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"On April 17, 1854, the Chinese calendar is an auspicious day, and it is on this day that the construction of the 12.56-mile-long Guangzhou Port Railway marks the entry of the railway into the ancient country of the Far East, and it also means that the modern industrial civilization of the West has truly knocked on the door of this ancient country!"

North China Gazette, April 23, 1854

March 20. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

According to the Chinese people, this day is auspicious, at this time the area of Xiguan Wharf in Guangzhou has already been a sea of people, the Western-style building is crowded with people, people's faces are full of curiosity, excitement, but also look at the railway is spitting smoke and red hanging on the train, and excitedly pointing.

And on the platform paved with foreign ash and also covered with red and colored colors, there were even more officials and gentry standing in Guangzhou, among these gentry Wu Chongyao and other merchants of the old thirteen lines, although the merchants have been abolished, but now these thirteen are still the most prominent gentry in Guangdong.

"This is the steamer!"

Staring at the train made of black iron lying on the railway, and looking at the soot spewed out of the chimney, Wu Chongyao's eyes widened, and his eyes were full of incredulity.

All this is inevitably too fast, almost at the beginning of the governor's office, there are a few foreigners who are convenient for Guangzhou to measure between the riverside in Panyu, and then the government began to expropriate the land from Xiguan to the northern suburbs of Huangbian Village, the land is not wide, but only more than five zhang wide, at the beginning of the people only to build official roads.

Later, the people learned that it was to build a railway, and the people did not know what the railway was, but because the government gave a lot of land acquisition and gave a promise to get wages for building projects on their own land, the villagers happily engaged in it. Even in the eyes of many people, this is extremely incredible, as if the difficult project has been heard all over the wilderness, and it is really a rare thing. This is because in addition to the high price of land purchase, during the construction period, local people were hired to build roads, and a large number of people were used, sometimes as many as 2,000 people, and the daily wage per person was about 200 Wen, so there were villagers who were enthusiastic about it, and there was no complaint.

However, it is precisely because of this that this railway, which is no more than 12 miles long, will be built in just one and a half months. Now this railway to the coal mine in Huangbian Village, for the people of Guangzhou, is undoubtedly an unprecedented impact, and the people are like rushing to the temple fair to see the lively, where the onlookers are different, the gentry of Guangzhou, all of them are very dignified, this railway and this train in front of them opened a new door.

"Your Excellency, this railway, although it is only a coal mine railway now, but it is also a new era in China, in the future it will extend all the way to the north, all the way to Hunan, Hubei, and continue to extend north from Wuchang, and eventually it will connect to the northernmost part of China, all the way to Siberia, you know where you can't build a railway!"

At this time, Li Ziyuan's whole person seemed full of ambition, and he seemed to be calm, but his heart was very excited.

China's first railway!

It was built by him Li Ziyuan!

Although it was only a few kilometres, even the rails used to build the railway were just surplus materials left over from the construction of the railways in India.

But it is this railway, which is only a few kilometers short, but it means a new beginning, and it is bound to set off a revolution in China's road transportation.

And he, Li Ziyuan, this is the founder of all this! This was his first achievement in Guangdong, and the rest, however, was an ordinary task carried out under the guidance of the Han Governor.

"The route of this railway was explored by British engineers, the rails of the railway are made in England, and the steamer cars are also made in England, and now British industrial products are about to play their role in the land of China, and I believe that this is a new beginning of friendship between China and Britain!"

Wen Han looked at the governor of Guangdong in front of him in surprise, this railway and train have proved that the difference between him and the Qing officials also proves the difference between the new government.

But what really surprised him was that Li Ziyuan was able to speak to him fluently, which was completely beyond his expectations, and since when these Chinese officials have abandoned their arrogance.

"Your Excellency, as you said, this railway symbolizes the friendship between our two countries!"

Surprised, Wen Han replied in as calm a tone as possible that as the British minister to China, he had come into contact with many Chinese officials, but no Chinese official had ever had such a strong impact on him as Li Ziyuan.

At the time of the great changes in Canton, he instructed that "the British attitude is to remain neutral", and even when Li Ziyuan checked the tobacco ban, he also asked the merchants to remain calm in the face of their demands, ostensibly on the grounds that the Chinese did not directly infringe on the interests of the British merchants. But in reality this was a direct instruction from London, which demanded that the Far East maintain the status quo and remain neutral in the face of civil unrest in China.

London's demands are fundamentally linked to the current war between Russia and Turkey, which is likely to break out in the future, at least for now that Congress is discussing all this.

With Britain at any time likely to be involved in a war with Russia, maintaining the status quo in the Far East was the duty of Wenham, as minister to China.

Of course, this does not mean that there will be concessions, just as now that he has accepted the invitation to attend the opening ceremony of China's first railway, he has the idea of having a direct dialogue with Li Ziyuan in the hope that he will make some concessions.

But now, the train in front of him and Li Ziyuan's fluent English completely changed his original thoughts.

"Your Excellency, the railway was invented by the British, and the UK also has the most advanced machine technology in the world, and I believe that the UK can play a greater role in the future when China builds the railway, and the British banks can even provide you with loans!"

For any British envoy abroad, commercial interests must be considered, and the current move of the Chinese to build a railway will bring unprecedented benefits to British industry.

For Britain, this is what Britain needs, as for opium, it has never been the core of Britain's interests, Britain's interests lie in industrial manufacturing, and Britain's pursuit of free trade is precisely to sell Britain-made industrial products to the world.

"Give us a loan? Building a railway? ”

Wen Han's suggestion surprised Li Ziyuan for a while, and then said with a smile.

"This matter is not up to me, but I think there is room for negotiation, maybe you can go to Wuchang and Handu for a direct interview!"

Li Ziyuan inadvertently sent an invitation to Wen Han, inviting the British minister to visit Wuchang, which was what Han Du meant, he just took the opportunity to send an invitation.

"Is this an invitation?"

If it was a European country, Wen Han would not be surprised, but in the face of this sudden invitation here, he was even a little uncomfortable.

When Wen Han was surprised, Li Ziyuan looked at the train and looked at the pocket watch, the auspicious time has arrived!

The sound of firecrackers sounded at the train station, and the train whistled as the train was about to leave the station.

"Your Excellency, Minister, please!"

"Governor, please!"

In the politeness of the two, Li Ziyuan got on the train first, and then all the guests followed on the train.

Honk!

In the sound of the train's whistle, the train slowly left the station, and the entire Xiguan was full of surprise, and almost every onlooker looked at the train with surprise, dragging seven carriages.

How did he get on this railroad?

The onlookers thought so, and even more people eagerly looked at the box office at the train station, wanting to buy a ticket to taste the freshness.

And for the people in the carriage, they were even more surprised than the people outside the car, at the moment when the train was moving, Wu Chongyao couldn't help but grab the seat with his hand for fear of being thrown away.

"Clang......"

In the sound of the carriage, Wu Chongyao looked at the people in the carriage in surprise, almost everyone was like him, with a look of surprise on their faces, of course, there were also people like him, with solemn expressions as if they were thinking about something.

"Old, man, is this a foreigner's steamer?"

Pan Shicheng's tone was a little nervous, his face was pale, he sat nervously on the chair, and he didn't even dare to move.

"No, I've seen a model of it on a foreigner's ship in the past, but I didn't think it would ...... so soon."

In fact, the speed of the train at this time was not fast, at most ten miles, but for those who were used to riding in sedan chairs and carriages, this speed was too fast.

"Quick! If only we could hurry up! ”

Someone on the side spoke again.

"If this train can travel thousands of miles in a day, then there will be less suffering from long journeys in the future."

As soon as Lu Maoguan said this, the people next to him nodded yes, but that's not the reason.

"Looks like this railroad is a good thing!"

"Good stuff! Hum! ”

As soon as the man's voice fell, someone spoke.

"I don't know about other places, but for us in Guangzhou, this train is not just a good thing!"

The words from there reached his ears, and Wu Chongyao looked at him in surprise.

"Is he thinking the same as he is?"

In the eyes of everyone, only the young man was seen to say solemnly.

"For us in Guangzhou, this train is a life-saving thing, have you seen this train?"

The young man's head pointed back.

"Seven whole carriages! Two sections of life, five sections of goods! Think about it, if there is a railway, as the governor said, it can go from Guangzhou all the way to Wuchang, passing through the prefecture along the way, and local goods from all over the country gather on trains, and there are trains to carry them to Guangzhou. Foreign goods from all over the world gather in Guangzhou, and then ship to the mainland from Guangzhou! When the time comes, how can I not restore the prosperity of the past! (To be continued.) )