Sitting on the carriage from the Thirteen Lines Pier to the railway station, he saw a lot of factory chimneys emitting black or white smoke or water vapor along the way, and he couldn't help but sigh at the rapid development of industry in the East. When he first lived in Guangzhou, there were only a few small workshops in this ancient land, and they were only local dyeing cloth and the like, but now, looking at the appearance of those chimneys, it seems that many of them are large spinning mills and weaving factories, from this point of view, at least the textile industry in Guangzhou has really developed in large quantities.

Thinking of this, Bao Ling looked at a somewhat chubby merchant sitting on the opposite side of the carriage, and chatted casually, but this merchant was a cotton merchant who knew a little about the textile industry. From the mouth of this cotton merchant, Bao Ling learned that there are as many as 10 large textile factories in Guangzhou alone, with 10,000 workers, which has exceeded the textile scale of Manchester, Coventry, Liverpool, Edinburgh and other large textile industry cities. In addition, Bao Ling learned that the machine cloth produced in Guangzhou today not only supplied the cloth needs of the people of the Chinese Empire in the Liangguang and Huguang areas, but also sold to Japan, Korea, Nanyang and even India, squeezing out the textile cloth market that was originally the British Empire.

Bao Ling gasped, and only then did he understand why the textile industry in the Kingdom of Great Britain was so sluggish, and it turned out to be such a reason! If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes and heard it with his own ears, he would really have found it hard to believe that in less than ten years, this ancient and backward eastern country would have become an industrial power competing for business with Britain.

When he arrived at Guangzhou Railway Station, Bao Ling was even more surprised by the prosperity of Guangzhou Railway Station.

The bustling passengers ushered in the send-off, and the whole Guangzhou Railway Station was lively. Taking advantage of the opportunity to queue up to buy tickets, Bao Ling checked the information board at the station, and at a glance, Bao Ling was shocked: the Chinese Empire actually has such a long railway line!

In terms of train frequency, there are more than 20 trains from Guangzhou to Shengjing, Fuzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and Lanzhou every day. And these cities, Bao Ling, because he has been in the East for several years, naturally knows where they are, so the Chinese Empire actually built a connecting railway between these cities? But how many tens of thousands of kilometers apart are these cities?

You must know that even Britain only has 15,000 kilometers of railway mileage, but now, judging from the information revealed in the city of Guangzhou, you can know that the railway mileage of the Chinese Empire has exceeded 10,000 kilometers. This undoubtedly made Bao Ling sigh that the railway of the Chinese Empire was built quickly and the mileage was so long that it was breathtaking, and it was worthy of the effect of many people and a large country. It's just in an extreme time!

It took Britain decades to get to this point, and the Chinese Empire, Bao Ling knew in his heart, that just when he left the Chinese Empire, the Chinese Empire might have started to build railways, and in just a few years, it was such a huge increase. This is no ordinary achievement!

Got on the train from Guangzhou to Shengjing, Bao Ling looked out the window with heavy thoughts, it was the harvest season in the south, outside the railway, the seedlings of the vast rice fields began to tassel, the breeze blew, and the waves of rice rose one after another, which was very beautiful, and a harvest scene was about to come.

Bao Ling had also been to the countryside of the South China Sea outside Guangzhou, and the rice fields that were about to ripen were by no means so dense. Bao Ling couldn't help but ask the two middle-aged people next to him who looked like scholars: "Two gentlemen, this year is another bumper harvest!" Why are the rice fields on both sides of the railway so different from the ones I've seen before, and they seem to be growing so well! ”

The two middle-aged scholars, seeing that Bao Ling was a foreigner and could speak Chinese, did not care at all, and asked with a smile: "This foreign gentleman, are you Irish or Prussian?" ”

"Oh, I'm British!" Bao Ling replied casually.

"British!?" The voices of the two scholars suddenly raised their voices, looked at each other with jealousy, and said very unfriendly: "What are the British doing in our Chinese Empire?" You're not going to be a spy, are you? ”

As he spoke, one of the scholars was about to stand up, as if to call someone to arrest the bag.

Bao Ling was taken aback, he did not expect that the ordinary people of the Chinese Empire were so unfriendly to the British, and it seemed that the authorities of the Chinese Empire had a high degree of control over the minds of the people. He hurriedly explained: "No, no, no, I'm not a spy!" I went to Shengjing to make amends to your country! ”

As soon as they heard that Bao Ling was here to make amends, the faces of the two scholars improved a lot.

One of the slightly younger scholars was not very confident, and directly replied to Bao Ling's words: "It is indeed a bumper harvest year, but not only this year, but every year!"

It's not just that the rice paddies on both sides of the railway are different from what you've seen, but most of them are like this. Why, do you also grow rice in the UK? Not so good-looking? ”

Bao Ling was even more curious: "We have very few rice fields in the UK, but the growth of rice is indeed not so rich and thick!" What is going on with the bumper harvest that Mr. just said every year, most of the rice fields have a bumper harvest? ”

The young man said excitedly: "This has to start with our Majesty!" Because His Majesty invented a ......."

"Shut up!" The older scholar shouted violently: "The secret here is not enough for an outsider!" Especially the British! ”

Although he didn't tell Bao Ling, Bao Ling learned some information, it seems that the rice of the Chinese Empire is growing amazingly, and there is really a reason for it, and it is even related to the emperor of the Chinese Empire.

After this interruption, the other passengers in the carriage ignored Bao Ling, knowing that he was British, and they all stayed away from him, and some pointed at him as if they were a strange monkey to see a trick. This undoubtedly makes Bao Ling very angry. But now he knew that his status as an Englishman would not only not help him, but would cause trouble, and the obvious hostility of the people of the Chinese Empire towards the British could not rule out the possibility that he would be beaten. Therefore, he can only endure it with grievance.

Along the way, he could only stand up from time to time boredly, looking at the scenery outside the train through the gaps in the carriages. The train is not going fast, and the villages and towns along the way are clear at a glance.

To Bao Ling's astonishment, along the railway line, there were not only countless densely populated villages and towns, but also a number of factories with distinctive chimneys. Especially on both sides of the railway, almost every time you enter the outskirts of a county, there will be several factories that look little different from the outside, tall chimneys stand there, some emitting thick black smoke, some emitting yellow-green smoke, even Bao Ling, an Englishman, has never seen it, and he can't guess what kind of factory it is. The thick black smoke, he knows, is not a steel factory, or a coke plant or something, and the yellow and green smoke factory, there is a few dozen kilometers away, it seems that it is very popular in the East.

Finally, on the outskirts of Changsha City, there were several huge Chinese characters written on the huge chimney, which immediately let Bao Ling know what the factory where the chimney was located: "Changsha No. 1 Shengfei Factory!" ”

"Holy Fertilizer Factory!?" Bao Ling muttered, "What is this holy fertilizer? Why is this Chinese empire so popular, and we in England and Europe have never heard of it! Could it be that this East has mastered industrial technology that even we in England do not know? ”

In this way, Bao Ling arrived all the way from Guangzhou to Wuchang, and then went east along the Yangtze River, passing through Jiujiang and Anqing to Shengjing.