The news that the railway companies were raising shares from the public caused an immediate sensation. In less than three days, the initial shares of all five companies had been snapped up, raising a total of thirty million shield coins in startup capital.
It had to be said that the great nobles truly were lavish. They could put up eight hundred thousand or a million shield coins apiece without even blinking.
Everyone was well informed and understood perfectly why the government was doing this: it wanted to draw the local powerholders in and let them make money together, so no one would sabotage the railway projects.
Even so, who had any reason to turn down a chance to get rich?
Since Franz was willing to let them profit alongside him, it meant the Emperor considered them his own people. That put many hearts at ease.
As for the mountains of heads that had rolled during last year's suppression of the rebellion, they simply chose to overlook that. Before they knew it, their asses had shifted a little farther over; traitors naturally deserved to die.
With so many powerful figures holding shares, Franz no longer needed to worry about what came next. They were even more anxious than he was—the sooner the railways were completed, the sooner everyone could start making money.
The Railway Ministry's survey teams had already set out. To speed things up, the newly established railway companies had also organized their own survey teams and joined the work.
Five railways were to begin construction simultaneously: the Prague-Bratislava Railway (from Prague to Bratislava), the Vienna-Szeged Railway (from Vienna to Szeged), the Vienna-Milan Railway (from Vienna to Milan via Venice), the Ljubljana-Zagreb Railway (from Ljubljana to Zagreb), and the Galicia Railway...
Of course, the actual construction distance would certainly be