Throne of Vientiane Civilization

After receiving Zhou Xu's summons, Qin Fen, the director of the Railway Bureau and the Minister of Finance came quickly.

In order not to disturb Huo Qubing and Li Bowen's work, Zhou Xu took them to a side hall to discuss the subsequent railway laying.

As soon as he said this, the Minister of Finance next to him began to wipe his tears skillfully, making Zhou Xu's eyelids twitch wildly.

Looking at the other person's open mouth, Zhou Xu quickly raised his hand.

"Stop it! You kid, tone it down a bit. I know how much I've earned over the years, and you're still crying poor?!"

Hearing this, Finance Minister Song Jinyu, whose spell was interrupted by Zhou Xu, couldn't help but let out a dry laugh.

"Hehe. I'm used to it. I can't control myself for a while. Please don't blame me, Your Majesty."

“…”

Looking at the shameless look of his own finance minister, Zhou Xu was speechless.

Minister of Finance Song Jinyu is considered a talent produced by their Great Zhou in recent years. He possesses a four-star intelligence and the talent of "Financial Expert", which can be said to be a very suitable ability.

After graduating from school, the fourteen-year-old Song Jinyu was sent to the Ministry of Finance as an intern doing odd jobs.

However, if a four-star character is thrown into a group of two-star characters, it will basically stand out like a crane among chickens.

Without any surprise, relying on his outstanding abilities, Song Jinyu, who was only 18 years old, had been promoted all the way and sat in the position of Minister of Finance of their Great Zhou.

Looking at all the officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty, only this kid dared to cry poor loudly in front of Zhou Xu, hang himself with a rope, and seek death, showing a bit of the attitude of a young man who doesn't know the consequences of his life.

However, despite all the noise he makes, this kid's loyalty is still very high, at 88 points, making him a true loyal minister. In addition, he is also very capable in doing things, which makes Zhou Xu trust him very much.

In the past two years of war with the greenskins, they first supported the Smith Republic and later supported the Saint Laurent Empire. Although they did not occupy any territory throughout the whole process, the thank-you gifts they received from the Smith Republic and the Saint Laurent Empire alone were already an astonishing figure.

To some extent, it can be considered as making a fortune from the war.

Under this premise, the Saint Laurent Empire had just settled its bills this summer, and they had a large amount of resources coming in. How could they be poor at this juncture?

"Your Majesty, we have indeed made a lot of money in the past two years, but we have also spent a lot. Look, the railways in the New South District and the New North District have just been completed. After the steam locomotives are put into use, the expenses for daily use and maintenance should not be freed up first?"

"There is also the construction project in Qingshui Town, which is still underway. Apart from that, there is even more construction in the southern region, where various construction projects have never stopped. We have to reserve a certain amount of funds for these projects just in case..."

As Song Jinyu spoke, he took out his account book and quickly flipped it over for Zhou Xu. Every entry was written clearly.

According to Song Jinyu's calculation, the funding for each project is not exactly enough, so he has to reserve a certain amount of margin to deal with some emergencies.

After such calculations, their current financial funds are not as abundant as Zhou Xu had initially expected.

"Now, give us a simple estimate of how much it would cost to lay a second railway and put another steam locomotive into service."

After hearing this, Qin Fen, Song Jinyu and the other two got together for a brief discussion, and then quickly reported a number.

After all, the southern region itself has a railway that has been put into use.

It doesn't take too much time to make a simple estimate based on the cost of laying and operating this railway.

After understanding the situation, Zhou Xu frowned, quickly glanced at the expenditures of those projects, and then made a quick decision.

"Reduce the expenditure on the Qingshui Town project in the next year. In the southern region, the expenditure on these projects will also be reduced to free up funds and give priority to the new railway laying project."

As Zhou Xu spoke, he pointed out several projects that were not as high a priority.

The Qingshui Town project is essentially aimed at developing the port economy so that people who make a living from the port and Qingshui Lake can have a place to live nearby. At the same time, a trade market of sufficient scale will be opened in the town to drive trade.

Since there was enough money before, the relevant departments also allocated all the funds and labor.

But in fact, there is no rush for the construction project in Qingshui Town. In the short term, even if it is just the scale of a village or town, it can be used first. It does not mean that it needs to be built quickly in the next two years.

The same applies to the several southern projects pointed out by Zhou Xu during this period.

In comparison, the project to lay the second railway in the southern region involves a wide range of issues.

As we all know, the more convenient the transportation and the higher the transportation efficiency, the faster the development and construction will be. The laying of this second railway will directly boost the development efficiency of the entire southern region.

From this point of view, there is nothing wrong with saying that this railway laying project is the highest priority project in the southern region at this stage.

The relevant personnel discussed it on the spot, and Zhou Xu made a decision on the spot, and the entire project was quickly and smoothly put on the agenda.

Zhou Xu doesn’t need to worry about the follow-up matters for the time being.

After making simple arrangements for things here, Zhou Xu, accompanied by two personal soldiers, turned around and left the palace. He planned to take advantage of the lunch break to run to the Anglican Cathedral to take a look at the gray ants mentioned earlier.

The group traveled light and arrived at the destination in no time. They asked their personal soldiers to confirm the other party's position first, which also allowed Zhou Xu to quickly find the other party.

Instead of getting closer, Zhou Xu just stood in the distance and directly launched the mantra at the other party.

[Eyes that pry into secrets! ]

Soon, with the spread of the power of mantra, the attribute panel of the gray ant unfolded in front of him!

Name: Gray Ant

Gender: Female

Age: 11

Race: Human

Status: Malnutrition, sub-health

Realm: None

Life level: Mortal

Mantra: None

Loyalty: 70

Talent: Saint: This unit's ability is greatly improved when doing religious work!

Bravery: ★☆

Intelligence: ★★☆☆

Spirit: ★★☆☆☆

Endurance: ★☆

Command: ★☆☆☆

Wow, as the highest official in the national education department, he was saying before that Kong Daqian’s ability was a bit behind the times, but now he has been given an almost fully-equipped top talent!

But she is only eleven years old now and obviously does not meet the labor requirements. Peter stuffed her in just to make up the numbers.

According to the report from the Population Registration Bureau, there were more than 4,000 children among this group of immigrants.

Peter probably never dreamed that by doing so, he was actually taking away a future top talent!