At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 670: Divergence in routes and growing gaps.

On September 52, the 9nd year of the Han calendar, the first World Expo officially opened in Chang'an City.

In this expo, Han's overseas territories attracted more attention than Han's homeland, as Han has a vast and wealthy market.

The gap between the ability to accumulate wealth in the industrial age and the ability to accumulate wealth in the agricultural age was too huge, especially since most civilizations were still in the slavery period and the level of productivity differed by two orders of magnitude. That was an extremely terrifying thing.

The income of an ordinary craftsman in the Han Dynasty was dozens of times higher than that of people with the same profession in other countries. The income of a laborer in the Han Dynasty was comparable to that of the aristocracy in other countries. This is why other countries attach so much importance to labor dispatch, because it is the most lasting and stable source of foreign exchange income in their country. Without this money, the balance of payments of many countries will collapse directly.

The Han Dynasty has become a gold mine in the eyes of overseas countries. As long as they dig a shovel at this gold mine, it will be enough to make small countries rich, and big countries can also accumulate wealth and start industrialization.

Of course, it is extremely difficult to achieve this. Among all the civilized countries in the world, only the Han Dynasty completed the first industrial revolution and started to move towards the second industrialization.

As for other countries around the world, the Huns had already stepped half into the industrial age, and Rome and Carthage were saving money to buy Han machines. Even though these two countries were working hard to open up the fields, the additional food did not go to the people. Instead, they used thousands of tons of food to exchange for a steam engine, and began their own industrialization process with difficulty. In order to open the door to industrialization, these two countries tried their best.

As for the hundreds of vassal states established by the Han Dynasty, except for a few large states that had some basic industrial accumulation, the vast majority were examples of having no ambitions.

If they want to develop industrialization, they need to invest huge amounts of money, popularize education, accumulate wealth, purchase machinery, strictly manage, reduce the cost of goods and compete with the Han Dynasty's entire industrial chain. Even if they put in 200% of their effort, they can only earn a few melons and dates left by the Han Dynasty because they are at the downstream of the industrial chain.

On the other hand, using the country's own citizens as managers and the indigenous people as the main labor force, those who have minerals can mine and easily become mine owners. Those who don't have mines can develop cash crop gardens, grow spices, sugarcane, tea, and rubber trees, and easily become big landlords, providing raw materials for the industrialization of the Han Dynasty, and easily earning tens to hundreds of millions of yuan a year. As long as this small country with a small population does not have too many ambitions and does not need to invest in industrialization, it is really not difficult for them to live as easily as a rich man.

The Han Dynasty had several earls, and because they had raw materials such as guano and potash fertilizers, they could earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year just by digging these fertilizers. However, they were small countries with only tens of thousands of citizens. Relying on this income, these earls could provide full welfare benefits, including free medical care, free housing, and free education. As long as students could be admitted to the Han Dynasty's institutions, these earls would not only cover all tuition fees, but also provide students of these institutions with 3000 coins of living expenses each month.

These vassal states easily achieved the advanced and wealthy society that the Han Dynasty had been striving for for more than ten years but had not yet achieved.

They could easily live a wealthy life by developing the mining and plantation economy, so why should they work so hard for industrialization? It would be enough to have a big man to take them flying.

It is human nature to love leisure and hate work, so the vassal states of the Han Dynasty generally had a plantation economy based on agriculture. The fire of industrial civilization, except for the Han mainland, was only a few scattered flames on other continents.

The World Expo was just a place for the princes of the Han Dynasty to sell goods, but for the civilizations of other countries, it was a ticket to industrialization. They attached great importance to it. They brought large delegations and brought their country's best specialties and products to the Han Dynasty, hoping to enter the Han market and be welcomed by the Han people.

However, these delegations from various countries were shocked when they arrived at the venue of the World Expo. Buildings hundreds of meters high stood in the sky. Standing under such a huge building, the only feeling was one's own insignificance. The glass exterior wall of the exhibition was shining with dazzling light, like an extremely huge gem, shocking everyone who saw it.

Although glass had changed from a gem to a common luxury item over the past decade or so under the industrial production capacity of the Han Dynasty, the idea that glass is a gem formed over thousands of years was difficult to dispel in the minds of this group of people, so this product shocked the envoys of various countries.

Only the new generation of Han people would not care about such a scene, because in their three views, glass is just a slightly expensive building material. It can be seen everywhere in Han buildings. It’s just that this construction method of using glass as exterior walls is relatively novel. They look at this skyscraper with a novel eye.

Inside the exhibition hall.

"Put all these goods in the most conspicuous place. Also put the wine and beer in a good place. Whenever someone comes, invite them to taste it for free. Don't let anyone go. One more customer means one more order for the Roman State."

"Understood, Archon!" the staff responded loudly.

Claudius directed the members of the delegation to display all the specialties of Rome on the exhibition stand, including agricultural products such as wheat, barley, and oats, as well as olive oil, wine, and beer brewed in their own country, as well as cloth, clothes, hats, shoes, and socks, coats made of various Roman furs, as well as their own minerals, herbs, and handicrafts. It can be said that as long as there are products in Rome, Claudius and his team will bring them to the Han Dynasty.

He looked at it carefully three times, asked people to move the positions of several products, and then nodded with satisfaction.

But he soon sighed again. What he saw and heard in the Han Dynasty made him realize that even though Rome had started the industrialization process, the distance between Rome and the Han Dynasty was still very far.

At the same time, he himself was not successful in Rome. After the Datong Society entered Rome, they fell into disagreement over the development of industry. Claudius belonged to the radical faction. He believed that the gap between Rome and the Han Dynasty was too large. Rome needed to concentrate all its resources for industrialization and to carry out a strong liquidation of the senatorial families, using the property of these senatorial families as the original accumulation for Rome's industrialization.

The moderates, led by Fabius, admitted that there was a huge gap between Rome and Han, but Rome had Gaul and Germanic regions as areas for development. Developing these areas would be enough for Rome to accumulate the wealth and markets needed for industrialization. At the same time, these moderates believed that Rome's external environment was not too dangerous. Although Han was stronger than Rome, it was too far away from Rome and would not become Rome's enemy. Secondly, Han had already annexed four continents and had obviously held on. In the next hundred years, Han would focus on digesting these continents and would not oppress Rome. Rome had time to complete industrialization and enhance its strength.

The opinions of Fabius and other moderates were the consensus of most members of the Roman Society. There was nothing they could do about it. The Roman Society came from the aristocratic families of the Senate. Now that Rome was not at a critical moment, they were naturally unwilling to sacrifice their families for industrialization. Instead, they wanted their families to become leaders in the industrial age, and to make their families and Rome grow together. This was the idea of ​​most Roman Society members.

However, radicals like Claudius were a minority, so Claudius, a former Roman hero who had been consul for less than two years, was ostracized and had no choice but to bring a Roman delegation to the Han Dynasty to sell his country's goods.

At this moment, Claudius saw the Carthaginian stadium across the street and couldn't help but get furious and said, "You Carthaginians only know how to plagiarize, and you don't have any skills of your own."

Not only was the furnishings of Carthage's venues almost the same as Rome's, even the specialties were similar. The two sides had been enemies for hundreds of years, and now they had become competitors, which naturally increased the hatred between the two sides.

The Carthaginian envoy Herodotus laughed sarcastically, "Hey, isn't this the Roman consul? A noble man like you is not busy in Rome, but actually ran to Chang'an to do such a small thing. Are you unable to continue to be the consul?" Herodotus looked at Claudius and said sarcastically, "Yes, you Romans like to kill donkeys when you don't need the millstone. I don't think you will be the consul for long."

Claudius was furious and said, "You losers, if you hadn't surrendered to the Han Dynasty, I, Rome, could have destroyed you with one hand." Herodotus said calmly, "You Romans want to surrender to the Han Dynasty, but you can't do it yet. Now you can only watch our Carthage grow stronger little by little."

The two men's swearing attracted a lot of attention from the Han people. For a while, the two venues were surrounded by Han people who came to watch the fun, which made the two men embarrassed. Claudius was the consul of Rome, and Herodotus was a senator of the Carthaginians. Now the Han people were watching them as if they were monkeys, and the two men also wanted to save face.

At this time, a staff member of the venue came over and said, "Please do not disrupt the order of the venue. If you have any grievances, please go outside the venue to resolve them."

The two could only snort coldly and return to their own venue.

However, the two of them hit the jackpot by accident, attracting a large number of Han tourists to buy some handicraft products of Rome and Carthage, such as small stone statues and wooden statues. Westerners especially like nude sculptures, which attracted even more people.

Although this kind of sculpture looks a bit indecent, the stronger the civilization and the more open the customs, this kind of nudity is nothing in the Han Dynasty, not to mention that the Han Dynasty still retained some fertility worship from the primitive era. The exotic sculptures of the Romans and Carthaginians aroused the curiosity of many Han people, and many orders were placed.

The beer of the Romans and Carthaginians also attracted the attention of many Han drunkards. In their words, they had tasted hundreds of kinds of fine wines, but this was the first time they had tried exotic beer. The Han people were always curious about new things and were eager to try them.

On the contrary, the wines of the Romans and Carthaginians were available in the Han Dynasty, and the wines from the Western Regions occupied the high-end wine market in the Han Dynasty. The people of the Han Dynasty were not interested in the wines of the Romans and Carthaginians.

What disappointed the two was that the Roman and Carthaginian cloth they brought had a poor response. The quality was too poor and the price was not low. The patterns were rare, so only a few curious Han people bought some. There were no large orders. The same was true for clothes, hats, shoes, socks and bags. Only curious people bought them. On the contrary, some coats received good response and some were ordered. These things brought millions of dollars in orders to the two venues.

Instead, barley, oats, soybeans and cheese attracted the attention of many Kuaiji County trading companies, who expressed their willingness to place orders as long as the price was right.

Compared with ten years ago, the Han Dynasty has established a relatively complete shipping network. Relying on the efficiency of steamships, the shipping price has been directly reduced to one-tenth of the original price. Many commodities that were originally not traded due to cost have now become profitable.

After Claudius placed several large orders, he also started to visit venues. This time he brought an envoy to the Han Dynasty. In addition to selling goods, he also planned to purchase machinery. After the merger of Northern and Southern Rome, Rome's land area was 200 million square kilometers, and its total population exceeded million. At this time line, it can also be ranked among the top five major countries in the world. Both land area and population are more than three times that of Niu Niu when industrialization just began. Therefore, if Rome wants to enter industrialization, it needs more machinery than Niu Niu. Rome has to import a large number of machinery from the Han Dynasty every year to complete its own industrialization. What has always limited Rome is the financial resources of Rome.

In the machinery exhibition hall of the Han Dynasty, Claudius saw many high-power steam engines, steam ships, new textile machines, and jacquard machines. He drooled at the sight of these machines. The efficiency of these machines was several times that of the Roman steam engines. If the Roman factories were equipped with these steam engines, the efficiency could be increased by more than three times.

A clerk at the exhibition hall saw that Claudius was a big shot, and warmly entertained Claudius, saying: "This is our Chen County's latest textile machine, which can weave 100 pieces of cloth a day. This machine can weave 3 pieces of cloth a year, and such an efficient machine is not expensive, only three million yuan."

Hearing the figure of 300 million coins, Claudius immediately woke up from his fantasy. The efficiency was only increased by 3 times, but the price increased by more than ten times. If the price of a second-hand steam textile machine was included, the price would be more than times. Rome simply could not afford such an expensive steam engine. He could only shake his head helplessly and leave.

It may be that Rome picked up a lot of second-hand equipment from the Han Dynasty, and the steam engines at the World Expo were not only brand new machines, but in order to demonstrate the strength of the factories, the machinery factories that came to the exhibition brought the latest and most advanced machines. Advanced means high R&D costs and high technology prices.

In short, Claudius visited more than a dozen exhibition halls. The prices of the machines in each exhibition hall made him feel out of reach, and even made him feel inferior. He, a Roman consul, could not afford to buy these machines, but the merchants of the Han Dynasty could afford them, and even the merchants of the Han Dynasty princes could shout loudly to buy ten machines. This directly broke Claudius's heart. He simply walked into the electrical appliance exhibition hall.

The core of this World Expo was no longer the steam engine, but the new jewel in the crown of Han industry, various motor products represented by electricity.

As soon as Claudius arrived at the pavilion, he found that there were many bright lights shining in the pavilion, making the pavilion so bright. At first he thought they were kerosene lamps, but soon discovered that they were the big man's electric lights.

Walking into the electrical appliances pavilion, he found that the machines here were obviously several times smaller than those in the steam pavilion. He even saw several cars full of people moving slowly in the pavilion.

At this time, a master craftsman proudly said: "This is the electric car developed by our laboratory. Don't be fooled by its slow speed here, but its maximum speed can exceed 60km/h, which is faster than a train. Compared with a train, our electric car is more flexible, and it is quieter than a steam car, and there is no smoke pollution. This car will be the means of transportation for the Han people in the future. It will completely replace trains, steam cars, and tractors. Electric cars are the trend of the future."

The master craftsman's words made the people around him marvel. How long has it been since the great man invented trains, steam locomotives, and tractors? Most of the people on the streets are still riding horse-drawn carriages. Soon, trains, steam locomotives, and tractors will be replaced by electric cars!

The technology of our Han Dynasty is advancing with each passing day and is invincible in the world. Few people think that there is anything wrong with the words of this great craftsman. There are too many new things in this era. The people of the Han Dynasty have small changes almost every ten years and big changes every thirty years. In less than 60 years since the founding of the Han Dynasty, the Han Dynasty has changed from a feudal country to a fully industrialized country. Therefore, the people of the Han Dynasty have an extremely strong ability to adapt to new things.

Of course, this master craftsman did not mention the fact that the electric car can only be driven for ten minutes. He didn't even think there was anything wrong with it. Now it can only be driven for ten minutes and has a range of about ten miles, but as long as research and development continues and better batteries are developed, the range will naturally continue to break through.

After watching the performance of these electric cars, the merchants in Dahan shouted, "I will give 500 million yuan to Master Chen for experimentation, just to get some shares."

"Someone offered 1000 million yuan."

"I'll give you 1500 million!"

Claudius could only listen with envy as these wealthy merchants broke out the numbers. It was impossible for them in Rome to spend tens of millions of dollars to conduct such a luxurious experiment.

Then Claudius saw the Han Dynasty's new electric textile machines, electric lathes, boring machines, planers and other new mechanical equipment. In short, all the steam-powered equipment was replaced with electric motors. The main features of these new electric equipment were strong power, high efficiency and low pollution.

Claudius was shocked to find that the steam equipment that Rome had spent tens of billions of dollars to buy was not only now lagging behind that of the Han Dynasty, but was also being replaced by the Han Dynasty's new electrical equipment. Rome's entry into industrialization not only failed to narrow the gap between itself and the Han Dynasty, but the gap became increasingly larger. The steam engineering projects that they had spent a lot of money to build were actually about to be eliminated.

(End of this chapter)