As he stepped onto the podium, everyone around him focused his attention. Li Ke knocked on the microphone in front of him. This train station was the first place to receive power supply besides Datang Evernight City.
It is mainly used for lighting in workshops and other places where it is repaired. In fact, Datang's current power generation capacity is only lighting. Other applications are not fully industrial yet. Therefore, it is not popular. Sometimes it is better to be slower.
"Everyone, I ask you to come here today so that you can witness a brand new way of travel, a main mode of transportation in Datang in the future. It will bring earth-shaking changes to Datang and all life. The change."
"I've never been a person who likes to be long-winded, and this brand new way of traveling is the road that took two years to build - the railway!"
As soon as the word railway came out, everyone was stunned for a moment, railway? It couldn't be a road made of steel... This... their minds immediately imagined a road paved with iron plates instead of bluestone slabs.
Isn't this too luxurious?
However, before the thoughts in their minds settled down, Li Ke continued directly: "Let's move on to the next item. You will understand after reading it. Now please prepare the train test. Start."
Following Li Ke's voice, the staff at the railway track not far ahead immediately rang the bell of "dang" and "dang". This small bell was not big. It was like this when Li Ke was in elementary school. The sound of the gadget accompanied him throughout elementary school.
The sound of the bell was transmitted quickly, and soon a melodious sound came from the distance, and the sound was very loud.
"Woo..." The harsh sound sounded a bit like a horn, but this sound was louder than the horn. Just when everyone looked at what it was in confusion.
Rhythmic sounds of "ding, bang, bang, bang, bang" began to come from a distance. These sounds were somewhat like the sound of gold and iron, but no one had seen anything specific yet.
Until... a huge black creature with red paint jumped out from behind a house on their right. The huge size caused a "bang" and "bang" sound, which instantly stunned everyone.
It was driving towards them at a steadily increasing speed. The maintenance workshop was not too far away from here, so when it reached the platform, its speed only increased to a dozen kilometers per hour. To be honest, , that is, the speed at which a person jogs.
But this huge black steel structure has more than a dozen long carriages pulled behind it! How much do these carriages weigh? ! What's more important is that its speed seems to be accelerating.
When it spread far away, its speed gradually began to increase until it completely disappeared from everyone's sight.
It wasn't until it completely disappeared that everyone suddenly came back to their senses, and a crisp voice with surprise sounded in many people's ears, "Steel dragon, steel dragon, third brother, this is a steel giant." Dragon?"
Jinyang's voice suddenly woke everyone up. Is the fairy tale just told by His Highness actually true? oh. That is not a fairy tale, it was obviously just made up by His Highness.
"Li Ke, what is this?" Li Shimin didn't suppress his shock. He tried to calm his emotions and looked at Li Ke and asked.
This thing... is so amazing!
"This is called a train, and the road it is made of steel rails is called a railway. It is a train that is driven by a steam locomotive. Currently, this train can dispatch fourteen carriages at a time, with a total of two locomotives. .The length of each carriage is 25 meters." Li Ke said with a smile.
The biggest improvement of the steam train developed by Li Ke and others compared with the early steam engine trains in history is that it solves the problem of its front and rear operation. In this way, the problem of locomotive steering is successfully solved. The direct grouping of two locomotives allows it to move forward and backward freely. .
"Currently, it can transport more than 2,000 people at a time, or 800 tons of various materials at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, which means it can move 100 miles per hour. For safety reasons, our regulations currently allow it to move 10 hours a day. That means it can travel a thousand miles in one day!”
"But in fact, with the advancement of our technology, it can move forward 24 hours a day without any stages, and can move at least two thousand miles every day."
"This speed means that from Chang'an to the Yili Valley on the westernmost side of the Tang Dynasty, if the railway is built, this speed will be shortened to three days!"
"A journey of more than 6,000 miles can be reached in three days! In other words, in theory, as long as the railway is built, all the territory of the Tang Dynasty can be reached within seven to ten days starting from Chang'an, and no more than ten days at most! "
"This is an economical operation method. If an extreme operation method is adopted, it is possible to shorten this time to half."
"Do you know what this means? This means that even if the army sets out from Chang'an and arrives at any location in the Tang Dynasty, tens of thousands of troops can theoretically arrive within a few days, including food, grass and other equipment."
"This is the train!"
Li Ke's words made everyone breathe heavily. Li Shimin and the court officials suddenly understood why Li Yan said before that even if the Tang Dynasty's treasury revenue reaches 40 million yuan next year, it may still owe money.
Because once this road is successfully operated, it means that Datang will inevitably build a large number of railways. Even if some mountains cannot be crossed and some rivers cannot be crossed, building railways in sections will be an inevitable choice.
At this moment, Li Yinan and other nobles from the grassland suddenly felt a sense of joy in their hearts. They were glad that they had agreed to Datang's request in advance and joined the big family of Datang. Otherwise, when the railway was built to the grassland, , the situation in the grasslands and the Central Plains has completely changed.
It was too late to say anything at that time.
Now, although the pattern of the grassland and the Central Plains will also change permanently, at least no one will be injured in it. Similarly, even if there is a disaster in the grassland in the future, I am afraid that it will not be able to escape the control of the Tang Dynasty.
Because the railway was built, Datang had the capital to station troops on the grasslands and build cities. As for the nomads who could leave, they were not afraid of Datang chasing them.
This is indeed the case, but does Datang need to pursue it?
They only need to control the grassland. If the herdsmen can escape, they cannot escape the grassland! Even if you don't come back, Datang doesn't really need people like you, they just need this land.
Is this the charm of industry? Those craftsmen... can even build such a machine that can be called a divine object! So what His Highness just said...the iron bird that can fly into the sky...is it true?
May was completed without asking for leave, and it was the eighth month without asking for leave or interruption.
