No need to issue Treasury bonds? Is it imperative to attract funds to build railways? Zhuo Bingtian froze, his face immediately turned cold, and he said in a deep voice: "Contentment is not a joke, right? ”

Yi Zhizhi took a few sips of tea from the teacup for a long time, and then said: "Such a big event, how dare you joke in the future?" ”

"No!" Zhuo Bingtian said in a deep voice: "In a war with Yingyi, the military expenditure was as high as 20 million taels of silver, and now the provincial governors are reimbursing the military expenses more than a foot high, and they are all looking forward to the imperial court to write them off, how can they not issue treasury bonds?" ”

"Humph!" Yi Zhizhi sneered: "More than 20 million! Do they want to make war money or make the country hard? This battle Yuan Qi regiment trained more than 10,000 people, including the consumption of ammunition, and the total expenditure did not exceed 4 million, and the provinces were just cooperating with the battle, and they actually consumed more than 20 million, which is really a strange talk in the world! ”

"Yuanqi's group training expenses are less than four million?" Zhuo Bingtian looked surprised. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Yi Zhizhi was content not to accept his stubble, and said with a calm face: "England is now in an economic trough, the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway is enough to stimulate the industrial demand of England, and drive England out of the economic crisis. I believe that all of you in the DPRK and China should be very clear about what the consequences of default will be? ”

Hearing this, Zhuo Bingtian also realized the seriousness of the problem, the imperial court wants to issue huge national bonds in Jiangnan, and the railway company wants to absorb the funds for the construction of railways in Jiangnan, but how much financial resources can Jiangnan have to meet the needs of both at the same time? It's simply not possible, you have to choose one of the two.

After a slight hesitation, he said, "Can't the construction of the railroad in England be delayed?" ”

"Drag on for a year? Or is it dragging on for three and a half years? Yi Zhizhi glanced at him, took out a cigar and lit it slowly.

The issuance of treasury bonds by the imperial court must be a five-year period, and it is obviously not possible to delay it, Zhuo Bingtian immediately retreated to the next best, "Don't say 20 million, issue 10 million head office, right?" ”

Yi Zhisuff smoked his cigar and muttered for a long time before he spoke: "In fact, there is no need to issue treasury bonds, and the railway company can be established to absorb funds, and it can be relented to the imperial court at the interest rate of issuing treasury bonds to solve the urgent needs of the imperial court." ”

Zhuo Bingtian said eagerly: "Is this feasible? ”

Yi Zhizhi said: "It is better than issuing treasury bonds and preparing to build a railway company, if you really want to do both, the interest on treasury bonds will definitely increase." ”

Now that the imperial court is in urgent need of silver, as long as the interest rate is not high, Zhuo Bingtian immediately said with his head whether he is issuing treasury bonds or borrowing: "Since this is the case, if you are content, you will quickly prepare to build a railway company to absorb funds." ”

Yi Zhixiang smiled and said: "It is not easy to absorb funds, as the so-called no profit is not early, it is not profitable, who is willing to invest in the railway company, this has to be ......cooperated by the imperial court." ”

Zhuo Bingtian glanced at him, smiled, and said, "Tell me, how do you want the imperial court to cooperate?" ”

"Promulgating the relevant "Railway Regulations" to encourage and support local gentry and businessmen to invest in railways, and to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of privately built railways." Yi Zhishu said calmly: "Only in this way can we arouse the enthusiasm of local gentry and businessmen to invest in railways and raise funds as soon as possible." ”

Zhuo Bingtian said tentatively: "There should be a draft of the "Railway Regulations" for contentment, right? ”

"Yes." Yi Zhicontent said briskly: "However, there are conditions." After a pause, he continued: "First, Baoshan Zhixian wants to recommend suitable candidates. ”

"No problem." Zhuo Bingtian said without hesitation, the transfer of a magistrate and county is a matter of one sentence for him, the secretary of the ministry.

"Thank you, Lord Zhuo, first." Yi Zhizu smiled and said: "Second, in order to facilitate the raising of funds for the construction of the railway, Yuanqi wants to set up a branch along the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway. ”

This is equivalent to Yuanqi expanding from Jiangnan to Jingshi! This kid's ambition is not ordinary! Zhuo Bingtian pondered for a moment before he said: "The old man can't be the master of this matter, but as long as Yuan Qi has no monopoly heart, the emperor should allow it." ”

Yi Zhishu said with a smile: "Don't worry, don't worry, only set up branches in the prefectures and counties along the railway." ”

Yi Zhishu and Zhuo Bingtian's excerpts about the private railway are still on the way to Beijing, Jiangning's "Jiangning Daily" and Hangzhou's "Lin'an Daily" published the news that the imperial court hired England to build the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway, in fact, with the signing of the "Jiangning Treaty", many officials are well aware of this, but the news has not spread, because no one knows what the charter of this railway will be, and the two major newspapers published this news publicly, which immediately caused a great sensation.

At the time of the opening of the Focan-Guangzhou Railway, the "Xiguan Daily" had carried out continuous reports, and for most of the past six months, the newspapers under the name of Yuan Qi had almost never stopped reporting on the railways and trains, and a group of officials, gentry, businessmen, and ordinary people were not ignorant of the new thing of the railway, not to mention any detailed understanding, at least a general understanding.

Of course, the two major newspapers not only published the news of the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway, but also made a detailed prediction and assessment of the impact of the completion of the railway, which is the real reason for the sensation!

For a time, the whole Jiangsu and Zhejiang were in a sensation, and quickly transmitted to other provinces, up to the officials and gentry, down to the businessmen and the common people, the whole Jiangsu and Zhejiang have set off a wave of discussion about the railway, it is really because the influence of the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway is too great, the most direct is the water transport and the river, which is directly related to the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people, related to the fate of hundreds of officials.

Everyone is talking about the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway, and countless people are talking about whether the railway will pass through their own prefectures and towns, some are eager and some are worried. Everyone is eager to know more about the situation of the railway and the train, originally the vast majority of people just have a kind of curiosity about the railway train, who would have thought that it has only been less than a year, and the railway will be closely related to them?

Jiangning, Shuixiguan, lower wharf, Wu house.

Wu Feiyang looked at the old man Wu Chaoyang and Du Changde excitedly, and said loudly: "Jiangning Daily has published it, and the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway is absolutely ironclad!" ”

"What are you excited about?" Wu Chaoyang said with a smile: "I don't know what the charter of this railway is, if the imperial court invests it, it will be a blessing and a curse for our Cao Gang." ”

Wu Feiyang said: "No, the child believes in Lord Yi." ”

"What is the situation in the imperial court now, the helper does not know." Du Changde said slowly: "Even if you used to save a little money, now it has been lost, the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway, more than 3,000 miles away, is not a thousand children and eight million can be repaired, at least hundreds of millions of taels of silver, even if the imperial court has this heart, it does not have this ability." As he spoke, he looked at Wu Chaoyang and said, "The helper should go to Shanghai to visit Lord Yi, since it has been published in the newspaper, this matter should be soon." ”

Wu Chaoyang nodded, it is indeed time to visit Yi Zhizhi in person, in just half a year, Yi Zhizu has become a first-class viscount and a Nanyang admiral with heavy troops from Shanghai Daoist, and has reached the point where they need to look up to the Cao Gang, and now they can control the fate of the 100,000 Cao Gang, he really didn't expect that this day would come so quickly!

Liangjiang Governor's Palace, two halls.

Wei Yuan put down the "Jiangning Daily" in his hand, looked at Lin Zexu, and said with a smile: "It is indeed a wonderful move to let England undertake the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway by signing a contract. ”

"Only contentment has the courage!" Lin Zexu said with a smile, the Beijing-Hangzhou railway is not an ordinary railway, once completed, it will end the continuous hundreds of years of transport, in the case of the government and the opposition on the construction of the railway, Yi Zhizu single-handedly promoted the construction of this railway, it is really clever, directly the vested interests attached to the transport have no power to fight back, after the completion of this railway, it is estimated that no one will oppose the construction of the railway.

"The public publication of this news in Jiangning Daily should be to build momentum." Wei Yuan said slowly: "It seems that contentment is inclined to run a commercial railway, otherwise there is no need to build momentum, it's just ..... This railway is more than 3,000 miles away, and the cost is probably hundreds of millions, so can Yuanqi really raise such a huge amount of money? ”

"Why should Mo Sheng worry about contentment." Lin Zexu said with a smile: "The Beijing-Hangzhou Railway can be said to be the most economically valuable railway in the Qing Dynasty, which can be called a million profits. ”

Wei Yuan said with interest: "Contentment revealed a specific idea to Dong Weng? ”

"Roughly mentioned." Lin Zexu said: "Yuanqi plans to adopt the shareholding system to raise funds, but whether it is a joint government and business operation or a pure commercial office depends on the attitude of the imperial court." ”

Jingshi, Forbidden City, Qianqing Palace, Xinuan Pavilion.

Daoguang sat cross-legged on the kang and glanced at Zaiquan, Mu Zhang'a, Pan Shien, Jing Zheng, and Qi Junzao who were kneeling below, and said: "Zhuo Bingtian and Yi Zhizhi have all seen the excerpts, and both of them have asked for private affairs, what do you think?" ”

"Your Majesty." Mu Zhang'a was the first to speak: "The Beijing-Hangzhou Railway is the trunk line from Beijing to Jiangnan, which is not only related to Cao Yun, but also related to the safety of Beijing Division. ”

The Minister of Military Aircraft, Qi Junzao, the head of the household department, said without hesitation: "Whether it is an official office or a joint government and business, the imperial court will not be able to come up with any money." ”

"You can borrow!" Mu Zhang'a said in a deep voice: "According to the calculation of the operation of the Fozhou-Guangzhou Railway, the cost can be recovered in ten years, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway should be more profitable than the Fozhou-Guangzhou Railway......." ”

"The Foshan-Guangzhou Railway is only 40 miles long, with flat roads and few rivers, low construction costs, and no need to borrow to repay interest." Qi Junzao said without flinching: "The Beijing-Hangzhou Railway is different, it is more than 3,000 miles, and now the line has not been surveyed, and there is no cost budget, so do you know that it can recover the cost faster than the Foguang Railway?" What's more, the operation and management of the imperial court cannot be compared with the operation and management of Yuan Qi at all! ”

Hubu Manshang Shujing followed and said: "Not to mention that the imperial court cannot get such a huge loan at all, the interest on this huge loan alone is enough to offset the profits brought by the railway, and the servants agree to let the railway be private, and the court can enjoy it." ”

Seeing that the two household ministers agreed with the private sector, Pan Shien said: "There is no need to dispute this matter of Wei Chenjue, now that the treasury is empty, and there is no strength to participate in the construction of the railway, we should let go of the private sector.

The imperial court could have used the wealthy funds of the private sector to build the railway first, and in the future, when the treasury was full, it would be the best policy to gradually acquire the main line. ”

Zaiquan was not far behind, and continued: "The Beijing-Hangzhou Railway is the first trunk railway in the Qing Dynasty, and it is inevitable to obtain huge profits, so it is enough to stimulate the enthusiasm of local gentry and businessmen to build railways. ”

The four people who saw it all agreed with the private sector, and Mu Zhang'a secretly slandered himself in his heart, but still insisted: "The "Eighteen Articles of Railway Rejuvenation" makes it very clear that the railway is very important to the imperial court, even if it is private, the imperial court should also participate in the shares, and be led and supervised by the imperial court. ”

"How much can the imperial court participate in?" Qi Junzao said in a deep voice: "It costs tens of millions of taels of silver to participate in one percent. The meaning of his words is very clear, less than one percent of the shares, how to lead and supervise?

Pan Shien said: "Not to mention leading and supervising, it is still extremely necessary for the imperial court to participate in the shares, which is not only conducive to understanding the operation of the railway, but also conducive to future acquisitions." ”

It's really not sore to stand and talk! After a rebellious sentence, he said: "Now there are still 20 million military expenditures in various provinces waiting to be written off, where is the silver to participate in the shares?" ”

This sentence choked several people, and there was silence in the warm pavilion, and Daoguang made a final decision, "Allow the railway to be privately owned, and you can discuss the "Concise Regulations of the Railway" drafted by Yi Zhicontent." ”

"Wechen and others obey the order." Zaiquan hurriedly bowed and said.

After a slight sigh, Dao Guangcai said: "Yi Zhifu's suggestions on preparing for the construction and development of the navy, what do you think?" ”

In the excerpt, Yi Zhifu put forward a huge plan for building a navy, establishing a naval academy to train naval officers, establishing a naval shipyard to build warships, establishing a military factory to manufacture guns and ammunition, establishing a Nanyang fleet to train the navy, building a naval base, adding warships year by year, and recruiting naval .......

Listening to Daoguang's question, Mu Zhang'a, who pleaded with the editor to prepare for the construction of the navy, hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I don't know much about the Western navy, minions, etc., but such a huge naval development plan is not a ...... that the imperial court's financial resources can support. ”

Tobe Manshang Shujing Zheng also had an opinion on this naval development plan, and immediately continued: "Your Majesty, the servants are not opposed to the establishment of a navy to protect the sea frontier, but the imperial court does not have enough financial resources to build such a large naval fleet, nor can it afford to raise such a huge navy. ”

"Your Majesty." Mu Zhang'a continued: "The imperial court is preparing to build a navy to defend the sea frontier, and it does not need a fleet as large as that of England. ”

Pan Shien said in a deep voice: "Without a large fleet that is strong enough to confront the Western maritime powers, how can we deal with the invasion of the Western maritime powers?" (To be continued.) )