Rebirth of the Spanish Empire.

Chapter 28 When the railway tender is in progress

The next morning,

After receiving Alfonso's order, Misty immediately prepared the latest issue of Globo and published the policy on the railway bidding of the Royal Spanish Government in the newspaper.

It is used to attract the big capitalists and nobles in society to invest in railway construction.

The Royal Government of Spain officially divides the national railway transportation network into:
  There are four parts: the capital central transportation line, inland transportation line, coastal transportation line, and border transportation line.

The railway transportation network of the Kingdom of Spain spreads throughout the country with the capital Madrid as the center.
  Major cities on the southeastern coastline, including Barcelona, ​​Valencia, Murcia and Malaga, are set as main stations.

Large cities on the northwest coastline, including A Coruña, Gijon, and Bilbao, are set as main stations.

Inland large cities such as Ourense, Leon, Zaragoza, Badajoz, Salamanca, Cordoba and Seville are set as main stations.

The coastline of the Kingdom of Spain is basically connected to a line.

The French border section also consists of the railway transportation line mainly Barcelona-Zaragoza-Bilbao.

The Portuguese border consists of the railway transportation line mainly Ourense-Salamanca-Badajos-Seville-Cadiz.

Major city sites link towns and villages in various regions of the Kingdom of Spain, while the capital Madrid links major city sites.

Alfonso looked at the map of the completed railway transportation network of the Kingdom of Spain, as if it was like a large spider web dotted with small spider webs.

The Kingdom of Spain has a new railway plan of 2.45 kilometers, which, together with the original 0.5 kilometers, will bring the total mileage of railway transportation in the Kingdom to 3 kilometers.

If the construction is completed, the Kingdom of Spain will surpass the British Empire and the French Republic with its 3 kilometers of railway transportation.

After the German Empire, it became the second largest country in Europe and the third largest country in the world.

(The number one in the world at this time is the United States of America. Americans are far ahead in the world with a total railway transportation mileage of 12.5 kilometers.

The construction of the first major railroad in the United States that ran through the north and south of the country was completed, and this was thanks to the Chinese from China.

The original construction time of the North-South Railway was 14 years, but due to the hard work of about 1.5 Chinese workers, the actual construction time of the railway only took 4 years.

Therefore, the Chinese had a huge contribution to the completion of the North-South Railway in the United States.

During the same period of time, it took 15 years for the New York railroad to be built by white people, while the original construction time of the New York railroad was 10 years.

So it can be seen that the Chinese people's diligence and hard work are among the best in the world. )
  …………

Since then, the railway transportation planning of the Kingdom of Spain has been completely completed. The Government of the Kingdom of Spain has released various railway lines across the country and openly invited bids from countries across Europe.

Originally, Alfonso planned to only use domestic entrepreneurs for construction, but this would greatly extend the time for railway construction.

Moreover, in this era of the 19th century, there were countless railway tycoons in Europe. If foreign capital could be attracted to invest, the process of building railways would be greatly accelerated and the time for railway construction would be shortened.

Therefore, in order to attract railway tycoons from other European countries to come and invest.

Alfonso specially set up a bidding center in the center of Madrid. Railway sections from all over the country were displayed on the stage of the bidding center in Madrid.

At that time, the sloppy cooperation between the big capitalists and parliamentarians in the UK was well known to everyone.

In order to obtain a prosperous railway line, the big capitalists bribed the honest MPs of the British Empire by any means.

Now through public bidding and auction, we can effectively prevent such things from happening.

…………

After a few days,
  News that the Spanish government has introduced people, land, and policies to encourage foreign capital to invest in railways in the Kingdom of Spain has spread throughout the European continent.

Although the minimum standard for the actual valuation of the railway makes their investment larger, because there is no need to worry about manpower and land, the Royal Spanish Government will provide it for them.

Coupled with the temptation of preferential policies from the Kingdom of Spain, it has attracted a lot of foreign capital to invest.

Therefore, capitalists from various European countries poured into the Kingdom of Spain to compete for investment in railway construction.

Although the Kingdom of Spain will not give them actual management rights, the temptation to get profits by just paying money is still quite tempting for them.

At the railway bidding office in the center of Madrid, sections of railway are being competed by various capitalists for quotations.

Major railway transportation lines such as Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Valencia and Seville have been reserved by large consortiums.

Some capitalists in Spain have also begun to gather at the railway bidding office in Madrid, but only a handful of them can effectively fight against large consortiums such as Germany, Britain, and France.

Most small and medium-sized capital always choose regional railway transportation lines.

For example, the Leon and Ourense regions, although they are located inland and the income is not as good as that of several big cities on the coast, they are still relatively safe investments.

The bidding for railway transportation lines is in full swing, and the Royal Spanish Government has also stepped up contact with European railway designers to step up the design of railway transportation lines. This time the Kingdom of Spain has expanded nearly a hundred railway transportation lines, large and small.

As an excellent railway designer can ensure the quality of railways, students majoring in railway design at school are also required to participate in learning together.

Because this is a rare practical opportunity, with the arrival of world-famous railway constructors, railway students can follow them to gain knowledge and experience.

Thus, a large number of railway designers were trained for the Kingdom of Spain, so that the Kingdom of Spain would not be subject to the restrictions of other countries.

In Europe in the 19th century, there were many professionals building railways. As long as they could pay a minimum wage, there was no shortage of designers and engineers.

As for the steel needed to build railways, the four large-scale steel plants that the Germans had helped to build before also began to work hard to make rails.

The standard size of the railway tracks built is 1688mm, which is called the Spanish Kingdom gauge.

In short, it is definitely much better than the current horse-butt gauge. Horse-butt gauge is most suitable for island countries, while broad gauge is most suitable for mainland countries.

Therefore, there is no problem in production technology, but steel production is limited after all, so importing from abroad is still essential.

In addition to the production of rails, the major steel plants in the Kingdom of Spain also need to expedite the production of "Monarch" class battleship armor.

Although the technical content between the two is very different and cannot be compared, they still have an impact on steel production.

It can be said that the technology, materials and funds have been almost solved, but the most important issue of workers has only begun to take preliminary steps.

You must know that Alfonso's goal is not as simple as recruiting 10,000 or 20,000 Moroccans.

Recruiting hundreds of thousands of Moroccan talents is the ultimate goal, whether it is the construction of railways or the construction of some highly dangerous projects.

Alfonso decided to replace the Spaniards with Moroccans.

For example, ore mining, and later oil mining, when the technology is not enough to ensure personal safety, using the lives of civilians in other countries is undoubtedly a good way, although it may be a bit cruel to the Moroccans.

But who called Alfonso the king of the Kingdom of Spain?
  The amount of labor must not cause a large-scale unemployment wave in society, so this still needs to be controlled by the Spanish government.

The first heavyweight investor in railway construction in the Kingdom of Spain was the Vanderbilt family from the United States.

This railroad tycoon family from the United States directly invested in major railway transportation lines along the entire southeast coast.

The entire Barcelona-Valencia-Malaga railway line was owned by the Vanderbilt family.

The price for all this section of the railway being assigned to their family: in addition to the high cost, the railways extending from these cities to inland towns and rural areas were also handed over to them for construction.

The main railway transportation line in such a developed area is handed over to you, and naturally there will be additional conditions attached.

The Government of the Kingdom of Spain is not a prodigal son, and the Vanderbilt family will not think that there will be a good thing like pie in the sky.

Within a few days, the Carnegie Steel Company from Scotland announced that it had acquired almost half of the railway transportation lines from Madrid to major cities, and as a price, it also contracted to build some mountain railways in backward inland areas.

After the two blockbuster deals were reached, the local capitalists and nobles of the Kingdom of Spain finally began to exert their efforts.

They successively won orders for railway construction in cities on the northwest coast of the Kingdom of Spain and from the capital Madrid to Zaragoza and Baljos.

At this time, all the large and small railway lines in Spain have been taken over by capitalists, and the remaining railway transportation lines in remote and backward areas can only be invested and constructed by the Royal Spanish Government.

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At this time, Alfonso was struggling with how to manage these Moroccans. The Kingdom of Spain currently only has a standing army of 16 people, of which 4 are stationed in the border areas.

However, at this time, the two cavalry divisions of the Kingdom of Spain did feel a little abandoned by the times.

Alfonso quickly made up his mind. With the advent of the Maxim machine gun, the cavalry, the main force, inevitably began to decline.

However, the construction of railways will inevitably scatter laborers, and the high mobility of cavalry is more conducive to guarding laborers.

"Inform Arsenio and let the two cavalry divisions he is responsible for manage the Moroccan laborers and manage them according to the standards of the previous colonies."

For this group of workers from Morocco, Alfonso planned to let them accumulate construction experience.

After the advent of the automobile, roads will inevitably be built within the Kingdom of Spain, and Alfonso is also prepared to let the Moroccans build these.

After all, every Spanish citizen is extremely important to the current Kingdom of Spain.

Therefore, important projects that endanger personal safety should be left to these Moroccans to build!

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(End of this chapter)