A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

The following day, Yang Jian reviewed all the records in the national treasury.

He knew that such a large country would definitely have all sorts of problems, but he didn't expect them to be this serious.

The amount in the national treasury was astronomical; the grain and fodder inside could even fill the entire city of Luoyang.

But you also need to consider the overall national strength of the Great Qian Dynasty.

They occupied the entire land of China, plus half of the original land, with a population in the hundreds of millions.

After so many years of accumulation, is this all that's left in the national treasury? Is this appropriate? Is this reasonable?

Even if those emperors spent their lives on it, how much could they possibly spend? How much does it cost to build a palace?

Surely no one really believes that the emperor building a few palaces can cause widespread lamentation and resentment throughout the land?

If that were really the case, the country would have collapsed long ago.

The reason why emperors in history spent so much money building palaces was mainly because there were people who embezzled funds; the actual cost was definitely no more than one-tenth.

A brick worth ten taels of silver can be sold for a thousand taels, while a tile worth a few coins or tens of coins can be sold for a few taels of silver.

They all ended up in the hands of corrupt officials.

However, given the example set by the Wei family in the previous dynasty, the question of how much it would cost to build a palace and what the proper procedures should be has been closely monitored.

Building palaces not only doesn't cost too much money, but it can also promote economic circulation among the people, allowing them to make a small profit.

They could also gain fame by using some royal materials, allowing the court to make a fortune.

However, the countless connections involved, large and small, are so complex that even a powerful family like the Yang family would not dare to make a move.

If he dares to touch the chain of interests in the national treasury, he will commit suicide by being stabbed six times in the back on the street the next day.

He must fight back the benefits little by little within the rules.

The people have accumulated countless riches; is this also why the Wei family made this technology public?

The purpose was to drive this portion of wealth, so that those who owned it would invest their money in the railway.

Shaking his head, Yang Jian stopped thinking about it. The most important thing now was to get this done.

He returned to the Prince of Yan's residence and obtained new methods for mining and smelting steel from the Prince.

The Prince of Yan watched Yang Jian leave, his gaze fixed on the steel mining method that Yang Jian was clutching in his left hand.

He personally released a wild beast from its cage, even though he knew it would break free sooner or later.

Gunpowder, something that could change the course of a war, was launched by his own hands.

However, the amount of steel needed to lay railways around the world would be far from enough, even if all the steel in the world were used.

They must have more efficient mining and steelmaking technologies; otherwise, the project will not be able to move forward, as they will be throwing countless amounts of money and resources into a bottomless abyss.

Even if an emperor and his ministers work together to advance the cause, it will inevitably decline again once the dynasty changes.

If we keep working and stopping, it will take hundreds of years to complete.

It might take a thousand years to complete, so he had to come up with these two methods.

With the use of explosives in mining, the efficiency of ore extraction could be increased by at least tens of times, or even hundreds of times.

The methods of smelting steel can also increase efficiency by tens or even hundreds of times. With the full participation of the major families, results can be seen within at least several decades, and the construction of the north-south and east-west railways of the Great Qian Dynasty can be completed.

When they see the benefits of railways, other lords will inevitably follow suit. If they don't, they will fall behind and be swallowed up by the Great Qian or the new dynasty in the future.

Only in this way can the railway be laid step by step.

Yang Jian kept his head down and walked forward after leaving the Prince of Yan's residence; he didn't even dare to look back.

He had already witnessed the power of explosives at the Prince of Yan's residence. The Prince of Yan's residence could easily produce so many good things: steam engines, explosives, and smelting technology.

Is this family truly without any weaknesses, with unfathomable flaws? And these are just the ones they've revealed; what they haven't revealed yet?

Especially with explosives, what use are city walls?

Back at his residence, after listening to Yang Jian recount his experiences, Yang Zhong remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "The Yang family has established an ancestral precept that it must never be an enemy of the Wei family for all eternity."

Yang Jian nodded firmly.

The following day, Yang Jian publicly announced the news of the steam engine in court and explained all its advantages.

Then it was announced that the national treasury and the tax revenue of the next few years would be used to build two railways centered on Luoyang, one running east-west and the other north-south.

The east-west railway starts from the Pamir Mountains in the west and ends at Donglai County, Qingzhou in the east;

The two railways, one running north to the grasslands and the other south to Zhuya County, were connected.

These two railways successfully connect the entire Daqian region from east to west and north to south, passing through several important cities in Daqian.

Over the past few days, anyone with any influence in the imperial court has learned about the steam engine.

The government is funding the construction, and it's being built right on their doorstep. This will undoubtedly bring them enormous benefits, so naturally they won't object.

So the imperial court then got into a heated argument over which specific county the railway would pass through.

Every official hopes that this railway will pass through their hometown. If people find out in the future that they failed to secure this railway for their hometown, they will definitely be severely criticized.

In particular, local officials who were not far from the two major railway lines of the Great Qian Dynasty argued fiercely over the railway's route, even resorting to physical fights in the imperial court, showing no regard for the dignity of high-ranking officials.

Even Yang Jian and Yang Zhong couldn't stop these people from fighting each other, and it took them a whole month to finalize the railway route.

The railway passed through several important cities, including Chang'an, Luoyang, Beihai, Yecheng, and Zhuojun. The railway was crooked and twisted, but it basically covered every prefecture, which barely managed to quell the war in the imperial court.

Then, many court officials started fighting again over which section to repair first. In the end, Yang Jian, with a dark face, summoned the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, who threw all the fighting officials out, resulting in a reduction of 70% of the officials in the court.

These officials were afraid that things would be settled while they were not in court, so they finally calmed down.

Ultimately, it was decided that these four lines would start construction simultaneously from Luoyang, extending in the east, south, west, and north directions.

Counties and prefectures far from the imperial court could only accept their misfortune.

As the most powerful empire at the time, the Great Qian Empire was closely watched by the surrounding vassal states, and all the major vassal states left countless spies in the Great Qian Empire.

Such a major event occurred in the imperial court, and they naturally received the news. Then, the kings of various countries all rushed to the location of the Wei family branch in their respective countries.

They all had only one goal: to get steam engines, mining methods, and steelmaking methods.