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Chapter 4532 [World War]

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By the mid-nineteenth century,

Goryeo in Northeast Asia and Japan, which is close to them, have also undergone changes. They have taken the initiative to introduce the Goddess Church and have grown rapidly.

On the Indian subcontinent, believers of the Goddess Church conquered one princely state after another through war and appeasement, and brought down the high-ranking Brahmins and Kshatriyas.

In the Middle East, due to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, Muslims lost their last barrier and found it difficult to stop the spread of the Church of the Goddess.

The opening of the Egyptian Canal also made the connection between Europe and Asia closer, so the Goddess Church was able to spread rapidly in the Near East and the Middle East.

According to incomplete statistics, the number of believers in the Goddess Church is close to one billion.

In addition, the opening of the Panama Canal and the promotion of the Industrial Revolution also developed the western part of North America. The United States also vigorously promoted the westward movement, which greatly increased the country's strength and territory.

And since the four seas have been conquered, people have begun to explore the depths of the continent, those areas that have never been explored.

For example, the hinterland of the African continent, the Antarctic, the Arctic, central North America, central and western Canada, central and western Australia, and so on. This is called the "Great Land Exploration."

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In the 1860s, with the invention of electricity, the second industrial revolution began.

In 1875, the first thermal power station was built in France. In 1879, the United States also built its first thermal power station. In the 1880s, the British Commonwealth built the world's first hydroelectric power station.

With the start of the Second Industrial Revolution, human productivity and production efficiency reached a new level.

In the steam age, the productivity of a loom could reach three to four times that of human labor. At this time, even areas with backward industrialization could still catch up with the population advantage.

But in the electrical age, the productivity of a loom has reached a hundred times that of human labor.

At this time, the cost of industrialized production was far lower than the cost of manual labor, and the population advantage could no longer make up for it. Therefore, those regions with backward industrialization suddenly fell into a competitive disadvantage.

For example, Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, etc. The price-performance ratio of products in these regions is difficult to compete with that of products in Europe and the United States, so not only the overseas market is squeezed out, but even the domestic market is gradually occupied.

To this end, they have taken various measures to resist the dumping of foreign products in order to protect their own economies, which has also led to a large number of economic and trade frictions.

In order to ease economic and trade frictions, countries led by Britain and the United States first proposed to build an international trade organization, WTF (World Trading Foundation) to resolve trade disputes between countries to avoid accidental conflicts.

Many countries responded to this, such as Prussia, Australia, Canada, Central America, South America and other places.

However, countries led by France and Austria were unwilling to respond to the proposals of Europe and the United States. After all, they had always had grudges and discord with each other, and naturally did not want the other side to be the boss and themselves to be the younger brother.

Therefore, they also proposed to organize a trade alliance NCM (national commerce management), in which countries would reduce or exempt tariffs on each other, strengthen investment and cooperation, and allow the free flow of talent and goods.

Many countries and regions including Russia, Spain, Italy, Africa, the Middle East and India have also responded to this proposal.

With the establishment of the two major organizations, trade frictions between countries around the world have not only not decreased, but have become increasingly fierce. In particular, the friction between the two major organizations has become increasingly fierce, almost reaching the point of accidental firing. The dark cloud of war has begun to cover the world.

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Seeing this, many priests in the diocese were very worried, because once the war started, the scale would likely exceed the previous Seven Years' War.

After all, in the Seven Years' War, the warring parties were only Britain, France, Spain, Prussia, Austria, Portugal, Switzerland, Russia, etc., and they could be counted on one's fingers.

But if a war were to break out this time, it would not just be these countries that would be affected. I'm afraid two-thirds of the countries in the world would be affected, and it could potentially trigger a world war.

By then, the whole world may be devastated. I don’t know how many people will be killed, how many families will be destroyed, and how much wealth will evaporate...

Therefore, they hoped that the high priest Xiang Nan would stand up and stop the war in the name of the goddess.

You must know that the Goddess Church now has an advantage in all countries in the world, and nearly 70% of the world's population are now believers of the Goddess Church.

Therefore, as the high priest, Xiang Nan can definitely stop this war. After all, the high priest is the spokesperson of the goddess, and no one can disobey his oracle.

But Xiang Nan did not think of stopping the war. Instead, he said to the priests, "People are born free and equal. The goddess gave everyone a brain in the hope that people can think independently and make choices. Whether to have peace or war, it is all up to people to choose. The goddess will not interfere with anyone's freedom!"

Hearing what he said, the priests were speechless.

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Since the high priest Xiang Nan said so, many priests believed that the goddess was not only not opposed to the war, but was very likely to support the war.

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Xiang Nan did not oppose the war because, on the one hand, he had no way of resolving the disputes between countries. These disputes were not only about trade, but also about historical grudges and cultural conflicts.

For example, the war between Britain and France began in 1066 when the Duke of Normandy of France conquered Britain. During this period, there were the Hundred Years' War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, and the Seven Years' War in the mid-eighteenth century...

No matter how capable Xiang Nan is, he can't eliminate the thousand-year-long grievances between the two countries. Even if God himself comes, he can't resolve the grievances between the two countries.

On the one hand, he actually welcomes the outbreak of war, because although war will bring killing, destruction and casualties, it can also bring change, rebirth and creation.

Many inventions in the world were created because of wars, such as raincoats, watches, zippers, penicillin, facial tissues, sanitary napkins, microwave ovens...

So he had neither the ability nor the desire to stop the war.

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The war broke out soon, with WTF, which was mainly composed of Britain, the United States, Prussia, Canada, Australia, etc., fighting against NCM, which was mainly composed of France, Austria, Russia, Spain, Italy, India, etc.

The total number of people on both sides of the war exceeded 2 billion, and the total number of troops deployed exceeded 100 million. It can be said to be the largest war in history.

As a result, the casualties were extremely tragic, with tens of millions of people killed on the battlefield, and more than 30 million civilians affected by the war. The economic losses reached more than 270 billion US dollars, which is equivalent to about 400,000 tons of gold.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the total amount of gold mined in the world was less than 20,000 tons. Compared with these countries, the wealth Xiang Nan had obtained before was simply a drop in the bucket.