Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 199: Trial and Railway Engineering Bidding

Li Yi asked with a serious expression.

"Do you have any clues about the specific reasons?"

Li Liang shook his head and said.

"In reply to your Majesty, the spies that our Military Intelligence Department has deployed in the consulates and trading houses of various countries are not of very high rank."

"It is difficult for them to access those important secrets, so they don't have accurate information."

Upon hearing this, Li Yi just nodded, and with a serious look he gave instructions to Zhang Tai who was waiting on the side.

"Zhang Tai, please go on my behalf and call French Minister Bourboulon, American Minister Marsali, and business representatives from the Netherlands, Spain and other countries to come to meet me."

"Let's say I'm planning to build a railway in the Tang Dynasty, and I'm planning to ask them if they want to participate in the bidding."

Zhang Tai was the newest director of the attendant's office appointed by Li Yi after Du Shun was transferred to the Supervisory Office.

He used to be Du Shun's deputy. After Du Shun was appointed to another post, Zhang Tai was naturally promoted.

Li Yi planned to use the railway project bidding as an excuse to call ministers, consuls, and business representatives from various countries to test the waters.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Tai immediately clasped his fists and accepted the order.

"Yes, I understand!"

After saying this, Zhang Tai turned around and left, ready to complete Li Yi's instructions.

What Li Yi just said about the external bidding for the railway project was not just an excuse, he really thought so.

Although the Tang Dynasty had successfully mastered the production and manufacturing technology of steam locomotives, it was not familiar with railway construction and lacked a large number of skilled workers and experience in large-scale railway construction.

This will greatly affect the progress of Tang Dynasty's railway construction plans.

And to solve this problem, it is actually very simple.

The external project has been put out for bidding!

Although the Tang Dynasty is still a novice in railway construction, European countries and even the United States in North America have already mastered the art of railway construction.

If foreign capital from these countries can be introduced, it will greatly promote Datang's railway construction plan.

Moreover, the Tang Dynasty could also take this opportunity to learn from foreigners and learn relevant technology and experience in building railways.

It can be said that it kills two birds with one stone!
All you need to pay is some money.

What if the right to road is controlled by foreign countries?
Let’s put it this way, Li Yi is not the Qing Dynasty. What he wants to do is to bid for the project, not to mortgage the right of way to get a loan to build the road.

The reason why the Qing Dynasty had to mortgage the right of way was that it had already lost its sovereignty after a series of disastrous defeats including the Opium War, the Second Opium War, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, and the Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion of China.

They don’t even have the power to build artillery batteries along the coast.

In this case, if you want the great powers to help you build railways, you have to give them the right to use the road, and then you have to pay more money.

To put it bluntly, the Qing Dynasty at that time had no bargaining rights at all when facing the great powers.

The Qing Dynasty could only respond to what the great powers said.

Losing the right of way is a very normal thing.

And now, if any foreigner dares to mention the issue of road rights to Li Yi, do you think Li Yi will slap him in the face?
After Zhang Tai left, Li Yi continued to give instructions to Li Liang.

"Continue to investigate in the direction of the Military Intelligence Department. I want to know what happened that caused these foreigners to collectively prepare to leave the Tang Dynasty."

"Also, we can not only conduct investigations in our Tang homeland, but also make some moves on the spies we have sent to Southeast Asia during this period of time."

"In addition, India also needs to send personnel..."

Now the Military Intelligence Department of the Tang Dynasty has become an intelligence agency of considerable size.

Not only were spies sent to various forces in mainland China, but also to countries in Southeast Asia, as well as Spain's Manila colony, the Netherlands' Batavia colony, and even to countries including Korea and Japan.

And now, they have even begun planning to send spies to India in order to gain advance knowledge of the movements of Britain and even the European powers through India.

Upon hearing this, Li Liang nodded immediately to show that he understood.

After saying these things, Li Liang took his leave.

Li Yi handled government and military affairs while waiting for envoys and business representatives from various countries to come and meet him.

What Li Yi is looking through now is the report submitted by the Military Academy.

In the report, the Military Academy elaborated in detail their experience in the use of breech-loading artillery, rotary machine guns and other forms of weapons, as well as their conjectures and considerations on new tactics under the premise of new weapons...

Li Yi flipped through the report on the Military Academy and nodded with satisfaction.

Then he began to write instructions, ordering them to continue with the simulation and prepare to write a new infantry drill manual and new tactics.

……

French Consulate.

Bulbron was directing his servants to pack up.

"Oh, man, be gentle, this is a red wine glass given to me by His Majesty the Emperor."

"Ms. Leia, this is one of the finest Chinese porcelains, a high-white porcelain vase from Jingdezhen. Don't drop it."

"Also, don't forget to bring my favorite tea set and the matching sofa and coffee table..."

While directing the servants to pack up, Bulbulon adjusted his own clothes.

He was wearing a suit, the prototype of the modern suit, a gentleman's hat, a cane, and shiny leather boots.

Looks so personable!
After getting dressed, he prepared to go downstairs.

But when he was halfway there, he saw a servant coming forward to report.

"Your Excellency, a group of Tang soldiers have come to the consulate and surrounded it."

"The Tang official who led the team said that the king of Tang has summoned you to meet him."

When Bulbulon heard this, his expression froze and he felt uneasy.

Summoned by the King of Tang?

They even sent troops to surround the consulate? Why at this time? Did the king of Tang already know that European countries were preparing to launch a coalition expedition against Tang?

Bulblom took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, and then asked.

"Did the other party say what it was?"

The attendant said.

"In reply to your Excellency, the Tang officials said that Tang is preparing to start construction of a railway within its territory."

"The King of Tang summoned you to discuss whether France should participate in the project bidding."

Upon hearing this, Bulbulon was visibly relieved, and then he spoke.

"OK, Got it."

"The consulate is still packing up. I'll go with them..."

"By the way, where is Mr. Real? Hurry up and call Mr. Real over, and have him accompany me to the palace to meet the King of Tang."

Although Bulbourn's plan was to return to Guangzhou as a victor a year later, and then force the Tang Dynasty to sign a humiliating treaty and cede more interests to the great powers.

But that would be at least a year from now at the earliest.

In order to ensure that French merchants' business in the Tang Dynasty would not be affected in the next year.

There was no way he would refuse Li Yi's summons.

The Real he was referring to was a member of the board of directors of a French railway company.

Currently they are selling their company’s steam locomotives in Guangzhou!

Li Yi summoned him this time to discuss the railway bidding with Bulblom. It was normal for Bulblom to bring Real with him.

Soon, Real rushed to the consulate in a hurry. Bulbrunn immediately took him to the consulate's carriage and prepared to go to the palace to meet Li Yi with the Tang Dynasty official who came to invite him.

In the carriage, the two men discussed the quotation.

Not long after, the carriage arrived outside the palace.

As soon as Bulbourn and Real got off the carriage, they noticed the American Minister, Marsali, and the Portuguese commercial representative, the former Governor of Macao, Jadoso.

Business representatives from the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Prussia and other countries arrived outside the palace one after another, each of them accompanied by several businessmen.

It should be the same as Real, both of which are representatives of the railway company.

Bulblom turned around and greeted everyone with a smile, then asked.

"Are you all here for the railway project bidding as well?"

The American Minister Marsali spoke up.

"Yes, you are right, Mr. Bourboulon."

"I think our American railway company will be successful in getting this order."

Bulbulon said with a smile.

"I have equal confidence in the technical and construction capabilities of French National Railways."

The people around also expressed their opinions.

Everyone knows that building a railway is a huge project, and there will definitely be a lot of money involved.

No one wants to miss this big cake!

As for what would happen if the orders were cancelled due to war after the Allied Forces arrived in the Far East?
Let's put it this way, they all had absolute confidence that the coalition forces would win the final victory in the war.

As long as the war can be won, they have plenty of means to force the Tang Dynasty to resume orders.

After passing security check, several people entered the palace and were taken to Li Yi's study by a servant from the attendant's room.

At this time, Li Yi had been waiting for a long time.

After Bulbrunn, Marsali and others entered the study, they all saluted Li Yi.

"French Minister Bourboulon/American Minister Marsali... meet His Majesty the King!"

Li Yi nodded slightly, without any airs, and raised his hand to signal everyone to take a seat.

"Ministers and business representatives, please don't hesitate to take your seats!"

After everyone took their seats and the servants served tea, Li Yi began to speak.

"Today, the king summoned all the ministers and business representatives to come here, mainly because there are two important matters that I want to discuss with you."

"First, it is our Great Tang's decision to build a railway within our territory."

"But our current technical conditions and construction capabilities are still immature."

"Therefore, I have decided to invite external bids for the project and cooperate with railway companies from various countries to jointly build this railway."

"The planned route for the first phase of this railway will connect Guangzhou and Shaozhou, in order to open up land transportation between Guangzhou and Hunan."

Li Yi's plan for the railway is to build the section from Guangzhou to Shaozhou in the first phase. After this section is completed, the second phase will be to build the section from Shaozhou to Hengyang.

In this way, he can connect the water and land transportation between Hunan and Guangzhou through this railway.

It is convenient for Hunan to transport goods directly to Guangzhou for export via water and rail transportation of the Xiangjiang River system.

However, due to the fact that the Tang Dynasty currently has to focus its main energy on the war of unification, it is impossible to spend a large amount of funds on railway construction.

Therefore, Li Yi planned to build the first section first, that is, to connect Guangzhou and Shaozhou by railway, and use it to train workers and technology.

Wait until conditions are ripe before launching the second phase of the project.

Li Yi continued.

"The total length of the railway is 220 kilometers and the construction period is expected to be two years."

“I wonder if merchants from various countries are willing to come and participate in the bidding?”

(End of this chapter)