My life skills in Daming Liver - Chapter 690
c677 no sincerity
In Xuzhou, after the last telegraph line was pulled up, Yu Zongyuan personally inspected the entire Huaibei telegraph line and looked at the completed telegraph line with satisfaction.
In a sense, this Huaibei telegraph network cable can be said to be his largest investment.
The telegraph line between Suzhou and Song Dynasty has been put into operation. As a private line, the Suzhou-Songzhou Telegraph Bureau does not have much business.
The Susong Railway Company rented the telegraph office’s business to deliver news of delayed train arrivals to facilitate dispatching at various railway stations.
After the use of telegraph, the delay and failure rates of the Su-Song Railway were much lower. However, the telegraph office with huge investment could not survive solely relying on the business of the railway company.
There are also several newspapers that have rented telegraph lines, most of which are mainly financial newspapers. They need to know the market conditions of the Shanghai Securities Exchange Center as soon as possible, and the fastest way to transmit this news is through telegraph.
In addition, some merchants who speculate in stocks and futures use telegraphs, and some merchants who trade in bulk goods use telegraphs to transmit messages.
All in all, telegraphy is still a relatively luxurious communication method today. Ordinary people are still doubtful about using this kind of thing to send messages. The two houses of Su and Song are not far apart, so using letters to send messages is a better choice.
Not to mention that the railway company has also opened postal trains, which can use trains to deliver letters. Letters from Suzhou Prefecture and Songjiang Prefecture usually only take five days to be delivered, which is enough for daily communication.
For Yu Zongyuan, the Telegraph Bureau was his most satisfying investment.
At present, there is no risk of getting rich. The telegraph is only used by a few businessmen and newspapers, and its popularity is low. With this business demand, profit is still far away.
Yu Zongyuan heard that businessmen in other cities were also building telegraph lines. Their ideas for building these telegraph lines were similar to Yu Zongyuan’s. Telegraph, as a tool that can quickly transmit messages, plays a considerable role in business.
If you can quickly know what kind of goods are booming in a city, you can prepare goods in advance and send them for sale. Only in this way can you use telegraph to have the possibility of repaying your investment.
Yu Zongyuan decisively invested in the construction of the Beijing-Xuzhou telegraph line. This was the telegraph line from Xuzhou to Nanjing. The distance was several times the length of the telegraph line from Songjiang to Suzhou, so the investment was naturally greater.
However, Yu Zongyuan had just completed the ribbon-cutting ceremony. When he was about to leave Xuzhou, he suddenly saw several cabinet officials.
“What, requisitioning my telegraph line?”
Sun Changqing, the fifth official in the cabinet, was a Jinshi in the last imperial examination. He stayed in the cabinet after observing the government.
Zhongshu Wufanggongshi was originally responsible for sending and receiving official documents between the cabinet and various ministries. It was also a very critical position during the Ming Dynasty.
After Su Ze’s restructuring, Zhongshu Wufanggongshi has become an assistant official to the cabinet ministers, responsible for the daily assistant work of the entire cabinet. Because being able to get close to important cabinet ministers is also a job that young Jinshis yearn for.
Sun Changqing did things well, so he was favored by Xu Wei and stayed by his side.
Sun Changqing did not despise Yu Zongyuan because of his status as a businessman. Everyone knew that the second young master had a close relationship with the chief governor. Moreover, Mr. Yu’s reputation was different from other businessmen. He was generous with money and often invested in new technologies. He was famous in the southeast. God of Wealth.
“Master Yu, this is not a free rental. We will pay your telegraph company’s rental fee according to the rental fee of the Susong Railway Company.”
Yu Zongyuan waved his hand and said: “What rent are we talking about? My telegram is free for you to use!”
Sun Changqing said quickly: “This is against the rules.”
Yu Zongyuan said nonchalantly: “If this is against the rules, I’ll be happy with it!”
Yu Zongyuan said boldly: “You can use it!”
After Zong Yuan left, everyone looked at Sun Changqing. Sun Changqing sighed and said: “Young Master Yu is very upright, but the Governor also taught us that we can’t take advantage in vain. Let’s do this. In the future, every time the news of the negotiation is transmitted through the Young Master Yu Telegraph Company, This note can be regarded as our advertisement to the telegraph company.”
“Sun Gongshi, isn’t this against the rules?”
“If there is anything that is against the rules, we will tell the truth.”
“The Grand Governor needs us to send the progress of the peace talks to Nanjing as soon as possible, and at the same time print it for the people to see. Using telegram is the fastest option. It is true that we used Mr. Yu’s telegraph company, and it is not false propaganda.”
“Okay, everyone, get ready. The Prime Minister will come to Xuzhou in a few days. We have to prepare for the peace talks.”
Everyone got busy.
The location of the peace talks was set at an abandoned town in the frontline confrontation area between the two sides. Xu Wei set out from Nanjing, arrived in Xuzhou via water transport, and finally arrived at this abandoned town under the protection of an elite army.
The town has undergone simple repairs and can house guards and entourage. Mingting’s negotiator Shanhao Xian has arrived. Xu Wei quickly started negotiations regardless of the fatigue of traveling and traveling.
Just as Southeast executives expected, Li Chengliang’s peace talks were simply to delay time, and the conditions he proposed were unacceptable to Southeast.
Shan Hao first directly stated the bottom line of the Ming court peace talks:
The first is to ensure the survival of the Ming royal family. Li Chengliang’s plan is to continue to maintain the royal family, but limit the monarch’s power, but retain the monarch’s power to appoint the head of the court.
The second is to retain the army of the Ming Dynasty in the north. Li Chengliang still serves as the commander-in-chief of this army. Li Chengliang can hand over political power, but he must retain the military commander.
Finally, Ming court officials, both civil and military, could obtain corresponding positions in the government offices in the southeast.
After hearing Shanhaoxian’s conditions, Xu Wei knew that this negotiation was destined to be in vain.
It is impossible to satisfy any of the three conditions of the Ming court’s peace talks.
The reason why Su Ze raised the army was that sovereignty lies with the people, and overthrowing the monarchy was his slogan. Now that Su Ze is not proclaiming emperor, he just wants to transform his family and the world into a common world. How can he still allow the Zhu family of the Ming Dynasty to continue to be emperor?
The next step is to retain the army under Li Chengliang. Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, there has been no such thing as a vassal governor in any unified dynasty.
The last thing is personnel. Why can officials from your Ming court directly get positions in the Southeast? How many scholars in the Southeast are waiting to become officials?
It can be said that these three articles offended all strata in the southeast. To put it bluntly, Li Chengliang had no intention of peace talks at all, he was just delaying time.
Xu Wei simply opened up. While he sent the terms of the peace talks to Nanjing via telegram, he began to argue with Shanhao Xian, and the two sides started a war of words.
These messages were recorded in full and handed over to newspapers for quick publication. The Southeast Navy quickly used fast ships to send them to various ports along the Shandong coast, and the contents of the peace talks were also printed and distributed to the people in the areas ruled by the Ming court.