Chengdu, Sichuan Governor's Mansion.
Today, Sichuan Governor Xiliang is receiving a distinguished guest in his mansion.
In China at this time, as long as a foreigner is a foreigner, he must be a distinguished guest, not to mention a foreigner who waves banknotes in his hands and brings rich gifts every time.
Xiliang said with some confusion: "Mr.
Kafur, you said that your Xingke Company is planning to build an iron factory in Weiyuan and build a road in Zhizhou."
Kafur, the public relations manager of Xingke Company, said politely: "Yes, Your Excellency Governor, our company plans to build a steel plant in Weiyuan.
Your Excellency, I heard that Sichuan is preparing to build a railway.
If our Weiyuan Steel Plant opens It will not only provide a large amount of steel, but also provide qualified rails for Sichuan's railways.
The number of rails required for a railway is not a small number.
Sichuan's transportation is inconvenient.
If it is transported from other provinces, the transportation cost alone will be very considerable."
This sentence immediately moved Xiliang.
He thought for a while and said, "Oh, I know that there are iron mines in Weiyuan, but it is inconvenient to develop there, so you have to set up a factory."
"The only inconvenience for development is bad roads.
Since we want to set up a factory there, of course we need to build roads.
So these two things are actually the same thing.
If the Governor agrees, our company is willing to give you one percent of the shares."
Kafur smiled and made the offer.
Among the bureaucrats of the late Qing Dynasty, Xiliang was considered a rare capable official.
He did many practical things during his tenure as governor of Sichuan, such as planning the Sichuan-Hankou Railway.
He was the most enthusiastic.
However, Xiliang did not agree immediately.
He said with an embarrassed look: "Mr.
Kafur, now our people are clamoring for the recovery of their rights, and I dare not agree to it."
At that time, China's nationalist sentiment was on the rise.
Politically, the bourgeois constitutionalists actively promoted and led the nationwide constitutional movement.
Economically, they strongly demanded the recovery of various rights seized by the foreign powers.
Therefore, the rights recovery movement that began in the early 20th century reached its climax between 1906 and 1911.
The so-called rights recovery movement was mainly the struggle to recover mineral rights and road rights, and from this developed into the road protection movement.
Among them, in 1906, Sichuan Province successively recovered the kerosene mineral rights of Baxian and Wanxian counties managed by the French businessman Lever Company, the mineral rights of Chongqing and other seven provinces undertaken by the French businessman Fuan Company, and the Tianquan and Mao mines run by the French businessman Fucheng Company.
Gong 2 County Hardware Mining Rights, the British Kaidong Company seized the rights to explore and manage Sichuan coal and oil mines, and the British Huaying Coal and Iron Company occupied the mining rights of the Jiangbeiting Coal and Iron Mine.
This is also a political achievement that Xiliang is quite proud of.
How could he agree to the Americans' mining request for the mining rights he had just recovered from Britain and France?
Isn't this a slap in the face?
Not to mention 1's dry shares, even 10's dry shares.
I don’t agree, and I dare not agree.
Although Xiliang also wants money, he still has a bottom line.
Kafur smiled and said: "Hahaha, you have misunderstood.
Our boss is Chinese.
Besides, we are different from those companies in Britain and France.
We are just a pure commercial company and do not represent the US government.
What we pursue is business. interests without any political strings attached.”
"In addition, if you are worried about public opinion, we can also do this.
We can re-establish a joint mining and metallurgical company.
You represent the Sichuan local government and invest in local mines and land.
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Our boss will invest in technology and equipment in his own name. , capital investment.
In this way, overseas Chinese businessmen return to China to run their own iron ore mines, which have nothing to do with the US government.”
"Yeah."
The Hanyang Iron Works cost a total of 5.83 million taels of silver.
Now that Lao Xi is planning a railway, he won't be able to afford so much even if he buys it himself.
If the railway is completed during the governor's term and a large-scale iron factory can be built, then his reputation may surpass Zhang Nanpi's.
Xiliang thought for a while and then said: "I will consider your proposal."
A week later.
"Humph, although wearing a foreign skin can save a lot of trouble, it also has a lot of shortcomings, but fortunately, it has finally been solved."
Wen Desi, who left the Governor's Mansion, couldn't help but sigh a little.
After Kafur's deception for several days, Xiliang finally relented, but asked to talk to Wen Desi in person, so Mr.
Wen had to make a trip to Chengdu.
It was still a pleasure to meet Xiliang.
Nonsense, after spending so much money and artificial gemstones, how can I be unhappy?
After all, with nearly 400 years of experience ahead of him, Wen Desi used the negotiation methods of later generations and soon stunned Xiliangkan.
Finally, the two parties reached an agreement to open Weiyuan Steel Plant in Weiyuan.
The agreement separated the steel plant and the mine.
The Sichuan local government invested in iron ore, coal mines and land, accounting for 30% of the shares.
Sichuan's private capital invested in the shares, accounting for 10%.
Wen Desi personally invested in technology, equipment and funds, accounting for 10% of the shares. 60 shares.
The coal mines in Longchang and Zizhong are also treated in the same way.
As for the steel plant itself, Wen Desi held 75% of the shares, the Sichuan local government mainly invested in land and other real estate, accounting for 15% of the shares, and the private gentry and the public held 10% of the shares.
It was also Wen Desi's idea to bring in the local gentry people in Sichuan.
There was no other way.
With the current nationalist sentiment of the Chinese people, it was impossible not to do this.
However, mines such as limestone, quartz sand, shale, and phosphate rock are much easier to handle.
In the eyes of people at the time, these things were of little value and were everywhere.
Wen Desi all held 80 shares, and Sichuan local government and private gentry each held 10 shares.
With the support of the government and local gentry, things would be much easier to handle, such as matters involving demolition, immigration, and land occupation.
It would be more troublesome if Wen Desi could only handle these things by himself.
Moreover, Wen Desi's trip to Chengdu, in addition to securing the mine, also had two unplanned gains.
The first is to obtain permission to build the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway.
Governor Xiliang knew very well how miserable the traffic situation in Sichuan was, otherwise he would not have planned the Sichuan-Hankou Railway.
However, railways are indeed difficult to repair.
There are too many things involved and the cycle is very long.
But roads are different.
This thing involves far less and the results are much faster.
In fact, Wen Desi never thought of building the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway at first.
He only planned to use the highway to connect several counties near Neijiang, entirely to facilitate communication in his industrial zone.
This matter was proposed by Xiliang himself.
Wen Desi invested and set up a factory in Sichuan without any political conditions, and was willing to pay to help him carry out political achievements.
Such a good person is really rare.
Mr.
Xiliang certainly does not want to miss this "taken advantage of".
So, he tentatively proposed the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway plan.
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Wen Desi was dumbfounded at the time.
He had never thought that the governor-general would even have the idea of "attracting investment."
Of course, this is also because of Mr.
Wen's status as an "overseas Chinese", otherwise Xiliang would not even be able to hide.
Of course Wen Desi would not refuse such a good thing brought to his door.
He immediately agreed to Xiliang's proposal and also suggested that he build the Chengdu-Chongqing Railway.
Second, he took advantage of the situation to persuade Xiliang to change the route of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway, canceling the original line from Wanxian to Yichang and changing it to pass through Ankang and Xiangfan, which was later known as the Xiangyu Line.
This is not a lie.
Wen Desi knew very well that the Sichuan-Hankou Line originally planned by the Qing court was a sinkhole, which could not be solved by existing technology at all.
Even with the technology of the early 21st century, this 600-kilometer line took 7 years to explore and 7 years to repair, and it took a total of 14 years to complete.
The average cost per kilometer is three times that of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.
This has still been revised.
Partial line results.
This line can be said to be one of the most difficult railways on earth.
With the current technology, it would be impossible to repair it even if it takes 50 years.
In fact, many experts opposed the construction of this line at the time, but Xiliang and the bureaucrats could not make up their minds to modify it.
After all, this line seemed to be much closer.
Now being fooled again by Wen Desi's experts, Xiliang finally wavered.
However, the new Sichuan-Hankou Line has undergone major changes and has to pass through Shaanxi.
He also has to coordinate with the officials in Hubei and Shaanxi.
However, Xiliang also agreed to the plan to build the Chengdu-Chongqing Line and the Neiwei Line first, to connect Chengdu and Chongqing, the two largest cities in Sichuan, and to facilitate the transportation of Weishan Iron and Steel's rails.
Of course, although Wen Desi obtained these big pies, he definitely couldn't eat them with his current appetite and lack of funds.
Therefore, Wen Desi did not fully blossom, but divided these things into several stages.
Mr.
Wen had already planned the financial issues involved.
He sent Balnazar and others to the United States not only to solve the identity issue.
"Mr.
Wen, after we solved the identity problem, we have applied for patents for the following items in your name in the United States according to the original plan: lighters, ballpoint pens, MSG, cigarette filters, cans."
Balnazar reported to Wen Desi who had just returned to Neijiang through his portable computer.
Wen Desi smiled and said: "Very good, your next step is to set up a company involving these patents in the United States, and I will send you more manpower."
These were all plans made after time travel.
The five patents including the lighter were the things Mr.
Wen used to solve the financial problem.
These things are simple to make and have no technical difficulty at all.
It is almost a conceptual problem.
Although these things are inconspicuous, the profits generated from them are amazing.
Among them, he is ready to completely monopolize three items: lighters, MSG and ballpoint pens, because these are brand-new things and brand-new markets.
As for the patents on cigarette filters and cans, in addition to his own use, he was prepared to license them to large manufacturers.
At that time, products such as cigarettes and beverages had long been divided up by those predators.
Under Wen Desi's current conditions, if he established a monopoly, he would not gain much benefit.
It would be better to earn patent fees after licensing, which would also bring the relationship with those predators closer.
Among the factories in the Menkantan Industrial Zone, the focus is on the production of lighters, cigarettes, MSG and ballpoint pens
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