Cannons and Wool
The France had anticipated the possibility of the Britain secretly purchasing cannons. Even the Britain posing as Mexico was under the watchful eyes of the Ministry of Police and the Ministry of Truth. However, neither the Ministry of Police nor the Ministry of Truth reacted to his actions. This was because, according to their discussions, the Britain could have simply purchased the cannons directly.
"As for export weapons, although we can sign an 'end-user agreement' with the buyers stipulating that they cannot resell them, we can't possibly go to the users' armies every day to count how many cannons are left (it's said that a certain major power often goes to countries that pay protection money to count their aircraft). Even if we did count them, they could simply load these things onto a ship and tell us that the cannons have 'drifted away.' Are we really going to go to the bottom of the sea to find Poseidon and say, 'I'm here to count the cannons'? Anyway, as long as we want to make money from these things, they will definitely end up in the hands of the Britain. In that case, why should we let those middlemen make a profit?" This is what Joseph said at the discussion.
"Wouldn't the Britain equipping themselves with such weapons in large quantities pose a threat to us?" Carnot raised this objection at the time.
"Lazar, Joseph said dismissively, "If the Britain buy one cannon from us, we can equip ourselves with two and a half to three cannons. What then is one Britain cannon?" "Moreover, this is only the profit from the cannons. Considering the profit from steel, for every cannon we sell to the Britain, we can earn three and a half to four cannons."
"But the money we earn won't turn into real cannons to equip our army." Carnot was still dissatisfied, while Napoleon surprisingly remained silent.
"That little rascal Napoleon has made progress, hasn't he? Lucien said that these past few days, taking advantage of the military exercises, he's been secretly discussing things with Carnot for so long. Now he wants Carnot to come asking me for money? That brat, doesn't he know that we should be focusing on economic development right now? Shouldn't the army be more patient?"
"Lazar, as you know, the performance of this kind of cannon is significantly different from the cannons that are actually in service with our troops. Besides, we paid taxes to the state when we sold these cannons, didn't we?"
From the initial mining taxes to the final sale of each cannon, the total tax revenue would be enough for the government to purchase 0.2 cannons from us at a preferential price. Moreover, these would be breech-loading cannons with breechblocks for their own use, not the inferior versions sold to foreigners.
If the government were willing to allocate this money to purchase these breech-loading cannons, for every five cannons sold, the government could buy one advanced breech-loading cannon solely through tax revenue. Our tests show that, in terms of rate of fire alone, one of our cannons is equivalent to four or even five smaller, less advanced cannons. Add to that the ammunition we use ourselves, and the advantage becomes even greater.
Lazar, as you know, we sell our cannons to many countries, many of which are our allies, and others are far away and pose little threat to us. It's not all of them that we sell to the Britain. Even if we include the Austria Britain, the proportion of cannons the British can buy from our sales is limited. It won't be more than what our allies hold, nor will it be more than what governments that join our ranks will convert into cannons through taxes collected from our trade.
So, Lazar, if you think the army has too few cannons, you shouldn't come to me, but to Napoleon, because ultimately he decides on all government expenditures! You should ask him where all that money went!
"How can you blame me? Our government has so many places to spend money," Napoleon said. "Rural development costs money—well, Mr. Carnot, you agree with that. Seeing our homeland being developed better and better makes our soldiers more loyal to their country and more motivated; well, there's also basic education, which costs money. This is what you suggested, Joseph— three years of compulsory education. How much will that cost? Well, Mr. Carnot, you know about this, and you strongly agreed with it at the time. And... Mr. Carnot, you do the math, where do we have any money left?"
"Therefore, Lazar, we must export more cannons, no matter who they are exported to. You see, the money for new rural construction cannot be saved; there will definitely be that much. Three years of compulsory education, that really cannot be reduced. Lazar, you also know that whether it's factories, the army, or even farmers, if they have received some education, it's much easier to organize them. This is absolutely worthwhile. If Napoleon hadn't been so stingy, I would have thought three years was a bit too short! Not only can it not be reduced, it might even increase further in the future."
Therefore, if we can't cut any of these costs, and we want to buy more cannons for the army, we need to get us to sell more cannons. Only by selling more can we have more money to buy cannons for the army."
Carnot was speechless for a long time before finally saying, "Joseph, will the extra tax revenue from selling more cannons really go to the army?"
"You should ask Napoleon," Joseph said.
Carnot glanced at Napoleon, but instead of immediately pressing Napoleon for an answer, he asked, "What if the Britain copy our cannons?"
"Our cannons only have one real technology: low-cost steelmaking. If the Britain are willing to use crucible steel to make cannons, they will get cannons that cost much more than those they buy from us, and their cannon production will be very limited. So what do we have to worry about?"
Because of this consideration, neither the Ministry of Police nor the Ministry of Truth paid much attention to the Britain wandering around at the Pakistan Trade Fair.
The bustling trade fair lasted for a full two weeks. During this time, merchants from various countries signed a large number of orders. According to the Ministry of Ministry of Truth, at this trade fair alone, the number of orders for woolen textiles signed between the Britain and other Europe countries exceeded the total for the entire previous year, and even exceeded Britain's current supply capacity.
Now, on their way back to Britain businessmen, clutching contracts, are rushing back while simultaneously calculating how to quickly secure bank loans, expand production, and buy up wool and other commodities as fast as possible—first come, first served...
As these merchants returned to Britain, wool prices in the Britain market skyrocketed. Within a week, wool prices had increased by a third, and there was still no demand for it.
As a result, some landlords who were originally observing the situation disregarded the fact that the wheat in the fields was heading and filling out, and would soon be ready for harvest. They directly took back the land from the tenants and then drove the sheep they had bought, such as Pleasant Goat, Lazy Goat, Beautiful Goat, Slow Goat, and Warm Goat, directly into the wheat fields to eat the wheat.
What to do about the grain? It's simple, just buy it on the international market. Don't you know, France is expecting a bumper harvest, and the price of grain is much cheaper than in Britain. Why not just sell the grain directly to France?
You have to understand, France land is far more suitable for growing crops than Britain land. Growing crops on Britain's mossy soil is simply too unprofitable. What? You say food security? There's the international market! Don't you understand the international market? It's not just France, there's Russia, Prussia, and the United States. Do you think they'd all jointly impose an embargo on Britain? If that were to happen, then Britain must have done something utterly outrageous...
In short, in Britain, a large number of farmers were driven to the cities. Although the rapid expansion of textile enterprises brought more "job opportunities," the increase in "job opportunities" could not keep up with the sharp increase in the unemployed population. As a result, the security situation in Britain cities began to deteriorate further.
Just then, a group of unscrupulous Britain merchants brought over a huge amount of various "self-defense items" from France, including butterfly knives, switchblades, and daggers. Among these items were high-end, sophisticated fake "Damask knives" sold to wealthy people, but most were crudely made, yet still capable of killing, and cheap, low-quality goods.
Some guys, when selling this kind of stuff, even intentionally or unintentionally advertise. "Going to the factory is certain death. Your best way out is to go to the New World. To go to the New World, you need money for a ship ticket, money to live on the way, and—but right now, what you need most is courage, and then a knife."
Although such propaganda brought many dangers, and some merchants who sold these knives were even robbed by poor people wielding them, with some even being stabbed more than ten times, as long as there was a need, merchants would still risk their lives to buy knives from those poor people with their last bit of money, rather than buy a loaf of bread.
"If you only have bread and no knife, you will surely lose the bread; but if you only have a knife and no bread, you are more likely to win the bread for yourself."
Under such circumstances, London almost became a crime capital, rife with theft and robbery.
Faced with this situation, the England News Alliance and the England Free Press Alliance, which had always been at odds with each other like fighting cocks, surprisingly united and quickly reached a consensus to condemn the thugs' wanton trampling of the law and demand that the government take immediate action to suppress these bandits.
The Times Review of the England News Alliance, published an editorial entitled "Is there no law or justice left?", strongly condemning the thugs' atrocities.
Meanwhile, Free Voice of Free England Free Press Alliance, published an interview with the London municipal authorities entitled "We must restore peace to the skies of London."