The news of the railway company's public offering immediately caused a sensation. In less than three days, the initial shares of the five companies were divided up, raising a total of 30 million duns.
It had to be said that the great nobles were generous. Each of them invested 1.8 million duns without blinking an eye.
Everyone was well-informed and knew the purpose of the government's action. It was to rope in the local powers to make a fortune together so that no one would cause trouble for the railway project.
Even so, they had no reason to refuse to make a fortune, right?
Franz was willing to make a fortune with them, which meant that the emperor regarded them as his own people. This made many people feel at ease.
As for the killing of people during the suppression of the rebellion last year, they automatically ignored it. Unknowingly, their butts moved again. Traitors naturally deserved to be killed.
With so many powerful people buying shares, Franz did not have to worry about the rest. These people were even more anxious than him. The sooner the railway was completed, the sooner everyone could make money.
The exploration team from the Ministry of Railways had already set off. In order to speed up, the newly established railway company also organized its own exploration team and joined the exploration work.
Five railways were under construction at the same time: the Double Cloth Railway (Prague to Bratislava), the Weser Railway (Vienna to Szeged), the Vimy Railway (Vienna to Milan via Venice), the Lusa Railway (Ljubljana to Zagreb), and the Galician Railway …
Of course, the actual construction distance was definitely not that short. These five were only the main lines.
For example, the Double Cloth Railway and the Weser Railway would be connected by branch railways. The Weser Railway would extend west to Salzburg. The Double Cloth Railway also had a bunch of branch railways.
Needless to say, the Lusa Railway was only a little more than a hundred kilometers away. How could such a short distance become the main line?
Naturally, it extended to both sides. In the west, it extended to Filach and Vimy Railway, and in the east, it extended to Slavonia Brod.
The main line alone was four to five thousand kilometers long. With the addition of the various branch railways, it was more than ten thousand kilometers.
There was no doubt that the Ministry of Railways had smuggled in their own goods. They used a bundling method to package some of the more difficult routes.
This was also tacitly agreed by Franz. As compensation, the Government of Austria would provide some free labor for the railway company. The specific situation would be determined according to the conditions of the construction.
You're already on board, do you still want to back out? Without the government's consumable labor, it would not be easy for the railway company to build the railway.
Once the casualty rate was too high, they wouldn't be able to cover it up even if they had all the hands and eyes in the world.
Think about it. If thousands of people died, what kind of impact would it have on society? Other things aside, just the compensation alone would make them vomit blood.
This was also one of the reasons why the railway mileage in Europe was growing slowly. Every year, hundreds of kilometers of railway were built, and the number of casualties was controlled within a certain range.
If there were heavy casualties, the workers would also go on strike. Were they going to transport slaves from overseas for construction? The price of slaves in this era was not cheap, and the shipping cost was not a small amount either.
Building railways in this era could be said to be very cruel. There was too little machinery and equipment, and most of them had to be carried by people on their shoulders. In dangerous areas, people and equipment would often perish together.
Opium was a daily necessities prepared by many unscrupulous railway companies for their workers. Most people could not bear the pain and relied on opium to numb themselves. After a few years, they would be crippled.
Without a doubt, the few newly established railway companies in Austria were the representatives of unscrupulous railway companies. The shareholders behind the scenes were a group of sanctimonious nobles.
Precisely because they were nobles, they had to take care of their reputation. Many things could be done in the dark, but they could not be done in the open.
It was not easy to wash their names clean, and the reputation accumulated by their ancestors could not be blasphemed. Look at Franz's performance. The Emperor himself did not get involved, and the investment in the House of Habsburg had to be made into a pseudonym.
In this situation, what could be more reassuring than using criminals? No matter how many people died, public opinion would not blame them, at least in this era.
Of course, it was inevitable to find a few managers and CEOs to take the blame and blame them for their management mistakes. After that, there was nothing else.
These people were all rebels, and public opinion had already reached the bottom of the pot. As long as the Austrian Empire existed, they would not be overturned.
Don't think that Europe did not have nine familial extermination, and the Government of Austria would not do so. Once a rebellion was involved, even the high and mighty nobles would be finished, let alone the common people.
Everyone was pretending to be confused. Ordinary people would not admit that there was a rebellion in their family. As long as they behaved themselves, the government would pretend to know nothing.
Anyway, the war was so chaotic, and it was very difficult to investigate the situation. They just treated it as a death toll. Otherwise, how did Metternich come up with the death toll?
These people were already dead in the household register, and their families also regarded them as dead. Many of their funerals had been held in advance.
Other than the time when Franz first suppressed the rebellion in Vienna, the rebels in the Regions of Italy and Hungary were basically dead.
These people had also become the best laborers. Those who had died once could not die again. Once these people died, they would just be burned and done with.
There was no need to pay wages, and there was no need to pay pensions. There would be no family trouble, no media condemnation, and no follow-up trouble.
The only problem was that these people were in the hands of the government. If they wanted to use them, they naturally had to pay a price. According to the previous agreement, there were not that many additional roads, but there was also no promise of free labor, right?
Without hesitating for long, everyone decided to repair it. It was just that these roads would be repaired later. Anyway, it would save the biggest labor expense, and it would not increase the budget by much.
In the future, if there were profits, they would invest in the operation. If there were no profits, they would send a train every ten days to half a month. This was also their freedom.
As long as the Austrian railway controlled the operating frequency, the possibility of a loss was not high. No matter how remote the area was, they could get a train in ten days to half a month.
The route planned by the Ministry of Railways was connected to the cities, not the villages. How could there be no business?
The unpopular route could not make money, but it was not a big problem to break even. Even if there was a loss, it would not be too much.
This was the advantage of private railway companies. They could flexibly adjust the train frequency. Freight and passenger could be adjusted according to the actual needs.
It was not possible for the government to operate. If such a large amount of authority was given to the people below, it was estimated that the railway system would soon be emptied by them. This was also very troublesome to supervise.
The boss of the private company would keep an eye on it. The government could not guarantee that it would not be corrupted. It was impossible for the emperor, Franz, to pay attention to this problem every day, right?
There were also political factors that the government had to consider. The economic development of many places required the railway to operate every day. In the short term, the railway system would lose money, but the local economy would also be driven, and the government's tax revenue would increase.
In the end, it was difficult to calculate whether the government would lose or gain.
In order to avoid large-scale corruption and reduce losses, most of the railways operated by the government were usually fixed.
If they wanted to be dispatched, they had to report to each level. Unless it was a special situation, most of the time, the staff would not look for trouble, so the operating cost naturally went up.
After a series of bargaining, everyone finally reached an agreement, and the major railway construction in Austria started.
In order to recover the cost in the shortest time, a "three-way plan" was used this time (exploration, design, and construction).
The railway construction work had just begun, and everyone helplessly discovered a problem. It seemed that the sand and gravel mines around the railway had fallen into the hands of the Austrian Gravel Group.
This made many people regret it. Before the construction of the railway, only the sand and gravel around the city was worth a little money. The sand and gravel in the wilderness were simply untouched.
But now it was different. The construction of the railway would definitely use a lot of sand and gravel raw materials. In this era, there were no cars. They could only rely on manpower or animal power to transport. There was no other choice but to use local materials.
As soon as they got the news, the management of the railway company was angry. They were originally hired by the shareholders to do the dirty work. It was their turn to appear.
Unfortunately, there was no chance for them to perform. When the Austrian Gravel Group showed the backstage, they acted as if nothing had happened.
No, it had happened. When they came, they were ready to make trouble. After figuring out the situation, they changed to talk about business. When they left, they took away a supply contract signed with the Austrian Gravel Group.
It was a real fair trade. All the sand and gravel were supplied according to the market price. If the market price was not controlled, it should be a fair trade.
Franz knew the severity of the situation. It was okay to make a small profit, but if he went too far, it would have a bad impact if the news got out.
Therefore, the market price of sand and gravel did not increase significantly. It was only three times higher than before the railway construction started. Of course, the railway company was a big customer, so they gave a 20% discount.
All in all, the unit price only increased by 4%, which was almost no increase in price. It was definitely a good price.
This was also within the rules. As early as the first half of the year, Franz bought these mines at a low price. Many of them were bought from the nobles.
In this era, the most valuable thing was information. They had no choice. They were not well-informed enough, and they were greedy for small gains. They could only admit defeat.
The only thing that reassured them was that it seemed that His Majesty the Emperor did not come specifically for the railway. He bought not only the sand and gravel mines, but also the gold and silver mines that were too expensive. He bought a bunch of other mines.
Even these sand and gravel mines were not all along the railway. There were some in the wilderness. Obviously, they were also making money by casting a wide net.
With so many sand and gravel mines, it was naturally impossible for Franz to send people to manage them. After all, the unit price of sand and gravel was not high. The profit mainly depended on the quantity.
As an emperor who cherished his reputation, he naturally could not do things like squeezing the workers. Even the fact that he was the boss behind the scenes was not allowed to be leaked.
At this time, it was necessary to find a contractor. The big nobles looked down on the business of middlemen, but weren't there small nobles and small capitalists?
Franz did not need to worry about this. After the news of subcontracting was spread, someone quickly contacted the person in charge of the Austrian Sand and Gravel Group.
With the order contract in hand, it was very easy to negotiate a deal that was destined to make money.
The contractor was responsible for recruiting workers to mine, managing all the work in the mine, and assuming legal responsibility for it.
According to the actual situation, the Austrian Sand and Gravel Group would take 20% to 30% of the contract's profits, and the rest would be freely used by the contractor, including paying taxes and wages. After the railway construction was completed, the contract would be terminated.
Whether or not they could make money depended on the management level of these people. Anyway, they signed the contract with the Austrian Sand and Gravel Group, and they also threw all the responsibility to the contractor. Even if there was a big problem, the most they could do was trace back to the Austrian Sand and Gravel Group.
After that, there was no after that. Behind the pseudonyms were still pseudonyms. At this point, it was also stopped. Those in the know were smart people, and no one would open the lid.
No matter how the others schemed, or how fierce they fought, in the blink of an eye, Franz had made the biggest profit.
It was estimated that when the railway was completed, Franz would get back all the money he had invested in buying the mines, and the mines were his biggest profit.
After all, this was just the beginning. Only a part of the sand and gravel mines had been developed, and there were still a bunch of mines waiting to be developed. At this moment, Franz realized that the mine owner was the happiest.
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