Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1826 Court Assembly Dispute
For the first two days after Yarvet returned home, Zhou Xu became extremely busy, often working until dawn, and still had to go to work as usual the next day.

Fortunately, the mental strength of a Nascent Soul Realm mage is still very strong. Even with such continuous work, it will not have a significant impact on his daily work in a short period of time.

On the first day of the new day, during the morning assembly, the ministers and officials were still arguing fiercely over a series of issues.

"The railway that originally connected Blackmoon City to the northeast region has now been extended to the Rakshasa District, and its efficiency has dropped significantly. I propose to add another railway and a steam train in order to restore the original transportation efficiency."

The topics discussed at this court meeting were bound to be related to money, and not just a small amount.

Upon hearing this, Song Jinyu, the Minister of Finance, immediately felt a twitch in his eyelids.

The reason why the subsequent projects of the railways previously laid in Northeast China were funded so readily was that the project itself was simply adding railways to the existing infrastructure.

Simply put, it doesn't cost that much money.

But if a completely new railway needs to be laid from start to finish, and a steam train needs to be added, that would be very expensive.

It's important to understand that the investment required for this is not simply the cost of laying railways and manufacturing steam locomotives.

The subsequent operation and maintenance of trains and railways, personnel costs, and other expenses add up to a considerable amount of money for Da Zhou every year.

Thinking of this, Song Jinyu slowly spoke...

"Due to the increase in railway length, the efficiency of steam trains that originally mainly served the Northeast region has indeed decreased, but according to my calculations, the current efficiency is still acceptable and has not reached the point where it is necessary to open a new line specifically for this purpose."

However, this explanation clearly did not satisfy the other party.

"The steam city in Northeast China is now the industrial core of the entire region. In addition, our Great Zhou's largest oil refinery is also located there. Minister Song should understand its importance! The transportation efficiency on this route directly affects the development efficiency of the entire region, and even the entire Great Zhou! How can it be anything less than satisfactory?"

However, Song Jinyu remained calm in the face of the aggressive Minister Wang from the Northeast Development Department.

"Minister Wang's words make sense, but whether it's oil, spare parts, equipment, or supplies, as long as they are delivered within the stipulated time, isn't that enough?"

"..."

"Delivering it ahead of time, frankly speaking, it'll just end up piling up in the warehouse, right?"

"..."

"It may even disrupt the original work rhythm of various departments or project teams to some extent."

"..."

"By the way, so far, no relevant department, factory, or project team has reported to me that there have been any delays in transportation that have affected the work."

"..."

In earlier years, the steam trains laid out in Northeast China basically circled around steam cities and oil cities, and the trains would even wait for them.

In Song Jinyu's view, these guys were just used to the convenience brought by the high efficiency of that time.

Once a shipment arrives, the train will be waiting. All they need to do is load the goods onto the train; they don't need to worry about anything else, which is very convenient.

Now, the steam trains are still responsible for transporting goods in the Rakshasa region, so they don't arrive as quickly anymore, and they can't just stop there to wait.

If the goods are produced but the train doesn't arrive, or if they miss it, they have to be transported to the warehouse for management, which directly increases their workload and troubles.

That's how this whole situation came about.

As an outstanding talent produced within their Great Zhou Dynasty over the years, Minister Wang, who has only been in office for the past two years, certainly has the ability, but he is still somewhat inexperienced.

Song Jinyu quickly found the key to his problem, bombarding him with questions until he couldn't utter a single word, and then, after a series of moves, she sealed the deal.

During this time, Zhou Xu rested his chin on his hand, watching with amusement as Song Jinyu engaged in a verbal battle with the court officials. This was a regular part of his court sessions.

Whatever the project is called, it will eventually be linked to the finance department, right?
Zhou Xu did not intend to stop them.

The more truth is debated, the clearer it becomes; the more reasoning is explained, the more lucid it becomes.

As long as neither side tries to provoke him with fallacies or sophistry, Zhou Xu will generally not get involved.

After all, if he had to figure everything out, how tiring would it be for him to be an emperor?
The people working under you need to use their brains more often.

Just when everyone thought that this application would come to an end with Minister Song's great victory, two dry coughs suddenly rang out in the main hall of the court. Then, a middle-aged man with a smile on his face slowly stepped forward.

Upon seeing the other person, Song Jinyu's smile immediately faded.

I thought this kid was just eager to prove himself after only two years in office, but it turns out he was kicked out by you, old Deng, to be the vanguard.

The middle-aged man in front of me is named Liang Kuan. Despite his full head of black hair and vigorous appearance, he is actually over eighty years old and was once a minor official in the Liang Kingdom.

This outstanding talent, with two three-star qualifications and years of experience, is now serving as the district head of the Northeast region, essentially the person in charge of that area, and the direct superior of that Minister Wang.

Because he had served as an official in the Liang Kingdom in his early years, he had picked up some bad habits and liked to do things in a roundabout way.

For example, right now.

It was clearly his own idea, but he didn't speak up and instead sent a subordinate to lead the charge.

Seeing that his subordinates were about to be taken down by Song Jinyu's combo attack, he finally spoke up.

Of course, this minor bad habit is harmless. Over the years, he has been loyal to Zhou Xu, worked diligently, and is capable; otherwise, he would not have become the district head.

"Minister Song's words were all correct, but if everything is too strictly controlled, there will be no room for error. If something goes wrong and there is a delay, then all related matters will be delayed."

"..."

Song Jinyu's point was that the efficiency was sufficient and there were no delays. Adding more railways and steam locomotives would be a pure waste of public funds and manpower.

Under this premise, while acknowledging this point, Liang Kuan directly bypassed the issue, not discussing whether it was too late or enough, but instead focusing on the margin of error.

Fault tolerance is a delicate term, but it is indeed a point that needs attention.

If you schedule things too tightly, there's no room for error. If anything goes wrong, it will cause a chain reaction, affecting a large number of related departments and units.

This stumped Song Jinyu.

Just as no one could say there was anything wrong with what the other person said before, he couldn't say there was anything wrong with what Liang Kuan mentioned now.

Just as the two were about to reach a stalemate, Zhou Xu, who had been watching the show for a while, slowly spoke up...

"Alright, I think it's better to do it this way."

As Zhou Xu spoke, he organized his thoughts.

"The train to the Luosha area will be reduced to once a month. At other times, it will mainly provide transportation services within the Northeast region. In this way, while improving efficiency, there is no need to add an extra railway and train."

When people argue over their own opinions, they can easily get stuck on trivial details, and their thinking can become narrow-minded.

But Zhou Xu, being an observer, saw things more clearly. The matter itself wasn't complicated, and he immediately grasped the key point, offering a solution that could be considered a 'win-win' solution.

"Your Majesty is wise!"

(End of this chapter)