The news that the arsenal was going to be sold soon spread throughout the circle of top giants of the Ming Dynasty. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Everyone knows that the arsenal is a super fat piece, with an annual turnover of more than 10 million, a profit level of 5 million, and the hen that lays golden eggs in the hands of the railway, maybe the arms trade will come and go, and the machine market will be good and bad, but no one believes that the railway will lose money.

Now the annual profits of the railway company have far exceeded the arsenal itself, just the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, the main economic artery of Guangdong, now the annual profit has been able to stabilize at three million taels, the two railways built in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, although they have not yet reached the level of profitability, but everyone believes that the Manchu merchants and people have not yet understood the benefits of the railway, and so the business is developed, the two railways are impossible to lose money anyway, and the Northeast Railway, due to the transportation of countless soybeans and grain, It has already taken the lead in crossing the profit line, and the railway has only been officially opened for half a year.

These railways alone, in the next few years, are expected to bring more than 10 million profits to the arsenal, who would not be optimistic about the prospects of the arsenal.

But before the arsenal was a government-run industry, no one thought of getting involved, even if they were red-eyed, it was not theirs who shouldn't be theirs, and the courage of the Ming businessmen was not as big as those rogue capitalists in the United States, and they had not grown to the extent that they dared to compete head-on with the government, although their energy behind the scenes was already very great.

Now that the emperor said that he wanted to sell the arsenal, then he would definitely sell it, so everyone didn't have to take into account the attitude of the government.

So he began to find ways to find his own relationship, and asked his spokesperson in the government to inquire about the situation and express his intentions.

But he didn't have the courage to go directly to the emperor, and no one wanted the emperor to think that he coveted public property.

The results of these people's efforts to find their spokesperson were not good, because their spokesperson was not sure whether the factory was really going to be sold, because the head of the bureaucracy, Chen Zhiting, was one of those who was staunchly opposed.

Chen Zhiting met Zhu Jinglun for this reason, and said with a resolute attitude that the arsenal is an important weapon of the state, how can it be easily sold, how can this important public property be sold to private individuals, and how can the state control it.

Zhu Jinglun smiled: "Why should the state control? ”

The officials of the Ming Dynasty have changed a lot of concepts, but their desire to control power, the people, and various affairs has not changed, which is probably instinctive, why did the Manchu government engage in the Westernization movement that did not allow private interference, that is, they did not want everything to get out of the control of the government.

Chen Zhiting persuaded: "The arsenal is for the production of weapons, shouldn't such an industry be controlled?" ”

Zhu Jinglun said with a smile: "Most of the factories where foreigners produce weapons are privately owned, and Krupp is worse than our arsenal?" ”

Chen Zhiting said: "The national conditions are different, the people's feelings are different, and the public opinion is different, how can they be compared, Your Majesty should think twice." ”

Zhu Jinglun said: "This is all a pretext, Krupp did it, and my businessmen of the Ming Dynasty also did it." ”

Chen Zhiting said: "What if there are unscrupulous profiteers who sell weapons to enemy countries, or pass on my weapon-making skills to enemy countries? ”

Zhu Jinglun said: "There are legal sanctions. Moreover, even if the arsenal does not sell weapons to enemy countries, there are foreigners who do this transaction, not only Westerners will sell them, but even Mauser and Schneider, who built factories in Daming to make weapons, will definitely sell them. It doesn't make sense that foreigners can build an arsenal on the land of my Ming Dynasty, but my Ming businessmen can't do this. ”

Chen Zhiting sighed: "Your Majesty thinks twice. The arsenal is very profitable, and it is actually a major source of revenue for the state treasury, and if it is rashly granted to private individuals, it is tantamount to attracting people to openly steal the official treasury. ”

Seeing that the powerful relationship could not convince Zhu Jinglun, Chen Zhiting simply talked to Zhu Jinglun about interests, he knew that Zhu Jinglun valued interests.

Zhu Jinglun shook his head and said, "It's not that serious." The arsenal must be sold for a good price, and it must be more than the dividends that the arsenal pays to the household department every year. And once sold, it will raise a lot of money in the short term, which can allow them to reduce their debt by hundreds of millions of taels. ”

The billions of foreign debts owed in the process of disaster relief have now become a disease in the heart of the Ming government.

But even if the government is short of money, some things cannot be sold.

Chen Zhiting asked: "Even if the arsenal can be sold, what about the railway?" Now the railways can be under the management of the arsenal, although the railways also have the convenience of trade, but in the final analysis, it reaches all directions, military transfer is the fundamental way, if it is also sold to the merchants, once the war starts in the future, how can our army control the railway. ”

Zhu Jinglun sighed: "You can think about this, whether the railway is in the hands of the public or private, the state has the right to expropriate." Haven't you seen the last few wars, the navy has mainly used civilian ships to transport troops? ”

Chen Zhiting saw that the emperor had made up his mind, and he knew that he would not change it, so he finally made a request.

"If Your Majesty insists on selling, the railway company and the arsenal must be sold separately!"

Zhu Jinglun was puzzled: "Why is this?" ”

The railway company runs under the umbrella of the arsenal, and all of them are very stable, and the employees of the railway company from the construction to the operation are all from the arsenal, and rashly cutting off the connection with the arsenal will definitely have an impact on the operation.

Chen Zhiting said: "Compared with factories, railways should never be regarded as an industry. The railway is a road, the road leads to all directions, through ghosts and gods, and it is by no means a private instrument. ”

Chen Zhiting said these mysterious and mysterious words, Zhu Jinglun couldn't figure out his thoughts at all, what kind of ghosts and gods or the like, it was not at all like the words of a Confucian student.

I saw Chen Zhiting continue: "The roads in this world are all open. ”

Zhu Jinglun now understands that the railways of the Ming Dynasty must be connected with the railways in the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the so-called eight directions, once connected with the railways in the Manchu Dynasty, this is not a simple railway problem, this involves the problem of communication between the two countries, there must be a person who can eat in both countries, and it is convenient to operate, and it is really difficult for ordinary private individuals to play these railways.

As for talking about ghosts and gods, it is even more troublesome, at least in Chen Zhiting's view, it is very troublesome, the road leads to ghosts and gods, and it is not Chinese ghosts and gods that pass through it, but foreign ghosts, and the railway of Daming in the future, but also communicate with the railway of Britain and France, not to mention anything else, the railway of the French is about to pass through the mountains of the border into the territory of Daming.

Therefore, the railroad is much more complicated than the arsenal, and once the arsenal is privatized, it is really possible that if the railroad continues to operate, it may not be able to play it.

Zhu Jinglun was a little hesitant when he said it, but since the arsenal can be sold, there is no reason why the railway cannot be sold.

He believes that railways are certainly more efficient in private hands than in government operations, and that the government's financial burden is lighter and the management costs are lower.

Zhu Jinglun does not want to build a big government that must be deeply involved in everything, a management-oriented government with the goal of guiding and standardizing social order, which is in line with the concept in Zhu Jinglun's heart.