According to Shan Daoqian's standards, Lingao's train can only be regarded as an urban rail transit system, which was expanded on the line of the factory rail car that was originally used to transport goods. Used to transport products, raw materials, and workers. This line network has developed to the present, from the gas locomotive to the meteor steam locomotive, and the route has expanded from the small railway running in the factory area to the whole county: the operating line extends from Wenlanqiao Station outside the county, along the Wenlan River to Bopu, and then from Bopu to Mayuan. It connects the main industrial area and the port area of Lingao.

Van = Transtron and Trini sat in first class because of the relationship between soot and water vapor, and the first class car hung in Zuihou. The first class car is a little more advanced than the previous car, and the front car is a flatbed convertible, which is used for both passengers and goods.

When the bus is used, a fence will be installed on all sides. The passengers sat on the floor, and when they couldn't sit down, they simply stood crowded. Because it is completely lù days, there is no problem with ventilation.

It is only in the occasional state of affairs, such as when a major ceremony or ceremony is held, that a few rows of wooden benches are temporarily installed on the flatbed.

Of course, there are no carports on the flatbed, and when it rains or the temperature is too high, a temporary canvas shed is installed, and when the train is running, soot and water vapor are thick enough to suffocate the passengers on the first two wagons. The rails are standard rail sizes, but they are light wrought iron forged rails, and the sleepers are also simple because of the ugliness. The rudimentary state of the entire rail transit system is simply outrageous.

But this rudimentary motorized transport was also a revolution for the Lingao industry: the small train allowed a large number of laborers to move quickly from one place to another, the workers were able to commute to and from work in the least amount of time, and the factory area of Lingao became larger and larger, and the workers' residential areas had to be built farther away from the factory area.

The first-class carriage in which the two Europeans were located was reserved for the patriarchs and the indigenous and naturalized people who were willing to pay a high price, although the chassis of the carriage was the same as that of the flatbed, but with the addition of the compartment, not only the glass-inlaid windows, but also the installation of shutters, which were ventilated and protected from the suffering of the sun under the scorching sun. There are also seats in the cabin.

Van = Drentron looked around with interest at the empty dàngdàng carriage, and there were only two of them in the first-class carriage this time.

"Is this what is called first class?" Van = Drêtron saw that the furnishings in the carriage were very simple, although they were all practical. Even in his Dutchman's opinion, the "first class" of Australians is too misnomerous.

Trini said: "Yes, Australian life is simple. Secondly, their so-called first class is compared to the wagon in front. ”

"Oh?" Van = Drantion poked his head out of the window with interest and looked. Every wagon in front was crowded with passengers and goods, some of them hung on the fence, some climbed the cargo piles on the flatbed trucks, and stood high on them.

"It's a rare spectacle." Van = Drantion laughed, "But I'm skeptical that with so many people and goods, what do you say the train can pull on?" Can you run as fast as a horse? You say in the report that it is a fire- and water-powered machine. Can it really be so wonderful? ”

"Not bad at all." "In my humble opinion. Australians have many secrets of God that we still don't know ......"

Van = Transtron was a Protestant who scoffed at the faith of Catholics. He snorted, "I think it's the devil's secret, just like your learned compatriot Leonardo da Vinci." ”

Trini didn't speak. He didn't think he had much to discuss with the small shopkeeper in the Netherlands. Protestants are no more science-minded than Catholics, and sometimes even the opposite. It was in Switzerland that the "father of circulation" was burned to death by the Calvinists. Trini knew that it would be better for him to speak less on scientific matters, and although the Netherlands was the most tolerant of religious matters in Europe, the East India Company in Batavia was not at all tolerant.

Originally, he wanted to talk to Van = Drant about his observations about the "train", but seeing that this person was obviously uneducated, he dismissed this idea. At this moment, the carriage shook violently, the steel creaked, and the carriage slowly rolled on the tracks.

Twenty minutes later, the Dutch and Italians got off the train at the "Merchant" stop. A two-wheeled Dongfeng carriage was waiting in front of the station, a bus sent by the Ministry of Colonization and Trade.

The "Merchant House", a project jointly declared by the Ministry of Colonial Trade and the General Office, was also affected by this year's typhoon and rain, and although no one was displaced, much of the land was flooded. Many of them belong to the fields that the Committee of Agriculture is preparing to be used for reclamation: the "merchant house" is one of the flooded land, but it has not been cultivated at all.

The reason why it is flooded is because this area is a depression behind the beach sand bank, and the land on the edge of the land slides into the sea year after year, and the tide sends the sand back to pile up into the beach, and the wind blows the sand to the land, forming a sand bank several meters high and dozens of meters wide, and behind the sand bank is the sunken land. After the Committee of Agriculture did some leveling in vain, it was found that the salinity treatment here far exceeded the current productivity, and then it was soaked in heavy rain again, and the investment in this land was considered to pay the tuition. Eventually, COAG decided to abandon the development of farmland in the area. The forestry department is responsible for the transformation.

The Ministry of Forestry has decided to convert the entire coastal depression into mangrove land to provide sand fixation and wind resistance, reducing the erosion of the coastline by waves, and to plant coconut palm plantations a little further inland.

To the east of this depression is a low hill, and beyond that are the horses. With the opening of the railway from Bopu to Maxiao, the General Office of the Executive Committee and the Colonial Department decided to convert the land into a future state guesthouse and embassy area. First of all, the East India Company was invited to settle in, and with the money paid by the East India Company, the nearby mountain stream was blocked into a small reservoir to supply water to the vicinity, and if it could produce generators in the future, it could also build a small hydropower.

Horse-drawn carriages carried them along the highway and soon arrived in the merchant district. It is still a barren place, with only a few lonely wooden houses and some houses still under construction, except for the leveled land in Haode.

The Dutch East India Company's trading house was being built, and the foundations were being dug to be exact. Trini designed a rather sturdy and beautiful two-story masonry hall. However, Lingao Construction Company said that the construction period will take two years. Therefore, the current merchant hall is two simple and beautiful wooden houses, which are prefabricated houses designed by Zhang Xingpei. It took a week to assemble and renovate, much to Trini's astonishment.

There are two wooden houses, one for office and one for residence. The princely flag and the company flag fluttered on the roof. Trini welcomed him into the living room. The living room has been renovated with furniture and handicrafts purchased from Batavia and Canton, and the walls are hung with oil portraits of Prince Orange and the directors of the company.

Although the house is inhabited by an Italian, the house still maintains the Dutch penchant for cleanliness: clean and tidy. One of Trini's Dutch servants washed the entire house every day. Trini guessed that the servant had been sent by the company to spy on him.

The two sides sat down, the servants brought local refreshing drinks, and the two sat down on the rattan sofa in high production. Van = Drantion held back his questions, and when he got to his own territory, he immediately began to ask questions. Trini is clearly prepared for this.

"Mr. Trini, could you tell me very clearly, how is the military liliang of the Australians?"

"It's huge." Trini was clear: "The potential is incalculable and terrifying. ”

"Oh? What gives it such a feeling? ”

"You've just taken their train."

"Yes, the Australian train, it's special."

"You can see the military use of trains."

"The train is powerful, but it's just a means of transport. No amount of haode carriage can fight. ”

"You seem to have forgotten what our master relied on to dominate the seas."

"It's different.

Trains do not have access to the sea. Not to mention that such trains must run on tracks. I don't see how much military value it has. ”

"The kind of train you took just now, now it can run 5 miles an hour, I have seen it run KO fari, and now the Australians have used the track to connect their most core ruling area, Lingao-Bairen-Bopu-Ma Xiao......"

"It's just used to transport goods and artisan farmers."

"They can get the army from one place to another in a matter of hours by train. And they also had trains for battle, equipped with artillery and an evil weapon they called typewriters, and even a thousand well-ordered Swedish infantry could not stand in front of an ironclad train for a quarter of an hour, when in fact a hundred Australian soldiers and a few cannons could tear a thousand of Europe's most Haode infantry to pieces. ”

"You're exaggerating."

"Emperor Xiangshang swears that my words are absolutely not false."

"Okay." Van = Drêtron nodded, "I'll put your words into the report." He doesn't want to dwell on that issue now, "Now, the company wants to know, are Australians preparing a campaign against the company?" ”

"As far as I know: no." Trini hesitated, an expression that Van = Drantion quickly captured.

"Tell me the truth, Mr. Trini," said Van = Drandron, in a low voice, "you know, a few months ago a ship of the Australians arrived in Formosa"

"Did you go to Dayuan Port?"

"No, they didn't enter the harbor, but continued south along the coastline to a wild shore. And landed locally. According to all the information we have received from the natives, it must be Australians. ”！。