Chapter 554

The British were going to reform. For most countries, this was definitely a joyous event worthy of celebration.

"Reform" might not necessarily make the country stronger, but it would definitely make the government busier.

The bigger the country and the longer the regime existed, the more problems it would encounter in the process of "reform." Britannia, the century-old hegemon of the world, naturally faced all kinds of problems.

From the colonies to the mainland, there were too many historical problems that the government had to find a way to solve.

It could be said that "pulling one hair affects the whole body." Even if the Government of London only carried out partial reforms, it would be enough to keep them busy for a while.

History had proven that as long as the British were busy, international disputes would be greatly reduced, and the world would become harmonious.

In fact, with the reunification of the Holy Roman Empire, the frequency of the British causing trouble in recent years had decreased a lot.

With the Holy Roman Empire holding them back, most of the Government of the United Kingdom's energy was tied up, so they naturally had no time to cause trouble in other countries.

Now that the Government of the United Kingdom was carrying out internal reforms, they had even less energy to cause trouble. For politicians all over the world, this was a major benefit. It meant that everyone could sleep in peace for a few more days.

Although there were two powers at the same time, only Britannia liked to cause trouble. As for the other hegemon, it was obvious that the Holy Roman Empire was a farmer.

If one looked at the international news, they would know that since the establishment of the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire, other than supporting Spain to expel the Japanese, the only other country was to form a peacekeeping force and garrison in France.

If it wasn't for the House of Habsburg's double eagle flag fluttering all over the world, everyone would have almost forgotten about this new hegemon.

Of course, this was only for the ordinary people. The politicians would never dare to forget. Not causing trouble did not mean that they did not have the ability to cause trouble.

Based on the fact that Shinra's ambassador undermined the British every day, everyone knew that this was not a country to be trifled with. Especially in the last two years, the Shinra Navy often drove the "super battleship" out for an exchange of learning experience.

Obviously, there was no point in exchanging experience with an ironclad warship that weighed thousands of tons against a dreadnought.

No one would believe him if he said that he wasn't establishing his dominance. Knowing was one thing, but politics was rare. The hegemon came for a "friendly exchange," so they had to cooperate!

What was fortunate was that the Shenluo Navy only strolled around and made their presence known. They did not take the opportunity to engage in political blackmail, which made everyone heave a sigh of relief.

The end result was that the Government of the United Kingdom's progress in wooing allies became particularly difficult. Although the Royal Navy had the largest tonnage in the world, it was not easy.

There was no other way. The construction of warships also took time. The first generation of Shenluo's super battleship, "Rome", had been in service since 1900, and the British had only just begun to develop it.

After much effort, the British superbattleship was only commissioned in 1903. From, it Shinra British, it was to be.

From the project design, construction to the final commissioning, it only took two years, which was enough to prove the strength of Britain's shipbuilding industry.

But it was useless. Based on the construction rate of one ship per year, Shinra's fourth super battleship had already been launched. It was almost certain to enter service within the year.

The Royal Navy was lagging behind. It was only temporary, but it still had a huge impact on other countries.

One step behind meant one step behind.

The Navy's technological revolution had already erupted. Could the Royal Navy, who was temporarily at a disadvantage, really catch up?

The British shipbuilding industry could crush almost all countries in the world except for the Holy Roman Empire. This was determined by the market and could not be changed by individual will.

The seeds of doubt were planted. Everyone's inference that Britannia was in an invincible position was shaken.

Since they could not determine the outcome, they could not choose a side in a hurry. It was not to the point of "friend or foe" yet. They could still slow down and observe.

While the rest of the world was relaxed, Franz was having a headache. The international situation had changed beyond recognition. No one could be sure if the British reform would be successful.

In the original timeline, Campbell was only elected prime minister in December 1905. He met God in April 1908. He had been in power for less than two years.

It was obviously impossible to complete the reform plan in such a short period of time. However, history still had a high evaluation of him.

Because of the butterfly effect, due to the domestic economic decline and the intensification of social conflicts, British society realized the need for reform. Campbell, the leader of the reformists, was elected in 1902.

Being elected three years earlier meant that the reformists had three more years. For a country, "three years" did not seem long, but it could change a lot of things.

Britannia's foundation was still very strong. Once the internal conflicts were resolved and the colonies were integrated, there was still great potential.

With a ready-made example in front of him, Franz could not guarantee that the British would not follow suit.

If the British were to be provoked and follow Shinra's example, they would completely swallow up Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and other regions. Then, they would be a proper world empire.

With such a large support base, even if they lost the battle for hegemony, Britannia would still be a top country.

The only good thing was that England's population was insufficient and could not digest such a large territory in a short period of time. Otherwise, Franz could only act in advance.

…

Frederick The Great: "Father, this is the new economic construction plan drafted by the cabinet. On the basis of the previous five-year plan, the western economic revitalization plan was added. We are going to invest heavily in the Ruhr industrial zone.

I have studied it. 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 raw material production area.

Once developed, it will be 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 in the country, but there is no real core.

Before the development of the empire, such a scattered layout can increase the security of the country. Naturally, it is not wrong.

Now the situation is different. We have no enemies on the European continent. We can create a core to further promote the development of the domestic economy. "

"Revitalize the western economy." If it was before, this would be a joke.

One must know that since the beginning of the Age of Discovery, the European continent had a clear characteristic, that was, Western Europe was the most developed economy, followed by Central Europe, Southern Europe, Northern Europe, and Eastern Europe had always been at the bottom.

However, this situation had fundamentally changed since the revival of the Holy Roman Empire.

The economy of Eastern Europe was still at the bottom, and Northern Europe had not changed much. The economy of Western Europe had been declining in recent years. On the contrary, Central and Southern Europe had become the most economically developed region in the world.

Of course, the economy of Southern Europe was only developed in some areas. The economy of the Regions of Italy was still not much better, not to mention Spain.

Whether they were considered a southern European country or a Western European country, there was no unified conclusion on this issue.

The only certainty was that placing them in Southern Europe would pull down the economic average, but placing them in Western Europe would pull it up a few points.

The main reason was still because of the war. A European war had crippled France, and the territory in the west of Shenluo had also suffered heavy losses because of the war.

As for Britannia, it was not a continental country, so it naturally could not be counted. In order to exclude the Britannia, Shinra, whether it was government documents, radio, or newspapers, tacitly threw Britannia out of Europe.

After the European war, the Government of Vienna launched the Western Reconstruction Plan. It was just a reconstruction, not a step forward in development.

This was especially true for the newly acquired territories. Limited by the number of people, the local economy had not improved much and had become a hindrance to the local economy.

In order to change all this, the Government of Vienna did not work hard. It was just that before, they were mainly busy restoring the infrastructure after the war.

As for the development of the economy, there must be people first. Although the population of the Holy Roman Empire was not small, the empire was too big.

The bigger the country, the more "key projects." In contrast, the western region, which was being rebuilt, did not have a high position in the empire's economic strategy.

It was not comparable to the African Ring Railway, the petrochemical industry chain in the Middle East, and the local automobile and aviation industries.

The western region, which did not have a high economic strategy and a lack of population, could naturally obtain limited resources.

It was unrealistic to encourage immigration, and there were many places to compete for people. The western territory, located on the border, was not competitive at all.

In the eyes of ordinary people, going to the west and being neighbors with the French was a big challenge in itself. No one knew when a war would break out again.

In a sense, this was also the fault of the Government of Vienna. They deliberately suppressed the reports on the situation in France. Even if there were occasional newspapers, it was understated.

Ordinary people did not know that the once powerful France Empire was now a phoenix with its feathers plucked.

A new official made three changes. Due to the great achievements of the previous government, the new cabinet did not dare to change easily. This had been suppressed for several years, and now they finally found an opportunity.

The distribution of heavy industry in the Holy Roman Empire was indeed too scattered. It was not that Franz did not want to concentrate, but he could not concentrate at all.

There were many areas suitable for the development of heavy industry, but due to various reasons, the upper limit of development was limited.

Take the steel industry as an example. Shinra had seven steel centers with an annual output of one million tons. There were even more areas with an annual output of five hundred thousand tons. However, with so many steel centers, there was not one with an annual output of five million tons.

In this era, this kind of production capacity could still be used. If it was placed in the future, any township enterprise could be killed in seconds.

It was not that steel enterprises did not work hard, it was just that the natural conditions were too severe. Increasing production capacity also increased the cost. Many steel centers had actually developed to the limit of existing technology.

Based on the development of the Holy Roman Empire, the annual production capacity of 28.78 million tons of steel was obviously not enough to meet the demand.

According to the forecast of economic experts, in the next 20 years, the Holy Roman Empire's demand for steel would increase to 50 million tons.

In theory, the potential of all the steel centers in Shinra could be tapped to meet the demand. There was no need to continue to expand.

Obviously, the theory was just a theory. Society was constantly developing, and the demand for steel was also increasing.

The current demand forecast of 50 million tons was not static. After all, the Holy Roman Empire was too big, and the potential demand was unimaginable.

Based on the experience of his previous life, as long as Shinra did not decline, the future demand for steel would definitely be in the hundreds of millions. It was only a matter of time.

But the future was always the future, and one should still focus on the present. After taking the document and briefly reading it, Franz slowly said, "This plan is too radical.

I don't doubt that the Ruhr District can build a steel center with an annual output of ten million tons, but don't forget that the real determinant of the production capacity is the economic market, not the government.

Now the world economy is indeed hot, but don't forget that the British economy has problems. The Government of London is carrying out reforms at this time. What if we withdraw from the free trade system?

Once the British adopt trade barriers, there will definitely be a lot of countries that will follow. Our foreign trade is bound to be affected.

Even if there is an economic crisis because of this, I will not be surprised. Will the market demand for steel in the short term still be that big?

If we are unlucky, a few years later, when our steel center is put into production, it will coincide with a new round of economic crisis. Then what should we do? "

It was not that Franz was conservative, but the economic crisis in the capitalist economy world was already numerous. Based on the previous pattern, it was almost once every ten years.

It had been a few years since the last economic crisis. Now that the steel center was being built, even if it didn't coincide with the crisis, it would enter the countdown to the crisis.

The outbreak of a huge amount of excess capacity would definitely cause the domestic steel industry to wail. It was unknown how many industries would be tossed to the ground.

The most tragic was the steel industry in Shinra. It was either invested by the government or controlled by the Royal Consortium. Private capital rarely touched these high-investment, long-term industries.

It was definitely a sign that water had gone into the brain to destroy an enterprise that he had created himself.

Even if they wanted to do it, they had to do it slowly. For example, first, the production capacity should be controlled at one million tons, and then continue to increase according to the market demand.

From this aspect, the current cabinet was not as thorough as the previous cabinet when considering the problem.

If it was purely for political achievements, the previous government would have done it long ago. Why would it stay until now?

It was not difficult to build a steel center. With the basic conditions in place, they just needed to throw money into it.

Even if the cabinet's ability to look at the problem was lacking, Franz was not prepared to change people now. Geniuses were always in the minority, and most people were ordinary.

To be able to continue the previous government's policies for so many years without any major problems, it had already proved that this government was stable enough.

Although the problem was not comprehensive enough, this plan was not wrong in essence. If the project was divided into stages and the progress of the construction was a little slower, then there would be no problem.

From this point of view, the biggest problem with this plan was actually "too high efficiency" because the Government of Vienna planned to complete the project in five years.

After listening to Franz's explanation, Frederick The Great was shocked and said, "The British want to withdraw from the free trade system? That's impossible, right?

You have to know that the free trade system was proposed by the Government of the United Kingdom. When the treaty was signed, the British made a promise in front of the world. "

With the development of the times, the capitalist world economy was becoming more and more interconnected. Once the British withdrew from the free trade system, the world economy would definitely have problems.

With John's consistent style of harming others without benefiting himself, once he decided to withdraw, he would definitely destroy the free trade system. It would be impossible for Shinra to continue to enjoy the benefits of the free trade era.

With such a blow to the head, Shinra's economy would definitely be greatly affected, and the market demand for steel would also sharply shrink.

In this context, the addition of a steel center with an annual output of ten million tons was obviously not the right time.

Franz rolled his eyes and said, "Nothing is impossible. For the British, credibility is just that.

Once they find that it is not in their own interests, it is inevitable to tear up the free trade agreement. They haven't done it yet because the British are still playing internal games.

For a long time, the British have been the beneficiaries of the free trade system, and naturally, there were vested interests. Now that the free trade system is disadvantageous to them, if they want to withdraw at this time, the vested interests will naturally oppose it.

If you pay attention to the London newspapers, you should know that there is more and more discussion around free trade, and the supporters and opponents have been quarreling.

The quarrel among the people is only the beginning of the problem. It won't be long before the British Parliament will discuss it.

In Campbell's election manifesto, he also mentioned the issue of free trade. Although he didn't directly say to abolish it, he hinted in his speech that some industries will be subsidized for export.

These are all signals. With the continuous deterioration of the British economy, the vested interests alone won't be able to hold on for long.

If the Government of the United Kingdom doesn't want to see the domestic manufacturing industry being squeezed to death by us, it is only a matter of time before trade barriers are imposed. For Campbell, withdrawing from the free trade system is far easier than carrying out internal reforms.

Based on 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 when the time comes. "

It is not strange to discuss a problem for "two years." For the British Parliament, this is just a normal operation.

Withdrawing from the "free trade system" is a big deal. It can be said that it is related to the fate of Britannia. How can they not study it?

Compared to the "Brexit" debate that lasted forty-five years in the future, to be able to make a decision in two years is already very efficient.