Empire Conquest-Chapter 733 - 40 Unanimous Approval

Although those high-ranking Cabinet Ministers in the Empire were clearer about the current state of the Empire than anyone else, after the meeting resumed, Reinhardt still briefly went over the main issues, especially those relating to the core interests of the Empire.

All in all, it boiled down to economics.

To put it plainly, life had become unmanageable.

There were many reasons, such as the population of the Tiaoman-led West Continent Group being far lower than that of the Liangxia Empire, as well as not comparable to the Beigu Group led by the Newland Republic. Additionally, the overall technological level of the West Continent Group was inferior to the other two superpowers. Nonetheless, the crux of the matter still involved resources closely related to spheres of influence and the series of issues triggered by resource shortages.

Of the irreplaceable 78 strategic resources, the West Continent Group had two—coal and iron ore—with which they could barely achieve self-sufficiency.

A total of 62, including oil and natural gas, had to be heavily reliant on imports.

For 14 resources closely associated with climate and region, such as natural rubber, the West Continent Group was completely dependent on imports.

The problems caused by resource shortages were fundamentally unsolvable.

Take oil, for instance.

The Tiaoman Empire possessed the world’s most comprehensive coal liquefaction industry, of critical importance during times of war, yet it was essentially worthless during peace. Tiaoman enterprises certainly could not rely on coal-derived oil, which was several times more expensive than crude oil, to compete with businesses from the Eastern Group and Beigu Group.

The high cost of energy would inevitably reduce the efficiency of social production significantly.

The economic competition among the three superpowers was essentially a contest in production efficiency; those with lower efficiency were destined to lose!

Even within the West Continent Group, there was a serious problem of uneven resource distribution.

Consider the vitally important grain production; the West Continent Group could theoretically be self-sufficient, yet due to the concentration of grain-producing areas in a few countries, there were severe issues with internal grain trading, which led to conflicts that were nearly impossible to resolve through conventional means.

The most typical cases were Locke Country and the Raleigh Kingdom.

Thanks to their favorable climate, Locke Country and the Raleigh Kingdom had always been the main grain-producing countries of the West Continent. Thus, after the great war, these two countries saw rapid development in agriculture, some highly agriculture-dependent light industries also received significant attention, and they became the main granaries of the group.

Even after that, thanks to the third and fourth waves of industrialization, especially with Locke Country once again becoming a major industrial power of the West Continent, developing numerous cutting-edge industries including the military industry, Locke Country’s symbol within the whole West Continent was still that of a grain-producing country.

As a result, Locke Country had to increase its investment in agriculture through government intervention.

Government interference would inevitably disrupt the market.

This phenomenon was even more pronounced in the Raleigh Kingdom.

Due to the excessive investment in agriculture, industrialization remained backward within the Raleigh Kingdom until now, unable to even compare with Locke Country, and this situation had already caused serious dissatisfaction within the Raleigh Kingdom, to the extent where voices emerged calling for a withdrawal from the West Continent Group.

The same was true for the Luosha Democratic Republic.

From the perspective of the Tiaoman Empire, maximizing limited powers through intervention, in order to obtain the capital to face off against the more powerful Liangxia Empire, was not wrong in itself. However, when such a situation persisted for over 40 years, it became an issue not of right or wrong but of inevitable consequences.

After decades of struggle, the economic system of the West Continent Group had become extremely fragile, unable to withstand any turmoil.

Unfortunately, God had no pity for the followers of the West Continent.

Starting last autumn, the entire Northern Hemisphere experienced a once-in-a-century drought. From the Beigu Continent to the West Continent, and nearly the entire Giant Continent, in nearly 9 months, the precipitation was only equivalent to 60% of the average value in previous years, and global agriculture suffered a fatal blow!

In this unprecedented drought, the West Continent Group, or rather the Tiaoman Empire, found itself in the direst situation.

The Liangxia Empire also suffered from the drought, with local grain output sharply decreased; summer grain production was cut by nearly 15%, and the autumn harvest might even see a reduction of up to 20%. However, the Liangxia Empire could still rely on the southeastern area and expand imports from the Southern Subcontinent.

And if that wasn’t enough, there was also Aus located in the Southern Hemisphere.

Moreover, the grain production of the Liangxia Empire was essentially self-sufficient. Therefore, even with reduced production, imports could be increased to compensate.

The situation of the Newland Republic was similar; they could import from the Nangu Region even in the worst-case scenario.

Additionally, over ten years ago, the Newland Republic surpassed the Liangxia Empire to become the top global exporter of grain. Hence, the direct consequence of reduced grain production was actually a reduction in export scale.

But a reduction in the export scale of the Newland Republic was enough to cause international grain prices to skyrocket!

Clearly, the Tiaoman Empire was not so fortunate.

Firstly, the West Continent was the hardest hit by the disaster.

According to statistics compiled by the West Continent Group, the summer harvest had nearly a 20% reduction in production, and the autumn harvest could potentially reach a record drop of 24%.

Moreover, the West Continent Group did not have a "backup granary."

The Xuan Continent to the south, not to mention most countries were on good terms with the Liangxia Empire, even the few countries friendly to the West Continent Group had no surplus grain to offer.