Seven Seas Beacon Fire

"I'm just a little worried, after all, before I transmigrated..."

Zhu Miaoyun suddenly grabbed Li Che's head and forced him to look at her: "Listen up, you pig! I love peace, but I'm not a naive saint. In fact, I have a colleague in the UN Gaza organization who resigned from his volunteer position after witnessing the horrors of Gaza. Do you know what he did after that?"

"Could he have contributed to the Aksa flood relief efforts?"

"No, but he did join Hamas. Some of the anti-tank mines used by the Gaza warriors who used anti-tank gymnastics to blow up squid tanks were handmade by him. In my homeland in another world, when we were resisting the invasion of those little devils during World War II, many international friends also extended a helping hand to us, and some even joined our army directly to help us fight. Don't these people love peace?"

Li Che smiled and said, "It seems that my ideological awareness as an international student is no match for that of a real time traveler. My wife is really amazing."

"Your next stop is the Leitanian Empire. I don't know if there will be a corporal with a mustache in this Leitanian Empire, but I must make it clear beforehand that although I am also somewhat dissatisfied with the current international order and I have a great prejudice against Jews, it does not mean that I agree with the mustache and his NAZI. These guys are just birds of a feather. You must not get involved with the mustache."

"Don't worry, we had our intelligence agents in Europe keep an eye out for any corporal within the Letanian Empire who could match the mustachioed man, but so far there seems to be no information on that."

Although the situation and economy within the Leitanian Empire have been terrible in the past two years, and in terms of political conditions, it is almost identical to that of the Weimar Republic in another world, it is clear that the most vocal figures now are not Mustache.

These guys lack both Hitler's abilities and ambitions; after all, they're from different worlds. There are probably no World War I veterans here who can match Hitler's skills. On the other hand, the exiled Letanian imperial family is obsessed with restoration, but they're currently under close surveillance by the Victorian Empire's intelligence agencies. The Victorian Empire will certainly not allow the Letanian royal family to return and restore their empire.

"A Europe without mustaches... Sounds like a good thing?" Zhu Miaoyun was clearly surprised by this result. Although she was worried about mustaches, the thought that this world might not even have mustaches gave her a sense of unease, like a regularly respawning NPC suddenly disappearing.

“It should… be a good thing, right?” Li Che’s tone was also full of uncertainty: “Who knows? Like that classic joke I saw on the internet in your world before I traveled back in time, a scientist from Russia developed a time machine and went back to the time when Pu Zi was a baby, and then strangled the baby to death. When the scientist traveled back in time, he saw the news broadcasting that Russian President Zelensky had announced a special military operation against Ukraine.”

Zhu Miaoyun was amused by the joke and laughed so hard she almost fell over. But after laughing, she realized something: "So you mean that even without a mustache, there would be a guy with a big beard or no beard doing something similar."

"That's what it means."

"So, what's the purpose of your next trip to Letania?"

"Of course, it's for another joke."

Zhu Miaoyun: ? ? ?

Another joke?

Zhu Miaoyun immediately made a husky pointing at someone expression: "You better explain yourself right now, don't play riddles with me here, what joke is it? Tell me quickly!"

"This joke is about the Cold War, when the US and Russia were in a space race. Each country launched a satellite, and their orbits would intersect periodically. The first time the two satellites intersected over North America, the US satellite said to the Russian satellite—Good morning wietnam........... Oh no, it should be Good morning, friend."

"The tone of your first English sentence was really strange."

“You know, when you say certain things, you unconsciously use a special tone of voice. For example, when I say I don’t understand, I always feel like I have a bit of a Fenghua accent.”

"Stop using sophistry and keep telling jokes," Zhu Miaoyun urged.

"The second time the two satellites crossed paths was over Siberia, so the Russian satellite said to the Colombian satellite, 'Good evening, Adwarish.'"

The third time the two satellites passed each other was over the Southern Hemisphere ocean. At this point, after looking around, the two satellites enthusiastically communicated in German: "Finally, there's no one else around! Now we can finally speak German!"

Although Zhu Miaoyun had roughly guessed the outcome of the joke halfway through, she still couldn't help but chuckle upon hearing the result.

"So you're going to the Leitanian Empire to poach people?"

“One is people, and the other is technology. Actually, I came to the Victoria Empire to poach people and technology. However, it is foreseeable that it will be more convenient and easier for us to poach people or buy technology in the Leitania Empire.” Li Che said, “Right now, the Leitania Empire is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to buy at rock-bottom prices.”

"But I seem to remember reading something online that said Germans don't have as much advanced technology as rumored?"

"That's natural, but in some areas, the Germans' technological accumulation is indeed significantly ahead of other countries. If you ignore these, you'll fall into another extreme. At least without von Braun, the American moon landing certainly wouldn't have been so fast."

"So you're going to poach Wernher von Braun?"

Li Che shook his head: "I'm not targeting any specific person. Our country's industrial scale is decent, but we still lack the accumulation and foundation in some higher-end technological fields. The former Ming Dynasty was, in essence, a super Tsarist Russia. Even the most super Tsarist Russia is still just Tsarist Russia. What we need to do now is to go a step further on this basis. I'm not targeting one person, but as many as I can."

Chapter 391 can be considered a fairly pleasant experience for both host and guests (typos corrected, please refresh the page).

Although the Tang Dynasty and the Victorian Empire did not reach an agreement on naval arms control, the two countries did have relatively pleasant discussions on economic issues.

One was eager to generate revenue, while the other needed to purchase advanced European technology. The two sides hit it off immediately, but they still spent a lot of time on business negotiations. The main reason was that the Tang Dynasty mainly adopted state-owned economy in industries related to the domestic economy, energy, and transportation. When Li Che's father organized the formulation of new economic and accounting laws, he announced that he would not recognize "fair value," an important new concept in Western economics.

It seems to be just an academic issue, a minor detail in economic regulations.

But in reality, there are many, many, and very complex things involved.

First, let me explain what "fair value" is. It is a concept in Western economics. Fair value can be understood as the reasonable transaction price reached by the buyer and seller under informed, voluntary, and uncoerced circumstances.

The earliest instance of this concept was in the High Court case of Smith v. Arms in the late 19th century, where the court first proposed that investors should receive profit compensation based on the "fair value" of the property (rather than historical cost). This case established the concept of "fair value" from a legal perspective. Although it had not yet formed a systematic accounting concept, it can be said that the concept of fair value already had a significant presence in economics at that time.

To explain fair value using an analogy that everyone can understand—the Russians sold the Kiev aircraft carrier to India for one dollar. That one dollar was the price India initially paid for the carrier. However, to calculate the final cost of the Vikramaditya, the subsequent refitting costs must be added.

也就是说这条航母的入账成本应该是1美元+24亿美元，（总价45.8亿美元我记得是包括购买舰载机的全部总价）那么公允价值就是24亿美元吗？答案是在2013年这条航母入役的时候这玩意的公允价值肯定不止24亿美元。

If India had sold the INS Vikramaditya to a third country in 2013 when it was just completed, the price the buyer would have had to factor in inflation over the years, so the final fair value would definitely be higher than 24 billion.

It's easier to understand if you think about it in terms of properties that appreciated in value when you bought them. But the problem is that the accounting system in China, which operates under a planned economy, doesn't recognize fair value.

The concept of fair value largely reflects the need for a more advanced and reasonable concept to measure capital and assets in order to facilitate investment and trading, as industrialization and economic markets (such as stock and bond markets) proliferate.

Institutionally, this is indeed a step forward. However, even in the 21st century, many economists still believe that the concept of fair value is problematic. This is because powerful capital can always profit by manipulating fair value through various means, exploiting ordinary people and small investors. The concept of fair value has further promoted market prosperity, but it has also contributed significantly to the inflated bubble.

Datang does not recognize the concept of fair value. Although this does mean that some industries, such as real estate, cannot reflect the appreciation of such assets on their books during the accounting holding period, the cost method means that as long as the asset is not sold, there is no appreciation or depreciation, which naturally makes it inconvenient for some companies to raise funds.

This is very difficult for many foreign investors who want to invest in the Tang Dynasty. Accustomed to inflating bubbles in Europe, they find that upon arriving in the East, they not only discover that many industries in the market are completely closed to them, but even those industries that are open for investment cannot allow them to inflate bubbles at will.

It's hard to say which accounting method, Eastern or Western, is right. If you pursue prosperity, you have to bear the risk of bubbles, while if you avoid risk too much, the market will develop too slowly.

Fortunately, the Victorian Empire of today is no longer the Victorian Empire of its heyday. Now, the world's most greedy, influential, and powerful capitalists and businessmen are all on Wall Street in Colombia. Victorian capitalists are no longer the biggest tycoons in the world's financial center. He said that he was not very satisfied with the results of the investment in Tang Dynasty, but Tang Dynasty was indeed willing to spend money on purchasing things.

The most distinctive feature of the Victorian Empire compared to the Lighthouse in another world is its complete insensitivity to technological issues.

Unlike the Beacon, the Victorian Empire doesn't frequently impose ridiculous technology bans. To be honest, Li Che couldn't understand the point of the Beacon's bans, which were like the Soul Palace sending people to give the protagonist experience points in Battle Through the Heavens. Each time, the bans were so small that Old Zhong could reach them with a little effort. In the end, the results of the US bans and sanctions were like stage rewards in a long-running game.

The Victorian Empire was a completely different story. As long as you paid the money and didn't violate the international laws they had signed, there was nothing in the world that the Victorian Empire wouldn't dare to sell.

To put it simply, the shipbuilding race between the Leitanian Empire and the Victorian Empire had reached a fever pitch before the outbreak of the World War. A considerable portion of the steam turbines used in the Leitanian Empire's capital ships were imported from the Victorian Empire, either through smuggling or legitimate trade.

你能想象老中2010S敞开了造舰的情况下老美还会向老钟出口LM2500燃气轮机，又或者是在空军J20首飞之后WS15发动机还不成熟的那几年，我们能够买到F119-PW100么？

He probably didn't expect that, did he?

But whether it's the Victorian Empire in this world or the British Empire in another, they dare to do it.

From the steam turbines imported by the High Seas Fleet before the outbreak of World War I to the jet engines that the Russians bought from Dai Ying after the end of World War II, comparing the two beacons, one can only say that both of these perplexing actions were essentially Hayek's doing.

However, the Victoria Empire currently doesn't have many technologies or fields that Li Che can take a liking to. If you were to ask what Victoria Empire's products are currently attracting the most attention, it would definitely be the 18-inch naval guns they've prepared for their Nelson-class battleships.

In terms of large-caliber naval guns, the Victorian Empire truly had the world's leading technological accumulation.

On the one hand, this thing cannot be bought or sold. No matter how much the Victorian Empire respects Hayek's expertise, it cannot be sold due to the Honolulu Naval Treaty. The navy is even less willing to buy it, and even if the Tang Dynasty bought it, it would have no ships to carry it.

On the other hand, while the Victorian Empire had the world's best technological accumulation in large-caliber artillery, its manufacturing technology for large-caliber artillery was not actually advanced. Even their newest and most powerful 18-inch Mark I naval gun was still a very traditional wound-wire gun. Although this traditional gun-making process did not affect the power of the gun itself, it had a significant impact on the lifespan of the gun and the weight of the barrel itself.

As for the radar technology that Britain possessed during World War II, which was unparalleled in another world... we don't even have a scratch of it now. Everyone is on the same starting line, and Li Che doesn't think that the Tang Dynasty's technological development in this area will be inferior to that of the Victorian Empire in the future.

So, does the Victorian Empire lack any technology that Li Che would find acceptable?

Of course the answer is yes.

The world's first automated cylinder manufacturing line!

Li Che knew about this thing from reading a novel in another world. That's right, it was one of those alternate history novels with a time-travel theme, written by an author named Hippo, titled "The Great Hero of the Xinhai Revolution."

The protagonist in the book was an employee of Volkswagen before he transmigrated, and he then bought out the company—Morris Motor Company.

When Zhu Miaoyun woke up in the morning and saw Li Che holding a copy of the latest business procurement blue book, she almost grinned from ear to ear.

So our princess said in the tone of a brigade commander, "What's making you so happy? Did you eat bee droppings?"

"We have successfully acquired a car company."

"Acquire a car company? Did you buy Rolls-Royce? Or did you sell Land Rover?"

"Why would I buy a Rolls-Royce and a Land Rover...?"

"Yes, someone has been supporting the development of the domestic auto industry these past few years. I don't even want to mention those companies like Zhumeng Auto, Geely Auto, Great Wall Motors, and Longqi..."

"This is different. This Morris Company is just a very small car company. Due to poor management, their current financial situation is very bad. The founder, Sir Morris, decided to sell the entire company, including the production line. In fact, the entire company only has one production line."

Zhu Miaoyun felt even more confused: "Our country is, after all, an industrial powerhouse. Don't our domestic car factories have automated production lines? Why do we need to buy them from the Victorian Empire?"

"It's different. This is the world's first automated engine cylinder block processing line from Morris Corporation. The entire line is only 55 meters long and consists of 53 electric motor-driven automatic machine tools. This production line can process a cylinder in just 4 minutes!"

This means that if operating at full capacity 24 hours a day, even including maintenance time, this production line can stably produce more than 10 cylinders per year. My father is currently promoting agricultural production. Large farms in northern Xinjiang need large agricultural tractors, while the more fragmented farmland in the south needs lightweight single-cylinder walking tractors. Buying this production line will bring tremendous benefits and impetus to our entire internal combustion engine and automotive machinery industry.”

"Are you sure you're grinning like that because this thing makes tractors fast, and not because it makes other things faster in the future?"

"Tanks are, after all, a subset of tractors."

Zhu Miaoyun leaned over and flipped through the contents of the blue book, then her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly: "Didn't you say before that purchasing in the Victoria Empire wasn't the main focus? Why has the plan changed? Then why did you buy so much...? Normally, shouldn't you have waited until after the economic crisis to go on a shopping spree?"

"I didn't expect you to know that shopping is cheaper after an economic crisis." Li Che made a surprised expression, as if he was marveling at how his husky had turned into a border collie.

Zhu Miaoyun gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to bite the guy—our Crown Princess knew that kicking the guy was no longer a punishment, so Zhu Miaoyun planned to bite him later.

"If there is an economic crisis in the future, it will indeed be cheaper to buy things after the economic crisis. However, the economic crisis is too late. Even if the economic crisis in Colombia breaks out as scheduled, the financial tsunami on Wall Street will not reach old Europe until the early 30s."

Time costs must be taken into account. The earlier we buy, the sooner our domestic industrial technology will be absorbed and advanced. If we wait until an economic crisis breaks out, the prices will indeed be much cheaper, but our industrial upgrading will certainly not be as fast as it is now. We may not even be able to complete the nationwide industrial upgrading before the outbreak of war. Such a large-scale project cannot be completed in one or two years. Even what we are buying now are just some small pieces of the puzzle.

Zhu Miaoyun nodded: "Then you continue reading, I'm going back upstairs to sleep for a while longer."

"Are you still sleeping?" Li Che looked up at the clock on the wall. "You got up late this morning, and then you took a nap at noon. Now it's only evening, why are you sleepy again? Are you feeling unwell?"

Zhu Miaoyun yawned deeply: "It's not that I'm feeling unwell, but I've been feeling a bit weak lately and have been lacking energy. I saw the doctor who accompanied me, and he said it's because I'm not used to the local environment. If possible, could you see if you can find a Chinese chef here in the Victoria Empire to cook some authentic Chinese food for me?"

"You're not pregnant again, are you?" Li Che asked with some concern. This woman's current behavior was exactly the same as when she was pregnant for the first time. The problem was that Zhu Miaoyun had just given birth not long ago. If she were to get pregnant again now, it would definitely not be good news for either the baby or the mother.

Could it be that my protective measures were inadequate?

"Don't even think about it. I've already had a blood test, and we've been using protection lately. It's probably just a change in environment. When I was pregnant last time, I could feel it in my stomach. Besides, have you ever seen me pregnant and had such a good appetite that I'm asking you for a cook?"

"Alright, hopefully we can find you a Chinese chef in London, a place full of Gallic chefs."

Chapter 392 Visit to Letania

The Blue Space slowly pulled into its berth in the Port of Hamburg. After a week-long visit to the Victorian Empire, Li Che and his entourage had just left the Victorian Empire. Two cruisers escorted the Blue Space past the site of the Battle of Scadraco before finally arriving at this once most important ally of the Ming Dynasty in the West.

Unfortunately, the Republic of Letania today is far more different from the former Letania Empire than the Tang Dynasty was from the Ming Dynasty.

The ship's horn sounded, and the dock was already on high alert. Although Leitania was a country devastated by war, with everything in ruins and seemingly on the verge of collapse, the current Leitanian government still did its utmost to show the highest respect and old friendship to the delegation led by Li Che, the crown prince of the Tang Dynasty in the distant East.

At least from the welcoming ceremony of the Leitanian Navy, it can be seen that the four Nassau-class battleships returned to them by the Victorian Empire are all in the port of Hamburg. These were once the oldest dreadnoughts of the Leitanian Empire's high seas fleet, and now they are undoubtedly far behind the times. The once glorious and powerful high seas fleet has vanished, leaving behind only these few second-rate old ships.

Even more tragic than the condition of the ships is the fact that the officers and men of the once disciplined Leitanian Empire's high seas fleet seem to have vanished, or rather, those who remain have long lost their former spirit, standing stiffly on the sides of the battleships during the welcoming ceremony. It's hard to believe that they were once the most disciplined army in all of Europe.

Even more devastating than the loss of weapons and equipment was the annihilation of the army's morale and its very spirit.

The military band on the dock played a rousing welcoming tune, and a red carpet stretched from the gangway to the dock exit. Honor guard soldiers, dressed in brand-new uniforms but still showing signs of fatigue, stood at attention with their rifles.

Leitanian officials and local celebrities lined up at the dock to welcome him. Li Che, dressed in a crisp Imperial military uniform, stood tall and straight. Surrounded by his entourage, he descended the gangway and shook hands and exchanged pleasantries with the Leitanian officials who came to greet him. The atmosphere was warm and solemn.

However, this official enthusiasm was quickly interrupted by another scene, because not far behind the welcoming team, outside the tall iron fence, a dense crowd had gathered.

Most of them were men, dressed in faded or even patched work clothes, their faces haggard, their eyes a mixture of numbness and a barely perceptible longing, like a silent gray wave, surging silently, forming a stark contrast with the glitz and glamour of the docks.

Their gazes pierced through the railings, following closely the magnificent procession of the Crown Prince, or more precisely, the depths of the dock that symbolized job opportunities.

“Your Highness, please don’t take it to heart,” Zhang Boyuan, the Tang Dynasty’s ambassador to Germany, approached Li Che at the opportune moment, his voice low and tinged with helplessness. “Those are unemployed workers waiting to grab temporary jobs. The war is over, but the factories are either destroyed or have lost their orders, and job opportunities are scarce.”

Every morning, this place gathers in droves, vying for the few temporary slots occasionally released at the docks for loading and unloading bulk cargo. With a bit of luck, a day's hard labor might earn a few pounds of marks, barely enough for a family to buy some black bread and potatoes to eat for a week. The ambassador's voice was heavy. "Now, Letania… alas, is a world apart from the vibrant industrial giant that His Majesty the late Emperor visited before the war."

Although he had some idea of ​​the inflation in Letania, when he heard Da Shikou refer to the Mark not as a number but as a unit of weight, Li Che almost thought he had arrived in Zimbabwe.

Li Che nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping once more over the silent and oppressive crowd. Those grey-blue eyes no longer held the confidence and vitality he had heard of in his youth from the workers of the German Empire; only the struggle for survival remained.

Although the welcoming ceremony was very grand, Li Che's mind was not on it at all. Especially when he saw the high-profile welcoming ceremony and the indifferent gazes of the workers outside the dock, Li Che felt a little uncomfortable.

More importantly, Zhu Miaoyun did not attend the welcoming ceremony today, the Crown Princess. Her symptoms of acclimatization, which had been somewhat alleviated by two Chinese meals during her time in the Victorian Empire, worsened after the fleet encountered severe weather in the North Sea.

Right now, Li Che is more eager to find a doctor for Zhu Miaoyun than to hold a grand welcoming ceremony.

However, it is clear that although Letania has a top-notch chemical industry in Europe, it is not particularly outstanding in the field of medicine, especially now that the war has ended. Many medical experts of the Letanian Empire either choose to immigrate to Colombia or go to Berlin to develop their careers.

After all, no matter how bad the overall economic environment is, Berlin, as the capital, is in a much better situation than other cities, especially those that were once glorious industrial cities.

After taking medication prescribed by a local doctor in Hamburg, but seeing no improvement, Li Che decided to head to Berlin first.

Early the next morning, the motorcade headed to the train station to board the prepared special train, and the scene outside the train window quickly confirmed Ambassador Zhang's words from the previous day.

The once bustling industrial area now appears empty and desolate. The massive factory buildings stand like silent behemoths, many windows broken, walls peeling, and chimneys no longer belching out the thick smoke that symbolized vitality.

For many factories, machine shutdown almost means half-scrap. Usually, factory owners would try their best to maintain a minimum level of production, but now it seems that they may not even be able to maintain that. Most of the factories that Li Che can see around Hamburg have now stopped operating. For Letania, this winter is not something that can be left behind in a short time.

The rusty railway tracks extending from the factory area stretch into the distance, indicating that they have not been maintained for a long time. Abandoned machine parts are even scattered among the weeds. After only two or three years of neglect, these factories, which were once the pride of the Leitania Empire, have become so desolate.

There weren't many pedestrians on the street, and those who were there hurried along with solemn expressions. Occasionally, one could see ragged veterans, most of whom had disabilities. They were still wearing their wartime uniforms, which were probably all these destitute veterans had left.

As the convoy drove onto the main road leading to the train station, the road became wider and the road surface changed from brick and stone to cement. Although it was the most luxurious car of the time, Zhu Miaoyun had obviously been more uncomfortable from the bumpy ride in the back seat and was now leaning against Li Che, whimpering.