The sun never sets

This will be troublesome, but considering that Siberia has no important output for the time being, it is still acceptable in the short term. Now the Alliance is developing the Baku oil field, and the petrochemical products produced can be transported to Aralsk via the Eurasian Railway, and then all the way to Chang'an, without having to take the Trans-Siberian Railway.

The trans-eastern railway will not be renovated until the Union is ready to develop the Tyumen oil fields in Siberia.

According to the plan of the Central Committee of the People's Revolutionary League, the second "Five-Year Plan" will be implemented after the reconstruction of the railways in Russia is completed. After the completion of the first "Five-Year Plan", China has roughly improved its industrial layout and initially established an industrial system, which can be regarded as touching the edge of industrialization.

The Planning Commission plans to use the second "Five-Year Plan" to make the Human Revolutionary Alliance a true industrial country. Because the territory of the Human Revolutionary Alliance has expanded three or four times on the basis of China, the second "Five-Year Plan" will be even more ambitious.

And just at this time, the Americans came to collect debts.

The US government was not asking for a small sum of money, but a huge debt of 60 billion US dollars. This amount of money was equivalent to the US fiscal expenditure in the two years before the war, and 1.5 times the current annual fiscal revenue of the alliance. Such a large amount of money could not be taken out easily.

Molotov and Tang Shaoyi from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a long and arduous negotiation with the US diplomatic mission. During the negotiation, some comrades in the central government suggested that they just default on the debt. How many factories and railways can be built with 60 billion US dollars?

If the money was used to build battleships, it would only take four or five years to build a fleet comparable to the British Royal Navy.

There are not just one or two comrades who hope that the central government will default on its debts, but a large number of them. However, there are also many people who oppose this, and their reasons are very good. Unless the [People's Revolutionary League] intends to close the country to the outside world and play with itself behind closed doors, otherwise, it is best not to do things like defaulting on debts.

If they did so, it would greatly affect the alliance's diplomatic reputation and credibility, and trade with other countries would also be affected, and there might even be armed intervention and emergency blockades.

Armed intervention is unlikely, but an economic blockade might actually happen. Both the Allied Powers and the Central Powers were dissatisfied with the Alliance's behavior in the World War. They believed that the Alliance was just making war profits, and there were many countries that were jealous of the Alliance.

Theoretically, the Alliance now has a land area of more than 3500 million square kilometers, so it is possible to play with itself behind closed doors. But that is not what the People's Party pursues, nor what Lin Yongchang wants.

Since we can't default on our debts, we can only have a good talk with the Americans. We should cut down the debts that can be cut, and we should also try to cut down the debts that cannot be cut. In a word, the less debt the better.

The negotiation process was long and arduous, more like a battle of physical exhaustion than a debate of reason. Negotiators often argued from morning to noon, and after lunch, they argued again from noon to night.

The American diplomatic corps was disturbed and exhausted by the long negotiations, and the Chinese diplomatic corps was also exhausted.

not much.

Amidst the turmoil, time entered 1917 and history opened a new page.

Chapter 698 Debt

In the new year, hunger was still the theme in Europe. Britain was better off, but the French Commune, the German Empire, and other members of the Allied Powers were all suffering from widespread hunger. However, because the war was over, the situation had improved a lot, and at least people were not starving to death as often as the year before.

The high international grain prices have fallen back a bit, but are still at a relatively high price. The People's Revolutionary League, the United States and South American countries all export large quantities of grain to Europe. Surprisingly, India, with a per capita grain output lower than the world average, not only provides a large amount of grain to Britain, but also exports a lot of grain in exchange for foreign exchange.

Although the Union and the United States own more than 90% of the world's gold reserves, the pound is still the world's currency. The British economic hegemony is shaky, but it has not fallen yet.

This is really unreasonable. In terms of hard power, the UK has slipped to fourth in the world. How can it still be the world hegemon?

The US government was determined to break this dilemma, but the United States alone did not dare to confront Britain head-on. As the saying goes, you can tell whether it is a mule or a horse by taking it out for a walk. The Wang Division took a walk around the European battlefield and won the unanimous contempt of the Allies and the Central Powers.

Britain, France and Germany all believed that the U.S. military's fighting spirit and tactical qualities were not very good. They believed that the U.S. military could fight a favorable battle, but could not continue to fight in adverse circumstances. Except for a few troops, most of the U.S. military could not withstand heavy casualties.

Britain, France and Germany have reason to despise the combat effectiveness of the US military, but there are also reasons why the US military did not perform well. But in any case, the performance of the US military in Europe has lowered the evaluation of the United States by the major powers.

If the United States wants to pull Britain down from the throne of world hegemony, it needs a strong and reliable helper. Germany was originally the best choice, but it is still struggling to take care of itself and has no ability to challenge Britain's hegemony again. The People's Revolutionary League is a better choice. The League is a more powerful country than Germany and poses a greater threat to Britain.

The problem is that the Human Revolutionary Alliance is too powerful. Would it be a disaster if they joined forces with the Human Revolutionary Alliance to overthrow Britain? The predecessor of the Alliance had fought a war with the United States, and the King's division was pinned to the ground and hammered twice by the People's Army.

In the eyes of the U.S. government and the American people, the People's Army is only slightly inferior to the German Army.

In addition, the People's Revolutionary League is a red regime, not as red as the French Commune, but also red. The American ruling class is very wary of this, but compared with the benefits of overturning Britain, the above-mentioned dangers are nothing.

The United States sent a large diplomatic mission to Chang'an. On the one hand, it was to negotiate the debt restructuring, which was on the surface; on the other hand, it was to discuss the matter of the People's Revolutionary League and the United States joining forces to deal with British hegemony, which was in secret.

“The U.S. government wants to promote independence for colonial countries?”

When Lin Yongchang heard the news, he was surprised at first, but soon understood what the Americans wanted to do. The United States also needs colonies, but their methods are more covert, using economic colonization to harvest the surplus value of other countries. At this point, the US government believes that the [People's Revolutionary League] is the same as them.

On the surface, the way the People's Revolutionary League controlled Southeast Asia and North Korea was no different from that of the United States, both using the 2.0 version of colonial tactics. However, Britain was still using the 1.0 version, taking a destructive and plundering approach to its colonies.

Even the National France changed its previous practice and began to build colonies in Africa. The National France had no choice. After losing its homeland, the National France only had a few pieces of land in Africa, so it had to invest and build in Africa. In order to increase the available manpower, the National France not only attracted immigrants from all over the world, but also gave black people a lot of political rights.

Now that the US government has proposed to promote the national liberation movement of colonial peoples around the world, it is obvious that it is targeting Britain.

Colonialism is evil, and this is a common understanding in the world. The US government hopes that the People's Revolutionary League can support nationalists in India and the Middle East and provide them with weapons and funds. The US government can go to Africa to help local people pursue freedom. When the time is right, the People's Revolutionary League and the United States can join forces to take action against the Suez Canal.

Britain's economic hegemony is based on its naval hegemony and colonies all over the world. The combined area of the British Empire's homeland and colonies is 3000 million square kilometers. In terms of land area, it is second only to the Human Innovation League.

The vast colonies provided Britain with markets and sources of raw materials, and the resulting imperial preferential system was the cornerstone of the British Empire. As long as Britain's colonial system was dismantled, it would naturally lose its position as the world's hegemon.

After careful consideration, Lin Yongchang agreed to the Americans' secret request and instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reach an offensive with the US government as soon as possible, "making some concessions on the debt issue is also acceptable."

Two days later, when the United States and the alliance started negotiations again, Tang Shaoyi was helpless, while the American representatives had unconcealable joy and ill intentions on their faces.

"Mr. Tang, I think we should be able to get some useful results this time."

Damn Americans, they are so ungrateful after getting the advantage!

Tang Shaoyi had no expression on his face

“I hope so,” he said.

In the previous negotiations, both sides were evenly matched. But this time it was different. The US pressed forward step by step, and Tang Shaoyi and his colleagues were beaten back step by step. They knew why in their hearts, but they couldn't say it. It was not a crime of war, but there was nothing they could do.

The Russian Empire during the reign of Nicholas II was in a state of rottenness, and the country was kept running entirely by loans. With this kind of operation, the annual fiscal revenue was not even enough to cover the interest. This is why Nicholas II was so stubborn that he had to continue the war. If he could not get a large amount of war reparations from the Allies, the Russian Empire would have collapsed in a minute.

However, the plan did not change quickly. The Russian Empire mobilized 1500 million soldiers in the world war and blew itself up before defeating the Allies. All the bad debts were left to the Allies.

After two weeks of difficult negotiations, Tang Shaoyi was humiliated and defeated at the negotiation table. The Human Innovation Alliance finally admitted a debt of 42 billion US dollars, which was the figure after adding interest, and it was repaid in years, about million US dollars per year.

Considering the depreciation of the US dollar and the extension of the repayment period to 20 years, the price paid by the alliance was not too high. A new round of negotiations between the [People's Revolutionary League] and the United States on how to repay the debt began.

The US government hoped to exchange it for gold and ship it back to New York. The People's Revolutionary League earned a lot of gold during the world war. Almost all of the gold from the Allied Powers was shipped to Chang'an. Thousands of tons of gold from the Russian Empire were also cast into gold ingots and stored in the underground vault of the central bank.

But it is obvious that the Human Innovation Alliance will not agree to repay the debt with gold.

Chapter 699 Good News

The People's Revolutionary League plans to use cars and other industrial products to pay off the annual debt of more than 2 million US dollars. As the crystallization of human industrial products, cars have both military and civilian value.

The United States has no shortage of oil, so it can become a country on wheels. But cars at that time were very expensive. For example, the cheapest car of Willys Corporation cost more than 800 US dollars. You know, one ounce of gold is only 34 US dollars (the price has increased). More than 800 US dollars, that is a lot of gold.

China, now it should be said that it is an alliance. What about the cars produced by the alliance? Because they adopt the assembly line production model, and the labor in China is cheaper than in the United States, the price is directly reduced to 300 US dollars, which is the export price. The ex-factory price is only 220 US dollars.

The characteristic of large-scale industrial production is "the more you produce, the lower the price". If the automobile industry expands further and production capacity increases further, the cost price can be reduced a lot. This is easy to understand. The initial factory buildings, production lines and other fixed costs are there from the beginning. The more cars or other products are produced, the thinner the fixed costs are.

The famous Ford "T" Model in history had not yet come out. The Alliance's cars had an incomparable advantage in price and were far more mature than cars from any other country.

In addition to cars, the Alliance also has several other vehicle models including tractors, trucks, pickups, jeeps, etc. These are all very mature models with almost no room for modification, except for changing some accessories and colors.

Calculated at an average price of $500, $2 million is only 40 cars. Of course, the alliance's current production capacity is definitely not enough, and it must use a large number of other industrial products to offset the debt.

But no matter what industrial products they are, as long as they flow into the United States, they will inevitably cause a devastating blow to related American industries.

Lin Yongchang wanted to completely destroy the American auto industry, but this was impossible. The Americans were not stupid and would not allow the alliance to destroy the domestic auto industry. Moreover, assembly line production was not a particularly high-end technology. After the Americans visited the auto factories in Taiyuan and Changan, they would know what to do.

Never underestimate a country with an annual steel output of 4000 million tons. Lin Yongchang has always regarded the United States as the biggest rival in the future. As for the biggest rival now, it may be the Central Alliance headed by the German Empire, or the Allied Powers headed by Britain.

The United States did not gain any benefits on the European battlefield, domestic isolationism was unprecedentedly high, and it had withdrawn from the Allied Powers. The Alliance was willing to assume a debt of up to 42 billion US dollars, and the United States also made some concessions. The two sides signed a new trade agreement, reducing tariffs on each other and restoring free trade that had been interrupted since the Battle of Hawaii.

This is a win-win for both sides. Previously, the United States had been planning to use force to retake Hawaii, Guam, the Philippines and other places, but after being beaten on the European battlefield, the US government realized the horror of world war and the fact that the US Army's combat effectiveness was low.

If we want to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the army, we need to equip the army with a large number of heavy artillery, machine guns, submachine guns and anti-tank guns. These are just the most basic weapons and equipment. Aircraft and tanks are also indispensable and may even be more important.

In the "Emperor's Battle", the German tanks rushed all the way under the cover of aircraft, completed an unprecedented encirclement, and reversed the situation on the European battlefield. These left a deep impression on the American military and ordinary people.

According to the deduction of the US Army and Navy General Staff, in order to recapture the Philippines, at least thirty super-dreadnought battleships, as well as a large number of light battleships and auxiliary ships are needed.

In addition to the ships, it also requires at least 200 million fully armed ground forces, no less than 5000 new fighters and bombers, and no less than 800 tanks.

Even with such a huge army and navy, it can only guarantee the defeat of the People's Revolutionary League in a short period of time. Once the alliance switches to a wartime system, the war will become a war of attrition with no end like the world war.

The US government originally thought that the armies of the free world would have a bonus of faith when fighting. After a tour of the European battlefield, the Americans realized the true level of their own army's combat effectiveness. According to their estimates, it is probably a little weaker than the People's Army.

However, the Union has a population of over 650 million, twice as much available manpower as the United States.

With this in mind, it’s better not to fight and just do business.

The US government has made up its mind not to confront top powers such as the Alliance, Britain and Germany head-on, and is prepared to use the soft power of the United States' cultural system and liberal thinking to seek benefits for the United States.

Under this guiding ideology, the free trade agreement was successfully launched.

This marked the Alliance becoming the United States' second largest trading partner, with the British Empire ranking first. The British Empire, which was in its recovery period, temporarily opened its mouth and allowed the United States to trade on its territory. Similarly, Britain could not refuse the Alliance's commercial actions in Southeast Asia and Africa.

The gentlemen in Downing Street believed that this was temporary. Once the British Empire had regained its former strength, it would be able to re-establish the "Imperial System of Preferences" and keep the hateful Americans and the evil Orientals out of the tariff barriers.

However, there was a sudden bang in the sky, and the Alliance and the United States signed a free trade agreement, and would repay the debt with industrial products. These things that were announced made the British government smell the scent of conspiracy. British diplomats are the best at playing conspiracies in the world, and they can smell the smell of danger through clues.

If the Alliance and the United States have secretly completed the division of power, then it is almost the rhythm of forming an alliance. The world's first industrial country and the world's second industrial country have joined hands. What are they trying to do? Are they preparing to fight the Martians?

British diplomats took action, conducting various diplomatic activities around the world - including instigating coups and assassinations - to gain greater benefits for Britain.

Provoking wars, winning over the weaker party and confronting the stronger party is the specialty of the British Empire. Over the past few hundred years, Britain has relied on the tactics of winning over one faction and fighting against another to firmly sit on the throne of world hegemony. Even if it did not gain an advantage in the world war, it at least destroyed the challenge of Germany. The British Royal Navy blocked the High Seas Fleet in the port, which really boosted the reputation of the empire.

The question is, which side is at a disadvantage and which side is at an advantage now?

The United States is the world's largest industrial country, while the Union is the world's most populous country. They seem to be evenly matched and it is difficult to make a choice. But for Britain, as long as the Union can fight the United States, it is the best news, which means that the British Empire only needs to use a small weight to change the balance of power on both ends of the scale.

Chapter 700: Rules

In addition to various cars, the alliance also used refrigerators, air conditioners, radios, and various electrical appliances to pay for the bills. These goods poured into the United States like a tide, effectively easing social conflicts in the United States. The alliance paid a heavy price for this.

Twenty years later, $1917 million might not be a big deal, but it was still a lot of money in 40. However, the People's Revolutionary League had % of the world's gold reserves, the largest territory and the largest population, so it could offset the debt by issuing more currency.

The RMB is not completely linked to gold, but there is a certain relationship. With more gold, the central bank can be more reassuring. The purchasing power of $4.5 million is equivalent to about 5 million RMB. With the current conditions of the People's Revolutionary League, it is not a problem to issue an additional million RMB each year.

After the end of the World War, a large number of orders from overseas were cut, and exports suddenly shrank, causing some economic problems. The central government of the Union had already prepared for this and made some adjustments to the industrial structure beforehand, so the impact was not that great. Afterwards, a new round of infrastructure construction was launched, so the social unrest was quickly eliminated.

But this is not the case in Japan. Although Japan's army and navy have been controlled by the Supreme Military Council of the Alliance, Japan still maintains a semi-independent economic status.

The end of the World War had a huge impact on Japan's industry. Many small overseas-oriented companies and family workshops could not cope with the sudden changes and went bankrupt. Large joint-stock companies were also affected. In order to deal with these problems, local governments in Japan had to seek help from the central government.

After urgent consultations, the central bank injected 10 billion yuan into the Bank of Japan and provided several large projects to Japanese companies, including a steel plant in the Volga River basin and supporting facilities for the Baku oil fields.

In addition, Japan recruited people to go to Ukraine and other places to engage in agricultural and industrial production. Ukraine and Romania were both destructively plundered by the German army. The Germans used machine guns to rob millions of tons of food and other supplies from these two places, resulting in the deaths of a large number of Ukrainians and Romanians.

During the entire world war, Russia lost more than six million soldiers dead or missing, and lost many times that many people.

There is a shortage of labor, so recruiting some people to work there is the best of both worlds.

Work-for-relief will resolve the dilemma.

The League not only sent a large number of people to Russia, but also sent a large number of laborers to National France, British overseas colonies and Germany. The central government did not just send people away and leave them alone, but established farms and factories in the local area. Regardless of whether the people were engaged in agricultural production or industrial production, they were considered workers and were under the management of relevant departments.

Of course, there are also people who go abroad to work on their own, which gives them more freedom and allows them to go wherever they want. There are also disadvantages, namely that the risk is much greater. It is better in Southeast Asia, which is within the radiation range of the People's Army. Even if the local tyrants and natives have bad intentions, they have to consider the consequences of their actions.

It is hard to say in places far away from the People’s Army’s attack range.

In the second half of 1917, the Planning Commission began preparations for the second "Five-Year Plan". The second five-year plan will focus on investments in southern China, northwest China, Central Asia, and the Caspian Sea and the area around Moscow. The general idea is still "more, faster, better, cheaper", and the key investment areas are either important resource production areas or areas with convenient transportation.

After discussion, Lin Yongchang and his comrades in the central government agreed that there would be no major war in the alliance in the short term, and that there would be a decade or more of peace. Even if there were some minor conflicts, they would only be local frictions, and there would be no need for a national mobilization like in a world war.

The world situation is relatively relaxed, and the international situation in which all countries are committed to economic development provides the alliance with a relatively stable and peaceful environment for economic development.

Under such circumstances, the first thing that the Second Five-Year Plan had to solve was the problem of fund accumulation and allocation. During the first five-year plan, in order to cope with the increasingly tense international situation, China invested a lot of funds in heavy industry and military industry, and invested relatively less in light industry and agriculture. Now that the international situation is not as tense as it was seven years ago, the alliance can allocate more funds to light industry and agriculture.

Especially agriculture, which is the primary industry. If the people can't even get enough food, how can we talk about a rich country? The Alliance has the largest territory in the world. Although many places are not suitable for farming and living, there are also many fertile lands that can be cultivated.

The Ukrainian Plain, Hebei Plain, Henan Plain, Guanzhong Plain and other places are all good places to grow food, suitable for large-scale mechanized production. The temperature difference between day and night in the Western Regions and Central Asia is large, suitable for growing fruits such as cotton and grapes. After the railway was built, cotton planting in Central Asia became a very profitable industry, just like the large farms in the Northeast.

In addition to agriculture, the Alliance also has a long coastline where it can develop fishing, and vast grasslands where it can develop animal husbandry.

As long as good planning and reasonable arrangements are made, it will not be a problem to feed 3500 million people with million square kilometers of land.

In the first five-year plan, investment in light industry accounted for only 11.2%, and investment in agriculture accounted for 10.8%, with the rest all placed in heavy industry and military industry. The "Second Five-Year Plan" will significantly increase the proportion of investment in agriculture, build more chemical plants, produce more fertilizers and pesticides, and build more agricultural machinery factories to improve production efficiency and output.

The first five-year plan achieved remarkable results, making China the world's third largest industrial country. The comrades of the Planning Commission were ambitious and wanted to use the second five-year plan to make the Union the world's first industrial country.

However, Lin Yongchang poured cold water on his comrades. He was no longer as radical as he had been when he had compiled the First Five-Year Plan. Instead, he warned the comrades in the party to guard against arrogance and impetuosity, to respect the objective laws of the development of affairs, and not to replace science with enthusiasm.

"We don't need to pursue being the best in the world in everything. We just need to develop step by step with our feet on the ground. Some comrades said that we should increase the speed of development and plan to make the industrial growth rate three times that of the First Five-Year Plan and the agricultural growth rate seven times that of the First Five-Year Plan. I can only say that the enthusiasm of the comrades is good, but we must also take the actual situation into consideration."

".......From the perspective of seeking truth from facts, whether it is three times or seven times, it is not objective and it is a mistake of left-wing adventurism..."

"Economic development has its own laws, and will not be different because of the implementation of different political systems. Comrades, please keep this in mind. We cannot do the Great Leap Forward."

Chairman Lin’s words certainly make sense, but “Great Leap Forward”? What is that?

Chapter 701: Adding fuel to the fire

In the second half of 1917, the Union was busy transforming Russia's railway system and formulating the second five-year plan, and did not cause trouble for the British all over the world as the US government hoped.

To be honest, Lin Yongchang no longer considered the British Empire the biggest threat. After the First World War, the British government's hegemony was shaky. The power of the two superpowers, the United States and the People's Revolutionary League, actually exceeded that of the British Empire. Now the only thing the alliance was worried about was the alliance of Britain, the United States and Germany. If that happened, it would be the rhythm of the alliance taking on the whole world.

As long as Britain, the United States and Germany do not join forces, the alliance can deal with it.