"King Carlo, the conduct of your country in the Far East has made London very puzzled, and my Government has asked me whether your country's conduct represents a reluctance to abide by the agreements of the countries of the Far East. Or to put it another way, your country wants to seek to be exclusive to some special interests of the Qing state! ”

When the British ambassador Holly Mandison said this, his eyes were fixed on Carlo rather unreasonably, as if he wanted to detect some slight change in the man's face.

But unfortunately, the Italian expression did not change in the slightest, but said slowly. "Ambassador Mandison, what does your government and Prime Minister mean?"

"Yes, Your Majesty Carlo, my Government and Prime Minister are very disappointed with your country's promotion of railway construction in the Far East, and believe that the lack of technical support from the British Empire will lead to many detours."

It's so nice, to put it bluntly, it's not about seeking profits. Of course, Carlo also knew that Italy was quite unkind in monopolizing the interests of the Qing Railway. This has sparked discontent in various countries, especially the British, who have benefited the most, and are quite angry about it.

Let's put it this way, after the British in the Far East were second only to Russia in the wariness of Italy, which currently needed a global siege from London. Because the benefits that Italy has obtained in the Qing Kingdom are already approaching Britain, which has been deeply cultivated for a long time.

What do you make the UK think?

I developed this place first, and everyone else followed the agreement, and the unruly Italians took advantage of the shortcomings of the agreement to wantonly embezzle and expand their interests in the Qing country. Even if you dare to meddle in the British Empire's plans in the Far East, although you use the Qing people as an excuse, but who doesn't know that you are expanding your influence in the Qing in disguise. All of the above has put Britain on the verge of exploding.

Then you seek to seize the interests of the railways that are coveted by all countries, and you still pull them all into your own bowl, leaving no one else for a bite. If this thing can be endured, 10 Downing Street should be renamed, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are more suitable.

Therefore, this time there is enough confidence to say that Ambassador Mandison will be so tough.

"Ambassador Mandison, your country has actually misunderstood our country, and our country does not have the idea of monopolizing the interests of the Qing Railway, which is just the idea of diplomats to maximize their interests, which has caused the current result."

In the face of the hardened British ambassador, Carlo could not harden up.

Carlo was not afraid of the British ambassador, but of the British Empire behind him.

Yes, Carlo coaxed. Because he knows that although Italy has developed well in recent years, let alone Britain, even France next door cannot be compared. Economically, militarily, and in terms of influence, Italy is no match for France, let alone Britain, which holds world hegemony.

So it's not a shame at all to coward, even if Carlo has memories of his past life, he can't make Italy comparable to Britain for more than ten years. Not to mention Britain, being able to compete with France in twenty or thirty years is the result of the efforts of the Italians.

There is no way that the foundation is too poor, and the local lack of coal and iron ore is hard to hurt, no matter how hard Carlo tries, it is useless. It is not an exaggeration to describe Italy's industrial development with half the effort. So even Italy, which was pretty good in the Renaissance era, couldn't keep up with it after entering the industrial era.

And the assurance from Carlo also made Mandison feel excited, after all, after so many years in Italy, it was not easy to see the Italian king give in.

"Since Your Majesty said so, then presumably your country's diplomats have realized their mistakes, so I hope that the next meeting with your country's diplomats will be able to get satisfactory results."

Well, Ambassador Mandison, who accepted it when he saw it, still understood people's hearts very well, and after getting the desired result, he was immediately ready to leave. As to how much of the British share of the Great Qing Railway Company should be, it was a matter between him and the Roman government. No one dared to covet the British Empire's share, and he was very confident in that.

When Ambassador Mandison left, Carlo picked up the phone on his desk, thought about it, and put it down again.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for Prime Minister Antonio and Foreign Minister Bacona to come in succession.

"Your Majesty, have you acceded to the request of the British?"

The two important ministers simply and directly expressed their intentions.

"Yes, I promised the British to share the benefits of the Qing Railway. I had been blinded by profit, but I didn't see the danger. ”

Faced with Carlo's rare admission of mistakes, Antonio and Bacona looked at each other and said in unison. "Your Majesty, this matter is actually not only you, in fact, we also have a reason."

"I don't know enough about the complicated situation of Italy in the Qing Kingdom."

These are the words of Prime Minister Antonio.

"I didn't take into account the reaction of countries in this, and it was my mistake."

These are the words of Foreign Minister Bakona.

"And these days, the ambassadors of Germany and Austria have come to me many times, also to discuss the interests of the Qing railway."

"It's the same on my side, the ambassadors of various countries are about to break the threshold of our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, just because of the interests of the Qingguo Railway."

"I have asked some experts before, and they believe that the Qingguo Railway Company, which is currently being formed, can make at least 50 million lire of profit a year if it can complete the construction of the announced railway, based on factors such as the situation along the announced railway lines and the distribution of population. Of course, some additional benefits cannot be calculated, such as the discovery of mineral resources along the route or something. However, the investment is also expensive, and it is indeed difficult for my country to bear it alone. ”

According to the railway line announced so far, if you want to complete its construction, you need at least 150 million taels of silver (the total investment of the Luhan line is 43.49 million taels of silver, and the construction cost per kilometer is 35,000 taels of silver. ）。

This translates to lira, which requires at least 800 million lira.

This is not a small amount at all, even for Italy, which would require at least 80 million lira per year over a 10-15 year construction period. So under pressure from various countries, Carlo and the prime minister felt the need to share part of the burden.

Well, this is all rhetoric, if you can really monopolize the interests of the railway, the ghost will let go. It's not like you have to let go, it's better to find a reason or two first.

"Since you can't monopolize the interests of the railway, there are some things that need to be done in advance. The shares we bought in Qingguo, after we sold some of them to other countries, will be combined to ensure the best interests of our country in the Qingguo Railway Company. ”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The two ministers were not fools, and of course knew how to keep Italy's share. After giving up part of the shares, the shares that Italy bought from the Qing State did not have to be concealed. There are too many players in the game, and there is no need to hide your strength, especially since Italy is not a strong side.

Bacona then said. "At present, although we have to let go of more than half of our interests in the Far Eastern Railway, in the Balkans, we may be able to recover some."

With the decision between Carlo and the prime minister, the dispute over the Qingguo Railway Company finally subsided. Italy ceded 29% of the shares of the Qingguo Railway Company for 50 million taels of silver, and Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the United States and Austria divided it among 13%, 8%, 3%, 2.5%, 2%, and 0.5% respectively. Of course, in addition to taking shares from Italy, all countries have taken action to loot the shares of railway companies in the Qing Dynasty. However, no country has received as much as Italy, with a share of 2.4%, which is the best.

This adds up to 22.4% of the share, and it can be said that in addition to the household department, the largest shareholder, the interests are still mostly retained.