Hearing Fan Ruzeng say the figure of 2.4 million people, Liu Changyou was taken aback: "Why is there such a large population? When the empire had just set up its capital in Shengjing, it was only worth a million people, and it had only been 9 years, how could it have increased so many people? Didn't you hear that Your Majesty sent a large number of garrisons to garrison the capital? ”

Fan Ruzeng grinned and said, "Brother is right, my empire took over the Holy Capital peacefully without much war, and also left behind the million or so people transferred from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. And the residents of the original Shengjing City who had fled to the provinces of Jiangbei also returned to their hometowns, which increased by more than 100,000 at once.

Although the army of the imperial soldiers stationed in the holy capital was less than 100,000, they later set up various imperial offices, provincial guild halls, chambers of commerce in various industries, and headquarters of all walks of life...... Don't underestimate these institutions, there are not many people in a single person, but if you can't stand the number, it is 100,000. As of this year, there are 23 schools of higher learning in Shengjing alone, and there are as many as 30,000 teachers and support staff in the schools, and there are no less than 100,000 people including their families, and these schools of higher learning have recruited more than 100,000 students from all over the empire.

Not to mention anything else, the railway bureau in Shengjing alone hired thousands of workers, all of whom brought a large family, or tens of thousands? There are even too many such imperial state-run institutions, such as the Shengjing Machinery Manufacturing Bureau, which has developed into a super-giant with more than 30,000 regular workers, and if you count their families, I am afraid that there are no less than 150,000 people. In addition to these state-owned factories and mines, there are hundreds of large and small private factories and workshops in the suburbs of the Holy Capital City, many of which are not small in scale, with thousands of people, and dozens of small ones. In addition, because of the large population of Shengjing City, the daily consumption of firewood, rice, vegetables, etc. is an astonishing amount, attracting many villagers from surrounding state capitals to come and make a living.

It is precisely for these reasons that the population of Shengjing has more than doubled in just nine years, and it is still growing in the past two years, and it is still increasing at a rate of tens of thousands of people per month. ”

Liu Changyou suddenly changed color, the terrifying speed of this population increase really surprised him, he muttered: "I have been an official in Wuchang for many years, and I thought that I would be complacent about my achievements by restoring the population of Wuchang City to the point where it was more than before the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom attacked the city, but I didn't expect that compared with Shengjing, it was really a glow of fireflies." Your Majesty is really a genius, and only Your Majesty can make Shengjing a super city of this scale in just a few years. 2.4 million people, oh my God, the Manchu Qing Dynasty, which was known as the prosperous era of Qianlong, and the city of Beijing had a population of more than one million. ”

Fan Ruzeng hurriedly diverted the topic: "Brother, don't be embarrassed, this holy capital is the capital after all, and it has many other conveniences that are difficult to reach in the big cities of the provincial capitals.

My brother won't leave the capital when he comes back, and he can take a good turn in his spare time. Nowadays, the people of the Holy Capital City can not be described as living and working in peace and contentment, according to the word His Majesty, the sense of gain and happiness are very strong.

Not much to say, the carriage hired by the younger brother was there, and the elder brother and Siqian also invited them to get into the carriage. ”

At this point, the group had reached the edge of the square outside the railway station, and two of Fan Ruzeng's men led the group to a tall and simple four-wheeled carriage.

Liu Changyou and Liu Siqian, father and son, saw this kind of public carriage that could carry dozens of people for the first time, so they looked at it carefully.

Stopped in the crowd, there was a light brown carriage, very tall and spacious, Liu Changyou noticed that this carriage was not only four wheels, but also a double-layer structure, which could be ridden on both upper and lower floors.

Liu Changyou is familiar with ancient books, and he knows that since ancient times, all dynasties have mostly used two-wheeled carriages, and although these four-wheeled carriages are also available, they are very uncommon and rarely used. In fact, many people understand that the wheels of the carriage are tied to an axle made of hardwood, and the direction cannot be changed, so the two-wheeled carriage can also rely on the skill of the groom, relying on the horsepower to move the speed of the two wheels to change the direction, but the four-wheeled carriage can only go one way to the dark, and cannot change the direction at all, which is why no one uses the four-wheeled carriage.

Therefore, Liu Changyou immediately asked: "How does this carriage change direction?" ”

Fan Ruzeng didn't understand this question, so he asked the coachman to answer, Liu Changyou was told that the four-wheeled carriage was learned from the Western side by the Ministry of Communications, and the front and rear two sets of wheels were different from the four-wheeled carriage with four narrow iron hoop wooden wheels mounted on the frame in the Central Plains, the first two wheels of this four-wheeled vehicle were mounted on one frame, the rear two wheels were mounted on another frame, and the rear frame was mounted on the front frame, connected by a vertical shaft, and both frames were installed with steering differentials to form a flexible bogie that could rotate. This allows both frames to rotate freely, front and rear.

"I see, I see!" After listening to the coachman's introduction, Liu Changyou looked at the frame of the carriage, as well as the wheels made of stainless steel and many bolts, gears, transmission bearings, etc., and sighed: "Western technology really has its unique place. Pity my Han culture, I haven't been able to make a horse-drawn carriage that can turn for thousands of years. ”

Liu Changyou and his son got into the carriage that had been fully covered by the secret service department and drove all the way.

More than ten minutes later, they have come to the edge of Xuanwu Lake.

Pulling open the curtain of the carriage, the beautiful Xuanwu Lake is still the same as before, quiet and beautiful. The difference is that by the Xuanwu Lake, a wide road stretches along the Xuanwu Lake into the distance. On the side of the road, hundreds of people gathered, all looking back and forth towards the strength of the road, and when they saw Liu Changyou and the carriage they were riding in drove over, they seemed to be a little happy and greeted this side, but when they got closer, they found that the carriage did not have any signs, and they were all stunned and continued to wait in frustration.

Fan Ruzeng explained: "This is a horse-drawn carriage stop called Xuanwu Hubei Station, where five different lines of buses and horse-drawn carriages pass by, and most of these hundreds of people are tourists visiting Xuanwu Lake, all waiting for the horse-drawn buses. ”

Before Liu Changyou could sigh, Liu Siqian had already exclaimed: "This carriage business is too good!" ”

Liu Changyou, on the other hand, focused on the wide road along Xuanwu Lake where the carriage traveled.

This road is different from the ordinary road he built in Hubei, this road is obviously not an official road, but just a newly built ordinary street in the holy capital. It stands to reason that such ordinary roads in the city are generally paved with bluestone or stones, which are the streets and alleys left over from the Manchu Qing Dynasty; When encountering the main street in the city, cement will be mixed with some gravel and river sand to pour into a concrete pavement, showing a gray and white expanse. But the road in front of me is completely different, it seems to be smooth, smooth, and most importantly, the surface looks brownish-black, and it doesn't seem to be the kind of gray-white cement poured.

Fan Ruzeng seemed to sense Liu Changyou's curiosity and explained: "This is also Your Majesty's suggestion, asking the Ministry of Communications to mix the useless oil residue left over from the refinery to refine the holy oil from Guangzhou and Brunei, and mix it with gravel to pave the road, which is surprisingly good." Smooth and flat, the wheels of the carriage are pressed on it, far more than pressing on the cement pavement to protect the wheels, and there will be no potholes, which is really an excellent material for paving. Nowadays, the main roads in the holy capital are made of this material, and by the way, His Majesty named it asphalt. ”

Only then did Liu Changyou discover that unconsciously, the emperor slowly completely influenced and changed the country in this way.