My Italian: Chapter 346 reassign
"King Carlo, your country's behavior in the Far East has made London very puzzled. My government has specially asked me to ask if your country's behavior means that you are unwilling to abide by the agreement of the countries in the Far East. Or in other words, your country wants to seek It is unique in some special interests of the Qing Kingdom!"
When British Ambassador Hawley Mandison said this, he stared at Carlo unreasonably, as if he wanted to find some small changes in this face.
But unfortunately, the Italian's expression did not change in the slightest, but he spoke slowly. "Ambassador Mandison, is this what your government and prime minister mean?"
"Yes, Your Majesty Carlo, our government and Prime Minister are very disappointed with your country's promotion of railway construction in the Far East. They believe that the lack of technical support from the British Empire will lead to many detours."
It sounds so nice, but to put it bluntly, it is not for profit. Of course, Carlo also knew that Italy was quite unkind when it came to swallowing up the interests of the Qing railway. This has aroused dissatisfaction from various countries, especially the British who have profited the most, and are even more angry about it.
Let's put it this way, after the British in the Far East are second only to Russia, which currently needs a global containment of London, to be wary of Italy. Because Italy's benefits in the Qing state are already approaching Britain, which has been deeply cultivated for a long time.
What do you make Britain think?
This place was developed by me first, and everyone else followed the agreement. The unruly Italians took advantage of the shortcomings of the agreement, and even wantonly embezzled and expanded their interests in the Qing Kingdom. Even if it is just like this, you dare to interfere in the plans of the British Empire in the Far East. Although the excuse is given by the Qing people, no one knows that you are expanding your influence in the Qing country in disguise. All of these performances have put the UK on the verge of an outbreak.
Next, you scrambled for the interests of the railway that all countries covet, and you still shoved it all into your own bowl, leaving no one for others. If this matter can be endured, No. 10 Downing Street should be renamed, and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are more suitable.
Therefore, this time, it is enough to say that Ambassador Mandison is so hard-hearted.
"Ambassador Mandison, your country has actually misunderstood our country. Our country has no idea of swallowing the interests of Qing's railway. This is just the idea of maximizing the interests of the diplomats, which led to the current result."
Facing the tough British ambassador, Carlo couldn't be tougher.
Carlo is not afraid of the British ambassador, but the British Empire behind him.
Yes, Carlo is cowardly. Because he knows that although Italy has developed well in recent years, let alone the United Kingdom, even France next door can't compare. No matter in terms of economy, military, or influence, Italy is no match for France, let alone the United Kingdom, which holds world hegemony.
So it's not ashamed to be counseled. Even if Carlo has memories of his past life, he can't make Italy comparable to Britain for more than ten years. Not to mention the UK, being able to compete with France in 20 to 30 years is the result of the efforts of the Italians.
There is no way that the foundation is too poor, and the local lack of coal and iron ore hard injuries, no matter how hard Carlo works, it is useless. It is not too much to describe Italy's industrial development with less effort. So even Italy, which was pretty good in the Renaissance era, couldn't keep up after entering the industrial era.
The assurance from Carlo also made Mandisson excited for a while. After all, after so many years in Italy, it was not easy to see the Italian king give in.
"Since Your Majesty said so, then presumably your country's diplomats have realized their mistakes, so I hope that the next time you meet with your country's diplomats, you can get a satisfactory result."
Well, Ambassador Mandisson, who is ready to accept it, is still very understanding. After getting the desired result, he was ready to leave immediately. As to how much Britain should have in the Qing Railway Company, it was a matter between him and the Roman government. No one dared to greedy the share that the British Empire deserved, and he was very confident in that.
After Ambassador Mandison left, Carlo picked up the phone on his desk, thought about it, and put it down.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for Prime Minister Antonio and Foreign Minister Bakona to come together.
"Your Majesty, have you agreed to the Englishman's request?"
The two important ministers expressed their intentions simply and directly.
"Yes, I promised the British to share the benefits of the Qing State Railway. Before this, I was blinded by the benefits, but I didn't see the danger in it."
In the face of Carlo's rare admission of mistakes, Antonio and Bacona looked at each other and said in unison. "Your Majesty, it's not just you, we have reasons for this."
"I don't know enough about the complicated situation of Italy in Qing."
These are the words of Prime Minister Antonio.
"I didn't take into account the reaction of countries in this, it was my mistake."
These are the words of Foreign Secretary Barcona.
"And these days, the German and Austrian ambassadors have come to me many times, and they are also discussing the interests of Qing's railway."
"It's the same on my side. Ambassadors from various countries are about to step on the threshold of my foreign ministry. It's because of the interests of Qing's railway."
"I have asked some experts before, and they believe that the Qingguo Railway Company, which is currently established, can earn at least 50 million lire in profits every year if the announced railway is completed, based on factors such as the situation along the announced railway line and the population distribution. Of course, some additional benefits cannot be calculated, such as the discovery of mineral resources along the route. However, the investment is not cheap, and it is indeed difficult for my country to bear it alone.”
According to the currently announced railway line, to complete its construction, at least 150 million taels of silver are needed (the total investment of the Luhan Line is 43.49 million taels of silver, and the construction cost per kilometer is 35,000 taels of silver.).
Converted into lira, it requires at least 800 million lira.
This is not a small amount at all, even for Italy~www.mtlnovel.com~ Calculated with a construction period of 10-15 years, at least 80 million lire needs to be invested every year. Therefore, under the pressure of various countries, Carlo and the Prime Minister and others felt that it was necessary to share some of them.
Well, these are all rhetoric. If you really want to take advantage of the railway, the ghost will let it go. It's not that you have to let go, it's good to find one or two reasons first.
"Since we can't monopolize the interests of the railway, then some things need to be done in advance. The shares we bought in the Qing Kingdom will be combined after we sell some of them to other countries. We must ensure the best interests of our country in the Qing Kingdom Railway Company."
"As your majesty."
The two important ministers are not fools, of course they know how to keep Italy's share. After giving up some of the shares, Italy's purchase of shares from the Qing Dynasty does not have to be concealed. There are too many players, there is no need to hide their strength, especially Italy is not a strong party.
And Bakona then said. "At present, although we have to let go of more than half of our interests in the Far Eastern Railway, in the Balkans, we may be able to recover some."
With the decision of Carlo and the Prime Minister and others, the dispute over the Qingguo Railway Company finally subsided. Italy gave up 29% of the Qingguo Railway Company shares with 50 million taels of silver, and Britain, France, Germany, Russia, America and Austria completed their share of 133% and 2.50.5% respectively. Of course, in addition to taking shares from Italy, all countries have also searched for the stocks of railway companies in Qing. However, no matter which country is not as much as Italy, the share is as high as 2.4%, which is arrogant.
This adds up to 22.4% of the share, which can be said to be the largest shareholder except the Ministry of Household, and most of the interests are still left.