The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 1800 - 102: No Need to Invite Gauss and Weber to London!

So, even if Arthur and his team are eager to realize their profits, they don’t have to worry about not having buyers to take over.

"This is truly a godsend opportunity!" Wheatstone was almost dancing with joy, so excited that he forgot this charming friend in front of him nearly sent him into the Hell on Yellow Chrysanthemum Street just half an hour ago: "I’ve waited for so many years, waiting for this one chance! Once this order is successfully fulfilled, everyone will understand how great an invention wired telegraphy is, and as the inventor, Charles Wheatstone is..."

"Don’t get excited just yet." Before Wheatstone could finish his sentence, Arthur poured cold water on him: "Since I was worried Leopold would reject my proposal, I quoted the Belgian Government 240 pounds per mile."

"240 pounds?" Wheatstone pondered for a moment, thinking he must have misheard: "Are you sure 240 pounds is a thin profit margin? The cost of laying telegraph lines in London is only about 160-170 pounds per mile, a quote of 240 pounds should be enough for us to get a 50% gross margin. Besides, didn’t you say Belgium might provide government subsidies and tax breaks for telegraph construction?"

Arthur heard this and didn’t show any sign of relief; instead, he slowly shook his head, giving Wheatstone an impromptu economics lesson: "Gross margin, Charles, that is just the gross margin. You need to understand this is different from how much we can actually bring home, constructing telegraphs and selling phonographs aren’t the same thing."

Wheatstone paused for a moment and subconsciously sat up straighter.

Although he made his fortune selling phonographs, in essence, he wasn’t much of a businessman. In recent years, he had spent his mind on currents, needles, and induction coils, and although he could barely understand ledgers in recent years, he still wasn’t used to fussing over every aspect.

However, this couldn’t really be blamed on him, because selling phonographs is fundamentally selling technology, which inherently has far fewer considerations compared to infrastructure construction.

Arthur analyzed for him one by one: "The cost of the cable itself may only be 170 pounds per mile, but this is the most basic, lowest-spec, purely London city line, with no river crossing, no need to consider topographical construction difficulties, and no long-term maintenance and budget. But our project in Belgium this time is to make a big splash, and the construction should be a demonstration project representative of the England Electromagnetic Telegraph Company, where naturally more than just cable costs must be considered."

At this point, Arthur paused, his fingers lightly tapping on the tabletop in time with Great Dumas’s snoring: "What we want is a uniform relay station along the route, reinforced corrosion-resistant copper cables, paired overseas offices, and a trained team of local professional Belgian operators, with two groups of maintenance personnel on standby at all times. All these need to be calculated into the costs. Besides, our engineering supervisors and technical staff need to be assigned to Belgium for at least one year, with accommodation and transportation separately calculated. When you add all of this, a 50% gross margin looks quite optimistic, but I’m afraid the net profit may not even reach 15%."

Louis, who had already had one organizing experience, couldn’t help but recall his failed restoration in Strasbourg upon hearing this: "It’s true, labor costs spend quite a bit of money. Moreover, after truly getting into action, there will be many unexpected places that require additional budget. In my experience, you need to leave at least 20% space to maneuver successfully."

"Moreover..." Arthur looked up at Wheatstone: "Even excluding the 20% margin Louis mentioned. If we estimate the situation in the most optimistic way, net profit can reach 15%, but this 15%, you also have to consider the difficulty of realization. Belgium can’t pay in cash, using government bonds and railroad stocks as collateral. Even though these things have high liquidity, do you think the people from Financial City will take over at face value? Don’t be naive, Charles, they will only ever buy collateral at a discounted rate when you urgently need the money."

Wheatstone was at a loss for words for a moment, the joy on his face gradually faded. After hearing Arthur’s analysis, he also felt uneasy: "So what do you mean? We’re not taking this order? But, but this is the first time... the first time we’ve received an official government order!"

"Of course, we must take this order. But precisely because this is the first order, we can’t afford to fail." Arthur stated emphatically: "You are a member of the Royal Society, the company’s chief scientist, but I’m not, I’m a director of the company. So, Charles, I order you to reduce our costs as much as possible without affecting engineering quality. We can accept not making money this time, but we absolutely cannot create financial risk for the company."

Seeing Arthur being so shameless, Wheatstone’s stubborn temper flared up again, he widened his eyes and slammed the table: "What do you mean by reducing costs without affecting engineering quality? Don’t you realize that’s a contradiction? Also, admittedly, I am a scientist, but what about you? Aren’t you one too? Who was the first Honorary Doctor in Electromagnetism in the history of our university, isn’t your doctorate fake? When it comes to cost reduction and efficiency improvement, technical modification work, you also have to take part in it with me. Of course, if you don’t want to manage it, then you go to Gottingen and recruit Gauss and Weber. Otherwise, I can’t promise to come up with any good ideas before constructing the telegraph lines."

As soon as Arthur heard the names Gauss and Weber, his confidence wavered.