Chapter 2595
Tao Hongfang and others had previously received a clear explanation from Shi Diwen about the Yangzhou salt merchants' investment in the railway project. They could also understand that Donghai Region used such channels to raise funds for project construction from the private sector. necessity.
Although Shi Diwen has not disclosed the specific investment scale of Yangzhou Salt Merchants, it is certainly not a small amount. The groundbreaking ceremony for this railway will naturally be attended by representatives of salt merchants. Tao Hongfang even thought that perhaps one of the purposes of Dai Yingda coming from Yangzhou, hundreds of miles away, despite the travel and travel was to attend this ceremony and show his presence.
After all, according to the information revealed by Shi Chengwu, the people attending the ceremony will be mainly officials at all levels from the Donghai Region, including chief officials from various departments. This is a rare opportunity for Dai Yingda to show his face. If you can make friends with a few more high-ranking officials by the time, it will be even more worthwhile.
In addition, a group of celebrities like Dai Yingda will also be invited to attend the ceremony. For these people, this is undoubtedly a competition for social status. Of course, the list of invitees has been carefully selected by the official. They are basically some people who are close to the sea and have certain influence. Most of these people want to take advantage of the handover of the old and new dynasties to get a chance to get ahead. Of course, they will not. Take the initiative to miss special occasions like this.
Ning Zijing immediately calculated: "I have seen the directory of the Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce before. There are only thirty or forty local businessmen who are really famous and powerful. Plus some gentry and elders who are relatively prestigious among the people, the number should be It’s not more than a hundred. The invited guests are probably selected from these people. But this is only the situation in Hangzhou. There may be people like Dai Yingda who come from other places to participate.”
Tao Hongfang smiled and said: "Don't worry, for an event like this, the actual number of people present will definitely far exceed the number of people invited. Generally, people with some connections will try their best to get in. After all, as long as you are invited to attend, you will be able to sit there." By confirming their status as celebrities, they will have bragging rights in the future. Those who usually call themselves celebrities will be embarrassed when the time comes.”
During his tenure at the Ministry of Commerce, Tao Hongfang also participated in organizing similar ceremonial activities. Naturally, he is well aware of the attitude of civilians towards attending official events. He believes that the scene of the upcoming groundbreaking ceremony for this project should be more lively than the local officials expected, even though the ceremony will be held on the south bank of the Qiantang River, and you need to take a boat across the river from Hangzhou City to get there, and the traffic is not very heavy. Convenient, but this small difficulty should not affect the enthusiasm of the invited guests to attend the event.
Although Bai Letong has some knots in his heart about Dai Yingda that he has not completely resolved, he really wants to go and see the excitement. After all, the construction of this railway is of great significance to the future development of this area. After the capital is moved, everyone will enjoy the benefits brought by it. When it comes to convenience, it is indeed worth paying close attention to the progress of the project. So everyone agreed to arrange their own time and go to the event together.
Two days later, the day of the project's groundbreaking ceremony came. Everyone got up early and took a carriage to the Qiantang River after breakfast. Ning Zijing had made arrangements in advance. A merchant ship under the name of Qiong Lianfa had parked on the shore early and was responsible for picking up and dropping off their group today.
Everyone took a boat to cross the river, and there were already several carriages belonging to Qiong Lianfa on the south bank waiting for their arrival. After changing into a horse-drawn carriage, we continued heading south. Along the way, there were dedicated people holding signal flags to indicate the direction of travel. It was probably because there were so many guests participating in the event today that we made such an arrangement to prevent anyone from being unable to find their place.
The location of the groundbreaking ceremony is the planned Hangzhou Railway Station. Considering the convenience of transporting people and goods across the river in the future, this railway station is not too far from the river bank. Before this, it should have been a flat cropland, but now a large area has been leveled, covering thirty or forty acres.
Tao Hongfang and his party got off the carriage and found that there were at least forty or fifty carriages parked here, as well as dozens of soft sedan chairs. It seemed that there were many people who were more active than them. If anyone can grasp the information about all the guests present, apart from the officials who organized the event, it is probably the coachmen and bearers who gathered together to brag and chat. Although Tao Hongfang and others have been in Hangzhou for a while, they have spent a lot of time dealing with various yamen, and relatively few people know them among the people, so no one paid attention to their appearance for a while.
However, Shi Chengwu soon noticed their arrival, quickly came over to greet them, and then took them to the officials' exclusive viewing area.
After walking out of the area where cars were parked, Tao Hongfang and his party noticed that a simple venue had been set up here, with hundreds of chairs arranged for guests to sit. Judging from this situation, a speech session should have been specially arranged for Shi Diwen.
When we got here, we had more acquaintances, and one after another local officials who knew them took the initiative to come over to say hello and exchange a few words. Then some officials who had never interacted with him before took the opportunity to come over and get familiar with each other, and soon there were so many people surrounding him in three circles inside and three outside.
It wasn't until Shi Chengwu came forward with a tin speaker to remind the guests to hurry up and take their seats that the officials dispersed and sat back down. The few people who were dizzy from the noise breathed a sigh of relief. There were too many new faces who had just come up to them, and they were not very good at remembering the self-introductions of these officials.
Of course, they can also understand the mentality of the officials. After all, their identities are no longer a secret in the circle of local officials. There will definitely be some people who want to win over them to gain a good future for themselves. If they get these senior officials With the appreciation of his disciples, wouldn’t it mean that he would have the opportunity to save ten or twenty years of hard work?
The area where guests sit is divided into two parts: the front and back. Officials sit in the front rows, while civilians sit in the back. However, there are exceptions. Dai Yingda and Dai Chengrong's father and son appeared at the venue. Their seats were arranged in the front row just like Tao Hongfang and others.
After Dai Yingda saw them, he didn't take the initiative to come over. He just nodded and saluted from a distance. It seemed that he was still a little worried about running into trouble with Bai Letong. As for Bai Letong, whose knot was still unresolved, he naturally would not take the initiative to greet the Dai family and his son. He didn't even look over there, pretending that he didn't see them.
Not long after everyone sat down, Shi Diwen's carriage arrived surrounded by armed cavalry. All the guests present quickly stood up to welcome Shi Diwen's arrival.
(End of chapter)