Chapter 524 Steam Engine Stocks Overall, the Daming of Chongzhen's six years is still relatively calm, the damn Xiaoice River climate is still testing Daming, drought and locust plagues and hail are continuous, and the bad time of grain harvest in various places is heard from time to time, which is simply the rhythm of forcing people to death.However, in the Central Plains and Northwest China, where the disaster is most severe, there is already an outlet for this pressure that can crush a regime.People who can't survive can break into Kanto, Liaodong's needs for the population have not shown signs of stagnation for the time being, no matter whether there is a specialty or not, only a handful of strength, come to Liaodong without worrying about no food.Especially now, Liaodong has begun to prepare for the construction of railways, and there is simply no end to the construction of railways, recruiting a large number of people to repair cement roads and railways by hand, and providing relief through work, which not only allows the common people to have food to eat, but also improves the transportation conditions.The fastest-growing city in eastern Liaoning is naturally Jinzhou, and the fastest growing heavy industry is Haizhou and Gaizhou, because there is the lower reaches of the Liaohe River to the sea, and the water flow is strong, which can use resources.Along the banks of the Liaohe River, a large number of cement mills, steel mills, textile mills, and of course flour mills were built, and now almost no one in Liaodong eats the original wheat porridge, that is, the wheat is poured into the pot and cooked like rice porridge.A large number of sweet potatoes and potatoes are also processed into flour, of course, it should be starch to be precise, but the problem is that it is customarily called starch.The most developed industries in Golden State are still textile mills, garment factories, distilleries, caramel processing factories, and feed mills......
The whole city is a giant factory, producing a constant stream of goods.The most strange thing for Quan Xu is that in the past, few people in Daming bought clothes outside, especially ready-to-wear, and basically bought cloth to make it themselves, however, the industrial development of Liaodong has also changed people's living habits.A woman who can make clothes can earn at least thirty or fifty copper coins for a day in a textile factory, which is more than one or two silver in a month, and from cutting to sewing, a piece of clothing can be made for seven or eight days, to say the least, but that kind of ready-to-wear is sold cheaply and affordably.Unknowingly, there are various ready-to-wear stores in Golden State, but most of them are customized business scope.The streets and alleys are still very prosperous, and the cars are like flowing water, but the careful people must be able to find that in the streets and alleys, there is not a single figure with a head and a face, and those big people have been pulled to a meeting by Quan Xu.In fact, since the successful transportation of the steam engine train, the Thomas train has become almost an exhibit, running almost 24 hours a day, except for adding coal and water and regular maintenance.Of course, Liaodong's industry began to see the basic rules, and in just five days, the 3.8-kilometer-long railway was extended to 5.7 kilometers.Fortunately, the construction materials are ready, and the roadbed is also ready, at such a speed, it can only be said that this is really the speed of Liaodong.Today's steam engine trains can pull 16 carriages, load more than 1,600 tons of grain, and run at speeds of 50 or 60 kilometers per hour.China's coal trains are generally about 10,000 tons, and the largest Qinling Railway has as many as 20,000 tons of charcoal.This is efficiency, and the train is not like a horse, which needs to eat, drink, sleep, and fill up with water and coal, and then it can run with a hula and a hula, and it seems to have endless strength.What made the businessmen very unhappy was that Quanxu, the steam engine train, was unwilling to sell, and all the businessmen and chambers of commerce began to gather together to connect and communicate, and some people even proposed to petition Quanxu.Fortunately, there are no brain-dead people in Liaodong, and they are willing to be tough with Quan Xu.The original five-day meeting was delayed due to other trivial matters, and it was not until April 24, the sixth year of Chongzhen, that this special meeting on steam engine trains was officially held!
Quan Xu thought about being the iron boss himself, not letting those businessmen interfere, building his own railways, building his own steam engine trains, managing it himself, and then monopolizing railway traffic.After the actual calculation of this problem, Quan Xu sadly found that there was no possibility of execution, although he got more than 600 tons of silver from Luzon, which was a huge fortune.Iwami Ginzan can still get at least more than a million taels there, but after calculation, it is found that on average, the construction cost of every kilometer of railway is 3,000 taels.It is nearly twice as much as the cement highway, not to mention, this is only the cost of building the plain terrain, the railway can not only run on the plain terrain, but also need to pass through mountains and rivers, and the construction of the railway also requires the demolition of the people, as well as the construction of bridges, digging culverts, which is even more significant.When encountering a mountain, the cost of digging a culvert is estimated to cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, or even hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, as well as countless bridges.If you want to eat alone, this is not okay, you have to pull other people to do it together, but Quan Xu must have the dominance.In order to discuss the strategic plan, Quanxu could only postpone the special meeting again and again.On April 24 of the sixth year of Chongzhen, all the representatives from all over the country arrived in Liaodong, of course, there was no way to distance Taiwan and Luzon for the time being, and the railway was built to Taiwan, and Quan Xu did not know what year it was.As the former center of the Southern Liaoning Parliament, the venue where one or two thousand people can sit is densely packed and full.To build such a large venue, if there is no amplification equipment, Quan Xu has no way to directly hold a meeting with everyone, and can only convey it level by level.As everyone took their seats, the entire conference center was like 10,000 flies flying, and the situation was so lively."
Master Hou has arrived!"
One or two thousand representatives from all walks of life stood up neatly and bowed: "Meet the Hou Ye under the door!"
”"No courtesy, sit down!"
After all, he is not a soldier, and it took half a column of incense to even sit down.Quan Xu took the microphone and said straight to the point: "First of all, Ben Hou will explain to you why the locomotive can't be sold to you. ”This is the most relevant question for everyone, after all, they all want to have their own railroad, to have their own train."
You also know that this steam engine train can't run on the road, it can only run on the track, this kind of track that can be built, I'm afraid you don't know much about this cost, after the calculation of our professionals, to build a thousand steps of railway, you need to invest at least six thousand taels of silver, you do the math yourself, how much does it cost to build a railway?"
Hearing Quan Xu's words, everyone began to talk about each other.Even if it is a rich man with a net worth of tens of millions, it does not mean that he can take out 10 million taels of silver, which is inevitable, and the prices of the Ming Dynasty are particularly fixed assets, which are quite valuable, such as the paddy fields in the south of the Yangtze River, an acre of silver needs more than a dozen taels of silver.Even the dry fields in the north cost seven or eight taels of silver the next day.One million acres is 10,000 acres, and owning 10,000 acres of fertile land is worth tens of millions.What's more, those shops and houses are not cheap."
Therefore, the cost of building the railway is not something that any one person can bear, which requires Benhou to come forward and be planned and built by the government in a unified manner!"
Quan Xu continued: "Of course, after the railway is built, it doesn't mean that whoever wants to run can run as much as they want, this is different from the highway, the highway, everyone sees the car in front, you can slow down, you can make it, but the steam train is so heavy, the brakes are too late, in case it hits it at that time, it will be destroyed and killed, and the losses will be heavy."
In order to improve the efficiency of transportation, it can only be unified scheduling and reasonable arrangement, so this train cannot be sold to individuals!
”At this time, everyone understood.Quan Xu continued: "Of course, things are not absolute, for example, someone in the deep mountains and old forests, found an iron mine, there is no coal mine near the mine, the conditions for on-site refining are insufficient, the current way is to temporarily stop mining, but after there is a train, it can be transported, if a certain firm is willing to fund the construction of a special mineral patent, it can also be allowed, provided that this kind of train can not run at will, even if it belongs to a certain firm, it must also accept the general dispatch of the Ministry of Railways."
At the same time, in the event of wartime, the whole family army has the right to call the trains and railways of the various merchants!
”Quan Xu patiently explained to the delegates the reasons why the train could not be sold, and at the same time, the management content of the railway operation and so on......
It took Quan Xu half an hour to accept everyone's questions, and finally explained all these questions.The merchants put forward a question they were most concerned about, so how to use the railway, if the merchants competed with each other, they could completely use the railway transportation to get stuck in each other's necks."
Railway transportation, the future transportation rules are subject to time, for example, the train departs at noon, and the purchased ticket, once the vehicle is issued, it should not be refunded!"
Speaking of which, Quan Xu finally threw out today's highlight."
Ben Hou decided to establish Daming Railway Co., Ltd., and everyone can participate in the operation of this railway company!"
Quan Xu looked at the crowd: "The total share capital of this railway company is 10 million shares, 30 taels of silver per share, and the technology of Benhou Liaonan Steam Locomotive Factory and Railway Construction Company is not much, right?"
”"Not much!""
Ben Hou will buy one million shares for 30 million taels of silver from Quan's Qianzhuang, Ben Hou will hold 50 percent of the shares, and the remaining 9 million shares can be freely subscribed by everyone!"
In fact, the enthusiasm that made Quan Xu imagine did not appear, and the reaction of everyone was quite flat.The key is pricing, which makes people not very satisfied.There's no way around it, Quan Xu doesn't care, he's willing to play with him, he's already set the rules, and if he's not willing to play, then please.Huizhou businessman Cheng Jingxian was the first to respond to Quan Xu's call, he took out 300,000 taels of silver and bought 10,000 shares, and other businessmen were either thousands of taels of silver or tens of thousands of taels of silver.As the meeting broke up, trains, stocks, and steam engines became the talk of the town.Quan Xu was very calm: "The opportunity is in front of you, whether you can grasp it or not, that's everyone's problem!"
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