Egypt, the Suez Canal has also reached a critical moment, after nine years of construction, finally nearing the end.

This time, there was no work stoppage, and there was no shortage of labor. When France and Austria jointly built the Grand Canal, the British failed to make trouble, and instead their Egyptian cotton planting plans were aborted.

The reason why the construction took so long is that the canal has been built for so long, and the main reason is that the design depth of the Suez Canal has been increased by four meters compared to the original time and space.

Later, during the actual construction, the engineer sent by the Austrian side asked to ensure that nothing went wrong, and lowered it by two meters.

As the depth increases, the width naturally increases, and the amount of work naturally increases. In the age of lack of machinery, the increase in the amount of earthwork was not a small undertaking.

The Suez Canal was finally opened to navigation after several twists and turns, costing as much as 18.6 million pounds, and now the cost is as high as 37.7 million pounds before it is navigable.

Rising costs have kept the Suez Canal's stock down, and many people wonder if the canal will be able to recoup its costs.

This happened to be cheaper than Franz, and when someone sold the stock, he took over. Anyway, you can't lose, and it's only a matter of time before you make a profit.

It is precisely because of him that the Suez Canal stock has not fallen into the price of cabbage. Of course, a fall below the issue price is inevitable.

After issuing two additional shares, seeing that the shares were in a downturn, it was like they could not be sold, and the Canal Company directly mortgaged the canal property rights to borrow money from the bank.

Fortunately, this is a strategic project, which is seen by the Franco-Austrian governments as an opportunity to break the monopoly of the British on the Strait of Gibraltar.

Banks are only willing to provide loans under the guarantee of the two governments. Franz was going to take over the business himself, but was opposed by the bank staff.

After all, the outside world is not optimistic about the Canal Company, and the issuance of such a huge loan is likely to trigger a chain reaction, in case it affects the Royal Bank's ability to absorb deposits, it will be troublesome.

You know, most of Franz's investments were actually made with loans. In this context, it is crucial to ensure the Royal Bank's ability to absorb deposits.

When he borrowed money from his own bank, he switched from left hand to right hand, and the cost of funds he had to pay was only the interest rate on the deposit. In fact, it is even lower than the deposit rate.

Funds are used on a rolling basis. Even if the money is spent, many times it is transferred from one account to another and is not withdrawn from the bank.

In this era, there is no UnionPay, and inter-bank transfers need to be done by themselves. In general, very few people do this.

This is the opportunity for banks to recycle a lump sum of money multiple times. As long as you don't encounter a financial crisis or a run, there is no problem with circulating dozens of times.

Even if it is a financial crisis, it will not have much impact on the Royal Bank, and reputation is a good thing.

The Royal Bank had collected a lot of gold over the years, some of it was sold, most of it was stored, and there was a reserve of a hundred tons of gold at its headquarters in Vienna.

This is where the credibility of the Royal Bank lies, on the surface, a hundred tons of gold is a lot, but the actual value is 27,322,400 Aegis.

It's just that it sounds domineering, and it makes people feel rich and secure.

Of course, the most reassuring thing is the "royal" brand. As long as the royal family does not fall, the Royal Bank will not fall. This is equivalent to Franz's face, and it is impossible to let it go bankrupt.

Most of the funds are used for their own investment, and the funds taken out for lending are naturally less. In fact, so far the Royal Bank has not done small business.

To put it simply, it is a loan business of less than 100,000 Aegis, which is not accepted here, and collateral is not accepted. The deposit limit is much lower, and the Aegis can open an account.

There is no way, this era is limited by technology, and it is all manual business. It's okay to say that the deposit is a problem, but the problem is loan review, and it is very troublesome to investigate the information.

The Royal Bank makes small loans, with the exception of government-mandated policy loans. The government is responsible for guaranteeing the customer's ability to repay, and these problems naturally do not exist.

Real micro-loans, which are only done by small and medium-sized banks in this era, have much higher interest rates than ordinary commercial loans. The money was not much to be earned, and the infamy of usury came first.

From the very beginning, the Royal Bank was positioned to serve Franz himself. He is not keen on lending, and most of his business is conservative.

As a result, the development of the Royal Bank in the personal loan business is very average, but there are not many bad debts, and on the whole it is only a small profit.

Most of the profits come from corporate loans, government loans, and international loans, and these large comprehensive loans are not played by small banks, and the market competition is much smaller.

The interest rate may be lower, but the management costs that need to be invested are also lower, and the profits are more profitable.

International loans, in particular, have low interest rates on the surface, but in fact they are very profitable.

For example, handling fees, exchange fees, usually these are three or four points. When a loan is granted, the principal and interest that should be repaid in the first year are generally deducted, and some loans are deducted for a lump sum of three to five years.

Banks often also work part-time to promote products, especially limited loans. Banks can bundle a certain amount of goods to customers and earn the difference.

Generally speaking, if a loan of 10 million Aegis is issued to the outside world, the debtor can get 9 million Aegis, which is considered a conscience loan. If the conditions are harsh, it is not impossible to get a loan with a 5% discount directly in hand.

The worst thing is to pay in installments, but you have to bear the full amount of interest. This kind of loan, in the end, the actual funds in hand, may be less than four layers of the total number of loans.

Without these deceptive clauses, international lending would not be abhorrent. It is only a few points of interest, which is too underestimated to underestimate the appetite of the capitalists.

……

"Mr. Lesseps, the canal project has passed the inspection and can release the water."

Lesepus was the chief engineer of the Suez Canal, and his main merit was to fool the Egyptians into sending people to participate in the excavation of the Grand Canal.

You must know that this time is even more excessive than the same period in history, the Egyptians did not get a stake in the canal company, but only got the right to dividends.

In fact, it's all the same, even if the shares are given, the Egyptian government doesn't want to get the money.

It wasn't until 1937 that the Egyptian government won a £300,000 per year, and as for their initial 44% stake, who would admit it?

It's the same with dividends now, but you can't get the money in the end anyway. Lesepus was able to fool the Egyptian government to take the initiative to cooperate, and was naturally recognized by the Canal Company.

Although the Canal Company pays the Egyptian government a sum of money each year, it is not worth mentioning compared to the cost of labor.

The Suez Canal was not so much built as it was filled with human lives. However, the Egyptian government itself does not care about casualties, and the Canal Company naturally does not care.

Without dragging mud and water, Lessepus ordered: "Then release the water!" ”

With an order, in the sound of a "roaring" explosion, the dam was blown open. The surging waters rushed straight over, and the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea converged.

With a loud bang, the news of the opening of the Suez Canal quickly spread across the European continent, and everyone's reaction was mixed.

Delighted, surprised, worried, incredulous...... All kinds of expressions are available.

The Port of Venice, Austria's most prosperous commercial port, is much more interested in the Suez Canal than in other regions.

In the tavern, there was already a discussion.

A young man said triumphantly: "The Suez Canal is opened, have you heard?" Isn't it a joke that a giant ship that can sail 50,000 tons? There are no such big ships in the whole world, it's a waste! ”

A middle-aged man next to him retorted, "What do you know? That's the maximum navigable capacity, and the Suez Canal is located on the Eurasian artery, so there must be a lot of ships coming and going, of course, multiple channels in parallel.

Moreover, now that shipbuilding technology is so developed, it can be said that people are developing 20,000-ton giant ships. If such a giant ship appeared, wouldn't it just be able to stagger it? ”

The young man was unconvinced: "Come on, the Suez Canal has to be charged, where are so many boats crossing." It's a big deal to take a detour through the Strait of Gibraltar and run a little longer, and you won't pay this unjust money.

The real use is still military, but we dug the canal together with the French. The obvious problem is that this is in order to get rid of the British control of the Strait of Gibraltar.

As for the Suez Canal Company, I'm afraid it will have to pay for it. To build such a large canal is to run a few warships. ”

Another young man came in and sat down and said, "Filfer, it seems that you want to buy a map and take a good look at it, don't pretend to understand it and show off your knowledge here."

After the passage of the Suez Canal, the voyage to the Indian Ocean was greatly shortened, how could it not be commercially valuable? In Venice, for example, there are more than 1,000 ships that travel to and from the Indian Ocean every year.

This number will increase after the opening of the Suez Canal. Perhaps Austria alone has tens of thousands of ships plying the Indian Ocean every year, and all the Mediterranean countries combined, I am afraid that there are tens of thousands of ships coming and going.

Even if a ship collects 3,500 Aegis, the Canal Company's annual revenue from navigation fees is tens of millions of Aegis. This number will also increase with the increase of international trade, and it is possible to collect hundreds of millions of Aegis navigation fees every year in the future.

As long as the cost of navigation does not exceed the increased cost of the detour from the Strait of Gibraltar, it would be happy to cut back on a sea journey. ”

In this era, begging for a living at sea is an adventure, and thousands of ships are finished every year, and sailing at sea is a risk.

Being able to shorten or sail distances is a good thing for every capitalist engaged in maritime transport, which means that their sunk costs are reduced.

Compared with the military value of the Suez Canal, ordinary people are still more concerned about the economic value. Judging by the map, this canal has the greatest effect for Austria. Whether you're heading to the Indian Ocean or the Western Pacific, it's the best place to go.

This has already affected the Austrian economy, especially in port cities like Venice. After shortening the voyage, it has a great effect on promoting trade.

This is undoubtedly a good thing for those who are begging for a living here. An increase in overseas trade means an increase in the number of ships coming and going, which also means that the local economy will be more prosperous, and everyone's income will also increase.

Different people care about different things. At the Vienna Palace, Franz did not care about the impact of the Suez Canal on the economy, he was more concerned about strategic values.

Looking at the basic parameters of the canal: the width of the water surface is 138 meters, the width of the river bottom is 48 meters, and the water depth is 15.4 meters, and it is expected to accommodate 50,000 tons of ships for navigation.

This means that even in the era of dreadnoughts, the Suez Canal can be navigated freely, which is much more strategic than the Suez Canal in the same period of the original time and space.

This relieved Franz that his efforts had not been in vain. This value is enough in the era of dreadnoughts, and there is no need to think about it in the era of aircraft carriers, and the British should also decline by then.

Looking at the cost of the canal, Franz couldn't help but sigh. It is more than double the original time and space, and it is indeed a high-investment project. If it weren't for foresight, Franz wouldn't have dared to invest so much.

This huge investment means that it will be difficult for the canal company to recoup its investment in the next ten years. But it doesn't hurt either, the Canal Company is still a golden rooster that lays eggs.

With the development of maritime trade, the future of the canal company is promising. The investment in the short term is completely worth it, and perhaps in twenty or thirty years, the construction cost can be recovered in a year's navigation fee.

In this respect, Napoleon III's courage is also admirable. Without the advantage of the prophet, he dared to follow the big investment.

On the issue of the Suez Canal, Napoleon III showed a completely impeccable strategic vision.

The butterfly effect is really terrible, without the aura of victory in the Crimean War, it should be considered a good thing for the French, their emperor did not float.