The launching ceremony of the railway was held in Yangzhou. Yangzhou's railway station was set up in the east of Yangzhou City, close to the now busiest Canal Market.
The railway company has laid a 5-kilometer-long circular temporary line. The train display will be held on this line.
Newspapers have already reported the time of the railway launch ceremony and stated that the operation of railway locomotives will be demonstrated on that day.
At this time, next to a temporarily built platform, a train with a large chimney on top was lying there quietly. Two carriages were dragged behind the train, which could probably carry more than 100 people.
The platform was surrounded by people who came to visit. Some people even came from other places.
The first group of people selected to experience the experience boarded the train one after another. As the boiler workers turned the fire to the highest level, the train finally made a wheezing sound.
"Listen, the iron beast is panting. Is it about to start running? Do you think this iron beast will be like a giant dragon and take people flying into the sky at once?" A bystander said excitedly.
The person next to me said.
Everyone around looked at me with disdain. At first glance, he looked like an old man who had never read a newspaper. The newspaper already had a detailed introduction to the train.
This train is driven by a steam engine. What is a steam engine? It is the same as the steam engine used in factories, but the shape and size are different.
With a loud whistle, the train moved slowly. The people on the train excitedly waved to the outside from the windows.
The crowd watching outside was filled with envy. Everyone wanted to go up and sit down, but unfortunately they had to wait in line. How long would it take for so many people to wait in line?
After a while, the train made a circle and came back. This track is for people to experience the train, so it was built into a circular closed lane.
After the train stopped at the station, a group of people were replaced and the train continued running.
In the next few days, this train continued to pull people to experience it on this temporary track. Due to too many people, the newly established railway company had to change this project to a paid experience.
If people at the back want to get on the bus and experience it, they have to buy a 10-cent ticket, which is also very beautifully made.
Later, people who had ridden before would also come and buy a ticket to collect. A few years later, this experience ticket became a very popular ticket collectible on the market.
Because the starting station written on this ticket is "Huaxia" and the terminal station written "Fuxing".
Dong Shuheng gave a brief speech at the station and left. Railway construction is not a matter of one or two days, but everything must have a beginning.
This is the case with railway construction. Once it starts, it cannot be stopped. When capital discovers the huge benefits brought by railways, they will naturally pour in and push railway construction forward.
Let's turn our attention to Europe.
The first batch of more than 100 students led by Wang Tao has been in Europe for more than half a year. Most of the students have already entered the fields of interest and started studying.
After arranging the students' study, Wang Tao's first task will be completed.
In the following time, Wang Tao began his travels in Europe. With the title of a minister of the Qing Dynasty, Wang Tao had unimpeded access to Europe.
Although many Europeans are somewhat racist.
But after all, China is still a big country in the East, and many luxury goods in Europe are imported from China. Therefore, Wang Tao still gets basic respect.
He is very handsome and proficient in many foreign languages. No matter where he goes in Europe, he can communicate with others in the local language. This makes him a guest of many European nobles.
They learned about Chinese culture from Wang Tao. Never before had a Chinese come to the West and describe the culture they had experienced in a language familiar to Westerners.
Wang Tao himself was a scholar, and he had an understanding of some ancient books from various schools of thought. The most important thing was that he was able to express his understanding in foreign languages.
This earned Wang Tao a reputation as a Chinese cultural scholar in Europe.
He began to give lectures at some European universities, talking about ancient Chinese philosophy, history, and technological development.
It has allowed many Europeans to re-understand China, and has gradually changed their views on China.
Many Europeans have only now discovered that China has a culture as splendid as ancient Greece and Rome.
Not only did he give speeches, Wang Tao also published articles in various newspapers, and even published a book - "One Hundred Schools of Scholars in China", which introduced the culture of one hundred schools of thought in China's pre-Qin period.
Gradually, Wang Tao found that he is now more like a cultural messenger.
What Karl did after returning to Europe was to run errands for Wang Tao.
Wang Tao also met many European scholars through his lecture opportunities at European universities.
His second task was to recruit talents. Through contacts with these university scholars, Wang Tao did recruit many people.
He established a China Study Tour Fund in Europe. This foundation helps scholars who want to visit China solve the problem of travel expenses.
Many European schools are actually still very poor, and so are scholars. They tend to please the nobles in order to obtain research funds.
Under Wang Tao's silver stick offensive, many people boarded the ship bound for China with salutes. Karl's responsibility was to get these people on board safely.
These European scholars who went to China all held vouchers issued to them by Wang Tao, and someone would naturally be responsible for contacting them after arriving in Shanghai.
Wang Tao described to them a large comprehensive university with professional laboratories and inexhaustible experimental funds. Wang Tao assured them that they would fall in love with it.
Of course, most people don't completely believe this, they just go there for the high salary. Many people have made up their mind that if they feel uncomfortable staying in China, they will return to Europe when they make enough money.
Of course, it was not all smooth sailing for Wang Tao in Europe. His request to inspect shipyards in France was not approved.
However, this incident had little impact, because Dong Shuheng later finalized the ordering plan for the ironclad ship with Bulbulon.
In this way, Wang Tao became a customer of the shipyard and successfully entered the shipyard. He was responsible for arranging for Chinese personnel to build the two warships with the French in the shipyard. This was a matter agreed in the contract.
In Prussia, the negotiations between Wang Tao and Krupp were also suspended by the Prussian government. Prussia protected its artillery technology very closely and did not agree with Krupp's cooperation with China to build a factory.
The matter was not resolved until after the New Year, when Prince Adalbert returned to Europe.
Adalbert persuaded the Prussian government to strengthen cooperation with the Huai Navy. In exchange for the steam turbine technology provided by the Huai Navy, Prussia needed to transfer its artillery technology to the Huai Navy.
In the end, China, the Prussian government and Krupp negotiated and decided that Krupp's younger son would go to China with some technical personnel and Krupp's technical information on steelmaking and artillery.
They will build a new Krupp factory in China, and Krupp Jr. will own 30% of the shares and serve as the manager. The Chinese side will have control of the company.
In fact, Old Krupp is also paving the way for his own family. For these big families, it is unwise to put all their eggs in one basket.
This time Xu Shou took two full ships of people to Europe, and he also used his own ships.
This made Wang Tao lament that the Huaihai Navy was developing too fast.
Among the second group of people coming to Europe, there are also many teachers from Huaihai Academy who will be visiting scholars in Europe. There are also a group of international students and military cadets studying abroad.
The arrival of these people finally made Wang Tao no longer feel lonely.
What makes Wang Tao most happy is that he finally has a significant supporter in Europe.
Prince Adalbert faithfully fulfilled his agreement with Dong Shuheng. Through his connections with the European royal family, he provided convenience for Wang Tao to arrange these scholars and students.
With Wang Tao's reputation in Europe and the support he now has from Prince Adalbert, Wang Tao easily completed the arrangements for the second batch of personnel this time.
Xu Shou is a man with strong hands-on skills, but he doesn't like to talk. He and Wang Tao can't get along.
Xu Shou has been studying foreign languages since he boarded the ship. His learning ability is very strong. He mastered German and French in a few months.
Prince Adalbert is busy preparing for the shipyard. The agreement he reached with the Huai Navy in the East this time has increased his voice in Prussia.
Matters with the shipyard, funds and workers were quickly settled. Xu Shou used this time to visit Siemens' power laboratory based on Dong Shuheng's prompts.
With the introduction of Prince Adalbert, Xu Shou received a warm reception at Siemens.
Xu Shou was quickly attracted by Siemens' generator experiments. He had done some electrical experiments before, but they were all very small.
After visiting the experimental process of Siemens, he benefited a lot. From here, he discovered a new direction for the practical use of electricity.
Siemens was also quite surprised by Xu Shou. He did not expect that a Qing man could master electricity so deeply through self-study, and even had to think a lot on his own.
During these days of communication with Siemens, Xu Shou participated in many experiments of Siemens. Xu Shou’s learning ability and hands-on ability also surprised Mr. Siemens. He even wanted to keep this Chinese man in his laboratory.
He felt that Xu Shou would definitely become an important backbone of his company's laboratory.
But soon Prince Adalbert called Xu Shou back to the shipyard. His Royal Highness was already eager to start his own ironclad ship construction plan.
For this purpose, Prince Adalbert gathered the best technical craftsmen in Prussia. The new ironclad ship is actually an enlarged version of the Chinese Jianghe-class frigate.
Due to limitations in steel smelting and riveting technology, Dong Shuheng was unable to build such a large warship, so he could only build a frigate of more than a thousand tons first.
Prussia does not have this problem. They completed the first industrial revolution early and have a strong heavy industry foundation. What they lack is just a little conceptual innovation.
Just like the Chinese manufacturing industry in later generations, once you have the foundation, as long as you get the drawings and materials, there is nothing that cannot be manufactured.