My Italian Chapter 345

Li Zhongtang's remarks obviously thought that Jia Liwen was imagining things. As for Li Zhongtang's accusation, Jia Liwen was not angry at all, as long as the kingdom could benefit, he would be able to dance for Li Zhongtang on the table.

"Your Excellency Zhongtang, it is actually very simple to promote this matter. As long as the court of your country agrees, then the construction of the railway will not be a problem."

Seeing that Jia Liwen did not give up and continued to persevere, Li Zhongtang felt that it was necessary to dispel this idea.

"Minister Jia, it is extremely difficult to get the imperial court to agree to build a railway. Many officials in our country still follow the tradition, and they don't want to see the emergence of such a new thing as railways, especially in the imperial court. Too much, the old man has already worked hard to build a 160-mile Jingu Railway, and it is impossible for the imperial court to agree to a large railway running through the north and south."

In the face of Li Zhongtang's experience, Jia Liwen will not give up. You must know that this task is of great importance. The Prime Minister and the king are paying close attention to it, which directly affects his career.

"Li Zhongtang, according to your country's old saying, this is man-made. The construction of the railway is of great benefit to your country. Of course, there are objections, but I believe those who know it can see it clearly."

Jia Liwen then took out his trump card. "If it was said that your country refused to build the railway before because it was not clear about the interests in this area, and now it is because of the obstruction of conservative officials, but I believe that Your Excellency Zhongtang, as well as your emperor and empress dowager are enlightened and know the sincerity of our country. "

Speaking of which, Jia Liwen took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Li Zhongtang. "Your Excellency Zhongtang, the sincerity of our country is here. I believe this will help your country to improve the accuracy of judgment."

Li Zhongtang took the document and looked at it immediately. The first condition of the document surprised him.

"Isn't your country joking, planning to build a railway with our country?"

Li Zhongtang was so surprised because he knew that this kind of pursuit of railway road construction rights had other purposes, such as mining rights for 20 kilometers along the railway, and the right to garrison troops. The foreign powers used the railway to reach out to various places along the line, so they strongly opposed this.

In addition, railway construction is all borrowed, and the interest is not cheap, and it also puts pressure on the Qing court's finances.

In the document presented by Minister Jia, Italy has already considered it for a long time. In the name of the Italian Railway Company, it seeks cooperation with the Qing court to jointly establish the Qing Dynasty Railway Corporation. The Italian side will provide 1,500 yuan. Wanliang Baiyin only needs to occupy 49% of the shares of the Daqing Railway Company. The Qing court does not need to pay, and only needs to pay for the land to occupy 25% of the shares, and the remaining 26% of the shares are sold in the Qing market for shares. People buy.

It can be said that the Qing court can obtain a railway company with a market value of more than 30 million taels without paying a penny. How could this kind of direct profit be rejected by the Qing court, which is under great financial pressure.

Even conservative officials are blocked by others who want to profit. After all, the 26% of the shares can really fall into the hands of the people, and officials at all levels can divide it up. Of course, let Italy come up with such a document, and it all comes from someone who remembers later. He knows very well what is taboo in this era, and it is not difficult to prescribe the right medicine.

"Your Excellency Zhongtang, this document has already said it very clearly."

After getting Jia Liwen's affirmation, Li Zhongtang continued to read.

This is incredible, and this document is even bolder than what Minister Jia said. The newly established Daqing Railway Company must have the construction rights of the Jinguang Railway or the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, the Jinpu Railway, the Longhai Railway, and the Nanjing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway as mentioned by Minister Jia. To this end, the Kingdom of Italy is willing to donate arms worth 10 million taels of silver and 5 million taels of silver.

Such a heavy gift, Li Zhongtang is also envious. Of course, as the main force of the domestic army, the Huai Army can also benefit a lot.

Zhou Fu looked at this generous gift and swallowed.

As for Li Zhongtang, he pointed to the document. "It's a bit difficult to build a road on the Jinpu Line. This is related to the water transportation of the court, and there must be criticism in the court."

That's right, Li Zhongtang has changed his attitude, from refusing at the beginning to making suggestions for Jia Liwen.

And the water transportation he was referring to was related to the interests of many people in the capital.

That's right, even though it is now possible to ship materials from the south of the Yangtze River by sea, but the interests dictate that the annual water transportation can still be carried out as scheduled. In autumn, boating on the canal brings grain and rice to the capital, where more than 100,000 people have food and clothing, and it is also where many elites in Beijing benefit.

Facing Li Zhongtang's words, Jia Liwen replied immediately. "Your Excellency Zhongtang, can these inland waterway workers be turned into road construction workers, and their livelihood should be settled first, and the nobles who receive the benefits can be exchanged for railway stocks."

Jia Liwen's words seem to have done a lot of hard work, and intends to lure him.

After listening to Li Zhongtang, he nodded. "The method is good, but there are still a few problems that need to be solved..."

Well, Li Zhongtang began to fill in the gaps.

After solving these problems one by one, Li Zhongtang asked a question. "Minister Jia, this old man really has no confidence in pushing forward the construction of such a grand railway with the power of the old man alone."

Li Zhongtang's remarks are not nonsense. The road construction rights of these railways in the hands of the Daqing Railway Company, which has not yet been seen, can be known with a little vision. Such great benefits are difficult to rely on alone.

Facing Li Zhongtang's worries, Jia Liwen replied. "Please rest assured Li Zhongtang, of course, our country will not let your Excellency accomplish the task alone. I have discussed it with Governor of Liangjiang Zhang Zhidong and Governor of Hu Guang Tan Jixun (Tan Sitong's father), and they will definitely agree. In addition, Li Zhongtang's brother Governor Li also believes that would agree."

At this time, Zhang Zhidong was transferred to Liangjiang because Liu Kunyi died of illness. He also supported the construction of the railway. However, if he wanted to make a public statement, Jia Liwen agreed that when the railway was built, he would definitely purchase the steel from the Hanyang Iron Works. . With the help of Italy, the problem of excessive sulfur content in Dazhi Iron Mine was finally solved (a desulfurization equipment was added.

As Zhang Zhidong's political achievements, the Hanyang Iron Works, which has been losing money, has a heart attack. If he can obtain orders from the railway company in advance, he is naturally willing to help, not to mention that the railway has to go to the three towns of Wuhan and the currently ruled Nanjing. city.

As for Tan Jixun, who has a very bad relationship with Zhang Zhidong, it is equally easy to handle. Although it is old-fashioned, it is very fond of Italy, which helps the court fight. After Jia Liwen's repeated visits, the Governor Tan agreed.

As for Li Zhongtang's elder brother Li Hanzhang, this Li Da is very capable, but his greatest skill is greed.

Among the senior officials of the Huai clique, there were several famous corrupt officials, who were made up with formulas, saying: "Tu Zongying stole; Liu Bingzhang looted; Pan Dingxin cheated; only Li Hanzhang took it in a proper way." In the same case of corruption and bribery, Tu, Liu, and Pan asked for money shamelessly, and their tactics were clumsy, so they were looked down upon, but Hanzhang was awarded a "gentleman who loves money and gets it in a proper way". "It's not a casual sentence.

One year, on Hanzhang's birthday, someone with Yang gave 10,000 taels of gold as a gift; Yang, formerly the cook of Li Hongzhang's family, “has accumulated military merits to protect the admiral”, but he has only a vacant title and no real position. I heard that Li Jiada The master can arrange to fill the vacancy, and rush to Guangzhou to "run the official" with enough money. Han Zhang didn't say a word, and filled him with a commander in defense.

When Yang arrived, he found out that the monthly salary for this position is only 300 yuan, and there is no oil and water; if you want to recover your investment, at least three years later, the rate of return is so low, you would have known what to do as an official! Yang ran to the governor's mansion to complain, Han Zhang scolded him as a "stupid" when he heard it, so he ignored him and asked the doorman to enlighten him.

Men Ding called him aside and said, "The eldest lord asked you to be an official, but he didn't say that you should live on salary. Don't you have so many managerial positions? Let me tell you, those who want to be managers now But the sea is gone. Your elm head can't be opened?"

When Yang Mou heard it, he was enlightened, and when he returned to the camp, he fired all the existing management and belts, and all vacant positions were "bidding" for posts. In a few days, not only the cost is recovered, but also a net profit of 3,000 yuan.

There are many people who bribe and buy officials such as Yang, and Hanzhang let them "have no loss", thus gaining the reputation of "getting it right". Han Zhang can compare his heart to heart. He has served as an official for 30 years, and he has never impeached anyone for being "greedy and cruel", and he is nicknamed "Buddha in the Official World".

This Li Da is considered to be greedy beyond the realm.

Well, let's stop talking, after getting Jia Liwen's assurance, Li Zhongtang has a plan.

He first asked the court to allocate funds on the grounds that the various armies lost a lot of money after the war and needed to be replenished.

Li Zhongtang's request was naturally rejected by Weng Shangshu.

Li Zhongtang then requested the court to allocate funds on the grounds that he still owes 8 million taels to the Italian foreign soldiers. This involved the borrowed foreign soldiers. Weng Shangshu naturally did not dare to dismiss it like this. He could only find a way to allocate 5 million taels after several times of wrangling, and asked Li Zhongtang to raise 3 million taels himself.

At this time, when they received the news, the Qing army immediately became in an uproar, shouting that the court was unfair, demanding that one not favor one over the other. If it were in the early and middle Qing Dynasty, this kind of behavior would immediately attract repression, but today is different from the past, and now the court does not dare to bear the reputation of being unkind. We can only ask Weng Shangshu to allocate funds, but now Weng Shangshu has no money, the money is in Li's second hand, so Weng Shangshu, who can't get the money, eats it and hangs it.

At this time, Minister Jia Liwen stood up. In view of the problem of money, Italy was a little embarrassed that such a thing happened in the Qing Dynasty. The money should be given to the army of your country, and Italy will not want it.

In the face of such an understanding of the Italian state, the Qing court greatly appreciated it.

At this time, Li Zhongtang stood up to express his position. The Italian country is so splendid and graceful, and it is kind to our country. I can't help but express my opinion.

Li Zhongtang's words were also praised by the whole court, and even the Queen Mother said that such kindness and friendship cannot be made to lose heart.

Well, now I just ask you what the Italians want.

Minister Jia Liwen then said that the Qing government had already been in debt because of the war, and Italy did not need the money. I just hope to build a railway with the Qing Kingdom and get some benefits.

Subsequently, the regulations for the formation of the Daqing Railway Company, which had already been prepared, were given to the Qing court.

This Italian request shocked the Qing court. It wasn't that there were too many~www.mtlnovel.com~, but I didn't expect that there were powers who respected the court so much. Willing to cede more than half of the shares of this railway company to the imperial court. Although there are more railway lines prepared, the money and food consumed will not be small. But who would dare to criticize at this time.

I didn't see that the Governors of Liangjiang, Huguang, and Guangdong and Guangxi were all in solidarity, and there were people in Beijing who agreed.

So in August 1895, the decision of the Qing court and Italy to jointly establish the Great Qing Railway Company was born.

The Daqing Railway Company, which was listed a few days later, was also very proud. In just seven days, it announced that it would build the Lu-Guangdong Railway, Jin-Pu Railway, Longhai Railway and Nanjing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway running through the north and south.

No matter what the Qing people think about the feat of the Qing Railway Company, the envoys from other countries in the Qing country are going crazy anyway. Italy alone snatched the road construction rights of the Qing Dynasty railway, which was a lot of interest. Now it can be said that as long as Italy is willing to transfer its shares in the Daqing Railway Company, it can easily reap hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

Ministers from various countries are now flocking to the Qing court, wanting to change its decision. But they all failed, and the Qing court insisted that the signed agreement could not be changed.

So the countries that felt that Italy took away a large piece of delicious cake naturally had all kinds of thoughts surging.

Chapter end