"Your Majesty! The strength of this train is calculated in terms of horsepower, which is approximately equal to the strength of a horse..."
"This is a compound-expansion locomotive made in the UK. It is relatively advanced and can reach 5,000 horsepower, which means that 5,000 horses can pull goods on the rails!"
Ouch... the crowd exclaimed, "Five thousand horses? This iron guy can hold up five thousand horses? Oh dear, that's so strong..."
Prince Zheng's nose was so angry that he looked at Fu Qingxin with sinister eyes and said, "You boy, wait, just wait!"
Just as the monarchs and ministers were noisily gesticulating about the train, a figure suddenly ran down from the carriage behind. It was Zhou Daoying who was beside the Queen Mother of the East. "Your Majesty! The Queen Mother said that the weather outside is very cold. Let the adults get into the carriage to keep warm!" "
"Thank you, Queen Mother!" Only then did people notice that there were six carriages behind the front of the car and the coal car, and the two queen mothers were already resting in the middle carriage.
A group of people got on the train in order of rank. After a while, the locomotive sounded its whistle and began to move forward slowly. When the locomotive suddenly shook, many officials exclaimed in low voices.
Huchihuchihuchi... In the first month of the first year, the people outside the capital were dumbfounded as they watched such a huge iron guy drive out of the station little by little.
The children chewed on their ragged cotton-padded jackets, their noses dripping with snot, and stared at the monster with wide eyes. Many of the younger ones cried out in fright.
The old man collecting firewood ran over, hugged his grandson and fled home. There were also many old ladies with little feet kneeling on the ground who didn't know what they were saying.
These royal nobles were not in the mood to watch the actions of these ignorant people. They were all attracted by the faster and faster train.
Departing from Guangqumen Station and heading north just a few hundred meters away, the railway track began to head towards Tongzhou in the east. After the train arrived at Tongzhou Station, it continued north to the Qinghe construction site. Today's journey totaled more than 40 kilometers. If the train runs at full speed, it will only arrive in an hour.
But after all, this is a train during the commissioning period, and there are still dignitaries of the Qing Dynasty in the car. This group of people cannot be in any danger, so the speed of the train has always been maintained between 20 to 30 miles, and only more than ten of them The speed increased to sixty miles per minute.
However, the sixty-mile speed was just for the passengers to feel it, and the speed soon slowed down!
The speed was no longer slowing down. The officials in the carriage looked at the villages, trees and soldiers standing guard outside the window, and they all opened their mouths in surprise.
"Although the noise is a bit louder, it is still more stable than riding a horse! Let us civil servants also enjoy it..."
"This iron thing is really easy to use. As long as you provide enough coal and water, it's not like a war horse that has to rest. This locomotive can run thousands of miles in one breath without any problem!"
"It's a pity that the sound is too loud, and the people in the villages along the way may be worried about disturbing the feng shui of the ancestral tombs!"
"What's wrong with Feng Shui? Every country in Europe has built railways. According to what you said, Feng Shui is bad? People with bad Feng Shui have defeated us many times. Do you think this is a problem of Feng Shui?"
Zai Chun listened to the discussions of the officials below without saying anything. He was thinking about the treaty that Tsarist Russia was about to sign, ever since the Qing Dynasty gave Ulan Geli an ultimatum forcefully.
The arrogance of the Tsarist Russian envoy was immediately suppressed. Even when envoys from various countries met with the emperor in the New Year, Ulan Geli secretly promised Emperor Tongzhi that Moscow was already willing to make concessions.
concession? Haha, are you still interested? Forget nonsense... What I want is for you to fully accept the conditions. You have to spit out whatever land you eat from my Qing Kingdom!
Zai Chun was testing the locomotive today and did not invite these envoys, but he knew that envoys from various European countries would definitely come to see it. Could such a big change in the Qing Dynasty be without these spies?
My guess was not wrong at all. Just as the train passed an iron bridge over the Tonghui River, a group of foreigners riding war horses on a high hill were waiting quietly here.
Envoys from various countries in Dongjiaominxiang sent people to witness this historic moment. When the locomotive roared over, the emotions of those present were extremely complicated.
"There is nothing unusual about trains, but I am very surprised by the huge human resources of this country... Emperor Tongzhi was able to mobilize 100,000 people to build the railway for him!"
"It only took a year and a half! 80% of the entire railway from Beijing to Tianjin has been built... What remains is to connect sections of railway. It is expected that it will be fully opened to traffic in another half a year..."
"If we continue to build at this rate, it will take less than twenty or thirty years for the Qing Dynasty's railway network to connect from north to south and from east to west!"
"A miracle! It's really a miracle! China is not a feudal country at all, but a monarchy and dictatorship. Otherwise, how could it be possible to gather so many manpower in an instant?"
"In our country, this is unthinkable!"
"What I value more is the market where these people gather! How many goods must be consumed by so many people? If everyone uses one meter of our textiles, our European textile factories will have to work for a century!"
The ministers were all talking, but Ulan Geli remained silent, silent! Thinking of the large railway that his motherland was struggling to build in Siberia, he felt a sense of sadness in his heart!
"God has really favored China! If Tsarist Russia could have such a warm environment and such a large population... how powerful we would be!"
The train roared past, and the envoys turned their horses to prepare to return to the capital. Everyone knew that the miracle created by Emperor Tongzhi was nothing unusual.
It has no technological content at all, it is just an efficiency piled up by manpower!
But you are not convinced. China has this advantage because of its large population, that is, it can use the most primitive methods to improve efficiency. Maybe this is the heritage of a big country!
There are advantages to having more people, but there are also disadvantages to having more people. None of these envoys, including the complacent Emperor Tongzhi and his ministers on the train, expected that a farce was waiting for them at the terminal!
The train took more than an hour to drive from Guangqumen to Tongzhou Station, which was very close to the pier. During the train stop, Zai Chun took the Queen Mother and the ministers to visit the gunboat that was the wedding gift from the head of state. !
The mosquito ship in the eyes of the Chinese people was a huge monster in the eyes of these people. After being delayed for more than an hour around the battleship, the train began to move towards the Qinghe construction site at the terminal.
Note: Let's promote Xinjing's historical video program 'Xinjing Chat', which is a historical knowledge sharing program recorded by Xinjing himself.
It is now close to 50 episodes. The program tells the history of the Russian nation, the rise and fall of the Dutch Republic, and the reasons for the birth of the British bourgeois revolution!
Now these issues are introducing the origins of the Middle Ages and the story of the Catholic Crusades!
Friends who like it must not miss it!
In the mobile app 'Today's Toutiao', search for 'I am Xinjing', follow and add it to favorites and you can watch it!
Follow, like, collect, recommend...you can also reward if you enjoy it!
It is highly recommended for middle school and high school students to take a look, it is still somewhat helpful to improve their history scores!
