Chapter 721 Subsequent Plans
Along with the delivery of these gold and silver, Zhou Xu also officially moved into the imperial palace in Xianyang City.
[The coinage work should be handed over to a trustworthy person. I don't think there are any suitable candidates here, so we have to choose from the elders in the Great Zhou.]
This is undoubtedly a job that requires sufficient loyalty. In Zhou Xu's opinion, this loyalty must be above 80 to be reliable.
But the problem now is that he has no idea which of the old people have a loyalty level of more than 80 points if the job is suitable.
The most convenient way right now is for him to go back in person and confirm it again with the "Eye of Secrets".
However, the journey was long and the mountains were high, with inconvenient transportation. Although the overall situation here had been decided, there were still many things left, which made Zhou Xu a little hesitant to make up his mind.
At the same time, Zhou Xu fell into deep thought about this situation.
[To put it bluntly, the most time-consuming part of the trip is the mountainous areas. As long as the traffic problems in the mountainous areas can be solved, the efficiency of movement on both sides can be greatly improved. ]
Zhou Xu knew where the problem lay, but the problem itself was difficult to solve.
Let’s put it this way, let alone in this era, even in modern society, transportation is inconvenient in those remote mountainous areas.
If you want to fundamentally improve the mobility efficiency in mountainous areas, the easiest way is to build roads!
We need to build wide mountain roads that can accommodate horse-drawn carriages quickly!
However, the construction of mountain roads has always been time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly. Once it starts, the time span will at least be extended to five to ten years.
During this period of time, all your funds will flow into this project.
The most terrifying thing is that during this period of time, you basically have no way to gain any benefits, you are just wasting money.
There are many places that need construction at this stage. Just the construction of those cities will take him ten or twenty years to complete. The most important thing is that compared with building mountain roads, this will produce results faster.
Take Huangsha City for example. There is no need to wait until the entire city is completed. Once a factory is built, it can be put into operation immediately. Wouldn’t the profits come?
In this case, unless they have too much development funds and have nowhere to use them, or other projects have been completed, under normal circumstances, mountain construction, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive and costly, has a very low priority.
However, Zhou Xu's situation is relatively special.
Because this mountainous area connects two important areas of their Great Zhou, it can be considered an important transportation route. If this road is not opened, the development between the two areas will not be able to form a linkage.
Of course, even so, it would be difficult for Zhou Xu to raise the priority of this project. Even allowing these two areas to develop separately would be more reliable than overhauling the mountain road at this stage.
After all, this place was an independent country before he occupied it. If it was well developed and managed, it could operate on its own. Let's wait and see about building the mountain road.
As for the mobility issues on both sides, he can actually improve the mobility efficiency of a small number of people first, such as his own.
In this regard alone, he still has some ideas.
[Mengdie is in Blackrock City right now, and is still making the city defense crossbow. It would take too much time to ask her to come over, so I'd better take some time to go to Blackrock City.]
After adjusting his mood, Zhou Xu fell into deep thought. He sorted out in his mind what he was going to do next and the approximate time required, in order to work out the most efficient order.
[If we can go straight through Xishan City and ride as fast as possible, we can save at least five days. It's really troublesome. ]
As this thought flashed through his mind, Zhou Xu's gaze subconsciously fell on the location of Xishan City marked on the map in front of him.
In fact, for him, taking over Xishan City would only take a moment. But considering Liu De, who claimed to be benevolent, it would be detrimental to his reputation if he resorted to force at this stage.
It is better to stick to the original plan and wait for the other party to mess up on their own.
[Speaking of which, where did Kong Daqian go? I don't know if he's still alive. ]
[Now the number of cities I have occupied has increased to four. If Kong Daqian were in one of these four cities, he would definitely come and report to me.]
[This guy hasn't shown up yet, which means he's not in these four cities, or he's already dead. ]
[Assuming he is alive, there are only three cities left that are not under my control. In addition to Xishan City and Anling City occupied by Liu De, there is only Feiyan City where Long Aotian is stationed.]
[Feiyan City is unlikely. He followed Lao Jie into Black Stone City. No matter how far he ran, he couldn't have gone to Feiyan City. So he is most likely in Xishan City or Anling City.]
Thinking of this, Zhou Xu raised his eyebrows.
[Wait a minute, that Liu De who popped up, could he be related to him? ]
Liu De is the one dancing the most happily right now, and Kong Daqian is most likely to be in Liu De's territory. In Zhou Xu's opinion, it is hard not to have a connection between the two.
There are carrier pigeons here, so the communication efficiency is still very high, which allows Zhou Xu to act more flexibly here.
Although according to his original plan, he was going to study the truth next, but now that there is a new situation, this matter will have to be put aside. He now has to rush to Black Stone City to discuss the new project with Zhuang Mengdie.
Thinking of this, Zhou Xu immediately called Jie Liancheng and Zhou Chongshan over, gave them some brief instructions, and then without further delay, he took his personal guards led by Silk and immediately headed towards Black Stone City.
Basically, as soon as Zhou Xu left, Xianyang City received a carrier pigeon message from Long Aotian from Feiyan City.
Obviously, Long Aotian didn't know that Yan Sheng was dead and Xianyang City had fallen.
This meant that the pigeon letter immediately fell into the hands of Liancheng and the others.
The content of the letter can be summarized in three words: "Seeking food and grass!"
At this point, Zhou Xu and his companions had not gone far. After confirming the news, Zhou Chongshan hurriedly asked a soldier from his Xianzhen Camp to remove his armor to reduce the weight, and chased after them as quickly as possible, and successfully delivered the letter to Zhou Xu.
Now it is the end of winter, and the temperature is gradually warming up, and spring is about to come. Feiyan City is a border city, and although the reserves of food and grass are larger than other cities, they have almost been consumed after the winter.
Under normal circumstances, the follow-up food should have been delivered a month ago, but Long Aotian was also aware that war had broken out in the country, so he never mentioned the matter.
But now they really can't hold on any longer. At this rate, the food reserves in Feiyan City will definitely not last more than half a month. Xianyang City must quickly send them additional food and fodder in order to sustain themselves.
However, will Xianyang City be delivered? It might have been delivered before, but it is definitely impossible now.
From Zhou Xu's perspective, he hoped that the other side would run out of ammunition and food and collapse without a fight.
"Write a letter back and tell them that we have started to prepare food and fodder. Let's calm them down first."
"yes!"
(End of this chapter)
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