Chapter 1026: Southern Inspection

Great Song.

After inspecting the Workshop District in Yancheng, Zhao Xu did not stop his pace, but instead traveled south along the railway, heading all the way to Jiangnan.

Before leaving, he had given instructions to Yang Susu that this trip might take him two or three months.

Of course, merely inspecting the industrial development of Great Song would not take that long.

Therefore, while inspection was one aspect, his ultimate plan was to participate in the general offensive against the Western Lands Allied Forces.

In his view, by the time he finished inspecting the commanderies south of Yanzhou, this so-called Southeast China of the Frank would be largely controlled by the Azure Dragon Army and the Vermilion Bird Army.

Then, whether by sea or by land, they would be able to launch an offensive against the Western Lands Allied Forces.

At this moment, Zhao Xu was in Lu City.

The railway south from Yanzhou was interrupted at the Jin River.

He crossed the Jin River by ferry, then boarded a steam locomotive on the south bank of the Jin River to continue south, arriving at Lu City.

"Your Highness, this steam locomotive was manufactured by the Lu City Locomotive Workshop."

As soon as Zhao Xu crossed the river, the Qizhou Prefect Mi Xuan came to greet him.

He had once served as a County Magistrate in Yan Commandery and was one of his old subordinates; after the Official Examination, he was selected as a Commandery Governor due to his outstanding results.

After the capture of Qizhou, he was sent to Qizhou to serve as Prefect.

"I heard from Liu Fu; he even praised you, saying that you have made Qizhou's industry quite impressive, reaching fifty percent of Yanzhou's industrial strength," Zhao Xu said with a smile.

Mi Xuan was very humble, "This is only because I am close to the water and get the moon first; it is only because Prime Minister Liu gave Qizhou so much help that Qizhou is what it is today."

"You don't need to be modest about this; for the same dish, different cooks produce different flavors," Zhao Xu said sternly.

His inspection this time was, on one hand, to understand the development of Great Song's industry in preparation for deploying the next phase of industrial development.

On the other hand, it was also actually to examine the administrative capabilities of the various Prefects.

A Prefect is a high-ranking official guarding the frontiers; although they lack military power, they independently control the administration of a prefecture, and their power is quite significant.

Although the Ministers of the Six Ministries in the Capital City appear glamorous on the surface, they are truly not as free as these men.

Precisely because of this, if an appointed Prefect lacks ability, it will delay the development of a prefecture, so it cannot be treated lightly.

"Then I shall thank Your Highness for the praise," Mi Xuan laughed softly.

The two chatted for a while longer about the development of Qizhou, and the steam locomotive pulled into Lu City.

After getting off the steam locomotive, the two went directly to the Workshop District of Lu City.

Just before arriving at the Workshop District, his eyes lit up.

From beneath his feet, wide concrete roads extended into the Workshop District.

These roads divided the Workshop District into individual grids, and within the grids were the workshops themselves.

Horse-drawn carriages transporting commercial goods and materials moved back and forth on the concrete roads, as bustling as a marketplace.

The officials from the Industrial Department following behind Zhao Xu also revealed smiles, nodding to show their satisfaction.

"Let's go take a look inside the workshops." The planning of the Lu City Workshop District satisfied Zhao Xu, but Zhao Xu did not want it to be gold on the outside but rotten on the inside.

Led by Mi Xuan, Zhao Xu went straight to the Steam Locomotive Workshop.

At this moment, it was bustling with activity; in the large workshop room, twelve locomotive heads were being assembled.

Craftsmen were installing parts all over the locomotive heads.

The sound of lathes came from the adjacent workshop room, and people were constantly delivering parts.

Just like the cleanliness and order outside the workshops.

This locomotive workshop was also very clean and efficient.

The craftsmen wore uniforms of the same color, with their work numbers embroidered on their chests.

Each locomotive head was a workshop unit, with a dedicated manager in charge, and everything appeared orderly.

Zhao Xu nodded with satisfaction.

In fact, these things were all from the Yanzhou Workshop District.

It was planned by him, and the workshop system was also written by him.

But just like assigning homework, there are always those who do it well and those who do it poorly.

Clearly, the Lu City Workshop District was doing very well.

A workshop that cannot even achieve cleanliness and order, how can it talk about production?

Next, Zhao Xu visited other workshops, including heavy industry workshops,

light industry workshops, and chemical industry workshops.

Just like the Steam Locomotive Workshop, the systems were all executed meticulously, and workshops of the same scale did not lose to Yanzhou in production capacity, with some even surpassing it.

This made Zhao Xu both happy and depressed.

What made him happy was the booming development of Qizhou's industry; what made him depressed was that the industrial district in Yancheng, right under his nose, actually had areas inferior to others.

After thinking about it, he suddenly had a moment of realization.

Perhaps it was precisely because the Yanzhou workshops were under his nose, just like the commoners at the foot of the Capital City view themselves as superior to commoners elsewhere, they were only concerned with admiring their own reflection and did not realize they had been overtaken by those who came after.

"I want to have the managers of the Yanzhou workshops come to your Lu City Workshop District to take a look and broaden their horizons," Zhao Xu said to Mi Xuan.

In the following days, Zhao Xu visited other commanderies and counties in Qizhou.

He focused on visiting the shipyards along the coast of Qizhou.

Nowadays, these shipyards had all entered the right track in production and were inputting commercial steamships into the Great Song market one after another.

According to Mi Xuan, even though the six shipyards within Qizhou were constantly in production, they could not satisfy the orders from merchants.

This shows the demand for commercial steamships in Great Song.

After a tour, Zhao Xu returned to Lu City, preparing to continue south.

At this time, he received a battle report from the south.

The first to arrive was the battle report from Qin Shan, followed by the battle report from Guan Tong.

Upon learning that the Azure Dragon Army had captured the Jiaozhi Capital City and seized a great amount of spoils, and was currently coordinating with the Marine Corps to sweep south through Jiaozhi, he was pleased.

Meanwhile, Guan Tong had settled the situation in a single battle, crushing the Piaoman, and was also moving south to take control of the entire Piaoman territory.

He was very satisfied in his heart; on one hand, he ordered a Telegraph to be sent to commend the two, and on the other, he continued to head south, preparing to go directly to the various Southeast Asian countries to rebuild the tributary order.

"Starting Today, I Shall Be a Feudal Prince" will continue to be updated on the Young Girl Student website without any errors; there are no advertisements on the site, so please bookmark and recommend Young Girl Student!

If you like "Starting Today, I Shall Be a Feudal Prince", please bookmark it: () "Starting Today, I Shall Be a Feudal Prince" updates fastest on Young Girl Student.