Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 233: One Million Strings of Cash! Two Railways [Please Subscribe]

Xu Zhen's act of giving Gu Chongli stocks on the spot on behalf of the railway transportation company stimulated many of the gentry and wealthy merchants present. As a result, as the blind auction continued, the bidding of the gentry and wealthy merchants suddenly increased.

"The second round of the blind auction has begun. Thirty shares are for sale, with a base price of three thousand guan."

"Please start writing your bids."

By the second round, both the gentry and wealthy merchants who were bidding, as well as the officials in charge of presiding over the auction, were more skilled and completed the task more quickly.

"This blind auction was conducted by Qian Tongsun from Changzhou Prefecture, who bid the highest price of 10,000 strings of cash to purchase 30 shares of our railway company!"

"···"

The second auction was just the beginning. In every subsequent blind auction, whether it was a small lot of thirty shares or a large lot of one hundred shares, the transaction price basically reached two or three times the base price.

As the number of 3,000 shares of the railway transportation company gradually decreased, the bidding became increasingly fierce, just as Gu Chongli had expected.

Although it was a blind auction, and Xu Zhen and Liu Renzhong, on behalf of the government, had asked everyone to bid according to their ability, there were still 100 shares that were sold at five times the base price!
That is 50,000 strings of cash!

Please note that this is a blind auction, not a bidding auction.

If it is auctioned by bidding, the price may double or triple from this basis.

The blind photo shoot ended when the sun was at its highest point in the sky.

Including the quarter-hour intermission, the entire conference lasted two hours!
When leaving the railway company compound after the meeting, the gentry and wealthy businessmen who had won shares were all beaming, especially the few big investors who had won two or three hundred shares, who walked with swagger, looking extremely proud.

Gu Chongli is one of them.

He originally thought that he would get an advantage at the beginning and stop participating in the fierce bidding later, but he could not resist the atmosphere in the venue, so he spent a large price to buy 130 shares.

Although he was not as good as those who got 260 or even 300 shares, he was the most prominent one among the people present.

Who made him win the first place in this blind auction?

In stark contrast to these people are those who were unlucky and failed to win a single bid.

Whenever these people think about their hesitation, stinginess and fluke mentality when writing the bid, they regret it so much that they even regret it to death.

But there are not many such people, less than twenty.

After the gentry and wealthy businessmen left, Xu Zhen and other officials came to the lobby of the railway company's office with the records of the auction and other relevant information.

Liu Kuan was sitting inside waiting.

He was quite confident about this blind auction, and there were clerks who kept reporting the situation at the venue to him, so he was calm and composed at this moment.

After Xu Zhen and others saluted, they began to report to him.

"Reporting to Doctor Liu, the funds raised from this blind auction far exceeded our expectations. It can be said to be a great success!" Xu Zhen, who was in charge of the report, looked excited.

Liu Kuan asked directly, "Tell me, how much did the three thousand shares fetch in total?"

Xu Zhen's lips trembled slightly as he said, "A total of one million and three hundred thousand strings of cash!"

A blind auction raised millions of strings of cash, which was equivalent to one-sixtieth of the total fiscal revenue of the Ming Dynasty three years ago!

Moreover, the imperial court did not force the gentry and wealthy merchants to take it out, but these people were vying and rushing to "give" it to the imperial court. How could Xu Zhen and others who witnessed and experienced such a thing for the first time not be excited?
It's ridiculous that when Liu Kuan proposed to raise funds from wealthy families in the private sector through a blind auction last year, a few people in the court raised objections, believing that this move was a fantasy and would never succeed.

Once the news of today's blind shooting competition's great success gets out, these people will probably be humiliated.

Liu Kuan was quite surprised when he heard that the total amount of money was over one million strings of cash.

He only knew that the auction was going well, but he had not calculated the number.

In addition, it is still the early Ming Dynasty. Although Zhili, Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces are rich, they are definitely not as rich as in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.

It is indeed a bit surprising that dozens of gentry and wealthy people are willing to spend so much money to bid for the shares of the railway company.

After coming to his senses, Liu Kuan smiled and said, "Great! You all have been planning this blind auction of railway company shares with me for a long time. Now that it has become a great success, you all deserve credit!"

Xu Zhen and other officials hurriedly said modestly: "Your humble officials dare not claim any credit."

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "His Majesty will surely be delighted to learn of this matter. He might even issue an imperial decree of commendation. Just wait and see."

Then he said to Xu Zhen and several other officials, "Prepare a report on this blind auction and submit it to the Science and Technology Department before leaving office today. I will present it to His Majesty tomorrow."

"As ordered."

···
···
in the afternoon.

When he was about to resign, Liu Kuan first received the report of the blind auction meeting from Xu Zhen. After he read it twice, a eunuch came from the palace and summoned him to see the emperor.

Liu Kuan simply took this memorial with him to announce the good news to Old Zhu in advance - although he guessed that Old Zhu had already known about it. When he arrived at Fengxian Hall and saw Zhu Biao there, Liu Kuan saluted Old Zhu and Little Zhu in turn.

After the ceremony, Old Zhu said directly: "Liu Kuan, the Japanese Northern Dynasty has sent an envoy. Their ship has stopped at Songjiang Prefecture and will transfer to our Ming Dynasty official ship to the capital."

Liu Kuan was slightly surprised to hear the news.

He thought for a moment and said, "It's likely that Ashikaga Yoshimitsu saw that the Ming Dynasty was planning to invade Japan, so he sent an envoy to investigate and buy time."

Old Zhu smiled and said, "You have made great progress, just as I expected."

Then he said, "We don't want the Japanese to discover the true strength of the Ming Dynasty, but we also want them to mistakenly believe that we are obsessed with finding the elixir of immortality. What suggestions do you have for this?"

Liu Kuan said: "From Japan, our Ming Dynasty only needs to conceal information related to the army and navy. Things like cross-river bridges and railways do not need to be concealed."

"If Your Majesty wishes, you can summon a Taoist priest to perform a play for the Japanese envoys, allowing them to draw their own conclusions. It is the miracles of the immortal bridge and the railway that have led Your Majesty to believe that the elixir of immortality exists and to become obsessed with it."

"That's a good idea." Old Zhu nodded, then changed the subject and said, "According to the plan, if nothing unexpected happens, the exploration fleet will set sail from the Ice and Fire Island in half a month. I wonder if they can successfully cross the ocean and reach North America."

Liu Kuan was also unpredictable about this matter, but he still comforted him, "Your Majesty, don't worry. There is an island chain not far from Ice and Fire Island and south of the Bering Sea. The exploratory fleet should be able to reach North America safely."

"I hope so."

Zhu Yuanzhang was not so worried about the soldiers of the exploration fleet dying in the ocean, but he was worried that the exploration of the waterway would fail and delay another year - he hoped to see American crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes promoted in the Ming Dynasty during his lifetime.

After discussing this, Zhu Yuanzhang asked with a smile, "Do you have anything to report?"

"Old Zhu really knows about the blind photo shoot."

Liu Kuan laughed inwardly, then pulled out his memorial and said, "I was just about to report to His Majesty that the blind auction of shares held by the First Railway Transportation Company this morning was a resounding success. Three thousand shares were auctioned off, raising 1.03 million guan!"

Although Zhu Yuanzhang had already learned the results of the blind auction through the Jinyiwei, he was still very pleased after hearing Liu Kuan's words.

"Great! This blind auction for shares was definitely the right thing to do!"

Afterwards, he took the memorial presented to him by Li Gui.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang roughly knew the content, he finished reading it quickly.

"With this one million strings of cash, plus the 700,000 strings allocated by the court, how many railways do you think you can build?"

Liu Kuan pondered for a moment and said, "I can't say for sure at this point. Building a railway from the capital to Wuhu should be no problem. Perhaps we can also repair the damaged sections of railway between Dantu and Shanghai."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "Is it possible to build a railway from Peking to Zhending at the same time?"

Zhending is Zhengding County, Hebei Province in later generations, so what Zhu Yuanzhang was referring to was actually the railway from Beijing to Shijiazhuang in later generations.

Because Zhending Prefecture is adjacent to dangerous passes in the Taihang Mountains such as Tumen Pass and Jingxing Pass, it is considered the dividing line between the east and west of the north. It is not only a battleground for military strategists, but also an important trade transit hub.

Whether from a military perspective or from a people's livelihood and economic perspective, Zhu Yuanzhang hoped that the railway could be built as soon as possible.

Liu Kuan pondered for a moment and said, "The Railway Bureau's Railway Research Institute has already surveyed the route from Peking to Zhending. Although most of the area is plains, making it easy to build a railway, there are still a few rivers and mountains that would be obstacles."

"Your Majesty knows that the rivers in the north are wider and the mountains are larger. Even if this route only encounters small hills and river upstream, it will still be difficult for the current railway bureau to conquer them."

"Therefore, I believe that we must wait until the Beijing-Wuhu railway is completed, and the Dantu-Shanghai railway is also completed. Once the Railway Bureau has accumulated more experience and achieved more breakthroughs in the necessary technologies for railway construction, we can start construction on the Pingding section of the railway."

After hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang was slightly disappointed and then asked: "How long will it take to build this railway in Jiangnan?"

"At least a year."

"A year?" Zhu Yuanzhang pondered. "If that's the case, then the Pingding section of the railway will probably take more than a year to complete, right?"

Liu Kuan nodded and said, "Your Majesty is wise."

"Two years...whatever, let's let Bei Yuan flourish for two or three more years."

After hearing this, Liu Kuan realized that Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to destroy the Northern Yuan Dynasty after the Pingding section of the railway was completed.

Although the Northern Yuan Dynasty's arm in Liaodong had been destroyed by the Ming army last year, it still had considerable influence in the northwest. For it, there were many places in the vast northern border of the Ming Dynasty where it could take action.

If the Pingding section of the railway is completed, the transportation of troops and supplies from Peking to Shanxi will be much faster, so it is no wonder that Zhu Yuanzhang cared so much about it.

After talking about the construction of the railway, Liu Kuan left the palace.

As soon as he left the palace, he saw the servant Xiaohu, who should have stayed in the mansion, rush out and say anxiously, "Master, the lady is about to give birth!"

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)