Chapter 345 Railway Road Construction Right (Part 2)
Li Zhongtang's words obviously meant that Jia Liwen was having a whim. As for Li Zhongtang's accusation, Jia Liwen was not angry at all. As long as it could benefit the kingdom, he could just let him dance for Li Zhongtang on the table.
"Your Excellency Zhongtang, it is actually very simple to promote this matter. As long as your court agrees, then the construction of the railway will not be a problem."
Seeing that Jia Liwen did not give up and continued to persist, Li Zhongtang felt that it was necessary to give up this idea.
"Minister Jia, it is extremely difficult to get the court to agree to build a railway. Many officials in our country still follow the tradition. They are unwilling to see the emergence of new things like railways, especially in the court.
"I have already worked hard to build a 160-mile Tianjin-Gu railway. It is simply impossible for the imperial court to agree to a large railway running from north to south."
Faced with Li Zhongtang's experience, Jia Liwen would not give up. You must know that this task is of great importance. The Prime Minister and the King are paying close attention to it, which will directly affect his career.
"Li Zhongtang, according to the old saying in your country, it all depends on manpower. The construction of the railway is of great benefit to your country. Although there are objections, I believe people with knowledge can see it clearly."
Jia Liwen then came up with his trump card. "If your country refused to build the railway before because it was unclear about the benefits, now it refuses because of the obstruction of conservative officials. But I believe that Your Excellency, the emperor and the empress dowager of your country are enlightened."
, know our country’s sincerity.”
As he spoke, Jia Liwen took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Li Zhongtang. "Your Excellency, Zhongtang, our country's sincerity lies here. I believe this will help your country improve the accuracy of its judgment."
Li Zhongtang took the document and immediately looked at it. He was surprised by the first condition of the document.
"Is your country planning to jointly build a railway with our country?"
Li Zhongtang was so surprised because he knew that seeking rights to build railways had other purposes, such as mineral mining rights for twenty kilometers along the railway line, and the right to garrison troops. The Qing court was not a fool, and of course it did not want other countries to do so.
The great powers used the railway to extend their hands to various places along the route, so they opposed it fiercely.
In addition, railway construction was all about borrowing money, and the interest was not cheap, which also put pressure on the Qing government's finances.
In the document presented by Minister Jia, Italy had already considered it. In the name of Italian Railways, it would seek cooperation with the Qing government to jointly establish the Qing Dynasty Railway Corporation. Italy would spend 1,500 yuan.
To invest ten thousand taels of silver, you only need to occupy 49% of the shares of the Qing Railway Company. The Qing government does not need to pay. It only needs to provide land to occupy 25% of the shares. The remaining 26% of the shares will be sold in the Qing market.
People buy it.
It can be said that the Qing government could obtain a railway company with a market value of more than 30 million taels without paying a penny. How could such a good thing of direct profit be rejected by the Qing government, which was under huge financial pressure?
Even if there are conservative officials, they will be blocked by others who want to profit. After all, how can those 26% of the shares really fall into the hands of the people? Officials at all levels can carve them up. Of course, let Italy come up with such a document
, all this comes from a person who has memories of later generations. He knows very well what is taboo in this era, and it is not difficult to prescribe the right medicine.
"Your Excellency, this document has made it very clear."
After receiving Jia Liwen's affirmation, Li Zhongtang continued reading.
It’s amazing to read on. This document is even bolder than what Minister Jia said. The newly formed Daqing Railway Company must have the Tianjin-Guangzhou Railway, Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Jinpu Railway, Longhai Railway, Ningxia Railway, etc., as Minister Jia said.
The right to build the Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway. For this purpose, the Kingdom of Italy is willing to donate an arms quota worth 10 million taels of silver and 5 million taels of cash silver.
Li Zhongtang was greedy for such a heavy gift. Of course, as the main force of the domestic army, the Huai army could also get a lot of profit.
Zhou Fu looked at this generous gift and swallowed.
As for Li Zhongtang, he pointed to a section of the document and said, "It is a bit difficult to build a road on the Jinpu Line. It is related to the water transportation of the imperial court, and there must be criticism in the court."
Yes, Li Zhongtang has changed his attitude, from refusing at the beginning to making suggestions for Jia Liwen.
And the water transportation he was referring to was related to the interests of many people in the capital.
Yes, even though it is now possible to transport Jiangnan materials by sea, interests dictate that the annual water transport still proceeds as scheduled. In the autumn, boating on the canal transports grain and rice to the capital, and provides food and clothing for more than 100,000 people.
The profits of the powerful people in Beijing and central China lie, and the construction of the Jinpu Line will definitely hinder them.
Faced with Li Zhongtang's words, Jia Liwen immediately replied, "Your Excellency Zhongtang, can you convert these inland waterworks into road construction workers to solve their livelihood first, and can you exchange railway stocks for the nobles who receive the benefits?"
Jia Liwen's words seemed to have been made after hard work and he intended to induce him with benefits.
After listening, Li Zhongtang nodded. "The method is good, but there are still several problems that need to be solved..."
Well, Li Zhongtang started to fill in the gaps.
After solving these problems one by one, Li Zhongtang asked a question. "Mr. Jia, I really don't have the confidence to promote such a grand railway construction with my own efforts."
What Li Zhongtang said is not nonsense. The road construction rights of these railways in the hands of the Daqing Railway Company, which has not yet disappeared, anyone with a little discernment will know how tempting it is. With such a huge benefit, it is difficult for him to rely on it alone.
Faced with Li Zhongtang's worries, Jia Liwen replied. "Please rest assured Li Zhongtang, of course our country will not let you succeed alone. I have discussed it with Zhang Zhidong, the governor of Liangjiang, and Tan Jixun (Tan Sitong's father), the governor of Hu Guang. They must
I will agree, and I believe Li Zhongtang’s brother, Governor Li, will also agree.”
At this time, Zhang Zhidong was transferred to Liangjiang because of Liu Kunyi's death from illness. He also supported the construction of the railway, but if he wanted to make a public statement, Jia Liwen promised that when the railway was built, he would purchase steel from the Hanyang Iron Works.
.With the help of Italy, the problem of excessive sulfur content in Dazhi Iron Mine was finally solved (a desulfurization equipment was added.
As Zhang Zhidong's political achievement, the Hanyang Iron Works, which has been losing money, is his heartache. He can get orders from the railway company in advance, so he is naturally willing to help, not to mention that the railway will also connect to three towns in Wuhan and Nanjing, which is currently under his rule.
city.
As for Tan Jixun, who had a very bad relationship with Zhang Zhidong, it was equally easy to handle. Although he was old-fashioned, he had a great impression of Italy, which helped the imperial court fight. After Jia Liwen's repeated visits, Governor Tan also agreed.
As for Li Zhongtang's brother Li Hanzhang, Li Da is very capable, but his biggest skill is greed.
There were several famous corrupt officials among the Huai clique, and someone made up a formula, saying: "Tu Zongying stole; Liu Bingzhang robbed; Pan Dingxin cheated; but Li Hanzhang did it in the right way." They were all involved in corruption and bribery. Tu, Liu,
Pan was shameless when asking for money and his tactics were clumsy, so he was looked down upon by others. However, Han Zhang was praised as "a gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way". It can be seen that the saying "a thief also has a proper way" is not just said casually.
Said.
One year, on Hanzhang's birthday, a man named Yang gave him a gift of 10,000 taels. Yang was originally the cook of Li Hongzhang's family. He "had accumulated military merits and was guaranteed to be an admiral". However, he only had an empty title and no actual duties. I heard that the Li family was a big man.
The master can arrange to fill the vacancy and quickly collect enough money to come to Guangzhou to "run an official position". Hanzhang didn't say anything and filled him up as the commander of the imperial defense.
When Yang took office, he inquired about it and found out that the monthly salary of this position was only 300 yuan, and there was no money or money. It would take at least three years to recoup the investment, and the rate of return was so low. If he had known what kind of official he would be! Yang went to the governor's office to complain.
When Hanzhang heard this, he cursed "Idiot" and ignored him, asking his servant to enlighten him.
The doorman called him aside and said: "My lord asked you to be an official, but he didn't ask you to live on a salary. Don't you have so many supervisory positions under you? Let me tell you, now you want to be a supervisory person
But the sea is gone. Can't your elm head be enlightened?"
When Yang heard this, he realized what he was doing. He returned to the camp and fired all the existing supervisors, and "bidd" for all vacant positions. Within a few days, he not only recovered the cost, but also made a net profit of 3,000 yuan.
There are many people like Yang who paid bribes to buy officials, but Hanzhang allowed them to "not lose money", thus gaining the reputation of "getting it in the right way". Hanzhang also has the ability to empathize with others. He has been an official for thirty years and has never been regarded as "greedy".
Anyone who has participated in the impeachment of "Cool" will be nicknamed "Buddhist in the officialdom".
Li Day's greed has gone beyond the realm of greed.
Okay, enough gossip, after getting Jia Liwen's guarantee, Li Zhongtang made a plan.
He first requested funding from the imperial court on the grounds that the armies suffered heavy losses after the war and needed to be replenished.
Li Zhongtang's request was naturally rejected by Weng Shangshu.
Later, Li Zhongtang requested the imperial court to allocate funds on the grounds that he still owed 8 million taels for the Italian foreign soldiers. This involved borrowed foreign soldiers, so Weng Shangshu naturally did not dare to reject it like this. He could only make a decision after several wranglings.
He found a way to allocate 5 million taels and asked Li Zhongtang to raise 3 million taels himself.
At this time, after receiving the news, all the Qing army troops immediately went into an uproar, shouting that the court was unfair and demanding that one should not favor one over the other. If it were in the early and mid-Qing Dynasties, this kind of behavior would immediately lead to suppression, but today is different from the past, and the court does not dare to take the responsibility now.
Due to his reputation as a ungrateful person, Weng Shangshu could only be allowed to allocate funds, but now that Weng Shangshu had no money, all the money was in Li Shu's hands, so Weng Shangshu, who could not provide the money, was left in jail.
At this time, Minister Jia Liwen stood up. Since the Qing Dynasty caused such an incident due to money problems, Italy felt a little sorry. The money should be given to your country's army. Italy does not want it.
The Qing court was greatly appreciated by everyone in the Qing court for being so considerate in the face of Italy.
At this time, Li Zhongtang stood up and expressed his position. Italy is so upright and upright, and is so kind to our country, so we can't help but express our opinions.
Li Zhongtang's words also attracted praise from the whole court, and even the Queen Mother said that such a kind and friendly friend cannot be let down.
Okay, now I just ask you what the Italians want.
Minister Jia Liwen later said that the Qing government was already heavily in debt due to the war, and Italy did not need the money. It only hoped to build a railway with the Qing Dynasty and obtain part of the benefits.
Subsequently, the regulations for the establishment of the Qing Railway Company were already prepared and handed over to the Qing court.
This Italian request shocked the Qing court. It was not that it was too much, but that they did not expect that there would be such great powers that respected the court. They were willing to transfer more than half of the shares of the railway company to the court. Although more railway lines were prepared, it would cost a lot of money.
The money and food will not be small. But who dares to criticize at this time.
I didn’t see that the Governors of Liangjiang, Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi were all expressing support, and there were also people in Beijing who agreed.
So in August 1895, the decision was made for the Qing government and Italy to jointly establish the Qing Railway Company.
The Daqing Railway Company, which was listed a few days later, was also very proud. In just seven days, it announced that it would build the Luyu-Guangdong Railway, Jinpu Railway, Longhai Railway, and Nanjing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway running through the north and south.
No matter how the people of the Qing Dynasty viewed the feat of the Qing Railway Company, the envoys from other countries in the Qing Dynasty were going crazy anyway. Italy alone took away the right to build the Qing Railway Road, which was a huge benefit. Now it can be said that as long as Italy is willing to transfer itself
The shares in the Qing Dynasty Railway Company can easily earn hundreds of millions of taels of silver.
Ministers from various countries are now flocking to the Qing court to change its decision. But they all failed. The Qing court insisted that the signed agreement could not be changed.
Naturally, all countries felt that Italy had taken away a large piece of delicious cake, and all kinds of thoughts arose.
