I want to be emperor

Chapter 1119 Beggar turns into a master

The successful opening of the Suez Canal was a matter of great strategic significance for the Chu Empire.

Through this canal, not only can the maritime connections between Asia and Europe be more conveniently connected, but it can also shorten the distance from East Asia to the east coast of North America.

The current American region has become the second important homeland of the Chu people. Every year, millions of people immigrate to the American region through various channels, which has caused the population of the American region to increase rapidly.

The population of the entire Americas has rapidly increased from more than 30 million in the 1940s to nearly 50 million... Most of these population increases come from new immigrants.

After all, almost most of the more than 700 million people in the Chu Empire, to be precise, more than 700 million people live together in a small area of ​​East Asia. The population in other places is actually quite small. Just tens of millions.

The small East Asia region has gathered such a huge population. Although it has a developed industrial and commercial system and many opportunities, the relative pressure is also quite high... Under the population diversion, there will always be people who are not doing well, and There are many people who are not getting along as they wish.

After all, there are very few people who succeed...most people are ordinary, or they still fail after struggling.

And these people who are not getting along as they wish or who are unable to make it in East Asia due to other factors, now have a retreat, or another opportunity in life, which is to immigrate.

If you can't survive in East Asia, a seemingly prosperous but highly competitive place, then go overseas... to Southeast Asia, to Australia, to North and South America, to India, to the peninsula or North Africa, to Europe, or even to Africa.

In short, the world is so big...it's all a place for Chu people, you can go wherever you like...

As long as you leave the mainland of East Asia and go to any place overseas, I dare not say anything else, but the pressure of survival will instantly decrease, and as long as you are willing, you can become a small landowner in minutes... Immigrate to Chu State In most overseas places, including core directly-administered territories such as Central Asia and the Americas, you can get free land in most cases, and it basically starts with a few hundred acres. You can farm as long as you are willing, and you will pay an equal amount of agricultural tax. With such a rental price, it is not impossible to rent you several thousand or even tens of thousands of acres of land.

In short, as long as you are willing to leave the prosperous world of East Asia and can tolerate the backward education, medical care and other conditions in overseas areas, then overseas areas will be a blue ocean!

Even if you are more courageous, or are willing to endure a more backward social basic situation, and are willing to accept the indigenous people, you can also run to some administrative territories. As long as you go... you will be superior to others in minutes!

It's not about being superior to others psychologically, but actually being superior to others.

A simple example is a man from Chu who couldn't make it in East Asia and was reduced to a beggar. Then he obtained an immigration loan using an interest-free and unsecured loan, and then bought a boat ticket to go to the London Concession in Europe... As long as he arrived at the Concession After you officially settle in, the concession authority will immediately repay your boat ticket loan and give you a government-built immigration-specific property. As for land, there is not much agricultural land in the concession, but they can arrange a decent job for you, as long as your academic qualifications are somewhat decent. If you have some skills, I will give you a decent job directly... If you don't have a good academic background, you can still get an ordinary job without any skills.

If you don’t want to accept an ordinary job, you can still do other things. For example, you can go to a Chinese training institution in East London, or even be your own boss and a Chinese teacher... Relying on your proficiency in Chinese to teach the natives to learn spoken Chinese, you can still You can make a lot of money!

This model, I dare not say that it will make you rich, but it will definitely make you a middle-to-high-income group in the concession area. You can hire three or five young and beautiful indigenous maids to warm your bed at the same time!

After all, whether your life is good or not...it all depends on who you compare yourself to.

In East Asia, those who compete with you are all Chu people, and they are all Chu people who are better than you.

But in the London Concession, as long as you have a good attitude and compare yourself with the natives, and do the same, you will live a very comfortable life.

Of course, the statement may be a bit exaggerated and somewhat artistic... But no matter what, emigrating overseas is a practical escape route for the people at the bottom of the Chu Empire.

And this retreat is also the main purpose of the Chu Empire's active expansion for many years: to throw a group of people who are not doing well and are unwilling to toss overseas to continue tossing...

In addition, there are other reasons for immigrating, and the combination of various factors has also resulted in a very large number of people immigrating overseas every year, especially more people immigrating to North America.

As the population in the three provinces of North America increases, they have gradually cultivated large-scale textile enterprises such as Song's Clothing Company, and large-scale enterprises such as North American Automobile Company, which is aiming to become the fifth largest automobile company... In addition, there is a large Piles of other messy businesses.

Berta City in North America, due to its rich agricultural and mineral natural resources, coupled with convenient shipping and railway transportation on the Great Lakes, has made this place the largest industrial city in the Americas and even outside of East Asia.

The production base of North American Automobile Company, which claims to be the fifth largest automobile company, is located here... North American Automobile Company has a more complicated background and more involvement, so it is also relatively scattered... Their R&D center is in Songjiang... because there is no In East Asia, it is impossible for them to recruit enough engineers for R&D... These engineers will not follow you Song Erniu to the countryside in America just for that little money... How dare you, the North American Automobile Company, put R&D If the center is relocated to North America, the other four automobile companies will dare to place recruitment notices directly downstairs of your R&D center!

The R&D center of North American Automobile Company is located in Songjiang, the mainland of East Asia. The company's headquarters is located in Jinshan City, the provincial capital of North American Province and the financial and industrial center of America. The first production base is located in Berta, the industrial center of East American Province. City, and the second production base is established in Mihe City, the provincial capital of Ximei Province.

The third production base that is being planned is to be built in Rio City, South America... Why? After a series of negotiations, the Governor's Office of South America also joined the support of North American Automobile Company, and promised that all official vehicles in the South American province in the future will purchase products from North American Automobile Company, and also provided for the construction of a third production facility in Rio. Interest-free loans at the base...

What North American Automobile Company needs to pay is very simple, that is, to build an automobile factory in Rio, the third production base, to bring jobs and tax revenue to the local area.

The official governor of South America also hopes to take advantage of this opportunity to develop real industry, even if it is just some assembly and supporting industries... In such a large South American province, we can't live by farming and selling saltpeter. Although it is a small life, It's pretty good, the money is really quite a lot...but I always feel like something is missing.

Especially some senior officials who were transferred from East Asia always felt something was wrong when they looked at the pristine ecology of South America, and they felt uncomfortable... They were not even used to the smell of the air in this place.

Why not get used to it?

Because the air here is too sweet, there is no intoxicating smell of coal in the air!

What does this mean?

behind!

In later generations, perhaps this was serious environmental pollution, but in the contemporary Chu Empire, the smell of coal in the air means industry, employment, taxation, the future, and political achievements!

Therefore, local officials in Chu State do not like the sweet air... Some officials with lofty ambitions and strong ambitions are even deeply ashamed that there is no smell of coal in the air of the cities under their rule... This is not a joke, I am. I really think so.

Well, Jinling City is an exception!

Relying on the rapid expansion of the North and South American markets, North American Automobile Company has produced and sold tens of thousands of pickup trucks every year. These are inseparable from the rapid growth of the population in the Americas and the rapid economic development of the region.

As the population in the Americas continued to increase, the economic scale also continued to grow. It gradually became the most important region of the empire besides East Asia after Nanyang and Central Asia, and became a veritable second home for the Chu people.

As a result, communication between East Asia and the Americas has become very important.

For example, the limited telegraph network of the Great Chu Empire, when the technology was not yet mature, forcibly laid telegraph lines to the Americas through the Bering Strait at great cost, achieving wireless telegraphy between the Americas and East Asia. communication.

After the breakthrough in wireless telegraphy technology and the development of an ultra-long-distance wireless telegraphy system, the first area where it was deployed was also the Americas.

As for more important maritime transportation, in the past, there were two main routes from East Asia to the Americas. One route was to take a ship across the Pacific and directly arrive at Jinshan City and other west coast cities. If you want to go to the eastern coast of North America, it is from Jinshan. From the city, take the North American East-West Railway all the way to the central and eastern regions... This route has also been the most important immigration migration route in the past many years.

For bulk cargo transportation, shipping is the main method... starting from East Asia, then crossing the Strait of Malacca, crossing the Indian Ocean, detouring around the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, then entering the Atlantic Ocean, and finally arriving on the east coast of America, such as New York.

And the total voyage of this route is also very long... with twists and turns along the way, coupled with coal supplies along the way, the total mileage reaches about 30,000 kilometers.

This is also the reason why in the age of sailing, it was difficult for the Chu people to go directly to the east coast of America by sea...it was too far.

That is to say, only after the large-scale emergence of steam engines and ships, and the emergence of large passenger or cargo ships with tens of thousands or even 20,000 tons, this route gradually matured.

But even this is very long!

However, if the Suez Canal is opened, ships heading to the east coast of North America will be able to enter the Mediterranean Sea directly from the Indian Ocean, and then enter the Atlantic Ocean and head straight to New York on the east coast of North America... The entire voyage will be shortened to about 23,000 to 4,000 kilometers.

Compared with detouring around the Cape of Good Hope, this directly shortens the voyage by five to six thousand kilometers.

This is of great significance to reducing shipping costs between East Asia and the east coast of North America.

Therefore, the opening of the Suez Canal will not only reduce the cost and time of shipping between Asia and Europe, but also benefit the connection between East Asia and the east coast of the Americas. This reduction in shipping costs and time-consuming is very important for the Chu Empire to maintain the stability of its rule in Europe and America... This is true both economically and militarily.

Therefore, the Great Chu Empire was determined to excavate the deterioration of the Suez Cloud, and did not hesitate to invest more than 40 million Chu yuan for this purpose. After the canal was officially opened, in view of the importance of the canal, the Great Chu Empire's Military Academy also made a decision, Large-scale regular troops are stationed in the canal zone all year round, and large-scale naval bases, army bases, etc. are built locally. Airship units are even deployed locally to monitor surrounding areas.

According to the plan of the Military Academy, in the future, at least one Class A combat readiness division or a fairly complete standing Class B division will be deployed in the Canal Zone and surrounding areas, plus at least 10,000 Class C garrison troops, and the regular army's land force The total strength will not be less than 25,000.

These forces are not simply used to protect and control the canal, but are actually used to deter surrounding areas, such as the areas around the Mediterranean and northern Africa.

At the same time, the navy will also move the base headquarters of the Mediterranean Fleet to Alexandria, North Africa, and bring the local regional fleets in the Red Sea and North Africa under its management.

In addition, this place will also build the second mobile airship base in Europe after Cadiz. In the future, aircraft will most likely be deployed here after they are put into service.

In this way, in the future, the canal area of ​​this North African province and the nearby Cairo area will become the second important military base of the Chu Empire in the areas surrounding the Mediterranean, after Cadiz.

The completion of the Suez Canal brought all-round strategic significance to the Chu Empire, otherwise the empire's top officials would not have paid so much attention.

Amid much attention, the Suez Canal was finally officially opened to navigation in June of the 52nd year of Chengshun. On the day it was opened, eight ships passed through the canal traveling between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea.

Although only eight ships were released on the first day of navigation, this was due to safety considerations. It did not mean that the canal's navigation capacity was limited... let alone that there were no ships coming.

In fact, although this canal is still a single-channel canal, there are many natural lakes in the middle that can serve as transfer stations. Therefore, as long as management measures are in place, relatively fast staggered navigation can be implemented. I dare not say more, but one year There is no problem at all for the thousands of ships that are in navigation.

The navigation capabilities of large-tonnage ships are also very strong. In the first half of the navigation period, the large-scale luxury cruise ship Oriental, affiliated to Jiangnan Shipping Company, passed through the Suez Canal... and this cruise ship was fully loaded with 23,000 Tons of luxury cruise ships.

Not only civilian ships, but also many warships of the Navy also conducted defense operations through the Suez Canal in the following month. They also trained and accumulated experience in navigating the Suez Canal.

Although the warships used for navigation are cruisers and even frigates of several thousand tons, they are still of great significance!

Judging from the current navigation capacity of the canal, even the most advanced North American-class battleships in the empire can easily pass through.

Because the full-load displacement of the USS North America is only 21,000 tons, with a draft of more than eight meters!

For the Suez Canal, which has a navigable water depth of 13 meters, navigating a battleship of this level is a piece of cake!

The North American-class battleship is already the largest and most advanced battleship in the Chu Empire. If you want a larger battleship, you will probably have to wait for many more years.

Therefore, after the North America class battleship, the next generation of new battleships are still in the drawing design stage... The Navy plans to wait until the second ship of the North America class battleship is completed and put into service before starting the construction of the next generation of new battleships.

Optimistic estimates suggest that construction will not officially start until next year, and it will be five years before it is completed and put into service.

Therefore, for many years to come, the North American-class battleship will be the most advanced and largest battleship in the Chu Empire... and the initial tonnage of this thing is actually similar to the Tianjin-class battleship. The initial design tonnage was only 17,000 to 8,000 tons.

However, after taking into account many factors such as endurance, living space, and the additional space needed to serve as a command ship, and at the same time, after the rapid-fire gun technology was gradually improved, the Navy tended to install more medium- and large-caliber rapid-fire guns... so the final tonnage gradually increased. Big, it turned into a big guy with a load of 21,000 tons!

Although the details of the battleship North America, which is now completed, and the battleship East America, which is still under construction, are different, they are generally the same.

Take the USS North America as an example. It has a full load displacement of 21,000 tons and a draft of 8.4 meters. It is equipped with two twin-mounted 300 mm 45-caliber main guns, and is equipped with six twin-mounted 200 mm main guns. The forty-five times caliber main gun is paired with eight single-mounted 150mm rapid-fire secondary guns and a stack of 75mm and 40mm rapid-fire secondary guns.

The armor protection is relatively weak. The side armor is only 200 mm, and the main turret and command tower are only 225 mm.

This thing is actually a typical guy who emphasizes firepower and light protection!

In terms of power, it is as traditional and conservative as ever, using a steam engine, with a power unit of only 16,500 horsepower, and a maximum speed of only 18 knots.

This kind of battleship is a compromise product of the Navy's desire for both a 300mm large tube and a 200mm rapid-fire cannon... This is similar to the pre-dreadnought battleship equipped with a secondary main gun in the original time and space.

And this shipbuilding idea will continue to the next generation of battleships... except that the secondary main gun will use a 250mm rapid-fire main gun with more advanced technology and a larger caliber!

The Songjiang Artillery Factory, a subsidiary of Jiangnan Weapon Company, has successfully transplanted the technology of the 200mm rapid-fire cannon to the 250mm-caliber artillery through years of research and development, thereby realizing the rapid-fire of the 250mm-caliber naval gun. Its rate of fire reaches an astonishing two rounds per minute...

Don't look at it, it's only two rounds per minute... This is already very exaggerated, because if the traditional gun is withdrawn, it usually takes several minutes... This rate of fire has increased by more than five or six times.

Based on this excellent large-caliber rapid-fire gun, the Navy will build a larger tonnage secondary main gun battleship.

Again, rapid-fire cannons are great, but so are big 300mm tubes. No one in the Navy is willing to give up!

However, it is worth noting that on the new generation of second-class battleships, the Navy has decided to use 250mm rapid-fire cannons as its main guns. It also plans to enlarge the tonnage and cost restrictions of second-class battleships to equip more two-class battleships. The 150mm rapid-fire main gun is expected to be equipped with four twin mounts, with a total of eight main guns.

This means that this class of ships will use a unified main gun.

This is the insistence of some people within the Navy who insist on unifying the main gun caliber. In addition, the 250mm rapid-fire naval gun is indeed very good... The rapid-fire gun is not much worse than the 200mm main gun, but it is more powerful... Of course it's also more expensive.

That's why there is a new generation of second-class battleships equipped with eight unified main guns: the North Africa-class battleship.

From the appearance point of view, this thing is actually not much different from the so-called fearless battleships in the original time and space of later generations. They all have a unified main gun, and the naval guns even use a piggyback turret layout.

However, this thing is actually just an appearance... First of all, the power used is a traditional reciprocating steam engine... As for steam turbines, there are no such things, but at this stage, the only ship-based steam turbines are those that pursue speed regardless of cost. Only large luxury cruise ships will use it.

The Navy said that my pipes were thick enough and the protection was strong enough. As for the speed, it was not important... Then they turned around and complained about why steam turbines are so expensive!

In addition, the most important thing is that the newly designed second-class North Africa-class battleships have no unified fire control... In actual combat, each gun crew fights independently, and there is no salvo.

Unified fire control was something that the Imperial Navy of the Chu Empire only began to consider in the past two years. After all, no one had thought of the need for such a thing before. It was only later that someone said that unified main guns would be developed that some people began to think about this thing.

After thinking about it, I found that this ghost thing is quite difficult and involves a lot of things.

For example, if you want to implement unified fire control, you need to use a thing, that is, a mechanical computer... As you can tell from the name, this thing is not simple.

If you want to use a unified large-caliber main gun for long-distance bombardment, you need a higher-precision optical rangefinder. At least the current optical rangefinders used for combat within five kilometers are not enough.

Then there is the transmission of information, how to efficiently, safely and accurately transmit various information, such as optical ranging information, the ship's own speed, orientation and other information to the central fire control system, and then let the central fire control system calculate and The calculation results are accurately and quickly transmitted to each turret.

Just such an information delivery system is not that easy to implement!

Therefore, it is not easy to implement unified fire control... Anyway, the Imperial Navy has not made much progress after two years of doing so.