Wild North America 1846

Chapter 240 Sucrose and Tobacco Leaves
End of May 1855
It is the end of summer when the sky is high and the clouds are clear. In the eastern palace area of ​​the newly completed Daming Palace in the Longshou area of ​​Chang'an City, the magnificent palaces with double eaves and arches and deep courtyards are hidden among towering giant trees, which look majestic. And magnificent.

Daming Palace
The rippling Taiye Pool has a vast lake surface. To the north of Taiye Pool is the main palace complex of Daming Palace under construction. To the east of Taiye Pool is the Eastern Palace Area that has been put into use, and to the west is the Western Palace Area under construction. The south is the harem complex.

The area of ​​Taiye Pool is as large as the Daming Palace in the Tang Dynasty thousands of years ago. It separates the four palaces far away. There are several islands on the lake. ideas.

The largest island in the lake is called Pudu Island, with a radius of about 1.3 square kilometers and a peak of 177 meters. A nine-story exquisite pagoda with a height of about 49 meters is built in the lush forest, which is called "Nine Turns Pudu Pagoda". , Below the pagoda is the "Pudu Temple", and not far away there is a "Xuantian Taoist Temple", which is a temple and a temple enshrined by the royal family.

on purdue island

There is a small-scale other palace built by the water, surrounded by towering ancient trees and jagged rocks, gurgling streams, and the scenery is particularly elegant and quiet.

In the viewing pavilion of Linshui Palace
Wearing a thin Taoist robe, Li Cha was sitting leisurely on the cloud couch, sipping fragrant tea, and flipping through some of the submitted memorials, as if he was an expert in the world, elegant and outstanding.

What he holds in his hand is a series of data created by the fiery development of Paradise Island, and this is a gratifying achievement achieved by investing a huge amount of money.

In just half a year

The total number of immigrants on Paradise Island exceeds 43. The two port cities in the east and the west have strong self-development capabilities. A large amount of agricultural and sideline products and food output can not only supply the needs of the island, but also have a considerable amount of surplus.

in december
Paradise Island is about to usher in a second bumper crop of produce, and three crops of staple crops a year are not uncommon in this warm-climate region.

The two towns of Donggang and Xinxi'an on the island are located in fertile land suitable for farming, with a wide hinterland, mild climate all year round and sufficient sunshine. In addition, they are located in a superior seaport location, suitable for the development of farming, re-export immigration ports and industries.

The entire Paradise Island covers an area of ​​78.6 square kilometers. The climate is changeable. The mountains dominated by the Central Mountain Range stretch for more than 1700 kilometers. The highest peak is more than 4300 meters above sea level.

On the southern and northern slopes of the Central Mountain Range, more than a dozen large rivers with an astonishing amount of water have developed, especially in the low-altitude tropical rainforest area, where the rainfall is extremely abundant, mostly between 3500 and 5000 mm per year, and the most even reaching 6500 mm per year. mm.

These areas are heavily rained and extremely humid for more than a year and a half. The dense tropical rainforest grows vigorously, and streams and swamps are everywhere. It is a green forbidden land that is difficult to develop. There are various unique animals and plants that are different from the mainland. It can be called a treasure house of animals and plants. .

In the transition zone between mountains and humid lowlands, there are large areas with high altitude and mild climate, which are very suitable for agricultural and animal husbandry development.

Donggang and New Xi'an belong to this area. The annual rainfall is between 1100 and 1650. The rainfall level of the former is equivalent to that of northern Jiangsu, and that of the latter is equivalent to that of southern Jiangsu. They are all areas suitable for farming.

Today, the development focus of Paradise Island is precisely this area.

Over half a year of large-scale development, regardless of the investment, the vast fertile land that has been developed has reached more than one million mu, about 1550 square kilometers, accounting for 4800/[-] of the entire island's developable area.

The achievements of colonization are huge. A large number of sugar mills, food processing factories, flour mills, canning factories, as well as cement factories and brick cellars are transported to the island by sea ships, and the initial industrial production capacity of Paradise Island will be established.

Because Paradise Island is relatively close to the mainland of China, immigration is convenient and the cost is low. Ordinary steam iron immigration ships can make two round-trip voyages a month, transporting a large number of people to the island.

Therefore, the short-term immigration effect is very obvious, and a large amount of labor input plays a decisive role in the development of Paradise Island.

Next Step

After the island has perfect immigration and cargo transfer capabilities, as well as the ability to supply food and agricultural by-products, the investment in the island will gradually fade, and the investment intensity and scale will also be greatly reduced.

Whether it is the Tang Kingdom's finances or the royal family's charitable foundation, it is impossible to make a net investment in Paradise Island for a long time regardless of the cost, thus affecting the economic development of North America.

From the perspective of the concept of governing the country, this is giving up the root and seeking the end.

There is no doubt that North America is the top priority for development at any time.

In the local economic structure of North America, when the resources of the American River gold mine, which was originally the economic pillar of the Tang Kingdom, declined sharply, the two pillar industries, mainly petrochemical and mining industries, developed rapidly, making up for the gap in the reduction of gold mines. , and there is still more than that.

on the basis of

The industrial development of the Datang Kingdom is becoming more and more rapid. Today, the industrial output value in January is higher than the industrial output value of the whole year of 1. It has developed a heavy industry system dominated by iron and steel, machinery, shipbuilding, complete sets of petroleum equipment, and petrochemicals. Textile, clothing processing, food processing (including canned food industry), wine making and various handicraft workshops are the main light industries, and the momentum of economic development is very gratifying.

According to population statistics, in mid-May 1855, the total population of the Tang Kingdom had exceeded 5 million, achieving a historic leapfrog growth.

In terms of population structure
In mid-September 1848, after winning the US-Tang War, the Datang Kingdom annexed six states in the northwest of the United States in one fell swoop. The population of the Datang Kingdom reached 9 million, and the proportion of Chinese dropped sharply from 6% to 133%. Lowest ratio.

Since then, as the scale of Chinese immigration has expanded year by year, economic development has gradually been on the right track, and the proportion of Chinese population has risen rapidly, from 1849% in 52.3 to 59.6% in the next year, and 67.1% in the next year...72.9%...78.5 %...83.9%...

Since the six years after the war, it has shown a steady and powerful upward trend.

It is estimated that by the end of the seventh year, that is, by the end of this year, the proportion of the Chinese population will rise to more than 7%, occupying the undoubted proportion of the mainstream population, and further stabilizing the social foundation.

elaborate
The Chinese population contains a certain amount of moisture. This is because there are a large number of Caucasian women, Mexican women, and Indian women in Chinese families. They and their children are all classified as the Chinese population and registered with the ethnicity of the head of the household.

Over the years, the newborn population of Datang Kingdom has been showing a rapid growth trend. More than 95.7% of them are newborns from Chinese families, and the proportion of white families does not exceed 5%.

This is because Christian and Protestant white families are monogamous, while Chinese families are typically polygamous.

In the traditional Chinese concept of more children, more blessings, having more children is as logical as eating and drinking water. Naturally, there are more newborns than Caucasian families.

Chinese families who can have several wives and concubines are generally well-off, and it’s not that they can’t afford it. Why don’t they have children?
Li Cha looked back at the development achievements of these years with relief. The Tang Kingdom has passed the survival crisis at the beginning of its establishment, and has steadily developed step by step. It has established a foothold in North America and won a certain position in the world.

But now is still not the time to relax. According to statistics at the end of 1854, the population of the northern United States reached 1497 million, exactly one and a half times the population of the Tang Kingdom.

The economic output of the North of the United States is 131% of that of the Datang Kingdom. The degree of industrialization of the two is comparable.

According to the estimate of the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Datang Kingdom;

In the next step, the cane sugar industry, the tobacco industry, the canned food industry in the United States, and the cotton textile industry, which are dominated by Paradise Island, will further develop. In addition, the petrochemical industry and the emerging machinery industry, which have been developing rapidly, will further shrink this year. The gap in industrial output.

By next year, the year after at the latest, the overall industrial output value of the Datang Kingdom will exceed that of the North of the United States, achieving an industrial economy surpassing that of the North of the United States.

In the next 4~5 years
With the further expansion of the scale of immigration, the Datang Kingdom will likely equal the northern United States in terms of population size.

At the current stage, the immigrant scale of the Datang Kingdom is quite large, supplementing a steady stream of young and middle-aged labor for economic development, promoting more stable and faster economic development, and further deepening the industrialization process.

But the United States is not a country of dry food. The United States is a country of immigrants, with an average annual total number of immigrants between 62 and 77, which is greatly affected by the situation in Europe.

During the Irish Potato Crisis, immigration surged during the Crimean War, and peacetime immigration dropped significantly, showing a wave-like up and down line.

Coupled with the large population base in the United States, the total number of newborns born each year is more than that of the Tang Dynasty. In this era, it is normal for a white family to have four or five or seven or eight children, and it is not uncommon to have more than a dozen.

Therefore, Datang Kingdom has been keeping a close eye on the development of the United States, especially the development of the northern industries of the United States, and has made great efforts to catch up.

The trans-Pacific central immigration route was born under this development strategy. If it weren’t for this, the Tang Kingdom government and royal family would not have spent huge sums of money to build two large entrepot trade and immigration ports, Donggang and New Xi’an.

With the current strength of the Tang Kingdom, it can only focus on the development of these two port areas. Other places have no time to take care of it for the time being, and they are unable to make large-scale investment.

In the long run, Paradise Island needs its own development capabilities, and the sugar and tobacco industries are unique industries tailored for Paradise Island.

Sucrose is a typical tropical crop. In today's world, the Netherlands East Indies, Cuba and Hawaii are the three major production areas, and the annual production of sucrose accounts for more than 8% of the world's total production.

Human beings have a tradition of sweetness since ancient times. From chocolate to black tea, from hard candy to donuts, from ice cream to apple pie, Europeans almost cannot do without sugar, which is one of the necessities of life.

Paradise Island's humid climate and sufficient sunshine are very conducive to the development of sugarcane and tobacco planting industries. The sucrose it produces is a scarce commodity, so there is no need to worry about the market at all, and there are no competitors in Europe and the United States.

The development of the tobacco planting industry was mainly due to Richard's greed for the large amount of tobacco harvested by the British in India, which was trafficked to the UK and made into cigarettes, which were sold throughout Europe for huge profits.

On the Crimean battlefield, cigarettes were hard currency, more sought-after than any other material, but only the British Empire could supply them in sufficient quantities, so the price remained high.

When this thing develops, it will really make money.

Therefore, the sugar and tobacco industries are the two major industries that Paradise Island will develop in the future. The large amount of trade income and taxes earned from this can support Paradise Island’s continuous immigration plan and gradually develop the deep hinterland.

The food production and agricultural sideline production developed on this island are mainly to supply the population of the island and the transshipment needs of immigrants, and export to the big market of Shenzhou when the ability is available.

After Paradise Island had a bumper grain harvest in early August, North America has greatly reduced its grain exports to China, and instead exported grain from Paradise Island and several provinces in the southeast of Shenzhou.

From an economic point of view, it is more cost-effective to do so.

If wheat is further processed and ground into flour, and rice is ground into rice flour, then the added value of these grains will be greatly increased, and exporting grain to several provinces along the southeast coast of China will become a profitable industry.

this age
The price level of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties can be appreciated from a table.

Beef is 58 Wen a catty.Sugar is 100 Wen a catty, flour is 20 Wen a catty, mutton is 73 Wen a catty, high-quality rice is 10 Wen a catty, second-grade stem rice is 7 Wen a catty, and wheat is 5 Wen a catty.

It can be seen that
The value of wheat and rice ground into flour is increased by 3 to 4 times, and mass transportation by ocean ships can effectively reduce costs and obtain considerable benefits.

The price of sugar is higher than that of meat. If the price of meat can be lowered slightly and put on the market, then the amount of sucrose demanded by mainland China alone will be an astonishing figure. This is a huge market close at hand.

In the central and northern parts of the Qing Dynasty, sugar beets were used to make sugar. The quality is not flattering, the aftertaste is astringent and the sweetness is not high, and it cannot be compared with sucrose at all.

Since sucrose was produced in tropical regions, only a few areas in the southern part of Manchu Qing produced sucrose. The production volume was small, and it was mainly handmade. In addition, the transportation was inconvenient, so the price of white sugar was quite high, even more expensive than mutton.

Paradise Island has unique conditions for the development of sugarcane plantations. Coupled with industrialized steam sugar equipment and world-class shipping capacity, it has the ability to produce high-quality white sugar on a large scale. It is really a promising industry.

Li Cha has a unique vision for seeing the sugar and tobacco industries as bulk agricultural products for foreign trade.

Besides
Paradise Island can also develop rubber plantations, spice plantations and tropical fruit plantations, but these can only be used as auxiliary products, and its world market is small, especially for natural rubber, whose application has not yet been fully developed.

The most widely used fields of natural rubber are now rubber wheels for carriages, slippers and rubber shoes for rainy days. The applicable fields are relatively narrow, and the world market is also small, so it can only be developed slowly.

(End of this chapter)