Section 77 Do Zhang Zhidong a favor

Irony is irony, but things still have to be solved, as an imported heavy industry, Yang Chao doesn't want to see Yantai Iron and Steel Plant, like Hanyang Iron Works, losing money for decades. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Yang Chao wanted to set a benchmark and encourage heavy industry by showing Chinese businessmen that they could make money by setting up steel mills.

As for Yang Chao's stake in the steel plant, that's a trivial matter.

"Don't forget, Lord Yang, you are also a shareholder."

Thomas said angrily.

The composition of the shares of Yantai Iron and Steel Plant is 30% for Yang Chao and 70% for Americans, but the Morgan consortium accounts for 40% and the Rockefeller consortium accounts for 30% of the distribution among Americans.

Yang Chao said with a smile: "But this is business, who makes American technicians not angry, it's been almost a year, and your steel plant hasn't even built a field yet." ”

In fact, the Americans are not not fast, but the construction period of a large steel plant is very long, and their plan is two to three years, and the speed depends on the Chinese workers, but the hard-working spirit of the Chinese workers is needless to say, but the technical strength is not good, and the Americans are unwilling to hire more workers from the United States with high salaries.

Thomas was weak: "We hope Lord Yang can think of a way." ”

Yang Chao was not angry: "What can I think of?" Stop the construction of the railway, that is impossible. ”

Thomas asked, "Can Lord Yang think of something from other railways, such as a new one?" ”

The new railway, for the time being, Yang Chao does not want to, he thinks that this is a virtuous circle after the operation of the Yanji Railway, when the time comes, the issuance of stocks, bond financing, the construction of new railways, instead of blind investment, after all, he does not have such strong financial resources.

However, the new railway reminded Yang Chao that he couldn't repair it himself, but others could repair it, such as Zhang Zhidong.

Maybe Yang Chao can still do Zhang Zhidong a favor.

"Maybe I have a way."

Thinking of this, Yang Chao smiled.

Thomaston was interested: "Lord Yang, please speak." ”

Yang Chao said: "It depends on the ability of Morgan and Rockefeller." ”

Then he told Thomas his thoughts, and Thomaston felt that there was hope, and it was a big business, so he hurriedly telegraphed to his boss Morgan.

Yang Chao's idea was this.

At this time, the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway in the south was still deadlocked, and the Chinese businessmen in Hubei, Hunan, and Guangdong, the American companies, and the British and French who were jumping up and down could not start construction at all, and at present it was only barely repaired and stopped on the Guangzhou-Sanshui line.

But in the end, it is the Americans who are not authentic.

This railway was originally advocated by Zhang Zhidong and handed over to Sheng Xuanhuai to handle, at first it was intended to be run by officials and merchants, but the commercial stocks were always insufficient, and it was far from enough, and the imperial court did not have to count on it, and the indemnity to the Japanese had not been paid off, and the only way was to borrow foreign money.

Sheng Xuanhuai borrowed 4 million pounds from the American Hop Hing Company through Wu Tingfang, the minister to the United States, and the Americans obtained extremely harsh conditions, such as the right to operate for 50 years, but the Americans were too unauthentic, and the 4 million pounds was nearly 20 million US dollars, and the Hop Hing Company was originally a temporary company set up by a few American bankers to jointly establish a company, and it did not have so much financial resources at all, so they sold two-thirds of the shares to Belgium without authorization. It is divided from Belgium without authorization, and the southern section is repaired by the United States, and the northern section is repaired by Belgium.

Chinese businessmen were very resistant to the intervention of foreigners, but the Americans' approach caused public indignation, and they found a reason to put pressure on the imperial court, making a fuss, and with the development of the Westernization movement in the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of powerful businessmen appeared.

Zhang Zhidong stood on the side of the Chinese businessmen this time, and felt that the Americans were playing too out-of-line, so don't contract if they don't have the ability, but they have to introduce other countries, and they don't take the imperial court seriously.

If you look at it in later generations, it is just a simple illegal subcontracting business, but in the eyes of people at this time, it is a foreigner who has become two, so this illegal subcontracting has been stopped because of the opposition of all parties.

Whether it is Zhang Zhidong or Chinese businessmen, they are all seeking to recover the shares in the hands of the Americans, but when it comes to the fat on their lips, the Americans do not want to let go of the fat on their lips, not to mention how much money they can earn in 50 years of operation, the key is the question of how to recover the loans that have been lent out.

Therefore, this matter is deadlocked, making many people embarrassed, this road is advocated by Zhang Zhidong, where is the railway stuck, it means that Zhang Zhidong has always had a scar on his face, and he will be uncovered and ridiculed at any time, just because this Zhang Zhidong reprimanded Sheng Xuanhuai for not doing things well.

And after thinking of this road, Yang Chao felt as if he could help Zhang Zhidong.

Yang Chao's idea was to let Morgan and Rockefeller come forward and collect the shares of the American Hop Hing Company and sell them to Yang Chao, so that it would be reasonable to hand over the rails and other materials for the construction of this railway to the Yantai Steel Mill.

That is to say, Yang Chao plans to contract the Guangdong-Han Railway, and Yang Chao is Chinese, so that he will not be boycotted by Chinese businessmen, and there will be no obstacles to the construction of the railway, and Zhang Zhidong's face will not be so sad.

So everything depends on whether Morgan can say that Hexing Company has withdrawn.

Morgan's energy is naturally undoubted, not to mention that behind the Yantai Iron and Steel Plant, there is still a Rockefeller.

As long as it is an American businessman and an American company, it may not be able to give face to the US government and not listen to the words of the US president, but there are really not many who do not give face to Morgan and Rockefeller.

In fact, there are not many shares in the hands of Hexing Company, because one-third of them were sold to Belgians, but Belgium is easy to talk to, and Zhang Zhidong can buy it with a word, so all the railway shares are recovered.

The only problem is money, Morgan is very angry, and he didn't ask for a penny more, and sold it to Yang Chao at the original price without interest.

But it is also more than 1.3 million pounds, which is equivalent to more than nine tons of gold, and Yang Chao's spaceship has been digging at the bottom of the sea for a year, and it is only ten tons, and this year and next year will continue to inject capital into steel mills and arsenals, this money is completely unplanned.

So if you want to take back this railway, you will have to wait at least until next year.

Unless Yang Chao can borrow a large amount of money, but he doesn't have the energy, foreigners have to mortgage money to borrow.

And Yang Chao also has a plan, that is, the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway will also let Zhan Tianyou repair, after the Yanji Railway, Zhan Tianyou's technical team has trained some, and the engineers are not so easy to train, but there is no problem with a few technicians.

The most important thing is that Zhan Tianyou and his group of engineers have also been trained, and it is enough to bring a large number of technicians.

Now it's time to discuss with Zhang Zhidong about taking over this railway.