In fact, in the early days of the emergence of new things, various problems were almost inevitable.
Especially in Prandal, which was still like the Middle Ages with low productivity, but suddenly there was a highly efficient means of transportation like the bus. The impact on people could be imagined. Naturally, many people would join in the fun.
Those thieves who liked to steal and take advantage of others would definitely not let go of this opportunity.
However, since Fiona said that measures had been taken, Tang En no longer paid attention to this aspect.
Fiona sighed and said, "Although the bus greatly facilitates people's travel, some people feel that the fixed route is very inconvenient, so they always want the bus to change its route according to their ideas."
Tang En couldn't help but complain, "Do these people think that anyone can get on the bus … Bah, I mean, do they think that the bus can be casually driven? If they want freedom, buy a private car for themselves! "
"…"
Fiona said faintly, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being blunt, but we haven't started to sell private cars yet."
"… Oh."
"The intercity bus has now been put into trial operation, but so far, there are only one or two buses in each city on average. The demand for cross-city travel is not strong at present. The only customers are some merchants and adventurers who are interested in new things."
Fiona couldn't help but say, "Although there are good reviews among merchants and adventurers, Your Majesty, can we stop the intercity bus project first? It's completely a loss-making business. "
Tang En shook his head and said, "No, we can't stop it. Even if there is no one, we have to maintain a minimum number of buses every day."
"Why?"
"This is my responsibility as the king."
Tang En said, "The bus will be a social benefit. After figuring out the operating costs, we will try to reduce the charges as much as possible. That is to say, the bus operation doesn't have to consider the issue of income. We just have to maintain a balance of income."
"That is to say, you want to use the income of other projects to support the bus project?"
"In the early stages, we can subsidize it, but we can't rely on subsidies completely. In the later stages, we have to maintain a balance of income and expenditure, regardless of profit."
"I understand."
Fiona took note of Tang En's opinion, and then said with a smile, "But it's precisely because the occupancy rate of this intercity bus is very low that we can make use of it. In the past half a month, it has helped us transport a lot of foreign people over."
"Oh?"
Tang En perked up and sat up straight. "How many people have we gained?"
Fiona opened a population statistics book next to her and said, "Originally, the increase in population had slowed down a lot. However, in just half a month after the intercity bus was opened, there were more than 20,000 people, and most of them were concentrated in this week."
"It's probably because the early stages were all in the brewing period, and they all exploded this week."
"That should be the case. According to our analysis, as the influence of the intercity bus continues to ferment, the speed of population increase will become faster and faster. By the end of the year, the population of Ellington will double, officially breaking through 500,000!"
Fiona said excitedly, "At that time, the addition of young and middle-aged people will completely eliminate the shortcoming of our labor shortage. A large number of empty residential areas that have been developed will also be completed. The increase in residents will also increase the market demand. A large number of businessmen will definitely gather here, and the economic benefits will be immeasurable."
Tang En smiled slightly. "Of course. With more people, there will be more business opportunities. However, at the end of the year, the population barely broke through 500,000. It's not worth being so excited. Our goal is to continue to strengthen the attractiveness of Ellington and strive to make the population break through five million next year."
"Five, five million!?"
Fiona was stunned. "Your Majesty, are you crazy? The population of Alinx is less than two million! Are you trying to move the capital? "
"Believe me, as long as we work together, it's not impossible."
Tang En smiled, his heart full of confidence.
Over the past year, the population of Ellington had increased from a few thousand to 250,000. Who would believe it at first? This growth rate was due to the inconvenient transportation and the slow construction of the infrastructure.
After a year of construction, the relevant infrastructure in Ellington had been completed. The well-planned new urban area was completely separated from the industrial area. The interior was divided into commercial areas, residential areas, functional areas, and so on according to the purpose of the construction. At present, the residents who had moved in were full of praise for the life in the city. How could the others not be satisfied?
More importantly, the laying of the highway had been completed, and the opening of the intercity bus had increased the efficiency of residents' travel. If one took the intercity bus and changed buses in each city, it would only take five to six days to go from Ellington to Alinx. This was because there were too few buses at the moment.
On the other hand, taking the intercity bus was not only fast and safe, but it also only cost a few silver coins. One had to know that taking a horse carriage to Links would only cost a few gold coins per person, and even if everything went smoothly, it would take at least 15 days to get there, not to mention the dangers.
This meant that as long as the attraction of Ellington was strong enough, those people only needed to spend a few silver coins to come and see it with their own eyes. Even if they were not satisfied and wanted to leave, they would not lose anything.
The policy of the Datang Chamber of Commerce to find poor people who were willing to work from all over the country and migrate to Ellington for free contributed greatly to the growth of the population here.
"Don't just be excited."
Seeing that Fiona was too excited, Tang En could not help but remind her, "After the population increases, the problems accompanying it will be quite troublesome. We need to make plans in advance."
A city of 500,000 people was neither big nor small, but the livelihood of so many people in Ellington was based on the Datang Chamber of Commerce. This was not a small pressure.
In particular, Prandal's grain production was generally not high. Many people came all the way to Ellington with their families because they heard the propaganda and knew that they could eat their fill by working here.
If the food supply was not enough, there would be a big mess.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured."
Fiona smiled confidently and said, "Let alone 500,000 people, even if there are 100,000 more people, I can still feed them this year!"
"Oh?"
"It's almost time for the wheat harvest, and our Great Tang harvesting convoys have set out once more. Because the highway has been completed, the harvesting convoys will set off from the cities with teleportation formations to the surrounding areas to help the farmers harvest their crops.
"Not only that, as an experiment in the production of alchemy puppets, we have used them to produce a large number of combine harvesters and magic energy tillers. Except for some that will be used to expand production in Ellington in the future, I have decided to donate the rest to the Irus royal family in the name of the Datang Chamber of Commerce."
Fiona glanced at Tang En charmingly and said, "A total of 5,000 combine harvesters and 5,000 magic energy tillers."
Tang En laughed and said, "What's the point of this?"
The Datang Chamber of Commerce was his, and the property of the Irus royal family was now also his. Donating to the royal family was like donating to himself.
"It's not as simple as you think."
Fiona explained, "Publicly announcing the donation of these properties can win a good reputation for the Datang Chamber of Commerce, and as the private property of the royal family, you don't have to worry about it falling into the hands of others. You can still use it as you wish. Don't forget, the royal family has a lot of private land. Do you want to cultivate it yourself?"
"That's true."
Tang En suddenly understood. He had not asked much about the private property of the royal family and had let Olina and Aurelia use it themselves. After all, his purpose of taking the throne was only to be able to openly reform the Irus Empire.
"With the help of the combine harvester, the time it takes to harvest wheat this year will be greatly reduced. The large amount of time saved can be used to engage in other production work. After spring, the magical cultivator can be directly put into use and start planting the next round of wheat."
Speaking of this, Fiona said excitedly, "When spring comes next year, we can use the new variety of wheat seeds!"
"Oh!?"
Upon hearing this, Tang En suddenly put down his teacup and said in surprise, "Is there good news from Grandia?"
"Yes!"
Fiona said excitedly, "She came back a few days ago to report the good news to you, but found that you were not there, so she told me. It is said that she and Lady Eutinia have made a breakthrough in their research. The production of the latest generation of improved seeds has more than doubled from the first generation! They think that they have now met your requirements, so they have begun to catalyze the production of large quantities. "
"Doubled!"
Tang En was overjoyed. "Really doubled!?"
"I don't think Lady Eutinia would make such a bad joke."
Fiona looked at Tang En very seriously, her eyes full of unconcealable joy. "Your Majesty, this is the most surprising news of the year."
Tang En was also very excited.
Doubling the production of grain, what kind of concept was that?
Using the same amount of land to grow food, they could feed twice the population!
Coupled with the various agricultural magic machines developed by Tang En, it could be predicted that the grain production of the Irus Empire would have a terrifying explosive growth next autumn!
"Next autumn, perhaps the problem of hunger can be solved."
Tang En let out a long sigh of relief. According to the current rate of population growth in Prandal, with the current scale of agriculture and the use of improved seeds, the demand for grain could definitely be met, and even a large amount of grain could be stored as grain reserves.
Fiona reminded Tang En, "I think you should reward Grandia and Eutinia. They have been busy for half a year on this matter."
"I will reward them."
As soon as he said this, Tang En regretted it. To be honest, he could already imagine what kind of reward Grandia would ask for …
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