Xi'an Prefecture once suffered a thousand miles of barren land due to the destruction of peasant troops such as Gao Yingxiang and Li Zicheng.

After peace in the world, the government appeased the refugees, organized them to build water conservancy, return to farmland, and promoted new crops, used chemical fertilizers, and transported food from other places such as Liaodong to provide disaster relief. For disaster relief work in northern Shaanxi, which was most severely damaged by peasant uprisings and natural disasters, the Intelligence Department secretly supervised the officials who dared to embezzle, so that disaster relief grain could arrive in Xi'an Prefecture safely.

After the most difficult years, Xi'an Prefecture has gradually recovered its previous prosperity. It is the capital of Shaanxi Province and a conventional corps stationed here.

At this time, something big happened in Xi'an Prefecture - the grassland railway that was quietly building finally came to an end for the time being.

An engineer with short hair and beard attended the opening ceremony of the Grassland Railway.

He is the chief designer of the Grassland Railway and was summoned to this era of railway expert Zhan Tianyou.

Chu Yun arranged for him to start planning the grassland railway a long time ago. This railway can indeed be called a large railway compared to other railways. From the capital city through Datong to the Hetao Plain, to the Ningxia Plain and Guanzhong area, the road is more than 3,000 miles long. If the railway from the capital city to Liaodong and Liaonan is included, the distance will be longer.

In order to build such a long railway, Zhan Tianyou brought people to focus a lot of energy on this project, and has been here for many years without realizing it.

The grassland railway that helped connect the northwest region and the east into an iron plate was not for economic benefit, but for strengthening the territory within the empire.

For agricultural civilization, it is very difficult to send troops, and it is difficult to gather troops in just a few months, but the existence of the railway has accelerated the speed of gathering troops by more than ten times.

Senior officials of Xi'an Prefecture and senior officers of the Corps attended the historic opening ceremony.

Like the railway opening ceremony in other places, the opening of steam locomotives was very smooth this time.

However, Zhan Tianyou, whose temples were already a little white, has not completely relaxed because the grassland railway has only been completed halfway, and the latter half has become more difficult.

At present, the large railway that runs across the east and west has only arrived in Xi'an Prefecture, and next it will be built to Lanzhouwei and Urumqi. It is even more difficult to build a railway in the desert and the Great Gobi.

"Fortunately, the materials for the construction of the railway can be transported from Liaodong, Liaonan and Beijing, where heavy industry is developed through the built railway, which can reduce our supply pressure in the desert area. However, our exploration of the railway route from Xi'an Prefecture to Urumqi has not been completed, and construction cannot be started immediately, and the funds above have not been allocated yet."

Zhan Tianyou recruited railway engineers to build the grassland railway to discuss with them the construction of the most difficult section of railway.

A railway that travels through the great desert and the Gobi is unprecedented.

"Mr. Zhan, a telegram came from the capital, asking people below the Grassland Railway Project Team to return to the capital for reporting. The people who stayed there continued to explore the large railway route to the Urumqi section."

Just as Zhan Tianyou and others were looking at the second half of the Grassland Railway, a telegrapher in charge of railway communication sent a telegram from the capital to Zhan Tianyou and others.

The unique railway construction model of the Jiuzhou Army is that when building railways, telegram lines are also laid along the railway route. Often, telegrams are transmitted immediately where the railway can reach.

Zhan Tianyou received the telegram and took a closer look, with a little shocked look in his eyes: "Everyone, our plan to build a railway in Urumqi has been temporarily shelved... No, it is not so much a shelved, but rather a slowdown. It turns out that the personnel who explored the railway route was halved. After the railway route to Urumqi was planned, the construction will be carried out according to the revenue and expenditure of the treasury."

The engineers of the Grassland Railway Group were deeply surprised when they heard the news. According to the arrangements of the Ministry of Works, their unprecedented large railway was built from the easternmost point of the empire to the westernmost point, running across the east and west. According to the telegram sent from the capital, this was a signal to suspend the construction of the Grassland Railway.

"Why did the Ministry of Industry stop the Grassland Railway Project? Is it because the construction of the railway from Xi'an Prefecture to Urumqi is huge? Or do you think there is no need to continue to build the railway to the west?" Many railway engineers asked in confusion.

"The railway from Guanzhong to Urumqi still needs to be built, but the progress may be delayed. There will be three railways south of the Yangtze River to start construction, and we lack experienced railway engineers, so the Ministry of Works will transfer a large number of us to the south to preside over the construction of the railway. There is a list of people who will recall the capital this time. Only one quarter of the people who stayed to continue preparing for the grassland railway. I will also return to the capital." Zhan Tianyou then took the telegram to other companions to check it out.

The engineers involved in the construction of the Grassland Railway were either the railway engineers summoned or the apprentices who grew up under the leadership of Zhan Tianyou and others. They were the most familiar group of talents in the empire for railway construction. When railway talents were needed in the south of the Yangtze River, these people who silently built the railway from Liaodong to the northwest were remembered by the Ministry of Works.

"But three-quarters of the people were recalled to the capital, and only one-quarter remained to continue exploration, surveying and mapping work. The railways to Urumqi will be progressing particularly slowly, and our railway construction period will be delayed as a result..." Most of the railway engineers who were recalled to the capital felt regretful. They originally wanted to build an unprecedented large railway, but now they have only been halfway through it.

"Since the Ministry of Works has made an active adjustment, there is no construction period. The Ministry of Works has temporarily slowed down the construction of the large railway. In addition to the need for railway engineers in the south of the Yangtze River, there is probably a reason for financial tightness. We are not ready to double the funds needed to expand the grassland railway. In order to build the railway all the way from Liaodong to here, we have consumed a lot of funds. Before restarting the large railway project, one-quarter of the people who stay in the northwest must seriously and responsibly explore the route. When the funds above are in place, we can directly construct the railway when the railway project is restarted."

Although Zhan Tianyou was also regretful about the temporary suspension of the large railway project running through the east and west, it was an order from the Ministry of Works, and there were also railway projects in the south waiting for them to preside over it. After all, there were few railway talents at this time, and Chu Yun and some big merchants' enthusiasm for railways made Zhan Tianyou find that he had a railway project that he could never finish in his life.

"One day we will return here and complete the big railway."
Chapter completed!