"Toot ......"

A whistle sounded on the ground, the sound of "clang, clang" came from far and near, accompanied by the roar of the steam engine, behind the black smoke spewed by the steam engine, dragged sixteen carriages, the wooden carriages swayed slightly with the clang, and the passengers in the carriages looked around curiously, looking at the shadows of the trees that were passing quickly.

One month!

It only took a month, the train that once needed to pull the horse was replaced by the steam locomotive, and thousands of heavy horses were supplemented to the army to pull the cannons and carriages, and the railway from Haizhou to Tongguan was also immediately and efficiently operated, although its speed was only 30 miles per hour, but compared to the horse-drawn train, the steam locomotive could run almost 24 hours a day day and night.

Almost every day, at various stations along the line, there will be many people gathered to watch it, watching such a train spitting smoke, and there are many gentry to buy a ticket, to the car to feel what is a thousand miles a day.

From Zhongdu to Kaifeng, it originally took at least a few days to take the official road, but now although it has not reached the speed of morning and evening, traveling thousands of miles a day, but it is only a day and a half, you can go back and forth between the two places, which can not help but make people marvel.

The train roared forward, and the wind blowing into the carriage through the open window, although it carried a somewhat choking smell of soot, but whether it was rich or poor, their faces always looked surprised, even those elderly with white hair and beard, they could not help but stick their heads out, risking the consequences of blowing soot, to feel the feeling of "galloping".

Not only is the carriage just "clanging, clanging", but it is even swaying from time to time because the speed is too fast and the track is too short, but even so, the passengers in this carriage still seem very excited. And in the first-class carriage, more than a dozen taxis dressed in fancy clothes were there to talk about their surprise at the train.

"Brothers, listen to the little brother write a poem for the train......"

The man who spoke stood up, glanced out of the car, and then groaned. ‘

"The shape of the column is similar to that of the wind, and the long house shrinks the land; The six wheels have their own thousand oxen power, and what is the work of a hundred times and eight horses? ……”

As soon as he finished speaking, there were immediately people on the other side who shouted and applauded, and the poet continued to preach.

"If King Mu knows this law, the ruts of the teaching will be all over the world. The cloud gallop is fast in the shuttle, and the ten-day mail journey is instantaneous; Looking back at the distant peaks as if retreating, and looking at the cottages up close, like flowing waves; Thousands of mountains and mountains go through the waist, and a hundred miles of rivers have been glimpsed; It is said that the stars will rise to the sky, and the true desire to pan the galaxy ......"

After the scholar wrote the poem, it immediately aroused a round of applause, and the other scholars followed suit and praised the train with poetry. When the first-class carriage was very lively, in the third-class carriage crowded with many ordinary passengers, a middle-aged man in his forties stared at the train with a frown, his expression was solemn, and in the solemnity he was more worried.

"A thousand miles in a day, Daming has this train that can carry people and goods, and the future will be ......"

The middle-aged man dressed as a merchant was so full of gloom that he still hadn't come back to his senses until the time of the middle capital.

What used to take 10 days to travel is now only 2 days!

When leaving the station, the middle-aged man couldn't help but let out a long sigh. The sadness on his face was even stronger, but he still tried to calm himself as much as he could when he got into the public carriage.

The middle-aged man took a public carriage and went directly to the pier. In the past, there were thousands of boats moored there, and most of the people near the wharf also relied on this to make a living, in previous years, it was the peak season for Nancao to gather and the rice to enter the warehouse, but now, with the "Cao Grain Zhengshi", although the wharf of Zhongdu did not see the boats of hundreds of years, but here there are ships from all over the world, among which there are not many ships of different sizes. Those sea ships are both from the domestic provinces, but also from the countries of the South Seas, when the ships of the Ming Dynasty trade in the South Seas, the ships of the South Seas will also transport the specialties of the South Seas to the Ming Dynasty to sell, so that the vicinity of the wharf is naturally a tea shop, an inn bath, and it is full of people everywhere.

Because of the hurry, I didn't find a place to stay for a while. In the end, I finally found a hotel, the middle-aged man went in with his head held high, and the guy over there hurriedly came out, and he didn't wait for the guy to speak, so he ordered first.

"Find a quiet room."

The guy laughed with him, and immediately beckoned to arrange a room for him, the room was on the third floor, and the window was not the right way, and it was really quiet. However, after the middle-aged man asked the man to take the luggage to the house, he did not stop, but went directly to the shopping street, where many well-known businesses in Daming gathered.

After coming to the shopping street, the middle-aged man was like many ordinary mainland businessmen, he walked from business to business, asking about the prices of various materials, and sometimes, he would ask a sentence inadvertently, and it took almost an hour, after asking about the price, he hurriedly ate in the restaurant on the side of the road, and then went to one of the shops.

"Yo, isn't this the shopkeeper Du? Please! ”

As soon as the shopkeeper of the firm saw the visitor, he immediately squeezed out a smile on his face, obviously he was already an old acquaintance.

Here the guests are invited into the house, and the other side is instructed to serve tea to the guys, and then naturally they talk about business behind closed doors.

The moment the door closed, Zhang Fat Man grinned at the crowd.

"Why do you have time to come here?"

"I can't help but come,"

Shopkeeper Du glanced at the fat man in front of him, and then sighed.

"In these years, there are some things that I don't worry about doing for others."

"Indeed, it is really unsettling!"

Fat Zhang nodded and said.

"Especially when doing business with you, you have to be careful, if you are not careful, you may lose your life."

"The risk is big, but there are a lot of profits, I just inquired, the high-grade sulfur from Nanyang, one ton is only 7 taels of silver, Zhang Dongjia's hands are really black enough, and he dares to charge 35 taels."

As soon as his words fell, the fat man over there cried out for injustice.

"Hey, my shopkeeper Du, look at what you said, the 7 taels of silver are sold to others, and the 35 taels are sold to you, let's not say anything else, this sulfur is sent over, there must be some points along the road, this silver can not be added to it, besides, this is the best sulfur in the South Seas, ordinary people can't buy so much ......"

Because of the frequent volcanic activity in Nanyang and other places, especially on the island of Java, the local rich sulfur mineral resources have been created, and the local natives collect sulfur directly in the crater, and the sulfur is extremely high, so it has been very popular in China. It has always been an important export material for the Guizhou and Qin countries.

"That's sulfur, not gunpowder!"

"The problem is, others can't get that much, right?"

Whether it is Zhang Fatzi or Du Shopkeeper is a very powerful role in doing business, he talks about business behind closed doors, and he refuses to leak the slightest.

"That's the price, let's just say that......"

Then he added.

"The reason why I came here today in person is because I heard about something, I heard that there are no longer flint guns in the Qinghe Arsenal, so I want to ask Mr. Zhang, what kind of guns are they making now, can you get us some!"

Listening to the shopkeeper Du's provocation, Zhang Fatzi didn't rush to answer this sentence, just asked.

"Who are you listening to?"

Shopkeeper Du looked at Fat Zhang with a smile, and then said.

"Our eyes are not blind, and the appearance of the new gun looks a bit like the flintlock gun, but there is no flint, no fire cover, and we can see what is going on when we look at it."

"So, you say, how much silver are you going to give out?"

Zhang Fatzi asked with a smile.

"It's a new thing, and I can't really buy it without a big price."

"The price is easy to say."

Shopkeeper Du glanced at Zhang Fatzi, and then said.

"How about one more than in the past, how about it? This time, a firecracker, you are ten taels of profit! ”

"That's what I said,"

Zhang Fatzi lowered his voice.

"But in fact, there are not so many at all, and there are only three taels of silver that fall into my hands at most! I guess this new thing will cost you more money! ”

Shopkeeper Du stared at Zhang Fat and said.

"Then you name a price."

"It's not that I say the price or not, it's that the government's own are not enough now, even if I find a way to get it, I don't know how much risk I have to take, do you say it."

Zhang Fatzi glanced at the shopkeeper Du again, and then said.

"Besides, these things don't mean that you can buy them, you always need to find someone to maneuver around them, which costs money, by the way, how much are you going to want?"

"No less than 10,000!"

"Ten thousand?"

Zhang Fatzi glanced at the shopkeeper Du in surprise, and then said.

"It's not too much, 20,000 pieces, not to mention that you can't get it out, it's just that if you don't have enough of the officers and soldiers, you will have to lose your head! You pat your ass and leave, my surname Zhang's family business is all here. ”

"Fifteen taels a piece!"

Seeing that Zhang Fatzi refused, Shopkeeper Hu understood his intentions, so he said with a smile.

"It's a total of 150,000 taels, if you think it's risky, I'll go find someone else."

"That's not what it means, that's not what it means!"

Zhang Fatzi hurriedly changed his words again.

"Since Shopkeeper Du is here in person, no matter what, Lao Zhang, I will give you enough face, no matter how difficult it is, then you have to find a way. You say, how long is the term? ”

"Two months!"

Shopkeeper Hu looked at Zhang Fat Man and said.

"Two and a half months at most, what do you think?"

"Hmm...... I think it's pretty much the same. ”

Fat Zhang nodded, and then muttered to himself.

"In a month and a half, things can almost be prepared for collection, and then in two days, they can be transported to the place by train......"

Only Zhang Fat Man mentioned the train, and the shopkeeper Du's brows tightened again, and his mood became heavy again......