Since the Beijing-Tianjin Railway was built, the attitude of the people of the Qing Dynasty, especially those in the Gyeonggi region, toward trains has undergone a 180-degree turn!
From the earliest resistance and various superstitious rumors, to hesitant acceptance, and finally turned into a very trustworthy tool! The reason is very simple, because this railway is really convenient.
After the railway was built, the journey between Beijing and Tianjin was shortened to three hours, which was unimaginable in the past. Not only is it convenient for people to travel, but even goods, especially fresh goods, can be transported faster and cheaper.
The melons, fruits, pears and peaches along the railway, as well as the fish, shrimp and crabs from the Bohai Bay, can all be transported by railway! People in the capital love to eat swimming crabs from the Bohai Bay. In previous years, the price was only one tael of silver per crab!
After the fishing boats came down, they were stabilized with large ice lumps, and then quickly transported to the capital. Such a price was beyond the reach of even the nobles of the palace!
But now, with a three-hour drive, these seafood can reach the market in the capital. The amount of ice used is reduced by more than half, and the carriage volume is still large!
As a result, a crab that costs one tael of silver can now be bought for fifty or sixty copper coins. Now the people of the capital are really lucky!
The people have good food, and those who do business can make money. Even the people along the railway can go to the city to sell some fresh vegetables and fruits.
Long ago, people were worried that the whine of the train would disturb the ancestors in their ancestral graves along the way! But now it seems that the railway can make money, and whoever guards the railway can make a fortune. What is there to be afraid of?
But when you go to the grave, nag your ancestors and ask them to bless you and make you rich. Don't blame the railway for being noisy. For the sake of making money for future generations, just put up with it even if it's a little noisy!
In times of peace, the benefits of the railway are endless. During times of famine, when people saw load after load of life-saving food being delivered to the capital, the railway suddenly turned from a treasure trove of wealth into a life-saving straw.
People looked at the railway with more and more awe, and today, the war suddenly broke out, and the railway has even become the only hope for the people of the capital to survive!
"Run away...run away quickly...let's go to Tianjin to join my aunt..."
"Let's go...your uncle is stationed at Shanhaiguan as a general. Let's go outside the customs..."
"Escape on the train... Go as far as you can, the capital can't stay here..."
All the people who have some connections outside will try their best to escape from the eye of the dangerous storm in the capital! Emperor Tongzhi only had an army of 100,000 in his hands, while Emperor Guangxu had one million in his hands. Even fools knew how to choose!
Take your whole family and flee for your life. Once the city is broken and millions of rebels enter the city, who knows what will happen?
The people in the city wanted to escape, but the people outside the city managed to escape in. Once a war broke out in the capital, these rural areas without a city defense system would become the most dangerous places.
Once the soldiers pass by, let alone your wealth, you won't even be able to save your life!
Baojun led his soldiers to inspect the security of the capital. As soon as he arrived at Xizhimen Station, he was shocked by the scene in front of him!
A train came whirring in the distance. It looked completely different from its usual appearance. Even the white smoke it exhaled was different!
The entire train, the front and carriages were filled with people. These were the people from the suburbs of Beijing who wanted to take refuge within the walls of the capital after learning about the war!
Master Baojun has never seen the train transportation in Sange Country, which Xiao Letian has seen with his own eyes. He never thought that in addition to first-class tickets, seat tickets, and standing tickets, train tickets also have standing tickets?
This train has a total of six cars, and there must be as many people hanging outside as ten cars!
The whole train is like an irregular millipede, struggling to move forward with heavy steps. When the train spits out white smoke, it is no longer so smooth. The white smoke is divided by people's bodies, and it seems that there is air leakage on all sides. !
In this case, the train couldn't go any faster at all, and the conductor was afraid of killing these people, so he used the slowest speed, as heavy as an old ox plowing a field!
I have already seen Xizhimen Station. The people hanging on both sides of the train fell down like dumplings, blending into the chaotic crowd at the station.
The police at the station tried their best to drive the crowd away, "Get out of the way, get out of the way... This is a train carrying military rations... Get out of here... Get out of the way..."
No one listened to him at all. The people in the capital, who were in a state of panic, threw themselves at the train and shouted, "Get a seat...let us go out of the city...let's go to Tianjin...let's go to the industrial zone...let's go outside the customs..."
"Don't believe what these people say... If you don't grab it, there will be no seats... This train will definitely go back to Tianjin... It's the same if we can't wait for the passenger cars to build freight cars..."
The people in the capital want to flee because they have a way!
The people outside the city wanted to flee inside because there was no way to survive outside!
The entire Dongzhimen Station was as crowded as a big knot like an intestinal obstruction!
With a clang, the doors of the grain carriages were opened, revealing the sacks of grain inside. The fleeing people climbed up like ants!
While climbing, they threw the food bags down. This group of refugees helped unload the goods at the station, and the unloading workers were so angry that they had no work to do!
"Stop them... No, this is going to cause trouble... King Yu is an idiot..." Baojun jumped up and cursed in anger, but they were still fifty or sixty meters away from the station at the moment, with a thick layer of refugees in between.
Has Baojun's mouth been opened? Whatever you are afraid of, say whatever you say, whatever you say will come true!
At this moment, several smoking objects suddenly flew up from the crowd and flew directly towards the pile of food in the carriage!
Bang bang bang... After a crisp sound, the fire light flew into the sky!
"Long live Emperor Guangxu! Burn all the rations of Emperor Hun... The rebels enter the city and the Qing Dynasty is revived!"
Anti-thief slogans rang out in the crowd. These lurking thieves set fire to the train and burned seven carriages of military rations! There are hundreds of tons!
Screams suddenly sounded, and the people who rushed into the carriage were swallowed up by the fire. The food inside was all flammable, and the food was not like wood, and it was easy to emit black smoke when burned.
Many people had no time to escape. They were dizzy and fainted from the black smoke!
The open doors of all the carriages were spitting out thick smoke. Now the whole station exploded. People fled in all directions. The police who maintained order wanted to arrest people, but the arsonists didn't know where they had fled!
The Japs Liu Yixin even learned the same tricks that Xiao Letian played back then, scattering leaflets all over the sky with treasonous and rebellious remarks!
Baojun was going crazy with anger. There were only about twenty soldiers around him. He could protect himself, but in the face of a chaotic scene of tens of thousands of people, he couldn't stop him at all!
At the critical moment, there was suddenly a sound of intensive horse hooves from the north along the city wall. A group of cavalry suddenly spread out in formation and pressed over like a wall!
"Kneel down and don't kill! Kneel down and don't kill...Those who dare to run away will be killed without mercy...Kneel down on the ground, kneel down on the ground..."
More than 400 cavalrymen deployed in a wild goose formation and rushed straight into the center of chaos at Dongzhimen Station. The leader was Mr. Fu Qing who had just inspected the arsenal!
"Lord Baojun! Why are you here? I just received the notice from the imperial meeting and am about to find you!" Fu Qing said loudly.
Baojun pointed over there with his hand, "Don't say anything yet... There are some spies among the people in the boiler room... I've been watching them for a long time, and I quickly caught a few alive..."
Fu Qing waved his hand, "White Wolf! Let's see what you kidnappers are capable of... catch them alive!"
"Hey! Sir, look at it..."
