Throne of Vientiane Civilization

After finishing his work here, Zhou Xu did not plan to stay longer on the grassland, and arrived at the grassland train station on time.

Calculating the time, the No. 001 steam train to the northeast region should be back soon.

Of course, in this era, it is difficult to be completely accurate in time. In fact, Zhou Xu waited for almost 20 minutes at the train station before the No. 001 steam train finally arrived.

But even so, it was faster than riding back on horseback.

It takes three hours to ride a horse from Grassland City to Black Moon City, and it takes about 40 minutes to take a steam train. Even if he waited here for 20 minutes, adding these 20 minutes, it would not change the fact that the train is faster.

At this time, he could even catch up with dinner.

"This is the change of the times."

Zhou Xu had a bit of emotion on his face when he got off the train.

In this way, the seasons changed quietly, and it was another autumn...

This has always been a busy season, but this year it was not only because of farming, but also because of the emergence of steam trains, which greatly improved the construction efficiency of their northeastern region of Da Zhou. Invisibly, the construction team there was busy, and their Da Zhou entered a stage of rapid development.

In a short period of time, Zhou Xu had completely lost the desire to expand outward.

The most important thing at the moment is to seize this rare peaceful day without foreign enemies to complete the all-round development of their Da Zhou.

During this period, the labor problem that bothered him the most was solved to a certain extent.

And the key to all this lies in the lizard people!

It was said earlier that lizard people become adults at the age of six.

That is to say, every year after entering the peace period, there will be a stable number of lizard people who become adults and form the labor force for their Da Zhou.

The only thing that restricts them is the climate environment, but they can work in the southern border.

After the earlier labor mobilization, Zhou Xu concentrated the labor force in the northeast region, resulting in a sharp decline in the labor force in the southern border. While the efficiency of many engineering projects has been greatly reduced, more projects have been directly suspended.

These adult lizardmen can just fill this part of the vacancy.

At the same time, the railway project in the southern border has also officially started at this point in time.

For now, according to the situation in the southern border, Zhou Xu feels that he can take as many laborers as possible.

Maintaining this rhythm, a year has passed quietly...

"Woo--"

Accompanied by the sound of the whistle, the second steam train of their Great Zhou, numbered '002', was officially put into service in the factory railway station!

After successfully building the first steam train, for Qin Fen and his experienced people, the second steam train is also more handy to build.

Of course, at this point in time, the railway in the southern border has not yet been laid to the border fortress.

After all, the southern border is currently the largest area in their Great Zhou. Do you want to lay the railway from the factory to the border fortress? The workload is not comparable to the previous railway construction in the northeast region.

At this point in time, the railway in the southern border has only been laid to the rainforest fortress.

The so-called rainforest fortress is the fortress located at the outermost edge of the rainforest area and facing the rat tide attack of the Claw Clan when fighting with the Claw Clan.

With the steam locomotive already built, Zhou Xu can't wait until the railway is laid to the border fortress before putting it into use.

This idea is simply outrageous to him.

The railway can be connected. If there is a section that can be used, you can use it first.

In fact, the section from the factory to the rainforest fortress can be transported by steam locomotives, which can also save a lot of time, thereby achieving the purpose of improving the construction efficiency of the southern border!

At the same time, in the Qinzheng Hall, Zhou Xu was looking through the report sent by the Ministry of Finance and making plans for the project arrangements for the new year.

Normally speaking, although the railway in the southern border has not been laid yet, the steam locomotive has been built.

In this case, according to Zhou Xu's idea of ​​working with efficiency as the main focus, the relevant departments under him should naturally start manufacturing the third steam train.

In fact, this was also Zhou Xu's original plan.

If the efficiency can be increased according to one steam train per year, then in a few years, railways will be opened in all parts of their Great Zhou, thus achieving an all-round improvement in transportation efficiency.

But what Zhou Xu didn't expect was that the No. 002 steam train had just been put into use, and the Ministry of Finance said that the manufacturing project of the third steam train had to be slowed down, otherwise the financial situation of their Great Zhou would most likely be problematic in the new year.

At this moment, Zhou Xu was looking at the financial analysis of the Ministry of Finance around the Railway Bureau, and his brows gradually frowned.

"Let the Inspection Department check whether there is any problem with the expenditure of the Railway Bureau."

The main responsibility of the Inspection Department on weekdays is to monitor officials from various departments. If the Inspection Department did not take the initiative to report it, there is probably no problem, but just in case, Zhou Xu still has to confirm it.

After receiving the order, Ye Jinghong retrieved the archives of the Railway Bureau in the past two years as quickly as possible, and sent his subordinates to confirm it. After ensuring that there were no problems, he sent someone to report back.

Zhou Xu nodded after understanding the situation.

It must be said that the annual financial expenditure of the Railway Bureau is much larger than he expected.

The steam train is not a means of transportation that you can just build and use. There is a saying in modern times: ‘You can afford a car, but you may not be able to maintain it!’

This saying also applies to steam trains.

And it is much more expensive to maintain a steam train than a car.

In terms of fuel, steam trains are big consumers of coal, and they burn a lot of coal for each trip.

At the same time, as an important means of transportation, they must be inspected every day and overhauled regularly, and the same is true for railways.

Even in the area of ​​‘daily maintenance’ and ‘overhaul’, the railway’s expenditure is the biggest!

How long is a steam train? The railway spans two areas!

And considering that there may be wild animals in the wild, and even the risk of damaging the railway, a railway patrol station must be set up at intervals along the railway.

Their daily work is to patrol along the railway, and then maintain and overhaul the railway every once in a while.

This expenditure is nothing if taken out alone, but any expenditure cannot withstand the accumulation of time!

As time went by, the accumulated numbers made Zhou Xu's eyelids jump.

In this report, the Ministry of Finance has already taken into account the latest steam locomotive No. 002 that has been put into service, as well as the railway that will definitely be laid to the southern border fortress.

On the premise that the southern border railway is laid directly to the border fortress and an entire transportation route is opened, the current financial funds within their Great Zhou can still be maintained.

But if they build another steam locomotive No. 003 and then lay a railway in that area, then their finances will have problems.

After all, it is not just the Railway Bureau that needs to spend money within their Great Zhou...