The train roared its whistle as it sped through Yize County. The people along the route lined the tracks to welcome it, but since they were testing its maximum speed, the train did not stop at Yize County Station.
As the journey continued, people gradually became more numerous along both sides of the railway. Neat rice paddies stretched along the roadside, but it was impossible to see any houses. All the houses had been built inside the cities; there simply were no private residences outside them.
Ultimately, this was still because the Han Tribe had too small a population.
The Han Tribe was, in essence, still a city-state tribe. The main population centers in each region were the county seats and commandery cities. Outside those county seats and commandery cities, there were no villages.
In this regard, only Hanyang Commandery and Ruyang Commandery, the oldest commanderies, had some villages outside the cities. Those two commanderies had developed first, and the cities built in the early days had been small. After the population multiplied over the years, people naturally began migrating to the surrounding areas.
Qiongzhou Island, which had just been taken over by the Han Tribe, was a perfect counterexample. Its population of around one hundred thousand was scattered among more than a hundred villages of various sizes. There was not even a decent-sized town, let alone any city walls.
If they were to lay railway tracks there, it really might be possible to build them close to the residents' homes, because there were not even any city walls there.
The train continued rumbling forward, and Luo Chong called over the several Prefects in the same carriage.
"You Prefects, as well as Tang Yao, You Fu, and Lin Fei, come over here. Let's discuss how many trains and how much