Chapter four hundred and seventieth toll cement road
As soon as Xu Guangqi, who was wearing a scarlet robe, appeared on the stage, there was a sensation in the venue. People present did not expect that a high-ranking official of the ministerial level would come out to preside over the ceremony, so they quickly stood up and saluted.
Xu Guangqi waited for them to finish their salutes with a smile, and then began his opening remarks: "I will get straight to the point and say that you are invited here to build a cement road from the capital to Zhangjiakou."
Having said this, he retreated to the left side of the wooden wall. When the official on one side saw it, he quickly handed over the thin stick, while another official standing on the side went to uncover the red cloth.
The merchant saw that there was indeed a map hanging on the wooden raft. Because the map was so huge, he could still clearly see it was a map of Beizhili, the capital, from such a distance. There was a long thick line on it,
Connecting the capital and Zhangjiakou.
Xu Guangqi took the thin stick in his hand, first pointed to the location of Zhangjiakou, and then said: "The imperial court is expanding Zhangjiakou and is preparing to liberalize mutual trade with Mongolia. Except for ordnance and other strategic materials, anything can be traded in Zhangjiakou."
As soon as Xu Guangqi finished speaking, there was a gasp of air-conditioning in the audience. These people in the audience knew that the imperial court wanted to expand mutual trade, but they did not expect that the scale would be so large.
They immediately remembered the public statement made by the Mongolian envoys a few days ago, which meant that both the Ming Dynasty and Mongolia were interested in expanding mutual markets in Zhangjiakou. This meant that the business opportunities in Zhangjiakou would be unlimited, and it was foreseeable that many people would go gold mining.
Just as they thought, Xu Guangqi said on the stage: "With the support of the imperial court and the response of Mongolia, it can be predicted that the prosperity of Zhangjiakou's border market is just around the corner. Once the scale of transactions expands, bottlenecks on the road will appear."
The businessmen or their bosses present were all knowledgeable people. Even Xu Guangqi could imagine that the flow of people and vehicles on the road to Zhangjiakou would increase sharply. The bottleneck on the road mentioned by Xu Shangshu was real.
"Many of you will transport goods to Zhangjiakou and then sell Mongolian specialties back to the capital! These cars come and go. It's easy to say when it's sunny, but what happens after it rains?" Xu Guangqi asked the people in the audience.
"Build roads with cement!" someone in the audience blurted out, highlighting the theme of this meeting.
"Yes, in order to solve the problem of the people of the Ming Dynasty going to Zhangjiakou for trade, the imperial court decided to rebuild the road from the capital to Zhangjiakou with cement."
When Xu Guangqi said this, he pointed at the map with a thin stick and drew a map of the route, and then continued: "I don't need to explain the benefits of cement road construction. You should have experienced it when you came."
The audience in the audience all nodded together. Concrete roads will not only prevent muddy weather in the rain, but also make vehicles much faster, save more effort, and even reduce dust. It can be said that there are many benefits.
"The emperor knows that many of you here have industries and businesses in the capital, and suffered heavy losses when the Jianqi invaders were raging. Therefore, we are taking this opportunity to give you a compensation so that everyone can make a fortune, so we allocated the cement
It was taken out and used for road construction."
As soon as Xu Guangqi finished speaking, there was a buzzing sound in the venue. They didn't expect the emperor to be so kind, and they thought they would suffer heavy losses. But they didn't understand how cement road construction would make them money.
Xu Guangqi waited for a while, but when he saw that the audience was still not quiet, he lightly knocked on the wooden wall with a thin stick.
After seeing everyone in the audience quiet down, he said: "Listen to what I have to say, and you will know how to make money."
Hearing what Xu Guangqi said, the audience suddenly became quieter. Those who wanted to fart held their farts in, not daring to make a sound so that they could not hear clearly this method of making money.
"The imperial court decided to build the road from the capital to Zhangjiakou with private investment, and then collected tolls from passing vehicles to compensate the people who invested, up to three times the cost."
Xu Guangqi saw that the audience was whispering again, and immediately raised his voice and said: "Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't want to invest. The money for building the cement road will be paid by state-owned enterprises, and the court can also afford it. The fees will remain the same."
Having said this, he looked around at the people in the audience and then said: "I will give you a quarter of an hour to ask questions. You can ask any questions."
The officials on one side had already prepared and brought stools and chairs from the other side. They invited Xu Guangqi to sit down and served him tea.
Although Xu Guangqi is the minister of the Ministry of Industry, when it comes to making money, someone still boldly asked: "Common people, I would like to ask your lord, this court has to collect money from passing vehicles for road construction. This is unprecedented. Is this appropriate?"
When many people heard this, especially those businessmen who were preparing to do business in Zhangjiakou, they secretly applauded.
Xu Guangqi had long expected that someone would ask this question. He raised his eyebrows and asked: "Is this the road that was built before? Is it a cement road? If you all insist on it, that's okay. I'll ask the emperor to tell you about the original road.
One road will be reserved for you. The state-owned enterprise will fund and build a new cement road for those merchants who have no objections."
Those who were attracted by Xu Guangqi's previous statement that he could collect three times the capital and profit, heard that it would be a good idea to have a state-owned enterprise to fund the new construction, and they all refuted the people who asked the question before: "This cement is a monopoly of the imperial court, how can it be so?"
There is a reason to give it to you freely."
"The emperor's grace is so great that he has given us a chance to compensate for our losses. If you don't want it, we want it!"
"This is because the court understands the hardships of our businessmen's journey. How can we businessmen be so selfish?"
"..."
The person who asked the question earlier was so insulted by these people that he buried his head in his crotch and didn't even want to raise it up again.
I didn't expect that by asking this question, I would turn into a profiteer who didn't know how to promote himself and wanted to take advantage of the imperial court. If the Minister of the Ministry of Industry saw his face clearly, he would not be able to hang out in the Ming Dynasty in the future.
Xu Guangqi watched it on the stage and couldn't help but secretly admire Zhongxing Hou. The mystery in the invitation list destined these businessmen to not be monolithic.
He estimated that it was almost done, so he raised his head and motioned to the emcee who was standing aside.
As soon as the master of ceremonies saw this, he raised his voice and said, "Be quiet. If you have any questions, ask them quickly."
There must be a lot of questions. After the emcee reminded me, remembering that Xu Shangshu only gave him a quarter of an hour, someone immediately asked: "How do you get the money?"
When Xu Guangqi saw that the question was raised, he nodded and said: "The road office will estimate the cost of road construction and divide it into several parts. You can buy the number of shares. If it is insufficient in the future, additional shares will be added and people will buy them."
"Excuse me, Mr. Xu, how can we know if this money has been used to build roads?" Another person gritted his teeth and asked what he thought was the most important question because of limited time.
This topic is also of concern to all the aristocratic merchants in the audience who want to invest. In any case, it is an undoubted fact that the court officials have a poor reputation in terms of money.
But this question was asked so directly to Xu Guangqi, Minister of Industry, which sounded a bit harsh. Many people in the audience were secretly sweating for the person who asked the question.