I am not an ant thief in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 820, Railway Age

There is not much difference between the big businessmen and the merchants of the later generations. In fact, Xu Wei wanted them to enter the heavy industry. After all, this is the backbone of industrial development and the strength of the entire civilization. It is a pity that merchants who are used to making quick money seldom invest in it. In this business.

They still prefer the textile industry, cash crop plantation, and shipping industry with less investment, quick results, and high returns. Most of the merchants who have made a fortune in recent years are in these three industries. Only shipbuilding has a little bit of heavy industry. Although they are out of business, they are still wooden sailing ships, and they don't even want to use steam engines.

And the returns of these industries are indeed high. Generally, they can pay back their capital within 3 years. Among them, shipping can pay back their capital within one year. Even if they are lucky, they can directly double their profits. The speed of making money in light industries is too fast.

However, the large-scale heavy industry has a large investment, slow results, and low income. Naturally, few merchants are willing to enter this industry.

Of course, the low competitive pressure of heavy industry and stable income are also advantages, but these advantages cannot be seen in this period of rapid wealth expansion. After all, a new continent can bring tens of billions of wealth. Who wants to earn such a hard-earned money? Everyone has this All the money is willing to invest in the fast-returning industry of shipping.

And the railway industry can be regarded as a heavy industry. They are willing to invest in railways. First, they see that the risk of this industry is low (at least they think so, after all, people in this world have not seen the advanced financial technology they hope for!), which belongs to drought and flood protection. The die-hard bankers can keep their wealth safe.

The second is that the railway can expand their commercial market. After all, in this era, all international trade is false, and the total world trade is less than [-]% of Daqian. For these merchants, Daqian is the biggest trade market!

At the same time, the Dagan market is also the most competitive market. After all, the most powerful merchants in the world are in this market. For example, merchants in the Central Plains will compete with merchants in Hebei, Desert, Western Regions, and Jiangnan. Find ways to wrap up your own territory and annex the opponent's territory.

In this accumulation of competition, merchants from the Central Plains and the Western Regions were the first to lose. Their advanced and powerful farming techniques brought the price of grain down to the floor price, but the main factor that made the Central Plains rich That is, the land is fertile and there is plenty of food, which can support more people. In the agricultural era, when there are more people and more food, wealth will naturally increase.

But now this has been completely changed. Now there is sufficient food everywhere. Food is no longer the advantage of the Central Plains. On the contrary, Hebei has advanced industrial areas and a huge textile industry chain. Jiangnan has become a major force in recent years. In the center of development, there are more profitable industrial chains such as silk, tea, sugar, and porcelain.

Now the Central Plains has a large proportion of industries, the textile industry is not as good as Hebei, the plantation is not as good as Jiangnan, and even the new cotton cloth industry is not as good as Xiliang. Although Dagan is in a prosperous age, their merchants in the Central Plains are beginning to bear the pressure of their counterparts everywhere. , their products began to encroach on their own market.

How could the merchants in the Central Plains bear it? They began to think of ways to improve their situation, and suddenly found that the railway had become a sharp weapon for them to improve their situation.The Central Plains is located in Dagan’s confidant, communication with the four directions has become their advantage, and the shipping advantage has become the most important advantage of the Central Plains. Their products can be sold to all parts of Dagan along the railway line.

Xu Wei was worried about the funds of the merchants, and the merchants also wanted to use the railway to expand their influence. The two parties were in love with each other, and soon the prime minister's mansion was planned.A new railway department was established, and the Railway Corporation was also established. Daqian used the original railway as its share capital, and the new funds from merchants in Dagan increased its share capital, and formulated a huge railway plan.

The railway line from Beihai County to Guangling County is contracted by Qingzhou and Xuzhou merchants, and they will complete this railway line within 5 years.

The railway line from Dongjun to Runan County was contracted by merchants from Yanzhou and Yuzhou, and they will complete this railway within five years. The last railway is from Weijun to Luoyang City. This railway was contracted by merchants from Sili. There is a horizontal railway from Donghai County, from Luoyang City to Chang'an.These four railways will form a railway network throughout the Central Plains, connecting the entire Central Plains.

After this plan is completed, there will be more than 1.5 miles of main-line railways in the entire Central Plains. At the same time, merchants from all over the country will also contract their local branch railways to connect various counties. There will be 2 miles, and it is estimated that the entire project will cost 3.5 million yuan, and it is expected to be completed within 3000 years.

It can be said that this plan is a bit beyond the Wang Guojun's expectations. At that time, he thought it was very difficult to build 1500 miles of railways every year, but after receiving the support of merchants, this number more than doubled, so that he had to modify the steel The number of factories to build to meet the railroad's demand for steel!
Such a huge plan made the high-level officials of Daqian excited. They don't care about the commercial advantages of railways, but the military advantages of building railways are too great. Reach the Dagan site within 10 days, and even if there is a local rebellion, the tens of thousands of elites in Jidu can suppress the rebellion within half a month. For these generals, this is the greatest value of the railway.

For the Wang Guojun, the most important thing about the railway is that it can drive local development, especially the ability of the railway is an opportunity for great development.

It is also a happy thing for merchants. Wherever the railway is built, their goods can be circulated quickly, which strengthens their market control in Dagan. For these merchants, instead of trying to compete for overseas markets , Still can't think of a way to expand the market of Daqian.

The only thing that surprised Wang Guojun was that the merchants in Hebei and the Central Plains were trying to build a railway. Only the merchants in Jiangnan joined in the fun for a while, but few of them were willing to spend money if they really wanted them. They still wanted to wait for the court. Build a network of railroads onto their turf!
Wang Guojun thought for a long time before he realized that the fast-growing states and counties in the south of the Yangtze River are all along the coast or along the Yangtze River. It is not as good as Jiangnan river transportation. For Jiangnan at this time, it only has an advantage in speed. Naturally, there is no need to be so anxious if there are substitutes for the railway. They have time to wait for the construction of railways in other places. The development of Jiangnan It goes deeper, and it's the same when they think of ways to build railways!

(End of this chapter)