Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2248 New Era ([-])

"You don't want to live a good life, do you? Take it down!" Following an order, several policemen, no matter how reluctant, stepped forward to arrest him and put him in shackles.

The person who was arrested was the head of the boat operation association on the Cixi River, not an ordinary person.These guys made their fortunes by shipping goods in the early years. In recent years, they have gradually evolved into industry leaders with gang backgrounds. They don’t operate water businesses anymore, but all ship owners have to give them confessions, so naturally they have to listen to them. orders.

From such a detail, we can also see that the water business of the Cixi River is really scattered, and there is a lack of large-scale shipping companies.Of course, this is also a tradition in China since ancient times. Ships are purchased privately, and then the leaders of local influential guilds are responsible for dealing with the government and merchants. They eat meat, and the shipowners below also drink some soup.

Needless to say, these guild leaders may have been good at the beginning, and they were quite considerate of the lower class.But after going through the difficult period of starting a business, they will start to squeeze the ordinary shipowners more and more cruelly with stable official contacts and supply channels.They tend to raise thugs and use gang means to control the majority of people, gradually forming a local force that cannot be underestimated.

Because the Ningshao area has retained a large number of traditional forces, these bad habits since ancient times have of course been inherited.Just like the business on the Cixi River, it is basically controlled by a guy called "Mr. Shen".This person's family has lived on the river for three generations. Shangyu, Yuyao, Yinxian, Dinghai and other places are very influential. He has made friends with almost everything from government officials to ordinary boatmen.

Because of the cooperative relationship in the previous wars, the people on the east bank have never touched his power. On the contrary, they have encouraged him a lot to let him manage the shipping business well, strive to become bigger and stronger, and contribute to the economic development of the Ningshao area. make a contribution.It's a pity that Mr. Shen is old, and he no longer has the ambition of his youth.People on the east coast ignored his expectations, and they were not willing to invest in ordering large ships to expand their shipping business to the open sea.On the contrary, he continued to firmly dominate the business on the Cixi River. Except for the occasional ships of the Bank of Taiwan who dared not move, all other cargo ships, regardless of size, had to pay him a share and continue to be his tyrant.

Such an act, in the eyes of the people on the east coast, means that the mud cannot support the wall.Originally, it was to see that you were influential and knowledgeable about current affairs, and wanted to train you to build a local shipping company.But after so many years of observation, you are still satisfied with being a ship operator who is suspected of bullying the market, which is simply eye-catching.Therefore, even if you have a good relationship with grassroots government officials, donate a lot of money to serve the finances every year, and are very active in military transportation tasks, you still cannot keep up with the times. The government needs to support a more courageous and visionary person to integrate Ning introduce the shipping business and make it bigger and stronger.

Shen Sanye didn't know that the upper management of the Southern Exploration Team was about to abandon him, and he still lived in Yin County with peace of mind, spending his days leisurely every day.Originally, it was nothing. With his influence, the people from the east bank would not do anything to him.However, an incident that happened on the Cixi River recently pushed him to the forefront.

The cause of the incident was a celebration ceremony held by the Shangding Railway in Shangyu County to transport [-] tons of cargo.A group of ship owners engaged in water freight business stormed the venue and smashed some tables and chairs because they were upset about being robbed of too much business by the railway.

The management of the Southern Railway Company was furious when they found out about the incident, and immediately convened a board meeting to invite investors from all walks of life to discuss how to deal with the aftermath.At the same time, the road protection team of the Shangding Railway was also dispatched urgently to station at various stations to prevent disturbance.

Shangding county government also received the news.The county magistrate did not dare to be negligent, and immediately ordered the Public Security Bureau to send capable police officers to investigate. As a result, it took only one day to arrest the several ship owners who took the lead in attacking the venue. Today, it happened at Shangding Railway Station (just in By the pier) this arrest is it.

It should be said that the arrest scene encountered some resistance.The person who was arrested was Third Master Shen's nephew, and he usually had friends with friends, but after encountering the police who came to arrest him, he actually encouraged some ship owners who were gathering on the pier to violently resist.This is not bad!People from the east bank have been kind and good people for decades, but the new generation of young people in Ningshao area don’t even know why Huaer is so popular. Those who caused the most trouble had their heads smashed, and then put on the shackles one by one to show the public.

The shipowners were frightened by the gleaming bayonets on their rifles.If these people were fighting with ordinary weapons, they might still dare to go up, but when facing the suppression of the powerful government departments, except for a few loud words, no one stepped forward to stop them, and let the police take away Mr. Shen's body. Nephew and other leaders.What's more, some psychologically fragile people even cried out on the spot, saying that the railway had robbed them of their business and that they could no longer support their families, which made some people who didn't know the truth sigh.

Of course, there are also some sensible people applauding in secret.Most of these people are open-minded businessmen who rely more on railway transportation.In their opinion, the new means of transportation, the railway, is much more efficient than the traditional water transportation. Basically, the goods shipped in the morning can arrive at the designated place in the evening if there is no accident, which is very fast and punctual.However, if it is transported by water, not only will it cause trouble for others, but the money may not be less, and it will be delayed for a long time, and the quality of the goods will also appear frequently.Therefore, when given a choice, they prefer to choose a new thing like railways to transport their goods.

In fact, it was just like what happened in Ningshao.Historically, as soon as railway transportation came out, it immediately dealt a huge blow to the British canal transportation industry.The businessmen who invested in the canal lost money one after another, and the stock price of the canal fell so that their parents did not recognize it. With its fast and convenient characteristics, railway transportation quickly conquered the vast number of cargo owners and became the mainstream transportation method in inland areas.

Ning Shao's current situation is also very similar.Since the opening of the Shangding Railway, its freight volume has increased steadily. Now, there are basically one train in the morning and one in the afternoon. From Shangyu to Dinghai, there are stops in Yuyao and Yinxian on the way, and each train is full. A cart of goods, such as tea, cloth, grain, coal, building materials, daily necessities, etc., can make money beyond anyone's imagination.

And just before the opening of the railway, there were actually quite a few people who were skeptical about its profitability.They don't understand how trains, a new thing, operate. Even the directors who were forced to or invested in Shangding Railway at the beginning, there are many people who have no idea and worry that they will not be able to compete with the boat gang on the Cixi River.The results speak louder than words.The Southern Railway Company has accumulated a lot of experience on the Southern Cone Railway and the Jiaoyan Railway. They deployed key personnel to quickly operate the Shangding Railway and made profits within a few months.

Such strong profitability can make investors from all walks of life laugh.Although they can only sit on the board of directors and cannot express their own opinions on the company's development plan, they will not be missing from the railway's profit and dividends in the final analysis.Since the Southern Railway Company absorbed their investment at the beginning and has the actual control of the railway, there is no need to play any tricks on this, otherwise it may not be able to raise enough funds for the construction of the new railway in the future.

And the huge profits made by the Shangding Railway naturally angered some vested interest groups, and the first to bear the brunt was undoubtedly the ship gangs that were active in contracting transportation interests on the river all the year round.To be fair, before the official opening of the Shangding Railway, the existence of Chuanbang still has its positive significance.After all, the East Bank government only needs to cooperate with someone like Mr. Shen to maintain a decent order for the shipping business on the river. Sanye quickly arranged and dispatched, and delivered the goods to the designated place on time, which is very efficient.

It's a pity that times are developing.When the railway, a better means of transportation, was born and quickly replaced a large part of the functions of shipping, the actions of the ship gang headed by Mr. Shen became more and more out of date in the eyes of the government.They withdrew a lot of policy support and continued to invest resources in the railway, which aroused great dissatisfaction from the Chuanbang Group, which eventually led to this incident.

It can be said that as soon as this incident happened, it was a certainty that the power of the boat gang would be rectified or even reshuffled.The most likely approach for the east coast government is to gather these ship owners engaged in water transport business to form a unified shipping company for centralized management.The business model of silos and small fights is definitely not going to work. It is destined to be eliminated by the times. Large shipping companies that use advanced means of transportation (such as ships) will be the mainstream in the future.Therefore, how to organize a large number of ship owners and let them join a modern shipping company with a new identity is a matter that the government of the Southern Pioneering Team needs to consider in the next stage.

It is reported that the Southern Railway Company will also provide part of the funds to support this newly established industry enterprise. This is the result of a lot of work done by the Southern Pioneering Team.They ruined the jobs of many people, and in order to avoid long-term troubles, it is reasonable to pay some money.

The success of the Shangding Railway also allowed the Southern Railway Company to see a more promising future for itself.According to people familiar with the matter, the company basically has a general outline, that is, after the Shangding Railway has been in stable operation for several years and part of the cost has been recovered, the company will raise funds to build the Far East Railway Station in the area under the jurisdiction of the Denglai Pioneering Team. Fan's third railway, that is, the Pingrong Line (Pingdu Prefecture-Rongcheng County) that has been demonstrated for many years.

The Southern Railway Company has studied this railway for a long time, and thinks it is still profitable.Once it is built, it can connect important grain, meat, fruit and vegetable bases such as Pingdu Prefecture with the fishery base in the east, and at the same time, it will intersect with Taocun and Jiaoyan Railway to form a railway network covering most of the population of Denglai .

There is no doubt that this network radiates the most economically dynamic areas in Denglei.Once completed, it will effectively prosper local businesses, speed up the circulation of goods everywhere, create more jobs, and raise people's income to a higher level.

As for the railway from Vladivostok to the inland that the Manchurian and Mongolian pioneers have always been thinking about.Sorry, the Southern Railway Company has limited energy and may not be able to get involved for the time being, so the local government can only figure out a way by itself.Everyone knows that the railway is a good thing, but the Southern Railway is an enterprise after all, so it has to pursue economic benefits, right?

(End of this chapter)