Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 731 Southern Railway Company ([-])

December 1648, 12, near the mouth of the Gallegos River.

The gentle sea breeze was blowing on people's faces. Wang Qinian stroked a common local cypress tree and said with emotion: "Water is the source of life, and there is such a forest only in the place with the back of the big river. As for the distance ,hey-hey."

The distance is naturally a desolate and lonely scenery: low drought-tolerant shrubs, sparse weeds and unknown wild flowers constitute the main color of this temperate and semi-arid zone.Of course, this is a place far away from the river bank. Near the estuary of the Gallegos River, the river is wide and the water is abundant. Animals provide a valuable source of life.

"The Navy's meteorological observation station has paid attention to collecting meteorological data in parts of Patagonia in recent years. According to the data of the last five years, even in the plateau area with the least precipitation, the annual precipitation is about 300 millimeters. According to the national standard (400 mm semi-humid dividing line, 200 mm arid dividing line), the Patagonian Plateau belongs to the semi-arid zone. However, the water resources of the Gallegos River are more abundant than other areas, which can basically be considered It is a semi-arid and semi-humid area, where a certain amount of agriculture and animal husbandry can be developed.” Jin Kela, another vice president of the South Railway Company and former Minister of Agriculture, leaned over and touched the soil on the ground, and said: “Within a few hundred meters on both sides of the river The soil here is good. Due to the cutting effect of the Gallegos River for tens of millions of years, there are more fine soil and the soil layer is relatively thick. Moreover, when the river floods during the high water season every summer and autumn, it will bring a large amount of fine soil particles and dynamics from the upstream. Plant dead manure, organic matter and so on, so the soil here is still suitable for farming.”

Jin Kela only said that the soil within hundreds of meters on both sides of the coast is suitable for farming. As for the brown desert soil and Gobi desert farther away, he didn't say anything, and the meaning is self-evident.It's not that those lands are unusable, but the cost of transformation is too high, requiring a lot of manpower and material resources, which cannot be afforded by the east coast where the labor force is extremely scarce.With that energy, the Executive Committee might as well organize manpower to develop the Great Western Wilderness area in China. There are virgin lands with abundant rainfall, so flat that you can’t see the edge at a glance. If they are developed, they will be a good land. It’s no better than you in the Gobi Desert with little rainfall. Rolling on and grit strong?

"It is enough to have this piece of land suitable for farming." Wang Qinian turned around, leaned on the thick trunk, and said with a smile: "The headquarters of the Southern Railway Company will be located here. The first settlement-type town will be here without accident. Haha, the headquarters of the Southern Railway Company, have you figured out what to call it?"

As the vice president in charge of agricultural and animal husbandry production, Kinkola will focus on squatting at the mouth of the Gallegos River for a period of time to guide his work.Along with him, there were a hundred citizens who had managed to squeeze out from the mainland and a large amount of supplies.Before their arrival, the Taoist church had already organized more than 200 Patagonians and Araucans to come here and built Taoist temples, warehouses, wooden docks and other facilities so that these new immigrants would not Sleeping in the wild.

The headquarters of the Southern Railway Company is set at the port of Rio Gallegos, Argentina, at the mouth of the Gallegos River, which will also serve as the starting point of the Trans-Oceanic Railway.After the construction of this railway is completed, the immigrants from the Ming Dynasty who came to Araucan from the South Pacific will walk through a section of the valley road, and then get on the train at the train station near the Rio Tulvio Coal Mine. The train was pulled to the Atlantic coast, and finally by boat to the east coast mainland.

Of course, the immigrants from the Far East in the early stage will all settle down here, where they will log, farm, graze, mine coal, and build cities and towns.Not only will the local people not transfer manpower from here, but they will also migrate some technicians and their families, and a large number of young women to this place, trying to develop the place in a short period of time.

In the Patagonia region with little rainfall, perhaps most of the areas are not suitable for the development of planting, but obviously most of the areas are suitable for the development of animal husbandry.Therefore, in the future, wool, leather, animal fat, and frozen meat may become the first batch of export products of the Southern Railway Company.And in Tierra del Fuego, which is also within the business scope of the Southern Railway Company, the rich local resources of calamari, cod, and whales will also become the profit point of the Southern Railway Company, not to mention the large area of ​​southern Fagaceae forest that is suitable for both military and civilian use. (Dwarf False Beech), which is also a great source of money.

"Let's talk about naming things after Mo Ming takes office in February. After all, he is the president of the Southern Railway Company. We old guys are all standing up for him." Jin Kela laughed and waved his hand indifferently , said: "He is a god of wealth. He has made a lot of money in the Far East in the past few years, and it is said that he has attracted investment from Li Chuang's forces. The fundraising gap of the Southern Railway Company must be filled by him. The 20 yuan given by the Ministry of Finance in advance can be used for nothing. For such a big business as the Southern Railway Company, 20 yuan will be gone in the blink of an eye.

Wang Qinian himself currently serves as the chairman of the fundraising committee of the Southern Railway Company. Hearing this, he immediately smiled wryly and said, "The Southern Railway Company has a huge funding gap. Put 20 yuan in cash into the Southern Railway Company, and then took 60% of the shares. Hehe, we are now a smart woman who can’t live without rice, and I am the chairman of the fundraising committee. It’s meaningless.”

To be honest, officials in the East Coast government, especially the government affairs council system, are generally not very impressed with the Southern Railway Company. The main reason is that they simply do not believe that the Southern Railway Company can make a profit, or that the profitability cannot meet their expectations.Although the country's shortage of funds has eased this year, there are still a lot of places to spend money, and with the arrival of the wave of immigrants in the new year, the huge financial pressure to build new settlements has begun to hang over the Ministry of Finance. Their pressure is actually not light at all, and they are unwilling to invest precious resources in areas with uncertain prospects. This mentality is completely understandable.

Under such circumstances, the nascent Southern Railway Company faced considerable financial difficulties.As a last resort, the government began to allow some shares to be transferred and sold publicly to the outside world to raise part of the much-needed funds, but there was little response.In the end, the people from the east coast who were really hopeless began to seek foreign investors—of course, only the "friendly people" on the east coast.

In November, the Government Council issued the latest batch of documents on the establishment of the Southern Railway Company, which began to make a clear statement on this: 11. The shares of the Southern Railway Company are raised in batches, and the funds raised must be invested as soon as possible The two-ocean railway is planned to start construction (workers and tools have not yet been put in place); 1. The shares of the Southern Railway Company are all in the form of registered names, and their holders are limited to the government and citizens of the East Coast Republic of China and the government, enterprises or citizens of the Republic of Genoa. Investments by citizens or enterprises of other countries need to be reviewed and approved by the East Coast government before they can take effect; 2. The company's president (3 person), vice president (1 people), and department managers (tentatively 2 people) are all appointed by the government; 8. The issuance of bonds by Southern Railway Company needs to be approved by the board of directors and the State Administration Council, and the creditor's rights cannot be converted into equity.

On December 12, the executive committee also issued instructions to the Southern Railway Company: the first priority is to develop the transportation industry in the southern Patagonia region (essentially to build the two-ocean railway, Natales and Rio Gallego modern port facilities in Sri Lanka), at the same time, some subsidiary businesses along its railway line, such as coal mines in Rio Turvio, fishing off the coast of Rio Gallegos, a small amount of forest logging along the line, warehouse industry at the terminal station, along the line The right to entrust sales of goods on the east coast, etc., will be jointly developed.Even, the executive committee allowed the Southern Railway Company to operate local housing, civil engineering, education, health and other businesses within the scope of the railway line (1 league on both sides), and appropriately collected some fees as compensation. The power is astonishing.Although it is not as powerful as the East India Company in Britain, the Netherlands and other countries, it is not far behind.

After the Executive Committee and the Government Council successively made guiding opinions on the operation of the Southern Railway Company, Siligu, who represented the Doria family of Genoa and had been seeking other investment opportunities on the east coast, immediately came to the door more than a week ago, saying that he On behalf of the Doria family, he will formally invest 100 million bank liras (approximately 16.4 yuan) in the Southern Railway Company, and said that if the approval is obtained, he will soon be able to instruct the Bank of La Plata located in Qingdao Port to transfer the funds to the Southern Railway Company. A corporate account to support the cause of Southern Rail Corporation.

At that time, Peng Zhicheng, Wang Qinian and others expressed their surprise at the "bad guys" coming to their door. Because of the foreseeable huge initial investment (settlement maintenance, port construction, railway construction, etc.), the Southern Railway Company will inevitably suffer huge losses in the past few years. It may not be able to fulfill the dividend ratio indicated in the company's prospectus at all, which can be seen from the cold reception of China Southern Railway's stock sales in the East Coast.After all, no one's money comes from the wind. Everyone has to calculate carefully. The Southern Railway Company is obviously a huge pit at present. It is really unwise for you to jump down with real money.

However, the people of Genoa are local tyrants and a country with a large capital exporter. They have been trying to find speculative opportunities on the east coast but they have been hitting a wall. Now they have finally caught such an opportunity from the Southern Railway Company.Besides, the Southern Railway Company is so short of money now, it is a good thing for someone to invest, so Wang Qinian readily agreed to the other party's request and converted the investment of the Doria family into about 21% of the Southern Railway Company's equity.Then he also said that as the first foreign investor with such a large amount, the East Coast people will also give them certain preferential treatment, that is, the Doria family has the right to continue to subscribe for the shares of the Southern Railway Company within five years, up to up to 1.64% of all shares.

After the Genoese's funds arrived, the fundraising committee of the Southern Railway Company in Qingdao Port continued to raise funds, but the first step of construction had already begun on the banks of the Gallegos River ahead.

(End of this chapter)