Make France Great Again

"Next, we will quietly wait for the struggle between Prime Minister Barrow and the Constituent Assembly. It must be a very exciting fight!!"

Jerome Bonaparte, who wished that the party of Order and the republican Montagne could lose both sides, showed a gloating expression. If two tigers fight, they will die. Jerome Bonaparte turned into a tiger-fighting hero and put an end to the sick tiger of the Party of Order.

When the time comes, some "meat" is torn off from the Party of Order and a part of the republicans to feed it to the suckling tiger of the Bonapartists, and the Bonapartists will thrive and become a sharp knife in his hands.

After watching the theater, Jerome Bonaparte still has not forgotten the series of problems he will face in the future. Launching a coup does not mean the focus, but a new starting point.

Now he has to make some preparations for this new starting point, such as...

Jerome Bonaparte turned his attention to Morny and said, "Mr. Morny, what do you think about railways?"

"Railway?" Morni was stunned by Jerome Bonaparte's sudden inquiry, and he waited for a long time before responding and said step by step: "I think the railway is a huge project that requires a lot of investment. Only funds can be built! The maintenance cost invested after construction will be an astronomical figure..."

Morny talked endlessly about his negative views on the railway, and Jerome Bonaparte's eyes flashed with disappointment.

Of course, Jérôme Bonaparte did not intend to criticize Morny’s negative railway policy. Judging from the experience of later generations of railways, railways have no intention of promoting the formation of a favorable cycle between rural and urban areas in France. In layman’s terms, In other words, it is to expand the internal circulation of France.

We must know that France in the 19th century was still a dual and closed environment between urban and rural areas. The industrial products in the city could not be transported to the countryside for the use of the peasants in the countryside, and the peasants in the countryside were also unable to transport food to the big cities. Regional food prices have had wildly disparate effects.

Especially in 1847, it was obvious that there was a serious shortage of bread in Paris, but the flour in areas far away from the Seine region remained below the French price level.

Guizot, who was unable to allocate large amounts of flour from other provinces to Paris, could only try to buy the Tsar's bread. The bread under high tariffs frustrated the workers in Paris, which triggered the February Revolution.

If we put aside the railway experience of later generations and focus on the present, it is not difficult to understand Morni's negative railway policy.

The speculative movement that started in Britain in 1845 infected the entire European continent like a plague. The stock exchanges in London, Paris, Frankfurt, and Brussels had record highs in railway debts every day. As soon as the main lines were planned, they were put into the exchanges as stocks During the period, many people flocked to buy up the bonds in the stock market, and the booming railway bubble grew bigger and bigger in the crazy speculation. Finally, in 1847, the Irish potato crisis broke out, which became the fuse that detonated the railway bubble. Iron-related bonds It fell by about 40% overnight, and the Great Western Bank, which holds the largest number of railway claims, was almost in danger of bankruptcy.

The explosion of the British Railways bubble was like the collapse of the first domino. The Prussian, Austrian, and French railway companies also went bankrupt one after another, and many planned routes were also forced to suspend operations.

If it weren't for the French government's good habit of covering the bottom line since ancient times, the entire French Railway Company would have been wailing all over the place.

The railway company, which barely survived, was still facing the crisis of nationalization last year. If it hadn't been for the sudden outbreak of the June Revolution, the railway company might need the government to continue to cover the bottom line.

Based on the pessimistic outlook of the entire railway industry, it is not difficult to understand Morny's negative remarks.

understanding is understanding,

Jerome Bonaparte still had to continue to implement his plan.

After Morny recounted all the negative railway policies he had racked his brains, Jerome Bonaparte said: "Mr. Morny, all the things you said just now are based on economics. From an economic point of view, building a railway is indeed a thankless task! What if we look at it from a political point of view?"

"From a political point of view?" Morny's eyes widened. He didn't seem to understand what Jerome Bonaparte meant.

"Let me tell you that!" Jerome Bonaparte took out a green crystal dipped pen placed on a mahogany table and drew a coordinate system on the paper. The x-axis marked the stability and the y-axis marked employment. rate, a 45-degree slash is drawn from 0, "The stability of Paris depends on its employment rate. Our government has just experienced two civil wars and is in an extremely unstable stage! If we want to make Paris stable, we must The workers in Paris must have something to do! The railway is precisely a project that can increase the employment rate, drive the cooperation of the upstream and downstream industrial chains, and at the same time be profitable!"

"But we..." Morny still had some concerns. The crisis in 1947 made Morny feel lingering fear.

Jerome Bonaparte saw Morni's concerns, he patted Morni on the shoulder and said: "The incident in Britain, in the final analysis, is just because all the companies rushed into the railway, and then planned it indiscriminately." Caused by the route! As long as we can regulate the route of the railway, we can completely eliminate these difficulties by carefully screening each company! Don’t forget, our public works department also has a secret force!”

Morni suddenly remembered that the Ministry of Public Works also had a road and bridge force known as the Railway Emperor. These national engineers who were mainly responsible for railway approval were not only excellent railway planners, but also a daring interest group. .

Since the first day of the French Railway in 1823, the Road and Bridge Force has been confronting the private operating company on the issue of the nationalization of the French Railway.

Although they were defeated in 1845, their power did not suffer any loss.

"We can design a railway committee in the Ministry of Public Works, delineate some qualified companies to license and issue stocks, and discuss the issue of railway transportation prices with the financial department..." Jerome Bonaparte described the French Railway 40 years later The plan came out, "We can also announce to the outside world that all railways are in the form of public-private partnerships. In this way, the hearts of the citizens are also guaranteed!"