Among the six major industrial bases divided by Wang Chenhao, the last industrial base is set up in Inner Mongolia, with Baotou and Baiyun Obo in Inner Mongolia as the center to build an industrial base with iron, coal and rare earth as the main industrial production and mining. Baotou's iron ore has high grade and few impurities, making it the first choice for industrial steelmaking. The rare earth mine in Baiyun Obo is the world's largest comprehensive metallogenic area, accounting for 76% of the world's rare earth types and reserves, and will become the backbone of Zhonggang Steel's large-scale production after development.

Inner Mongolia is more abundant in coal resources for industrial mining and production. There are four of China's five largest open-pit coal mines in Inner Mongolia: Yimin, Huolinhe, Yuanbaoshan and Zhunger. The four open-pit coal mines will not only fully meet the energy needs of the Baobai industrial base, but will also support the coal consumption of other industrial bases in China on a large scale. In the future, it can also vigorously develop thermal power generation to lay a solid foundation for China's power and energy reform.

In addition to the industrial projects necessary for the Baobai Industrial Base, the General Logistics Department of the Ministry of National Defense has also set up a special coal mine for military supply in the Erdaoling area of the Alxa League. Erdaoling's coal resources are commonly known as Taixi coal, which is a high-quality anthracite with low ash, low sulfur and low phosphorus, and the mined coal is transported to Beiyang Ordnance Heavy Industry, which is specially used to smelt military special steel products, and with the expansion of mining scale, it will also supply the steel base around the steelmaking needs, as well as the coal used to supply warships.

Xilin Gol League's Sunit Right Banner Chagan Limenor Alkali Mine is the largest alkali mine in Asia. In the era when artificial alkali has not yet formed a scale, trona has become the primary supply need. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce then set up a trona alkali chemical plant in Chagannuoer to build the world's largest trona mining and deep processing plant, which can not only solve the needs of China's industry and the common people, but also can be exported on a large scale to earn foreign exchange for the country.

At the same time, the total reserves of tin ore in Xilin Gol League are the largest in China, and the Ministry of Naval Engineering has set up a tin mining point here to transport tin ore to Zhili for the production of welding rods for naval shipbuilding. The alloy project being developed by Zhili Iron and Steel Company also requires a large number of tests for tin-containing alloy metals.

Tongliao's natural silica sand is easy to mine and has huge reserves, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce plans to build China's largest sand base for foundry sand and glass production in Tongliao.

Of the six major industrial bases, only the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang Industrial Base has formed large-scale production, and the other five industrial bases have formed a scale in a short period of time except for the three major industrial bases of the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Wuchang Yangtze River, and the industrial base of central and southern Liaoning and Inner Mongolia have no infrastructure, and they are completely from scratch.

Other industrial bases can be built with local funds, but the industrial bases in central and southern Liaoning and Mongolia are completely dependent on state financial allocation. Fortunately, the industrial base in central and southern Liaoning is located in the Bohai Bay, and there is the same railway, as long as the state financial investment is in place, the construction of the base can be completed within two or three years. However, the Mongolian industrial base is located on a plateau and has inconvenient transportation. If you want to complete the construction of the industrial base, it will take four or five years to build the railway.

As a result, Wang Chenhao asked the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and the Ministry of Communications to jointly build an industrial base in Mongolia. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce is responsible for attracting investment and raising funds for the construction of Mongolia's industrial base. The Ministry of Communications, on the other hand, is building railways in the northwest region on a large scale, striving to be able to get in touch with the outside world by relying on railways after the completion of Mongolia's industrial base.

The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has been very successful in raising funds in other major industrial bases, but it has hit a wall in raising funds for the Mongolian industrial base. Domestic industrial and commercial giants are not optimistic about Mongolia, because Mongolia is a vast and sparsely populated region, lack of labor, located in China's least developed northwest region, and traffic is blocked, believing that investing in Mongolia is a loss of money.

There was no way, and the officials of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce had no choice but to shift their attention to Wang Chenhao's body and aim at Wang Chenhao's private vault.

At this time, Wang Chenhao's personal assets have reached 3 billion dragon coins, and he is worthy of the name of the richest man in the world. But Wang Chenhao's family has a big business, and there are more places to use money. The cost of investing in the Mongolian industrial base is quite large, which is basically twice as much as the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin-Tang industrial base, that is, at least 500 million dragon dollars are needed.

Wang Chenhao asked Wang Chenhao to take out 500 million dragon coins to invest in the Mongolian industrial base, and Wang Chenhao agreed in principle, because he knew that after investing 500 million yuan in five years, he would earn back 1 billion, which was a transaction that only made money and did not lose money.

But Wang Chenhao, as the prime minister of the empire, has to think about everything. It has been two years since the end of the Russian-Qing War, and the Russians are bent on revenge. Russia invested heavily in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, which was supposed to open in 1904, and was expected to open in 1902. Once the Trans-Siberian Railway is opened, Imperial Russia will certainly take military action against China.

Obviously, if Wang Chenhao embezzled 500 million dragon coins to invest in the Mongolian industrial base, it would be impossible to recover the cost before 1902, let alone make a profit. Wang Chenhao needed to reserve 500 million dragon coins at all times as a military reserve for dealing with the invasion of Tsarist Russia, so he didn't want to pay for it.

But as the prime minister of the empire, Wang Chenhao also has to take into account the fighting spirit of the officials of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and now the empire is in ruins, Wang Chenhao still has to rely on them to build the country, and he can't dispel their positive surname.

So, Wang Chenhao asked Ruan Zhongshu to discuss countermeasures. After learning of Wang Chenhao's concerns, Ruan Zhongshu came up with a way to deal with it.

"Your Excellency, haven't you forgotten the way you built the Zhili Iron and Steel Company back then?"

Ruan Zhongshu's words immediately evoked Wang Chenhao's memories. At the beginning, the construction of Zhili Iron and Steel Company was built from scratch, to be exact, an empty glove white wolf. Wang Chenhao relied on his rights to complete the construction of the Zhili Iron and Steel Company with the money of the Zhili businessmen.

Now that the old things are brought up again, Wang Chenhao suddenly found that compared to his official position and power before, he has become the de facto ruler of the empire at this time, and the means of using power to make money back then can be completely repeated!

Ruan Zhongshu continued: "With the prestige of the Prime Minister, as long as you say a word, which of the old and new upstarts in the domestic business community will not give face? Who doesn't believe in your vision and credibility? ”

Wang Chenhao thought about it, and suddenly had an idea in his heart, so he said: "Zhongshu is right. ”

Ruan Zhongshu looked at Wang Chenhao's expression and seemed to have confidence, so he asked, "Your Excellency is already confident." ”

Wang Chenhao smiled and said, "I have an idea." Speaking of which, for your reference! ”

Ruan Zhongshu said respectfully: "Listen to your ears. ”

Wang Chenhao sorted out his thoughts, so he said a set of methods to Ruan Zhongshu.

Wang Chenhao's method is still an empty glove white wolf, but his status is now extremely noble, so naturally he can't make a small fuss, and he has to have a high-sounding reason, so that the people are willing, and there can be no complaints.

Wang Chenhao's method was to issue treasury bonds and use them to raise 500 million dragon coins. Treasury bonds are divided into three-year, five-year and eight-year tenors, with interest of 2% for three-year, 4% for five-year and 5% for 10-year. The minimum subscription for treasury bonds is 50 dragon coins, and the treasury bonds are allowed to circulate and trade in the market.

Ruan Zhongshu immediately agreed with Wang Chenhao's method, holding that the issuance of treasury bonds can not only ensure that the funds for the construction of the industrial base are in place, but also make full use of the idle funds of the Chinese people to promote the development of the national economy, which is a win-win method for the state and the people.

Therefore, Wang Chenhao ordered Ruan Zhongshu to coordinate with the Imperial Ministry of Finance, the Imperial Bank, and the Imperial Ministry of Industry and Commerce to jointly formulate the standards and implementation plans for the issuance of treasury bonds.

Soon, the plan for the issuance of 500 million dragon coin treasury bonds was decided, and the Imperial Bank printed the treasury bonds, and branches throughout the country were responsible for the issuance.

The issuance of government bonds is equivalent to medium- and long-term loans, which are profitable. The non-governmental business circles still recognized the country's credibility, and the veterans and nouveau riche of the industrial and commercial circles subscribed to the treasury bonds one after another. Many landlords and old rich people have money at home, and it is also long hair, so it is better to take it out and lend it to the state, and you can also get high interest. The common people also participated, and the richer middle peasants and rich peasants could also subscribe to several hundred or thousands of state bonds, and in any case, the state bonds could be circulated, and the common people were not afraid of them, and they could be sold on the market at any time.

For many domestic and foreign banks, a five-year interest rate of 4% is already considered a loan shark, and a ten-year interest rate of 5% is very attractive. Banks usually lend only three or four dollars of interest, and lending to China's political axe is naturally safer. As a result, domestic and foreign bankers have also joined the ranks of subscribing to Chinese government bonds.

Banks are the richest institutions, and more than 100 banks at home and abroad have subscribed to 370 million dragon dollars of treasury bonds at once, which is equivalent to lending money to China's political axe, and basically all of them are bought for a ten-year period, so that the interest received is the highest.

The 500 million dragon dollar treasury bonds were sold out in less than half a month after they were issued, and many domestic businessmen and ordinary people missed the news as soon as they learned about it.

Wang Chenhao did not expect that the issuance of treasury bonds would be so smooth, and 500 million dragon coins were raised in just half a month. The Imperial Treasury, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, and the Imperial Bank strongly demanded that another batch of government bonds be issued to help other industrial bases complete the investment and construction of projects, and the Minister of Transport, Zhan Tianyou, proposed the construction of a railway junction connecting the six major industrial bases and connecting the major cities and strategic points of the empire.

If you want to get rich, you must first build roads, and Wang Chenhao knows the great truth of the country's development. With the rapid development of the United States and Germany, railway construction is undoubtedly the top priority. With the railway, resources can be comprehensively allocated, inland mineral resources and agricultural and sideline products are transported to the industrial zone through the railway, and the commodities produced in the industrial zone are transported back to the inland through the railway for distribution, so as to promote circulation, commerce can be developed, and the economy can develop.

At the same time, China's special geographical environment also requires railways. China has a vast territory and a large population, but the distribution of resources is uneven, and regional economic development is also seriously unbalanced. Therefore, railways will play an important role in China's transportation system, and due to the technical and economic characteristics of railways, the development of railways is of great significance for China to catch up with European and American powers and implement the road of long-term sustainable development.

At present, China has built a number of railways, the longest is the railway from Yanjing to Aihui, followed by the Luhan Railway, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, and the Beijing-Jiji Railway under construction, all of which have completed 2,200 kilometers of railways and 3,300 kilometers of railways under construction.

When Minister of Communications Zhan Tianyou submitted a huge railway plan for the construction of 120,000 kilometers of new railways to the National Assembly, and finally presented it to Wang Chenhao, Wang Chenhao was taken aback. Fortunately, Wang Chenhao knew that the Chinese people of this era had just come into contact with the advanced science and technology of the West for a long time, and they had great revenge and ideals. Compared with Sun Yat-sen's 160,000-kilometer railway plan in 1911, Zhan Tianyou's 120,000-kilometer railway plan is not excessive. Compared to the United States, China's railway plans are almost pediatric.

At this time, the United States had a population of 100 million, but it had hundreds of thousands of kilometers of railroads. The first railroad in the United States was completed and opened on May 24, 1830, with a total length of only 21 kilometers, from Baltimore to Cotter, Elli. In the 50s of the 19th century, the scale of road construction expanded, and in the 80s, ** was formed. In the 50 years from 1850~1900, the United States built more than 370,000 kilometers of railways, with an average annual construction of more than 6,000 kilometers. Among them, 20,619 kilometers of roads were built in 1887, setting a record in the history of railway construction. The United States has less land and less population than China, but the 370,000 kilometers of railroads cannot meet the needs of the American economy, and the Americans are still building railroads at a rate of 8,000 kilometers per year. It can be seen that if China wants to develop, Zhan Tianyou's 120,000-kilometer railway plan will not quench its thirst at all.

For the United Kingdom, in 1890 the United Kingdom completed the goal of building a national railway network, the British Isles Railway 32,000 kilometers. The tiny island of Britain needs 32,000 kilometers of railways, which shows that China, with a land area of 13 million square kilometers, needs at least 400,000 kilometers of railways to cover it comprehensively. This is only a conservative estimate, because China does not have a flat ground like the United States, and the railway lines are horizontal and vertical. China's mountainous terrain is complex, and the railway lines are curved, especially in the northwest and southwest regions. Wang Chenhao believes that if the 500,000-kilometer railway plan can be completed, China will truly complete the goal of covering the national railway network.

Of course, Wang Chenhao will not be brutal. How easy is it to build a 500,000-kilometer railway network?

Zhan Tianyou's 120,000-kilometer railway plan is currently only connecting six major industrial bases, and has become a major city in the country, a city with rapid economic development and great potential.

According to the investment of 500 dragon yuan per kilometer of railway, 120,000 kilometers of railway trunk line needs to invest 60 million dragon yuan. The money can still be obtained.

However, Wang Chenhao suggested that the national railway trunk line should be added to the northeast trunk line from the current Yanjing to Aihui, and four more trunk lines. One trunk line was from Yanjing to Guangzhou, that is, the Beijing-Guangzhou line, to control South China; The second was from Yanjing to Uriya Sutai in Mongolia, that is, the Beijing-Wuhan line, which was used to control Mongolia. The third is from Yanjing to Yucheng, and then separated from Yucheng, one into Kunming, Yunnan, and one into Chengdu, Sichuan, to control the southwest region. The fourth is from Yanjing to the west, runs through Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia and Gansu, and goes out of Jiayuguan. It is divided into three routes from Jiayuguan, one to Xining in Qinghai, two to Urumqi and Yili in Xinjiang Province, and three to Lhasa in Tibet Province, as a communication line to control the northwest.

Wang Chenhao suggested that the trunk railway should be managed by the state, and the state should be responsible for the construction, and the double line should also be built. The railway connection project between provinces, cities, counties, and towns was built by the local government and the local gentry and businessmen, and the private railways were mainly for profit, and the national railways were given priority to national defense and security. In this way, the funds are saved, and the railway construction is not delayed, and the provinces start to build local railways at the same time, and then connect with the central railway trunk line, so that the national railway construction is carried out on a large scale at the same time, and the national railway network coverage can be completed in a short period of time, and the national railway construction goal can be completed.

Wang Chenhao's decision was made because of the large-scale repossession of roads and mines that had broken out in China before. During the road and mining movement, the local people were not happy with the construction of railways by the state and foreigners, and the people hoped to build and operate railways by themselves. Wang Chenhao will not snatch the interests of railway operation with the people at this time. The experience of the United States told Wang Chenhao that the only time the United States confiscated private railways that were not state-owned was before World War I, but after World War I, it lost $1.7 billion, and after that, the United States did not confiscate state-owned railways until World War II, and completely handed them over to the private sector to operate.

Wang Chenhao also knew the huge negative impact of the state-owned railways in his time, and Wang Chenhao did not want the tragic urging of a hard vote to happen again, so Wang Chenhao decided to let the railways be privately owned, but the state retained the right to requisition and transfer the civil railways during the war.

Based on the spirit of Wang Chenhao's instructions, Zhan Tianyou and his railway planners and designers redesigned the national railway network project, and in accordance with Wang Chenhao's requirements, gave priority to the construction of the national defense strategic railway trunk line, which was implemented by the national engineering team and the local garrison, and started construction at the same time in sections. Other branch lines were first planned by the Ministry of Communications, and then jointly built by the local government and local gentry and merchants, and the ownership was owned by the investors.

In this way, it took Zhan Tianyou more than a month to finally design a plan for China's railway network. The plan is to build a national railway network with a total length of 320,000 kilometers. The government is responsible for the construction of 100,000 kilometers of trunk and double-track railways, and the private sector is responsible for raising funds to build various branch railways, with a total of 220,000 kilometers of branch railways.

The national railway network project was planned to be completed in three five-year plans, the first of which was from 1899 to 1903, with the government building 30,000 kilometers of trunk railways and the private sector responsible for building 80,000 kilometers of branch railways. The second five-year plan lasted from 1904 to 1908, when the railway technology would be mature, and the government axe would build 60,000 kilometers of trunk railways and the private sector would build 100,000 kilometers of branch railways. From 1909 to 1913, the Third Five-Year Plan completed the construction of railways in the northwestern provinces, which was the most difficult, and completed the final 10,000-kilometer trunk railway, and the private sector also completed the construction of the most difficult branch railway, completed the last 40,000 kilometers of branch railways in the plan, and completed the construction of the national railway network.

The railway network projects across the country were divided into 305 nodes and sections to start construction of railways at the same time, and the government budget allocated a total of 70 million dragon dollars to the Ministry of Communications, and the starting budget was the highest in the first year, which was 13 million dragon dollars. The people are very keen on building roads to get rich, and all localities have raised funds to build railway branch lines in accordance with the railway plan of the political axe, raising a total of more than 200 million dragon coins, and some places have already begun to plan to build roads before the introduction of the political axe railway plan, and the funds have long been in place. The start of the project was even earlier than that of the political axe, which shows the enthusiasm of the people for raising funds to build roads.

Wang Chenhao's economic reform is copied from the United States, just as the United States copied the economic model of the United Kingdom.

After the complete privatization of the regional railway, the private sector raised funds to build the railway, which immediately brought about another financial problem, that is, the stock market.

Over the past 100 years since its formation, the stock market has made great contributions to the economic development of the West, but it has also caused many stock market crashes for the Western powers. Similarly, the entry of the stock market into China brought about a huge stock market crash in 1883.

Now, more than ten years have passed, and the pain caused by the first stock market crash to Chinese investors has gradually faded away, and the stock market has begun to recover gradually. As the private sector begins to raise funds to build roads, railway shares will inevitably arise, just as the railway industry stocks in the United States soared in the seventies, and China's railway stocks will also be fast. Wang Chenhao knows that ten years later, it should be the rubber industry that will cause China's second stock market crash, but now that the construction of a large-scale railway network is building, the railway stock market is also at huge risk.

Wang Chenhao knows that if China's stock market is not effectively regulated, it will bring another huge stock market crash to China in ten years.

As a result, Wang Chenhao's last item in economic reform was the reform of China's stock market. In accordance with the stock market regulatory system of his time and the mature stock market system of the United States, Wang Chenhao formulated relevant laws and regulations on China's stock market, and set up a special stock market management committee to strictly control the stock trading of listed companies.

To this end, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce established the Beiyang Stock Exchange in Tianjin, as China's first legally bound stock exchange, but all companies that issue shares in China must be approved by the Beiyang Stock Exchange and the Stock Market Management Committee, and strictly put an end to the listing of fake and fake companies.

At the same time as the establishment of the Beiyang Stock Exchange, the Beiyang Industrial Index Rating Management Committee was also established to rate the existing listed companies on the Beiyang Stock Exchange and foreign listed companies in China, including listed companies with good reputation and strong economic strength, and publishing the industrial index once a day as the basis for shareholders to refer to stocks. The Beiyang Industrial Index is reviewed by the Stock Market Management Committee and the Beiyang Stock Exchange, and edited and issued by the Beiyang Daily.

After the establishment of the Beiyang Stock Exchange, the Beiyang Industrial Index, the Beiyang Transportation Industry Stock Price Average Index, the Beiyang Public Utilities Stock Price Average Index, and the Beiyang Stock Price Composite Average Index were successively established.

Among the four Beiyang stock price indexes, the Beiyang Industrial Stock Price Average Index is the most important. Because China's pillar industries are now all under Wang Chenhao's name, they are widely reported by the mass media and are very well-known in China. Of the 112 listed companies in China, 101 belong to Wang Chenhao. During this period, the various stock price indices were basically determined by Wang Chenhao, and other listed companies did not have any power to resist.

This situation is not good for the long-term development of China's stock market, because there is no competition, but in the short term, the benefits outweigh the disadvantages. With the supervision of the Beiyang Stock Exchange, domestic investors can rest assured that they can choose the bull stocks they think they think will be, without worrying about being deceived by foreign companies and losing their money.

Of course, stock trading itself is a gamble, and there are definitely losses and gains. The Beiyang Stock Exchange and the Beiyang Industrial Index can only protect the overall interests of the country in the general direction, and the phenomenon of some individuals failing to speculate in stocks cannot be ruled out.

Just like the Dow Jones Industrial Index in the United States, the basis point of the Beiyang Industrial Index is set at 100, and it was officially launched on January 1, 1899.

(To be continued)