Chapter 1071 The Untimely New Steel Center
The British are about to reform. For most countries, this is definitely a happy event worthy of universal celebration.
"Reform" may not necessarily make the country stronger, but it will definitely make the government busy.
The bigger the country and the longer the regime, the more problems it will encounter in the process of "reform". Britain, a century-old world hegemon, naturally faces all-round problems.
From the colonies to the mainland, there are too many problems left over from history, and the government needs to find a way to solve them.
It can be described as "a single hair moves the whole body". Even if the London government only makes partial reforms, that will keep them busy for a while.
History has proved that as long as the British get busy, international disputes will be greatly reduced and the world will become harmonious.
In fact, with the reunification of the Holy Roman Empire, the frequency of the British doing things has decreased a lot in recent years.
With the Holy Roman Empire at the front, most of the energy of the British government was dragged down, and naturally there was no time to toss other countries.
Now that the British government wants to carry out internal reforms, it has no energy to toss. That's a huge boon for politicians around the world, and it means another few days of sleep.
Although the two powers stand side by side now, only Britain loves to toss. As for the other overlord, he was obviously a farming player.
Looking through the international news, we know that since the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire was established, in addition to supporting Spain to expel the Japanese, there was only the formation of a peacekeeping force to garrison France.
If it weren't for the double eagle flag of the Habsburg dynasty flying all over the world, everyone would have forgotten this new overlord.
Of course, this is only for ordinary people, and politicians must never forget it. Not doing things does not mean that you are incapable of doing things.
Just relying on Shinra's ambassadors abroad to dismantle the British every day, everyone knows that this is not a good master. Especially in the past two years, the Shinra Navy has often come out with "super battleships" in the name of exchanging learning experiences.
Obviously, it doesn't make any sense to exchange experience with a dreadnought with a few thousand tons of ironclad ships.
If it wasn't Liwei, no one would believe it. What you know is what you know, but politics is rarely confused. The overlords are all here for "friendly exchanges", so you can't help but cooperate!
Fortunately, the Shinra Navy just strolled around, swearing a sense of existence, and did not take the opportunity to engage in political blackmail, so everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The end result is that the progress of the British government in winning over its allies has become extremely difficult. Although the Royal Navy has the largest tonnage in the world, it has already suffered a loss in the number of super battleships.
There is no way, warship construction also takes time. Shinra's first-generation super battleship "Rome" was in service in 1900, and the British had just begun research and development.
After a lot of hard work, the British super battleship was delayed until 1903 before entering service. This is already a super level performance.
From project design, construction to final service, it only took more than two years, which is enough to prove the strength of Britain's shipbuilding industry.
This is useless. According to the construction speed of one ship per year, Shinra's fourth super battleship has already been launched, and it is almost a certainty to enter service within the year.
The Royal Navy lags behind, only temporarily, but the impact on countries is still huge.
One step at a time, one step at a time.
The naval technological revolution has broken out. Can the Royal Navy, which is temporarily at a disadvantage, really catch up?
The British shipbuilding industry can crush almost all countries in the world, except for the Holy Roman Empire. This is determined by the market and cannot be changed by individual will.
The seeds of doubt had been planted, and everyone's inferences about Britain's invincibility had been shaken.
Since it is impossible to determine the outcome, it is natural not to stand in a hurry. Right now, we haven't reached the point of "friend or foe", so everyone can take a moment to observe.
All countries in the world are relaxed, but Franz has a headache. The international situation has changed beyond recognition, and no one is sure whether the British reforms will succeed.
In the original time and space, Campbell was elected prime minister in December 1905, and met God in April 1908, and the actual time in power was less than two years.
In such a short period of time, it is obviously impossible to complete the reform plan, but history still has a high evaluation of him.
Due to the butterfly effect and the impact of the domestic economic downturn and the intensification of social conflicts, all walks of life in the UK realized that reforms must be carried out. Campbell, a reformist leader, was elected in 1902.
Being elected three years in advance means that the reformers have three more years. For a country, "three years" does not seem to be a long time, but it can change many things.
Britain still has a solid foundation. Once the internal conflicts are resolved and the colonies are integrated, there is still great potential.
There are ready-made examples before him, and Franz cannot guarantee that the British will not follow suit.
In case the British are stimulated and follow Shinra to play with enfeoffment and completely eat Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other regions, it will be another proper world empire.
With such a large support plate, even if it loses in the struggle for hegemony, Britain is still a top power.
The only thing to be thankful for is that England is underpopulated and cannot digest such a large territory for a while. Otherwise, Franz could only do it in advance.
...
Frederick: "Father, this is
The new economic construction plan drafted by the cabinet. On the basis of the previous five-year plan, a new western economic revitalization plan was added, and it was planned to spend heavily to build the Ruhr Industrial Zone.
I have researched that the Ruhr area is indeed suitable for the development of industry, especially heavy industry. Not only is the transportation convenient, but it is also close to the origin of raw materials.
Once developed, it was the industrial center of the western part of the empire. It is of great significance to promote the economic development of the western region.
The most important thing is that the empire's heavy industry is too scattered. Limited by industrial raw materials, there are more than a dozen heavy industry centers all over the country, but there is no real core.
Before the development of the empire, such a decentralized layout can increase the security of the country, so naturally it cannot be miscalculated.
The situation is different now. We no longer have enemies on the European continent, and we have to develop a core to further promote the development of the domestic economy. "
"Revitalizing the western economy", if it was before, it would be a joke.
We must know that the European continent has always had an obvious characteristic, that is, the economy of Western Europe is the most developed, followed by Central Europe, followed by Northern Europe and Southern Europe, and the economy of Eastern Europe has always been at the bottom.
However, this situation has fundamentally changed since the revival of the Holy Roman Empire.
The economy of Eastern Europe is still at the bottom, and the changes in Northern Europe have not changed much. The economy of Western Europe has been declining in recent years. On the contrary, Central and Southern Europe has become the most economically developed region in the world.
Of course, the economic development of southern Europe is only developed in some areas. The economy of the Italian region is still not making a big improvement, let alone Spain.
Whether they are regarded as Southern European countries or Western European countries, there is no unified conclusion on this issue.
The only certainty is that placing them in Southern Europe will lower the economic average, and placing them in Western Europe can pull them up a few points.
The main reason is the pot of war. A European war destroyed the pillar of France, including the territory in the west of Shinra, which also suffered heavy losses due to the war.
As for Britain, it is not a continental country, so naturally it cannot be counted. In order to exclude the British, whether it is government documents or radio newspapers, Shinra tacitly threw Britain out of Europe.
After the European Continental War ended, the Vienna government started the western reconstruction plan. It's just rebuilding, not further development.
Especially the territory of the newly acquired area, limited by the population, the local economy has not improved much, and it has become a lagging area.
In order to change all this, the Vienna government is not without efforts. It's just that before, it was mainly busy restoring the post-war infrastructure.
As for economic development, we need people first. Although the Holy Roman Empire has a large population, it can't stand the empire because it is too big.
As the country grows larger, there will be more "key projects". In contrast, the western region under reconstruction did not play a high role in the empire's economic strategy.
It is neither comparable to the African Ring Railway, nor is it comparable to the petrochemical industry chain in the Middle East, nor is it comparable to the local automobile and aviation industries.
The western region with a low economic strategy and a lack of population naturally has limited resources available.
Encouraging immigration is unrealistic, and there are many places to rob people. The western territory located on the border is not competitive at all.
In the eyes of ordinary people, running to the west to be neighbors with the French is a big challenge in itself, and no one knows when they will fight again.
In a sense, this is also the fault of the Vienna government. Reports on the domestic situation in France were deliberately suppressed, even if it was occasionally published in a newspaper, that would be an understatement.
Ordinary people don't even know that the formerly majestic French Empire is now a plucked phoenix.
The new official took office three times. Due to the great achievements of the previous government, the new cabinet did not dare to change course easily. This has been held back for several years, and it is only now that I find an opportunity.
The distribution of heavy industry in the Holy Roman Empire was indeed too scattered. It wasn't that Franz didn't want to concentrate, but that he couldn't concentrate at all.
There are many areas suitable for the development of heavy industry, but due to various reasons, the upper limit of development is inherently limited.
Taking the steel industry as an example, Shinra has seven steel centers with an annual output of one million tons; there are even more regions with an annual output of 500,000 tons; however, with so many steel centers, the annual output of five million tons But there is none.
In this era, such production capacity can still be obtained. If it is left to future generations, any township and village enterprise can be killed in seconds.
It's not that steel companies don't work hard, it's that natural conditions are too restrictive. The production capacity has been increased, and the cost has also increased. Many steel centers have actually developed to the limit of existing technology.
Judging from the development of the Holy Roman Empire, the annual steel production capacity of 28.78 million tons obviously cannot meet the demand.
According to the forecast of economic experts, in the next two decades, the demand for steel in the Holy Roman Empire will increase to 50 million tons.
Theoretically speaking, if the potential of all the steel centers in Shinra is tapped out, the demand can be met without further expansion.
Obviously, a theory is just a theory. With the continuous development of society, the demand for steel is also increasing day by day.
The current demand forecast of 50 million tons is not static. After all, the Holy Roman Empire was simply too big for potential needs to be imagined.
From the experience of previous lives, as long as Shinra does not decline, the future demand for steel will definitely be in units of 100 million, and it is nothing more than a matter of time.
But the future is always the future, and we still have to focus on the present. took over
After briefly reading the document, Franz said slowly: "This plan is too radical.
I don't doubt that the Ruhr area can build a steel center with an annual output of tens of millions of tons, but don't forget that it is the economic market that can really determine production capacity, not the government.
The current world economy is indeed booming, but don't forget that the British economy has already experienced problems. The London government is making reforms at this time. What if it withdraws from the free trade system?
Once the British adopt trade barriers, there are definitely not a few countries that will follow suit, and our foreign trade exports are bound to be affected.
I wouldn't be surprised if an economic crisis broke out as a result. Is there still that much demand for steel in the short term?
What if, by bad luck, our steel center goes into production a few years later, just in time for a new round of economic crisis? "
It's not that Franz is conservative, it's really that the economic crisis in the capitalist economic world is already too numerous. Judging from the past rules, it is almost once every ten years.
It has been several years since the last economic crisis. Now that the steel center is being built, even if it does not catch up with the crisis when it goes into production, it has entered the countdown to the crisis.
Massive overcapacity broke out, and the domestic steel industry is absolutely wailing, and I don't know how many industries will be tossed to death.
The most tragic thing is that Shinra's steel industry is either invested by the government or controlled by the royal consortium. Private capital rarely touches these high-input, long-term industries.
If the industry created by oneself destroys one's own business, it is definitely a manifestation of brain flooding.
Even if it is to be done, it must be done slowly, for example, first control the production capacity at one million tons, and then continue to increase according to market demand.
From this point of view, the current cabinet is not as thorough as its predecessor when considering issues.
If it was purely for political achievements, the previous government would have done it long ago, so how could it be possible to stay in the present.
It is not difficult to build a steel center, as long as the basic conditions are met, you only need to pour money into it.
Even if the cabinet's ability to see problems is lacking, Franz is not going to change people now. Geniuses are always a minority, and most people are average.
Being able to hold back for several years, continuing the policy of the predecessor without major disturbances, has proved that this government is stable enough.
Although it is not comprehensive enough to look at the problem, the plan is not wrong in essence. If the project is divided into stages and the construction progress is slowed down a little bit, then there will be no problems at all.
From this point of view, the biggest problem with this plan is actually "too high efficiency", because the Vienna government's plan will be completed within five years.
After listening to Franz's explanation, Frederick was shocked and said: "The British want to withdraw from the free trade system, is this impossible?
You must know that the free trade system was proposed by the British government itself. When the treaty was signed, the British made a promise in front of the whole world. "
With the development of the times, the capitalist world economy has become more and more closely connected. Once the British withdraw from the free trade system, problems will definitely occur in the world economy.
With John Bull's consistent style of harming others and benefiting himself, once he decides to withdraw, he will definitely take action to bring down the free trade system. It is simply impossible for Shinra to continue to enjoy the dividends of the free trade era.
After receiving such a blow, Shinra's economy will definitely be greatly affected, and the market's demand for steel will also shrink sharply.
In this context, it is obviously out of date to add a new steel center with an annual output of 10 million tons.
Franz rolled his eyes: "Nothing is impossible, and reputation is just that for the British.
Once it is found that it is not in line with its own interests, it is inevitable to tear up the free trade agreement. It hasn't been done yet, because the British are still engaged in internal games.
The British have been beneficiaries of the free trade system for a long time, and vested interest groups have naturally emerged. Now the free trade system is not good for them, and if they want to withdraw at this time, those with vested interests will naturally oppose it.
If you have followed the London papers, you know that there is a growing discussion around free trade, with proponents and opponents quarreling.
Civil quarrels are only the beginning of the problem. It won't be long before the British Parliament will discuss it.
In Campbell's election manifesto, the issue of free trade was also mentioned. Although he did not directly say that he would abolish it, he hinted at export subsidies for some industries in his speech.
These are all signals. With the continuous deterioration of the British economy, vested interest groups alone cannot last long.
If the British government does not want to see the domestic manufacturing industry being squeezed to death by us, it will be a matter of time to adopt trade barriers. For Campbell, withdrawing from the free-trade system was far easier than pursuing internal reforms.
Judging from the current situation, this time will not exceed two years. We can already start preparing, and don't be caught off guard by the British. "
Don't be surprised that "two years" is discussed on one issue. For the British Parliament, this is just normal operation.
Withdrawing from the "free trade system" is a major event. It can be said that it is related to the national destiny of Britain. How can we not study it carefully?
Compared with the "Brexit" discussion that lasted for 45 years in later generations, it is already very efficient to be able to make a decision within two years.