Lin Shuo stayed in Jining after returning to the northwest, personally supervising the construction progress of the Monte-Mongolian Railway and ensuring the logistics of the An-Mongolian Army.
In fact, before the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was about to open to traffic in 1908, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway Bureau headed by Zhan Tianyou began to discuss the layout plan of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. Finally, at Lin Shuo’s insistence, it was decided that the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway would start from the small town.
Ning's plan to extend the Monte-Montreal Railway to Baotou and Cullen at the same time.
After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was opened to traffic in 1909, the Zhang-Sui Railway, which had completed the survey and line survey, started construction. By the year of 1911, the Zhang-Sui Railway had been opened to Jining, a small town in Mongolia. Due to the Wuchang Uprising, the Manchu Qing Dynasty fell, and the domestic
The unrest also caused the suspension of work on this railway.
At the beginning of the Republic of China, Lin Shuo immediately ordered the priority to ensure the construction of this railway.
In his mind, this railway will play a vital role in ensuring that Mongolia and Xinjiang, including Ulyasutai and Khovd, will not be split. When using troops in the northwest, logistical support is actually of great importance.
problem, on the contrary, combat is not that important, because the strength of the Mongolian army cannot compete with the Northwest Army.
"Marshuai Lin, according to the previously formulated plan, a steel plant with an annual output of 300,000 tons was built in Baotou. It is impossible to put it into operation before 1915." The small conference room of Jining Railway Station was full of people.
, an expert in mining and metallurgy. When Lin Shuo demanded that the Baotou Iron and Steel Plant, which had been prepared during the pre-Qing Dynasty, be put into operation before 1915, Zeng Pu was the first to raise objections.
"According to the planning and construction plan, the first phase of the Baotou Steel Project includes: 4 iron-making blast furnaces with a daily output of 300 tons, 4 150-ton open-hearth furnaces, 6 100-ton converters, 3 steel rolling branches and 1 large machinery factory. In addition, supporting projects
Also includes
2 iron mines, 2 coal mines, coking plant, 1 water source reservoir, 2 thermal power plants and road and railway transportation." Zeng Pu looked down at the construction schedule in his hand, then raised his head and continued.
: "Generally built like this
The construction period of a comprehensive steel plant is about five years. Since the preliminary exploration, surveying, site selection and planning and design work have been basically completed, we have saved about one and a half years, and the remaining three and a half years of construction are
The construction period cannot be compressed no matter what. Baotou is located in the alpine zone outside the Great Wall, and concrete construction is basically impossible from November to mid-March every year. The biggest problem is transportation. Many large equipment cannot be transported to the location without railways.
"
"Mr. Dachao, when will the railway reach Baotou?" Lin Shuo turned to ask Zhan Tianyou, director of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway who was sitting next to him.
Zhan Tianyou took out a form, looked at it twice and then said: "According to Governor Lin, if the investment in labor and machinery is increased, the length of the railway line from Jining to Baotou will be 387 kilometers, at least
It will take eighteen months to repair, that is, this iron
The road could only be opened to traffic in early 1914. The terrain outside the mouth is not very complicated. According to the budget, the cost of building the railway per kilometer is 31,000 yuan. If light rail is used, the cost per kilometer can be reduced to about 22,000 yuan, but the transportation capacity is
There will be great restrictions.”
Due to the national financial constraints, the original funds allocated to the Zhangsui Railway from the surplus of the railways inside and outside the customs have been stopped. The construction cost of the entire Monte-Mongolian railway, about 18 million yuan, has to be borne by Lin Shuo himself. Although Lin Shuo worked in Sui-Mongolia
He raised more than 3 million yuan in financing from his business, but he still had to bear most of it himself.
"Funds are not a problem. We don't want to give up food because of choking. It's better to use the standard 43-kilogram heavy rail." Lin Shuo calculated the date in his mind and asked Zeng Pu: "If the factory construction is carried out now, how can the steel plant equipment installation and commissioning be carried out?
Can’t it be done within a year?”
Zeng Pu thought for a while and then said: "No, it will take at least one and a half years to install and debug the main equipment of the steel plant. Of course, before that, we can do the preliminary work as well as possible and try to advance the construction date as much as possible."
Lin Shuo frowned. He wanted the steel mill to start construction before World War I. Although the profit from producing a ton of steel was only four or five yuan now, and the selling price per ton was only about thirty yuan, but during the European War
After the outbreak, the sales price of steel per ton soared to nearly 300 yuan. The total investment of the Wuhu Iron and Steel Plant with an annual output of 300,000 tons of steel was only 20 million yuan, and after the war broke out, the annual profit could reach 5,000 yuan.
It would take at least more than 20 years of accumulation to achieve such a huge profit amount of more than 10,000 yuan in peacetime.
He would never be willing to miss such a period of rapid development.
In this era, steel is a symbol of a country's strength. The strength and decline of any industrial country will be reflected in its steel output. A country without steel is effectively equivalent to having no national defense.
According to Lin Shuo's vision, the country's rejuvenation should start with industrial progress. Of course, all this must be done under the premise of ensuring political stability. In order to benefit the memory of future generations, Lin Shuo's plan revolves around Wuhu, Wuhan, Pingxiang, Xuanhua, Taiyuan,
The six steel bases in Baotou and the two major shipbuilding bases in Shanghai and Fuzhou are based on supporting metallurgy, metal processing, machinery manufacturing, electric power, coal chemical industry, automobile, tractor and shipbuilding industries, forming a complete heavy industrial zone, which in turn drives the industry in surrounding areas.
develop.
Only then did Lin Shuo understand why later generations would use a five-year cycle when formulating the national economic development outline. This is because most heavy industry projects take five years from planning to construction completion. Basically, later generations of national key construction projects
All of them are heavy industry or infrastructure construction projects, so this preparation has a scientific basis.
Although the political arena was still chaotic in the early Republic of China, the domestic situation was quite stable. During this period, local gentry and merchants had considerable political activity, and the military in various places did not dare to blatantly extort merchants as they did in the warlord era of later generations.
Lin Shuo was looking for money everywhere, but Yan Zhaozhen, the comprador of Dehua Bank, came to his door.
"Marshuai Lin, I heard that you borrowed a loan of 5 million pounds from Huabi Bank?" Yan Zhaozhen hesitated for a long time before turning to the topic.
Lin Shuo took a sip of tea, tilted his head and seemed to think for a long time before speaking: "Well, regarding this matter, Premier Tang signed a loan contract from the Belgian Bank, but your banking group messed it up, so I will
This loan has been taken over. We can’t let foreigners say that we Chinese are not trustworthy, right?” Lin Shuo secretly laughed in his heart. When Tang Shaoyi was Prime Minister, he signed a government loan contract of 10 million pounds with the Belgian Bank.
Unexpectedly, the "Six Bank Group", a partnership between Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States and Russia, got the news. The "Six Bank Group" used the excuse that they had signed a loan priority with the Qing government and strongly opposed the loan. In the end, Tang Shaoyi succumbed.
Under pressure from the great powers, the contract with the Belgians was terminated.
Unexpectedly, the Belgians began to demand the 3 million silver dollar loan advanced to the Tang cabinet, and demanded that the government pay 300,000 pounds in liquidated damages in accordance with the contract.
The treasury was empty. How could Tang Shaoyi get the money? He could only come to Lin Shuo and ask him to take over the loan. As it was regarded as a commercial loan, the "Six Nations Bank Group" had nothing to do, and the Republic of China government did not have to give it.
The Belgians paid a large liquidated damages.
This loan was mainly used by Lin Shuo to build the Baotou Steel Plant and the expansion of the Xuanhua Steel Plant. The factories and mines in Baotou and Xuanhua were used as collateral. Huabi Bank will send people to supervise the use of this loan. In addition, the most important thing is
Forty percent of the total loan amount will be used to purchase industrial equipment made in Belgium, and the factories will be designed and constructed by Belgian companies.
This information was deliberately released by Lin Shuo in order to make the members of the "banking group" jealous.
The first person to be upset was the German Lihe Company. This old German company that could influence the German government was the main supplier of arms and machinery exports to China. However, in the loan contract signed by Lin Shuo and the Belgians, the entire
The Taiyuan Arsenal's expansion contract was all given to the Belgian National Arsenal. With Lin Shuo's influence in the Beiyang and Chinese business circles, if the Chinese Army gets used to Belgian products, it will also get used to German Mauser rifles and
Krupp cannon?
Belgium's steel, machinery and military products are no worse than those of the Germans, and these Germans know it very well.
Under the pressure of industrial giants such as Rheinsteel, Krupp, and Bayer Chemicals behind Lihe, Deutsche Bank soon came to the door.