The first trial of the steam locomotive went very smoothly, but at the end of the name, Wang Shu and Zhao Xu had a dispute. Wang Shu insisted on using the name train, while Zhao Xu insisted on using the car he thought of. As a result, the two argued endlessly. In the end, Zhao Yan could only let them make a rock-paper-scissor decision. In the end, Wang Shu won, which also made Zhao Yan feel relieved. After all, he also prefers the name train.

Next, Zhao Yan discussed with Shen Kuo about the construction of the railway. Now the steam engine can be put into practice, and the train will be the first practical tool of the steam engine. Zhao Yan had just promised to build a railway between Tokyo and Xijing Luoyang. In recent years, with the infiltration of the Song Dynasty into the Western Regions, the Silk Road, which had been blocked at the end of the Tang Dynasty, was reopened. This also made the journey from Tokyo to Luoyang extremely busy. Therefore, building a railway can not only greatly facilitate the people of both places, but also promote the development of the Silk Road.

Although the train has just been successfully trialed, Shen Kuo is already confident of creating a more complete train, so he also strongly agrees with the construction of the railway from Tokyo to Luoyang, and ensures that a more practical train will be built before the railway is completed. Zhao Yan also trusts Shen Kuo's ability very much, so the railway was decided, and it was built by him privately. Anyway, it is a business that is stable and will not lose money. It is useless to not do it.

After taking the train, Zhao Yan took Zhao Xu to the Academy of Geology and visited some new progress in subjects, which greatly increased Zhao Xu's knowledge. Finally, Zhao Yan took Zhao Xu to the military academy for a walk. A whole day passed. Although Zhao Yan did not give a formal lecture for the whole day, Zhao Xu's knowledge increased this day was much stronger than the class he had lasted.

It was getting late, and Zhao Yan and Zhao Xu were riding a carriage to return to the palace to rest. It was not until then that Zhao Xu suddenly asked: "Uncle San, I heard you talk about the construction of the railway with Dean Shen before. Why did that kind of train have to walk on the railway track? I think Dean Shen and his train seemed to be walking on the wooden track?"

When Zhao Xu heard that he noticed this problem, Zhao Yan was a little strange, but he still explained: "Director Shen and others built a wooden track road for the train to pass through in order to save costs. The wooden track road is low in price and easy to build. However, it will be deformed and broken in no time. Therefore, if you want the train to drive for a long time, you must use rails. In this way, the built railway can be used for decades without breaking!"

"But...but how much iron is needed for such a road? Steel has always been the lifeblood of the country. If you spend too much steel to build such a railway, what should I do if my Song Dynasty is not enough? " At this time, Zhao Xu finally asked the real doubt in his heart. He was actually worried that the output of the Song Dynasty's steel cannot keep up. After all, the gentleman in the palace has always taught him that the steel production in previous dynasties was not enough, and the same was true for the Song Dynasty, so the steel industry must be in the hands of the country.

"Hahaha~, it turns out that Xu'er, you are worried about this problem!" What Zhao Xu didn't expect was that Zhao Yan laughed when he heard his words. After a while, he stopped and spoke. "Xu'er, is the gentleman in the palace telling you that the steel production in our Song Dynasty is not enough?"

"Yes, the gentleman said that steel can make weapons and armor, agricultural tools, daily necessities, etc., but steel is not easy to get, and the annual output is limited, so I was a specialist in steel in the Song Dynasty to control the use of steel." Zhao Xu said seriously at this time, and he felt that the gentleman in the palace would not lie to him.

"It's true. But Xu'er, you were wrong this time. To be precise, your gentleman said it was wrong. My Song Dynasty is not short of steel now!" Zhao Yan said with an unexpected expression when he heard this.

"How is it possible? Although the gentlemen in the palace have been a little long-winded, they are all knowledgeable people carefully selected by the Queen Mother. How could they even make things as important as steel?" Zhao Xu said in disbelief at this time. Although he did not like being forced to study by the gentlemen in the palace, he still admired the knowledge of these gentlemen.

"Haha~, if your gentlemen told you a few years ago that I, the Song Dynasty, lacked steel, wouldn't be wrong, but now I'm saying this is a big mistake..." Zhao Yan said as he explained the reason why he said those gentlemen were wrong.

After discovering a super-large iron-rich ore from Qiongzhou, Zhao Yan discovered some iron-rich ore on various islands in Nanyang. Originally, the Han people who went to Nanyang mainly wanted to discover some gold, silver or gem ore, but unfortunately, there were very few people who could find such precious minerals. On the contrary, a large number of iron ore were found, many of which were rich ore, which were far better than the poor iron ore in the Central Plains. In this case, many people began to choose to operate iron ore.

After years of development, some large iron ore have appeared on the Southeast Peninsula, Luzon, Liuqiu Island, and even further south of the Nanyang Islands. These iron ore owners mined the ore with cheap natives, and then transported it to designated iron smelting plants for iron ingots to transport it back to the Song Dynasty. Although the profits each time are far from comparable to gold and silver, they are better because of the large quantity, and they can make a considerable profit in a year.

When talking about this, Zhao Yan paused for a moment and then said: "It is precisely because of the import of these overseas rich iron ore that the steel production in the Song Dynasty has increased significantly in recent years. However, while the increase in steel production also has some not very good impacts."

"Bad impact? The increase in steel production is not a good thing for our Song Dynasty?" Zhao Xu said in a little puzzled manner when he heard Zhao Yan's words. In his opinion, the more steel materials, the better.

However, when Zhao Yan heard Zhao Xu's words, he shook his head and smiled: "Xu'er, you have to remember one truth, that is, everything must have a degree. If it exceeds this degree, then good things may turn into bad things. For example, with the introduction of overseas ores, it will soon have a huge impact on the iron ore mining industry in our Song Dynasty. After all, the quality of domestic iron ore is too poor, so many iron ore will go bankrupt and miners will be unemployed as a result, which has a significant impact on the economy and public security of some places."

Speaking of this, Zhao Yan paused for a moment, then frowned and said, "In addition, the increase in steel production has led to a decline in domestic iron prices, which is much cheaper than the steel of neighboring countries. In this way, many illegal merchants risked the risk of beheading the country to the surrounding countries in order to make a profit. It would be fine for other small countries, but a lot of iron materials flowed into the hands of Liao. If the two countries fight in the future, these iron materials will become weapons against our Song army!"

"These damn businessmen!" Zhao Xu couldn't help but furious when he heard this. Smuggling iron materials was a serious crime of beheading, but he didn't expect that someone would dare to do this, especially selling them to enemies like the Liao Kingdom, which was no different from selling them to a country.

"If there is 50% profit, it will take risks; if there is 100% profit, it will dare to trample on all laws in the world; if there is 300% profit, it will dare to commit any crime, or even the danger of being beheaded. Merchants pursue profits have been like this since ancient times, but merchants also play a key role in the country's goods and economic circulation. Xu'er, you must never despise merchants for this in the future. Instead, you should pay attention to them, appease them, and use the characteristics of merchants to develop the country's economy." Zhao Yan said solemnly at this time. The steam engine has appeared, and the industrial revolution is probably not far away. Then the take-off of industry and commerce, and merchants will play a key role in this industrial revolution, so Zhao Xu must correctly understand the role of merchants.

"I know, I'm scolding those illegal businessmen!" Zhao Xu said ruthlessly again. In recent years, he has followed Zhao Yan to learn and understand the importance of businessmen to the country, so he does not despise businessmen as much as ordinary people.

Because of those illegal businessmen, Zhao Xu would be furious when he was born, but soon he pestered Zhao Yan and talked about overseas affairs. Human beings were extremely curious about some unknown things. Zhao Xu, who grew up in the inland, was also very curious about the sea that he had never seen before. Especially in recent years, he had heard Zhao Yan mention many things on the sea, so whenever he had time, he pestered Zhao Yan and talked about things on the sea. Zhao Yan was also happy to let Zhao Xu learn more about the sea, so he chose some things that children were interested in.

The uncle and nephew were chatting, and finally returned to the palace when it was getting dark. Zhao Xu immediately cheered and jumped out of the carriage, rushed into the palace and disappeared. Zhao Yan ignored him because he knew that Zhao Xu must have gone to play with his sons and would definitely see them in the restaurant when he had dinner.

Zhao Yan went straight into the inner house. Cao Ying and the others were already preparing dinner. When they saw Zhao Yan coming in, they immediately asked him to serve the food. Then the whole family came to the restaurant for dinner. At this time, Zhao Xu and Zhao Jia and others also came to the restaurant. The group of people were fighting and making fun of it. Finally, they were calmed down by the scolding of their elder sister Siyue. Speaking of which, Siyue was already eighteen years old, and the matchmakers were one after another. However, Zhao Yan was reluctant to let her daughter get married so early, so she never let go.

After dinner, Zhao Yan chatted with a group of children as usual, listening to their respective worries and thoughts. This is Zhao Yan's parent-child time at home. As long as there is nothing particularly important, he will never be absent. However, today I suddenly realized that Zhao Jia, who was usually very active, seemed to have something to worry about. When asked him, he deliberately changed the topic and seemed to be unwilling to talk to him.

Originally, Zhao Yan thought that his eldest son had fallen in love long ago, but after he returned, Cao Ying told him something that made him furious. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!