Chapter 98 1800 km railway

Although it is true that it costs a lot of money to build the railway, the profits and hidden value contained in it far exceed the investment of tens of millions of taels of silver! Not to mention anything else, just the Taiwan Ring Island Railway, which has been in operation for nearly a year, has earned nearly 2 million taels of money from passenger and freight transportation in the past year, and although there are factors in this for the great development of Taiwan's industry, the coastal provinces of the Qing court were also very rich, and the strength and scale of the industrial and commercial handicraft industry were not weak, and in addition to the large population, the prospect of profit was still very considerable!

Therefore, although the construction of the railway network between the two provinces will cost a huge investment of nearly 30 million taels of silver! Huang Sheng did not say anything, first, the Huo Jiajun is still very wealthy, and the other is that their troops lurking in the Qing Dynasty will also be more convenient in terms of logistical supply and ammunition replenishment after the completion of the railway! Moreover, the convenient transportation efficiency of the railway has also reduced the wear and tear along the way and the danger of being discovered! In short, there are still many benefits!

"Hehe, although twenty-seven million is a lot, we still take it out now!" Seeing that Huo Shan and Zhan Tianyou's eyes were looking at him, Huang Sheng couldn't help but smile and said!

Seeing Zhan Tianyou's happy appearance, Huo Shan himself nodded happily, and now he has basically handed over all government affairs to the Government Council led by Huang Sheng to be responsible, so the allocation for the construction of this railway network also needs his own teacher, the Prime Minister of the Government Council, to nod, otherwise it will only have to take money from the Huo family's small treasury!

"That's fine, the rest depends on Mr. Cheng's Ministry of Railways!"

"Young master, don't worry! The 1,800-kilometer railway will definitely be completed by the end of '83!" Zhan Tianyou assured in an excited mood. Now he feels that his decision to come to Taiwan and join Huo Jiajun was really right! If he had returned to the Qing court, he might still have his qualifications in that small yamen, and now he would not only have become the minister of railways of Huo Jiajun, but also be able to preside over the construction of thousands of kilometers of railways!

Being able to apply what he has learned and apply what he has learned is undoubtedly the most desired thing for every talented and ambitious young man, and now his value has been fully realized in the collective of Huo Jiajun!

"Hehe, I came here today mainly to talk to you about some things about the development and construction of Java Island and Sumatra Island!" Seeing that Huo Shan appeased Zhan Tianyou, who wanted to take the initiative to leave, and looked at him inquiringly, Huang Sheng took the initiative to say.

"Teacher, now that there is a war on the two islands, isn't it a bit too hasty for you to make a development plan now?" Huo Shan looked at his teacher with some surprise, you must know that he had always been a steady and cautious person before!

Looking at the look of surprise on his disciple's face, Huang Sheng waved his hand and said with a smile: "I have already read all the detailed reports of the military headquarters on the war on the two islands! Our army is progressing very well, and according to their operational plan, it should be less than two or three days before the war on the two islands will be completely over! Even if the Dutch and Portuguese reinforcements arrive, it will be difficult for us to shake our occupation of the two islands! Therefore, it is time to make a comprehensive plan for the comprehensive construction of the two islands!"

Looking at the calm smile on his face and full of confidence, Huo Shan secretly thought in his heart: "It seems that the victory of the army has given the teacher a lot of confidence!" He still clearly remembered the worried look he showed when Huang Sheng came to persuade him not to start a war with two Western powers at the same time before the war began!

"Listening to the teacher say this, is it because he has already drawn up a draft in his heart?"

"Well, in the past few days, all the ministers of our government affairs have gathered together for several meetings, and a simple four-year development plan has been prepared! As long as you agree, we only need to add some branches and leaves to the plan in the future to make the plan more refined!" As he spoke, he reached out and took out a stack of papers from the black briefcase he was carrying with him and put it on the coffee table in front of Huo Shan!

"Let's see, although it is only a four-year development plan, it is not a short time, enough for us to lay a good industrial foundation for the two provinces!"

Huo Shan was really very interested in this four-year development plan drawn up by the Government Council itself! After all, this time he did not have his own intervention like the last time he formulated the five-year economic development plan! Therefore, he couldn't help but take the documents on the table in his hand with curiosity and read them carefully!

As time passed, the expression on Huo Shan's face kept changing!

Huang Sheng drank tea, looked at the eight years old, and looked at the disciples who had matured a lot more than before, and the feeling in his heart was very complicated! He was both impressed and a little ashamed, after nearly two years of contact, Huo Shan's talent had been thoroughly displayed, whether it was politics, economy, military or industry, he knew everything, and he was even more ashamed of himself! Thinking of the worries about the war that he had shown some time ago, Huang Sheng couldn't help but shake his head in shame! The victory of the Huo Jiajun in the face of the 40,000 Dutch Army on the two big islands was like a devastating victory, which made him understand that he still did not really understand the combat effectiveness of the Huo Jiajun, and overcome the fear and inferiority complex of the Western power in his heart!

"Forget it, I won't bother with military matters in the future, and concentrate on taking care of this bigger and bigger force for him, more and more like a country!" Huang Sheng thought secretly in his heart.

After half an hour had passed, Huo Shan let out a long breath and put the plan in his hand on the table! Leaning back on the sofa, he closed his eyes and thought for a while before he spoke: "Let's spend the 500,000-ton steel plant above the teacher and the shipyard that is going to be built in Batavia! In addition, the 5,000-kilometer railway line is still somewhat insufficient, and it will be doubled again, and all the money originally invested in industrial equipment will be invested in the construction of railways, highways, and towns! In addition, the laying of submarine cables and telephone lines should also be added! The rest will be done according to the discussion of your government council!"

Huang Sheng took out his pen and recorded Huo Shan's opinions, and then he looked up at him with some surprise, his disciple's enthusiasm and crazy devotion to heavy industry were vividly and vividly expressed in the previous five-year development plan! This is also one of the reasons why when the Government Council formulated this plan, it launched these two large heavy industry enterprises when there was still a shortage of workers! However, this time Huo Shan actually crossed out these two factories by himself! This is really a little inconsistent with his previous behavior and habits! However, his investment in railways is exactly the same as before!

Looking at the teacher's strange eyes, Huo Shan couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart, next year's thirteenth economic crisis in the world is coming, when a large number of steel mills, shipyards, oil refineries and other heavy industry enterprises will collapse on a large scale, these heavy industry equipment will be in the context of the economic crisis, completely fall the price of cabbage, now with real money to build a factory, where to catch up after the outbreak of the economic crisis, to buy the bottom of the time to come happy!

At that time, spending the same amount of money may buy more than two or three times as much industrial equipment as before, which is why Huoshan did not expand its industry on a large scale this year!

Of course, he can't say these words to his teacher, otherwise he will really become a monster!

"Teacher, we still have too few workers, and it is already very good to be able to meet the scale of industrial development in our first five-year plan, so I will not agree to build a new heavy industry factory until new skilled workers are trained!"

"Okay! Since that's the case, let's cross them out!" Huo Shan's reason is very well-founded, the lack of workers has always been a bottleneck restricting the development of the Huo family's military industry!

"However, the addition of 5,000 kilometers of railways is 75 million silver dollars, plus the investment on the road, this is nearly 100 million silver dollars, will it be too much!" Huang Sheng said with some distress. Although Huo Jiajun's current silver treasury is very rich, the investment of hundreds of millions of silver dollars still makes him feel a little distressed!

"Hehe, teacher! This is also something that cannot be helped, the two islands are rich in products and resources, but the traffic conditions are too bad, and if they are not repaired now, they will be inevitable in the future! Now we have a lot of money, and after the railways and highways are repaired, we will be able to make the economic development of the two places as soon as possible! I believe that the economic return will already exceed our current investment!" Huo Shan smiled and comforted.

"I know, I know, it's just that I'm used to being poor before, and I can't change it for a while!" Huang Sheng said with a smile and quipped to himself.