While the passenger ship left the dock, Yan Guang and others also "rubbed" in their four-person room.

"By the way." When it was Zhou Zining's turn to play cards, Zhou Zining suddenly asked. "Brother Yan, what are you doing to come to Sichuan this time?"

"That's right, Brother Yan shouldn't he go to Sichuan to buy railway stocks, right?" Chen Yuguo asked as well.

"Why, the Sichuan-Han Railway has started selling stocks now?" Yan Guang was a little surprised.

"Of course!" Chen Yuguo looked even more surprised than Yan Guang. "Since 2004, the Sichuan-Han Railway Company has become a commercial railway company, and the stock has been sold for three or four years."

"That's it..." Yan Guang touched his head. "I just returned to China, so I don't know much about it. It turns out that the Sichuan-Han Railway has sold stocks for so many years..."

"Just just returned to China?" Zhao Wenning's expression moved, but Zhou Zining had already spoken.

"Brother Yan, although I don't know what you are going to Sichuan, I advise you not to touch that stock."

"What's wrong?"

"No, I just think the Sichuan-Han Railway is difficult to complete. If you throw money in, you may have to waste it."

After hearing Zhou Zining's words, Zhao Wending put the things he had just remembered aside and nodded in agreement.

"Indeed, the Sichuan-Han Railway is different from the railways in several other provinces. Most of the railway stocks in several other provinces were purchased by local gentry and merchants, while we are different in Sichuan. Most of the people who buy stocks are farmers, no..." Zhao Wenbin smiled bitterly. "It is better to say that it is forced..."

"force?"

"Yes, force..."

Then Zhao Wending explained to Yan Guang the history of the Sichuan-Hankou Railway...

The Sichuan-Han Railway Company was founded in January 1904 under the auspices of the famous new bureaucrat and Sichuan Governor Xiliang. It is the earliest provincial railway company established in the country. The company "does not recruit foreign shares or borrows foreign debts". The funds come from four channels: government investment, businessmen investment, rented shares, and public interest shares.

What needs to be explained is that the latter two items, the abbreviation of the leased shares, is the shares allocated to the farmers in the province. At that time, it was stipulated that farmers in the province who collect more than ten stones of grain (120 kilograms of each stone) of grain would draw "shares" at three percent of their actual income in that year. The public welfare shares are the income obtained by investing in other projects in the name of a railway company.

The problem lies in the rental stocks. Although renting stocks also pay dividends, the minimum denomination stock at that time was 50 taels. The vast majority of ordinary people paid far less than this amount. Therefore, the railway company first issued a receipt and waited for them to pay 50 taels each year before using the receipt for stocks. For farmers who just had enough standards, it would take at least sixty or seventy years to get a stock.

Therefore, the people don’t even have a single stock in their hands, and all the dividends are in the hands of the government of the rented stock collection agency. The so-called renting stocks is actually equivalent to adding a kind of "personal income tax", which will inevitably cause a certain degree of public grievance.

One difference between the Sichuan-Hankou Railway and the Hubei-Hunan Railway, Hunan-Guangdong Railway is that the rented shares account for the majority.

In other provinces, most of the stocks were purchased by merchants and gentry, but farmers occupied the main force in Sichuan. In other words, if the nationalization of railways in other provinces only harmed the interests of gentry and merchants, then the nationalization of Sichuan-Han Railway would hurt the interests of more than 50 million people in Sichuan.

Then I introduced some things that Zhao Wending and others didn't know about, that is, as of the end of 1910, the company's revenue was 11.98 million taels, of which the government investment was only about 230,000 taels, merchants invested 2.45 million taels, and rented shares of 9.28 million taels, accounting for about 77% of the total share capital. Although many people still cannot see dividends, in name, this railway belongs to all Sichuan people, which is also a reason why the road protection movement was in full swing in Sichuan later.

In addition, the railway also has defects in planning. The company decided to build a section from Yichang to Wanxian first, and invited Zhan Tianyou to be the chief engineer. The geological conditions of this section were extremely complex, and most of the areas were karst landforms, covered with poor geology such as karst and under the river. In order to avoid the high mountains and rivers, Zhan Tianyou modified the route in accordance with the principle of building fewer bridges and making fewer holes, so that the road would go further and the project progressed slowly. By May 1911, only 17.5 kilometers of railways that could pass through materials were repaired.

In 1910, Shi Dianzhang, the head of the Shanghai Branch of Sichuan-Han Railway Company, failed to invest in rubber with public funds, the bank went bankrupt, and the debt was not recovered, causing the company to lose more than 3 million taels.

In short, the people have heavy burdens, poor company operations, slow railway construction, and the Sichuan-Han Railway is not satisfactory in all aspects, which also gave the Qing government the excuse to take it back to state-owned.

――――――――――

"You understand now." Zhao Wending sighed. "It takes an ordinary farmer sixty or seventy years to collect enough stocks. In other words, if you want to enjoy the dividend, you have to wait until sixty or seventy years later."

"Sixty or seventy years? I'm afraid many people who bought and rented stocks won't wait for that day..." There is another sentence that Zhao Wending didn't say, that is, the Qing court is now in the evening. Many people can see this. The new army formed by the Qing government is filled with a large number of revolutionary parties. Although the three of them have not joined, they still know a little. If they invest money in the railway now, what should be the money they invested one day?

At this time, Chen Yuguo intervened. "The construction speed of the railway is also very problematic. Sichuan is mountainous and it is difficult to build the railway. It may take 20 to 30 years to complete the Sichuan-Han Railway..."

"That's it..." In his previous life, Yan Guang was not able to understand why the Qing court caused such a big shock after announcing the nationalization of the railway. In his opinion, only those who bought railway stocks accounted for a part of Sichuan. How could so many people emerge at once?

However, after listening to Zhao Wenping's words, Yan Guang realized that the so-called renting stocks is actually a kind of tax that is spread to all farmers in Sichuan. Of course, if it is just a simple tax collection, it may be fine, and even a new tax is directly issued, it would not be too big. After all, there are too many taxes these years and months, and ordinary people have long been used to being tossed.

Unfortunately, I just wanted to find some rental stock.

If one more tax is just made, the people would just think that there was another heavy tax. At most, there was an uprising in some areas. I think the governor of Sichuan thought so at that time, but for the sake of good looks, he added a name for renting stocks. However, although renting stocks is actually a kind of miscellaneous tax, it belongs to the people in name, and nationalizing the railway is equivalent to robbing things belonging to the people...

The difference between the two is very different...

"So, if possible, it is best not to buy railway stocks in Sichuan. Even if you do other businesses, you will probably earn more than buying this stock. If you have to buy railway stocks, I suggest going to other provinces, which are purchased by gentry and merchants, and even the court dare not offend these gentry..."

"Don't worry." Yan Guang laughed. "I came to Sichuan this time to buy stocks, because I already have a lot of stocks. This time I came to Sichuan mainly to open a factory."

"factory?"

“Yes, factory!”

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Please collect it, and also please recommend tickets from people~~~
Chapter completed!