"Where are the Genoese?" Xu Xin picked up a copy of the minutes, leaned back on the soft carriage cushion, yawned, and then flipped through them nonchalantly. The main content of the minutes of this meeting is the record of the "consultations" between the foreign affairs and trade departments and the Genoese business circles, represented by the Doria family, in which the Genoese tentatively put forward many ideas, and the East coasters also gave some "courtesy" responses, that is, the two are still in a tentative state, and formal negotiations have not yet begun. But even that was enough for the trade officials of the East Coast government to know a lot.

"At present, we are still in talks with our businessmen in the Oriental Hotel. Mr. Doria offered to meet you and even Chairman Liu, but according to your wishes, we politely declined for the time being. The secretary sat next to Xu Xin and said softly.

Xu Xin stopped talking when he heard this, only to see him beat his waist slightly, and then changed his posture and looked through the minutes of the meeting. The minutes were very simple, mainly because the Genoa side tentatively proposed to invest more heavily in the East Coast, on very favorable terms, that they would transfer some skilled workers from the artisanal workshops in France, Spain, and parts of Italy to the Republic of the East Bank to set up joint ventures with the East Bank government, so as to take advantage of the strong production capacity and unrivaled cost advantages of the East Coast.

The design, styling and finishing of the goods were carried out by the Genoese - or by the Genoese - and the rest was produced by the joint venture factory, one of which was modeled after the old example of the Luocha textile factory, with each party owning half of the shares and half of the dividends, and the company's infrastructure, operation and production were taken care of by the East Coasters (the Genoese would need to invest a sum of money, the amount to be determined). On the Genoese side, there is only one manager and a few retinues for liaison purposes, and the sales of products are in principle settled by both sides - but in fact, due to the advantages of Genoese channels in Europe, they still need to rely on each other in this regard.

The plan itself is not fancy. It has long been recognized by both sides, and now the only thing that has changed. It's that the Genoese are investing in more industries. For example, they plan to set up a cheese factory on the East Coast, and send dozens of skilled chefs from Tuscany, Parma and other places to the East Coast, using their decades of experience in the dairy industry and combining it with the idea of industrial production on the East Coast, to make cheese that can be marketed in the European market but at a low cost.

For example, they even plan to relocate some of their knitwear workshops to the east coast in their entirety, as the factories currently located in France are themselves facing a great crisis (threat of war). If you move to the East Coast. Not only will they get a safer production environment, but they will also be able to use cheap textile raw materials nearby for production, and the cost will be greatly reduced - although the relocation of the factory will not be too easy, but it will not be as difficult as imagined, they only need to persuade some skilled workers to come to the East Coast, and the other insufficient personnel will be recruited and trained on the spot, and take their time.

All in all, the Genoese investment projects involve more than 10 industries such as knitwear, cheese, ham, winemaking, rope rubbing, barrel making, and paper making, involving nearly 1,000 people. Once an agreement is reached, it will take two to three years for the Genoese to gradually invest and relocate some of the workers. In order to restore production as much as possible, to earn enough profit for them.

Of course, not all of the projects invested by the Genoese are aimed at the European market. There are also some goods aimed at the East Coast and Peruvian markets, but the East Coasters do not mind this, because there is a shortage of these skilled craftsmen in the East Coast - after all, not everything can be made by machine - and there is no reason to turn them away.

After reading it for a while, Xu Xin gently put the minutes of the meeting aside, and then thought quietly.

To tell the truth, the sincerity of the Genoese investment this time is quite sufficient, involving a number of projects, not only can bring nearly 1,000 valuable craftsmen to the east coast. It will also bring in a significant amount of investment - and the scale of this investment is quite large, probably as much as 15 million bank lira. This made Xu Xin slightly satisfied. After all, in today's East Coast economy is getting bigger and bigger. If the Genoese still want to fool people with projects of hundreds of thousands, it will be too boring. The total investment of 15 million bank lira, hehe, is quite so-so.

However, with the above dozen or so projects, it is impossible to absorb such a large amount of funds as 15 million lira. If Genoese want to invest deeply in the East Coast, they will have to carry out something unique.

"What do Genoese people think about investing in the South-West Railway?" Since the Genoese people have proposed so many construction projects and come without being rude, the people on the east coast naturally introduced them to some "hot" projects on the east coast, such as the "old and difficult" project of the Southwest Railway.

The so-called Southwest Railway, which is also an old topic on the east bank, has been proposed many years ago, and even the government and private individuals have funded the construction of a single-track railway from Xiayihe Town (the south bank part) to Ningjin Township (i.e., the Xianning Line, with a total length of about 40 kilometers). However, the government later shifted its main efforts to other places, and private capital was unable to fool the big hole of the Southwest Railway, so this section of the railway was stopped and shelved. Investors who run large farms in Dahuang Farm, Shrub Farm, and Glorious Farm, as well as residents of nearby Taoyuan Township, have built some simple sandy roads to connect to Ningjin Township in Xiayihe County, as a passage for communication with the outside world.

However, after learning that the wronged leaders were willing to invest in the railway, the bureaucrats of the State Railway Administration immediately picked out the plan made in the old paper pile, and then reported it to the Government Council, asking them to unite with various ministries and commissions to fool the Genoese people into investing in the construction of the Southwest Railway. Of course, the premise of investing in the construction of the Southwest Railway was that the Genoese recruited labor from the Old Continent and provided wages, clothing, and food, while the East Coast provided all kinds of building materials and rails free of charge, and leased all kinds of engineering equipment at preferential prices. After the official opening of the railway, the first 30 years of operation will be owned by a joint venture between East Coast and Genoa, which will still pay dividends to both parties. At the end of the thirty-year period, the South-West Railway was nationalized on the east coast, but at a reasonable cost to the Genoese (the amount is negotiable).

To be honest, this plan is quite tricky, because the planned Southwest Railway will be a major artery that runs through the entire east coast inland, and its Biquge www.biquge.info in Xiayihe Township, passing through Ningjin Township, Dahuang Farm, and Guangrong Farm and then heading southwest, crossing the uninhabited Western Great Wilderness Grassland, and ending at Jingjiang Port in the Wujiang River Basin. In terms of mileage, it is almost a major artery of the Northwest Railway level, and if it is completed, it will be of great significance, because it means that the originally desolate and isolated inland of the Western Wilderness has become a large rear area that can be developed, which is extremely important for the strategic security of the East Coast Republic of China -- they can finally move some important facilities or units that need to be kept strictly secret to the inland security area.

However, the location advantage of this railway seems to be good, but the problem is that the line is now barren and uninhabited. Since there are no people, how can the investors of the railway recover their costs, which is a very real problem. And if this problem is not solved, then even if the Genoese are eager to vent their excess capital, they will not take the money out at will, so the people on the east coast must also come up with some substantial benefits, otherwise the Genoese will probably not take the bait.

"Mario. Mr. Doria appreciated the new mode of transportation by rail, and he himself expressed his desire to take the train himself. He also pointed out that given the high cost of building the railway, he wanted us to convince them to invest with a proposal with a strong profit prospect. Otherwise, he can only buy some construction bonds issued by our country out of friendship, and cannot afford to invest a huge amount of unknown things with uncertain prospects. The secretary immediately replied with a blank look.

"It's to be expected." Xu Xin nodded, "At present, the Southwest Railway is clearly an unprofitable project, so it is naturally not attractive." In my opinion, it is estimated that they will not nod lightly without adding a dot. In this case, we promise to use the buyback clause to nationalize the 40-kilometer railway section of the Xianning Line, and then put it into the Southwest Railway in its entirety, which will be jointly operated by both parties in the future; In addition, we have committed to build a railway bridge over the Yi River to connect the north and south parts of the town of Lower Yi River, and to connect the Southwest Railway with the Northwest Railway, which of course can also be placed under the name of the joint venture; Finally, the 30-year operation rights of the Jingjiang Port terminal can also be placed in the name of the joint venture company free of charge, provided that they invest in the construction of the remaining terminal facilities and dredge the nearby shipping channel. Don't let these conditions out at once, you also know the negotiation skills, grind with them little by little. Don't be afraid to hurt your feelings, the Genoese are now rich and have nowhere to go, and their sincerity is very strong, and now as long as the price is negotiated, the probability of their investment is very high. ”

"In addition, let's just say that our government intends to build some new settlements along the Southwest Railway, and the prospects for profitability in the future are still very large." Xu Xin instructed again. What he said was not a lie, but that the East Coast Council had indeed decided to do so in the future. Colorado Town, Capia. Three settlements were built near the small town of Del Chausse and the small village of Palantines: Minghe Fort, Xikou Fort and Baisha Fort - almost all of which were inhabited by people from Ningbo Province, as can be seen from their names.

Preparations are already underway in these three settlements, and the migrants are ready and ready to arrive. As for the massive amount of construction materials needed for construction, some of them are provided by neighboring old settlements (provided that there is a building materials factory), and if they are insufficient, they can only live in their own nests to deal with it. And after the construction of these three settlements, supplemented by six or seven other old settlements in the vicinity, there is almost a little bit of convincing people to invest in the construction of the railway, after all, the population radiated by the railway has increased. (To be continued)

ps:Book friend Liang Xiangjian's fanfic "Looking West: From China to the East Coast" is very well written.,If you have time, you might as well go and watch it.,Websitewww./book/3485354.aspx ISBN:3485354