Chapter 323 Meng Tie Co., Ltd.

Chapter 323 Meng Tie Co., Ltd.

Chapter 323 Meng Tie Co., Ltd.
"Lao He, you are the General Commissioner of Customs of the Qing Dynasty, but you are an official of the Qing Dynasty. You should know that in our Qing Dynasty, the tax revenue is high in the coastal areas and low in the interior. For poor places like Ili Province, Yunnan and Guizhou, the imperial court has to subsidize them."

Hurd is an expert on China, so of course he knows this.

Britain is a maritime country and a world hegemon. When it goes out to grab territory, it does not want any that does not make money and despises any that makes little money. It cannot understand why a large unified country makes efforts for its territorial integrity, nor can it feel the needs of continental countries for a strategic rear area.

In his opinion, it is better to kick out the territory that is losing money, and it is really stupid to make such transfer payments.

This is a country with a small population and excess land, where a full man does not know the hunger of a hungry man.

He knew Shao Quanzhong had something else to say, "So..."

Shao Quanzhong pointed to Yunnan Province on the map and said, "Look, Yunnan is now a money-loser, extremely poor. Du Wenxiu's rebel gang is now entrenched in Dali and occupies half of Yunnan's land."

"Why did the common people revolt? Isn't it because they are poor? Even if the imperial court wiped out the Du bandit, other bandits would still emerge to cause chaos. To solve this problem from the root, we must give Yunnan people the opportunity to develop the economy and make money."

"What does this have to do with our British Empire?"

"It's a big deal. Look, I've promised Konbaung (Myanmar), which borders Yunnan, to Britain as a semi-colony. If we build a railway from Yangon to Kunming, Yunnan will become a coastal province and have an outlet to the Indian Ocean..."

Hurd said straightforwardly, "No problem. We will build the railway from Yangon to Mongmu (Ruili), and you guys build the section from Mongmu to Kunming. Although we won't make money from this railway, we won't lose money either, so we can still build it."

"Also, our southwestern plateau snow regions also need to communicate with the outside world. It will probably take decades to build the railway from Lhasa to Nyingchi. We can slowly build it ourselves by widening the road first."

"We want to build a railway from Nyingchi to Chittagong to turn the snowy area into a coastal area on the Bay of Bengal. We can invest in this section of the railway ourselves, but we need the permission of our big brother Britain to build the road."

"We will set up the 'Bangladesh Railway' company and station security personnel along the railway. We hope that the British big brother will give us a three-kilometer-wide railway concession and a small port in Dhaka Port..."

Hurd frowned, "This involves the interests of Tianzhu. I need to ask for instructions from my country. Do you have any other requests?"

"Absolutely not. As long as the British allow us to build the Meng Railway, I can promise to include Siam in the British economic interest zone after expelling the French from Saigon. We will be responsible for suppressing the resistance of the natives, and the economic benefits will belong to Britain."

"That's more like it. I want to borrow your telegraph room for a while."

Siam became a British semi-colony, and Britain did not have to pay any governance costs but just got economic benefits for free.

In exchange for a railway in East India and a three-kilometer-wide concession along the railway, plus a dock at the Port of Dhaka, the total area would only be a few hundred square kilometers, which is a good deal no matter how you look at it.

You are building a railway on the territory of the British Empire, and you think you can do something special?

On April 15, the eighth year of the Tongzhi reign, Hart, representing Britain, and Shao Quanzhong, representing the Qing Dynasty, signed the "Qing-British Hailing Agreement" in Shao Quanzhong's study.

Qing and Britain jointly built the Qing-Myanmar Railway to open up Kunming's access to the sea.

The Qing Dynasty solely funded the construction of the railway from Dhaka Port to Lhasa.

Britain ceded one-third of the Dhaka Port terminal and a three-kilometer-wide railway concession in the East Tianzhu section of the Loda Railway to the Qing Dynasty, allowing the Qing Dynasty to station railway troops along the railway to protect the railway.

Siam became a British zone of economic interest, with exclusive investment rights and no customs duties, as in Konbaung (Burma).

The agreement also contained a secret clause that required the Qing Dynasty to expel French forces from Saigon within three years to ensure that the economic interests of Britain's neighbor Siam in Saigon were not affected.

Shao Quanzhong drafted the agreement himself, his hands were shaking a little, and he almost wrote "Mengtie Company" instead of "Mengtie Co., Ltd."

Once this agreement was signed, all of the Qing Dynasty's vassal states in the entire Indochina Peninsula were sold out by Shao Quanzhong.

In exchange for two railways, it is hard to say who has gained the advantage. Shao Quanzhong is betting that the British Empire will collapse in the future and the semi-colonies that have retained sovereignty can be recovered. As for how the "Meng Railway" will be operated in the future, no one knows better than Shao Quanzhong.

The construction of the Meng Railway will be funded by the owner, and the first phase will not cost too much. In the future, Shao Quanzhong has already calculated the 900 million francs promised by the Rothschild family into the future account, and the railway from Lhasa to the mainland is also ready to be built at the same time - the expected time for completion is 50 years or more, and that is with the support of TNT.

In this matter, Shao Quanzhong has already treated China as his own home and is running it as a century-long plan.

As the agreement was reported back to the capital, Shao Quanzhong submitted a memorial recommending Feng Zicai, the governor of Guizhou who remained in Guangxi and had not yet gone to Guizhou to take office, as assistant minister of Siam, to lead his troops into the vassal state of Siam to ensure the realization of Britain's economic interests in Siam.

If the Rama royal family objects, Feng Zicai's army will be the suppressive force.

Shao Quanzhong, who was in Hailing, had already begun to perform the duties of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi and Imperial Commissioner, managing the southwestern vassal states and striving to turn control into actual control.

This has to be done immediately. Britain is already preparing to take over, but how can this be done without any troops stationed here to take actual control?
Hurd left with satisfaction. Ma Haiyan walked in and bowed on one leg when they met. "Greetings, Marshal Yu."

Shao Quanzhong walked out from behind the table and helped Ma Haiyan up. "I've called you all the way from Tianfang Province. You've worked hard. There's a lobbying job that's best suited for you. Let me explain it to you."

Shao Quanzhong talked with Ma Haiyan in detail for two hours. Ma Haiyan then left Hailing, boarded a boat, and went up the Yangtze River to Yunnan.

"Report, Maxwell wants to see you."

This matter is not over yet, I have also made an appointment with Brother Tian Xing to have a drink.

Maxwell walked in excitedly, "I heard Shao, you took another concubine? Congratulations. I have some good news for you."

"Our Xiaoxiangya Qing Dynasty Royal Academy of Sciences has made another achievement. John Tyndall, who I invited to be a member of the Academy, discovered the 'Tyndall effect' in colloids, which is a breakthrough in physics."

"The Swiss researcher Michel at the Academy of Sciences was recruited by your father-in-law, Yung Wing. That young man separated nucleic acid, also known as DNA, from the pus and blood cells on the bandages, opening up a new field of biological genetics. I have petitioned the court to promote him to the status of academician."

Shao Quanzhong had no idea what the Tyndall effect and DNA were, but seeing Maxwell's excitement, it must be advanced knowledge.

Shao Quanzhong understood that people came to tell him good news to make him happy. No! They came to slaughter him.

"Maria, allocate another 100,000 taels of silver to the Academy of Sciences to reward scientists who have made outstanding contributions."

Alas, these two things are probably of no use in the short term. They are the foundation for my Qing Dynasty to lead in technology in the future. The investment will take hundreds of years to take effect. Fortunately, compared with military expenditures, they are a small amount of money. I have to give face to my father-in-law Yung Wing.

Maxwell got the funding, but he didn't leave. "Well - can you approve another 10,000? The Russian scientist Mendeleev just created the periodic table and became famous in the world scientific community. I have decided to award him the title of honorary academician and invite him to give lectures..."

"Maria, add another twenty thousand——"

Shao Quanzhong didn't know anything about the periodic table, but he just needed to pay. This was the power behind Rong Hui, and he couldn't afford to lose money to this group of scientists.

After receiving three guests in a row and it was getting dark, Shao Quanzhong finally had time to visit Brother Tian Xing.

After drinking two cups of rice wine with Tian Xing, Shao Quanzhong looked at his elder brother with a smile, "You have been unemployed for so long, are you feeling bored? I have an important matter that needs your help."

"Just tell me what you want to say."

"There is a Tiandihui armed group in Annan now. For my sake, I cannot suppress them. I ask you to come out of hiding and help me recruit Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army."

(End of this chapter)