Chapter 2595

Regarding the Yangzhou salt merchants' investment in the railway project, Tao Hongfang and others had previously received a clear explanation from Shi Diwen, and they could also understand that the Donghai Region used such channels to raise funds for project construction from the private sector.

necessity.

Although Shi Diwen did not disclose the specific investment scale of the Yangzhou salt merchants, it must not be a small amount. Naturally, representatives of the salt merchants will attend the foundation laying ceremony of this railway. Tao Hongfang even thought, Dai Yingda

Despite the hard work of traveling and traveling from Yangzhou, which is hundreds of miles away, perhaps one of the purposes is to attend this ceremony and show his sense of presence.

After all, according to the information disclosed by Shi Chengwu, the people attending the ceremony will be mainly officials at all levels from the Donghai Region, including chief officials from various departments. This will be a rare opportunity for Dai Yingda to show his face. If the time comes

It would be a worthwhile trip if I could make friends with a few more high-ranking officials.

In addition, a group of celebrities like Dai Yingda will also be invited to attend the ceremony. For these people, this is undoubtedly a competition for social status. The list of invitees has of course been carefully screened by the official, and is basically all

Some people who are close to the Han Dynasty and have certain influence, most of them want to take advantage of the transition between the old and new dynasties to get a chance to get ahead, and of course they will not take the initiative to miss such a special occasion.

Ning Zijing immediately calculated: "I have seen the directory of the Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce before. There are only thirty or forty local businessmen who are really famous and powerful. Plus some gentry and elders who are relatively prestigious among the people, the number should be

It’s not more than a hundred. The invited guests are probably selected from these people. But this is only the situation in Hangzhou, and there may be people like Dai Yingda who come from other places to participate.”

Tao Hongfang smiled and said: "Don't worry, for an event like this, the actual number of people present will definitely far exceed the number of people invited. Generally, people with some connections will try their best to get in. After all, as long as you are invited to attend, you will be able to sit there."

By confirming his identity as a socialite, he will have bragging rights in the future. Those who usually call themselves celebrities will be embarrassed if they are missing someone."

During his tenure at the Ministry of Commerce, Tao Hongfang also participated in organizing similar ceremonial activities. Naturally, he is very aware of the attitude of the public towards attending official events. He believes that the upcoming groundbreaking ceremony for this project should be more spectacular than the local government expected.

It is even more lively. Even though the ceremony is held on the south bank of the Qiantang River, and you need to take a boat across the river from Hangzhou City to get there, the transportation is not very convenient, but this small difficulty should not affect the invited guests to attend the event.

of enthusiasm.

Although Bai Letong has some knots in his heart about Dai Yingda that have not yet been fully resolved, he really wants to go and see the excitement. After all, the construction of this railway is of great significance to the future development of this area. After the capital is moved, everyone will enjoy the benefits brought by it.

Coming to Convenience, it was indeed worth paying close attention to the progress of the project. So everyone agreed to arrange their own time and go to participate in the event together.

Two days later, the day of the foundation laying ceremony of the project came. Everyone got up early, and after breakfast, they took a carriage to the Qiantang River. Ning Zijing had made arrangements in advance, and there was a Qiong Lianfa

The merchant ship under his name parked on the shore early and was specifically responsible for picking up and dropping off their group today.

Everyone took a boat to cross the river, and there were already several carriages belonging to Qiong Lianfa on the south bank waiting for their arrival. After changing to carriages, they continued to travel south. Along the way, there were people with signal flags to indicate the direction of travel. I think it was because of today's participation

There were many guests at the event, so this arrangement was made to prevent anyone from being unable to find a place.

The location of the groundbreaking ceremony is the planned Hangzhou Railway Station. Considering the convenience of transporting people and goods across the river in the future, this railway station is not too far from the river bank. Before this, it should have been a flat cropland, but now

A large area has been leveled, covering thirty to forty acres of land.

Tao Hongfang and his party got off the carriage and found that there were at least forty or fifty carriages parked here, as well as dozens of soft sedans. It seemed that there were many people more active than them. If anyone could grasp the information of all the guests,

In addition to the officials who organized the event, it was probably the coachmen and bearers who gathered together to brag and chat.

Although Tao Hongfang and others have been in Hangzhou for a while, they have spent a lot of time dealing with various yamen, and relatively few people know them among the people, so no one paid attention to their appearance for a while.

However, Shi Chengwu soon noticed their arrival, quickly came over to greet them, and then took them to the officials' exclusive viewing area.

After walking out of the area where cars were parked, Tao Hongfang and his party noticed that a simple venue had been set up here, with hundreds of chairs arranged for guests to sit. Judging from this situation, it seems that a speech session had been specially arranged for Shi Diwen.

When we got here, we had more acquaintances. One after another, local officials who knew them came over to say hello and exchange a few words. Then some officials who had never interacted with them took the opportunity to come over and become familiar with each other.

Soon there were so many people that the place was surrounded by three circles inside and three outside.

It wasn't until Shi Chengwu came forward and used a tin speaker to remind the guests to hurry up and take their seats that the officials dispersed and sat back to their seats. The few people who were dizzy from the noise breathed a sigh of relief.

There were too many faces, and they were not very good at remembering the self-introductions of these officials.

Of course, they can also understand the mentality of the officials. After all, their identities are no longer a secret in the circle of local officials. There will definitely be some people who want to win over them to gain a good future for themselves. If they get these senior officials

With the appreciation of his children, wouldn’t it mean that he would have the opportunity to save ten or twenty years of hard work?

The area where guests sit is divided into two parts: the front and back. Officials sit in the front rows, while civilians sit in the back. However, there are exceptions. Dai Yingda and Dai Chengrong appeared at the venue, and their seats were exactly the same as those of Tao.

Hongfang and others were also placed in the front row.

After Dai Yingda saw them, he didn't take the initiative to come over. He just nodded and saluted from a distance. It seemed that he was still a little worried about running into trouble with Bai Letong. Bai Letong's knot was still unresolved, so naturally he would not take the initiative to greet the Dai family.

Father and son didn't even look that way, pretending they didn't see it.

Shortly after everyone sat down, Shi Diwen's carriage arrived, surrounded by armed cavalry. All the guests present quickly stood up to welcome Shi Diwen's arrival.
Chapter completed!