In the past month, they have heard more than once about the name of "Iron Road".

It's just that no one knows what an iron road is.

Iron Road, what it is, no one knows. Of course, now they know. It is an iron track, and the track is laid on sleepers soaked in tar.

This is the "Iron Road".

Black wood and black rails are very conspicuous in this yellow earth.

This is the track to reach for the future!

Zhang Ying, who is an engineer in the Ministry of Engineering, is also dressed neatly and rushed to go, even as the designer of the iron road, because of his low grade, of course he is not qualified to be included in the ranks of VIPs, but he can also stand in the forefront, which is much better than the people who watch the excitement outside, at least here, he can see everything in the station. You can even see the emperor, you can see the emperor in the smoke of firecrackers, walk to the front of the car, personally pull down the red silk covered on the carriage, and show a black carriage in front of people.

"This is the railway!"

Standing next to the carriage, when he was about to get on the train, Zhu Mingzhong tapped the railroad tracks under his feet with his feet, turned around and said to everyone a little excitedly.

"With this railway, everything will change!"

The track at your feet stretches from south to north. Although it is only eight miles, it is a start!

As he was about to step into the carriage, his gaze swept over the officials and civilians around him, and then he said.

"Today, this railway is officially opened! This is a very significant event, a miracle that has never been seen before in the world! Remember what I said......"

After saying this, Zhu Mingzhong specially said to Zhu Dayong, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper.

"Write it down, the railroad will change everything!"

At this time, Zhu Mingzhong's expression was extremely serious.

The railway from the wharf to the city is 8 miles long and has a gauge of 1.5 fathoms, which is slightly wider than the standard gauge of later generations. It was the world's first railroad and, of course, a horse-drawn railway.

Horse-drawn railway!

Anyone who has seen the movie "Let the Bullets Fly" will never forget the horse-drawn railway at the beginning of the movie, although "eating hot pot and singing" is indeed a line that makes people laugh, but the scene of the horse-drawn train is both surprising and absurd.

In fact, this is not absurd, as in 16th-century England there were a large number of truck lanes, and the tracks were made of rough wood. When horses and rails are combined, the weight of the traction can be greatly increased. In the North East of England, such carriages used to form a very dense transport network. In 1726, a group of local coal miners also built a shared carriage track to connect the mines.

It's just that Zhu Mingzhong did not choose the short-lived wooden rail road, but chose the railway, and chose to build the railway with iron tracks. The rails here are called "I-shaped rails", which are real rails, rails made of pig iron.

It's just limited by technology, in the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century, it is naturally impossible to have rolling machinery to roll rails, the only option in this era is to cast rails, in fact, the earliest rails are cast with pig iron, and even pig iron rails have been used until the middle of the 19th century, only to a certain extent for the wrought rails to replace, until the 70s of the 19th century after the emergence of rails, the rails took more than ten years to completely replace the cast rails.

Casting rails is not complicated, it is not much different from casting artillery, it is nothing more than making molds first, and the cast rails are each 3 meters long, cast with sand molds. The cost is quite cheap.

Just as Zhu Mingzhong spoke, the "driver" was already leading the horse - it was twelve tall horses, this kind of horse was specially transferred from the military horse farm, this is the heavy pull horse just introduced from England last year, it is the largest horse in the world, and it is also the strongest horse.

After the coachman hung his horses on the cart, the coachman sat at the front of the cart with a long whip in his hand, and several horses stood on both sides of the tracks. When he was about to enter the carriage, Zhu Mingzhong saw Zhang Ying among the officials, although the horse-drawn railway was his idea, but it was Zhang Ying who turned his idea into reality, this Manchu Dynasty Rite Department Shangshu, which was famous for the "Six Feet Alley" in history, has now become an engineer, and history has turned such a big bend here.

"Zhang Ying!"

When Zhang Ying, who was in the crowd, heard His Majesty shouting his name, it took a while to react, and he was stunned for a while before he hurriedly ran in small steps, and said deeply,

"The minister has seen Your Majesty."

"Excuse me!"

When the words fell, Zhu Mingzhong turned sideways, pointed to the car door and said to Zhang Ying.

"You get in the car first!"

In an instant, the entire station became silent, and the pin drop could be heard, and everyone looked at this scene in horror.

Emperor, what is the emperor talking about?

If others were shocked, Zhang Ying, as the person concerned, was already in a cold sweat on his back, and he was so frightened that he even stammered when he spoke.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Minister, Minister...... Your Majesty, Your Majesty is here, how can there be a minister, the minister gets on the car first. ”

Compared with Zhang Ying's panic, Zhu Mingzhong said to him quite enthusiastically.

"Zhang Ying, although I am a gentleman, but this railway is built by you, in front of the project builder, etiquette does not exist, you get on the train first, please!"

If at the beginning, Zhu Mingzhong only called Zhang Ying because he was happy, then now, he has his own intentions.

Since the Song Dynasty could be titled on the gold list and praised the horse on the street, then now, Zhu Mingzhong has to use another way to tell the world that engineers can praise the horse in another way, and it is even more enviable - because the emperor himself leads the horse for him!

When Zhang Ying got into the car, his expression was in a trance, and he even didn't know why, and even when he got into the car, he was in shock, which was a grace that a minister had never had since then. This was true of the parties, as well as the passengers on the train, whose expressions were so complicated that they even ignored the train.

It was here that the coachman shouted, the whip exploded in the air, and the horses roared and dragged the 12 carriages along the tracks. When the carriage moved, Zhu Mingzhong immediately laughed and laughed heartily. It was only at this time that people woke up from Zhang Ying's "like a sea of Junen", and after realizing that the car was moving, looking at the dozens of passengers sitting in the carriage, Zhu Dayong, as the editor-in-chief of the newspaper, immediately asked.

"Your Majesty, can this carriage carry more than thirty people?"

"You should ask Engineer Zhang this question, the carriage is designed by him just like the railway!"

"Minister, minister dare not ......"

It is obviously borrowed from the coal transport car designed by His Majesty, and even together with the coal transportation railway, it is also the concept of His Majesty. When Zhang Yingzheng was about to explain, Zhu Mingzhong, who intended to set up a typical example, smiled.

"Zhang Ying, you come and tell them, what's the difference with this car?"

After getting the king's order, looking at the gaze cast by His Majesty, although he was panicked in his heart, Zhang Ying had no choice but to bite the bullet and say.

"Your Ministers obey."

Only then did he explain.

"The vehicle for transporting passengers is similar to that of a wagon depot, with a wooden body and four cast-iron wheels installed at the front and rear of each car, which run on rails. The front and back doors are opened, and there are small windows on each side. The carriage can seat about 30 people on both sides, and if it is full, it can accommodate 50 people. ”

"50 people, not much, Sharma, itself is a big horse, if I'm not mistaken, this car uses six horses!"

Six horses are six shire horses, as the right governor of the five military governors' mansion, Zhang Jinsheng naturally understands the pull of the shire horse, after all, the shire horse itself is introduced into the Ming Dynasty as a project to change the horse and other heavy horses.

"Back to Dashuai, there are a total of 12 cars in this carriage, and if it is full, it can be 600 people!"

600 people, as soon as this number came out, everyone immediately gasped, and then they remembered that everyone else was sitting in the back carriage.

"What if it's used to transport goods?"

"The van is a semi-convertible. It is two feet and two inches high, and the reason why the body is designed low is to facilitate loading and unloading of goods. Each car can be loaded with 100 sacks of grain and has a load of 8 tons. Each train is connected by 10 carriages, and can hang two passenger carriages at the same time, which are pulled by 12 heavy horses, and can carry 80 tons at a time. Trucks can run around the clock. This horse-drawn rail car has horses on both sides of the nose. When you reach the end of the North Station, you will unload the horse and lead it to the other end, and then re-attach it, and the rear car will become the front car. ”

This will, not to mention people like Zhang Jinsheng, who have been in the army for a long time are attracted by this number, and even the other ministers are also added up there.

"80 tons, 12 horses, 5 tons in a wagon, eight ordinary horses or four to six heavy horses, wouldn't it be with the same horses to increase the capacity by eight times? And it can also transport additional troops......"

In the horror of everyone, the driver on the "bridge" in front raised a big whip and shouted "drive", the wheels under the carriage rumbled, and the six horses dragging 12 passenger cars ran with neighing hooves.

"Rails!"

Zhang Huangyan, who was originally shocked by the railway capacity, suddenly realized the key to the problem - the railroad track is the key!

"If the cabinet department is not mistaken, the reason why this horse-drawn iron car has such a high capacity may have a lot to do with the railroad tracks laid on the road!"

"Shousuke really saw the key at a glance, the reason why the horse-drawn iron car has a large load capacity and fast speed is due to the railroad with laid tracks, in fact, this is ......"

Just when Zhang Ying was trying to return the credit to His Majesty, Zhu Ming changed the topic and said,

"And how were the rails made?"

"Back to Your Majesty, the rails are cast with pig iron, and after the rails are made, they are then heat-treated to improve the performance of the rails. With many years of experience in casting guns, Li Guoyi Iron Factory can mass-produce a 20-kilogram rail, and the rail production process is very simple, and the general iron factory can manufacture it, of course, you need to send someone to guide the heat treatment process......"

When Zhang Ying mentioned "20 catties of rails", Zhu Mingzhong's lips raised slightly, this kind of rail standard is similar to the rail type of the 16 kg/m rail of later generations, and the physical static bending strength reaches 3 tons under the 1 fathom (m) spacing, although it cannot be compared with the similar rails of later generations, but in this era, it is still an epoch-making invention.

In this regard, Zhu Mingzhong provided only a concept, from the coal railway in Lieshan to this railway, it was designed and completed by Zhang Ying, and as for Lieshan, it was a lighter 15-kilogram rail.

When Zhang Ying was answering other people's questions, the train was still moving forward at a speed that was not fast or slow, looking at the street passing by outside the window, Zhu Mingzhong had a smile on his face, this railway was just the beginning, just a certain road technology verification, once the technology was mature, he would order the construction of a railway to the west, from Zhongdu to Kaifeng, Luoyang, Tongguan, Xi'an to Xinjiang.

Of course, one day in the future, this railway will even be built in Central Asia, even in Europe, even Moscow, St. Petersburg...... It seems that there is no city yet!

How long did it take to build this railway?

Ten years, twenty years?

It doesn't matter!

The important thing is that in ten or twenty years, steam locomotives will replace heavy horses, and at that time, the army of the Ming Dynasty will be able to enter the Western Regions along this railway in a steady stream, take back the land that has been lost for 900 years, and then go west, west, and ...... Until the other side of the sea!

Although ocean-going merchant ships can help Zhu Mingzhong realize this wish, however, merchant ships cannot transport materials to Xinjiang and Central Asia, but railways can, even the most primitive horse-drawn railways, can also use cheaper freight and faster speed to transport troops and materials to the Western Regions, of course, steam engines are better!

It's just a little bit, just a little bit......

Zhang Huangyan set his eyes on His Majesty, and he saw His Majesty with a looming smile on his face.

The railway is something that His Majesty has high hopes for, and if you want to come to Your Majesty, you want to use the railway to continuously transport material resources to the Western Regions!

"How much iron is needed for this mile of railway?"

It was here that the question that came into Zhang Huangyan's ears made him immediately shift his attention from His Majesty's body to Zhang Ying's body,

"One mile 500 fathoms, one track 20 catties, one mile, is 20,000 catties of rails, each rail needs a fishtail plate fixed connection, each fishtail plate weighs three catties and four taels...... 27,000 catties of iron are needed per mile, and 30,000 catties of iron are required with road spikes......"

30,000 catties of iron a mile road!

Isn't this eight-mile road 240,000 catties of iron!

In an instant, everyone was "frightened" by this number, and they were originally shocked by the railway capacity, which would immediately start a discussion.

30,000 catties and one mile, if you go to the Western Regions, how much iron does the 5,000-mile railway cost? Suddenly, Zhang Huangyan was no longer willing to think about this problem, it was impossible!

If there was a lot of faith in the railway, now it is disheartened.

150,000,000 pounds of iron!

How much iron is there in the whole world?

How can this railway work in the world!

"Your Majesty, this, this railroad is really made of iron!"

Faced with Zhang Huangyan's surprise, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"What do you use to repair railways without iron?"

At this time, the train reached the end, from the beginning to the end, but it only took half an hour, until the train stopped, people realized that they had "arrived......