It is said that the economic zones planned by the four Heixinggen consortiums in the Far East are economic depressions, which are actually the result of natural and man-made disasters over the years.

Man-made disasters must have been the main factor, after all, the Yellow River has been in northern Jiangsu since the Song Dynasty was diverted, and the impact of flooding has always existed, but with the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it has been one of the most economically prosperous areas from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.

In the early Qing Dynasty, like all the great unified dynasties, it had the ability to govern the Yellow River, but now it has chosen to be rotten, and with the rise of shipping, the decline here has become inevitable.

However, by the time the Heixingen Consortium landed here, it had been 20 years since the Yellow River had been diverted, the floods had receded, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the Twisting Army had also been quelled.

If it were not for the successive natural and man-made disasters, it would not be easy for the Heixingen Consortium to enter this place, and the flood and military disasters caused great damage to this place at the same time, it also destroyed the local feudal economic system.

For example, Huai'an Mansion, which was originally an important territory of Huizhou merchants second only to Yangzhou in the Ming and Qing dynasties, was robbed by the Heixinggen consortium, in fact, it is not a robbery, the center of gravity of Huizhou merchants is currently shifting to Songjiang Mansion, the Yellow River is diverted, the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is abandoned, Huai'an has lost the function of the north-south transport hub, coupled with the rise of shipping, foreign cheap goods enter from the sea, it is inevitable that it will be abandoned by Huizhou merchants, and the Heixinggen consortium only played a role in mending the knife, so that Huizhou merchants completely abandoned this place, and Huai'an also suffered from Haizhou Mansion, Xuzhou Mansion, Jining Mansion, Yanzhou Mansion, Sizhou Mansion, Fengyang Mansion......

In 1855, the Yellow River broke (east of Kaifeng), and a large number of victims in southern Lunan, northern Anhui, and northern Jiangsu were displaced, and they entered the twist one after another, reaching a climax. The north and south of the Huaihe River are full of twists, and the reason why the twist army is active and the local economy is destroyed, and there are important reasons why the people lose their economic resources.

Ernst himself was keen on East African immigration, and did not notice that the area covered by the Heixingen consortium was the "Huaihai Province" conceived by netizens on the Internet media in his previous life. It was only this time that the Heixingen consortium was ready to invest heavily in the Far East in response to the economic crisis.

When Ernst invests in a region, it likes to plan areas, such as the typical North Industrial Belt of East Africa and the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone, and the atypical investment area centered on the cities of Berlin, Vienna and Trieste. As for the United States, it is completely to rush money, where the profits are high, the funds will flow, and the Far East investment, naturally, cannot be completely aimed at economic interests, mixed with Ernst's personal emotions, on the premise of not violating interests, it is still possible to help, anyway, win-win cooperation, neither side loses.

……

Yanzhou Mansion, Zaozhuang.

At this time, Zaozhuang belongs to a village in Yi County under the rule of Yanzhou Prefecture, Yi County has a long history, and Yi County may be a little unfamiliar, and the name Lanling is more famous.

Although Zaozhuang City, Yi County, and Lanling cannot be equated among the local population in the previous life, the approximate location is this area.

"Your Excellency Chen, in the future, I hope that your government will make more convenience for our investment here." Mark Mark, president of the Yanzhou branch of Heixingen Bank, said.

"Hehe, rest assured, your bank is not far away to invest in the Far East, the so-called visitors are guests, my Celestial Empire has its own bearing, and we will not let the villain delay your actions!" Chen Shijie, the Shandong envoy representing the Qing government, responded with a smile.

But he didn't think so, if it weren't for the Heixinggen consortium, who would have come here to deal with this group of foreigners.

Of course, the investment of the Heixingen consortium in the Far East could not bypass the local government, and the virtue of the Qing government was to eat hard rather than soft, so the East African government came forward and began large-scale development in the Far East after Beijing obtained the "Shangfang Sword".

Naturally, the East African government did not have such a big face, and in fact united the merchant groups of Germany and Austria-Hungary to demand that the Qing government relax restrictions in the name of East Africa, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.

Germany and Austria-Hungary are both represented, this matter is mainly dominated by the East African government, Germany is now very busy, has no time to care about overseas, is studying how to make France never turn over, Austria-Hungary minister is even more in Japan, not permanent in the Far East.

The Heixingen Foundation is a German consortium, and other German businessmen who are doing business in the Far East naturally represent the interests of Germany, so this time the Prussian minister was invited out by the Heixingen Foundation.

An East African ambassador, a German minister and a group of German businessmen also represent the German businessmen in the Far East as a whole (including Austria-Hungary), put pressure on the Qing government, and this matter was naturally resolved, and the world powers have two of them, and the Qing government naturally did not dare to slack off.

In addition, although there is an element of persecution in this East African-led economic cooperation, it has given the Qing government enough face and allowed it to invest in fifty percent of the shares and collect taxes.

As for how much money the imperial court is willing to invest in, it all depends on its financial level, and the Qing court that finally searched did not contribute, but let the Hui merchants with semi-official and commercial identities invest in 30%, and the remaining 20% were funded by Jin merchants to jointly develop the "Huaihai Economic Zone".

Huaihai Economic Zone spans four provinces, the region is rich in coal resources, especially in southwest Shandong and northern Anhui, there are large coal mines, and now the whole world is in the age of steam, and the Far East market is huge, so the development of coal mines is a sure deal.

Zaozhuang is the first place to invest in Heixinggen, the textile industry, the easiest industry to start, has been determined to be Jiaozhou, and the Huaihai area is rich in coal resources, at present, the Heixinggen consortium plans to develop its coal resources in Zaozhuang first.

It is not far from Weishan Lake, which is relatively easy to transport, and the rest of the start-up capital is provided by the Hexingen Bank, but the construction is taken over by an Austrian coal mining company, and at the same time the equipment is imported from Germany, so that the interests of East Africa, Germany, and Austria are taken care of.

But the name Zaozhuang is a bit stingy, the current Zaozhuang is still just a small town the size of a village (there is the influence of the local population loss factor caused by East African immigrants), simply take the ancient name Lanling as the name of the new city, as for the existing Lanling Town, then I can only say I'm sorry.

The planned Lanling City will replace the original Zaozhuang Town and become an emerging industrial city relying on the development of the coal mining industry.

The importance of the coal mining industry for industrialization in this era is self-evident, after the development of coal mines in Lanling City, relying on Weishan Lake, with the help of river transportation, can radiate the entire Huaihai Economic Zone.

Lanling City is just a starting point, followed by Jining, Linyi, Huaibei, Zibo, Heze...... Coal mines as far as Huainan in Anhui Province are likely to be developed.

At the same time, the Qing government organized manpower to sort out and dredge the road traffic and canals in the Huaihai Economic Zone, and the grain needed for these projects was provided to the Qing government by East Africa at cost price, and the two sides shared the future benefits.

The tax system in the Huaihai Economic Zone is also required to be unified in East Africa, modeled after the German Customs Union, abolishing some harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes, reducing local protectionism, and ensuring the free flow of people and goods throughout the Huaihai Economic Zone.

The central government of the Qing Dynasty is happy to see this, the local tax system has long been eroded, but it is not easy to change too much as a ruler, and it is not bad to let the East African Kingdom be this villain.

Of course, the Qing government also had to guard against East Africa, which is also the reason why Chen Shijie, the envoy of Shandong, personally intervened, who was originally a staff member of Zeng Guofan, and participated in the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Movement and the Twist Army Uprising, so this time at the request of the central government, he was responsible for monitoring the East African Kingdom, and the two sides cooperated in an atmosphere of mutual distrust.

(End of chapter)