"My lord, it's not unusual for this railway to be broken down and repaired frequently..." the conductor said with a smile.
"Often broken?" Manshun naturally went out of the palace with the task of inspecting the folk. He was obliged to help the emperor conduct folk gatherings. When he heard that the railway was often broken, he immediately started asking questions.
"You don't know something, sir. Although everything about this railway is good, there is one disadvantage. It is prone to man-made disasters!"
"The people along the railway are too poor. They have never seen such good railway tracks. As far as I know, on the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, there were more than 30 cases of track theft last year!"
"The magistrate arrested one batch after another, beating them, shackle after shackle. Fortunately, there was no major accident that caused the car to overturn!"
"Whether it's the railroad tracks you want to steal, these people actually steal stones... The stones under the sleepers are good materials for building houses and laying foundations. People along the line often get greedy..."
"Over the past year, the workers maintaining the railway have been doing these things all day long. They are so busy that they can't even manage them. A red flag is raised in front of them, indicating that there must be another problem..."
He slapped the table in anger, "You're so brave, you even dare to steal the imperial railway... It seems like you can't stop this evil trend without severe punishments and severe punishments!"
The group of dandy gangsters quickly praised them, "What my father-in-law said... these unruly people must be killed! If you don't kill them, you won't be afraid!"
"From now on, all those who steal railway property will be beheaded, and they will become more honest!"
The conductor shrank in fear when he heard this, "Isn't this... a bit too cruel?"
"You don't understand... only harsh punishments can make people remember. The trains on this railway run so fast and haul so many people and goods. If something goes wrong, the trains will crash and people will die!"
"How many people will die and how much property will be lost? Not counting that, what if the train is pulling high officials from the imperial court...such as our father-in-law Manshun? Or what about a carload of Imperial Guardsmen?"
"If something happens, who will be responsible? These mud-legged people don't know the heights of the sky and the earth, and they don't know the severity, so we have to kill a group of them to make them remember!"
"Yes, yes..." The conductor did not dare to refute and could only nod in agreement.
The train was not running yet, and people were a lot more irritable. There were no rules in the train at this time. When the conductor saw that people were very upset, he simply opened the door and let everyone walk around to relax.
This section of the railway happened to pass through a large wheat field, with green wheat seedlings as far as the eye could see. There were some villages in the distance. The disaster near the capital was not serious, so there was still some smoke from cooking and some popularity in the villages.
At least you can hear a lot of domestic dogs barking!
Everyone on the train got off for a walk. Manshun also walked to the edge of the wheat field and touched the soil. He looked at the growth of the wheat seedlings and felt somewhat relieved.
"The snowstorm, together with the rat plague and plague, caused famine, but the snowstorm also moistened the soil... The moisture is so good, I'm sure this summer's grain yield will be high..."
"When the sick begins in June, this new batch of grain will alleviate the disaster. It will only take two months... We only need to survive for two months!"
The scoundrels around him quickly flattered him, "My father-in-law is really knowledgeable about astronomy and geography. He also understands things in the crop fields? What are you talking about... what kind of injury is that? Who is hurt..."
Manshun smiled helplessly, "Haha...you guys! I have been eating hard-core crops for half my life. I guess I can't tell the difference between wheat and leeks!"
"Moisture is not an injury, no one is hurt... Just look at how much water is in the soil! Last year there was a lot of snow, so there was a lot of water in the soil. This year, wheat seedlings can grow without much watering!"
"That's what it means..." Before these sycophants could come up with new words to flatter themselves, the sound of gongs suddenly sounded in the wild wheat fields around the train.
Dangdangdang...dangdangdang...
"Kill... kill... kill..."
Everyone on the train was dumbfounded. They looked a hundred meters away and saw countless people ambushed in the fields and ditches.
With the sound of dozens of gongs, a dark group of ordinary people rushed over from all directions, at least a thousand people!
"Ah! There are victims looting... Get back to the train quickly... Everyone, get back to the train quickly..."
The conductor shouted desperately, and the people around Manshun helped him up and fled back. Although the twelve guards were trembling with fear, they also drew their rifles and stretched out the windows to aim outwards.
Manshun and the others staggered back to the carriage, quickly closed the door and blocked it with tables, chairs and benches!
Manshun was lying on the window, watching in horror as the waves of victims rushing toward them outside were like "We just passed Zhuozhou, and we haven't even reached Dingxing yet. Are there so many victims looting?"
"Is the chaos outside the capital already like this?"
People watched as several passengers walking away in the wheat field were knocked down by the victims. The screams were heart-stopping. The crazy victims even stripped off the clothes of these unlucky passengers and snatched them away.
A few unlucky guys could grab as many things as they wanted. The target of this group of victims was the train. They came over with sickles, axes, kitchen knives... and some even carried rakes and shovels for raking grass.
Not only were they men, but there were also women and even children who came out to rob him!
"I understand...the railway was damaged by these mobs. They deliberately damaged the railway and let our trains park here!"
"There's no place to go! There's no reinforcements even though I'm calling for help... What should I do? Wuwuwu... It's so easy to go on an errand, but why do I encounter bandits? Wuwuwu..."
"Stop fucking crying!" Manshun yelled, "We still have a dozen guns in hand! Everyone has knives and daggers... Let's fight them!"
"We are protecting the imperial decree! If the imperial decree is lost, everyone will be executed!"
This scolding frightened the men so much that they dared not speak. At this moment, gunshots suddenly rang out, bang bang bang!
It turned out that the policemen in other carriages were shooting at the mob outside. The train was a new thing, and the court was very strict about it. All trains carried rifles and pistols.
Although there are not many, each carriage is guaranteed to have two weapons, one long and one short. This is mainly to maintain law and order in the train and prevent thieves and robbers.
Even when the passengers are in confusion, they can make them obedient. Now these weapons are used on the victims outside the carriage.
Bang bang... bullets shot out of the window, and screams came from the crowd of victims, but they could not stop these crazy victims. In a short time, thousands of victims surrounded the train.
Like ants, they captured the locomotive first. Before the driver could start the car, he saw the ax smashing the windows. The ferocious and twisted faces roared at him. People climbed in regardless of the broken glass.
