Chapter 343 35 Billion Francs
Chapter 343: Billion Francs
Suez Canal toll station, Port Said, Egypt.
Several French and Egyptian toll collectors sat bored in an office by the river, looking at the deserted port. Their salaries had been in arrears for several months and they had no motivation to work.
Even if I want to work, there's nothing to do in such a deserted port, right?
An Egyptian who happened to be out for a walk came in breathlessly, "I'm rich! A big deal worth more than one million British eagles has come!"
Seeing that this guy didn't look crazy, everyone ran out excitedly.
Sure enough, black smoke was spewing from the direction of Suez in the east, and ships were coming one after another, stretching as far as the eye could see. It looked like there were at least more than a hundred steamships.
Shit, I made a fortune. The number of ships passing through this time exceeded one-fifth of the previous year, and they were all large ships of over 1,000 tons. The first 7,000 to 8,000 tons, the charge for one ship was about 100,000 British pound.
Is the Suez Canal toll so high? Not at all.
The sound of a cannon cost a fortune. A fleet of more than 100,000 tons could cost tens of thousands of taels of silver a day.
It would take an extra 10,000 kilometers and 40 days to go around the Cape of Good Hope, and more than 2 million taels of silver were lost.
If you pay one million taels of silver here, you can still arrive ahead of schedule. Is that a loss?
Four million Egyptian farmers were mobilized to dig the Suez Canal, 3.91 people died, and an investment of million francs was spent. How could the investment be recovered if the fees were not expensive?
Of course, cargo ships have fewer sailors, lower labor costs, and if the cargo is not urgent, it is more cost-effective to go around the Cape of Good Hope. For ships like Shao Quanzhong that are full of soldiers, who need to eat, drink and pay every day, it is definitely cheaper to go through the canal.
This is why Shao Quanzhong was willing to dismantle the fleet and leave three quarters in Europe. It would be expensive to send them all back, and they would not be used. Let Spain and the Crimean Principality support them and just maintain them. Wouldn't that save money?
Port Said is a very formal toll station with dedicated imports and exports.
The flagship Zhendong slowly drove from the fork in the road to the exit. On the deck, Isabel asked Shao Quanzhong, "Should we prepare the toll for crossing the river?"
Shao Quanzhong's eyes widened. "What kind of toll is this? We are the boss now, so why should we pay?"
"Aren't there other shareholders?"
"It will be gone soon. Come, prepare to receive enemy assets."
The employees who were eagerly waiting for the payment of fees actually received a regiment of new troops from the Tianfang Province.
That’s right, it was the new army of Tianfang Province, led by Ma Zhan’ao himself, and the commander was Ma Zhan’ao’s son Ma Anliang.
Due to climatic reasons, the new troops here did not wear flat caps, let alone steel helmets. "With a piece of cloth on my head, I am the best in the world...", cough cough, now Ma Zhan'ao does not know the black gold under his feet, he is standing on a golden nest begging for food with a broken bowl, he is not rich at all.
The economic scale of Tianfang Province could not afford to support a new army, but the border provinces still needed new troops to guard them. What should be done? The Huai Army made payment transfers to Tianfang Province.
The equipment and ammunition of the new army in Tianfang Province were all donated by the Haoguozi Military-Industrial Complex, and the military uniforms were all donated by the Wen Logistics Company. The Huai Army also paid them three-quarters of their salary and sent a military advisory group for training.
Logically, the money should have been paid by the imperial court, but the court thought that it was no big deal to just lose this piece of desert land, and they were unwilling to station heavy troops there, so the big-headed Huai Army took on this burden.
The result was that the middle-level officers of the Tianfang New Army all came from Jiangsu and Anhui, and basically joined the Huai Army.
When the European expeditionary force docked at the Port of Jeddah, the gateway to Mecca, a regiment of the new Arab army boarded the ship with the goal of taking over the Port Said toll station.
The employees were terrified as they watched the troops from the Mecca province disembark. Was the Qing Dynasty and Egypt going to go to war?
No. Shao Quanzhong got off the ship and personally gave a speech to the employees.
"Now, I am your new boss. Come on, pay all employees six months' back pay, and French employees seven months' back pay."
This is not fair! Well, they are a powerful country...
"The French employees were laid off on the spot and were allowed to go wherever they wanted, but the Egyptian employees were retained."
A group of Wen Group employees disembarked and took over the port business in an orderly manner. Some old employees still had to be retained, otherwise there would be no work to do.
"I protest!" "Go protest to your Emperor Napoleon III. We are enemies now. I have done my best to compensate you employees for your unpaid wages. Get out of here! France's investment has been confiscated."
The French employees were fired here, leaving only the export toll collection employees and a few security personnel on guard. A regiment of the new Arab army returned to the ship and followed the ship to the opposite Port Said.
Over there is the entrance toll booth, which is handled in the same way.
Here, Shao Quanzhong met Governor Ismail who had arrived late, and the two shook hands warmly.
"Your Highness, you are now the owner of the canal. According to the contract signed between the canal company and Egypt, you are obliged to station troops in Port Said to protect the port. Our Egyptian troops will be withdrawn."
"But we will allow you to station at most one regiment of security forces. To be honest, considering the current volume of canal business, the stationing fee for this regiment is a pure loss."
"It's all right, it's a pleasure working with you. Lieutenant Colonel Ma Anliang! You will be stationed in Port Said from now on."
The regiment's salary was all paid by the Huai Army, and now it is finally being used.
Governor Ismail showed up and left, happily counting the four million pounds given to him by Big Head Shao Quanzhong.
Shao Quanzhong ordered, "Isabel, draft a memorial. Apply for the establishment of the Sinai Province and recommend Zhang Zhiwan, the governor of the grain transport, as the governor of Sinai and the governor of the Suez grain transport. Recommend Liu Jintang as the admiral of Sinai to lead the Hunan Army to guard the Sinai Peninsula and maintain the safety of the Suez Canal."
"Establish the Qing Red Sea Fleet, composed of the captured French Far East Fleet and Saigon Squadron warships, and recommend Chaozhou Town General, Zhan Yong Baturu Fang Yao as the admiral of the Red Sea Fleet, stationed in Jeddah Port, responsible for the Red Sea bandit suppression."
As the Taiping and Nian armies were annihilated, the post of Governor of the Grand Canal was no longer needed and was to be abolished. Zhang Zhiwan was originally to be transferred to the post of Governor of Jiangsu, a position with a lower rank, but considered a high-ranking governor.
As a result, Shao Quanzhong's recommendation was given priority, and the position of Governor of Jiangsu was taken by You Sihai. As a result, a more lucrative position as Governor of the Suez Canal was transferred, and his rank was not lowered, which was enough to compensate him.
The Sinai Peninsula is a desolate place with nothing in it. The Ottoman Empire never sent anyone to manage it. Under the instruction of Shao Quanzhong, Ma Zhan'ao planted a flag there and regarded it as the territory of the Tianfang Province.
Now that we have to protect the Suez Canal, we can't occupy Egypt's territory for no reason, and there is no need to do so. Now this barren land will be useful.
The Qing Dynasty's Red Sea Fleet did not even have a single ironclad ship, which meant it was not prepared for war, but was instead equipped with small sailing boats specifically for suppressing bandits and dealing with pirates.
Port Said was preparing to open its doors to welcome guests. The French spent money to pull a telegraph line from Cairo, but unexpectedly business was sluggish. Shao Quanzhong was the first user.
The fleet passed through the canal in an orderly manner and entered the Mediterranean. Shao Quanzhong waved his hand and said, "Let's go to Cyprus and join up with the Black Sea Fleet."
The fleet sailed towards the port of Limassol on the south coast of Cyprus, where there was a military port called Akrotiri, which was a military base shared by Qing and Britain.
As for the Island of Cyprus, it was recaptured from the Turks by Greece with the help of the Nanyang Fleet. It is now a territory jointly administered by the Qing Dynasty and Greece.
The Zhendong sailed northwards against the wind and waves. Isabel looked at the familiar Mediterranean Sea and felt very emotional, thinking that she was very close to her mother's home.
"Shao, it's normal for us to rob the French of their assets, but why should we spend money to buy the losing stocks in the hands of the Egyptians?"
"Hey, is it a loss? One reason is that there are too many pirates in the Red Sea, and merchants don't like to travel there. We didn't see them because they were scared away by our fleet. The other reason is that the canal has only been opened for a year, and people are still slow to realize the benefits of using the canal."
"Once our Red Sea Fleet arrives and clears out the pirates, the sea route will be easier to navigate and the Suez Canal will soon be able to make a lot of money."
"How much can we earn? Can we earn back the money we spent on stationing troops in Sinai?"
Shao Quanzhong smiled mysteriously, "I calculated that in the next 58 years, the profit of the Suez Canal alone will reach 3.5 billion francs. The barren land of the Sinai Peninsula will prosper, and Zhang Zhiwan will be very rich. He must thank me, after all, he is one of us."
Isabel entered the Shao family late, and she only knew about Shao Quanzhong's great talent and strategy, but she had never seen his amazing ability to calculate with his fingers. She covered her mouth and chuckled, "You can calculate fifty-eight years with your fingers, why don't you round it up to sixty years?"
Shao Quanzhong suddenly became unhappy, "Don't ask questions that you shouldn't ask!"
(End of this chapter)