Chapter 262 The sound of cars resounded through Lin'an City

The monotonous voice of the inspection car kept repeating in the ears of the two, but Lin Yuhui was already full of joy and did not feel bored at all.

When the car passed through a culvert, he saw a group of craftsmen installing guardrails on the bridge, and when he saw their inspection car passing by, some of those craftsmen waved to him, and Lin Yuhui also waved his hand, which was regarded as a greeting.

"These Koreans are doing a good job." The steward muttered: "He is really a good hand at building roads, when we were begging, almost all the roads were built by them, that Chen Yaohua, the word Zhaoxia, is the one who always scolds people in the "Great Song Times Weekly", do you know?" ”

"Yes." Lin Yuhui was a little curious, he also knew that these Koreans were self-seeking infrastructure experts, and they were not afraid of hardship or tiredness when they worked, but their treatment was also good, as long as they could speak Song dialect, their income would be no different from that of Song people, and if they could also read Chinese characters, they could even be promoted to stewardship.

"Chen Zhaoxia originally led their group of Koreans, but they did very well, won the appreciation of the Son of Heaven, and now they have become a bachelor of Boya Building." The steward said with a smile: "Do you know, these Korean people's tricks to learn Song dialect and learn Chinese characters were made up by Chen Zhaoxia, Chen Zhaoxia said that if they are not of our race, their hearts will be different, and only by making them learn Song dialect and learn Chinese characters can they last for a long time, by the way, your ancestors are Xianbei people?" ”

Lin Yuhui was slightly ashamed in his heart, and immediately emphasized: "My ancestor is a Xianbei person, it was a few hundred years ago, not to mention four or five hundred years, my grandfather's grandfather has been a Han since then, a full Han person!" ”

"That's, that's." The steward also knew that he was a little speechless, and smiled and agreed.

In Liuqiu, there are not many natives from Goryeo, Wa and even Mayi and Sulu, but without exception, they all have to learn the language of the Song people, and if they can't learn, their income will be less than that of others. This is true not only in the territory of Liuqiu, but also in the overseas territories and foreign stations in Liuqiu, for example, in the Wa Kingdom, there are more than 5,000 Japanese people employed by the Liuqiu Office - including a 3,000-strong Japanese army that claims to be just an anti-theft force, and they all have to pass the Song language test to get the full salary, and if they want to be promoted, they must know how to write Chinese characters.

The inspection car traveled for two hours, and it was not until they were beyond the scope of their responsibility that they returned home. When they passed the culvert on the way back, the stone railing on it had been installed, and the Goryeo people had long since disappeared. A sense of pride made Lin Yuhui puff up his chest again, and he squinted at the railroad tracks in front of him.

"I'm a Han Chinese, from the time of my grandfather's grandfather!" He thought to himself.

Their station is in Jiaxing, which was originally Jiahe County, and was changed to Jiaxing Mansion after today's son ascended the throne, and it is also one of the prosperous cities around Lin'an. The railroad has a stop here, and when they enter the platform, they see their boss waiting for them with a happy face.

"You two are back, is there anything wrong on the way?" The immediate boss asked.

"None, everything is normal!"

"That's good, that's good, you go back today and take a bath, tomorrow you don't need to check the road, after the train stops here, you will get on the train." The boss smiled and said, "The Son of Heaven wants to see you in the car!" ”

Lin Yuhui only felt that he was out of breath, he had great admiration for this legendary Son of Heaven, but he watched the Son of Heaven change the appearance of the Great Song Dynasty in just four years!

"Heavenly ...... The Son of Heaven wants to see ...... See me? He shuddered, "Really, really? ”

Finally calmed down, looked at the steward again, and found that his expression was even more nervous than himself, Lin Yuhui couldn't help but ask: "Don't you always brag about seeing the world when you were begging, why are you so nervous?" ”

"What do you know, Son of Heaven, Your Majesty!" The steward spoke equally unpleasantly: "You don't know what we are talking about...... Thank God, I finally have the day to see the Son of Heaven! ”

He didn't elaborate on what the Son of Heaven looked like in the rumors of Liuqiu, but Lin Yuhui also vaguely heard some rumors from the rest of the Liuqiu people he came into contact with, most of these Liuqiu residents were refugees who were in danger, and it was the Son of Heaven who rescued them from the dire situation and gave them a stable, prosperous and decent life. Three or five out of ten of the slang songs that the Liuqiu people love to sing are in praise of the Son of Heaven, and their praise is very sincere, not the kind of flattery that is not the same.

It's Lin Yuhui's own family, and he wants to see this son of heaven who is turning the tide with one hand, isn't he trembling with excitement.

Since the seventeenth year of Jiading, the Son of Heaven has been on the throne, it has been a full four years, Zhao and Ju in the first four years of his reign, Lin'an City and the surrounding people's livelihood has undergone earth-shaking changes, although there have been accidents in the process, but Zhao and Ju have brought these people to these people what they did not see before, that is hope.

For Lin Yuhui and the two stewards, this night is destined to be sleepless, and tomorrow will be the most glorious day of their lives. Later, when they grew old and retired from the construction of the Great Song Railway, they also mentioned to their juniors from time to time that they had been given by the Son of Heaven in the first official train of the first railway on the land of the Great Song Dynasty.

On July 18, the third year of Yanhuang, 8 o'clock in the morning.

At this time of the day, the young men of Lin'an City mostly worked in various factories, the wanderers shrank in their own dilapidated nests to catch up on sleep, and the men and men lazily basked in the sun at the city gates—the Son of Heaven increased their income, and their main role was to keep watch and maintain order, but they did not have to collect the pitiful entrance fees of three pennies and two pennies. In the rest of the city, the industrious shops have opened, and the smiling men greet the guests eagerly; The proprietress of the snack breakfast shop yawned and began to close the stall, and the workers who had to work early to earn more piecework wages had long since left their stalls; The porters of the wharf and the shippers of the merchant ships bargained for their money, and both sides were red-faced and thick-necked; The early coachmen flicked their horsewhips and roamed the streets for possible customers.

But today is different, half of Lin'an City is quiet, except for those who can't move in the factory, almost all those who have leisure gather in the northeast of Lin'an City.

Wen Tong and Deng Ruoshui also arrived here, and the two of them didn't come early, because like the rest of Lin'an City, there are always wanderers who will come to occupy the place first, and then sell the position to others for ten or fifteen wen, and the two of them have already greeted the acquaintance loafers and asked them to occupy the position.

Fang Zhixing found the two in the crowd, but he didn't come up to greet him, he didn't just come to join in the fun, he had to hide in the crowd and look for suspicious characters. He didn't know how many people there were, but at least hundreds of staff divisions, military intelligence divisions, and Lin'an Mansion were hidden in the crowd, and there were even more guards and palace front divisions who stood up to maintain order on the surface.

He quietly squeezed through the crowd, approached a man he thought was suspicious, stood beside him for a moment, and after making sure that he was really just an out-of-town businessman, he moved on to his next target.

At this time, a team of guards came over on beautiful war horses, Fang Zhixing squinted and looked at the passengers on the horse, he didn't like the military uniforms of the guards, because a guy wearing such a military uniform married his childhood sweetheart girl. Sure enough, in this group of people, he saw that guy, his chin was shaved and his eyes were cold and keen, when Fang Zhixing looked at it, he seemed to be aware of it, his gaze quickly turned in this direction, and a trace of a smile appeared in Fang Zhixing's eyes after discovering it.

Then Li Yilao's gaze was tilted to the other side, this is a platform set up on one side, there are not many people on it, they are all women from noble relatives and eunuchs, these people can't be crowded with ordinary people, so there is such a platform. Fang Zhixing glanced at it, and then saw Yu Zhiniang standing in it, staring at Li Yilao with affection, and the nurse behind her was still holding a swaddling bag.

A few months ago, Weaver Niang gave birth to her and Li Yilao's first child, and this time it was also lively.

Li Yilao grinned, if it weren't for the restraint of military discipline, he would have to say "so lively".

They dismounted, and immediately an orderly came up and led the horses aside, and then followed the reserved road through the barbed wire fence into a building in front of them. Passing through the aisles of the building, they entered the platform of the Great Song Lin'an Railway Station.

By the standards of hundreds of years later, this railway station and this platform are really simple, but there are three floors up and down, plus an underground passage, and the platform length is only about 500 meters, and now there are two hundred elite officers and soldiers of the palace front division standing on it—they are also members of the secret camp.

At about 8:30 a.m., the noisy crowd fell silent, and more than sixty horse-drawn carriages came from the concrete road, slowed down when they reached the railway station, and then entered the underground passage specially used for horse-drawn carriages, in which all the carriages were parked. After a while, the Great Song Emperor Zhao Yun and his important ministers walked out of the underground passage, but by this time they had already reached the platform.

"Long live my emperor!"

A shout came from nowhere, and then the shouts became one, Zhao and Ju turned around, facing the people outside the barbed wire fence and iron fence, and kept bowing their heads to sign. In addition to the soldiers, the people knelt down one after another, which made Zhao Heju very uneasy, and gave a low command, and immediately the attendants of the palace soldiers shouted: "Your Majesty has a decree, exempt from courtesy!" ”

Although he has been the emperor for more than four years and will soon be the emperor for five years, Zhao Heju is still vigilant from time to time, and he can't be calm about bowing.

"Your Majesty is deeply loved by all the people, and he is really the first saint in the past!"

Xue Ji followed him, because Zhao Heju had a big step, he couldn't keep up, and said while wiping sweat.

Zhao Heju had enough immunity to this kind of remarks, so he ignored it, but turned to Cui He: "Cui Qing, what do you think?" ”

"The minister still thinks ...... Can this thing really run? ”

Looking at the big guy in front of him, Cui He shook his head in disbelief.

Stopping on the platform is the train that Zhao and Ju attach great importance to. This train has been greatly improved from the initial trial operation of Liuqiu, its locomotive guide shaft, moving shaft and slave shaft are two, three, one respectively, in order to facilitate cornering, it is equipped with a guide bogie, in order to improve the utilization rate of steam, it uses joint re-expansion technology. This locomotive is suitable for towing lighter passenger cars and is more comfortable to run.

Eight carriages hung behind the locomotive, each about thirteen paces (twenty meters) long, so that all the carriages added up to about one hundred and forty paces. The carriage was not made of iron, as in later generations, but made of iron chassis, iron roof and wooden walls, and only reinforced with iron in key parts, which was to reduce the weight of the carriage and save the use of iron.

Cui He still couldn't believe that with the huge cylindrical iron object in front of him, he could drag this one hundred and twenty steps long thing to run.

"Let's get in the car with me." Zhao Youju didn't say anything anymore, but stepped on the train quickly.

He got on the sixth carriage, and there were already uniformed attendants who came up to serve, and among the ministers who came with him, the chief officials of the six departments and some important officials, of course, also got into the sixth carriage like Zhao and Ju, and the rest of the people were in the seventh and eighth carriages. More than 100 officials, entering the three carriages, naturally felt quite spacious. After they all got on the train, some of the craftsmen, people, and sergeants in Lin'an who built the railway got into the second, third, and fourth carriages.

The first and fifth sections are dining cars, which Zhao and Ju specially explained. The sixth carriage was spacious and comfortable, divided into two parts, and about five steps in front was the imperial compartment of Zhao and Ju, which contained fixed beds, bookshelves, and some decorative ornaments. The aisle passes from here on the left side, separated by iron sheets. At the back, about seven steps long, was a small conference room, with Zhao and Ju's thrones and the seats of the ministers, all of which added up to about thirty seats.

These seats are made of sponge chairs that are fixed to the bottom of the car, and because of the hot weather, there is an iron cushion on the seats.

Like later trains, the sides of the carriage are filled with huge glass windows and vents at the top, so the inside of the carriage is not stuffy.

"Zhu Qing and sit down, I ordered the imperial doctor to prepare some decoction for Zhu Qing to eliminate chest tightness, and the iced sour plum soup will also be prepared for Zhu Qing." Zhao Youju said with a smile.

"Your Majesty, when to drive, let the old minister see and understand." Choi couldn't wait.

"Exactly, Your Majesty often said to the minister, as soon as the train rings, there are ten thousand taels of gold, and the minister also wants to see how this gold is ten thousand taels." Wei Liaoweng also said.

Zhao Youju smiled, summoned Li Yunrui, and gave him two instructions, Li Yunrui took out his pocket watch, and walked forward after checking the time with Zhao and Ju. Zhao Heju said: "Nine o'clock, set off on time, don't worry." ”

Everyone took out their pocket watches one after another, and the time was right, and it was only about ten minutes away from nine o'clock.

The people who watched the bustle saw that the Son of Heaven and the important ministers of the court had entered the carriage, and after waiting for a long time, there was no movement, only to see that the glass windows on the side of the carriage were opened one after another, and from time to time people looked out from the windows, and the front ones inevitably waved to them.

When the time saw nine o'clock, the bell on the high part of the station began to ring, and the people began to cheer when they realized that the iron car was about to start.

I saw that the original faint white smoke of the chimney at the front of the locomotive quickly turned into thick green smoke, and the head of the locomotive began to roar, and the sound was almost equivalent to thunder. Immediately afterwards, there was a long "woo" sound from the front of the car, which was the driver blowing the whistle.

Everyone held their breath, looking at this huge iron guy, although the people of Lin'an, who were accustomed to obeying the Son of Heaven under the vigorous advocacy of the Son of Heaven, believed that this thing could run, but believing it was completely different from seeing it with their own eyes. When the locomotive with the carriage behind it really started to move slowly, I don't know how many people gasped and exclaimed!

Even the officers, sergeants, and craftsmen in the car also looked out in amazement, and they did not feel that they were moving, but that the station and the people on the station were moving backwards.

Strictly speaking, this locomotive is already a fairly mature model, from the first steam locomotive to the present, in just two or three years, it has developed by leaps and bounds for three generations. Many inventions should have gone through a long period of exploration to achieve the right results, but because of Zhao and Ju, they did not take the detours of the past.

On July 18, the third year of the Great Song Dynasty, the day after the Linhua Line Railway was completed, the roar of the train sounded on the railway. The "Voyager" locomotive, pulling eight carriages and six hundred passengers, began its first journey.

Note 1: The author's knowledge of locomotives comes from the classic game Railroad Enjoyment II.