estate market in Songjiang City is okay... Of course, this market is not actually talking about the rising housing prices... Although the housing prices in Songjiang City are rising okay, they are not as crazy as they were in the past two or three decades. Although they are also rising now, they are not as crazy as they were in the past two or three decades. The amplitude is not large, and it is unreliable to invest in real estate and expect to make money from rising house prices under such a small price increase, because the little money earned is not enough to pay taxes.
In the current Songjiang City, if you want to make money by investing in real estate and raising housing prices, you basically have to work for the tax bureau...or pay for it out of your own pocket.
What Sun Xu wants is not to make money from the price increase, but to invest in some small-sized properties that are cheap and easy to rent, in order to obtain long-term and stable rental income in the future, and at the same time to ensure that the assets are not depreciation.
Anyway, the money is left alone, and the interest rate for depositing it in the bank is low. Although there are many other investment channels that can make money, the problem is that he doesn't understand... It is easy to lose everything if you silently enter a new industry to invest.
Just buy a house honestly and then just sit and pay the rent.
If one day the rental income can meet the family expenses, he will be satisfied and feel that his life is complete.
That's right, after years of hard work in society, Sun Xu's biggest dream now is not to get a promotion or a salary increase, but to become a rent collector!
Working hard and fearfully for others is not a good day like drinking tea, watching the sun and collecting rent!
Of course, Sun Xu also knows that this dream is not easy to realize. After all, if he wants the rent to cover his family expenses, the real estate required is not a small amount.
But when people live in this world, they always need to have dreams!
(End of chapter)
