Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 479 Spanish Reinforcements
Economic development will inevitably lead to closer links between all walks of life. This is true in a self-sufficient agricultural society, and even more so in an industrial society.
Just taking the Worms' business as an example, since Spain wanted to develop steelmaking, it naturally had to build large steel mills. Then, as the number of workers increased, the demand for beer increased - this was the first increase in consumption.
In order to grasp this increase, the Worms have to expand production. In addition to expanding the factory, they also need to trace the source and control the production of beer raw materials - purchasing an estate is another new consumption.
Old Hans's manor was already unsustainable: after three years of fierce religious wars in Bavaria, there were still more than 400 adult men in a 4,500-acre manor - in the north of the Ming Dynasty, one strong laborer could take care of 20 acres of land, and the agricultural development in Europe was not as good as that in the Ming Dynasty at that time, which meant a serious labor surplus. Moreover, these strong laborers and their families, more than 1,000 people, relied on renting the land of this manor to survive, which was actually struggling on the line of life and death.
But now, Worm came, bought the estate, and allowed the estate's surplus population to work in the factory - although they would still be exploited in the factory, in fact, more than a thousand people on the estate were saved.
If one beer merchant can save so many farmers, what about ten beer merchants? After these farmers enter the factory, they will no longer weave clothes themselves, and new consumption will be generated. Then, should the garment factory also expand its production scale?
Therefore, the establishment of a steel mill has such a great leverage effect on society. What about ten steel mills? What about the steel mill’s affiliated enterprises?
Of course, Greater Europe has its own continental sentiment. Unlike the Chinese Empire, which has been centralized since the Qin Dynasty, even in the era of division when multiple countries coexisted, the rulers of all divided regimes believed that unification was a matter of time. Even though the Roman Empire appeared on the European continent, it has never been truly unified.
Therefore, unlike Zhu Youdong who was at ease to adapt to local conditions and set up heavy industrial centers in the vast territory of Ming according to the distribution of mineral resources, Philip, in developing heavy industry, made it mandatory for all large factories to be opened in the Iberian Peninsula. The purpose was to artificially build the only industrial center in Europe, and then use the economy to enhance the centripetal force of Europe.
This practice, of course, violated the law of economic development. Fortunately, the two most basic minerals of the First Industrial Revolution, coal and iron, were still available on the Iberian Peninsula. Even in the Ruhr area, which became famous in later generations, Philip had already started to build a special railway: in the future, the Ruhr area would only mine, and if it really wanted to make finished products, it had to be transported to the Spanish mainland.
In short, because the Industrial Revolution was in full swing in Europe, the role of economic leverage became more and more obvious, and the social structure of the whole Europe was rapidly undergoing earth-shaking changes. And as Philip said: when the trade barriers of various countries were lifted, industrially developed countries could automatically suck blood from other countries. So in recent years, the income of the Spanish government has grown very fast. At least on the surface, the annual income of more than 80 million is much more than the annual income of the Ming Empire of 60 million.
Seeing how much positive change had taken place in Greater Europe as a result of his efforts, Philip naturally felt a great sense of accomplishment, and his mood also improved a lot.
However, this good mood came to an abrupt end in June 1621.
"Your Majesty, we were attacked by the Chinese in Shalian! Moreover, the shameless Chinese treated our people differently. Their intentions are so sinister that there is no need to explain further."
In early April, Tian Ergeng drove out the local white people in Shalian. Because they left in such a hurry, even if they got supplies in Goa (a Portuguese colony) on the Indian Peninsula, they still couldn't circumnavigate the entire Africa. Moreover, along the way, since all the Castilians had their thumbs cut off, their labor was at least 70% reduced, so the Portuguese actually took on the main work on the voyage.
The Portuguese were already furious about their homeland being annexed, and now they were caught in the crossfire, because the Castilians were selling drugs and they were also driven out, which made them even more angry. On the way of retreat, for whatever reason, the Castilians did too little work... So halfway through, the Portuguese completely exploded and left these Castilians on the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
Then the Ottoman Ibrahim learned about this. The Grand Vizier laughed and instead of mistreating these poor Castilians, he treated them to a good meal and sent a fast ship to take them across the Mediterranean. So, when the Portuguese had just rounded the Cape of Good Hope, these Castilians from Shalyan returned to mainland Spain first.
Then the King's troubles naturally came. After all, drug trafficking was the job of Fernando, an intelligence officer, and the few troops and officials stationed in Shalian really suffered an unexpected disaster. Now that their entire second half of life was ruined due to their physical disabilities, they naturally resented the government.
"This Chinese time traveler is so evil! Why let him go? Wouldn't it be better to kill him all? That time traveler from Osman is also a bastard!"
After complaining bitterly in his heart for a while, Philip had to put on a compassionate look and discuss with his Prime Minister Osbanez how to properly resettle these Castilians who had returned home.
"Your Majesty, we must not allow these people to return to their homes. Fortunately, our officials in Barcelona are diligent and have taken them under control. Personally, I think there are still Portuguese people at sea, and it was the Ottomans who sent them back. Therefore, they cannot be killed. We can only allocate a large estate to support them."
"Of course I can't kill them, my Prime Minister. After all, they are all my people. Just do as you wish. Gather them in one manor and raise them. Also, prepare a sum of money from my private property and allocate it to the Portuguese local council, so that they can..."
"Bang!" Philip's study door was pushed open from the outside. Naturally, the only person who could do such a rude thing was Rudolf.
"Philip! Oh, the Prime Minister is here too."
"Your Highness, I greet you."
"My compliments, Prime Minister. May I ask you?"
"OK."
After Osbanez left and gently closed the study door, Rudolph began to shout: "Philip, I just heard that your opium sales were exposed."
"Yes. I admit that I miscalculated. I didn't expect that Chinese officials would be so conscientious."
"What should we do? We may not be able to defend all our colonies in Asia!"
"Yeah, this is a big problem." He once again supported the bridge of his nose without glasses: "Other places are okay, but the Philippines, we have been operating there for many years, it is a pity to lose it."
"Do we need to send more troops to the Far East?"
"Hmm..." Philip said, pacing in the pile of books with his hands behind his back. "There is no war in Europe now, so we can withdraw troops. But sending troops so far away will not be in time. On the other hand, we cannot send the main force to fight in a 20,000-mile expedition under the current conditions. In addition, in my opinion, our trade deficit with China is too large. We might as well give up the Far East and form a natural trade barrier. China's specialties to us are silk, porcelain and tea. We can replace silk with cotton textiles, we can burn porcelain ourselves after we have thermometers, and we can grow tea in Africa and America. I really can't tolerate the large amount of wealth flowing into China from Europe every year, otherwise I wouldn't be so anxious to take opium to the Far East to sell."
"What should we do? Abandon the soldiers and civilians in the Far East? What if the Chinese time traveler still releases them all? By then, not only will the people's morale be ruined, but even the military's morale will collapse."
"Ah..." After a long silence and a long sigh, Philip said, "It's June now. If we send reinforcements now and go through the Cape of Good Hope, it will be November or December when we reach the Philippines. Let's do this. Send out the two ironclad ships we have built now, and let them lead fifty sailing warships and two hundred transport ships. If they arrive in the Philippines and the Philippines has already fallen, then we will find a way to negotiate with China and redeem our people. If it has not yet fallen, then we will use our ironclad ships to teach that Chinese time traveler a lesson!"
