Chapter 340 Huaihai Economic Zone
It is said that the four economic zones planned by the Heixingen Group in the Far East, namely southern Shandong, northern Jiangsu, eastern Henan and northern Anhui, are economic depressions. In fact, they are the result of a combination of natural and man-made disasters over the years.
Man-made disasters are definitely the main factor. After all, since the Yellow River was changed its course in the Song Dynasty, its estuary has always been in northern Jiangsu, and the impact of floods has always existed. However, thanks to the Grand Canal, this place has been one of the most economically prosperous regions from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.
In the early Qing Dynasty, like all unified dynasties, it had the ability to control the Yellow River. But now it has chosen to let it go, and with the rise of maritime transportation, its decline has become inevitable.
However, by the time the Heixingen Group settled here, the Yellow River had been diverted for twenty years, floods had receded, and the Taiping Rebellion and the Nian Rebellion had been quelled. This was a good window of opportunity for development, and the Heixingen Group took advantage of it.
If it weren't for the successive natural disasters and man-made calamities, it would have been difficult for the Heixingen Group to enter this place. While the floods and wars caused huge damage to this place, they also destroyed the local feudal economic system.
For example, Huai'an Prefecture was originally an important territory of Huizhou merchants in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, second only to Yangzhou. It was snatched away by the Hei Xinggen Financial Group. Actually, it was not a snatch. The focus of Huizhou merchants is currently shifting to Songjiang Prefecture. The Yellow River has been diverted, and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has been abandoned. Huai'an has lost its function as a hub for north-south water transport. In addition, with the rise of maritime transport and the entry of cheap foreign goods from the sea, it is inevitable that this place will be abandoned by Huizhou merchants. The Hei Xinggen Financial Group only played a role in finishing off the attack, making Huizhou merchants completely abandon this place. The same fate has also occurred in Haizhou Prefecture, Xuzhou Prefecture, Jining Prefecture, Yanzhou Prefecture, Sizhou Prefecture, Fengyang Prefecture...
Basically, the area of activity of the Nian Army overlapped with that of the Yellow River. In 1855, the Yellow River burst its banks (east of Kaifeng), and a large number of disaster victims in southern Shandong, northern Anhui, and northern Jiangsu were displaced and joined the Nian Army, reaching a climax. The Nian Army was everywhere in the north and south of the Huai River, and the reason why the Nian Army was active was that the local economy was destroyed and the people lost their economic source.
Ernst himself was previously keen on East African immigration and did not notice that the area covered by the Hei Xingen Consortium was the "Huaihai Province" imagined by netizens on the Internet in his previous life. It was only then that he realized that the Hei Xingen Consortium was preparing to invest heavily in the Far East to cope with the economic crisis.
When Ernst invests in a region, he likes to plan the region. Typical examples include the North Industrial Belt in East Africa and the Lake Malawi Industrial Zone. Atypical examples include investment areas centered on the three cities of Berlin, Vienna, and Trieste. As for the United States, it is all about money. Wherever there is high profit, the money will flow there. As for investment in the Far East, it is naturally impossible to be completely for economic benefits. Ernst's personal emotions are mixed in. Under the premise of not violating the interests, it is okay to help. Anyway, cooperation is a win-win situation, and both sides will not lose.
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Yanzhou Prefecture, Zaozhuang.
At that time, Zaozhuang belonged to a village in Yi County under the jurisdiction of Yanzhou Prefecture. Yi County has a long history. Although the name Yi County may sound unfamiliar, the name Lanling is more famous.
Although Zaozhuang City, Yi County, and Lanling cannot be equated with each other among the local population in the previous life, their approximate location is in this area.
"Mr. Chen, I hope your government will provide more convenience for our bank's future investments here," said Mark, president of the Yanzhou branch of Heixingen Bank.
"Haha, don't worry. You have come thousands of miles to invest in the Far East. As the saying goes, guests are welcome. Our great country has its own demeanor and will not let a villain delay your actions!" Chen Shijie, the Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner representing the Qing government, responded with a smile.
But he didn't agree with it in his heart. If it weren't for the Heixinggen Group playing tricks, who would come here to deal with these foreigners for no reason?
Of course, the Heixingen Consortium could not bypass the local government when investing in the Far East, and the Qing government was a hard-nosed government, so the East African government stepped in and obtained the "Imperial Sword" in the capital before it began large-scale development in the Far East.
Naturally, the East African government did not have such a big face. In fact, it united the German and Austro-Hungarian business groups and asked the Qing government to relax restrictions in the name of East Africa, Germany and Austro-Hungary.
Both Germany and Austria-Hungary were represented, and this matter was mainly led by the East African government. Germany was very busy now and had no time to care about overseas. It was studying how to prevent France from turning over forever. The Austro-Hungarian envoy was working in Japan and was not permanently stationed in the Far East.
The Hechingen Consortium is a German consortium. Together with other German merchants doing business in the Far East, they naturally represent the interests of Germany. Therefore, the Prussian envoy was invited out by the Hechingen Consortium again this time.
An East African ambassador, a German minister and a group of German merchants, representing the entire German merchants in the Far East (including the Austro-Hungarian Empire), put pressure on the Qing government, and the matter was naturally resolved. With two of the world powers, the Qing government naturally did not dare to neglect them. The psychological shadow caused by the last time with Britain and France was still in its mind. Not to mention Britain and France, the Tsarist Russia in the north alone was a superpower that made it difficult for the Qing government to deal with.
In addition, although this economic cooperation led by East Africa was forced, it gave the Qing government enough face and allowed it to acquire a 50% stake and collect taxes. Although it had no management authority, it had to share its share of the profits and taxes.
As for how much money the court was willing to invest, that depended entirely on its financial resources. In the end, the stingy Qing court did not invest, but instead allowed the Huizhou merchants, who had a semi-official status, to invest 30%, and the remaining 20% was invested by the Shanxi merchants to jointly develop the "Huaihai Economic Zone."
The Huaihai Economic Zone spans four provinces and is rich in coal resources, especially in southwestern Shandong and northern Anhui, where there are large coal mines. The whole world is now in the steam age and the Far East market is huge, so developing coal mines is a sure-win business.
Zaozhuang is the first place that Hei Xinggen wants to invest. The textile industry, which is the easiest to start with, has already been confirmed to be Jiaozhou, and the coal resources in the Huaihai area are relatively rich. Currently, the Hei Xinggen Group plans to develop its coal resources in Zaozhuang first.
This place is not far from Weishan Lake and transportation is relatively convenient. The remaining start-up capital is provided by Hechingen Bank, but the construction is taken over by an Austrian coal mining company. At the same time, equipment is introduced from Germany. In this way, the interests of East Africa, Germany and Austria are all taken care of.
However, the name Zaozhuang is a bit stingy. The current Zaozhuang is just a small town the size of a village (affected by the loss of local population caused by East African immigrants). So they simply took the ancient name Lanling as the name of the new city. As for the already existing Lanling Town, we can only say sorry.
The planned Lanling City will replace the original Zaozhuang Town and become an emerging industrial city relying on the development of the coal mining industry.
The importance of the coal mining industry to industrialization in this era is self-evident. After the development of the Lanling coal mine, relying on Weishan Lake and with the help of river transportation, it can radiate to the entire Huaihai Economic Zone.
Lanling City is just a starting point. Subsequently, coal mines in Jining, Linyi, Huaibei, Zibo, Heze... and as far as Huainan area of Anhui may be developed.
At the same time, the Qing government organized personnel to organize and dredge the road traffic and canals in the Huaihai Economic Zone. The food needed for these projects was provided to the Qing government by East Africa at cost price, and both parties shared future profits.
East Africa also required the tax system within the Huaihai Economic Zone to be unified, modeled after the German Customs Union, to abolish some exorbitant taxes and fees, reduce local protectionism, and ensure the free flow of people and logistics in the entire Huaihai Economic Zone.
The Qing government was happy to see this happen. The local tax system had long been corrupt, but as a ruler, it was difficult for them to make drastic changes. So it was not a bad idea to let the East African Kingdom be the bad guy.
Of course, the Qing government also had to be on guard against East Africa, which is why Shandong Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Chen Shijie personally came forward. He was originally an aide to Zeng Guofan and had participated in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion and the Nian Rebellion. So this time, at the request of the central government, he was responsible for monitoring the East African Kingdom. The two sides cooperated in an atmosphere of mutual distrust.
(End of this chapter)
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