Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Rhodesia.

Sir Philip, who served as the local governor of Rhodesia, found Ding Wei, the "strongest landlord" in black Africa.

"Dear Ding, we have a big deal to discuss now. You know what we in Rhodesia really need. In this place that lacks connection with the world, Rhodesia will never have room for development if it only relies on a few unreliable roads now." Sir Philip did not beat around the bush and spoke directly to Ding Wei.

"It is time we built a main railway line out of Rhodesia."

Ding Wei is now very famous in Rhodesia. He is not only the largest landlord in Rhodesia, but also the largest landlord in Black Africa. His base is rooted in Rhodesia. As a result, Ding Wei spends a lot of time dealing with Sir Philip, and they are very familiar with each other.

So both sides don't need to be polite when speaking.

"Sir Philip, do you mean that the Rhodesian authorities are ready to build a sea railway?" Ding Wei was not surprised at all.

Given the current development of Rhodesia, the huge copper mines that have been discovered need to be mined and utilized on a large scale.

So now we must have a trunk railway line to support large-scale copper mining activities. Millions of tons of copper ore need to be transported out of the mountainous areas in northern Rhodesia. There must be a trunk railway line with transportation capacity to support the transportation of millions of tons of ore.

Otherwise, it would be basically impossible to complete such a huge transportation relying on a few roads that are not even well maintained.

Copper is a strategic bulk metal product. Before the First World War, the world's copper production had just exceeded 100 million tons. At the end of World War II, the world's copper production had reached more than 500 million tons. The overall copper price was in a low stage of 300-500 US dollars per ton.

However, since the end of World War II, the post-war reconstruction and industrialization process in Western countries has accelerated, leading to an increase in both global copper production and demand.

In the world of Sword, although the development of Dongda did not receive support from any country in the world, it relied on its own strong technological development capabilities to enter the fast lane decades in advance. Since the 50s, it has begun to import large quantities of raw materials such as iron ore, copper ore and coal, which has had an impact on the international market. During this period, the growth rate of world copper production once reached more than 10%. The strong demand basically absorbed the increase in supply, and the copper price rose steadily by more than a thousand US dollars.

Compared with the stable copper price before the war, it has more than doubled. More importantly, the situation in major copper producing countries is still unstable, and strikes by copper miners have made the international copper price more volatile.

This made the Rhodesian authorities more eager to develop transportation and turn their huge copper mine advantage in the north into an advantage in developing the Rhodesian economy.

It is against this background that Sir Philip's plan to develop a main sea railway line from Rhodesia is now based.

"Yes, dear Ding, we in Rhodesia are ready, or we have had enough of such terrible traffic and we must take action," said Sir Philip.

"You see, thanks to the efficient plantation operation of Dongda and your hybridization technology, we have now completely solved the food problem in Rhodesia. We are even exporting grain on a large scale and have become a major grain producing area. This provides us with the innate conditions to build a railway trunk line to the sea in Rhodesia."

“Now, according to our previous research and planning, the construction of this sea-going railway trunk line in Rhodesia has received very good feedback from the capital market. Our friends in the financial industry have carefully told us that if we need to raise funds to build this railway trunk line, our friends in Fog City Finance can provide sufficient funds for this railway trunk line.

In other words, we can raise a considerable amount of funds for railway construction from the Fog City Financial Market. As Rhodesia's most important land transportation channel to the sea, we can now solve the funding problem of railway construction through the financial market and help Rhodesia's vital railway development by selling the dividend rights after the completion of the railway trunk line. "Sir Philip stared at Ding Wei with burning eyes. He knew very well that Ding Wei had a say in Dongda, especially on the Black Africa side, and how much influence the leader of this agricultural industry that had invested more than 100 million mu in construction had.

Moreover, in terms of infrastructure, Dongda has earned the title of infrastructure maniac. After all, Dongda’s railway mileage is now said to be catching up with North America.

As the main route for copper export, building a sea-going railway trunk line in Rhodesia now has certain financial appeal, but it will not raise enough funds for construction as Sir Philip said. At least with the strength of the John Bull family, there is still a large funding gap for the construction of this railway, so they cannot solve this problem by themselves.

Otherwise Sir Philip would not have approached Ding Wei.

"Sir Philip, I personally agree with your opinion, but I don't know what your specific plan is. For example, your plan for the construction of this railway trunk line, the approximate construction mileage, the participants and the share division, etc." Ding Wei was not surprised by Sir Philip's request. During a casual chat with Ren Zhong after returning to China, Ren Zhong told Ding Wei that the copper mines in Rhodesia are much larger than the scale discovered now. If developed, they may even account for more than a quarter of the world's copper supply!

If Rhodesia proposed to build a sea-going railway trunk line to develop the copper mines in the north, then this matter could be fully supported, even if the University of East Asia needed to provide some construction funds for the railway construction.

It’s just that it’s not convenient for Tokyo University to bring up this matter itself.

Now that Sir Philip has brought it up, it's exactly what they want, and it also helps to test their bottom line.

“Our current plan is that this railway line will start from Chavuma in northern Rhodesia, pass through Mongu, Lusaka, Harare and go directly to Beira to the sea, a route of about 1680 kilometers.

In terms of investment, we estimate the overall development and construction costs to be 2 million pounds, of which materials and equipment for railway construction are approximately 4 million pounds, land costs are 5 million, and construction costs are 1 million, leaving million in working capital.

The main shareholders of the railway are the Rhodesian local authorities, the Fog City Financial Financing Party and the University of the East as the three major construction parties. We will set up a railway company, take out 1% of the shares, and raise million pounds of investment in the Fog City Financial Market, which will be directly used to purchase equipment and materials for railway construction.

Of the remaining 55 percent of the shares, 20 percent of the dividends were left to the Rhodesian authorities as a transfer fee for providing land for the railway trunk line, which also became one of the long-term sources of income for the Rhodesian local government.

The next 20% will be used as the investment for the construction of the East China University of Science and Technology, and the remaining 15% will be used as stock option incentives for senior management of railway management and operation. "Dear Ding, what do you think?" Sir Philip said as he cut out the cake and placed it in front of Ding Wei.

Ding Wei was not unfamiliar with this result. Rhodesia was so poor that it was impossible for them to come up with a penny. However, building a railway here would not bring any benefits to the local people. Ding Wei had no objection to their keeping 20%. However, Sir Philip only kept 20% of the investment in the construction project, obviously wanting to make a profit. After all, no one in the John Bull family would take the price offered.

Sir Philip naturally knew that there was no consortium in the John Bull family that would participate in this railway at such a cost, so he found Ding Wei to talk about this matter.

After all, according to John Bull's current railway construction level and labor costs, not to mention that 5 million pounds is not enough, I am afraid that 7 million pounds is not enough. Considering the geological conditions in Rhodesia, there are many bridges and tunnels. According to John Bull's labor and machinery costs, the cost of railway construction is more than % higher than that of Dongda!
Moreover, with such a huge expenditure, if the financial community in Fog City does not see the full participation of Dongda University, I am afraid that raising another 100 million yuan in funds will become a problem.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is basically what the Rhodesian authorities represented by Sir Philip want to do by using capital operations to make money out of nothing!
Of course not entirely, at least he also undertook the task of providing land, but the land in Heifei is not worth much, and the tribes in Heifei now have no concept of compensation for demolition. So Sir Philip played a huge trick in the land fee.

According to the Rhodesian authorities' current land use for infrastructure, the land occupied by railway and road construction will at most be replaced by designated land in other places. After all, at least one-third of Rhodesia's land has not been well developed.

Sir Philip had plenty of undeveloped land to replace the land occupied by railway construction, which meant that Sir Philip had simply obtained the opportunity to sell 4 million pounds for the Rhodesian authorities.

However, these are the landlords' affairs, and Ding Wei doesn't care how Sir Philip gets the land for the railway.

"Sir Philip, I think the investment in engineering construction is seriously underestimated. We suggest that at least 25% is needed, and we need 30% of seats in the operational leadership to protect our rights and interests." Ding Wei pondered for a while and took out some figures he had calculated at home. According to the difficulty and cost of the project, the proportion of railway construction costs in Dongda may be around 25%.

But considering that this is in Heifei, our construction engineers and workers need to travel across the ocean from China, and the actual cost may be more than 30%. If it is John Bull's engineering and construction team, it may not even be possible to stop at 40%, because their labor costs are much higher than those of the University of Tokyo.

This is also the reason why Sir Philip asked Ding Wei to come. Since the construction of the plantation a few years ago, John Bull's family has witnessed the terrifying infrastructure maniac characteristics of Dongda.

They forcibly turned a loss-making grain planting project into a profitable project, so that they could continue to expand their plantations all over black Africa.

However, it was precisely thanks to the terrifying infrastructure and planting capabilities of the University of Tokyo, which fed most of Black Africa, that the shaky colonial system of John Bull's family was able to continue, giving a sigh of relief to the declining British Empire.

There is no need to follow North America, the promising big brother, and be restricted in every way.

It gives veteran aristocratic politicians like Sir Philip the confidence to say no to rogue eagles.

The degree of decline of the John Bull family in this world is far less than that in the main world. At least the domestic economy is supported by the development of mineral resources and agriculture in colonies such as Nigeria and Rhodesia, which seem to be relatively stable in Black Africa. Now, John Bull's economy is still ranked third in the world as a whole.

"No problem. In principle, we will start building the East African International Railway Co., Ltd. according to this allocation." Sir Philip did not raise too many objections after listening to Ding Wei's bargaining. Of course, he also conducted a survey of the market in advance, and the actual construction cost figures of the railway were actually very clear.

If one calculates based on John Bull's market conditions and invests in construction manpower and machinery, a 25% dividend is already very generous, and can even be said to be a big profit.

As for holding a 30% seat in the management, this is not a matter of principle. At least he has not touched the 20% dividend rights representing Rhodesia. What does the loss of some management interests have to do with him? He himself will not participate in the operation.

The loss of profits for these professional managers had little impact on Sir Philip.

In this way, Dongda actually obtained a 28% dividend right based on its investment in construction costs, and 30% of the management seats meant a 3% dividend right.

Although there is still a certain distance to reach 30% of the red power, when the news came back, Ren Zhong thought it was worth doing.

Even if there is no chance to build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway now, the current Rhodesia sea route is also good.

It is also good to start the East African Railway development ahead of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. On the one hand, it will further promote East Africa's iron army of infrastructure to the world.

John Bull’s family must have been impressed by the construction of a dedicated iron ore transportation line by Dongda in Nigeria, so they came to us on their own initiative.

The construction of this new East African railway trunk line is a difficult task and the plan is not to make much money from the railway. It would be good if there is no loss or a small profit.

The most important thing is to develop Rhodesia's copper resources. Transporting the copper is very important for East Asia, especially at this critical moment of East Asia's industrialization and electrification. The demand for copper is huge, and the tension in supply and demand has caused the international copper price to rise a lot.

If Rhodesia's copper mines are developed on a large scale, there will be a new and stable supply channel for the international copper supply, which will be very beneficial to expanding the supply of copper in the entire international market. It can reduce the imbalance between supply and demand of copper, which is equivalent to reducing the chance of further increase in copper prices. For Dongda, which has the largest demand for copper, it is particularly important to ensure this.

Of course, this is also a win-win situation for Sir Philip and others.

On the one hand, in addition to getting a 20% profit from a railway for free, one can also make a fortune with the help of the copper mine.

After all, the current copper price is quite tempting. Only when these resources are turned into money can the John Bull family be strengthened. After all, buried underground, these things are of no benefit to the John Bull family. (End of this chapter)