Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1508 Jiaohe ([-])

On February 1668, 2, Zhongying Township Railway Station, Hualong County.

Goshkin took a claw hammer and forcefully pried off the tightly sealed lid of the wooden barrel, then took a knife, cut a small piece of reddish bacon from the barrel, and put it in the I chewed it in my mouth, then let out a long breath, and said: "The taste is not bad, it is acceptable, especially at such a low price. We can afford the beef from Patagonia. That's it, but meat is meat, better than sawdust-smelling black bread, right?"

With a clang, Goshkin put down the knife in his hand. Goshkin, who has become more and more generous in recent years, turned to face a group of unkempt Russian laborers standing behind him. He waved his hand and said imposingly: "Go to work!"

And following his order, the foremen and supervisors who had followed him for many years also took their positions, urging their workers to pick up tools and start leveling the roadbed.The project they contracted is a section of railway from Hualong County to Zuocheng County. It is part of the Forest Railway. The specific start and end points are from Zhongying Township to Wanting Township. The length is about 90 kilometers. A single line-worth it It is worth mentioning that, since the Gen*na (Asian) people have invested in the construction of the 48-kilometer railway from Hualong Town to Zhongying Township, they are not willing to do so due to financial considerations. Continue to invest in infrastructure, but prepare to start collecting money through a pier (Qingshan Township Wharf) and a section of railway (Forest Railway Mupai-Zhongying Section, 184 kilometers) in hand, so as to withdraw funds as soon as possible.

Although the East Coast people don't quite agree with the idea of ​​the Italian from the forest development company, they understand it, because they are here to make money, not to provide you with free services.Returning funds and controlling expenditures are extremely important to investors in forest development companies. The large amount of timber, food, grains, building materials and even personnel transported through docks and railways every year can already make them enough profits, so they are still in a hurry to spend large sums of money. What is the money for?Once you really spend 500 million or 1000 million lire, how long will it take you to pay back?You must know that the agreements signed by the people on the east bank and the forest development company have a time limit. If the investment and sufficient income cannot be recovered within the time limit of the contract, should everyone go to drink the northwest wind?

And after learning that the forest development company is unwilling to continue investing in the railway, the people on the east coast can only find their own way.Especially the Jiaohe District Administrative Office, which is closely related to their interests, tried every means to continue to attract investment and sponsorship in order to launch the Malaysia Railway, but it was a pity that they always had little effect.In desperation, Xu Xin, the veteran cadre who was still in office at the time, made the final decision and made his own determination, that is, through his own efforts, he would give priority to the construction of the railway from Zhongying to Wanting, and move the forest railway to the west. Extend about 90 kilometers, because they feel that this section is the most urgent.

By the way, I have to explain here.Recently, in addition to Jiaohe County and Hualong, Zuocheng County has been added under the jurisdiction of the Jiaohe District Administrative Office, which is the 76th county-level administrative unit in the country. It has jurisdiction over Zuocheng Township, Wanting Township, Nanhua Township, and Didao Township There are five townships, Chengshi Township and Chengshi Township, with a fairly large area.In addition, some other nearby scattered settlements are also divided. Among them, Houying Township belongs to Jiaohe County, and Fufeng Township, Tonggu Township and Chongxin Township are unified into TL County. TL County has greatly increased its geographical, population and economic strength. , The ranking of the [-] counties directly under the central government (the central government recalled the grassland area administrative office earlier this year and brought Shangcheng, Yongjin, Guangling, Minghe, and Taoyuan counties under the direct jurisdiction) has also risen rapidly.

Well, let's get back to business and move on to the Forest Railway.The 100-kilometer railway is really a relatively heavy burden for the Jiaohe area, which only governs three counties and has a relatively limited economy and population.Because normally, to build such a long section of railway, the survey and design costs, equipment procurement costs, engineering construction costs, transportation costs, personnel training costs, etc. add up to more than [-] million yuan, and this is still being used in large quantities. In the case of non-national laborers participating in the construction of the project, the cost may be higher according to the normal routine.

The cost of more than 100 million yuan is indeed too much for the Jiaohe area with a total population of only 8.Even if their financial situation has improved greatly over the years, for example, the handicraft production and forestry industry in Jiaohe County have become popular, and the grain planting industry in Hualong County, for example, is quite good. In addition, the central government has given a large part of the land sales revenue to At the local level, the fiscal revenue of the county-level government has greatly increased due to "land finance", but the money they can spend on railway repairs will never exceed 10 yuan a year.After three years of accumulation, I have only saved more than 30 yuan, and there is almost a full 100 million yuan short. The gap is too big.

But fortunately, veteran cadres like Xu Xin have super active abilities and extensive contacts. After traveling to Beijing several times, under the background of the executive committee drastically reducing railway investment, they actually obtained about The special fund of more than [-] yuan is also amazing.In fact, according to the normal routine, the executive committee will not build the railway in the Jiaohe area wherever it is, because the priority here is too low, but who makes the old cadres more active?And the most important thing is that the regional administrative office and the three county governments are willing to tighten their belts and pay money. Are you willing to do it elsewhere?So, don't always blame the superiors for being partial, it's because they are more determined!

In addition, the state-owned Central Railway Company saw that some local governments were willing to pay part of the money for the construction of the railway (isn’t this stupid...), although they demanded some dividends from the future operation of this section of the railway (the specific dividend ratio needs to be negotiated, and the dividend deadline is also It will not exceed 20 years), but it is still a lucrative business for China Railway Corporation, and it will allow them to reach into the forest railway system that they have never entered before, so why not do it?

Therefore, they also took out some railway equipment (equivalent to about 20 yuan) and planned to use it in the construction of the Zhongying-Wanting section of the forest railway.By the way, they also waived part of the preliminary exploration and design costs, which saved the Jiaohe District Administration a lot of money.Ever since, with so many efforts, this section of the railway was started stumblingly, and Goshkin's construction company also undertook part of the construction project.

Thanks to the increasingly chaotic situation in Russia, Ghoshkin can gain more and more people now, especially after the local order was wrecked by several insurgents, many herdsmen and serfs were freed from the bondage , a considerable part of them, under the half-lure and half-force of the past accomplices sent by Goshkin, ventured out to sea from the mouth of the Don River, took a boat to Haji Port for a temporary stay, and then returned to the east coast on a merchant ship of the South Sea Transport Company.

There were at least 3000 Russian immigrants who came to the east coast in this way last year. If you add Russian laborers who went to sea through traditional channels (mostly from the impoverished northern provinces, usually from St. Nicholas and Arkhangelsk) large ports to sea), the total number exceeded [-] last year, the highest in history.Naturally, with the joining of a large number of non-national laborers, the business of Goshkin Construction Company has become more and more prosperous.Otherwise, do you think their team can go to Jiaohe area to undertake projects when they still have projects in Yinan Railway, Iguazu County and other places?

But to be honest, although there are many other labor service companies, such as Batino's Italian-based company, the number of people even exceeds that of Goshkin, but whether it is the speed of construction or the number of projects undertaken, it is difficult. It was compared by Goshkin Construction Company.The reason for this is of course that Goshkin is more capable of dealing with affairs and has a good relationship management, but the bigger reason is that Goshkin, who was born as a carpenter, behaves more authentically. The reputation among the workers is not bad, so the efficiency of the work is naturally not bad.

Just look at the corned beef you just bought from outside today!In fact, it really doesn’t cost too much money, because there are too many bison living on the La Plata prairie, and they can’t be killed. If it weren’t for the huge demand in the country, maybe the people on the east coast would be the same as Spain in history. Like people, only the horns, hide, and tongue are taken, and all the tallow and beef are thrown away, because the beef is almost vomited!However, the 200 million people on the east coast are not as luxurious as the Spanish colonists in history. Coupled with the existence of 30 to [-] non-national laborers, they are engaged in heavy physical work. They need beef to supplement nutrition and physical strength, so they gave birth to This led to the huge demand for cheap beef, which led to the cattle catchers trying to marinate the beef on the spot, and then ship it back to the country for sale!

To be honest, the corned beef from the Patagonia region is really a cheap food, so that people with better local conditions on the east coast will choose fresh beef raised and slaughtered locally, or chicken and duck Goose, ostrich, llama, capybara, or pig and sheep are more expensive meats, instead of the rotten Patagonian corned beef, because the quantity of this kind of meat products that has greatly impacted the domestic market in recent years is really high. There are too many - there are more than 2000 million Andalusian black cattle on the grasslands, waiting for you to hunt - "forced" will naturally decline, so this kind of beef has almost become "cheap meat" on the east coast , the price is not high, and sellers generally make profits by selling volume.

Therefore, to some extent, this Patagonian corned beef is actually the best "friend" of the poor, and it is also the most suitable food for non-national laborers to supplement fat and protein.But it is this kind of cheap food that Batino and Mendes are rarely willing to buy. They have learned some so-called business theories of "controlling costs and expenditures" on the East Bank after they have already got into the eyes of money. Cut "unnecessary" expenses and squeeze the workers to the maximum extent, so it is not surprising that Goshkin's people are compared to the construction projects.

"Father, I heard from some friends that the follow-up funds for this railway have not yet been settled, and the start-up funds are even less than half of the entire project cost. If this is the case, can we really receive follow-up project funds like this? Moreover, the commissioner of the regional administrative office who decided on this project has retired, will this make the construction of the railway halfway? To be honest, I am really worried now.” Goshkin’s son Yi, who has already graduated from Qingdao Road and Bridge School Seeing that there was no one around, Wan asked his father in a low voice.

"Dear Ivan, my son." Goshkin wiped his oily hands on the towel, then picked up a piece of golden honey date cake, and said while eating: "Back then Shirlov, I and I When Petkov and Sarkovich first undertook projects on the east bank, we could only eat black bread with maggots and drink unboiled water. Meat or bad wine was cited as a delicacy at that time. And at that time, because of the lack of funds-you know, the local government officials at that time were construction madmen, and the local government at that time was far less rich than it is now-delinquent Project money is commonplace. We were once so poor that we had problems eating. We could only fish in the river and hunt wild animals in the woods to make ends meet. Des and Valentino often laughed at us, thinking that we were 'savages', not much more noble than Indians, and that we would go bankrupt sooner or later if we were overwhelmed by our ability to accept projects and do projects! But in the end we We have survived, and our good reputation has made many local government officials have goodwill towards us. Therefore, after the completion of the tax reform and the increase in local government revenue, the development of our company has embarked on a fast track, far away from those Italians. I am left behind. So, Ivan, my son, don’t be afraid of not being able to collect the project money. I earn more than 2 rubles a year, and I closed several projects on hand last year. Now the company is full of cash, not at all. question."

"Besides, you need to take a long-term view and be more informed about the news." Goshkin pulled out another glass wine bottle from his waist, which was Elephant River wine imported from South Africa. , wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and said with a smile: "The Jiaohe area has been approved, and it will be a big business to set up several settlements in its northwest direction. After some projects in the county, some personnel can be transferred back to invest in the construction of these settlement projects. And now the south of Russia is said to be in chaos, and it is easy to recruit people. Ivan, this is actually a very difficult time for our company. With a good opportunity for development and growth, and a good relationship with officials in the Jiaohe area, future settlement construction projects can always get a lot of meat to eat."

(End of this chapter)