Chapter 1017 Difficult to Deliver Inter-Village Railway
After a brief lecture by the management staff, they began to assign work tasks.
As for the Viscount Outlets, apart from appearing at the welcome banquet, he disappeared from everyone's sight. It makes many guys who want to hug their thighs sad.
In this regard, Yamani is not disappointed. The disparity in status and status is too great, and they don't have the talents of the world, no matter how much they can flatter, it's useless.
The most important thing is that Yamani will not flatter, and naturally he does not want others to flatter him.
Not to mention the high-ranking lord, even the management personnel in charge of assigning work are surrounded by a large group of people, wishing to follow the saddle all the time.
Facts have proved that flattering also requires talent, not everyone can do it. Blindly went up to get close, maybe the flattery was not photographed, but the horse's hoof was photographed instead.
Looking at the final result, one can see that some unlucky guy used his half-baked Austrian language to get close, but the wrong word made the management staff furious, and he was almost kicked out.
There is no way, the people of Shinra may not have good artistic skills, but there is one advantage, that is - "rigorous".
The lords are all from the army, and when managing the territory, it is inevitable to bring in some military style.
Unlike ordinary citizens with occupations, all laborers are paid by the lord, so Yamani directly enjoys semi-military treatment.
In addition to the lack of military training, the management model was directly borrowed from the military model. To put it simply: do what you are asked to do, don't ask about other things, and don't need to worry about them.
Under the reprimand of the management, Yamani started the day's work. There is nothing unbalanced, and it is inevitable to be scolded at work, especially if it is not yourself who is scolded, then I don't feel it.
I don't know if it was good luck or bad luck, Yamani's team was assigned to the road construction army.
That means they'll be out in the wild for a long time from now.
"Poisonous insects and ferocious beasts", thinking of the domestic media's propaganda, an ominous premonition arose in Yamani's heart.
But looking at the guards with live ammunition, everyone resolutely swallowed their rejection. Theory is impossible, everyone is a good young man who loves to work.
In fact, Yamani is completely overthinking. This is the African continent. Without the protection of the army, it is difficult for ordinary people to survive in the wild.
Perhaps in coastal areas, lions, elephants, crocodiles and other ferocious beasts have all disappeared; but in inland areas, these ferocious beasts that are about to become protected animals are still the overlords of the jungle.
Because of the vast land and sparse population, even if the noble lords gave full play to their hunting talents, they still could not avoid the fish that slipped through the net.
In the African continent, labor is very precious, and even a Viscount Outlets will feel distressed if he dies. After all, labor also needs to pay pensions.
When they arrived at the construction site, everyone was a little dumbfounded.
Is this still the "Wild Continent" in my impression?
A row of construction machinery appeared in front of everyone. Yamani only knew excavators, and the other machinery was both familiar and unfamiliar.
Shock is shock, work still needs to be done. Compared with the European continent, the African economy is indeed very backward. But economic backwardness does not mean that productivity must be backward.
Essentially, it's a matter of money. As long as you have money in your pocket, you can also buy things in Europe here, but the price is "a little bit" more expensive.
Yamani can now be sure that the recruiting hype isn't all hoaxes. At least one thing is certain, that is, there is really no need to work overtime.
There is no large-scale lighting equipment in the entire construction site, even if you want to work overtime at night, it is impossible to do it.
"Work at sunrise and rest at sunset."
The way of work and rest that completely follows the laws of nature has been difficult for ordinary people to enjoy since humans entered the industrial age.
In a sense, Yamani and others are lucky. If the territory does not produce coal, and there are no coal mines for hundreds of miles, the cost of power generation will remain high, otherwise let's not work overtime and dream!
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The Viscount Outlets doesn't care about the thoughts of the laborers. Right now he is worrying about the railway issue.
Because of its geographical location, the Outlets Viscounty Territory perfectly missed the main artery planned by the government.
Needless to say, their own territory is managed by themselves, and the central government does not even collect taxes, so naturally it has no obligation to solve their traffic problems for them.
Of course, this "no taxation" is limited to direct taxes within the territory, and the central government still has to collect taxes in the process of commodity trading and circulation.
In theory, as long as self-sufficiency is achieved. If you do not buy goods from the outside world or sell products to the outside world, you can truly avoid paying taxes.
In fact, nature does not exist. If we really do not trade with the outside world, we will return to primitive society.
Rights and obligations are equal, the central government does not directly collect taxes from the territory, and is also exempted from the administrative management and infrastructure investment obligations of the territory.
When planning the main railway line, it is natural to come up with what is reasonable. In fact, even if one is lucky, the noble lord will be able to sit back and enjoy the success when the main road passes through the territory.
Everyone knows that the main African railway line is a loss-making business. For strategic needs, Vienna must build the main line, but it does not mean that many trains need to be kept.
In order to reduce operating costs, reducing the number of trains on loss-making lines is a basic operation. If there are railways but no train skins, it is better to have no trains, so as not to feel flustered.
finally this
Some expenses still have to be shared by the central government and local lords. Therefore, the African Railway Company, which is responsible for the construction of the African railway network, has been a joint venture between the lord and the central government from the beginning.
Including the Viscount Outlets, they all subscribed for the shares. In return, the main line reserved an interface for him, and a branch railway can be built to connect with the main line.
Of course, this is not only a matter of my own family, but also the surrounding lords. "Whoever benefits, pays" has always been a matter of course.
In order to build a branch railway, Viscount Outlets and his surrounding colleagues also established a railway company.
The main line does not make money, let alone the branch railway. In other places, everyone is fighting for the shares of the railway, but here it has become a hot potato.
The more shares you get, the more money you need to lose in the future. As for making a profit, I dare not even think about it.
It's not that the Viscount Outlets is self-deprecating, it's that the population of the African continent is too small. Take my own territory as an example, plus the number of laborers is over 10,000.
Dozens of nobles in partnership, the best-developed territory, with a population of no more than 50,000. The combined territory of everyone exceeds 50,000 square kilometers, and the population is less than 200,000.
Two hundred thousand people are divided into dozens of stations, a proper inter-village railway. If you want to make money from the railway, it is estimated that the population must be increased by at least 30 times.
That's nearly half the population of the African continent. How long will it take Shinra to realize the results of more than 30 years of operating the African continent by themselves?
No matter how much the railway company loses, the railway must be repaired in order for its own products to be shipped out.
The key is the investment in the construction of the railway. No matter how high the later maintenance cost is, it is cheaper than transporting materials by horse-drawn carriage. In the long run, it is still profitable overall.
In fact, it's not that everyone has thought about throwing the feeder railway to the central government for management and paying a sum of money themselves.
However, no matter how good the plan is, it needs the cooperation of others. The Vienna government is also afraid of goods that are destined to lose money.
Inter-village buses will lose money, and inter-village railways will lose even more. Although the population is small, the distance is not short at all.
If the railway network of the entire African continent is completed, the operating cost will be higher than that of the railway network of the entire European continent combined.
If it really took over the money-losing business of the "inter-village railway", then the Vienna government's annual taxes from Africa may not be enough to cover all of it.
Even so, there is a chance that the efforts will not be rewarding. A series of problems such as "expensive fares", "few trains" and "delays" can make the public scold the Vienna government into doubting their lives.
From Vienna's standpoint, control of the main rail lines controls the African rail network. As for the issue of the branch railway, let the nobles handle it themselves!
Slow down, slow down, sooner or later it can be done. In the original time and space, when the Americans developed the west, the problem was more serious than this. The infrastructure construction was also completed, and there was no reason why Shinra could not do it.
The operating cost is high, and the big deal is to send a few cars less. The aristocrat manages the railway company by himself, and he can completely fill up a truckload of goods before starting the train. It is scientific and rigorous, and there is no need to worry about someone refusing.
Deep down in his heart, Viscount Outlets envied his noble colleagues downstream more than once. Although it is in the Niger River Basin, people can rely on river transportation for development, but he can only work hard to build railways.
The downstream river is deep and wide enough to be navigable, but the upstream is a tragedy. These small river ditches in Otrenburg not only have fast water flow, but also very unstable flow. Floods in summer, leaving only creeks in winter.
There is no way, the road was chosen by his father. Back then, when a small gold mine was discovered, they tried to drag the relationship and set the fief in its current position.
As a result, the king at the beginning ended with bronze. Gold mines do exist, but the reserves are very impressive. After less than half a year of mining, it was declared cool.
Not to mention making money, even the cost has not been recovered. At one time, it was still in the circle of African aristocrats, and there was a lot of trouble.
To paraphrase the headline in the newspaper, it was "a territory deep in the jungle". After being alone for many years, it was not until the end of the European War and the feudal nobles were flying all over the sky that Ortrenburg welcomed its current neighbors.
Of course, remoteness also has remote benefits. After other people's titles are promoted, the territories are all here and there.
If you want to be together, you must find a way to replace them. As long as the halfway family disagrees, it will be over.
The Viscount Outlets no longer has such troubles. In the past, the surrounding areas were all unclaimed lands, so he could just draw a block and come here.
Not only is the territory concentrated, but the area is also large. If in an economically developed coastal area, the Viscounty can have half the area it is now, it is God's blessing.
Whether it is a disadvantage or an advantage, I am afraid that no one will be able to figure it out for a while.
For the issue of share distribution, everyone has discussed many times. For many days in a row, Viscount Outlets' wireless telegraph seemed to be on steroids, and the beeps kept ringing.
This is a by-product of the war, the breakthrough of radio technology in the later period of the European war, which can communicate hundreds of kilometers away. Just a few days after the army was equipped, the war was over.
In order to strengthen the control of the African continent, but also in order not to waste resources. After the disarmament, Franz distributed the surplus radio stations as bounties to meritorious ministers.
Perhaps the wireless station does not need to pay communication fees, which soon became a tool for nobles to discuss, chat, and brag.
Putting down the telegram in his hand, Viscount Outlets stopped thinking about building the railway immediately. Share allocation is only one aspect, the key is now
Financing difficulties.
There is no way, after getting the labor, there are more people who pay attention to the railway, and they all go to apply for loans, and the Royal Bank is also worried.
Unless the economic crisis is over and the financial circles of the Holy Roman Empire join hands, no one will be able to raise funds for the construction of more than 100,000 kilometers of railways.
Even the start-up capital is an astronomical sum.
There is no way to repair the railway, but it does not mean that it will not be repaired. There is no need for an agreement, everyone is doing the preparatory work, and some people have even started work.
After all, how to allocate the shares of the railway company is mainly related to the later operation, and at most some partial series construction will be done.
For the specific railway construction, it must be someone's territory, and whoever is responsible for paying for the repairs, don't expect to be able to take advantage of it.
There is no need to worry about people making trouble. As stipulated in the constitution, all citizens must support infrastructure construction, and noble lords are no exception.
In the event of a dispute, the Governor's Office will come forward to coordinate. The real problem that everyone needs to solve is money.
After knocking on the table, the Viscount Outlets told the political officer: "Don't stop the road construction, the investment in the railway is too big, if you can't raise enough funds for a while, then build the road first.
With the current income of the territory and bank loans, it shouldn't be a big problem to support it for a year. When the economic crisis passes, the funding problem will be resolved. "
It can be seen that the Viscount Outlets is very contradictory.
On the one hand, they want the economic crisis to last longer, so as to attract immigrants from the mainland; on the other hand, they hope that the economic crisis will pass earlier, so that it is easier to obtain more bank loans.
Who Keeps Royal Bank's Construction Loan Interest Low?
The annual interest of only 2 points is equivalent to no interest. You must know that the handling fee of ordinary commercial bank loans is not only two points.
In fact, conditions in Ortrenburg are not bad. Although a bit remote, the land is fertile and water resources are relatively abundant.
Colleagues in the interior of North Africa and East Africa are even more miserable. Now they are busy building reservoirs, and they have no time to think about railways.
According to the African construction goals announced by the Vienna government, in order to solve the problem of water shortage, the number of reservoirs planned to be built alone is as high as 180,000.
Including Otrenburg, there is also a reservoir plan. If Viscount Outlets wants to build a power station, the reservoir is an indispensable project.
But that is a problem for the future, and there is no need to think about it so much right now. Anyway, with such a small population, gas lamps and oil lamps are also very good. The one that currently needs electricity is the Lord's Mansion.
"Okay, Your Excellency the Viscount. It's just that with the arrival of the laborers, the balance between men and women in the territory has been completely broken.
If no measures are taken, there may be many security disputes in the future, which may affect the morale of the people in the territory. "
Administrative officer Martin reminded.
Workers are also ordinary people. As long as a person has the seven emotions and six desires, the ratio of men to women is seriously out of balance, and problems are inevitable.
Rubbing his forehead, the Viscount Outlets fell into deep thought. After a long while, he slowly said: "Then first strengthen the management of labor, and first adopt a completely closed militarized management.
It is said that there are also female workers in this labor dispatch. I will mobilize domestic relations and find a way to get a group of them. "
It's not that the Viscount Outlets deliberately ignored the problem of the imbalance between men and women. The main reason is that the construction of infrastructure is heavy physical work, so naturally he prefers male workers with stronger physical strength.
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