In addition to the country's strategic railway deployment, Zuo Mengeng also has to meet people who are also eager for railways.
That is the business representative from Jiangnan.
"Your Majesty, I haven't seen you for many years. You are still as healthy as ever. You are truly a blessing to all people in the world."
With the change of dynasties, Xu Wenjue had long lost his hereditary position as Duke. But after abandoning politics and going into business, relying on his strong family background and good relationship with the government, he really made a lot of money.
Just looking at his rich figure and silk and satin clothes, you can tell that this guy has become a mature businessman.
"Your Majesty, I am Li Daguang, chairman of Nandu Trading Group."
"I am Qian Weichang, chairman of Zhejiang Commerce and Trade Group."
"I am Su Qizhe, chairman of Jiangnan Shipping Company."
After being introduced one by one, they were all wealthy and spiritual people in the south of the Yangtze River. It can be said that these people's pockets are trembling, and Jiangnan's economy will be affected.
But now these people's eyes are all red.
Just because they all took the train and saw the extremely broad future of this new form of transportation.
If we can get involved in the industry at the beginning, it will definitely be a great benefit to Fukuzawa Bandai.
"King Ji has already reported your thoughts to me. As a businessman, he has the courage to participate in state affairs and wants to contribute to the country. This is worth encouraging."
As soon as they came up, Zuo Menggeng got straight to the point and set the tone for the matter.
Since ancient times, the status of merchants has been very humble, and they are often the fat sheep in the eyes of the government.
This also caused businessmen to either seek refuge with officials to find support, or to fear the government like a tiger and avoid it like a snake and a scorpion.
Even if the empire has entered a new era, changes in people's thinking and social environment will still require long-term efforts.
Now that he is the emperor's golden words, as expected, all the businessmen present are smiling and eager to try.
"You have already seen the benefits of railways. As long as you operate it carefully, you can naturally make a lot of money. But there is one thing I want to say up front..."
Seeing that Zuo Mengeng was extremely solemn, Xu Wenjue and others were cautious and did not dare to neglect.
"In addition to creating huge benefits, the railway is also an important weapon of the country and is related to the national security. Therefore, the country can allow you to participate in operation and investment, but the country must have decision-making power over the railway. In normal times, it can be operated by you. Once there is When a major event occurs, the state will requisition it unconditionally. Also, the state must hold a certain proportion of shares in the railway company and have the power to review and supervise operations. At the same time, the railways you build and operate must maintain the same specifications as those of your counterparts elsewhere. . Only in this way can we connect the railways into a network and connect them all over the world in the future. Can you meet these requirements?"
The businessmen were silent and thought carefully, knowing that this was a major matter related to their wealth and life.
Qian Weichang asked cautiously: "I wonder what the scope of the country's unconditional expropriation is? I'm afraid that the government will occupy the railway regardless of big or small matters. In that case..."
Zuo Mengeng understood his worries very well.
After all, the government is in a strong position and can seize railway rights of passage for any reason. This is undoubtedly very detrimental to business.
"The state's requisition of railways is basically concentrated in a few limited areas such as troop mobilization and disaster relief. Other than that, it will never affect the daily operation of the railway."
Zuo Mengeng gave a limited range.
When everyone heard this, they were all relieved.
Because these areas mentioned by Zuo Menggeng are top priorities in any dynasty. Not to mention just requisitioning railways, even requisitioning people and materials is normal.
"That being the case, we are relieved."
Regarding private participation in railway construction and operation, the terms and details are obviously not something that can be determined in a few words.
Zuo Menggeng is just setting the tone here. After returning, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Railways will have to hold repeated discussions with these businessmen and finally come up with a mutually acceptable plan.
Zuo Mengeng is more concerned about...
"To build a railway, a large amount of steel is needed. If it is transported from various places, it will probably be expensive. Have you considered this issue?"
Businessmen are really meticulous in their work.
Xu Wenjue said: "Your Majesty, you don't know. Iron ore has been discovered in Dangtu, not far from Nandu. We are going to invest part of it to build a new steel smelting plant here in conjunction with the Ministry of Mineral Resources, specifically responsible for the construction of railway tracks and trains." .In this way, the transportation cost problem can be eliminated.”
Zuo Mengeng suddenly realized, and then he remembered that Ma'anshan in later generations was originally famous for its iron mines.
"The water network in the south of the Yangtze River is dense, can you solve this problem?"
Although Jiangnan is flat, it is definitely not friendly to transportation construction.
The dense water network always cuts the roads intermittently, especially the construction of railways is really troublesome.
However, when it comes to this, the businessmen in Jiangnan are full of ambitions.
"We have reached an agreement with the Songjiang Prefecture business group to build the railway all the way to the east bank of the Huangpu River. We plan to build a cross-river railway bridge on the Huangpu River. If successful, we will go one step further and build a bridge on the Yangtze River. "
Good guy, is the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge going to be launched more than 300 years in advance?
Through this incident, Zuo Mengeng also discovered that human subjective initiative can indeed create unlimited value.
Of course, he would fully support the businessmen's aggressive attitude.
"The technical difficulty of building a cross-river bridge is very high. You can cooperate with the Academy of Engineering Sciences. If you encounter any technical difficulties, the state and government will come forward to help you."
The cross-river bridge also has important strategic significance. Once realized, the natural chasm will be transformed into a road, which will enhance the country's control just like the railway.
In addition, once a cross-river bridge can be built, it means that with the current technology accumulation of the empire, high-rise buildings can also be built.
This is undoubtedly of great significance to the development of the city.
Seeing that Zuo Mengeng didn't take their nonsense for granted, but encouraged them enthusiastically, this made all the merchants in Jiangnan feel relaxed and happy.
They have all experienced the evolution from the Ming Dynasty to the Empire, and they have a stronger sense of the differences between the two periods.
Although many of them were top dignitaries and superiors in the old era, from a business perspective, the empire era was definitely more comfortable.
After a conversation with representatives of Jiangnan merchants, Zuo Mengeng also realized that under the influence of him and the empire, the trend of the times had changed dramatically.
The Chinese nation, which had gone in the wrong direction at the crossroads of history, has obviously regained its vitality.
He was eager to feel this change, so he went to the Academy of Engineering Sciences to see what kind of surprises the scientific and technological workers of this era would bring him.
(My stomach hurts today, no more!)
