Wow! My wife is beautiful and obedient, everyone envies her!

but.

The information Qi Yuan provided was also known to the four major families.

The only thing they didn't know was that there were members of Darkfire within Dawn.

"Honey, you think the Darkfire faction consists of people struggling at the bottom of society, so you want to join their organization to influence them and get them to submit to the four major families. But do you know what it takes to appease these people?"

"food."

The two words Qi Yuan uttered made Noah pause for a moment, because the answer Noah had in mind was money.

Because money can buy anything; as long as you have money, you are invincible.

But Noah changed his mind.

The winters in the Northern Continent are long, and the farming season is short. In addition, the four major families only focus on weapons, placing all their efforts on weapons.

This results in a limited annual food supply in the Northern Continent, with the majority being divided among the four major families, while the poor have to pay exorbitant prices for food. A lot of money is needed, but who would be willing to give them so much?

If there is an abundance of food and the price of food drops to a level that people at the bottom can afford, then everyone can have enough to eat, and who would not value their own life?

“Honey, does what you’re saying mean we should give those people some food from time to time?” Noah asked.

“Simply providing food is not enough. As I said before, when someone discovers that they can eat every day without doing anything, they will only become lazier. And if one day you stop giving them food, they will become the person who hates you the most. What we need to do is provide them with more jobs. When they are busy with work, they will not have time to think about other things, and work can also allow them to feed their families.”

Noah thought it over and said, "But the Davis family can only provide so many jobs, and there are many people at the bottom who can't even read, so we can't use them even if we wanted to."

Most of the money in the North Continent is concentrated in the hands of the wealthy, and some rich families even hire tutors for their children.

This resulted in teachers in Juecheng going to one school to teach children in the morning and another school to teach children in the afternoon.

There are academies, but they are all aristocratic academies. Moreover, in such a large continent as the North Continent, there are ten aristocratic academies and twenty ordinary academies.

The sheer number of academies has led to exorbitant tuition fees, even for ordinary academies. The academies in Juecheng are those with the largest number of people from the lower classes, because these academies are supported by the four major families.

The four major families need intelligent scholars to research and develop all sorts of new weapons or other things. Therefore, as long as you have good grades, you can study at the academy in Juecheng. Those with exceptionally good grades can even be sought after by the four major families.

Other places aren't so lucky. Even if you want to use knowledge to change your child's future, you might find that you don't even have enough money to buy bread today. So what's the point of thinking about the future? You should think about today first.

Such people are the majority in North Carolina. No matter how much money the Davis family has, they can't provide a job for everyone who can't even read.

“Not all jobs require knowledge. Didn’t I say that what the North Continent is most lacking right now is food, and the main sources of food are planting, breeding, and fishing? Of course, it’s impossible to arrange for everyone to plant, breed, and fish. There’s also food processing. We can process surplus food that can’t be used immediately to extend its shelf life.”

Qi Yuan continued, "Beizhou is a region with long winters. If we store enough food before winter arrives, we can reduce the number of people who go hungry during the winter. And these kinds of jobs can be done even by people who are illiterate."

Noah nodded slightly, agreeing with Qi Yuan's suggestion.

"That is one of the solutions to the problem, but even if we have everyone in the North Continent growing food, there still won't be enough jobs."

“I was chatting with someone once, and we talked about how to make a region rich. Many people gave me the same advice: if you want to get rich, build roads first.”

A hint of disapproval flashed in Noah's eyes. "Honey, do you know how much it costs to repair a road?"

"I know, but, darling, do you know about railways?"

Noah was taken aback. When he heard Qi Yuan call him "darling," his heart leaped with joy. He wanted to tease Qi Yuan about how he had suddenly become so perceptive as to call him "darling."

But he was a composed man, and now he was discussing a very serious matter with Qi Yuan. Suppressing his joy, he cleared his throat twice and asked, "Honey, what is a railway?"

Yes, the North Continent has cars now, but no railways.

Qi Yuan briefly explained to Noah what a railway was, and Noah immediately fell into deep thought: "Build a road that leads directly to other cities, and only one train can travel on this road. This would avoid the possibility of road blockages during heavy snow. That is indeed feasible."

“You have a car factory under your management. Trains and cars are actually quite similar. Just have your people form a team to specialize in studying trains.”

Not content with just that, Qi Yuan explained to Noah, “Cars are currently the fastest of all modes of transportation, and trains, which don’t experience traffic jams, could become the fastest. For example, when we went to Gangdia, it would take two days by horse-drawn carriage, but if we took the train, we might arrive in the afternoon if we left in the morning. My dear, the saying ‘If you want to get rich, build roads first’ is true. With faster transportation, we can greatly reduce our time costs.”

The most precious thing in this world is time; it cannot be bought with a thousand pieces of gold.

By reducing time costs, how can one not become wealthy?

Noah lowered his head and thought for a moment. He said, "Honey, your suggestion is very good. Building a road can create jobs for those who need them, and it can also bring us many benefits. But the biggest problem in the early stages is money. The cost of building a road is too expensive even for the Davis family."

The initial construction of the railway requires a lot of money, and the money can only be recouped once it starts operating. However, this is complicated by the checks and balances among the four major families and other enemies.

Noah didn't want to squander the Davis family's money; he had to ensure that no matter what happened, the Davis family's money would be sufficient to cope with any unexpected events.

Qi Yuan smiled slightly upon hearing his words, "Do you think I haven't thought of this problem? The manpower and financial resources required to build a railway are enormous in the early stages, even the Davis family would find it a burden. So, I've come up with a solution for you."

Qi Yuan's smile was somewhat sly.

Noah liked that fox-like smile very much.

He sat down next to Qi Yuan, rested his head on Qi Yuan's shoulder, and asked, "Honey, what solution have you come up with?"