Chengdu, Sichuan Governor's Office.

Today, the governor of Sichuan, Xiliang, is receiving a distinguished guest in his mansion.

At this time in China, as long as it is a foreign adult, it must be a distinguished guest, not to mention a foreign adult who waving banknotes in his hand and can bring rich gifts every time.

Xiliang said with some doubts: "Mr. Cavour, you said that your Xingke Company is going to set up an iron factory in Weiyuan, and you will also build a road in Zhizhou?"

Kafuer, the manager of the public relations department of Xingke Company, said politely: "Yes, Your Excellency Governor, the company plans to build a steel plant in Weiyuan. Your Excellency, I heard that Sichuan is preparing to build a railway, and if our Weiyuan Iron and Steel Plant is set up, it will not only be able to provide a large amount of steel, but also provide qualified rails for Sichuan's railways. The number of rails needed for a railway is not a small number, and the transportation in Sichuan is inconvenient, and if it is transported by other provinces, the transportation cost alone is very considerable......"

This sentence immediately moved Xiliang, he thought for a while, and said: "Oh, I know that there is an iron mine in Weiyuan, but it is inconvenient to open there, and you also have to set up a factory?"

"It's just that the roads are not good, and since we want to set up a factory there, of course we have to build roads. So these two things are actually one thing...... If His Excellency the Governor agrees, the company is willing to give you one percent of the dry shares......" Cavour smiled and offered the condition.

Among the bureaucrats of the late Qing Dynasty, Xiliang was a rare capable official, and he did a lot of practical things in his tenure as governor of Sichuan, such as planning the Sichuan-Han Railway, and he was the most enthusiastic.

However, Xiliang did not agree immediately, he said with a look of embarrassment: "Mr. Cavour, now that the call of our people to take back their rights is extremely high, this official does not dare to agree to you......"

At that time, Chinese nationalism was on the rise, and the bourgeois constitutionalists were actively promoting and leading the development of the national constitutional movement in politics, and economically they were strongly demanding the recovery of all kinds of rights and interests seized by the foreign powers. Thus, the movement to recover rights that began at the beginning of the 20th century reached ** between 19o6 and 1911. The so-called movement to recover the right to the right was mainly the struggle to recover the right of mine and the right of way, and thus extended to the later movement of road protection.

Among them, in 19o6, Sichuan Province successively recovered the kerosene mining rights in Ba County and Wanxian County contracted by the French Commercial Lihua Company, the mining rights in Chongqing and other seven prefectures undertaken by the French Commercial Fu'an Company, the hardware mining rights in Tianquan and Maogong two counties opened by the French Commercial Fucheng Company, the rights to explore and operate the Sichuan kerosene mines seized by the British Kaidong Company, and the mining rights of the Jiangbei Hall Coal and Iron Mine occupied by the British Huaying Coal and Iron Company.

This is also a rather complacent political achievement of Xiliang, how can he agree to the Americans' demand for mining with the mining rights he has just recovered from Britain and France? Not to mention 1 percent of the dry shares, even 1o% of the dry shares, he will not agree, and he does not dare to agree. Although Xiliang also needs money, he still has a bottom line.

Cavour smiled and said, "Hehehe, Your Excellency misunderstood. Our boss is Chinese, and besides, unlike those British and French companies, we are just a purely commercial company, not representing the US government. We are only pursuing commercial interests, without any strings attached......"

"Also, if your Excellency is worried about public opinion, we can do so. On behalf of the local government of Sichuan, you will invest in the local mines and land, and our boss will invest in technology, equipment and capital in his personal name. In this way, overseas Chinese businessmen returned to China to run their own iron mines, and they had nothing to do with the US government......"

"Well......" Xiliang couldn't help but be moved, when Zhang Zhidong built the Hanyang Iron Factory, he was very envious and jealous, but the iron ore in Sichuan is not easy to mine, and he doesn't have so much money in his hands. The Hanyang Iron Works cost a total of 5.83 million taels of silver, and Lao Xi is now planning a railway, even if he buys it, he can't get so much. If the railroad is completed during the governor's term and a large iron factory can be built, then his reputation may be overpowered.

Xiliang thought for a while, and then said: "Your mention, this official still needs to think about it......"

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A week later.

"Hmph, although wearing a foreign skin can save a lot of trouble, it also has a lot of disadvantages...... But fortunately, it was finally solved......"

Wen Desi, who came out of the Governor's Palace, couldn't help but sigh slightly.

After a few days of Kafuer's flickering, Xiliang finally relented, but asked to talk to Wen Desi in person, so Mr. Wen had to go to Chengdu.

It was still a pleasure to meet Xiliang. Nonsense, throwing so much money and artificial gemstones, can it be unpleasant?

After all, with nearly 4oo years ahead of the knowledge, Wen Deji took out the negotiation methods of later generations, and soon stunned Xiliang.

In the end, the two sides reached an agreement to open Weiyuan Iron and Steel Plant in Weiyuan. The agreement separates the steel plant from the mine, with the local government of Sichuan taking 3o% of the shares in iron ore, coal mines and land, the private sector in Sichuan contributing 1o% of the shares, and Wen Desi personally investing in technology, equipment and capital, accounting for 6o% of the shares. The coal mines in Longchang and Zizhong were also treated in the same way.

As for the steel plant itself, Wen Desi holds 75% of the shares, the Sichuan local government mainly invests in real estate such as land, accounting for 15% of the shares, and the private gentry and the public account for 1o% of the shares.

It is also Wen Desi's idea to bring in the local gentry and people in Sichuan, and there is no way, with the nationalist sentiment of the current Chinese people, it is not possible to do this.

However, those limestone, quartz sand, shale, phosphate rock and other mines are much easier. In the eyes of the people of the time, these things were of little value and were everywhere. Wen Deji accounted for 8o% of the shares, and the Sichuan local government and the private gentry each held 1o% of the shares.

With the support of the government and the local gentry, things were much easier, for example, when it came to demolitions, resettlement, land occupation, and so on. If these things are handled only by Wen Desi himself, it will be more troublesome.

Moreover, Wen Desi's trip to Chengdu, in addition to getting the mine, also had 2 unplanned gains.

The first is to obtain permission to build the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway. How difficult the traffic situation in Sichuan is, Xiliang, the governor, knows very well, otherwise he would not have planned the Sichuan-Han Railway. However, the railway is really difficult to repair, there are too many things involved, and the cycle is very long. But the road is different, it involves much less and works much faster.

In fact, Wen Desi did not think of building the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway at first, he only planned to use the highway to connect several counties near Neijiang, purely to facilitate the exchange of his industrial zone.

This matter was brought up by Xiliang himself. Wen Desi invested in Sichuan to set up a factory, without any political conditions, and was willing to pay money to help him carry out political performance projects, this kind of good person is really rare, of course Mr. Xiliang does not want to miss this "wronged head". So, he tentatively put forward the plan of the Chengdu-Chongqing Highway.

Wen Deji was dumbfounded at that time, he didn't think that this Mr. Governor would actually have the idea of "attracting investment". Of course, this is also because of Mr. Wen's status as an "overseas Chinese", or Xiliang wouldn't even be able to hide.

Of course, Wen Desi would not refuse such a good thing to be sent to the door, he immediately agreed to Xiliang's suggestion, and he also built the Chongqing Railway.

Second, it was to take advantage of the situation to persuade Xiliang to change the route of the Sichuan-Han Railway, cancel the original line from Wanxian to Yichang, and change it to Guò from Ankang and Xiangfan, which was the Xiangyu line in later generations.

This is not a fool, Wen Desi knows very well that the Sichuan-Han line originally planned by the Qing court is a sinkhole, which is not at all solved by existing technology. Even with the technology of the early 21 st century, this 6oo-kilometer line took seven years of exploration and repair, and it took a total of 14 years to complete, of which the average cost per kilometer was three times that of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway! This is still the result of modifying some lines.

This line is arguably one of the most difficult railways on the planet, and with the technology at this time, it is impossible to repair it even in 5o years.

In fact, there were many experts who opposed the construction of this line at that time, but the bureaucrats of Xiliang have not been able to make up their minds to revise it, after all, it seems that this line is much closer. Now that he was fooled by the experts under Wen Dehei, Xiliang was finally shaken. However, the new Sichuan-Han line has changed a lot, and it has to pass through Shaanxi, and he still has to coordinate with the government of Hubei and Shaanxi.

However, Xiliang also agreed to the plan of building the Chengdu-Chongqing line and the Neiwei line first, first, to connect Chengdu and Chongqing, the two largest cities in Sichuan, and second, to facilitate the transportation of Weigang's railroad tracks.

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Of course, although Wen Desi has obtained these big cakes, he will definitely not be able to eat them with his current appetite, and the funds are insufficient. So, instead of fully flowering, he divided these things into several stages.

The financial issues involved, Mr. Wen also had a long plan, and he sent Banazar and others to the United States, not just to solve the identity problem.

"Mr. Wen, after solving the identity problem, according to the original plan, we have applied for patents for the following items in your name in the United States: lighters, ballpoint pens, monosodium glutamate, cigarette filters, cans, ......"

Banazar Tong Guò took his laptop and reported to Wen Desi, who had just returned to Neijiang.

Wen Desi smiled: "Very good, your next step is to set up a company involving these patents in the United States, and I will send you more people." ”

These are all plans that were made after the crossing, and the five patents such as lighters are what Mr. Wen used to solve the financial problem. These things are simple to make, there is no technical difficulty at all, it is almost a conceptual problem, don't look at these things are inconspicuous, but the profits generated in them are very amazing.

Among them, lighters, monosodium glutamate and ballpoint pens are three that he is ready to monopolize completely, because this is a completely new thing, a new market. And the patents for cigarette filters and cans, in addition to his own use, he is ready to license those big manufacturers, and the cigarettes and drinks at that time have long been carved up by those predators. With Wen Desi's current conditions, if he engages in a monopoly, he will not have much benefit, and it is better to earn royalties after licensing, so that he can also get closer to those predators.

In the factories in the Menkantan Industrial Zone, the focus is on the manufacturers of lighters, cigarettes, monosodium glutamate and ballpoint pens.

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