My Italy

Li Zhongtang's words clearly meant that Jia Liwen was having a whim. As for Li Zhongtang's accusation, Jia Liwen was not angry at all. As long as it could benefit the kingdom, he could dance for Li Zhongtang on the table.

"Your Excellency Zhongtang, it is actually very simple to promote this matter. As long as your court agrees, then the construction of the railway will not be a problem."

Seeing that Jia Liwen did not give up and continued to persist, Li Zhongtang felt that it was necessary to give up this idea.

"Minister Jia, it is extremely difficult to get the court to agree to build a railway. Many officials in our country still follow the tradition. They are unwilling to see the emergence of new things like railways, especially in the court. "I have already worked hard to build a 160-mile-long Tianjin-Gu railway. It is simply impossible for the imperial court to agree to a large railway running from north to south."

Faced with Li Zhongtang's experience, Jia Liwen would not give up. You must know that this task is of great importance. The Prime Minister and the King are paying close attention to it, which will directly affect his career.

"Li Zhongtang, according to the old saying in your country, it all depends on manpower. The construction of the railway is of great benefit to your country. Although there are objections, I believe people who know it can see it clearly."

Jia Liwen then took out his trump card. "If your country refused to build the railway before because it was unclear about the interests in this area, and now it refuses because of the obstruction of conservative officials, but I believe that Your Excellency Zhongtang, as well as your emperor and the empress dowager are enlightened and know our country's sincerity. "

As he spoke, Jia Liwen took out a document from his briefcase and handed it to Li Zhongtang. "Your Excellency Zhongtang, our country's sincerity is here. I believe this will help your country improve the accuracy of its judgment."

Li Zhongtang took the document and looked at it immediately. The first condition of the document surprised him.

"Is your country planning to jointly build a railway with our country?"

What surprised Li Zhongtang was that he knew that seeking the right to build railways had other purposes, such as the right to mine minerals for 20 kilometers along the railway line, and the right to garrison troops. The Qing court was not a fool, and of course it did not want other countries to do so. The great powers used the railway to extend their reach to various places along the route, so they strongly opposed it.

In addition, railway construction requires borrowing, and the interest is not cheap, which also puts pressure on the Qing government's finances.

In the document presented by Minister Jia, Italy had already considered it. In the name of Italian Railways, it would seek cooperation with the Qing government to jointly establish the Qing Dynasty Railway Corporation. Italy would spend 1,500 yuan. To invest ten thousand taels of silver, you only need to occupy 49% of the shares of the Qing Railway Company. The Qing government does not need to pay. It only needs to provide land to occupy 25% of the shares. The remaining 26% of the shares will be sold in the Qing market. People buy.

It can be said that the Qing government could obtain a railway company with a market value of more than 30 million taels without paying a penny. How could this kind of direct profit be rejected by the Qing government, which was under huge financial pressure?

Even if there are conservative officials, they will be blocked by others who want to profit. After all, how can those 26% of the shares really fall into the hands of the people? Officials at all levels can carve them up. Of course for Italy to come up with such a document, it all comes from a man whose memory is hereafter. He knows very well what is taboo in this era, and it is not difficult to prescribe the right medicine.

"Your Excellency Zhongtang, this document has made it very clear."

After receiving Jia Liwen's affirmation, Li Zhongtang continued reading.

It’s amazing to read this. This document is even bolder than what Minister Jia said. The newly formed Daqing Railway Company must have the road construction rights for what Minister Jia called Tianjin-Guangzhou or Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, Tianjin-Puzhou Railway, Longhai Railway, and Nanjing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway. To this end, the Kingdom of Italy is willing to donate an arms quota worth ten million taels of silver and five million taels of cash silver.

Li Zhongtang was jealous of such a generous gift. Of course, as the main force of the domestic army, the Huai Army can also share a lot of profits.

Zhou Fu looked at this generous gift and swallowed.

As for Li Zhongtang, he pointed to a section of the document and said. "It is a bit difficult to build a road on the Jinpu Line. It is related to the water transportation of the imperial court, and there will be criticism in the court."

Yes, Li Zhongtang has changed his attitude, from refusing at the beginning to making suggestions for Jia Liwen.

And the water transportation he was referring to was related to the interests of many people in the capital.

Yes, even though Jiangnan materials can now be transported by sea, interests dictate that the annual water transportation still proceeds as scheduled. Boating on the canal in autumn brought grain and rice to the capital. It provided food and clothing for more than 100,000 people, and was also the source of income for many powerful people in the capital. However, the construction of the Jinpu Line railway will definitely hinder it.

Faced with Li Zhongtang's words, Jia Liwen immediately replied. "Your Excellency Zhongtang, can you convert these inland waterworks into road construction workers, solve their livelihood first, and for the nobles who receive the benefits, can you exchange them for railway stocks?"

Jia Liwen's words seemed to have been worked hard and he planned to lure him with benefits.

After listening, Li Zhongtang nodded. "The method is good, but there are still several problems that need to be solved..."

Well, Li Zhongtang began to fill in the gaps.

After solving these problems one by one, Li Zhongtang asked a question. "Mr. Jia, I really don't have the confidence to promote such a grand railway construction with my own efforts."

What Li Zhongtang said is not nonsense. The road construction rights of these railways in the hands of the Daqing Railway Company, which has not yet disappeared, anyone with a little discernment will know how tempting it is. Such a huge benefit is difficult for him to rely on alone.

Faced with Li Zhongtang's worries, Jia Liwen replied. "Please rest assured Li Zhongtang, of course our country will not let you succeed alone. I have discussed it with the Governor of Liangjiang Zhang Zhidong and the Governor of Hu Guang Tan Jixun (Tan Sitong's father), and they will definitely agree. In addition, Li Zhongtang's brother Governor Li also believes I’ll agree too.”

At this time, Zhang Zhidong was transferred to Liangjiang because of Liu Kunyi's death from illness. He also supported the construction of the railway. However, if he wanted to make a public statement, Jia Liwen promised that when the railway was built, he would purchase steel from the Hanyang Iron Works. . With help from Italy, the problem of excessive sulfur content in Dazhi Iron Mine was finally solved (a desulfurization equipment was added.

As Zhang Zhidong's political achievement, Hanyang Iron Works, which has been losing money, is his heartache. If he can get the order from the railway company in advance, he is naturally willing to help, not to mention that the railway will also connect to three towns in Wuhan and Nanjing, which is currently under his rule. city.

As for Tan Jixun, who has a very bad relationship with Zhang Zhidong, it is equally easy to handle. Although he is old-fashioned, he has a good impression of Italy, which helps the court fight. After Jia Liwen's repeated visits, Governor Tan agreed.

As for Li Zhongtang's brother Li Hanzhang, Li Da is very capable, but his biggest ability is greed.

There were several famous corrupt officials among the Huai clique, and someone made up a formula, saying: "Tu Zongying stole; Liu Bingzhang looted; Pan Dingxin cheated; but Li Hanzhang did it in the right way." Tu, Liu, and Pan were all involved in corruption and bribery. They were shameless and clumsy in asking for money, so they were looked down upon by others. However, Hanzhang was praised as "a gentleman loves money and gets it in a good way." It can be seen that "a thief also has a good way." "This sentence is really not said casually.

One year, on Hanzhang's birthday, a man named Yang gave him a gift of 10,000 taels. Yang was originally the cook of Li Hongzhang's family. He "had accumulated military merits and was guaranteed to be an admiral". However, he only had an empty title and no actual duties. I heard that the Li family was rich. The master can arrange to fill the vacancy and quickly collect enough money to come to Guangzhou to "run an official position." Without saying a word, Hanzhang appointed him as an imperial defense commander.

When Yang arrived, he inquired about it and found out that the monthly salary of this position was only 300 yuan and there was no money or money. To recover the investment, it would take at least three years and the rate of return was so low. If he had known what kind of official he would be! Yang went to the governor's house to complain. When Hanzhang heard this, he cursed "idiot" and ignored him, asking his servant to enlighten him.

The doorman called him aside and said: "My lord asked you to be an official, but he didn't ask you to live on a salary. Don't you have so many supervisory positions under you? Let me tell you, now you want to be a supervisory person But the sea is gone. Can't your elm head be enlightened?"

After hearing this, Yang realized the truth and returned to the camp. He fired all existing supervisors and "bidd" for all vacant positions. In a few days, not only the cost was recovered, but also a net profit of three thousand.

There were many people like Yang who paid bribes to buy officials, but Hanzhang allowed them to "not lose money", thus gaining the reputation of "getting them in the right way". Hanzhang was also able to compare his feelings with his own. In his thirty years as an official, he had never accused anyone of being "greedy and cruel." He was nicknamed "Buddha in the Official World."

Li Day's greed has gone beyond the realm of greed.

Okay, enough gossip, after getting Jia Liwen's guarantee, Li Zhongtang made a plan.

He first requested funding from the imperial court on the grounds that the armies suffered heavy losses after the war and needed to be replenished.

Li Zhongtang's request was naturally rejected by Weng Shangshu.

Later, Li Zhongtang requested funding from the court on the grounds that he still owed 8 million taels to Italian foreign soldiers. This involved borrowed foreign soldiers, so Weng Shangshu naturally did not dare to reject it like this. He could only find a way to allocate 5 million taels after several wranglings and asked Li Zhongtang to raise 3 million taels himself.

At this time, after receiving the news, all the Qing army troops immediately went into an uproar, shouting that the court was unfair and demanding that one should not favor one over another. If it were in the early and mid-Qing Dynasty, this kind of behavior would immediately lead to suppression, but today is different from the past, and now the court does not dare to bear the reputation of being unkind. We can only ask Weng Shangshu to allocate funds, but now Weng Shangshu has no money, the money is all in Li Shu's hand, so Weng Shangshu, who can't get the money, is in trouble.

At this time, Minister Jia Liwen stood up. Since the Qing Dynasty caused such an incident due to money problems, Italy felt a little sorry. The money should be given to your country's army. Italy does not want it.

The Qing court was greatly appreciated by everyone in the Qing Dynasty for being so considerate in the face of Italy.

At this time, Li Zhongtang stood up and expressed his position. Italy is so upright and upright, and is so kind to our country, so we can't help but express our opinions.

Li Zhongtang's words also attracted praise from the whole court. Even the Queen Mother said that such a kind and friendly friend cannot be let go.

Okay, now I just ask you what the Italians want.

Minister Jia Liwen later said that the Qing government was already heavily in debt due to the war, and Italy did not need the money. I just hope to build a railway with the Qing Dynasty and get some benefits.

Subsequently, the regulations for the establishment of the Qing Railway Company that had been prepared long ago were given to the Qing court.

This Italian request shocked the Qing court, not because it was too much, but because they did not expect that there would be powers that respected the court so much. I am willing to transfer more than half of the shares in this railway company to the imperial court. Although more railway lines have been prepared, the money and food consumed will not be small. But who dares to criticize at this time.

I didn’t see that the Governors of Liangjiang, Huguang and Guangdong and Guangxi were all expressing support, and some people in Beijing also agreed.

So in August 1895, the decision was made about the Qing government and Italy to jointly establish the Qing Railway Company.

The Daqing Railway Company, which was listed a few days later, was also very proud. In just seven days, it announced that it would build the Lu-Guangdong Railway, Jin-Pu Railway, Long-Hai Railway, and Ning-Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway running through the north and south.

No matter how the people of the Qing Dynasty viewed the feat of the Qing Railway Company, the envoys from other countries in the Qing Dynasty were going crazy. Italy alone took away the right to build railways from the Qing Dynasty, which was a huge benefit. It can now be said that as long as Italy is willing to transfer its shares in the Qing Dynasty Railway Company, it can easily gain hundreds of millions of taels of silver.

Ministers from various countries are now flocking to the Qing court to change this decision. But they all failed. The Qing court insisted that the signed agreement could not be changed.

Therefore, all countries that felt that Italy had taken away a large piece of delicious cake naturally had various thoughts.

I didn’t check, I’m so sleepy