In the midst of the busyness, time passed by in a hurry, and soon it was September. Under the blue sky, autumn had just begun. However, an open space in the south of the city was already surrounded by people, who stretched their necks to watch what was happening inside the fence. The huge steel behemoth on the huge circular railway track in the distance - a locomotive with a carriage behind it
"I heard that this big iron guy calls a train and can run by himself, and he can run faster than a horse." said a young man. He is one of the new students of the School of Engineering, but he only learned some mathematics, physics and chemistry when he first entered the school. , I haven’t really come into contact with advanced mechanical manufacturing technology, so I can only follow what others say.
"No way, such a big iron lump can move and run faster than a horse? The Jade Emperor's magical powers are not that powerful." An old man didn't believe it.
"This is called a steam engine. It uses fire to heat steam to drive it. It is not a magical power. But such a powerful machine is comparable to the magical power of the Jade Emperor." A teenage girl said. Although she is young, she has received complete training. I have been educated in primary and secondary schools, so I know more than those adults.
At this moment, Wan Lei and some important military and political officials appeared in the fence. They collectively walked towards the big iron box, got on the big iron box at the back, and sat down one by one. Then, there was a "woo" sound. It was deafening, and the onlookers hurriedly covered their eyes, but did not hear the "tick-tock-tock" sound, but they all saw the train start to move.
"I really know how to run, I really start running." A middle-aged man shouted loudly.
"Ah, I can really run, but it doesn't seem to be faster than a horse." Another old man also said loudly, there is no way, the clicking sound is too loud. And there is really a carriage racing with it in front of the train. , the onlookers could tell at a glance that the carriage was obviously running faster than the train.
"What do you know? It has just started and is accelerating. After a while, everyone will know how fast it can run." A teenage boy said loudly.
Sure enough, after the train ran more than ten meters, its speed began to increase, and the distance from the carriage began to slowly shrink. And because the rails are circular, the train can continue to accelerate without worrying about running off the end of the track.
After about two turns, the train finally reached its top speed, and the gap between it and the carriage gradually narrowed, and it began to catch up, and finally left it behind. In this race between the train and the carriage, The train won completely, and the onlookers couldn't help but burst into cheers.
The onlookers were entertained, but Wan Lei and others sitting on the carriage felt uncomfortable because the locomotive was not only noisy but also emitted billowing smoke, and the carriage was too close to the locomotive, and everyone on the carriage Everyone's face was covered with dust and they were really in a miserable state.
And because the seats were hard seats, the train was bumpy so badly that some people even vomited from the bumps. In short, there were many problems and many areas for improvement. Seeing that the display was almost complete, Wan Lei ordered the brakes. There was another whine. The whistle blew, and the whole train slowed down slowly, and finally stopped. Everyone on the train let out a long breath, and seemed to escape from the carriage.
Seeing his colleagues in such embarrassment, Wan Lei shook his head, laughed bitterly, and called Chi Xin, who was in charge of train design, with a wave of his hand.
"Sir, just now, the maximum speed reached fifty-one miles per hour." Chixin was very excited, with a proud smile on his face covered with soot.
"Only fifty-one miles per hour? That's not fast. You know, this locomotive only pulls one carriage, which holds dozens of people. It only weighs a few tons. If it pulls a dozen carriages, it weighs dozens of tons. I'm afraid it's too heavy to even run." Wan Lei poured a basin of cold water on it.
"Haha, what sir said is that this kind of locomotive is not the best and needs improvement." Chixin still smiled, showing his big white teeth.
"It's good to be able to do this, but there are still areas for improvement, such as adding springs and shock absorbers under the carriages to reduce the bumps on the carriage; for example, hanging more freight carriages between the locomotive and the passenger carriages , let the passengers stay away from the black chimney, firstly, it can avoid black faces, secondly, it can reduce the noise, and at the same time, it can also try to avoid the explosion of the locomotive cylinder and hurt people; for example..." Wan Lei put forward a series of opinions, The assistants behind Chixin were busy taking notes with pen and paper.
"But in any case, today's test run is considered a success. With this success, the Pingbao River Railway will officially start operation. You still have more than half a year to improve the locomotive. It is expected that by the end of next spring, the Pingbao River Railway will The whole line will be opened. Whether it can be opened to traffic smoothly depends on you." Wan Lei said a few words of encouragement.
"Don't worry, sir, we will definitely build two of the best trains. Now we have begun to try to design multiple sets of linked steam engines. If successful, the power will be stronger and the power will be greater." Chi Xin said.
"Multiple sets of linked steam engines? Not bad, keep working hard and strive to design it as soon as possible. It is best to also invent the steam turbine." Wan Lei patted Chi Xin's shoulder and said happily.
The so-called steam turbine is actually similar in principle to a steam engine. It is driven by steam. However, the internal structure of the steam turbine is more precise, and the efficiency of the steam turbine is much higher than that of the steam engine. However, the safety and reliability are low, and the requirements for materials are also higher. If you are not careful, steam leakage, cylinder deformation, and even cylinder explosion may occur.
Therefore, Chongdaotang has been focusing on researching reciprocating steam engines, and can only engage in steam turbine research when the technology is mature. But now it seems that the research on steam engines has almost been finalized, and it is time to develop steam turbines. Wan Lei also wants to install them in Get on the warship and speed up the era of steamships.
"Come on, you are the only one who talks a lot." Zhao Xueer saw that Wan Lei kept talking, so she handed over a towel and said, "Wash your face first, I have to meet someone later."
"Oh." Wan Lei took the towel and wiped his face while walking, and soon came to a square in front of the station. At this time, the square was already full of people, and they were all whispering to each other. He raised his hands and looked down. Pressing down, he motioned for the people below to be quiet, and then he spoke, and his powerful voice echoed throughout the venue.
"The world is benefited by transportation. If the roads are open, commerce will be open. If commerce is connected to Kyushu, the world will be prosperous. Today we have successfully tested the train. Starting from tomorrow, the Pingbao River Railway will start auxiliary construction and strive to be completed and opened to traffic within half a year. By then, trains will be on time. We can travel back and forth between the three prefectures of Shuntian, Baoding and Hejian in two days. Our Beiping Province will become the province with the fastest logistics, the most prosperous industry and commerce, and the richest people!"
"Wow!" There was cheers and applause from below, and it didn't stop for a long time.
After a while, Wan Lei raised his hand and pressed it down again, and everyone stopped talking, "The Pingbaohe Railway is only the first railway we built. In the future, we will also build the Pingliao Railway from Beiping to Liaodong. , the Pingxi Railway from Beiping to Xi'an, the Pingyang Railway from Beiping to Yangzhou, and even the Pingjin Railway from Beiping to Jinling!"
"Okay!" The crowd below immediately became excited. The era of great development and expansion is coming!
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While Peiping was building a train and railway, the war was still going on outside Jinling City. The entire Jinling City was besieged by the peasant army for several months. However, under the desperate defense of Xu Huizu, Geng Bingwen and others, it was still not breached, and time passed. The longer it drags on, the more energetic the peasant army will be. It is almost at the end of its strength.
After all, rebellion is not about playing house, but about fighting for your life. It not only requires a desperate spirit, but also a strong will. At the beginning, those refugees and chaos who were dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty were still high-spirited, but after a long period of fighting, they began to feel dissatisfied. I have lost my mind.
Xu Huizu, who was huddled in Jinling City, saw that the frequency and intensity of the rebel attacks were low. He was keen and could immediately conclude that the rebel army would collapse sooner or later, so he ordered his men to stick to the city and wait for the rebels to retreat.
Xu Huizu's strategy of holding on was undoubtedly the most conservative and safest strategy. After all, Jinling was the capital of the Ming Dynasty and there was no room for error. However, the civil servant group headed by Qitai Huang Zicheng saw that Xu Huizu was avoiding fighting. As time went by, rumors began to spread. , and even the imperial emissary wrote to the emperor, saying that Xu Huizu was in a bad mood.
The so-called twilight, in the vernacular, is to encourage others' ambitions and destroy one's own prestige. These civil servants are not good at fighting, but they are the best at talking. They wrote to Emperor Jianwen simply because they wanted Xu Huizu to lead his troops out of the city as soon as possible to fight the rebels. , it’s hard to live this kind of life being surrounded in the city.
Of course, the civil servants also had selfish motives in hoping that Mr. Xu would lead the army into battle. They hoped that both the Beijing camp and the rebels under Xu Huizu would be defeated. It would be even better if Xu Huizu himself died on the battlefield, because Xu Huizu Now it has seriously threatened the power of the civil servant group.
As soon as the siege of Jinling is over, Xu Huizu will become the first hero of the Ming Dynasty based on his military exploits. In addition, Xu Huizu has hundreds of thousands of troops loyal to him, and he can completely use the emperor to command the princes. This is a civil servant. What the group least wants to see.
Therefore, no matter how Xu Huizu explained, it was useless. All the civil servants in the court overwhelmingly urged him to lead troops to fight and fight against the rebels. Although Emperor Jianwen trusted Xu Huizu, the three of them became tigers. The people below said too much, He gradually became somewhat suspicious of Xu Huizu, and finally in early September, he issued an order urging Xu Huizu to lead troops out of the city to quell the rebellion.
After receiving this imperial edict, Xu Huizu shook his head in pain and had to send someone to find Geng Bingwen and give him the task of city defense. He himself took 50,000 elite soldiers out of the city to participate in a desperate battle that should not have happened. Fight.
"Father, be careful along the way." Xu Qin whispered. He originally wanted to go on the expedition with him, but his father stopped him. After all, the journey was dangerous and dangerous, and Xu Huizu didn't want his son to take his life.