At the racecourse in Fort Maria, Zhu Jishi is riding a horse with Zuo Zongtang. After Clementina, riding a horse has become the most important physical exercise for Zhu Jishi every day, and when Zuo Zongtang came to report on the colonial northeast today, Zhu Jishi was riding a horse, so he was ordered to accompany the emperor to ride a horse.

"Ah, 20 million will be released, but I don't have a loose hand......"

Listening to Zuo Zongtang's request, Zhu Jishi said in his heart: "The emperor's family has no surplus food!" ”

"Your Majesty, don't be modest, our Ming Dynasty is the emperor who will make the most money, Weichen and Chen Shangshu of the Ministry of Finance said that the rubber plantation of Lanfangxing will be harvested next year...... This rubber can now be called liquid gold by Westerners. Will the emperor's hands be tight at that time? And isn't colonizing the Northeast a big deal? Although Weichen doesn't know how to earn back his capital, the emperor will definitely have a way. For the emperor, the 20 million is just a transaction of silver. ”

Zuo Zongtang's words are indeed not bad, the northeast is a treasure land, if it is really going to be developed, I am afraid that I will not be able to recover the initial investment of 20 million? Not to mention the Daqing Oilfield and Anshan Iron and Steel, which are the most common forest resources in Northeast China, it is also a piece of cake to cut out 20 million yuan. Of course, how to transport the wood is another matter. If you want to get rich, you must first build roads.

Zhu Jishi nodded and said with a smile: "I still have an understanding of the left, the development of the Northeast is indeed a big business, and it will definitely be rich in the future...... Zuo Xiang, are you interested in investing a little silver? ”

Zuo Zongtang was stunned. What he had said before was nothing more than a statement. The matter of immigration is a loss-making deal in which dynasty and generation, and Emperor Zhu actually wants to invest by himself, so he won't be pitting himself, right?

Although I think so. But it can't be said that the proposal to let the emperor pay for the development of the Northeast was put forward by him. Zuo Zongtang could only smile and said: "Your Majesty, Weichen wants to vote a little, but Weichen is a Qing official and has no savings, so he can only vote less...... Just invest 10,000 yuan. ”

"Yes, you can invest as much as you want." Zhu Jishi said with a smile. "I want to set up a Northeast Development Joint Stock Company, and the cost of immigrating to the Northeast will be paid by this joint stock company, and the imperial court will build a railway and a commercial port in the Northeast. The franchise to develop the mine will be granted to this joint-stock company. ”

In the east, railways were built, ports were opened, and mines were franchised...... Can you really make money? Zuo Zongtang asked suspiciously: "How much silver is the emperor ready to invest?" ”

"I personally invested 15 million, the imperial court invested 10 million, and then publicly offered 25 million to make up the principal of 50 million yuan."

The principal amount of 50 million yuan is enough to leverage the investment of 150 million yuan. Half of them were used to build railways and ports. If the city is built, the rest will be set up as collective farms, which can accommodate at least 1 million households, which is almost 5 million people. Combined with the 150,000 military households in the guard, the Han Eight Banners and Koreans of nearly 1 million people, plus the people who go out to make a living and do business on their own, the Northeast will have a population of 8 million to 10 million in 10 years at most. In this way, the forests, mines, and land in the northeast can be better developed and utilized, and when a certain foundation is established, the speed of people moving to the northeast on their own will also be accelerated. The cost of immigration will also be reduced, and the Northeast will be developed.

"Your Majesty. Is the ownership of the land on those collective farms also owned by the NEDC? In the future, you will still have to collect rent from the bankers, right? In his opinion, the tenants of those collective farms are the tenants of the Northeast Development Company, and they will be exempted from rent for a few years at most, and they will always have to collect rent in the future.

"Zuo Xiang, why do you always worry about a few buckets of rent?" Zhu Jishi shook his head, "The Northeast is fertile and densely forested, and all kinds of minerals are extremely rich. But the Northeast is now a bitter cold place, do you know what the road is? It's because there's no one! Talent is the foundation of the development of Northeast China, as long as there are people to ...... I am not afraid that I will not be able to earn money.

Zuo Xiang, do you know what is the second most important thing in the development of the Northeast in addition to people? ”

Zuo Zongtang shook his head: "Weichen doesn't know, please ask the emperor to say it clearly." ”

"It's the way! In the Northeast, there is land, wood, and minerals. But there is no market, there is no demand, and those good things have to be shipped out to turn into money. To get these treasures out, you need to use railways, you need ports...... As long as the railroad and port are secured, does my Northeast Development Company still need to collect rent? ”

Zuo Zongtang thought about it, there is really no need to collect rent! As long as the railways and ports are controlled, the Northeast Development Joint Stock Company will pinch the channels for the export of grain and timber in the Northeast, and it will naturally be able to lower the purchase price! Now the price of rice noodles here in Jiangnan is around 2.5 to 3 yuan per stone, and it is more expensive in Beizhili, Henan, Shandong and other provinces. The Northeast is vast and sparsely populated, the land is fertile, and there is definitely no way to sell it if there is more grain. After deducting operating costs such as freight, taxes, wages, etc., as well as profits for downstream grain merchants, there is always a profit of half a silver dollar per stone of rice noodles. If there are 1 million households farming in Northeast China, they can collect at least 100 million stones every year, of which 50 million stones need to be sold...... That's 25 million! Even if there is another 80% discount, there will always be 20 million.

And that's just for the rice grain, not counting the timber trade, the ore trade, and the railroad itself......

"The emperor is the reincarnation of the God of Wealth!" Zuo Zongtang admired the authenticity, "It seems that Weichen has to invest a little more, at least 100,000 yuan!" He paused, and suddenly suggested, "Does the emperor want to occupy some land in the northeast to make the imperial village?" ”

Zhu Jishi smiled and thought to himself, it's not that I want to enclose land, it's that you powerful ministers and nobles only have land in their eyes! Emperor Lao Tzu enclosed land in the northeast, you courtiers are good to follow, aren't you?

He shook his head and smiled: "I don't want to occupy the land in the northeast, it won't go up much...... Now half of the city of Beijing is mine's (uh, it's true, the inner city of Beijing and the royal gardens outside Beijing are now the property of Zhu Datianzi), and the inside and outside of Yingtian City are also my real estate, and I still have large estates in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Kowloon, Shanghai, and Wuchang. The appreciation space of real estate in these big cities is really large. Zuo Xiang, if you really want to leave a large amount of belongings for your children and grandchildren, don't go to the countryside of Hunan to buy land, if you want to buy it, you can also buy it on the edge of Changsha City and Wuchang City, and it will definitely be no problem to increase it 10 times within 10 years. When it comes to buying and selling, you can't be wrong with my safekeeping. ”

Real estate, of course, the most important thing is the location! Go to the deep mountains and old forests in the Northeast to invest in real estate? Isn't that full-fed? How could Emperor Zhu do such a stupid thing?

Zuo Zongtang also wrote it down, it is not good to do eight-share articles Zhu Jishi, but being a businessman is the number one in the world, and he can't be wrong to listen to him.

"Your Majesty, Weichen heard that you are going to send Yang Xiuqing and them to the sea? Is it really happening? Zuo Zongtang changed his words and changed the question, he had already heard about the visit of the Mormon apostle, including Yang Xiuqing, and the kings and generals of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were also recruited to Fort Maria to meet with the apostle, and it was said that he would go abroad with the Mormon apostle.

"Ah, yes." Zhu Jishi nodded and said, "What does Zuo Xiang think?" ”

This has been done with the Mormon apostle Wilford. Woodruff negotiated and greeted the U.S. Embassy in Yingtian. In fact, this is really not a matter in the United States at the moment, the defeated rebels or overthrown counter-revolutionaries from all over Europe have fled to the United States, and the United States has taken all the orders. Yang Xiuqing: They have been looting gold and silver treasures over the years!

Zuo Zongtang said with a smile: "Weichen thinks that this arrangement is good, Yang Xiuqing and others are a scourge in China after all, and it is good to be exiled to the United States, let them fend for themselves in the United States in the future." ”

Zhu Jishi nodded: "Zuo Xiang, Yang Xiuqing is the Duke of my Ming Dynasty after all, even if you go to the United States, you need to care about one or two, don't let people bully, do you know the way?" ”

Zuo Zongtang smiled and nodded, but thought in his heart, Yang Xiuqing's guy is not bad if he doesn't bully others, who would dare to bully him? He didn't go there alone, and he also brought tens of thousands of Taiping soldiers out of the thugs!

When the two were talking and laughing, suddenly a rapid sound of horses' hooves sounded, and a knight in brocade rode his horse, reined in front of Zhu Jishi, and raised his hand on the horse and gave a military salute: "Your Majesty, Sichuan Military News, King Gongshun of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom died two months ago." (To be continued......)