Vientiane Throne of Civilization

Chapter 2020: The more you earn, the more you spend.
For the next three years, Da Zhou enjoyed a period of stable development.

While internal development is proceeding in all aspects and some equipment is being gradually upgraded, the biggest change is the widespread availability of electricity.

Starting with the earliest Black Moon City, now within the Great Zhou Dynasty, first- and second-tier cities and some third-tier cities on the mainland have successively established power bureaus and power plants, and then built the most basic power system, which has been implemented in more than half of the cities.

The remaining third- and fourth-tier cities are expected to gradually complete this popularization work within the next three to five years.

Don't underestimate this small street lamp; it has truly revitalized the night market economy of Da Zhou.

Normally, once it gets dark, it's pitch black outside, so even if people aren't sleepy, they generally don't want to go out. They either stay home with their wives giving birth, or they light a candle or oil lamp to read a book, and go to sleep when they get sleepy. There's basically no nightlife.

But now it's different. When the streetlights are turned on, the streets outside are all lit up.

Meanwhile, all the restaurants and shops were connected to the power grid, and then, without anyone knowing who started it, they began to open for business at night.

Now that's great! Those who have to work during the day and don't have time to go shopping are all out at night!

The streets were bustling with people, and the restaurants and shops were packed with people. At first glance, it was even more lively than during the day!
Thinking about it, this doesn't seem to make any sense.

Apart from a few people on rotating days off, most people are busy working and making money during the day. Who has the time to go shopping and spend money?

But the night is different. Except for a few special professions that require night shifts, most people are off work and resting during the week, so it's even more lively than during the day.

During this period, perhaps due to a surge in retaliatory consumption, in the first year of widespread electricity coverage and the unlocking of the night market economy, the Great Zhou's fiscal revenue easily surpassed the 60 million silver coin mark.

By the second year, electricity had become more widespread in more cities, the night market economy had matured, and the fiscal revenue of the Great Zhou Dynasty reached a new high, exceeding 70 million.

It wasn't until the third year that the momentum was finally brought under control.

This is mainly because in the past three years, the economically developed first- and second-tier cities have already completed the process, and the remaining third- and fourth-tier cities are not as economically developed as the first- and second-tier cities, and people do not have as much money in their pockets.

Even though the opening of the night market economy has sparked a new wave of consumption, the revenue from this sector is not as high as that in first- and second-tier cities.

Even so, the fiscal revenue of the Great Zhou Dynasty in its third year was already close to 80 million.

In terms of fiscal revenue, the Great Zhou Dynasty has achieved steady growth, with each year marking a new milestone.

It is believed that in the next three to five years, when the power system is fully implemented, their Great Zhou's fiscal revenue will easily exceed 80 million!
Even so, their Great Zhou Dynasty was far from financially well-off.

That's basically how a country develops. Unless you choose to stagnate, as the country develops better, the number of projects that need investment will increase, and fiscal expenditure will also increase. It's a case of the more you earn, the more you spend.

Of course, compared to previous years, although the financial situation of their Great Zhou is not very good in recent years, it is not tight either. The amount of money that can be saved each year is less, but there is still some, which can be considered as forming a relatively healthy cycle.

Aside from this aspect of economic development, the most significant internal change in Da Zhou in recent years has been in the new district.

Over the past three years, there have been many immigrants from both sides.

While dispersing the goblin population to various cities in their Great Zhou, the human population of their Great Zhou was also being continuously relocated to new districts for work and life.

In the late winter of the 105th year of the Imperial Calendar, with the completion of the last batch of immigrants this year, the number of human immigrants in the new district has now officially reached 200,000.

Note that this only includes the number of registered immigrants. In other words, the number of human babies born in the new district in recent years has not been counted. The actual human population in the new district is well over 200,000.

With 200,000 humans already immigrating, the number of goblins being assigned to various cities in the Great Zhou Dynasty will only be greater, with the number of registered immigrants being twice that of the human immigrants.

A total of 400,000 goblins were scattered throughout the cities of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Originally, the goblin population in the new district was nearly one million. After 400,000 were relocated, the ratio of goblins to humans in the new district is almost three to one. Judging from this ratio, the human population in the new district is quite high, while the overall population has decreased.

However, the decline in the total population has not made the living space in the new district more spacious.

The root cause is the physical size of humans.

Humans cannot use the original goblin houses and buildings if they want to survive in the new area.

Therefore, it is necessary to build facilities here that can be used daily by the human population.

Roughly estimated, on average, each human needs the living space equivalent to two to three goblins.

Given this context, it's inevitable that some goblins in the new district will feel that these humans are encroaching on their living space.

Given the nature of goblins, they certainly wouldn't say it aloud, but they definitely complained and whine a lot behind the scenes.

This can be seen to some extent in the fact that loyalty has not increased much despite being several years in the past.

In comparison, the goblins who were dispersed to other cities in the Great Zhou Dynasty were in a much better situation.

Many of these goblins have loyalty levels exceeding 70, making them genuine citizens of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Zhou Xu had wondered why this was.

The reason is actually quite easy to understand: it's because of different perspectives and feelings.

For the goblins in the new district, the arrival of humans in their territory naturally creates a feeling that their land has been encroached upon, leading to a sense of rejection.

In addition, the immigrants to the new district will, to some extent, take away their living resources and jobs, creating an invisible competitive relationship and putting pressure on them. To put it bluntly, they are getting involved.

The situation of goblins who immigrated to other cities in the Great Zhou Dynasty was completely different.

In terms of their identity, they are outsiders, acting cautiously and seeking only stability. They would never exclude the citizens of Great Zhou, who are the original inhabitants.

On this basis, as immigrants, they also enjoy immigrant benefits, including job placement, tax breaks, and even preferential treatment in subsequent housing rentals.

This is a benefit that even the indigenous people don't receive, so psychologically they must be happier and feel that they are being treated better.

With such a good life, it's only natural that loyalty would increase.

During this period, many goblins would write letters to their relatives in the new district, naturally mentioning their lives after immigrating.

This has made immigration programs even more popular.

Unfortunately, after exchanging hundreds of thousands of people, Zhou Xu has no plans to carry out large-scale population migration at this stage.

At this point, there are only about 10,000 places available each year, and they have to go through multiple layers of review; it's not as simple as just applying and getting approved.

This made many goblins who failed to register in previous years regret their decision, but it was too late to regret it. Zhou Xu usually only arranged large-scale immigration projects with welfare policies at the beginning of the development of a region, in order to accelerate the integration of the populations of the two places.

In the future, once the internal situation stabilizes, such projects and welfare policies will only become less and less common.

(End of this chapter)