Wang *** was surprised when he heard this: "Merchants from the Central Plains want to contract the railway? Do they have such a fortune?"
To be honest, the railway is not very profitable, especially Xu Wei understands that the most important aspect of the railway is communication and logistics. The lower the price, the faster the local development. However, the court does not seem to make money from the railway, but it can make money from taxes.
But if a private contractor contracts the railway, it will be really difficult to make money at the current price!
Of course, in addition to making money, the price of railway construction is also extremely high. In Hebei, the average cost of one mile of railway is 10 million yuan, and in Bingzhou it is slightly more because there are many mountains in the area. One mile is about 20 million yuan, but Bingzhou has money, and the court
They contributed half of it, and the construction of the Bingzhou Railway was actually the fastest.
And the states in the Central Plains are not just kings looking down on them. Even if one mile of railway costs 5 million, how much can these merchants build?
And if the railway does not have enough length, it will be even more ineffective. Hebei's railway network took more than ten years to build and cost hundreds of billions to achieve limited benefits, allowing the entire Hebei economy to take off. How many Central Plains merchants can build it?
Railway?
But Wan Yi said with a smile: "The Prime Minister underestimated the worth of the merchants in the Central Plains. Although they are not as good as the merchants in Hebei and Jizhou, there are hundreds of merchants in the Central Plains worth hundreds of millions, and only those worth more than 1 billion are considered big merchants."
!If the Prime Minister can agree to their request, they can raise 50 billion yuan within half a year and 30 billion yuan within three years to build the railway!
In this way, the imperial court will build the main line railway, and the local merchants will raise money to build the branch line railway. They only require the contract to be contracted for 30 years. They have the final say on the price charged during this period, and they are willing to build it. After 30 years, the court can get it.
It can create a railway, and this can also exponentially increase the speed of railway construction. It can be said that this is a good thing that kills two birds with one stone!"
The joint development of industrialization and shipping in Daqian has brought huge wealth to the newly born Daqian. Although Xu Wei has tried his best to favor ordinary people, the ones who reap the most dividends are the merchants who have invested in industry and shipping.
Take their net worth as an example. There was a very famous incident in the Han Dynasty. The then general Liang Ji took a fancy to the property of Sun Fen, the richest businessman in Luoyang City. However, even though Liang Ji ransacked Sun Fen's house, he could not make up for it.
With more than 170 million yuan in property, even if Sun Fen is the top merchant in the Han Dynasty, his wealth is equivalent to that of a middle-class merchant in the Han Dynasty.
Now in the Daqian court, even the relatively declining merchants from the Central Plains are 10 times more valuable than the richest businessman in Luoyang City. And in Hebei, the core of the development of Daqian, there are wealthy businessmen who are dozens of times worth!
Obviously Wang *** underestimates their wealth!
Wan Yi's words sound very good. With the financial support of merchants, the construction speed of the Daqian Railway can be increased several times, which is also good for the court. If the local railway is built, it will also be good for the local people.
But the merchants wanted to block roads and collect tolls, which made Wang *** a little undecided. After all, toll collection had always been the right of the court. Now it fell into the hands of merchants. Even with a 30-year restriction, Wang *** still felt uneasy!
He asked these people to wait for news, while he went to Xu Wei and reported that the Central Plains merchants wanted to invest in the railway! Then he hesitated and said: "These merchants also want the right to charge fees, and my subordinates think this is a bit too much!"
But Xu Wei didn't take it seriously. He had seen too many road tolls. Bridges and highways could also be contracted by private parties for development many years ago.
It’s not like Xu Wei has never seen it before. The Great Hope State used stocks and bonds to play with the capital of old Europe, allowing them to invest huge amounts in building railways. The last one became insolvent, and these investments were wiped out. In the end To get a railway for free is a sign of great skill.
Then Xu Wei suddenly thought that I, Daqian, might also be able to use this method. After all, according to Wang ***, the financial resources of Daqian merchants were growing too fast, and there would be problems if they didn't try to weaken them!
Xu Wei thought for a while and asked: "Do you think our merchants in Daqian are too rich? Businessmen in one state can raise 30 billion. This is Yanzhou. If it were Jizhou or Youzhou, the merchants could only raise 100 billion." All the money can be raised!"
【In view of the general environment,
Xu Wei found that the strength of these merchants had grown a bit too fast. It took hundreds of years for the powerful noble families of the Han Dynasty to accumulate a net worth of only a few billion. (Take Liang Ji as an example. As a general, he had monopolized power for more than ten years. Years later, when his house was confiscated by Emperor Heng, he had 3 billion yuan, which was almost the net worth of a top noble family.)
Nowadays, the big merchants who have accumulated wealth in Daqian have accumulated a net worth of several billions in just a few decades. And as long as the speed of industrialization is faster, the wealth of these merchants will be accumulated faster. When their net worth reaches a certain amount, At that time, these merchants will definitely start asking for their rights. Even Xu Wei will find it difficult to change this!
Wang *** heard Xu Wei's words and asked hesitantly: "Does the government want to deal with these merchants?"
They had wiped out all the powerful families. He didn't think it would be difficult to deal with the merchants. It was just that there had been no restrictions on merchants in the Daqian policy. If the restrictions suddenly came to such a hand, he was worried that he would be deeply involved. After all, power and money do not separate families. These officials of theirs If he wants to achieve good political performance, he must have a few big businessmen as friends, even if he was the governor of Jizhou, otherwise how could he build the canal that runs through Jizhou!
He was worried that dealing with these merchants in this way would easily implicate the officials of the Daqian court. After all, it was impossible for the wealthy family to have anything to do with them, but now these merchants have something to do with them!
Xu Wei smiled and said: "I have no idea of dealing with them. After all, they helped us a lot in the beginning. Since they are so rich, the court agreed to them building the railway, and the 30-year operating rights can be given to them after all. They have invested money, and they must make some money!"
Xu Wei certainly has no intention of dealing with merchants. After all, most of the world is a primitive society, and the more advanced ones are still in a semi-feudal and semi-slave society (I’m talking about you, Rome, of the four empires, you have the worst civilization level!)
After all, merchants are the power of capital, and they are advanced forces in this era, but the idea of restricting them has emerged. I hope that Xu Wei can learn how the National University businessmen deceived people, so that their wealth disappears. Work harder. From this aspect, Xu Wei also makes these businessmen never forget their original aspirations!
After Wang *** returned with Xu Wei's affirmation, the entire business community in Daqian soon became excited. The railway industry allowed them to enter, which will definitely become a new investment hotspot and wealth center in Daqian!