Chongzhen Daming: Starting from Coal Mountain

Chapter 689 Building a New Beijing
Jiang Tianyi led the staff of the General Staff Section to start evaluating the military merits of the scholars and Guo Zisheng who participated in the Northern Expedition, and then approved their military ranks according to their military merits.

This matter involved more than 3000 scholars and more than 6000 Guozi students.

Of course, such a large workload cannot be completed in a few days.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a month passed, and the time came to the middle of July in the 22nd year of Chongzhen (1649).

After half a month of traveling day and night, merchants such as Zheng Zunrang, Shi Jiuke, Weng Zhili and others finally arrived in Beijing first, while Lu Zhenfei and other thousands of officials had just passed through Xuzhou.

After arriving in Beijing, a group of merchants rushed to the Temple of Chaori to pay homage to Chongzhen without even washing their bodies.

Looking at the hundreds of merchants gathered in the Chaoritan military camp, Chongzhen thought that indeed, only profit is the most powerful driving force. These merchants came to Beijing day and night just by smelling a little fishy smell.

"Have you read the prospectus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs? Is there anything you want to ask?"

As soon as Chongzhen finished speaking, Zheng Zunrang and Shi Jiuke raised their right hands at the same time.

Chongzhen pointed to Zheng Zunrang and said, "Shopkeeper Zheng, you should ask first."

Zheng Zunrang immediately stood up and asked, "Is the railway transport company mentioned in the prospectus limited to operating the Beijing-Beijing Railway, or is it concurrently operating all the railways within the territory of the Ming Dynasty?"

"This is optional." Chongzhen said with a smile.

"As long as you wish, the railway company is the general railway company."

"If you don't want to, it's just a two-Beijing railway transport company."

The hundreds of merchants present here suddenly looked at each other in blank dismay. There is such a good thing in the world?
However, as businessmen, these merchants know that no meal can be eaten for nothing.

At that moment, Zheng Zunrang asked again: "If it's the main railway transportation number, what do I need to pay?"

After all, he is a businessman, and he knows that he must pay more in exchange for more benefits.

At the moment Chongzhen said with a smile: "The price paid is to bear the construction cost of the new railway line."

"For example, the railway directly leading to the Western Regions mentioned in the prospectus?" Zheng Zunrang asked again, "The Yunxi Railway with a total mileage of nearly [-] miles across the future territory of Ming Dynasty?"

"Yes, for example, Yunxi Railway."

Chongzhen said: "For the 5000 million yuan construction cost of the Liangjing Railway, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will actually pay 500 million yuan, accounting for [-]% of the shares, and the remaining [-]% of the shares will be freely bid by everyone present. After the railway is completed and put into operation, The income will also be distributed according to the number of shares, of course, operating costs must be removed first."

After a pause, he continued: "If it's just a two-Beijing railway transport company, all dividends will be paid out in full, but if you choose to upgrade to the Daming Railway Transport Company, you can only take [-]% of the dividends every year, and the remaining [-]% of the dividends will be rolled over." The capital invested in the general firm will be used to build the next railway line, such as the Yunxi Railway that spans thousands of miles."

After discussing with Shi Jiuke and several Yangzhou salt merchants for a while, Zheng Zunrang said, "My lord, then we choose to upgrade to the Daming Railway Transportation Headquarters. The only way to do business is to keep flowing."

Upgrading to Daming Railway Headquarters, although it has to sacrifice short-term interests, in the long run, it will make a steady profit, because there will be many railways in Daming in the future, and the profits of Daming Railway Headquarters will be extremely considerable, far from The profits of a Beijing-Beijing railway can be compared.

So it's not a multiple choice question at all.

Anyone with a normal mind will choose to keep flowing.

Chongzhen was not surprised by the choice of merchants.

Chongzhen was also happy to see that merchants chose to keep flowing, because it meant that the Daming Railway Transportation Headquarters would have more capital for railway construction.

Daming's railway construction will be faster.

"Very good." Chongzhen smiled and asked again, "Master Shi, your question?"

Shi Jiuke stood up and asked, "I heard that Jiannu Lianyong, the Eight Banners Han Army, and Eight Banners Mongolia who were captured in the Battle of Baliqiao were all sent to build the Beijing-Beijing Railway. My question is whether the Daming Railway Transport Headquarters is needed. Pay wages for these prisoners of war?"

"Of course it needs to be paid." Chongzhen said, "These prisoners of war are equivalent to the laborers dispatched by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the Daming Railway Transportation Headquarters. Of course, the Railway Transportation Headquarters needs to pay the Ministry of Internal Affairs a corresponding amount of wages."

Shi Jiuke and Zheng Zunrang looked at each other, thinking that there really is no free labor in the world.

However, Shi Jiuke still wanted to fight for it, and asked again: "Your Majesty, there is still a difference between prisoners of war and real laborers. They can't be paid the same wages, right?"

"This matter can be discussed." Chongzhen said after pondering for a moment, "Then let's count it as half the price."

"The Holy One is righteous." The hundreds of merchants attending the meeting were overjoyed, which saved half of the wages.

Chongzhen continued to ask: "Every shopkeeper, do you have any other questions to ask?"

"Qizou Shengshang, there is no problem." Zheng Zunrang replied impatiently, "Hurry up and start bidding."

"I won't participate in the share bidding anymore." Having said that, Chongzhen turned his attention to Weng Zhiren and another Yangzhou salt merchant named Sun Shouting, and continued, "Treasurer Weng, shopkeeper Sun, let's talk in another place."

Weng Zhiren and Sun Shouting hurriedly stood up and followed Chongzhen to leave. Zheng Zunrang, Shi Jiuke and other hundreds of merchants began to bid for shares under the auspices of Li Kaixian in the procurement department.

Chongzhen took Weng Zhiren and Sun Shouting to the Chaoyangmen tower.

Weng Zhiren is the younger brother of Weng Zhiyi, a great salt merchant in Yangzhou, and is now the big shopkeeper of Daming Machinery Factory.

Sun Shouting was also one of the salt merchants in Yangzhou before, and now he is the big shopkeeper of the Daming Construction Workshop. Sun Shouting is in charge of Nanjing's urban infrastructure and real estate industry.

Chongzhen summoned Sun Shouting to Beijing because he wanted him to build a new Beijing.

Needless to say, Beijing's urban infrastructure at this time is extremely bad.

Most of the streets in the city are not paved with stone slabs, and it is muddy and difficult to walk on rainy days.

Moreover, there are no sewage pipes designed, so the inner city is better, but the residents of the outer city dump domestic sewage into the street at will. On sunny days, the sewage flows across the street and the stench rises to the sky, but on rainy days, it becomes even more sour.

The original version of Chongzhen also hated all this, but has never been able to pay for rectification.

As a traveler, Chongzhen naturally would not tolerate such a city appearance, this is the capital.

At that moment, Chongzhen asked Sun Shouting: "Master Sun, is the city of Beijing spectacular? Is Chaoyangmen Street spectacular?"

Sun Shouting hurriedly said: "The city of Beijing is naturally magnificent, and Chaoyangmen Street is the quintessence of Beijing. The street scene is second only to Zhengyangmen Street in magnificence and prosperity. It can be said to be the best in the world."

Chongzhen shook his head and said, "But after all, it's just the surface of horse dung."

Sun Shouting understood Chongzhen's thoughts in an instant, and then said: "What the Holy Majesty said is very true. Although Beijing is magnificent and the streets are prosperous, there are three major shortcomings. One is the streets and alleys, the other is drainage, and the third is the houses in the outer city. It is built in a chaotic manner, seriously encroaching on the streets and alleys, and it is very inconvenient to pass through, and it will be especially troublesome if there is a fire."

Chongzhen asked directly: "I want to rebuild a new Beijing, does shopkeeper Sun dare to undertake it?"

Sun Shouting didn't respond immediately, but frowned and said, "There are three difficulties here."

"Tell me." Chongzhen had anticipated this, and said, "I will try my best to solve it for you."

Sun Shouting said: "The first difficulty is the demolition of residential buildings. Whether it is to widen and strengthen the streets or lay drainage pipes, a large number of residential buildings need to be demolished. I am only a merchant, I am afraid it is..."

"There is no need to worry about this matter, you just need to dismantle it." Chongzhen said with a smile.

"It's not just the residential houses that hinder the reconstruction and construction, but also the privately built and disorderly built ones, as long as they are demolished."

Now is the right time to start a new city renovation, because at this time, almost all the "residents" in Beijing are waiting for crimes. Needless to say, the Manchus in the inner city, and the residents in the outer city are all descended generals practicing bravery or Mongols. People's family members or maids and servants, even if they really demolished their homes, they dare not say anything.

What's more, Chongzhen didn't intend to do anything wrong.

All houses and land in the inner city and outer city will be fined and confiscated, that's for sure.

However, Chongzhen will still designate two areas in Guangqumen and Guang'anmen, and ask Sun Shouting to build a large number of resettlement bungalows to accommodate these fallen generals and Lian Yong's family members.

Sun Shouting said again: "The second difficulty is manual labor. Such a large reconstruction project, without more than [-] laborers, and more than three years, I am afraid it will be difficult to complete."

"There is no need to worry about this." Chongzhen said with a smile.

"I'll give you 20 labor, and it's only half the price, is that enough?"

"Ah?" Sun Shouting asked suspiciously, "Will this affect the construction of the railway?"

"You don't need to worry about this matter, you only need to consider the reconstruction of Beijing." Having said this, Chongzhen asked again, "What is the third difficulty?"

"The third difficulty is money."

Sun Shouting said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, you know that the Daming Construction Workshop is responsible for the urban construction of Nanjing, and invested a huge amount of capital for this, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs is suppressing the price of the house, so the proceeds from the sale of the house can barely maintain the operation. , Now Daming Construction Workshop really has no money in its account."

Lack of money for urban infrastructure is indeed a huge problem.

The easiest way is to raise the price of land, then sell the land at sky-high prices, and then invest in urban infrastructure after raising money, forming a cycle of building with land, but this will bring a serious hidden danger, that is, it will turn the real estate industry into a parasitic monster The fetus, and then drain the blood of various industries, leading to serious deformities in economic development.

So Chongzhen was very reluctant to open this hole.

It seems that it is time to issue industrial shares.

After national bonds and industrial bonds, industrial stocks will finally be implemented.

At the moment Chongzhen said: "We can consider issuing shares in the two cities to raise funds."

Sun Shouting smiled wryly and said, "My Majesty, Daming Infrastructure Workshop has already issued two bonds. If there is no guarantee of large income, the Ministry of Internal Affairs may not approve the issuance of the third bond."

Chongzhen shook his head: "I'm talking about stocks, not bonds."

Sun Shouting said, "Aren't stocks bonds?"

[A few words about the military system, the Ming army is not a modern army, but a modern army in the era of flintlock guns. The smallest combat unit in the book is the brigade level, so only the brigade level will be equipped with logistics units and staff as standard to carry out independent operations During missions, medical units, guards, and scouts will also be temporarily equipped. Below the regiment level, there are only chief and deputy officers and eight messengers who are also on duty]

(End of this chapter)