Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 1842 New Railway Planning
Just as the people of Da Zhou received the news that the second football league would officially begin in a month, the total profits of the first football league had also been calculated.

After deducting all costs, team bonuses, and lottery winnings, they still made a whopping 5.37 million silver coins from this first football league, even if they only spared the small amount!

Upon confirming this number, Song Jinyu was so happy he almost grinned from ear to ear, and he felt utterly in awe of their emperor.

It should be noted that the total fiscal revenue of their Great Zhou last year was only a little over 52 million silver coins.

This sum of money is of paramount importance to the finances of their Great Zhou Dynasty.

This football league has probably drained all the savings of their citizens over the years.

This also proves that before the football league was held, their Great Zhou indeed lacked suitable consumer projects to drive the economy in this area.

Afterwards, the guys from various departments and project teams swarmed over like sharks that had smelled blood.

Looking at the pile of documents covering his desk, Zhou Xu couldn't help but roll his eyes.

Those guys obviously didn't know exactly how much profit they made, but just by looking at the crazy spectacle during the football league, you could tell they must have made a lot of money.

This money is definitely meant for development, but these departments and project teams all look like they're starving and desperately needing food, which makes things a bit difficult.

Zhou Xu already had a plan in mind for this money.

That is to continue laying more railway lines and increase the number of steam locomotives.

In the early Zhou Dynasty, one railway was indeed sufficient for most regions.

However, as their Great Zhou territory expands, the turnover efficiency of a single railway becomes increasingly low.

This is mainly because their demands for efficiency have increased.

In the past, a transport mission to the border could take half a year or even a year to complete, and no one would say anything. But now, who can stand it?

The debate between Liang Kuan, the head of the Northeast region, and Song Jinyu during the previous court assembly undoubtedly illustrated this point.

In fact, the Northeast region is not the only one facing the same problem.

At present, every region of their Great Zhou is facing this problem.

The most serious problem actually lies in the Saint Laurent region.

As is well known, the Saint Laurent region also includes a large area of ​​land that was annexed by the Saint Laurent Empire after the end of the Greenskin War.

That piece of land was considered Saint Laurent's new district, and it was basically built from scratch.

The Saint Laurent Empire spent many years working on it, but all they managed to do was create a basic plan for the new district and build a few fortresses to facilitate garrisoning and land occupation.

This has both advantages and disadvantages for the subsequent takeover by the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The advantage is that after acquiring the land, they can directly plan and construct according to their own ideas.

The downside is that there's practically nothing on this land; they have to start from scratch and can't just take what's readily available. In a way, Zhou Xu is someone who prefers to do all the planning himself.

The main problem was that the guys we encountered before had really poor planning and construction skills.

If the city falls into his hands, he will have to demolish and rebuild it, which will be even more costly. It would be better to have nothing at all in the first place.

However, the Saint Laurent Empire did surprisingly well in this area. Putting everything else aside, its Imperial Consul, Charman, was undoubtedly a capable person.

The planning of the old district, while not entirely in line with Zhou Xu's ideas, was generally without major problems.

These are cities that don't need to be touched; they can simply be kept running and generating value for the next breakthrough development.

Even if further development is needed, it will only require upgrading and renovation on the existing basis, rather than completely demolishing and rebuilding.

After all, urban planning is greatly influenced by the overall planning approach, and there isn't just one correct answer.

This also makes the old district of Saint Laurent the most worry-free for Zhou Xu in terms of development and construction among all his spoils.

The subsequent railway construction in the Saint Laurent area refers to the old Saint Laurent district.

After all, the Saint Laurent New District was in a state of having nothing at that time.

The railway allowed for faster development, but the problem was that, given the circumstances at the time, the focus of their Great Zhou's development was still in the southern region, and they didn't have enough financial resources and manpower to develop the Saint Laurent New Area.

Conversely, if a railway were built to the old Saint Laurent district, it would be equivalent to giving them a super boost to their existing economic development.

The economic benefits of that entire region will become visibly higher, generating greater value in a shorter period of time!
Faced with such a multiple-choice question, one could make a choice without even thinking.

Now, Zhou Xu is thinking about building another railway in the Saint Laurent area!
“My requirement is that this railway should directly connect the old and new parts of Saint Laurent, running through the entire Saint Laurent region.”

"By connecting the new and old districts with the railway, it is also a way to open a second railway for the old district of Saint Laurent, increasing the internal railway coverage. As far as possible, the route of this second railway can be arranged to areas that were not covered before. The overlapping parts can be arranged to areas with high transportation demand, further improving the transportation efficiency of the old district."

Zhou Xu summoned the director of the railway bureau and directly explained his demands, along with the thoughts and ideas behind them, so that the other party could better understand his meaning.

The core of development in the Saint Laurent region remains in the old district. The most convenient way for the new district to develop is to directly transport resources and dispatch labor from the old district.

The arrangement to further improve transportation efficiency in the old district is itself laying the groundwork for the development and construction of the new Saint Laurent district.

Once this railway opens, the development of the Saint Laurent New District will gradually unfold over the next two years.

"Based on this, the railway will also be laid to the foot of the mountain in Copperfort."

Earlier, when he had just annexed the Saint Laurent Empire, he worried that the large influx of new people into the Saint Laurent region would impact the original population of their Great Zhou.

However, through years of development and assimilation, internal immigration, and the efforts of the state church, the loyalty of the people in the Saint Laurent region to their Great Zhou has fully met the standards.

On this basis, formally connecting the Saint Laurent region with the internal regions of the Great Zhou in terms of economic development will undoubtedly generate better development benefits.

(End of this chapter)