The U.S. Pacific Railroad Company was in trouble, but the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway built by the Ming Dynasty was operating well. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The railway, which connects the two major trade ports of Guangdong and Kowloon Port, is unlikely to operate badly.

After trial operation in the second half of 1869, it entered the stage of official operation in 70 years, much faster than expected.

And Zhu Jinglun's worries about the people blocking the railway, and the situation of picking up the railway did not appear, but the scene that appeared surprised him a little.

When the railway was opened on the first day, a large number of people from near and far came to see the excitement, but he forgot that the Chinese nation is a nation that loves to watch the excitement.

The train slowly started with black smoke, and the common people ran along, and there were horseback horses and railway races, completely treating the railway test as a carnival.

At this time, Zhu Jinglun found out that he was probably deceived by the history books, and he wondered why he encountered so many problems when he built the railway in the late Qing Dynasty, but he didn't seem to have heard of that railway being spontaneously picked up by the people because of the opposition of the people.

Except for the Boxer Rebellion, he didn't seem to have done this before.

After thinking about it carefully, he understood that there must be opponents, and most of them are conservative doctors in the countryside, and they cannot tolerate the slightest change, but the problem is that these people hold the right to speak public opinion, so they leave a foolish impression of Chinese opposition to the railway to future generations.

In fact, most people's attitude towards the railway is that they don't understand, don't understand, and don't care, it's a lively, anyway, they haven't been from their own fields, whether it's destroying feng shui, or disturbing the ancestral tomb, anyway, it has nothing to do with themselves, and they don't care if they don't care. Those who really oppose it are some old stubborns who are not used to all kinds of Western-style things, and some are uncomfortable with the railroad passing from their own land or near their homes, but this discomfort is far from enough for them to stand up and risk opposing it.

All the later Zhangzhidong railroad repairs, Li Hongzhang repaired the railway, after the repair can be good operation, especially Zhang Zhidong built thousands of kilometers of Jinghan Railway, so long did not see any major accidents.

During the trial operation, the passengers burst into flames, and a large number of people who were not afraid of bloodshed, sat from here to where they sat here, and from there they sat here, all of them were free to travel.

After the official operation, there are a lot fewer people, because the ticket price is quite expensive, the passenger car is divided into three grades, the price of the special class room is ten taels of silver, the first-class ticket price is four taels, and the second-class fare also has two taels of silver. No one would make a couple of dollars to join in the fun.

But the speed of business fulfillment has been greatly accelerated, and it only takes five hours to get from Guangzhou to Kowloon. The most convenient is the transportation of goods, the train of this era is mainly based on freight, even if the water transportation along the Pearl River Delta is convenient, but the freight on this road is still full.

In the first year, the turnover reached 5 million taels of silver, and after deducting the costs and expenses, repaying the interest on the loan, etc., the net profit in the first year reached 300,000 taels of silver. This is not much, because in the second year it exceeded one million taels, and in the third year and the fourth year, it exceeded two million taels and three million taels for two consecutive years, and all debts were paid off ahead of schedule.

This year has just arrived at the beginning of the year, Zhu Jinglun has lived two years of relatively down-to-earth days, the domestic reforms seem to have passed a certain balance point, began to work towards the right road, social order is in order, all kinds of modern industries have exploded and grown, government taxes have rolled upward, commercial taxes have exceeded 30 million taels, and tariffs have also exceeded 10 million taels, which is still an achievement made under the condition of tax-free access for many commodities.

The annual income of 40 million taels has allowed the government to have a surplus for the first time, and at the same time, the government has thrown away many burdens, continued to sell more than 200 warships of various kinds, and the arsenal has completed its restructuring, and it can be self-financed in the fastest time of the year, with fewer places to spend money and more taxes, so naturally there is a surplus, but the surplus is very limited, only more than 1 million taels, and after paying off the interest on the debt, it can only do not expand this year's debt.

But Zhu Jinglun knew that this year was destined not to be peaceful, and a major event in world history was about to happen, the Franco-Prussian War.

The historical significance of this war is very significant, but it does not mean that it is not of practical significance, and this change of geopolitical power will form a series of chain effects.

The Germanic forces that erupt from the interior of Europe will send a strong squeezing shock wave to the surrounding areas, and France and Russia will feel this impact strongly.

Will they be united again in this day and age? And whether France, a colonial empire, will shrink because of this, and whether their colony in Asia, Vietnam, will give the Ming a chance to take advantage of it.

These will have to wait for feedback from these countries.

Who knew that the war in Europe that Zhu Jinglun was waiting for had not yet broken out, but China had changed first.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which had been calm for a long time, was ready to move again, and they made a tempting offer to the Ming Dynasty to exchange Jiangxi for a loan of 10 million taels of silver.

Without spending a single soldier, adding the territory of a province for nothing, the officials of the Ming government have been stunned by this wonderful pie, and the vast majority of relevant officials believe that there is nothing to hesitate about, and immediately agree to the request of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, not to mention borrowing, even if it is given for nothing, some officials swore that they were willing to donate half a year.

It's a pity that they don't count, when it comes to military issues, Zhu Jinglun has always been arbitrary, and he now holds all the military power, and he has not relaxed for a moment.

Tianping Heavenly Kingdom has had an easy life in recent years, although it was firmly blocked by the Qing court in the south of the Yangtze River, and even Pukou, which was captured with the help of the Ming Dynasty, was recaptured by Bao Chao's troops again, and now Bao Chao is stationed in Sanhe Town, where Li Xiucheng killed Li Xubin and Zeng Guohua, but the Taiping Army also successfully blocked Bao Chao's attempts to cross the river many times, after experiencing the crisis of being blockaded Tianjing, the Taiping Army attached great importance to the naval army, and most of the warships sold by the Ming Dynasty were bought by them.

The Qing army once again built an iron-like Jiangbei camp on the north bank of the Yangtze River, which was unified and controlled by Jiangning's general Bao Chao. But in fact, Bao Chao couldn't command others at all, whether it was Zeng Guoquan who was relying on Anqing like a stone, or Zuo Zongtang, who was training soldiers and horses in Yangzhou, he didn't take him seriously.

It can even be said that the reason why Bao Chaobu chose to be stationed in Sanhe Town was mainly because he couldn't find a place, Zuo Zongtang resisted that he was stationed in northern Jiangsu, and Zeng Guoquan did not allow him to be stationed in Anhui. Now Jiangbei is completely warlordized, and northern Jiangsu is equivalent to the territory of Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Jiangsu, and his army also needs the tax support of Yangzhou and Xuzhou. Zeng Guoquan firmly controls Anhui, and is the official of the governor of Anhui, and has no intention of moving the nest at all.

It can be said that the Han warlord group that left Zeng Guofan and was dismembered by Zeng Guofan's legacy at the same time was actually even less cohesive than when Zeng Guofan was there. The good thing is that the threat to the Qing court is also much smaller.

In the past two years, the Qing court has really had enough of the suffering of these warlords, and they can't beat them, they can't beat them, they can't scold them, and they can't scold them.

Eight Banners, or being a soldier and eating food is the right way, at least Cixi and Yixin think so, but their Eight Banners uncle doesn't even have the ability to be a soldier.

Zhu Jinglun gave this uncle and sister-in-law a big gift, Fu Zhuli and a large number of Eight Banners officers and soldiers who had received formal military training in Daming were sent back to Beiqi, although these people's will to fight is not good, but after all, they have military experience, and they have also been on the battlefield, so that Yi Xin is like a treasure, and immediately gave Fu Zhuli the title of a general soldier, and asked him to select the children of the Eight Banners in Beijing to train a foreign gun team.

In the past two years, the situation in the north was like this, the Qing court and the Han ministers were intrigued, the Taiping army successfully held the Yangtze River defense line, not only successfully opened up Sufu Province, but also occupied the entire Jiangxi, accumulated strength, and eased the dilemma of the siege of Tianjing, but to fight a war, their savings are still not enough, after years of experience, this gang of mud legs also understood the truth that the soldiers and horses did not move the grain and grass first, and no longer dared to rashly go north without preparing anything.

It's just that in the past two years, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom has resumed production, and the raw silk in the Jiangnan region has provided them with a huge amount of tax revenue, and they can order large amounts of arms from the Ming Dynasty, not to mention, and they have copied the Ming Dynasty's fist product, Thomas cannon. All that needs to be procured is rifled rifles, which are more difficult to produce.

Zhu Jinglun remembered that in the past two years, they had purchased 200,000 rifled rifles, 120 steam warships, and tens of thousands of cannons.

The Northern Expedition is certain, two years ago Li Xiucheng proposed to the Ming Dynasty that he would unite the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the Ming Dynasty could capture Beijing, he would be willing to cede Jiangxi to the Ming Dynasty. Obviously, two years ago, they were confident that as long as the Ming Dynasty could attack Beiqi and contain Li Hongzhang's troops, who were in charge of Gongwei Jingshi in Shandong, they were confident that they would be able to defeat the Han warlord forces in Jiangbei.

Two years later, they directly told the Ming that as long as they were given a loan, they were willing to cede Jiangxi to the Ming Dynasty, apparently they thought that now they had the ability to go north alone, even if Li Hongzhang went south, they would have the ability to annihilate in one fell swoop.

But Zhu Jinglun is really not optimistic about them, in two years, Li Xiucheng did not waste it, and the Jiangbei warlords did not waste it, Zuo Zongtang rebuilt the Chu army and supported 50,000 troops. Li Hongzhang even increased the Huai army tenfold to more than 70,000 people, recruited a large number of twisted troops and ringing horses in Shandong, and formed a horse team of 10,000 people.

Bao Chao received the greatest support from the imperial court, and most of Shanghai's taxes were given to him, helping him build a fleet on the Yangtze River that was not weak in scale, and hired the Englishman Aspen to command, and repelled the attacks of the Taiping army many times. also let Bao Chao, a Han general, control 30,000 people each in the Green Camp and Eight Banners in Jiangbei, and the total strength of Bao Chao's troops is as high as 100,000, which seems to be the strongest among the warlords in Jiangbei. Zeng Guoquan reduced the constraints of his brother Zeng Guofan, unscrupulously expanded the Hunan army, integrated the old Hunan army to 120,000 people, and recruited new soldiers, already with 150,000 troops.

The Taiping army has a lot of troops, claiming to be one million, but there are actually 600,000, but the good and the bad are uneven, and Zhu Jinglun is really not optimistic about Li Xiucheng for the Han warlords in the north of the Yangtze River, unless he can break through each of them, there is still a little possibility, and when he encounters two alliances, I am afraid he will not be able to defeat them.

But Li Xiucheng's white land is unreasonable, using the Northern Expedition for Jiangxi, replacing the Taiping Army to resist the Hunan Hunan Army, and protecting the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's belly and back Zhu Jinglun will not do this kind of thing, but if it is given away in vain, he thinks that it is a fair deal to help the Taiping Army resist the Hunan Army.

Zhu Jinglun put forward a request, borrowing money can be borrowed, but mortgage is required, he feels that a railway right of way from Ningbo through Hangzhou, Suzhou, through the hinterland of Jiangsu and Zhejiang is very valuable.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's reply made Zhu Jinglun unable to sit still.

They generously said that the railway from Ningbo to Nanjing was only a railway, and they were willing to let Daming build it, and they also said that as long as Daming was interested, they would be happy to hand over Shanghai to I Daming to manage.

It turned out that the purpose of the Taiping Army was not only Jiangbei, what Li Xiucheng never forgot was Shanghai, the ten-mile foreign field that made him return three times in vain.

But are they crazy, they don't know that there is now a large group of big robbers in Shanghai, the British, the French, the Americans, and even the nouveau riche merchants of the Ming Kingdom, who have recently expanded in Shanghai.

Isn't he afraid of attracting a collective boycott from foreigners, not afraid of provoking the British?

Thinking of France, Zhu Jinglun's brain suddenly had a thrill, France will be beaten by Prussia this year, if the Taiping Army attacks Shanghai this year, the French really have no strength to interfere, then this is really a good opportunity.

As for why the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom said that it would hand over Shanghai to the Ming Dynasty, the reason is very simple, it has tasted the sweetness.

The Ming Dynasty has now completely controlled the port of Ningbo, the British took the initiative to give up the Ningbo Customs, because they really can't manage it, they found that the taxes of the Ningbo Customs had to be settled with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, while the taxes of Shanghai were handed over to the Qing court, and the two sets of institutions could not be settled together at all, and they dealt with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom after many conflicts, they had the idea of retreating, but they were not willing to directly hand over the customs to the Taiping Army to manage, they thought of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, the entire government affairs of Ningbo Port were under the control of the Ming Dynasty, and they thought that the Ming Dynasty could protect this seaport, and the foreigners who did business on this seaport, and the only request they made was that the Taiping army was not allowed to enter Ningbo.

After the Ming Dynasty consulted with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, obtained the customs management rights of Ningbo, this seaport has been developed in the hands of the British, there is no need to innovate, Xiao Gui Cao can gradually expand the tariff, last year to the Taiping Army provided 5 million taels of silver in taxes, most of which are from the export tariffs of Zhejiang raw silk.

Ningbo can provide 5 million taels of silver every year, so how much silver can Shanghai give them? At least 10 million, no, it should be 20 million taels, and they have no experience in managing customs, and they are not interested in managing customs, rather than handing over to foreigners who are becoming more and more unfriendly to them, it is better to hand it over to Daming, an ally.

Here's why.