Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 1189, unified standard imperial court operation public-private combination
Railways are the lifeblood of a country, this is definitely not nonsense.

When China was bullied by foreign enemies in later generations, the great powers were keen to build railways in China. This was not because they wanted to help you build and contribute to you, but because they wanted to rely on railways, the lifeblood of railways, to plunder China’s wealth. and resources.

Its importance is self-evident.

The points mentioned by Liu Jin are just one of its most basic functions. In fact, the benefits that railways can bring to a region and country are innumerable. They can revitalize the entire country like blood vessels. all aspects.

"It's like a cement road, with convenient transportation and the circulation of people and materials."

Xie Qian thought for a while and then said.

"Yes, but the transportation capacity of the train is much stronger than that of the road, but the cost is also higher. It requires the laying of special railways and tracks."

"The Beijing-Tianjin Railway alone cost tens of millions of taels of silver, and it was almost paved with silver."

Liu Jin nodded solemnly and said.

"The railway is so important, it is related to the lifeline of the country."

"So in terms of railway construction and operation, the imperial court must achieve three points: unified standards, imperial court operation, and public-private integration."

Then Liu Jin also put forward his three views on the railway.

"Unified standards, court operations, public-private integration?"

When everyone heard this, they immediately started to think a little.

"What is a unified standard?"

Liu Jian thought for a while and asked.

"The so-called unified standard means that in the future, all the railways and trains we build in Ming Dynasty must follow the unified specifications and requirements."

"How wide is the track of the train, the structure of the construction, the structure of the railway station, the sales of train tickets, the system and standards of operation management, etc., all of which are unified."

"This is because if the standards of each railway are different, then different trains cannot run on different tracks, and there is no way to achieve unified national dispatch."

"Actually, the simple understanding is that the cars are on the same track and the books are on the same text."

Liu Jin thought about it and explained.

"That's it~"

When everyone heard the explanation, they immediately understood and nodded.

This is easy to understand. If there is no unified standard, if various regions and commercial firms build randomly, then Daming's railway will not be able to achieve intermodal transport, which will greatly affect the operation of the railway.

"How do you understand the operation of the imperial court?"

Li Dongyang thought about it and asked again.

"The railway is related to the national economy and the people's livelihood, and is related to the lifeline of the country."

"Such an important thing should naturally be in the hands of the imperial court, and the imperial court will be responsible for overall planning and operation."

"This is one aspect. Another aspect is that there are differences between railways and railways. For example, the Beijing-Tianjin Railway must be very busy. There is no problem with sending dozens of trains every day."

"However, when we build railways in Ming Dynasty, we must not only build railways in prosperous areas. In the future, we must build railways to remote areas. The cost of railways in remote areas is higher, and at the same time, the population is small, and the operating costs are higher."

"This means that the construction of railways to remote areas does not make money, but the imperial court cannot stop building or operating them just because they don't make money."

"So this requires the imperial court to coordinate the operation and management of the railway. Even in remote areas and border areas, the railway still needs to be repaired and operated."

"Because this is no longer a matter of making money, but a matter of the stability of the country's borders and the development of remote areas."

"The minister suggested that a special railway office should be established under the Ministry of Industry to coordinate the construction and operation of railways across the country."

Liu Jin explained again.

In fact, this is easy to understand. The high-speed railways of later generations are all at a loss, but the country has always insisted on building high-speed railways and repairing them in poor areas. This is an absolute loss in itself, but it still needs to be done.

Because the existence of high-speed rail can drive the development of remote and backward areas, at the national level, many things cannot be measured economically.

However, if the railway is privately owned and businessmen are looking for profit, private enterprises will never do business at a loss, and they will never build railways in worthless areas.

On this point, the same is true for electricity, postal services, roads, etc., and the overall planning and planning are carried out at the national level, regardless of economic gains and losses.

"well said!"

After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help but praise.

Liu Jin also made him look at him with admiration again.

Liu Jin is very rich, but Emperor Hongzhi has always given the impression that Liu Jin is not a person who loves money. His money is spent on useful things, and almost not used for his own enjoyment.

Running schools, factories, commercial banks, building roads, and now building railways are all things that benefit the country and the people. Especially in running schools, Liu Jin is very generous. He spends millions of taels of silver every year. Not even blinking.

However, the number of schools founded by Liu Jin is unknown. There are more than a dozen high-level colleges and universities in the southern suburbs of the capital, such as textile schools, mechanical schools, bridge construction schools, medical schools, shipbuilding schools, music schools, etc. Academy, Academy of Fine Arts, Imperial College, Imperial Chemicals, etc.

The founders of these new high-level colleges are all Liu Jin, and almost all of the school's funding comes from Liu Jin, plus the new schools opened in various places in Ming Dynasty.

Liu Jin is really very generous in this regard, as for himself, he has always been very simple.

Now hearing Liu Jin's views on railways, this made Emperor Hongzhi feel that Liu Jin was really good. He deeply realized the importance of railways, and also realized that at the national level, railways cannot be judged by whether they make money or not. built.

"Businessmen seek profit, and they will naturally build railways that make money, but they will certainly not build railways that do not make money."

"But for the country, the more remote and border areas, the more railways are needed to consolidate the country's rule in these places and drive the development of these places."

Li Dongyang also nodded solemnly and said.

"Well, let's go on and talk about how this public-private combination is."

The smile on Emperor Hongzhi's face was even wider.

As an emperor who grew up under traditional education, he wanted to understand new things on the one hand, but on the other hand he always felt that he couldn't deal with them.

Taking this railway as an example, Emperor Hongzhi immediately realized the importance of the railway and its great role in the entire country.

But how to manage the railways, and how to build huge railways in various parts of Daming, all these made him confused, and he didn't know what to do.

You must know that in the past, the kings of all dynasties advocated governance by doing nothing. To put it simply, they did not care about anything and allowed the country and the people to grow on their own like weeds.

However, such a way of managing the country is obviously becoming more and more unable to adapt to the needs and development of the times. As far as the railway is concerned, everyone immediately realized it after Liu Jin said it briefly.

If the imperial court does not get involved, but only allows private individuals to build and operate railways, then many railways may be built in places with economic value, and in remote areas and border areas, no one may be willing to build railways .

This is obviously not possible, the railway is so important, the imperial court also needs to rely on the railway to strengthen the control of various places, and at the same time strengthen the exchanges and exchanges between various places.

After listening to Liu Jin's words, Emperor Hongzhi finally had a clear idea of ​​how to manage, build, and operate the railway in the future.

"The so-called public-private combination~"

"It's worth the construction of the railway. The imperial court must participate in it, and at the same time, it must actively exert the power of the people."

"This is mainly because the construction of the railway is really too ratty. The two places in Beijing and Tianjin are less than two hundred miles away, but they cost tens of millions of taels of silver to build."

"Our entire Daming has a vast territory and a vast territory. If we want to build a railway network covering the entire Daming, we will need an astronomical amount of money."

"If you only rely on the financial resources of the imperial court to build, no amount of silver from the imperial court is enough. I am afraid that the silver that can be used to build the railway in a year is only [-] to [-] million taels of silver, which means that the silver in a year is only enough to build the railway. Thousands of miles of railways."

"If it can be like the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, through the way of listing on the Tianjin Stock Exchange and publicly raising funds from the whole society, it will be no problem to raise hundreds of millions of taels a year for the construction of the railway."

"This means that with this method, the imperial court can build tens of thousands of kilometers of railways a year. In just a few decades, my Ming Dynasty can build railways covering various places and provinces. The entire Ming Dynasty will drilled together through these railroads."

"That's why I think that in the future, every railway in Ming Dynasty will be planned by the imperial court, part of the funds will be allocated, and then it will be publicly listed on the Tianjin Stock Exchange to raise funds. In this way, it will be a combination of public and private, and the imperial court will be the major shareholder. , and can also get their own dividends from the railway operation, which can be said to serve multiple purposes.”

After Liu Jin thought about it, he also brought up the idea of ​​combining public and private affairs.

Although the current Ming Dynasty has silver, it is far from being able to compare with later generations. One of the most important reasons is that the current Ming Dynasty’s taxation is still very light compared to later generations, even the commercial tax is very low. The money printing machine is in the hands of the Daming First Bank.

Therefore, there is no way to release the water, and the financial resources are naturally limited. It is impossible to use the power of the state to overhaul the railway like later generations, and it is necessary to rely on private capital and strength.

The real richest people in Ming Dynasty are the gentry, landlords, merchants, etc., not the Ming court. Fortunately, the past few years, if it was before, the Ming court was poor, and the treasury could starve to death.

　What do you think?

　　
　
(End of this chapter)