Ten Dragons Take the Inheritance

Chapter 506 Official Earthquake

Money is not omnipotent, but it is absolutely impossible without money. When it comes to the ability to make money, none of the emperors throughout the ages can compare with Yinzuo. However, when it comes to the ability to spend money, Yinzuo is also the only one Yes—ordinarily, after so many years of wealth accumulation, the money in Yinzuo's pocket should have far exceeded the national treasury. Not counting other things, it is the 8000 million yuan that was obtained from the auction of the assets under his name this time. Ten thousand is already an astronomical figure, but none of the money went into Yin Zuo's pocket - 5000 million was used to support the establishment and infrastructure construction of the Qing Academy of Sciences, and the remaining 3000 million was rewarded to return from victory The expeditionary force, as for the huge amount of assets saved on weekdays, Yin Zuo has already been tossed about.

There is not much money left, but it really needs to be crowded, and it is not too difficult for Yinzuo to come up with a hundred million yuan, but Yinzuo has no plan to use his own money for the railway this time. The reason for his private money is very simple - he just issued an edict to officials not to engage in business, but later he took the lead in starting a railway company, so what is it if he is not a slap in the face?Donate money?Well, Yinzuo has no business at hand now. Although according to the Qing system, the internal treasury can have several million income every year, compared with the previous Yinzuo earned by himself, it is just a drizzle. If Yin Zuo wants to use his own pocket to do state affairs, then he has to think carefully.

Engage in a joint-stock company and play fund-raising?Let it go!This railway is no better than other industries. Firstly, there is no such precedent. God knows whether such a business as railway can guarantee profitability, but Yinzuo himself has not dared to make a conclusion, let alone those rich folks. Besides, just now A large number of projects with a small investment and quick results have been launched into the market, and now a project with a huge investment and no effective results can be imagined. It is conceivable how attractive it is. More importantly, if a strategic investment such as a railway It is not controlled by the state, and Yinzuo is also worried. Obviously, the set of joint-stock companies and private companies is not feasible at least for now. Of course, after the superiority and profitability of the railway are revealed, joint-stock companies It's not a big deal.

Headache, headache!After much deliberation, Yinzuo didn't think of a good way to make money, and when he was disturbed by those ministers, he became even more dizzy, stupefied, his eyes almost rolled out of the frame, and he didn't think of it. There are several countermeasures, but there is one thing Yin Zuo understands-the railway must be built, and it must be built as soon as possible. In this way, the railway will come in handy after the commodity economy develops to a certain scale.

"My dear friends, I have made up my mind. This railway must be built. You don't have to waste your time talking about whether to build it or not. Just talk about how to build it." Yinzuo waved impatiently. Start, stop the nonsense of the ministers.

Alright, this time, when it comes to money, all the courtiers who were full of spiel in the room fell silent, and they all became dumb-mouthed gourds. Zhenquan stretched his face, looking like he wanted money or his life. As for the other ministers of military affairs, they were all laymen in economics, so they couldn't get in the way. The silence in the room made Yinzuo very angry, but there was nothing he could do .

"My lord, I have an idea." Lin Qi, the dean of the Academy of Sciences, stood up and said: "The main function of the railway is the circulation of materials. If you want to build a network in one go, it may be difficult. I think it is better to do a pilot first. You can gain some experience, and secondly, it can serve as a demonstration. The minister thinks that the initial construction may start with the Nanjing-Shanghai railway. This section of the road is about 500 miles long, the distance is not too long, and the investment is not too much. , Jinling is originally the place where materials from the two rivers are collected and distributed, and most of the goods that go by sea have to go through the wharf in Shanghai to board the ship, so I think this section of the railway should have great potential."

Uh huh, this is true, it is impossible to become a fat man in one go, but it can be done if you do a pilot project, once you have a template, you will not have to worry about no one paying for the fundraising later.Yinzuo's thoughts moved very quickly, and he pondered for a moment: "Well, what Lin Aiqing said is very reasonable, but how much money and manpower will be invested in this road, and how long will it take to complete?"

Lin Qi obviously came prepared, as soon as he heard Yinzuo's words, he immediately took out a yellow silk mask from his bosom, raised it above his head respectfully and said: "Your Majesty, I have drawn up a detailed plan, please have a look at it. "

The brochure is written in great detail. It not only includes various plans for the construction of the railway, but also various matters related to the supporting factories. Even the construction cost of the steam locomotive factory is calculated, which is about 5000 million yuan, which is not much. In terms of time schedule , A year and a half can go by, the only thing that makes Yinzuo a little troublesome are two things - one is that the 5000 laborers needed to build the railway are not easy to arrange, and the other is who will be in charge of this construction, after all There is too much oil and water in such a big project. If you are not careful, let alone [-] million, if you invest [-] million, I am afraid that it will become a tofu project. I have seen too much.

Considering the population of Qing Dynasty, [-] laborers are not too much, there are just a whole lot, besides, although the construction of railways is a technical job, but the technical things are all checked by technicians, the builders are actually coolies, that’s all. Casualties are unavoidable. If there is a lot of trouble because of the construction of a railway, the big hat of wasting people and money will have to be pinned on Yinzuo's head. Zuo didn't want to play unless it was absolutely necessary.

Trouble, big trouble! Yinzuo frowned and thought for a while, and just about to grit his teeth and make a decision, he suddenly saw the smiling face of Prince Cheng Yunzhi, and immediately remembered something, smiled and said: "Third brother, How are the negotiations with Britain and Holland going now?"

Yunzhi didn't expect Yinzuo to ask about this suddenly, he was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly replied: "My Majesty, the negotiations with the Dutch are still in progress, and it has been reached that the prisoners of war will be released, and the merchants will let them go. Davia’s ownership and trade contract are still being discussed, and there is no result yet. In addition, since the Qing Dynasty has broken off diplomatic relations with England, its envoys have not yet arrived, so all negotiations cannot be started.”

"Yeah." Yin Zuo nodded, glanced at Old Fourteen and said, "Old Fourteen, have all the British prisoners of war settled down?"

"Your Majesty, there are a total of 3000 British prisoners of war. Except for some who are willing to serve our Qing Dynasty and have real talents who have been sent to the Naval Academy to teach, the rest are detained in Qingdao." Yunyu also did not understand why Yinzuo Asked about the prisoners of war, but still replied respectfully.

"That's good. Hey, I don't have food for idlers in the Qing Dynasty. Since the British are not in a hurry to redeem people, these prisoners of war, together with the mobs who were escorted back from Japan last time, are worth [-] to [-]. Let's take all of them." Hurry up and build the railway." Yinzuo smiled wickedly.

A group of courtiers didn't quite understand the difficulty of building the railway. Although some people felt that taking prisoners of war to build the road was inconsistent with the Confucian way of forgiveness, after all, there was already a precedent for the Japanese pirates in front of them, but no one He wanted to say something, but he couldn't understand what was going on with Lin Qi's copy, so everyone looked at Yinzuo eagerly.

"Dear dear friends, Dean Lin's paper is well written, and it is in line with my wishes. You may wish to pass it on and have a good idea in your heart. This matter is of great importance. If it can be achieved, it will be a move that benefits the country and the people. If it is If there is a slight discrepancy, it will be a disaster for the country and the people, you may wish to discuss who will be in charge." After Yinzuo finished speaking, he waved his hands and signaled Gao Nianying to pass on the excerpts for all the officials to read.

Few of the ministers present knew technology, but they all knew government affairs well, but they understood the key points after reading the booklets in general-this master is a huge vacancy. There are too many tricky things to do, and the bills will come rushing through just by hand, not to mention that there are so many people involved here, and the local governments everywhere they pass have to listen to them, even the grain roads They are all included in it. Once the national railway network starts to be built in the future, the status of the person in charge may be frighteningly high. If he is not a dignitary, he may not be able to get Yin Zuo's approval at all. This candidate is not so easy to decide.

"How? After reading it all, let's talk about it." Once all the ministers had passed it around, Yinzuo said impatiently.

"Your Majesty, since this book was written by Lin Shilang, if one thing doesn't bother two masters, let Lin Shilang be in charge." As the chief military minister, Ma Qi naturally had to answer first.

Lin Qi?Hey, he's in charge, who's going to take care of the Academy of Sciences?The old horse's idea is very bad.Yin Zuo smiled, neither sure nor uncertain.

As the overall person in charge of the project, Lin Qi naturally understood the importance of the railway, and originally thought of being able to take command in person, but seeing that Yinzuo hadn't opened his mouth at this time, he knew that the holy intention was not on him, so he hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, I think this statement by Mr. Ma is inappropriate. First, I have to take care of the Academy of Sciences, but I really can't take care of the railway. Moreover, the railway construction involves local areas, and my prestige is not enough to convince the public. , but it is not beautiful, I hope the Holy Spirit will learn from it."

Yinzuo smiled, but before he could speak, Prince Yong Yunzhen suddenly popped up and said: "My lord, I think this railway is of great importance, and I really can't ignore it. I have to have relatives and nobles to sit in the town. I suggest that the elder brother Hong Taking up the position of general manager, considering the prestige and ability of the elder brother, he is the best candidate to take on this important task. This minister's foolishness and wisdom can be learned from the Holy One."

Um?What does the fourth son want to do?He actually proposed that Hongli be in charge of the general manager.Yinzuo's face sank, and a cold light appeared in his eyes, and the atmosphere in the hall suddenly became weird...

(End of this chapter)