The first day of January in the second year of Chongzhen.
After spending countless manpower and material resources, the Beijing-Tianjin Railway is finally completed!
The main reason why it took so long is that the railway tracks were constructed according to the plan of 2 tracks.
After all, Zhu Youjian knew that building only one line would definitely not be enough.
If it weren't for material limitations, the second item would have been worked on long ago.
After getting the news, Zhu Youjian wanted to take a look as soon as possible, but after thinking about it, he decided not to do it.
According to intelligence, many outsiders have come to the area around the capital recently.
It would be okay if they were just ordinary outsiders, but if some people with ulterior motives appeared, it would be troublesome.
After all, I attach great importance to the railway matter, and I can find out with just a little effort.
Someone will definitely make preparations. Even if there is only a one in 10,000 chance, the other party will not miss this opportunity.
Since there may be danger, Zhu Youjian naturally focuses on stability.
Moreover, Zhu Youjian had seen a lot of railway tracks in his previous life, so he would just have to have someone take a look at them for him.
As for the candidate, Zhu Youjian had already chosen Wang Chengen, who was loyal to him.
Historically, Wang Chengen was passed down because he died for his country with Chongzhen.
But now, although Zhu Youjian has offended countless powerful people, Da Ming is changing in a good direction.
Although there are still famines, the court is indeed working hard to provide disaster relief.
Although the people are still living a very hard life, I think things have changed a lot compared to before.
The Ming Dynasty's army even replaced shotguns with cannons. Their equipment could not help but be updated, and their pay and wages were also paid in place.
The peasant uprising has long since disappeared.
Meishan's death for his country probably won't happen again.
Similarly, Wang Chengen will no longer leave his mark in history because he died for his country with him.
If there are no other things, in the future history, there will only be two records left for Wang Chengen at most. This is only for Zhu Youjian's sake.
Railway ribbon-cutting, especially the first railway in Ming Dynasty, should be able to leave some traces of Wang Chengen's deeds.
....
"Crackling" "Crackling"" wait until a burst of firecrackers finish.
Wang Chengen, who was wearing a red robe, took the scissors excitedly and cut off a red rope in front of him.
Then he walked to a special carriage behind him.
Also traveling together were Liu Hongxun and others.
As the whip sounded, the specially-made carriage began to creak and move.
This was followed by 10 specially built trucks. It was already piled high with food.
These specially made carriages were specially made according to the requirements by the skilled craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry.
Except for the carriage, the main body of the carriage is made of steel. With the addition of a special carriage, the length reached 3 feet (10m).
The weighing capacity of the carriage was greatly increased, making the carrying capacity of this special carriage reach more than ten tons.
Comparing the two to three thousand kilograms of an ordinary carriage, the weight-bearing capacity of the specially-made carriage is about ten times that of the other.
The most important thing is that rail driving greatly reduces friction. In addition to the need for human power and animal power to help accelerate when starting, under normal circumstances only two horses can pull it. Greatly reduces transportation costs.
Although there are no steam engines now, real trains cannot be built.
This makes it impossible for horse-drawn carriages to travel 24 hours a day.
But there is no solution.
The Ming Dynasty lacked war horses, but the Ming Dynasty still had no shortage of horses used for transportation.
By setting up stations according to the corresponding distance and feeding the horses for rotation, the continuity of transportation can be ensured.
After testing, the fastest speed of the horse-drawn carriage on the railway can reach 20 kilometers per hour. Even at a discount, based on 15 kilometers per hour, if it travels day and night, it can travel 360 kilometers a day.
Even if the speed is slower at night, driving 300 kilometers a day is still not a problem.
For future generations, this speed can only be regarded as a turtle speed. But for the current Ming Dynasty, it is definitely considered very fast.
You know, the Mongolian cavalry, which is famous for its speed, can only travel 300 miles in a day.
Less than half the speed of rail transportation.
In addition, rail transportation is far more comfortable than horse-drawn carriages.
It greatly reduces the physical consumption of soldiers during transportation.
It can be seen that even without steam engines, rail transportation was of extremely great military significance.
.....
"This car is really good, much better than an ordinary carriage." After walking for a while, Wang Chengen said with a smile.
"It's not bad. It's much better than an ordinary carriage. How has it ever been uncomfortable to ride in an ordinary carriage?"
Liu Hongxun replied with a smile.
In fact, when the railway was first built, Liu Hongxun and others were the ones who opposed it most fiercely.
Even now, Liu Hongxun feels that building railways is a loss-making business. It’s not good for Ming Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, this is a matter of pattern.
In terms of vision, Liu Hongxun and others do have a wider vision than ordinary people. Look further.
But the railway is also a new thing in their eyes.
It’s normal not to know their benefits.
After all, it has been nearly 2000 years since Chidao of Qin Dynasty, which had the same function, disappeared.
The role of Chi Dao has long been forgotten by the world.
Compared to such a huge expense. and those uncertain benefits, it is normal to object.
"It's comfortable, but it's a bit expensive." Liu Hongxun said.
In order to build this railway, Ming Dynasty mobilized hundreds of thousands of strong men.
Although many people were refugees from Shaanxi, they were not given any money and were given only food.
But it couldn't handle the large number of people. After all, in order to build this railway, the court spent more than 2 million taels of grain. Calculated at 1 tael of silver per stone of grain, that was more than 2 million taels of silver.
That’s not even counting the money for the railroad tracks.
The distance from Beijing to Tianjin is only 300 miles, so one mile costs 6,666 taels of silver.
If you include the money for the railway tracks, it's more than 7,000 silver dollars per mile.
With so much money, why should we use it for anything other than building this railway?
If the roads in Zhenjue are not good, it would be better if the people can prepare their own food and serve as corvees. It saves money and is faster.
Isn't it just a bit bumpy? Everyone has long been used to it.
"Confucius said: "Isn't it also true to learn and practice it from time to time? Have friends come from afar? Isn't it a gentleman if a person doesn't know something but doesn't get upset?
Youzi said: "It is rare for a man to be filial to his younger brother but fond of offending his superiors; but it is rare for a man to be filial to his younger brother but fond of causing trouble. A gentleman is committed to his roots, and the Tao is born from his foundation. He who is filial to his younger brothers is the foundation of benevolence!"
Confucius said: "Knowing words and making people look more beautiful are benevolent! . . ."
There was nothing going on, and they didn't want to chat more with the eunuch in front of them, so Liu Hongxun and others consciously took out the Analects of Confucius from their bags and started reading.
.....
"My lords, we are here. We have arrived at Tianjin Port." The sound coming from outside the car woke up Wang Chengen and others.
