I want to be emperor

The Eastern European Grain Production Plan was formally proposed at the end of Chengshun 41 and officially launched in the spring of Chengshun 42.

The goal of the plan is to occupy and develop the Eastern European Great Plains, so that this fertile plain, which is extremely suitable for food production, becomes the new granary of the empire, improves the food supply level of the empire, improves the living standards of the people, and then reaches an annual per capita food consumption level of [-] kilogram level.

In fact, just one year after the Eastern European grain production plan was launched, that is, this year, when large-scale development and planting of grain in Eastern Europe have not yet taken shape, the Great Chu Empire has actually reached a per capita grain consumption of [-] kilograms. of water.

This was mainly due to the empire's large-scale development in the Americas, especially North America, which resulted in huge food production.

It has to be said that the natural conditions in the Americas, especially North America, are naturally too favorable.

The huge area of ​​arable land has almost given the entire Chinese nation a huge new living space. Over the past few years, more than 2000 million people have immigrated to North America. However, today's North America is still considered a vast country. Unfortunately, the empire is still engaged in the eastward movement in North America...

There are still a large number of wilderness areas waiting to be developed in the central and eastern regions of North America.

In addition to the fertile land given by God, the food cultivation of the Chu people in North America mainly relies on large-scale horse farming and even steam engine farming. It is a very typical large-scale farm model with very high per capita grain output.

Only when the per capita grain output is high can it become a grain exporter and then supply local areas on a large scale.

This is also why the total food production in North America is currently far less high than that in the local area, but it can be supplied to the local area on a large scale. This is because the local people have less land and adopt a large-scale planting model, which can achieve large-scale production. large-scale grain output.

The principle is similar to the northeastern region of the empire. The northeastern region also has fewer people and more land. Large-scale horse farming and mechanized planting are used. The per capita grain output is very high, which can be supplied to the outside world on a large scale.

In addition to North America, South America also has very favorable natural conditions, and many places are very suitable for growing food, such as Brazil and Argentina.

After the Dachu Empire took over these various parts of South America from the Spanish and Portuguese, its development in South America was mainly focused on planting economic crops, auxiliary grain, and developing special minerals such as saltpeter.

This has also resulted in a very large production of corn and soybeans in South America. After the output of these economic crops, they can in turn assist the development of the empire's animal husbandry... For example, corn, for the empire, In fact, it is not used as a staple food. It is mainly used as a supplementary food, used to process various starchy supplementary foods, or simply used to produce feed for the breeding industry.

Whether it is staple food or supplementary food, it will eventually be reflected in the food supply of the Chu people.

The massive supply of food from all over the Americas has greatly increased the empire's overall food supply level.

Coupled with the supply of crops from the Indian peninsula, parts of Africa, mainly South Africa, some scattered areas in East Africa, scattered areas in West Africa, and Europe...the crops supplying food in these places are not much, and they are mainly cash crops. Such as cotton.

The commercial crops supplied in large quantities in overseas areas may not seem to be eaten directly, but the large supply of cheap economic crops from overseas can also allow precious cultivated land in local areas to be concentrated on food cultivation, indirectly increasing food supply.

After all, local arable land is limited. After planting cash crops such as cotton, food cannot be grown. If this plus one minus one is subtracted, the food supply affected will be relatively large.

Generally speaking, a large number of agricultural and livestock products from overseas areas, whether it is overseas directly administered territories, administrative territories, or vassal territories, have made important contributions to the high-level food supply of the Dachu Empire.

In this way, in the 43rd year of Chengshun, the Great Chu Empire reached the level of per capita grain consumption of [-] kilograms that the empire's top officials had been obsessed with and talked about for decades.

And what is the concept of this level?
It is roughly the level of the United States in the mid-to-late 90th century, Europe after World War II, and parts of East Asia in the [-]s.

The reason why there is such a big time span... This is mainly because of the weird thing called the United States.

Here we must focus on the peculiarity of the United States. Around the mid-[-]th century, during the American Civil War, the average number of American soldiers was six to seven centimeters taller than the soldiers of the world's major powers at the same time, including the world's hegemon, the British... This is very strange.

Why?

Why else? North America has a unique natural environment... There is a lot of arable land and few people. The per capita grain output is very high. There is too much grain to eat, and it is also supplied to Europe on a large scale.

There is plenty of food, and if you eat enough, you will naturally grow taller.

Very simple common sense~
Therefore, the ability of the United States to become a world hegemon can already be seen in the mid-to-late [-]th century. At that time, except for fewer people, the United States lacked everything. It was simply asking God to feed it... even if it was short of They also noticed the problem of people, so they played with immigration policies, and tens of millions of people poured into the United States every year.

After making up for the shortcomings of a small population, the United States took off directly and became a superpower after entering the twentieth century... In 1900, the main industrial data of the United States had surpassed other major powers. And the gap is getting bigger and bigger in the future.

The subsequent World War I and World War II were just smooth sailing.

Therefore, the United States' world hegemony did not come from World War I or World War II. In fact, they already had the world hegemony before World War I.

The subsequent two world wars only proved its strength to the world and easily pulled down the old hegemon, Britain.

What about other countries at the same time?
In the mid-200th century, the average height of most European countries, including Britain, the world's hegemon, was still not as high as the average height of people in China... Don't be surprised, the per capita food consumption level in Europe during this period was, At just over [-] kilograms, according to the standards of later generations, it was still in a state of large-scale famine.

During the same period, the life of Europeans was actually not much better than that of Chinese people.

Otherwise, why did so many Europeans immigrate to the Americas on a large scale in the mid-to-late [-]th century? They just didn’t have enough to eat!
However, it must also be noted that the explosion of industrial development that began in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, the surge in productivity, and the substantial increase in overseas colonization directly led to the rapid increase in food supply in Europe.

Before and after World War I, the average height of Europeans was the same as that of northern Chinese. However, 20 years later, by the time of World War II, the average height of Europeans had greatly exceeded that of northern Chinese. In this way, the so-called foreigners were born in the minds of Chinese people. Big memory.

The living standards of a country's people can actually be determined using the simplest and most intuitive data standard: average height!
Because behind the thing about average height is average food consumption.

The level of food, whether you are full or not, and whether you are eating well or not can always be used as a direct basis for measuring the living standards of people in a region.

Everything else is bullshit!
After more than [-] years of struggle, the Chu Empire finally reached a per capita food consumption level of [-] kilograms!

In order to achieve this goal, the Chu people almost controlled the whole world and controlled all the major grain producing areas!

To put it bluntly, the Chu Empire used the resources of the entire earth to supply itself!

Otherwise, it would be impossible to reach a per capita grain consumption level of [-] kilograms.

This is a population of more than 6 million, and the amount of food needed is astronomical!

With the current agricultural technology, chemical technology, etc., and relying only on the local area, that is, the traditional eighteen provinces in Guan Nei, it is impossible for all the Chu people to produce so much food so that all the people can eat so well. .

If the people of Chu want to eat well and eat well - to be more precise, they must have a supply of global resources if they want to eat well and well than the indigenous people.

This is also the direct motive for Chu's overseas expansion.

At the same time, it is also the fundamental reason why some advanced developed countries in later generations tried their best to suppress less developed countries.

The resources on the earth are limited, whether they are arable land resources or other resources, they are all limited.

And limited resources can only allow some people to live a good life... If other people also want to live a good life, then more resources in advanced developed countries will inevitably be squeezed out, which will lead to the poor quality of life in advanced developed countries. level dropped.

Many backward countries want to develop and let their people live a better life, but they are faced with difficulties. The more they develop, the greater the difficulties!

Suppression from developed countries continues, and the intensity of the suppression is increasing. There are various methods of suppression, but the purpose is to completely restrict you to low-end industries.

There may be various reasons for the suppression... But in fact, these public reasons are not important. They are basically just excuses. The actual reason is only one: the competition for survival resources!
To put it simply, under the current technical conditions, there is only so much food that can be produced globally. People in advanced developed countries eat more, while people in less developed countries eat less; and if people in less advanced countries eat more , then people in advanced developed countries will have to go hungry...

If many backward countries want their people to live the lives of Europeans and Americans, and the living standards of Europeans and Americans do not decline, you have to create several more earths... but in reality there is only one earth.

Therefore, many national disputes, no matter whether they are economic conflicts or wars, in the final analysis, are competition for survival resources-a life-and-death struggle!

Very cruel.If there were no nuclear bombs, the third or even fourth world war would have broken out in future generations, and how could there be an overall peace period of several decades.

The rapid development of the Chu Empire was also inseparable from the supply of global resources. In fact, the path it took was similar to that of any world hegemon.

After all, no matter how powerful the Dachu Empire's industry was, it still had to have all kinds of agricultural animals and mineral raw materials.

The supply of resources from many overseas territories allowed the Chu Empire's industry to operate at full speed and brought a better life to the people.

The Eastern European grain development plan is generally part of the empire's global resource supply chain, but it occupies a relatively important position in future planning.

After all, food is the most important strategic material in any period... You can have no clothes to wear, no house to live in, and no cars to ride on, but you can't live without food...

Food, clothing, housing and transportation, food is always the most important part.

Therefore, the empire still attaches great importance to the grain development plan in Eastern Europe. This emphasis is not actually reflected in war... As for pure war, it actually poses no pressure or even any challenge to the contemporary Chu State.

This can be seen from the number of main troops invested by the Chu State in Eastern Europe, as of the winter of Chengshun 43.

The total number of troops invested by the Chu State in Eastern Europe was only about 10, including two Class A combat readiness divisions and two Class B standing divisions. These four divisions were the main combat forces.

In addition, there are three C-class reserve divisions that were transferred from Central Asia to garrison, mainly to garrison strategically important places and transportation nodes.

And these 10 people are not concentrated in one place, but are scattered across the vast Eastern Europe, from the Black Sea in the south to Moscow in the north... The north-south front covers more than 1000 kilometers.

It is actually impossible for such a small number of people to completely control such a long front. The Chu people's military operations are more about dots and lines, by capturing and controlling city nodes along the river, and then controlling the entire river. Control the entire nearby area by controlling the river.

After establishing control in some areas, come to establish control over a wider area in the rear.

Military operations during this period were mainly focused on capturing urban strongholds, controlling rivers, destroying the enemy's main effective forces, and destroying the regime that resisted the enemy.

This is also the consistent routine of the Chu people in overseas expansion. The army presses forward and fights directly towards the enemy's main cities in order to annihilate the main force of the enemy's army on a large scale. Finally, it goes straight to Huanglong to capture the enemy's capital and destroy the enemy's ruling center. And then destroy the enemy's large-scale organized resistance capabilities.

After completing the above-mentioned set of preliminary military operations, it is naturally not the end. In fact, this is just the beginning, and the Chu people will have a set of immigration development plans in the future.

The most important of them is the construction of transportation facilities... Only with transportation can there be immigration.

The immigration of the Chu people basically revolved around rivers and settlements were set up along the railways for farming and development. This was especially obvious in North America before.

And Eastern Europe is no exception.

With the capture of Moscow and the complete collapse of Russia, the empire's railway construction and inland waterway transportation construction in Eastern Europe also accelerated.

The first is the railway. After more than a year of construction, the Central Asia Railway started from Xihai City and finally reached Astrakhan, a city on the lower reaches of the Volga River.

The completion and opening of this railway is of extremely important strategic significance, which means that through the railway network, the troops, military supplies, immigrants, and people's livelihood supplies of the Chu Empire can reach the Volga River Basin through this railway.

Then it is transported to various parts of the Volga River Basin through the Volga River.

Only in this way can large-scale settlement construction become a reality.

At the same time, in the Tsaritsyn area, a short-distance railway of only tens of kilometers was also constructed and opened to traffic at the same time. This Tsaritsyn railway is mainly used to solve the connection and transportation problem of tens of kilometers between the Volga River and the Don River.

After the Tsaritsyn Railway is opened to traffic, personnel or materials can first arrive at Tsaritsyn through the Volga River, and then be transported to the Don River coast through this short-distance railway of dozens of kilometers, and then transferred to inland river ships for transportation to various parts of the Don River Basin. , and can go to the Black Sea through the lower reaches of the Don River, and through the Black Sea enter the Dnieper River, an important river in Eastern Europe.

And can connect to the entire Black Sea coast and even the Mediterranean!

Therefore, the total mileage of the two sections of the West-Asia Railway and the Tsaritsyn Railway from Xihai City to Astrakhan seems to be only more than 400 kilometers, but its strategic position is extremely important, and it is the empire's development of the entire Eastern Europe. strategic transportation thoroughfare.

At the same time, with the successive opening of these two railways, the local shipbuilding industry has also continued to develop. Compared with the previous purely military shipyard, the Xihai Shipyard has developed into a relatively large-scale military and civilian dual-use shipyard, and a large number of inland river ships have been manufactured. It was then used for transportation in the Caspian Sea and the Volga River Basin.

Not only that, the Chu Empire also built a new small shipyard at the mouth of the Don River to build inland and offshore ships for use in the Black Sea and the Black Sea coastal rivers.

The construction and development of the Xihai Shipyard and the Don River Shipyard will become an important guarantee of shipping power for the Chu Empire to develop Eastern Europe.

With the smooth transportation of railways and rivers, large numbers of immigrants began to arrive in Eastern Europe along the Central Asian Railway, and began to open up a large number of settlements, form militias, and carry out large-scale land reclamation.

However, these ordinary immigrants are not important for the development of Eastern Europe for the time being. In view of the special characteristics of Eastern Europe, the empire's early development of Eastern Europe was mainly based on large-scale farm development.

That is to say, through the introduction of a large number of agricultural development companies, the construction of a large number of very large farms, mainly mechanized farming and horse plowing.

Only in this way can a large amount of local farmland be developed in a short period of time, thereby providing the empire with a large amount of food or other economic crops.

Just doing this, new problems arise again.

That is, after the large-scale development of Eastern Europe, coupled with the grain output of Europe, North Africa, West Africa and other places, the empire will obtain a large amount of grain, livestock or other economic crops in this area.

How to transport so many agricultural and livestock products back to the mainland has become a big problem.

For example, in Eastern Europe, it is not impossible to transport these grains back by rail, but the cost is high... Railway transportation is much more expensive than sea transportation.

But for sea transportation, even if it can be shipped on the Black Sea, it still has to go around South Africa... This sea transportation distance is too far.

With the large-scale colonial development in West Africa, North Africa and Europe, coupled with the development of direct territories in Eastern Europe, this resulted in a huge demand for maritime transportation in this region.

Under such circumstances, the proposal to open a canal in the Suez area of ​​Egypt was once again raised.

It was only a proposal before but no actual action was taken. This time, after the proposal to build the Suez Canal was raised, it successfully entered the discussion sequence among the empire's top officials.

In the end, Emperor Luo Zhixue personally made the decision: the Suez Canal must be built, and it should be built sooner rather than later!

Not only should we build the Suez Canal, but we should also start building the Panama Canal in the Americas at the same time.

The Americas now have a very urgent need for the construction of the Panama Canal... Because a large number of American agricultural and livestock products have their export ports on the east coast. If these products are to be shipped to the country, they need to go through the Atlantic Ocean and then detour to the southernmost tip of Africa or The southernmost tip of America, the journey is extremely long.

At the same time, if the Americas were to be developed, the empire had long started thinking about building a canal because of the inconvenient transportation between the east and west coasts.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Luo Zhixue simply finalized the Panama Canal in the Americas.

If the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal can be successfully completed and opened to navigation, it will have a great strategic impact on the empire's global military and economic system.

It’s just that a super-large project like the canal is not easy to build. It requires very high technology, capital, and manpower.

So we have to discuss it over and over again as to how to proceed.

But even repeated discussions cannot change the final decision to build these two canals.