Chapter 1000 High-speed rail, the prelude to the expansion of the empire (Second update, please subscribe)
To master finance is to master the world!
This was a concept instilled by Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang more than a decade ago. Over the past decade, under his attention, the financial industry of the Ming Dynasty has grown from a young sprout into a behemoth.
And the Imperial Bank is the leader among them!
As the helmsman of the Imperial Bank, Hu Guangyong was no longer just a banker, but a financial decision-maker.
Standing up from a spacious mahogany desk, Hu Guangyong walked across the large room to the stained glass window on the south wall, staring at the Eighth Street downstairs - this is the financial center of the Ming Empire. Looking down from the high building, the street is full of people and vehicles.
This street, which is only 28 meters wide, is the heart of the financial industry of the Ming Empire. No matter what those who belittle it say, it has always firmly controlled the finance of the empire. For some ordinary financial professionals who come and go in a hurry in dark gray clothes, it may just be a place to find a job and be employed. They just work here. Here, from adolescence to adulthood, middle age, and finally retirement, a person always seeks only a stable and generous income, and of course a generous pension; for other young and promising people, it is a temple of opportunity, where as long as you have special skills and diligence, you will be rewarded with promotion and security - the vast colonies of the empire provide sufficient jobs for young people; for pragmatism, it is the world's largest market and the largest speculation place; and for leftists, this is a place where the rich are extravagant and debauched, and those rich people shamelessly use financial means to plunder wealth.
What kind of person is Hu Guangyong?
He is a man who sees the world with open eyes and a realist. He understands what this financial center is: it is a pure jungle and a battlefield.
Everything on this battlefield is naked. What is respected here is the law of the jungle. If you want to survive, you must become a predator and bite the prey. He himself is a predator in this jungle, and the most powerful one.
Since you are the most powerful, can you relax a little?
Of course not!
In fact, not only should we not relax, we even need to be more focused, because in this jungle, anyone who takes it lightly will be quickly eliminated.
Although the Imperial Bank is huge, it also attracts attention. In addition to the Imperial Bank, there are banks such as HSBC that are eyeing it, watching it covetously, waiting to replace it.
It is precisely because of this that Hu Guangyong dared not slack off in the slightest.
"Abolish the two-yuan system and change the yuan... This is a great opportunity."
After staring out the window for a long time, Hu Guangyong walked back to the office again. He looked at the report on the table and thought about the plan of HSBC, Quanye Bank and Fumin Bank to form a banking group to lend money to Shenzhou. He smiled coldly at first, then raised his eyebrows slightly.
As a predator, he would not tolerate anyone snatching his prey. After thinking for a while, he leaned forward, picked up the phone on the table, and said.
"Ms. Zhao, please help me book a ticket to Zhongdu... um, yes, the America Star."
At this time, it is necessary to go to Zhongdu.
"Star of America" is the most famous "express train" in the Ming Dynasty. As early as ten years ago, in order to strengthen the connection between Nanhua and Yingtian, the Imperial Railway Company began to promote the development of high-speed trains. In May of the second year of Shengde, the "High-speed Train Committee" was established in the Imperial Railway Company and the Ministry of Transportation, with one representative from each department of transportation, work, and engineering affairs. A few months later, the "Imperial Railway" decided to build four special express trains between Nanhua and Yingtian, and soon put forward a budget. Despite the huge amount and the huge amount of funds used, the Imperial Ministry of Transportation and the Imperial Railway Company still fully supported the plan, which shows that the empire attaches great importance to this plan.
After the budget was passed, the Imperial Railway accelerated its progress and sent technicians to the United States and Europe to study and investigate related advanced technologies. However, after a round of investigation, it was found that Ming Dynasty's own trains were more advanced - the average speed of European and American trains was only 30.2 kilometers per hour at that time, while Ming Dynasty's trains exceeded 42 kilometers per hour. Ming Dynasty's fastest "Pacific" was also a model of the world's high-speed trains. As a representative of steam trains, it had an average speed of 57.2 kilometers per hour, far exceeding its European and American counterparts.
However, this does not mean that there was no gain - they discovered for the first time that the locomotive level of the Ming Empire had far surpassed that of its European and American counterparts.
However, despite this, the "America Express" was still an unprecedented challenge for the Imperial Railway - the vehicles of the "America Express" were designed and manufactured with a target speed of 120 kilometers per hour. This did not reflect the ambition of the "Imperial Railway" in terms of train speed at the time, but the Ming Empire's ambition for territorial expansion.
"What we need is a high-speed train that can reach any city in South America within 24 hours!"
What is ambition?
This is ambition!
It can be said that it is ambitious. It is so ambitious that even in the long-term plan of the "Imperial Railway", there is a railway to Mexico City.
Of course, all of this is just a draft. But one thing is certain: Ming Dynasty is aiming at the entire South American continent, and the railway is the tool for Ming Dynasty to expand or implement its rule in South America.
The continent is so vast that if you want to connect the continent, you must have high-speed trains. This is also the fundamental reason why the Ministry of Transportation and the Imperial Railway Company fully support the "America Express".
The vast territory of the empire needed high-speed trains to strengthen the internal connections of the empire, and of course for future expansion. To this end, the Imperial Railway Company gathered almost all the best engineers and spent eight years to finally develop the "American Star".
Last year, the news that the operating speed of "America Star" exceeded 100 kilometers for the first time not only made headlines in many newspapers in Ming Dynasty, but also made headlines in many newspapers in Europe and the United States.
"This is the fastest train since the invention of the train!"
Hu Guangyong, the president of the Imperial Bank, was of course well aware of all of this, because the Imperial Bank was the major shareholder of Imperial Railway and the largest seller of Imperial Railway bonds.
That afternoon, Hu Guangyong's car drove directly to the platform of "American Star". When the car drove into the platform, it always attracted some people's attention - even though the passengers of "American Star" were rich or noble, few of them could drive their cars onto the platform.
When Hu Guangyong got off the train, the conductor who had been waiting for a long time led several passengers to personally greet him.
"Mr. President, your carriage is No. 3. Please follow me."
As the conductor led the way respectfully in front, Hu Guangyong took a special look at the streamlined front of the train. This was the biggest feature of the "American Star" and its special model always attracted people's attention everywhere.
After getting on the train and entering the luxurious compartment, Hu Guangyong glanced out the window at an ordinary steam locomotive standing side by side. Although they were both steam trains, the difference between them was really huge.
Looking at the somewhat "rustic" steam locomotive, he couldn't help but mutter to himself.
"100 kilometers per hour, not slower than an airship! Maybe this is the future!"
High-speed trains are the future!
Anyone who knows the Ming Dynasty will not doubt this, after all, the current empire is too vast. In order to connect the vast empire, building new railways and new high-speed trains has become an inevitable trend.
Of course, this also means that in order to build railways to connect the north and the south, the empire must consider external expansion.
Perhaps this is also the reason why the high-speed train was named "Star of America" - because eventually the Ming Dynasty would build railways all over America.
I have set up a book club: 335260551. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.
(End of this chapter)
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