Hidden Dragon in Qing Dynasty

"More than 3,400?" William I could not believe his ears. Of course, he could not remember every single figure in the national economic report, but from what he could remember, there should not be so many steam trains in Prussia right now.

The first time Industrial Revolution was represented by railways and trains. At that time, the number of locomotives in every country was related to the size of their national economy.

In just 30 years, the number of trains in Prussia increased by more than 3000. This number surprised William I.

What was even more shocking was that, as Xiao Letian explained continuously, a brand-new Prussia appeared in front of William I.

At the peak of Prussian economic development, Prussia's gross national product more than doubled in the 1850s and 1960s alone.

And within twenty years, Prussia was rapidly transforming its economy from light industry to heavy industry, a well-known example of heavy industry.

Prussia itself was rich in coal and iron, two of the most important strategic resources. In 1850, Prussia produced only 210 thousand tons of pig iron, and after 20 years of development, Prussia produced 1.4 million tons of pig iron, seven times more.

In the last 20 years, the output of steel has increased from over 5000 tons to 170 thousand tons, which is a whole 30 times increase.

The plentiful supply of raw materials directly contributed to the prosperity of the manufacturing industry. In 1840 there were less than a hundred machinery factories in Prussia, but by 1860 there were more than 300 in Prussia.

It is worth mentioning that the famous Krupp group was developed during this period.

Prussia's first railway line was completed in 1835, when it was only 16 kilometers long. By 1848, it had reached a total of 2500 kilometers, and by this year, all the railways in Prussia had a total mileage of 21,000km, far exceeding that of the Southern France.

There are many numbers like this, many of them I can't even lift up. His Majesty the King, may I ask, do you know how many numbers you have seen?

William I's expression froze, he suddenly felt like his face was on fire, the economic figures of his own country was actually coming out from the mouth of a Chinese, this was simply disgraceful!

Fortunately, there was no one around, if there was anyone around, William I would probably have to find a mouse hole and burrow into it!

"Bismark told you all of this?" The king could not contain his anger.

"My dear King, please don't be angry. The Prime Minister certainly didn't tell me about this data on his own accord. I found something fishy in the Prussian government's report!"

"Later on, I will beat around the bush and force Bismark little by little. These numbers were actually created by me!"

"In the end, Prime Minister Bismark did not want to deceive you on purpose, he wanted to deceive the entire world! But I am the more cunning one, I found a little clue and did not fall for it! "

Hearing Xiao Letian's words, William I's expression became slightly better. "This guy is really too rude, I, I …"

Even after a long time, the king still didn't come up with a countermeasure, and he still didn't say how he wanted to punish Bismark.

At this time, the two of them were conversing with each other secretly, but at the front of the statue of the Goddess of Victory, Bismark had met another judge.

The Young William that had only returned from England half a month ago, was the son of the Prince of Karl, the grandson of the Prince of Karl. He was dressed in an exquisite suit with a royal sword at his waist, standing in front of Bismark with a solemn expression, his little face raised high, and his eyes staring at the Prime Minister.

"Prime Minister, I think you should apologize to the king! In front of the guests from the east, you did not display the respect that you should have for my grandfather! "

"No matter how meticulous your plan with the Chief of Staff is, when the king asks, the first thing you need to do is to explain it, not refute it tit for tat. This is very rude!"

Young William was only ten years old this year. He raised his head and looked at the tall Bismark with a serious expression, causing the surrounding people to be unable to hold back their laughter.

Bismark was not even afraid of his grandfather and father, of course he was not afraid of a ten-year old child. He even reached out his hand and rubbed Young William's head, "My dear Young William, have you not gone out for a ride today? "Why would you want to accompany us old men to see the boring construction site?"

"Someone come!" Give the two exquisite handguns that I have in my collection to the prince. This is a gift that I specially prepared for you! "

This was something that the Young William could not accept, he placed his hands on his hips and stared at Bismark, his cheeks trembling violently.

"Prime Minister, I am speaking to you in my capacity as the future heir to the kingdom and the Prussian prince. Please don't treat me like a child …"

"Oh!" Haha … If I knew that His Royal Highness would be like this, of course I would accept your suggestion. When I get back, I will report to His Majesty the King about our plan. Okay, where is Attendant? "Take the little prince out to play for a while …"

Bismark waved his hands and smiled as he left the little prince, completely disregarding the fact that the Young William was alone and angry.

Wang Huaiyuan quietly looked at Young William and Bismark, he was secretly worried in his heart, "This official was being so rude, is this not the way to protect your own profits?! In the future, Bismark will probably suffer a huge loss because of this little prince! "

William I and Xiao Letian were completely unaware of what was happening outside. At this moment, they had already transferred their analysis of the data onto the France.

Dear Your Majesty, after we finish analysing our families, let's take a look at the France. You will soon understand the true meaning of strength disparity.

France itself lacks iron and coal reserves, so natural resources limit its development of heavy industry.

Take industrial coal, for example. In 1869, France produced 13 million tons of coal, but in the same year, what was his domestic demand? It was over 18 million tons, and there was a gap of 5 million tons, which needed to be filled through imports.

Last year, however, we exported more than 4 million tons of coal from Prussia.

If France were to develop a heavy industry, it would naturally be at a cost disadvantage, and the lack of coal would naturally restrict the production of their steel. Last year, their total production of pig iron was only 1.38 million tons, which was not even comparable to ours.

They had only 100 thousand tons of steel last year, while we in Prussia had 170 thousand tons. According to these figures, France's heavy industry was like a giant difference between a donkey and a horse.