Munitions Empire-Chapter 894 - Young Empire of 817

Chapter 894: Young Empire of 817 Chapter 894: Young Empire of 817 After peace had arrived, the world finally realized that the invasion of Tang Country in various fields was still unstoppable. They even began to suspect that defeating Tang Country on the battlefield might be more likely than defeating Tang Country in other fields.

Having taken over a part of the Shireck industries, the Great Tang Group had almost penetrated into every industrial project. It seemed that even purchasing a mere screw was contributing to the modernization of Tang Country.

When a nation’s upper society prides itself on smoking Tang tobacco, wearing Tang clothing, driving Tang cars, and listening to Tang music, who could stop this bloody invasion?

The Tang People, who controlled the discourse in almost every field, were invincible in any detail.

When Tang Country’s artists redefined a certain aesthetic, a nation’s heritage and past suddenly seemed incompatible with modernization. All they had to do was shake their heads, and then no one would wear the garments and jewelry that had been passed down for thousands of years.

The songs broadcasted on the radio were all performed by Tang Country idols. If you couldn’t hum a couple of lines, you’d be ostracized at school, looked down upon…

“A woman, no matter how poor, should have a decent handbag!” When such a slogan hung above the doorframe of Brunas department store, the concept of simple consumerism was immediately crushed to dust.

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Of course, in Tang Country, everything was a different picture: there were promotions for excellent scientists everywhere, and great laborers were being praised.

Here, no one dared to defy the tone set by His Majesty The Emperor. To promote entertainment or consumerism within this country was nothing short of finding a noose for oneself.

In the year after the war had ended, the employment rate in Tang Country had reached an astonishing near one hundred percent, not a single idle person, the entire country was bursting with life.

In a year’s time, the arable land area of Tang Country had doubled, all the seeds sown had been improved, and both cotton and grain harvested bountifully.

The progress in industry was even more exaggerated. The goods produced here were almost supplying the entire world’s consumption. The entire world was sharing the technological achievements of Tang Country, and everyone’s life began to be closely related to Tang Country.

Harry had started to get busy again; at the headquarters of the Great Tang Group in Linshui, he had to hold various meetings every day, and he and his wife Jenny could only return home once every half month.

Every product of the Great Tang Group was popular, and all merchants operating Great Tang Group’s products were making a killing.

A new round of technological diffusion was quietly underway, with the newly established civil aviation companies mastering radio navigation technology, and new radio equipment starting to show its importance in various fields.

Nations were frantically importing radio production equipment, fitting every ship, tank, and airplane with it.

What followed was the issue of insufficient engine power, unable to charge the devices, unable to provide enough electricity for the radio stations.

Then, the nations began a new round of importing high-power engines: this infinite loop once again caused financial difficulties for countries around the world.

Afterward came various schemes for borrowing money, and after a round of realization, the higher-ups of the nations discovered that the money they owed to Tang Country had not decreased, and the money owed to others was mounting.

“It’s time to learn from setbacks; we cannot lend money to these countries anymore. They can’t repay it, and will only owe more, then they start having nefarious ideas,” Tang Mo said to several political figures in charge of Tang Country’s finances.

Sitting in the conference room were Princess Alice, the Empire’s Finance Minister Simon, and of course, the head of the Empire Bank, Van Kums.

These individuals were financial behemoths; any one of them could make other Empires’ emperors come out to greet them with beaming smiles.

It couldn’t be helped, as they held the world’s purse strings, and almost no country did not owe them money.

“Therefore, to diversify risks, we established the Shireck Bank and the brand new International Financial Capital Bank, to provide loans to these countries under the names of these institutions,” Alice said slyly, very satisfied with the plan Tang Mo had recommended to her.

Shireck Bank, naturally, was a financial institution of the Shireck Consortium that was actually under the control of the Great Tang Empire behind the scenes. It was newly established, with funding provided by the Great Tang Group.

On the surface, Shireck Bank was independent, and it had nothing to do with the National Bank of the Great Tang Empire. So, even if a war was waged against the Great Tang, the money owed to Shireck could not be repudiated.

And the International Financial Capital Bank was even more interesting; behind it were the money laundering banks for various countries’ gangsters and politicians. National officials, gang leaders, nobility, wealthy gentry, and landlords all stored their money in this bank, with an extremely complicated background.

So, thinking of borrowing money from this bank without paying it back would require considering the collective reaction of the country’s gangsters and nobility ministers.

Money can indeed be borrowed, but trying not to repay what you owe is rather difficult. Yet, nations needed to borrow even more money to keep up with the times, procuring more advanced equipment.

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The principle is actually quite simple: if someone else’s glass production line gets upgraded, should yours try to keep pace? What if you don’t have the money for an upgrade? Well, you have to find someone to borrow from, right?

So what about if someone else’s steel metallurgy production line is upgraded? Or their fertilizer production line? Or their engine production line?

“Currently, overall, the borrowing levels of nations are still within a safe range. Every country has its financial experts, and they are working hard to stabilize their own economy,” Simon chimed in.

Compared with purely industrial technology, traditional financial fields still have a talent pool that can keep up with Tang Country’s development in this area.

After all, it’s much easier to adopt a new set of financial practices than to learn a new set of technologies. Technical aspects are hardcore: without understanding and accumulation, you can’t succeed. Financial knowledge is more transferable; innovation might not be easy, but following along and understanding is much simpler.

There might be loopholes to exploit in the short term, but over time, everyone will understand the basic operating model of this system.

The people capable of serving as a country’s Finance Minister aren’t fools, and they are often assisted by many well-intentioned helpers wearing dandelion rings…

“The trade surplus is just too large. Continuing like this may not benefit us either, so I suggest that even if it’s a bit wasteful, we should try to return some of the profits,” Alice suggested to Tang Mo.

Tang Mo nodded; he also knew that if he was the only one making money in the whole world, the economy could very well stagnate or even collapse.

It’s not hard to make money from others, at least not for him as a transmigrator, but that assumes the other party has money. If the whole world were impoverished, whom could he seek to make profit from?

“You make a good point. In the grand scheme, we have indeed pressured other countries into a corner. This is not a good sign,” Tang Mo said. “Let’s drive up the prices of agricultural products to encourage these countries to export farm by-products.”

“This is already in progress. We’re purchasing a large number of live cattle, pigs, as well as sheep meat and seafood in the international market…” Alice explained helplessly, “We’ve even set up large chicken farms in many places, encouraging these countries to breed poultry…”

Her tone was full of grievance: “To reduce the trade surplus, international trade prices for meat and agricultural products have already more than doubled compared to the past… Moreover, it’s only us importing these items in large quantities, and the prices for similar domestic goods have hit rock bottom.”

“Still, we need to raise some prices; there has to be hope for these countries,” Tang Mo acknowledged the issue.

Tang Country’s agricultural production received huge subsidies because the agricultural products farmed by peasants simply couldn’t fetch a good price.

With the market flooded by a vast quantity of imported goods, and the populace newly wealthy with low demand for meat products, the only solution remained to stimulate consumption through price cuts.

Frankly, the financial experts of the Great Tang Empire and their foreign counterparts were at the same level; they were inexperienced and frequently caused issues, which then had to be suppressed by the vast capital of the Great Tang Empire.

After all, Tang Mo’s mind only contained certain technologies; as for economic knowledge, he could only rely on his amateurish and vague recollections to occasionally offer some advice.

Thus, the Great Tang Empire was not a superpower without weaknesses: its most significant issue was that besides technological leadership, it had no clear advantage in finance and system structure.

Perhaps its system was more advanced than a pure feudal lordship, but in reality, it relied even more on the spirit of “young bureaucratic system” that rose with the new empire.

This system hadn’t been wholly corrupted; under the influence of many new ideas, it was still effective in implementing imperial policies.

As for the problems that arose during its growth, those had to be handled just like any other country: meet force with force and stem the tide with filler.

However, there were differences. The troubles faced by Tang Country were self-made during the trials of implementing new systems, while other nations’ troubles stemmed from the pressures of the Tang Country’s new systems.

“Well… If necessary, we could further raise the price of coal… It’s simply less of a hassle to stockpile,” Alice spoke glumly.

Storing oil was too troublesome. Tang Country already had too many oil import channels, and raising the price of oil would be undeniably sensitive.

Dragon Island, Chu Country, Qin Country, Dahua Empire, and the oil fields in the south… So much oil converging on Tang Country surely created storage pressures.

Coal was different; even if it was piled in the open, with a plot of land and proper fire control measures, there would be no problems in the short term.

“Let’s go ahead with your plan, then,” Tang Mo said, amicably nodding his head in agreement.