Chapter 444 Making Money Is Just an Accident

If on Christmas Eve in 1868, the Austrian New Energy Electric Power Company followed the famous name of "city that never sleeps" to civilize the world, then in 1869, the Austrian New Energy Electric Power Company established its dominant position in the industry.

With the completion of a series of patent authorizations, the Austrian New Energy Power Company standard has also become an international standard for power systems.

It is not difficult to break this standard system, as long as you are willing to spend money, you can always break it. It's just that no one knows how much money will be put into it.

If this is a lucrative industry, then the consortium may still try it. Unfortunately, the power industry is just emerging, and the urban power supply system looks delicious but difficult to make a profit.

No one knows how mature the market is, but when the patented technology expires, everyone knows exactly.

This era has not yet entered the era of high rhythm, everyone's sense of crisis is not so strong, and we simply do not think that within 20 to 30 years, electricity will become the mainstream of this era.

Take the steamboat, for example, which Joffrey built in 1796. At that time, it was also considered to be a technology that changed the times. However, more than 70 years later, the mainstream ships in the sea are still sail-powered.

There are many such examples. There is a period of time between the emergence of a technology and the large-scale application of it. The length of this cycle directly determines the commercial value of the technology.

In order to promote the advancement of power technology, Franz smashed millions of Aegis. If the later promotion costs are calculated, the cost has already reached tens of millions of Aegis.

You must know that this is not a simple technology, but an industrial system. Including upstream steel, copper smelting, rubber and other raw material industries, as well as downstream power transmission, generators, lights, meters...

It cannot be done without a large investment. This cannot be accomplished by one or two scientists and dozens of engineers. What is tested is the industrial strength of a country.

This is also the reason why most of the scientific and technological inventions and creations in the 19th century were concentrated in Europe and the United States. Without a supporting industrial system, even if you were given an atomic bomb manufacturing technology, you would not be able to create it.

Franz was in a good mood. Austrian New Energy Electric Power Company made a profit, although it was obtained by selling technology, which was also a good start.

If nothing else, a consortium with Austrian New Energy Power Company at its core will appear in the near future.

Since the advent of the capitalist era cannot be stopped, it is better to control them.

Those who obey me prosper, those who oppose me perish!

As the emperor, Franz is not lack of domineering. With the power in hand + the advantage of foresight, it is not impossible to carry out industrial layout in advance and secretly control the empire's economy.

This thick stack of commercial contracts is the foundation. Up to now, Austrian New Energy Power Company has signed strategic cooperation agreements with hundreds of cities.

Not only cities in Austria, but also cities in other European countries, everyone can reach an agreement, the main reason is cooperation.

To put it simply, the Austrian New Energy Power Company will provide a technical discount plus part of the funds to establish a subsidiary company with the local government, and everyone will jointly contribute to the promotion of human lighting.

Letting foreign companies monopolize the country's electricity supply, everyone must be afraid, and becoming a domestic company will be different.

Many local governments are companies that do not directly invest, so this part of the shares can also be invested by private capital, and the specific share allocation will naturally be calculated from the amount of capital contributed by both parties.

In the face of interests, everyone can become good friends. No one doubts the prospect of electricity, but considering the cost, everyone tacitly postponed the construction time.

This is what everyone needs. Austrian New Energy Power Company has completed its strategic layout and extended its influence to European countries.

Politicians have obtained a contract that satisfies the people. As for when it can be realized in the future, it doesn't matter. They have already obtained this achievement.

Investors invest in the future. Now they just sign a commercial contract and set up a shell company with a small amount of capital. When the future is profitable, the real time to pay.

Affected by this series of contracts, the gas company's stock has fallen a lot. Ordinary people do not know how high the cost of electricity is now, and many people take it for granted that gas is about to be replaced by electric lights.

This judgment can't be wrong. The price of gas lighting is also not low, but it is cheaper than the electricity bill before popularization. Once the power system is perfected, it will be more cost-effective to use electricity for lighting every month.

Ordinary households only have a few light bulbs, and usually only one is turned on. At most, it is only a few kilowatt-hours of electricity a month, and the electricity bill is only a few shillings.

The cost is mainly in the power supply equipment, resulting in high account opening fees. The light cost at least requires dozens of Aegis, and ordinary people simply cannot afford it, which has become the biggest obstacle to the popularization of electricity.

This is still in the case of a high installation rate. If the installation rate in the area is low, the cost may be as high as thousands of Aegis.

After all, a family must also pull a line to use electricity. Dozens of households still need only one line. The more the number of accounts opened, the lower the per capita amortization.

In any case, as long as these contracts become a reality, Austrian New Energy Power will get a long-term meal ticket.

Even if the profitability of these subsidiaries is not very good, the Austrian New Energy Power Company can be satisfied by providing them with technical services and selling supporting power equipment.

Even if it does nothing, salted fish will still be a Fortune 500 company in the 21st century. Fortunately, no one thinks so much in this era, otherwise these businesses would not be so easy to get.

It shouldn't be said to take it, it seems that the other party delivers it.

door. Austrian New Energy Power Company did not go out to run business, and customers came to the door.

The salted fish thought is worthless. How can a company that is not enterprising become a great company?

"Tell Mark Oliver to keep going and staking as much as possible. Pull in more cities while no giants get involved.

In addition, package the company. Austrian New Energy Electric Power Company is not just an ordinary company, but a company with great ideals.

Our goal: to light up the world, making money is just an accident.

If certain partners have concerns, they can be given a large stake in the subsidiary. In short, we must expand as soon as possible, complete the European strategic layout as soon as possible, and then extend our tentacles to the world. "

It is impossible to monopolize the power supply. All we can do now is to rely on the first-mover advantage to enclose the city.

As for the business that loses money in rural areas, that is the government's business. It is not in the plan of the Austrian New Energy Power Company for the time being, and the future may be uncertain.

In the future, governments of all countries will limit the profits of this kind of public infrastructure and people's livelihood projects, otherwise the spittle stars will be able to kill people.

At that time, rural electricity consumption can be taken into consideration. The newly increased construction and maintenance costs directly diluted the profit of the subsidiary.

It is no longer a profiteering industry, and the public will naturally not spray it. Keep a reasonable profit of more than ten points, and no one has anything to say.

Moreover, the decrease in the profits of subsidiaries does not mean that the profits of the head office also decrease. Dividends are less, and equipment maintenance costs and purchased accessories costs have gone up again.

Even if someone calls for the nationalization of electricity, it depends on whether the local government dares to take over. The cost of changing a private enterprise into a state-owned enterprise is not a dozen points. It is not surprising that a profitable enterprise has turned into a losing enterprise.

Franz wouldn't mind selling it for a good price if it was nationalized by a government. Companies with a background have never worried about being swallowed raw. This is a legal enterprise. If you want to nationalize it, you must follow the rules and the government will purchase the company's shares at a premium.

Anyway, before that, I had already made enough money. There may be far more direct profits, along with other gains.

This is the advantage of the consortium, one industry drives a series of industries. Even an ostensibly loss-making industry has made gains in other ways.

...

"This is the city that never sleeps. It really is the most beautiful city in the world. It can't be compared to Tokyo!"

"Of course, the whole world is comparable to London and Paris. I don't know how long it will take Tokyo to get to this point."

The conversation was between Okubo Toshinori and Ito Hirobumi. In 1868, after the victory of the Falling Curtain War, the "restoration government" headed by Emperor Meiji was established.

To regain sovereignty, Emperor Meiji sent delegations to Europe to negotiate with governments. Negotiations are also part-time on-the-spot visits, learning from European countries how to build a strong country.

The more you see, the more you can feel the difference between the two sides. The Japanese in this era are not at all arrogant, they are completely the image of a good student.

It can be seen that their interest is not high. They have visited many countries along the way, but the negotiation is not going well.

European countries don't take them seriously at all, and they want to revise the treaty and take back their sovereignty. If you can spit out the meat you eat in your mouth, is that still the 19th century when the weak eat the strong?

I don't know if they were lucky or not. At this time, Franz was touring the Balkans, accompanied by several ministers in the cabinet.

The big shots are not there, and it is naturally impossible to rely on a three-inch tongue to persuade Austria to make concessions.

The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs gave the answer early. If you want to revise the contract, you can exchange it for benefits, or you can buy it directly with money. There is no need to talk about the empty talk.

It's natural to talk about it so deadly. The request to see the top government officials was also rejected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Not so many reasons, just contempt.

The current international status of Japan is very low, and it is not even comparable to the Principality of Montenegro, and European countries directly treat them as indigenous people.

Ito Hirobumi and others visited six or seven European countries all the way, but they did not enjoy the corresponding diplomatic etiquette. If you want to meet senior government officials from various countries, you have to pay bribes, otherwise people will not have time to receive them.

If the negotiation fails, then we can only conduct on-the-spot inspections and learn the law of building a strong country. They all carry the banner of a constitutional monarchy, but in fact the systems of Britain, France and Austria are still different.

Preliminary observation and understanding, Ito Bowen has discovered that the British, French and Austrian models are not something they can play with.

These three are old-fashioned empires. They were all European powers when they were at their worst in the past 100 years. The troubles they encountered were basically internal problems, and there was never the risk of being turned into colonies.

This is not comparable to Japan. They do not have enough background to resist foreign aggression.

Toshinori Okubo asked: "Ito-kun, have you noticed that we did not see thick black smoke in Vienna, which is very different from Paris and London.

Europe is said to be in an economic crisis and many factories are closed. Now the Austrian emperors are visiting places in person. Does it mean that the economic crisis in Austria is very serious, and no factories have opened in Vienna? "

Looking at the bustling street, Ito Hirobumi pointed with a finger and said, "It doesn't look like it, this is completely a scene of prosperity. If the economic crisis was that serious, these ordinary people might not be able to laugh.

And Vienna is a city that never sleeps. With so many street lights, the monthly electricity bill is probably no less than 400,000 to 500,000 taels of silver. "

The new affairs they were only exposed to after the electric light entered London also impacted their cognition.

However, electric lights in London are only the patent of a few wealthy people, and in order not to lose face in Japan, they are only from a distance and never have close contact.

In Austria, it is different. The electric power company is already promoting electric lights. Not only are there street lights on the streets, but even the hotels they stay in have installed electric lights.

Ito Bowen guessed that the monthly electricity bill of 400,000 to 500,000 taels of silver directly caused the entire delegation to fall into dead silence. Everyone unconsciously compared them with Japan, and embarrassingly found that the electricity bill in Vienna is half of their fiscal revenue.

Of course, this figure is not accurate. The price of electricity for road lighting is different from that of residential electricity, and the monthly electricity bill is only hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.

The money was not paid by the Vienna city government, but was distributed to the merchants. Everyone is willing to pay this tax. Since Vienna has been lit up, business has become more prosperous.

The name of the city that never sleeps still attracts many people. The arrival of these outsiders has led to commercial prosperity, and Vienna has already shown signs of developing into a tourist city.

Iwakura, the head of the delegation, waved his hand and said, "Don't go into it, this is the territory of the Austrians. No matter what happened, it has nothing to do with us. Maybe there is no industry in this city!"

Without industry, he didn't believe it himself. Large cities without industry did exist in this era, but they were all in backward areas.

Almost every city in the great powers is full of thick smoke. Austria was no exception, Vienna was just an accident under the intervention of Franz.

The thick black smoke rising into the sky is also considered by many people to be a sign of a strong country. Even the smelly London is regarded as an ideal homeland by many people.

Not to mention the Japanese who are good at extremes. If you look carefully through their literary works of this period, there are many positive descriptions of these contents.

In short, these exhaust gases are fragrant.