Chapter 1051： Like me (1/2)

Hearing the news that seemed like a fantasy, everyone was stunned. The Americans want to build the ”Siberian Railway.” Isn't this the sun coming out from the west?

The Americans want to strengthen economic exchanges and cooperation between Russia and the United States, and everyone can barely accept it. After all, the divided United States is seriously lacking a market for merchandise sales.

As a member of the fringe world, there is no conflict of interest. The relations between Russia and the United States have been good in recent years. It's just that the Americans want to build the ”Siberian Railway”, which is a bit funny.

The Siberian Railway has such a great effect that it can promote Russia-US economic and trade cooperation. Why don't we know?

Everyone knows that in the case of a small distance difference, the cost of rail transportation is much higher than that of sea transportation. What's more, the transportation cost of special railways such as the Siberian Railway is even higher.

Whether starting from the east coast or the west coast, it is better to ship goods directly to the Russian Empire than to go to the Far East for transit.

If we really want to talk about promoting the economic and trade between the two countries, there are actually some. It is just not to promote commercial trade between Siberia and the United States.

Different from later generations of Siberia, the Siberian region of this year was useless except for its size.

The Siberia area of ​​more than 13 million square kilometers has a population of less than 7 million. This is the result of Ottoman immigration. Otherwise, this figure can be discounted.

The development of Siberia was still after the opening of the railway. Mainly due to Stalin's exile policy, which increased the local population.

With such a small population, it is still spread over 13 million square kilometers of land. Talking about trade is a joke.

The purchasing power of the market in Siberia is probably not as good as one-tenth of that of St. Petersburg.

To say that Americans have taken a fancy to this ”large and unmanned” market and want to cultivate and operate in depth, it is estimated that a normal person would not believe it.

Nicholas II asked: ”What do Americans want?”

There is no love and hate for no reason in the world, especially among countries. As a normal person, Nicholas II did not believe that Americans would come to do charity without benefit.

You must know that the construction cost of the Siberian Railway is not a small figure, and it can rank second in the entire human history, second only to the Shinra ring railway.

As early as a few years ago, the Tsarist government completed the exploration of the Siberian Railway. If it were not that the budgetary costs were too scary, and the Tsarist government had no money, the railway would have already started construction.

Although the financial resources of the United States of this year are stronger than those of the Russian Empire, it is also very limited, and it is also highly indebted.

His own railway was not completed, and suddenly he ran to help build the Siberian Railway, but Nicholas II did not doubt their motives.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhailovich explained: ”In recent years, the United States has encountered bottlenecks in its development and urgently needs to open up a larger commodity sales market.

It's just that now the world has been divided up, including America, which was originally regarded as a back garden by the Americans, is now reduced to the sphere of influence of Britain and Shinra, and there is no room for them to intervene.

In order to change this situation, the Americans have set their sights on expansion to the Far East. But their strength is limited, they are unable to compete with the British, and it is even difficult to suppress the Japanese.

Without the intervention of external forces, it is only a matter of time before the Americans are expelled from the competition in the Far East.

Judging from the current international situation, we are the only one who can provide assistance to the Americans, and it is possible to provide assistance.

Apart from joining hands with us, they have no way to deal with the Anglo-Japanese alliance. The Americans proposed to build the Siberian Railway, which seems to be helping us, but in fact this is also their strategic helplessness.

Of course, Americans are not vegetarian, and their appetite is quite good.

In addition to cooperating with us to expand in the Far East, they also want to obtain the franchise of the Siberian Railway and the most favored nation status in international trade. ”

Starting from defeating Napoleon, the Russians had a kind of ”fascinating self-confidence”, especially after the capture of Constantinople, it reached its peak.

The Russian-Prussian War once awakened the Tsarist government, but after the victory of the war, everyone quickly became addicted to it.

This ”confidence” is also reflected in politics and diplomacy. Including the strategy of going south to India, it is based on this ”mysterious self-confidence.”

After hearing this explanation, everyone including Nicholas II was tempted.

Most-favored-nation treatment is the same as not giving. Anyway, the Russian Empire is already the world of Shenluo's industrial and commercial products, so it's okay to let an American come in and act as their competitor.

For Nicholas II, who wanted to get rid of the influence of Shinra, he was just worried that the Americans were useless, and even if the market was opened up, they would not be able to compete with Shinra.

Joint expansion in the Far East is not a condition at all. The expansion of the Russian Empire itself in the Far East requires allies to share the pressure.

As for the dominance of the Far East and the completion of the Yellow-Russia Plan, that is the future, and it will not affect the current US-Russia cooperation in the slightest.

It can be said that the requirements of the Americans are within everyone's bottom line, except that the railway franchise is somewhat embarrassing.

Prime Minister Sergey Witt: ”The Americans are willing to help build the Siberian Railway, which is naturally a good thing, but it should not be now.

The strength of the empire is not unlimited. The French rebellion needs to be suppressed by the empire. The Central Asia Railway is halfway through. We really don't have the ability to start another big project.

Judging from the current construction progress, if the later projects progress smoothly, the Central Asia Railway will be opened to traffic in 1899, and it will not exceed 1900 at the latest.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can talk to the United States and put the construction time of the Siberian Railway to three years later, so that we can deal with it calmly. ”

Even if the Americans are willing to help, the Tsarist government still has to pay for the construction of the Siberian Railway, and it has to bear the bulk of it.

Including the Central Asia Railway under construction, it seems that the Vienna government is assisting in the construction, but the labor and raw materials are still provided by the Czarist government.

In the era of lack of machinery and equipment, almost all processes were completed manually. Labor and raw materials account for more than 80% of railway construction costs.

As for the old difficulties of demolition and relocation that future generations of railway construction will face, it simply does not exist now. Including taxes in all aspects, now it is all zero.

On the surface, the tsarist government did not pay much, but it hurts the country's strength! Free labor is not unlimited, and once the recruitment is over, it will also cause serious problems.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhailovich shook his head: ”I'm afraid this won't work. The American steel giant is leading the construction of the Siberian Railway.

They promote this plan, the main purpose is to clean up their inventory. If the time is delayed by three years, their losses will be very large.

Besides, the US government will be changed in two years. If the project is not finalized as soon as possible, a new government will come to power...”

Unlike the surplus of agricultural products, which can only be scrapped, surplus steel can still be backlogged. But this backlog time is also limited, and the longer the backlog time, the higher the cost.