In a private room of the tavern, Li Ang casually explained, "According to Yu Law, the officials calculate the hiring cost for civilian ships and horse teams. For every 100 pounds carried over a hundred miles by water, it costs one hundred coins; for land transport, it costs four hundred coins.
A single Spiritual Energy Locomotive can transport four hundred and eighty thousand pounds of grain.
This expense is borne by the court. If transported by ship from Chang'an to Luoyang, the cost would be two thousand eight hundred eighty strings of coins.
Including the cost of the rails, a Spiritual Energy Locomotive costs one million eight hundred thousand strings of coins. This means that as long as the Spiritual Energy Locomotive runs six hundred and forty-five times, it will recover the costs.
Moreover, the Spiritual Energy Locomotive running back and forth between the two places can transport goods both ways, effectively requiring just over three hundred round trips."
