Nanyang Storm 1864

As expected, the situation in Europe deteriorated rapidly. The Germans sensed that Russia's power would grow stronger and that the seemingly powerful Austro-Hungarian Empire would decline.

Therefore, they hoped to launch a war in 1914 when the balance of power was in their favor.

On the afternoon of Sunday, June 28, 1914, the Kaiser learned of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand while on his yacht off the coast of Kiel and immediately halted his tour.

He was like a gambler who had placed a bet, stretching out his hands and shouting wildly, "1914 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

As expected, the Austro-Serbian War broke out. Russia and France sided with Serbia and immediately launched a general mobilization for war, and the situation rapidly slid into a dangerous abyss.

On July 31, Germany issued an ultimatum to Russia and France, demanding that they cease general mobilization, which was categorically rejected.

Germany declared war on Russia on July 31 and on France on August 3, officially marking the start of World War I.

The Imperial Palace of the Great Chu Empire
At the grand court assembly that concluded today, Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire, beaming with joy, assigned his ministers the most pressing task at hand:

Production, production, and more production—all efforts were focused on expanding production to satisfy Europe's seemingly insatiable appetite.

A full-scale war broke out in Europe. At the same time, almost every industry in the Great Chu Empire received an astonishing number of large orders. The demand was urgent, the variety was vast, the quantity was enormous, and the prices were quite favorable.

There is only one requirement: to deliver the goods as soon as possible; it's extremely urgent.

Today, ocean liners laden with all sorts of goods from the Great Chu Empire are heading to Europe in an endless stream, and shipping costs have risen by 72% in just half a month. This rapid increase is unlikely to be contained in the short term.

Europeans now want almost everything: wheat, palm oil, frozen meat, wool, natural rubber, all kinds of grains, corn, spices, cigarettes, tea, coffee, cocoa, pig bristles, kerosene, diesel, gasoline, heavy oil, and so on—virtually everything.

Industrial products also included a wide variety of items, including large quantities of weapons and ammunition, Manila standard bolt-action rifles, Maxim heavy machine guns, and 37mm Maxim field cannons.

The British placed a one-time order for 5000 37mm Maxim field guns and 200 million rounds of ammunition, amounting to a staggering £46 million, equivalent to the total annual military expenditure of the Great Chu Empire.

The Great Chu Empire is facing an explosive increase in demand across all sectors. Factories urgently need various types of machinery and equipment for production expansion. Shipyards are receiving orders like snowflakes, causing shipbuilding prices to surge by as much as 60%.

Everything happened so suddenly. The huge demand has business owners so worried that they can't keep up with the demand, even if they work overtime!
This happy dilemma erupted, and Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire issued an edict ordering all banks and private financial institutions to expand lending as much as possible to create favorable conditions for large-scale production expansion.

Grand Assembly

Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu repeatedly emphasized that officials at all levels should prioritize production, production, and expanded reproduction, seize the golden opportunity presented by the full-scale outbreak of war in Europe, and promote the empire's industrial and agricultural economy to a new level.

at the same time
The Great Chu Empire once again fully liberalized its immigration policy, and the original policy of resisting foreign invasion was reinstated within the empire after disappearing for 16 years.

Factories that are ramping up production are now desperately seeking a large workforce, which has led to a surge in the labor market and a doubling of wages for ordinary workers, yet they still cannot find enough people.

The full-scale outbreak of war in Europe ushered in a golden age of rapid development for the Great Chu Empire.

Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire saw very clearly that whoever could first significantly expand production to meet Europe's almost endless demand would reap the greatest benefits.

The emperor has issued an edict.
Permission is granted to open strategic reserve warehouses throughout the empire, and to orderly load and ship the reserve materials to Europe, first satisfying the immediate demand.

Although the quality of strategic reserves of grain, oil and other bulk commodities may be slightly inferior, Europeans are not too concerned about that under the current circumstances.

Just thinking about it makes me happy. At the very beginning of the war, the major European powers mobilized their entire nations. Countless trains, carriages, and cars transported soldiers to the front lines, totaling millions of people.

Even more young and middle-aged Europeans were involved in war logistics, a number that is at least between 1800 and 2000 million, making the scale of human resources mobilized extremely large.

With so many young and able-bodied men in Europe engaged in the war, factories were left unattended and land uncultivated, while the explosive demand only increased, making it no surprise that countless orders arose.

Once the major European powers truly engage in hostility, the scale of the war will further expand until the entire continent of Europe, as well as the Near East and the Middle East, are engulfed in the flames of war, reaching a fever pitch.

Where are we now?
The massive expansion of industrial and agricultural production capacity in the Great Chu Empire will generate strong demand over the next decade.

Emperor Zheng Guohui seemed to see that the golden age of the Great Chu Empire was coming, and that he must seize this historical opportunity to share in the fate of the United States.

According to statistics from the Imperial Ministry of Commerce
The large orders from Europe accounted for nearly 60% of the total, with the remaining 30% flowing to the United States, indicating a very favorable situation.

Thanks to the Great Chu Empire's decades-long policy of developing strategic reserves, in the face of such explosive demand, the doors of the strategic reserve warehouses could be opened to meet the urgent needs of Europeans.

This part alone accounts for more than half of the total demand seized by the Great Chu Empire.

Large ocean-going freighters with a carrying capacity of 3 to 5 tons have emptied one strategic reserve warehouse after another and are heading to Europe in an endless stream. That's all money!

The United States was not so lucky. From the very beginning, the Founding Fathers of the United States upheld the principle of small government, with multiple checks and balances on government power, and a market economy as the dominant force.

This resulted in the United States not establishing a nationwide strategic reserve system, lacking corresponding funding, and naturally not having a large reserve of materials.

Faced with the sudden surge in demand, the Americans were completely dumbfounded.

Watching the cargo ships of the Great Chu Empire, laden with cargo, sail towards Europe, I felt a mix of emotions, a mixture of envy, jealousy, and resentment.

It's unbelievable that grain stored in the warehouse for several years can be sold for 30% more than new grain, and the demand still exceeds the supply.

The world is changing so fast that Americans are baffled.

Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire didn't care about any of that. He directly ordered the emptying of hundreds of warehouses across the country that stored military supplies, including as many as 76 Manila bolt-action rifles and billions of rounds of ammunition.

The Great Chu Empire currently enjoys an excellent security environment, with almost no hostile countries capable of posing a real threat to its security.

The United States has learned its lesson and, when faced with the blatant provocations of the Great Chu Empire's Caribbean feudal forces, has chosen to cower and refuse to take the bait.

Originally, Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire secretly ordered Lieutenant General Chu-Zheng Yan, the commander of the Panama Military Region, to find an opportunity to create friction and deliberately provoke border conflicts in order to find an excuse to strike at the Americans.

Unexpectedly, the Americans were quite cunning, choosing to cower and swallow their anger. A stark example is before us: without being fully prepared for war, the United States wisely chose to remain silent.

Currently, the U.S. Navy has 20 new battleships equipped with 305mm main guns, which can compete with European naval powers such as Germany, France, and Italy, and flex its muscles.

However, it was far from enough to compete with the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire, which had as many as 12 Kunlun Mountain-class battleships equipped with 343mm main guns, as well as more than 20 previous generation Manila-class battleships equipped with 305mm main guns.

In July 1914, the Great Chu Empire had another Duke-class battleship equipped with 381 mm main guns that had already been fitted with naval armor, and another one would be fitted with naval armor by the end of the year.

In terms of main battleships and heavy cruisers, the Royal Navy of the Great Chu Empire was absolutely superior.

Now that the Americans aren't taking the bait, Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu Empire can't launch an attack without cause, destroying the main force of the US Navy, blockading ocean shipping routes, and cutting off the US's lifeline to countries like Britain, France, and Germany.

If we were to do that, we would offend all the major European powers.

Whether on the Allied or Entente side, the United States played the role of a crucial supplier of resources.

This is what infuriates the British. The close economic and trade ties between the United States and Germany have inadvertently damaged the Anglo-French-Russian alliance, causing the British Prime Minister to break out in a few sores.

Even so, Britain is unwilling to lose such an important supplier as the United States.

Unable to do anything to the United States for the time being, Emperor Zheng Guohui of the Great Chu could only shift his focus to the primary task of expanding reproduction.

The Americans are now doing business with both the Allied Powers and the Central Powers simultaneously, which allows the United States to continuously secure large orders, and the entire North America is caught up in a frenzy of production increases.

The Great Chu Empire primarily supplied Britain, France, Russia, and their allies, but it maintained very close trade ties with Germany in the Kingdom of Dubai on the Arabian Peninsula and the Kingdom of Colombia in South America.

These two countries have been thriving in entrepot trade in recent years, with annual exports to the German-Austrian-Italian alliance amounting to hundreds of millions of dollars, including large quantities of weapons and ammunition, as well as essential goods such as wheat flour, oil, sugar, cigarettes, and coffee. Exports have surged in the last two months.

It's like they passed the goods through a middleman, raising the price by 30% before selling them to the Germans, making a fortune in the process, effectively selling the goods to two different people.

England, France, and other countries have repeatedly lodged strong protests on this matter, but the Great Chu Empire has remained ambiguous in its attitude and has not changed its actions in any way, and has even intensified them.

At this stage, the Great Chu Empire is more focused on its own interests; it can't afford to turn down money.

Fortunately, considering the long-standing friendly and close relationship with Britain and France, the deal was handled through vassal states.

Unlike the United States, which acted so blatantly, countries like Britain and France could only let it go.

What else can we do?

Today, the United States and the United Kingdom are enormous, ranking first and second in the world in terms of total economic output, respectively, leaving the major European powers behind.

The international influence of countries like Britain and France is declining significantly, so their speeches naturally lack assertiveness.

The smuggling route from the Kingdom of Dubai to Germany involved transporting goods through the port of Dubai to Iraq, where they were then transported by rail to China, the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria, and finally into the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

This is a smuggling route with a considerable volume of traffic, with more than forty trains departing from Iraq every day, and this number is growing rapidly.

Most of the locomotives and train cars came from Germany, and this transport line became even more important with the outbreak of the full-scale European war.

The Kingdom of Colombia's maritime transport route went through the Atlantic Ocean into the Mediterranean Sea, directly reaching Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire. From there, the goods were transferred to trains and distributed into Germany and Austria-Hungary.

The Ottoman Empire's stance is currently wavering, and it has not yet made a final decision on which side to join.
The Allied Powers of Britain, France, and Russia actively courted the Ottoman Empire, and at sea, the sea route to Istanbul was unobstructed, with the Allied fleet not interfering.

A very interesting phenomenon is

Whether it's Dubai or Colombia exporting goods, they all require payment in hard currencies such as gold and silver jewelry, high-value antiques and artworks, and pounds sterling, francs, silver dollars, and US dollars; credit is not accepted.

As adversaries, the British pound and the French franc would certainly not be used for imports from the Allied powers of Germany, Italy, and Austria. Even if they had some foreign exchange reserves, they would be squandered in just one or two months.

However, the quantity of gold and silver jewelry and high-value antique artworks is limited, making it difficult to meet the demand for import payments.

This presented a golden opportunity for American Jewish financiers to make a fortune, leading them to actively open bank branches in Dubai and Colombia, generously providing dollar loans.

These in-demand goods produced in the southern regions of the Great Chu Empire can see their prices double or even triple as soon as they are transported to the territory of the allied countries, making them an enormous fortune.

As a result, many American financiers flocked to Germany, providing large amounts of US dollars through credit loans or direct business operations to import products from the State of Chu.

Many southern specialties of the Chu Kingdom were indispensable hard currency during the war.

For example, sugar, natural rubber, coffee, cigarettes, and wool could only be imported from the Great Chu Empire; that was the only channel.

Of the five major natural rubber producing regions, the Great Chu Empire occupied four: West Africa, Borneo, Shangri-La, and Sumatra, accounting for 89% of the world's total natural rubber supply.

The remaining production site was in British West Malaya, and the British certainly wouldn't export such an important strategic material to the Germans.

The production areas of white sugar are mostly similar, mainly concentrated in the southern region, with most of them within the territory of the Great Chu Empire, and the rest being British and French colonies.

Because of the importance of raw material supply, the Germans racked their brains to import from the Great Chu Empire, paying a price of as much as 418 tons of gold and more than 6000 tons of silver in just three months.

Dollar-denominated debt thus grew rapidly, creating a dependence on American bankers.

Kaiser Wilhelm II was not concerned with these minor issues and ordered Allied troops to collect gold, silver, and antiques and artworks in the occupied territories and within Germany for continued imports from the Great Chu Empire.

If we win the war, we'll have everything. (End of Chapter)