Zhu Yunwen originally wanted to build a train, so it's not surprising that it has multiple wheels.

Zhu Yuanzhang was very much looking forward to it, and he also wanted to know what other things Zhu Yunwen would create.

The next morning, during the morning court session, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue to coordinate the mass production of steam engines and automobiles.

Meanwhile, Zhu Yunwen also drew up the design drawings for the train in his spare time.

The blueprints were then given to the Ministry of Works, who were tasked with building the train.

To build a train, you naturally need railway tracks.

Therefore, under Zhu Yunwen's plan, railway tracks were built on some major routes throughout the country.

For convenience, the train tracks were built next to some of the original cement roads and main roads.

The reasons for doing this are twofold: firstly, it makes construction easier; and secondly, when the cement road was built previously, some of the roadbeds along the sides had already been laid, so all that was needed was to lay the rails.

It will be much more convenient since there's no need to replan the route.

In addition, it is also beneficial to people's travel, since there is a lot of pedestrian traffic on those cement main roads.

The railway track will be right next to it, which will make it much more convenient for passengers who want to take the train, so they won't have to go to other places.

In short, Zhu Yunwen's plan was perfect.

The Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue immediately began to implement it.

That is to communicate with the local authorities, with each local government office and government responsible for the construction of their respective section of the road.

Now that the imperial court is wealthy, the taxes collected by the government each month are substantial. A small portion of these taxes collected by local governments is retained by the government as funds for local development.

Therefore, nowadays, the government doesn't have to rely on government funding for everything like it used to.

Rather, it's because they have money now.

Furthermore, due to the economic boom of the Ming Dynasty, although many taxes were waived, merchants still faced high taxes even with the halved amount, as they were making more money.

In such a favorable environment, they could easily make money. So basically, even the small amount of money that local government offices were allowed to retain according to regulations was quite substantial, enough to support local development.

Building a railway within the jurisdiction is not a problem at all. Building a railway simply requires consuming some iron, forging rails, and laying the tracks manually.

The local government offices are fully capable of handling this task. Moreover, they are all very proactive in doing so.

It wasn't just to respond to the policies of the Grandson, but also because these things, once done well, would benefit their localities.

The people and officials alike are now seriously aware of a problem.

That's what Zhu Yunwen meant when he said, "If you want to get rich, build roads first."

These paved roads have boosted the economies of the entire country and even other countries.

Now, they're even building a railway, though no one really knows what it's for.

However, as long as it's a policy of the imperial court, following it is always the right thing to do.

It will definitely bring great benefits.

The counties along the main roads have all benefited from the huge flow of people.

Now that they want to continue building more railways, the local government offices couldn't be happier.

Once the railway is completed, the flow of people will increase, and these places will become more prosperous, leading to higher incomes.

Therefore, the money spent on building the railway can be considered an investment.

As a result, local governments rushed to respond to the policy and took the initiative to start building railways.

In addition, people from places that were not initially included in the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue's plans were able to proactively submit memorials to inquire whether those places needed repairs.

Road construction is a good thing in the first place.

Since some local governments took the initiative to repair it, the imperial court naturally supported it.

As a result, local government offices in many places began to communicate with each other.

For your route to mine, we'll build a section of road; for my route to yours, we'll also build a section of road.

Only in this way can we achieve win-win cooperation.

Only in this way can we achieve mutual benefit.

Especially in cities that cooperate frequently, they would come to each other's door, excitedly discussing road construction.

Counties with business dealings and cooperation like these have a huge demand for good roads.

After all, business is inseparable from transportation.

Thus, under the leadership of the imperial court and with the active response of local governments, the railway was laid at an astonishing speed.

If each local government is only responsible for a few routes within its own territory, it would be an incredibly easy job for them.

The officials paid the workers' wages, and the casting of these rails began quickly.

Then the laying began.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Works was also accelerating the construction of train carriages according to the blueprints drawn by Zhu Yunwen.

Actually, building a train is very simple; it's just a matter of making individual metal boxes.

Iron wheels were installed on the bottom of the tin box, so that they could be perfectly embedded into the rails.

Then, following the same method, they continued to manufacture iron boxes and continuously improved the equipment inside, such as seats.

At the same time, they also needed to continue manufacturing relatively larger coal-fired steam engines. After all, the more carriages a train had, the more effort it would take to power them, necessitating large coal-fired steam engines.

Otherwise, there won't be enough motivation.

In this way, about a month later, the Ministry of Works produced ten coal-fired steam engines.

Five hundred train carriages.

If we calculate based on ten carriages per train, that's roughly equivalent to fifty trains.

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