At the end of Qin, I became a son of the plane

Chapter 554: The Railway Network Plan for the Enfeoffment of Tianzhu and the Princes

October 32, 10nd year of the Han calendar

At the Jinyumantang Restaurant, shareholders of Tianzhu Trading Company gathered together.

Hu Hai held a report and said, "This year, Tianzhu has added 30 mu of cotton fields, which can increase the cotton production of Tianzhu by 15 dan. Even if the price of cotton has dropped to 2500 dan this year, it still increased our sales by nearly 1 million dan, and the profit increased by 2000 million. The local spice fields in Tianzhu have increased by 10 mu. The output value of this area is relatively small, with only an increase of 1 million in sales, but the profit is extremely considerable, increasing by nearly 5000 million dan. There are 10 kilograms of gems excavated, but the people of our Han Dynasty prefer jade. Although the production capacity has increased by % this year, the sales amount has decreased by %. Unless a new sales market is found, it is recommended to reduce the input of gems as much as possible to maintain the price."

"This year, due to the economic crisis, the number of imported laborers to Southeast Asia has greatly decreased, with less than 8 people, but the remittances from these laborers are extremely astonishing, reaching more than million. It seems that these Indian laborers have a good income in Southeast Asia." Hu Hai smiled calmly. Most of this money must be received through his Feihai Bank, and it can also increase the purchasing power of Zhengtianzu, which is a good thing for them.

Then Hu Hai talked about some data on land reclamation, bridge and road construction, and finally the commercial tax, land tax, and customs duty of Tianzu. To a certain extent, the Tianzhu Trading Company was the court of Tianzhu. In addition to maintaining the trading company's rule in Tianzhu, these taxes could also generate a surplus of 800 million yuan. Every shareholder present nodded with satisfaction.

Each of them earned about 200 million yuan in India, and the trading company still had a surplus of 800 million yuan. It is not an exaggeration to say that Hook was a working emperor.

At this time, Chen Zhi, who represented Xu Fan, said: "Tianzhu Trading Company is the most important raw material production base and commodity market of our Han Dynasty. Its infrastructure must also keep up, otherwise the cost of transporting thousands of tons of goods from Tianzhu every year will be too high."

Ji Yu hesitated and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Others also looked at Chen Zhi. They thought the court would give them a task to sell tens of millions of pieces of cloth like last time.

They are confident that they can accomplish this. After more than ten years of transformation, India has changed from the original aristocratic slave system to the current centralized feudal system. The feudal system is much more capable of producing wealth than the slave system. In just over ten years, more than 3000 million acres of land have been reclaimed in India, and the wealth of society has increased rapidly.

The Tianzhu Trading Company occupied a part of the land as a cash crop garden, and most of the land was distributed to the Tianzhu people. They finally had some spare money. The local purchasing power of Tianzhu has increased dramatically. 1000 million pieces of cloth may seem like a huge amount, but it is only to billion coins. The current size of Tianzhu can accommodate this amount of cloth.

But from what Chen Zhi said, they knew that this time the court did not want them to buy cloth.

Chen Zhi said: "We can build a railway in Tianzhu that runs through the entire Tianzhu Plain. In this way, the hundreds of millions of acres of fertile land in the Tianzhu Plain and the land within a radius of thousands of miles can all bring us benefits."

"Railway?" Everyone was stunned. This was a luxury even in the Han Dynasty. The cost of the track alone for one mile of railway was five million coins. Add to that the transportation and construction costs. Even if it was the Tianzhu Plain, where the terrain was flat, one mile would cost at least seven million coins.

Hu Hai's eyes lit up and he asked, "How many miles of railway does the court want to build in Tianzhu?"

Railways are a capital-intensive industry. If they want to build them, they must obtain loans and financing from banks. That’s how much business he has.

Chen Zhi said: "Of course, the more the better."

Hu Hai was delighted and said, "Although Tianzhu is smaller than the Han Dynasty, its core territory is no less than that of the Central Plains. Now the Han Dynasty has built 1 miles of railways in the Central Plains. According to this number, if Tianzhu wants to form a railway network, it must not be less than this number."

"Ahem!" Everyone was frightened by Hu Hai's ambition. He dared to say that a 1-mile railway would cost nearly billion yuan to build. Even if they subsidized all the money earned from Tianzhu and multiplied it tenfold, it would not be enough. They could support the court, but it was impossible for sellers to support the court like this.

Chen Zhi also suppressed his surprise and said, "The plan to build the railway should be carried out within the scope that everyone can accept."

Zhang Zhong said: "Brother Chen is right. Even if we have to pay the court back, we must do it within our means."

Wu Xiao said: "Why not use the surplus of Tianzhu's tax revenue this year to build the railway? These taxes are originally collected and spent by the people of Tianzhu. Now this can be regarded as taking from the people and using it for the people."

"That makes sense!" Each family would not get much from this tax, so they could use it to please the court.

But Hu Hai said, "To build a railway, you need a loan. Tianzhu Trading Company will use Tianzhu's tax revenue as collateral. Feihai Bank is willing to pay 24 billion or 25 billion yuan to build the railway. Tianzhu can at least build to miles of railway a year. This can be regarded as Feihai Bank's support for the court. The debt can be repaid with the revenue from the railway."

Chen Zhi said: “Yes!”

The other shareholder representatives thought about it and agreed. After all, they didn't have to pay for it, so if Hu Hai wanted to go crazy, let him go crazy.

Yan Palace.

Chen Zhi reported to Xu Fan the results of today's Tianzhu Chamber of Commerce meeting.

Xu Fan shook his head and said, "The vision of the merchants in the Han Dynasty is still too narrow. They have not yet emerged from the small peasant era. On the contrary, Hu Hai has been struggling for decades and has made his way out. He has become a bit of a financial capitalist."

How can railways not make money? Then why did the great powers in history compete to help us build railways? Did they want to do good deeds?

Then he looked at the operating bill of the Tianzhu Trading Company brought by Chen Zhi. The tax revenue was more than 30 billion, which was ranked among the top even among the princes of the Han Dynasty. In addition, they controlled a population of several million, which could be considered a big country in this era. It was indeed impossible to allow the Tianzhu Trading Company to continue operating. It was imperative to establish it as a vassal state. Xu Fan thought about it and decided to wait for his youngest son Xu Aijun to graduate from school and then enfeoff him to Tianzhu.

Then Xu Fan calculated in his mind that the consumption of three to five hundred miles of railway is about 10 tons of steel, which is less than one twentieth of the Han Dynasty's inventory. The Han Dynasty's 200 million tons of steel inventory requires the construction of 8000 miles of railway to consume.

Xu Fan gritted his teeth when he thought of this number. The wealth consumed by these railways was equivalent to the annual fiscal revenue of the Han Dynasty. It was obviously impossible for the Han Dynasty to build railways without doing other things. The private merchants of the Han Dynasty could not afford so much money because the allocation of funds for railways by the Han Dynasty was about 1:2. The investment of private merchants in the railways by the Han Dynasty exceeded billion yuan. In addition, now was a time of economic crisis, so they had even less money to invest in the railway industry.

At this time, other vassal states can only share the pressure, and at the same time eliminate some backward production capacity internally to maintain the supply and demand balance in the Han steel market.

Xu Fan finally felt the benefit of the vast territory. Is this the refreshing part of the British Empire? So what if there is overcapacity? We have plenty of land to absorb this capacity.

On October 32, the 10nd year of the Han calendar, the Assembly of Sages was held.

The sages of the entire Han Dynasty all called for the court to solve this economic crisis. This crisis made all the sages of the Han Dynasty extremely worried. Millions of unemployed people, if this happened during the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, the world would have been in turmoil.

However, Xu Fan was not there, but summoned all the princes of the Han Dynasty and their envoys in the Yan Palace.

On a huge map of the Han territory, a vast railway network was marked.

Xu Fan said, "If you want to get rich, you must first build roads. The people of the Han Dynasty are extremely eager for goods from all over the world. There is a great demand for all kinds of canned fruits, sugar, and various cash crops in Jiangnan. However, the poor conditions in Jiangnan have raised the prices of these goods. In Jiangnan, a common lychee may not cost a penny, but in Chang'an, it costs hundreds of pennies. How can ordinary people afford it? If the price of lychees can be reduced by ten pennies or even less, I believe that millions of people in Guanzhong will like to eat lychees." Mei Xuan said helplessly, "Lychees go bad too easily. Even if I use ice to suppress them, they can only be kept for a few days at most."

He felt that the emperor's words touched his heart. Mei Xuan's fiefdom was in Quanzhou, Fujian Province in later generations. This kind of geographical environment led to a saying among the people in later generations: eight mountains, one river, and one field. It was almost impossible for the Chinese people to feed themselves by farming.

Fortunately, after the Age of Exploration, supplying passing merchant ships became the main source of finance for Mei Xuan's fiefdom. Combined with the tea industry and short-distance fruit trade, the income was not small. However, most of Mei Xuan's people were from the Yue tribe, and their ability to make money was limited. Once the money was divided, everyone could only barely make ends meet.

The lychee trade was one of the pillar industries of the Mei Xuan vassal state. Every year when lychees were ripe, Mei Xuan would send people to pick fresh lychees, freeze them, and then transport them to Kuaiji County by ship to sell them to local people for consumption. However, because the transportation cost was too high, the selling price was also high. Even in Kuaiji County, local people could only buy a small amount, and they only earned tens of millions of hard-earned money every year.

Xu Fan took a model railway and laid it bit by bit from Jiujiang County, crossing mountains and ridges to connect to Mei Xuan's fiefdom. Then Xu Fan took a toy locomotive, added coal and water to it, and placed it in the middle of Mei Xuan's vassal state. Everyone watched the small train slowly move, all the way from the south into Guanzhong, and into Chang'an City.

"As long as the train is open, your lychees can be delivered to Chang'an in three days."

When Mei Xuan heard this, his eyes began to light up. The richest region in this era was Guanzhong. If this trade route was opened up, his Shanyue Kingdom would be able to become rich in no time.

There are tens of millions of the richest people in the world in Guanzhong. These people only eat 100 lychees a year. He earns one cent from each lychee, which is 10 billion cents. Mei Xuan can rise to the top overnight and become one of the richest princes in the Han Dynasty.

The train passed through the Qin Straight Road and turned to the Liaodong region.

Xu Fan said: "Liaodong has many more specialties. Even the most common Liaodong rice is a first-class luxury in Chang'an City. It's a pity that the people of Chang'an City can enjoy too little of this kind of rice."

Liaodong is a region that was developed relatively long by the Han Dynasty, but the main development sites are still along the coast and rivers. The high-quality specialties in the interior of Liaodong cannot be transported out at all. The logistics cost of this era is too high. It is so high that many profitable businesses cannot be done.

Just like what Xu Fan said, Liaodong rice is the most common food in Liaodong, but it is a luxury in the Han Dynasty. In Guanzhong, it costs 10 coins per stone, which is times the price of ordinary wheat. Such a high price also limits the sales of Liaodong rice.

Xu Xuan whispered to Lu Chen: "Brother Lu, we should indeed build a railway network in Liaodong that connects to the imperial court. Liaodong's poor road network makes it difficult for us to make money."

Lu Chen asked, "How much money have you saved over the years?"

Xu Xuan whispered, "The coat business has been booming over the years, so I've probably saved about 10 billion yuan."

Xu Xuan's fiefdom was located in the Greater Khingan Range area in later times. Even after so many years, there were still more wild beasts than people.

The main local specialties are various bear skin coats, deerskin boots, deer antlers, mink coats, etc. In the past two years, Xu Xuan went all the way deep into the Arctic region and discovered polar bears. In this era, white is the color of auspiciousness.

A white bearskin coat could cause a sensation in the Han Dynasty. The big merchants and nobles of the Han Dynasty loved this kind of white bearskin coat the most. One coat would be sold for hundreds of gold and still be sought after.

At the peak of the sales of polar bear fur coats, Xu Xuan made more than 300 million yuan a year. Of course, the consequence of this was that more than a dozen vassal states closest to the north of the Han Dynasty formed hunting teams one after another. Not only did the price of polar bear fur coats plummet, but the number of polar bears also decreased significantly.

Now, more than a dozen vassal states in the north have formed a price alliance for their own interests, selling hundreds of white bear fur coats every year. At the same time, they raise polar bears in their own vassal states in an attempt to achieve sustainable development.

Lu Chen said: "To connect all of our vassal states, we need at least 5000 miles of railways, which will cost tens of billions. I don't know if we can get enough even if we brothers pool our money together."

Xu Xuan said: "The court has interest-free loans. As long as the railway is opened, our income will naturally increase dramatically. By then, repaying the money will not be a problem."

Since the outbreak of the first economic crisis, the entire Han Dynasty has entered a buyer's market. All the princes of the Han Dynasty want to open up the Guanzhong market, for no other reason than that the Guanzhong market makes money.

Guanzhong's economy is extremely large, with a population of over ten million. The average salary of craftsmen exceeds fifty thousand, and the annual income of farmers is thirty thousand. According to the Han Monthly Report, the average income of Guanzhong people has reached a well-off level. This is an economic market with an annual output value of 3000 billion. As long as any of their goods are recognized by the people of Guanzhong, they can immediately become rich.

The Western Regions opened up the Guanzhong market and could earn tens of billions a year by selling oil, jade, agate, and cotton. The brothers who followed Ji Bu to survive in the dust and sand were now rich, and all the princes of the Han Dynasty were envious.

Lu Chen said, "Wait a minute, let's discuss this with other brothers. Now is an economic crisis, the price of rails is low, and the court is also giving us an interest-free loan. Such a good thing is hard to come by."

"As long as the imperial court provides interest-free loans, we, the princes of the Western Regions, are willing to build a railway connecting Chang'an." Jia Sheng said firmly.

The rise of the princes in the Western Regions was not smooth sailing. At the beginning, they did make a lot of money by trading in silk. However, after the sea route from India was opened, Han silk and cotton rarely went through the Western Regions. The carrying capacity of a sea vessel could exceed that of a camel caravan. Not to mention that the cost of sea transportation was only a few tenths, or even one percent, of that of a Western Region merchant caravan.

Due to competition from maritime merchants, the silk trade in the Western Regions shrank rapidly. If oil had not been discovered later, the princes of the Western Regions would have continued to suffer from the wind and sand. Later, relying on the wealth accumulated from oil, they developed cash crops such as cotton, and finally had two stable income channels.

However, the volumes of these two types of goods are very large, and if they want to sell them in large quantities, they cannot be sold as luxury goods. Therefore, they were the first among the princes of the Han Dynasty to apply for the construction of tracks. A few years ago, the princes of the Western Regions wanted the court to help them build railways.

The main railway line alone has a straight-line distance of more than 4000 kilometers. If the connected branch railways are added, the railways in the Western Region would have to be close to tens of thousands of miles long to form a railway network. Coupled with the harsh climatic conditions in the Western Region, the construction cost alone would be as high as hundreds of billions.

With such a high cost, even if the Han Dynasty court offered the most favorable interest, the Western Regions would have to repay tens of billions of interest every year. This interest alone was enough to crush all the vassal states in the Western Regions. That is why the Han Dynasty court rejected the idea of ​​the vassal states in the Western Regions to build railways.

And this time, the interest-free loan is a great thing for them, and they have no reason to reject the emperor's proposal.

Therefore, during the Sages' Meeting, the various princes of the Han Dynasty discussed with each other and submitted to the Han court the Liaodong railway network plan, the Jiangnan railway network plan, the Western Region railway network plan, and the Tianzhu railway network plan that Xu Fan had originally prepared.

As for the desert princes, their land is too vast and sparsely populated. The 1-mile railway can only barely cross the entire desert, let alone form a railway network. The Han army has penetrated 300 miles into the south of the desert in Jiuyuan County, Yanmen County, and Shanggu County, solving the problem of livestock sales for some herdsmen. The Han court is also powerless in other areas.

As for the territories of the princes in Shuzhong, the engineers of the Han Dynasty all shook their heads and said that they should build more plank roads first. However, despite their protests, a tunnel plan was made to blast a tunnel with black powder. This was an experimental project, but if the cost was right, the Han Dynasty would dig a tunnel to connect the entire Shuzhong.

The princes of the Han Dynasty's New World could only look on with envy at their older brothers' huge plans; their vassal states had only just been developed, and they lacked the human resources or financial resources to support their railway construction.

(End of this chapter)