"Time and blood," Peter MacDonald muttered.
"... But once underway the Texcocan State has moved on in a progression
unknown in any of the Genoese nations. To industrialize a society you
must reach a certain taking off point, a point where you have sufficient
industry, particularly steel, sufficient power, sufficient scientists,
technicians and skilled workers. Once that point has been reached you
can move in almost a geometric progression. You build a steel mill and
with the steel produced you build two more mills the following year,
which in turn gives you the material for four the next year."
Buchwald grunted his disbelief.
Watson looked up and down the line of Genoese, the Earthmen as well as
the natives. "On Texcoco we have now reached that point. We have a
trained, eager population of over one billion persons. Our universities
are turning out highly trained effectives at the rate of more than
twenty million a year. We have located all the raw materials we will
need. We are now under way." He looked at them in heavy amusement. "By
the end of the next decade we will bury you."