Australian Storm 1876

  Chapter 837 Looking back at 29 years of development

  This year is the beginning of 1905. It has been the 29th year since the rebirth in 1876, and the 15th year since the establishment of the power. Now I look back on the past with a lot of emotion.

It was the first time that he set foot on Brisbane Dock that year. Li Fushou was only 16 years old, and he was still a prosperous young man. After nearly 30 years of struggle in this vast land of Australia, he has spent his glorious youth. People to middle age.

  He has a long jade body, and his eyes look deep through the tall arched windows, overlooking the metropolis of Red River Valley, which spreads far from the bottom of the mountain to the sky, and his eyes are filled with relief, standing still for a long time.

After 29 years of development, it now has a population of 60 million. Among them, the first generation of Chinese immigrants from the northern continent is almost 40 million, which constitutes the mainstream ethnic group of the empire, the Tang ethnic group. The other population is in Australia and overseas states. The new-born population belongs to the second generation of immigrants.

  Calculated like this, it looks like there are more than 1 million immigrants a year. The number of people in the early period is smaller, and the number of people in the middle and late periods is larger. On average, about 1.3 million immigrants a year.

   such a number

   did not have much impact on the population growth of the huge Qing Empire. Compared with the original historical time and space, the number of victims who died in frequent natural disasters was greatly reduced, the phenomenon of infant drowning was greatly reduced, and the population contradiction was relatively eased. That's it.

  Into the beginning of the 20th century

  The country of Qing Dynasty still ranks first in the world with a population of forty-five million people. The 40 million people who immigrated to Australia in 29 years were like a pebble thrown into a pond without splashing any slight waves.

  Compared with the traditional and conservative first-generation immigrants, the second-generation immigrants have a higher degree of cultural acceptance of the empire’s Chinese and Western tolerance, a stronger sense of belonging, a much higher education level, and a literacy rate of more than 90%.

  The generally improved literacy rate has greatly enhanced the quality of the empire’s population. It is also a solid foundation for the emergence of industrial and technological achievements in recent years.

Over time

  The second generation of immigrants represented by Li Xiaozu and Duan Changjiang gradually entered their youth, and the third generation of immigrants who fell to the ground gradually became the mainstream, representing the hope for the future.

In view of the importance of education to improve the quality of the population, during the second term of Prime Minister Fan Zhongzhai’s three major policies, in addition to the two major achievements of the "Beautiful New Countryside Movement" and the "National Medical System", he also plans to implement the "five-year system". "Compulsory education" has been upgraded to the level of "eight-year compulsory education".

  The beautiful New Countryside Movement does not take up much government expenditure. Most of it is used to build rural roads, subsidize farmers' biogas digesters, and build some garbage collection stations. It doesn't cost much.

  The same is true for the universal medical system, focusing on setting up health stations in each village and town, and sending medical school graduates to work in the village and town health stations to provide basic medical services.

  These health and medical services are not free. They can only be said to be of a public welfare nature. At the very least, it is necessary to maintain the office expenses, operating expenses and personnel expenses of the health stations. These village and town health stations have at least one or two people, and as many as ten or twenty people.

  The government provides certain subsidies to remote health stations. Most health stations require self-financing, self-financing, independent operation, individual contracting, and a basic medical and health network throughout the country.

  This is complementary to the "Beautiful New Countryside Movement", which aims to improve people's living standards, create a sanitary environment, increase life expectancy and happiness of the whole people, and let people truly feel the dividends of development.

  In the field of education

The primary and secondary schools in the Ocean Empire are divided into three categories. Public schools are the main ones, private aristocratic schools and charity schools are supplemented. Among the total of more than 6000 primary and secondary schools, there are more than 1,100 charity schools, including 769 donated by the royal family. There are 238 church schools and 107 donated by well-meaning people from the society, which have become a powerful part of basic education and can basically achieve the goal of education for all.

  Considering the eight-year basic compulsory education needs to invest more resources, the government will focus on education in terms of expenditure, which will account for nearly 10% of the total government expenditure in order to promote the education for all policy.

Comparison

  Military expenditure only accounts for less than 8% of government expenditures and 0.717% of the total national economy, even less than 1%.

It shows that the Ocean Empire is a society dominated by economic construction, relying on its advantageous geographical location to fully develop industry and technology, instead of spending more than half of its government expenditures as a military and supporting army and navy in preparation for the crazy development of the country. , Participate in the hegemony of the Far East.

  At a major historical juncture, Li Fushou maintained a strategic calmness and chose the most reasonable strategy to avoid a complete break with London.

  Facts have proved that this is an extremely wise strategic decision.

  At the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China

  The army and the navy have a development trend of rapid development and full expansion. The Ministry of War hopes to maintain a large-scale army of more than 600,000 people, and even expand it further.

  The navy hopes to build a huge fleet of more than 20 battleships, take the Luzon Islands, completely invade the Dutch East Indies, and take off New Zealand by the way.

This kind of expansion impulse was all suppressed by Li Fushou with unparalleled prestige, and he started to implement large-scale layoffs on the army after the Civil War. He only retired and did not recruit new recruits for three years. The army’s number was reduced from 630,000 to 140,000, which would save money. The huge military expenditures that came down were used to develop the economy and restore production in the southern states.

  The Admiralty has also ushered in a five-year blank period without orders for new ships. The navy's budget has been reduced and reduced, and it can only maintain basic functions.

  Facts proved

Li Fushou’s sober decision was correct. The Australian Civil War shook the British Isles. In London’s public opinion circles, Li Fushou’s image changed from Her Majesty the Queen’s loyal minister to a great traitor to the country, and he asked the British Empire to implement a plan of military intervention. Speech dominates the mainstream, which poses a serious threat to the new Ocean Kingdom.

Secretly, Li Fushou mobilized the European connections he had accumulated over the past decade, and spent a lot of money to interfere with public opinion, wooing people who corrupted the upper class in London, and winning the recognition of world powers through active German, French, Russian, and American diplomacy that was hostile to the United Kingdom. , This made the United Kingdom a lot of worries, and ultimately prevented the launch of the London military intervention plan.

  It can be said that all the energy of breastfeeding has been used.

on the other hand

  In the war, the Northern Allied Forces disregarded the casualties and fought fiercely, quickly advanced the front to Melbourne, and established the victory through the surprise attack.

  At this point, London’s military intervention plan has no meaning. It can only die and accept the current harsh reality.

  Li Fushou immediately expressed allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Victoria after the war and was willing to return to the British circle of friends in the way of the Commonwealth. This led to the birth of this British-led international organization decades earlier.

  At the same time, the Ocean Kingdom continues to provide more than 6 million pounds in taxes each year. All these actions, combined with overt and secret diplomatic efforts, have calmed London's impulse to kill and accepted the reality with his nose.

  Looking back at the entire process of independent nation-building, it can be described as a crisis step by step, and one fell into the abyss accidentally.

If it really expands in an all-round way as the hardline generals of the army and the navy said, it will definitely cause strong hostility from the old colonial powers such as Britain and France, worsen the trading environment, and become extinct from the current world trading circle with Europe at its core. The third battle fleet of Calcutta in the Indian subcontinent competed with the Far East fleet, and it was inevitable that large-scale naval battles would be triggered.

  With the strength of the Ocean Empire's navy, it is nothing more than an egg hitting a stone.

  At that time

   Standing on the moral commanding heights, the British Empire can organize world coalition forces to punish non-commissioners. After obtaining complete control of the sea, the overseas states belonging to the Ocean Empire will be uprooted one by one, and Australia will eventually be surrounded by a dead island.

  Think about this terrible prospect, which makes your back chill.

  The Ocean Empire cannot be separated from the British circle of friends. There is one more Australia or one less in the British circle of friends, which has little impact on London, and the two sides are not on the same level at all.

  Looking back on this historical course, Li Fushou secretly rejoiced in his heart;

  Fortunately, I didn’t listen to the words of these street boys, and they killed people impulsively!

  Looking far away

Nowadays, the metropolis of Red River Valley has emerged many high-rise buildings of 30 to 40 stories. Most of them are gathered in the new urban area in the north bank area, which increases the urban skyline. The old urban area on the south bank is still dominated by classical buildings. Distinctive characteristics.

  The old city on the south bank represents the past history, and the new city on the north bank means a vigorous future. The magnificent skyline formed by high-rise buildings symbolizes the power of the industrial society.

  Development till now

  Red River Valley Metropolis has completely bordered Qinglong City to the east, countless factory buildings spread to the outskirts of Zhuque City to the south, and connected to Baihu City to the west, just separated by a winding Baishui River.

  The entire Red River Valley metropolis covers an area of ​​more than 900 square kilometers, which is one and a half times larger than Seoul, with a population of close to 2 million. Compared with the population of more than 10 million in later generations, Seoul still has great potential for development.

  But to see

Today’s Red River Valley metropolis still has large tracts of forests and park reserves. The large forests around Daming Palace occupies a very wide area. The aristocratic mansion near Beishan Street covers several acres, and the large aristocrats occupies dozens or even dozens of areas. Hundreds of acres have greatly reduced the land used in metropolitan areas.

In the old city of South Bank, the city is dominated by classical buildings of 3 to 4 floors, and there are a large number of villas filled with manors, which can provide limited living space, which also leads to high rents for buildings in the old city, which ordinary people cannot afford. .

  Therefore, there is not much land available for development in the Red River Valley metropolis in the future, and most of the land available for development is outside the suburbs.

  In other words, the land that originally belonged to the cities of Qinglong, Suzaku, and Baihu was occupied, and the suburban towns were included in the scope of the Red River Valley metropolis to build high-rise buildings and residential buildings.

  Therefore, in the imperial parliament, now there are calls for including the Four Mythical Beast City into the Red River Valley Metropolitan Area one after another, which has won the approval of a large part of the citizens.

  If it can be implemented

The Metropolis of Red River Valley will expand from the current seven urban areas to 11 districts, the population will increase from close to 2 million to 4 million, and the area will expand from 900 square kilometers to 6,600 square kilometers. The depth of the city will increase greatly, which is a follow-up development. Provide plenty of power.

  Thanks to the empire’s booming economy, the Red River Valley metropolitan area has no large-scale slums and excellent infrastructure. Although there are concerns about the different levels of urban construction in various regions, it does have the conditions for merger.

After the Metropolis of Red River Valley completed the "Hui"-shaped subway network, it has begun to construct subways to Qinglong, Zhuque, Baihu, Xuanwu and other cities. The suburban tram network has been opened for a long time, and the spacious roads extend in all directions, which tightly connect them. Together.

  As of the end of 1904

The number of vehicles in the entire Red River Valley metropolitan area has reached 227,000 (including trucks), and large-scale road congestion has occurred. In order to solve this problem, the traffic police trained by the Royal Police Headquarters has been on duty, and the supporting traffic regulations are being formulated. .

on the other hand

  The architects began to imagine that, in addition to subways and ground transportation, in order to ease the crowded traffic and pedestrian flow in the metropolitan area, construct elevated roads and highways, and prohibit animal-powered vehicles and pedestrians from passing.

  Big city disease gradually revealed in the economic development, which is the main reason for Li Fushou's hesitation.

It is not that these cities cannot be merged, but after the merger, it will bring huge challenges to urban traffic, water, power supply, sewage pipe network, municipal and environmental sanitation, and the urban elevated ring line must be built across the Brisbane River. The westward navigation route of the Brisbane River will be cut off. After the 10,000-ton ship arrives at the North Shore terminal, it is no longer possible to continue westward.

Because of the existing bridge height, it is impossible to allow a huge ship of more than 10,000 tons to pass through. The cargo can only be transferred here, and smaller ships are used to continue to transport cargo to the west. This will definitely affect the development of more than a dozen cities and towns in the west, headed by Baihu City. Have a negative impact.

  After comprehensive consideration

Li Fushou also approved the Red River Valley Metropolis Elevated Loop Project reported by the Cabinet. This is also the world’s first urban viaduct loop. It crosses the Brisbane River through a riverbed tunnel in the downstream, and connects the two banks through a viaduct in the upstream to form a complete The elevated loop line connects the new urban area on the north bank with the old urban area on the south bank.

Thus

  There is an elevated ring line above, a subway below, and road traffic extending in all directions on the ground. Together with the newly appointed traffic police command, it can effectively solve the traffic congestion problem in the Red River Valley metropolitan area.

This is not a trivial matter. It is expected that in the next 5 years, the Red River Valley Metropolitan Area will experience a rapid increase in the number of cars, from the current 227,000 to more than 400,000, with a total population of nearly 5 million. Scale, leading the world to enter the real automotive society.

  This honor belongs to the Americans in the original history, but history has changed. Ocean Empire’s automobile industry has an unquestionable advantage in the world. In the annual output of 520,000 vehicles, Ocean Empire has a market share of 83.7%.

  Ocean Empire Australia and the automobile production holding companies located in the United States and Europe produced 430,000 vehicles in 1904, far ahead of other countries in the world.

  There are two advantages here that are very important;

The first point is that the Ocean Empire has the advantage of natural rubber resources and has cultivated and developed world-leading large-scale enterprises such as Goodyear, Michelin, Sunco, Fushunda, Moresby Rubber Tire Company, etc. This is something other countries cannot. Competitive advantages.

  The other point is that the development of Ocean Empire’s automobile industry started early, with large scale, high production efficiency, strong market competitiveness, leading technology in supporting enterprises such as engines, transmissions and clutches, and possessing core intellectual property rights.

  The entire automobile industry chain has formed a complete parts supply system. This is the only one in the world today. Automobile companies in other countries also need to import related parts and accessories, and they do not have independent production capacity.

  In terms of policy

The United States and other countries pursue a free market economy and do not intervene in enterprise development and mergers. However, Ocean Empire is different. It strongly supports automobile manufacturers and parts and accessories industries. It not only has science and technology support funds, but also has taxation, water supply and power supply, market environment and exports. Relevant preferential policies are strongly supported.

In the rapidly growing Ocean Empire automobile industry, dozens of automobile factories have emerged, including four large-scale comprehensive enterprises with a production scale of more than 50,000 vehicles, as well as a BMW automobile factory that leads the truck field, as well as professional refitting. Manufacturers of urban buses have unique advantages in subdivisions and present a promising prospect of a hundred flowers blooming.

  In this, Li Fushou’s careful planning and painstaking guidance are indispensable. This is especially important.

  He knows that the huge scale of the future auto industry will be enough to support Australia’s modern industrialization system and become the pillar industry of the empire.

  One car and one wool are the two traditional pillar industries of the Ocean Empire.

  The automobile industry in all countries in the world today is generally weak, scattered, weak in technology, and without core competitiveness. This is the best time for Ocean Empire’s automobile industry to dominate the world.

  Australia is the place where the first automobile was born. The automobile industry has developed for more than 24 years. The automobile industry has gone through a complete development process from small to strong, and has cultivated a considerable world market.

  Now, it’s the golden season of harvest.

The rapid growth of demand from all over the world has further promoted the rapid development of Ocean Empire’s automobile industry. In Citigroup alone, there are more than a dozen leading manufacturers such as General Motors, Ford Motors, and Carmel Motors, with a total annual output of 70,000. The scale of the remaining vehicles, as well as Volkswagen, Foton, BMW, Xingchi and other manufacturers are located in the Citigroup branch, the annual output reaches a total of 117,000 vehicles, the two total annual output of 190,000 vehicles, according to the Citigroup’s auto market 90% or more.

  Today the world car sales market

  Ocean Empires and Citigroup accounted for 90% of the shares, and the remaining share was in Europe.

  The more affluent Citigroup has an extremely strong demand for cars. The auto industry belonging to the country has not yet developed, and it has been overwhelmed by the flood of imported cars.

  The Citi government is also helpless, and can only watch the foreign holdings of General Motors, Ford Motors, and Carmel Motors step by step to become bigger and dominate the domestic auto market.

Next step

  Li Fushou’s plan is guided by the Royal Fund, which holds a large number of shares in various manufacturers in the auto industry, to promote standardized operations of various companies and start the listing process.

  According to the principle that core companies are listed on the Australian Red River Valley Securities Exchange and non-core companies are listed in New York, the development of the company is linked with thousands of shareholders to develop and strengthen the capital market.

  In the future, the Red River Valley metropolis will be built into a world-class financial center, and the rapidly growing capital market is its most powerful financial tool.

  In this year

  The Brisbane futures trading market, which is planned to be launched, will focus on wool futures, coal futures, oil futures, rubber futures, sugar futures, and spice futures, leading the world's commodity price trends, thus occupying the first-mover advantage in the financial market.

All of this contained Li Fushou’s deep strategic considerations. The seeds planted bit by bit now will have a huge impact on the future development of the empire, thereby laying a solid financial and industrial foundation. The 60 million population has given him sufficient Confidence, leading the empire towards a world-class power.

  (End of this chapter)