Like China, the construction of railways in Japan was by no means smooth, on the contrary, it was controlled everywhere, and the Japanese at that time, like the Chinese, did not have a deep understanding of railways and had many resistances. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 Although there are a few big businessmen who are willing to pay, on the whole, private capital is still not willing to pay for the construction of railways, and the budget is always insufficient. Therefore, the Ministry of Industry finally had no choice but to incorporate the railway into its own territory in advance and open a government-run railway. However, the government's financial difficulties have led to further cuts in the construction budget. The original plan was to import sleepers from the UK, but in the end, domestic wood was used for sleepers. At that time, the railway was scheduled to pass through the Tama River, so a bridge was built over it. It was originally planned to import British stone to build a stone bridge. As a result, due to lack of budget, it was abandoned and replaced with a wooden bridge. The original plan was to cross several rivers and build bridges. As a result, all were abandoned, and the route was modified to avoid the river as much as possible. What followed was even more trouble. Because of rumors that the railway was a bad thing, when the railway was built in these densely populated areas of the Tokyo area, local residents organized demonstrations and prevented the railway from passing. The Ministry of Works, which had no choice but to persuade the Ministry of Industry to no avail, had no choice but to build a dam on the sea and a railway on the embankment. Japan's first railway was 29 kilometers long, and nearly 10 kilometers of the line was this type of sea embankment line. And due to a lack of budget, Okuma had to decide to use narrow gauges. As a result, Japanese railways quickly reached their natural limits and their capacity was insufficient.

Troubles from the private sector continued, and opposition within the Japanese government has not disappeared. However, the Ministry of Industry continued to build the line, and on June 12, 1872, the Shinagawa-Yokohama line was successfully put into trial operation, and on September 12, the Shimbashi-Yokohama line was announced. It was Japan's first practical railway, and its completion was a major symbol of Japan's industrialization and modernization. On the day of the opening, Emperor Meiji departed from Shimbashi Station on the first train appointed by Emperor Meiji and arrived at Yokohama Station safely at a speed of 32.8 kilometers per hour. After the news broke, the whole country was sensational. The perception of railways was greatly reversed, and all kinds of resistance quickly disappeared. On October 15, the railway officially opened. The business was open for several days in a row, and many Chinese and businessmen came to experience what it was like to ride the train. At that time, Japan's modern industry was just beginning to emerge, and railway transportation was mainly passenger transportation. According to the data, at that time, the passenger car was divided into upper, middle and lower classes, with the upper class ticket being 1 yuan 12 yuan and 5 cents, the middle ticket being 75 yuan, and the inferior ticket being 37 yuan and 5 cents. Considering that the price of an inferior ticket at that time was enough to buy 5 and a half liters (about 10 kilograms) of rice. So at that time, taking the train was still out of the reach of ordinary people.

As a backward feudal country that was previously closed off from the rest of the country, it only took a few years to build a practical railway and open it for guests. This fact caused a sensation all over the world, and Emperor Meiji was very pleased with the construction of the railway. Because of his advice, Okuma strongly supported the construction of the railway by the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Industry, and was a great contributor to the construction of the railway. Therefore, the emperor rewarded him with a sword, a reward of 600 yuan, and an edict of thanks. Okuma became one of the brightest figures of the Meiji era, and since then he has reached the pinnacle of his life.

At this time, Okuma did not expect that he would fall from the peak of his life in the near future.

"Japan now has railways, but the Qing country does not have railways, which makes it easy for people like Saigo-kun and Yamagu-kun to believe that the Qing country is big and weak." Hirofumi Ito sighed sarcastically, "And Japan's achievements are obvious to the whole world, and Japan's strength has increased too quickly, fueling their ambitions for foreign expansion, so it's really difficult to do!" ”

"Takeo Yama Prefecture and Saigo Fool will only bring obstacles to Japan's progress! Someday, it will be thrown into the dustbin of history! Shigenobu Okuma remembered the stumbling block that Aritomo Yamaguchi and Takamori Saigo had made for him, and said with some annoyance.

"Now, Yanagihara-kun and Sojima-kun seem to be on their side!" Ito Hirobumi did not tell Saigo Takamori's younger brother Saigo about the visit that day, but he still reminded him to pay attention to this group of people who planned to "develop" to Taiwan.

"Yanagihara-kun has always been shrewd and capable, how could he be tempted by Shan County and Xixiang this time to go to Taiwan for 'sightseeing'? As a result, he was arrested, and he gave Qingguo the truth in vain. Shigenobu Okuma thought of Yanagihara Maemitsu, who was currently "missing", and his brows twisted into two black bumps again, "I really don't know why he is involved!" ”

"Maybe he'll find something in Taiwan that we don't know about." Ito Hirofumi still admires Yanagihara Maeko's ability, and at this moment, he can't help but think a little about Yanagihara Maeko's safety, "It's just that I don't know where he is now, everything will have to wait until he appears." Hopefully he won't have any trouble. ”

"May he come back safely!" Okuma Shigenobu also cherishes Yanagihara Maemitsu's talents, "I hope he can bring back more useful information about Kiyokoku!" ”

At this time, neither Okuma Shigenobu nor Ito Hirobumi would have thought about what kind of trouble Yanagihara Maemitsu and others had encountered.

On the sea, the gunboat "Fusheng".

"Lord Deng, I want to know, how long will it take for the fault to be eliminated?" Yanagihara Maemitsu watched Deng Shichang, who had an annoyed look on his face, come up from the cabin, and hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "We've been drifting at sea for two days!" ”

"Mr. Yanagihara, please don't worry, I will definitely eliminate the fault as soon as possible, don't worry." Deng Shichang's face showed impatience, but he still said very politely, "I promise, I will send you to Tianjin safely." ”

"I want to ask, Lord Deng, did your ship often have such a breakdown in the past?" Yanagihara asked a little unwillingly, "Is this failure a human error, or is the machine damaged?" ”

"Mr. Yanagihara asked this, is he not able to trust me Deng?" Deng Shichang asked rhetorically with a sullen face.

"No, no, I don't mean to believe Lord Deng." Yanagihara Maemitsu realized that he had said rude words in a hurry, so he quickly waved his hand again and again, and changed his words, "I mean, worry...... If the machine is damaged, is it difficult to repair it at sea? ”

"Of course!" Deng Shichang said patiently, "Mr. Yanagihara doesn't know that the failure of this ship is a common occurrence when sailing, and the weather, wind and waves, accidental touch, and grounding can all damage the turbine. The service time of this ship is not long, the machine is still new, but our ship is not enough to use, the imperial court is transferred to the north and the south, and the rust and wear of the machine are intensified after the rain and waves, so there will be a failure. If an important component is damaged, it will inevitably lose power. I went down to inspect it, and there was no major damage to the machine, only a few minor damages, and there were no spare parts on the ship, so if I could meet other ships, I could borrow one or two, and the ship could be resumed. ”

"That'...... I see that this ship is equipped with sails, can I sail with sails? Yanagihara asked cautiously.

"Zhang Fan can sail, but now the wind is not in the right direction!" Deng Shichang said with some embarrassment, "If Zhang Fan is at this time, wouldn't it be blown back?" ”

Hearing Deng Shichang's answer, Yanagihara Qianguang couldn't help but secretly complain in his heart.

From the time they left Taiwan's Jilong Port to the present, they have been at sea for ten days.

And these ten days were supposed to be the best time for him to solve the troublesome matter of that Kagoshima Prefecture samurai who wanted to naturalize China!

At this time, Yanagihara Qianguang was upset, and after listening to Deng Shichang's explanation, he knew that it was useless to ask more, so he politely said goodbye to Deng Shichang and returned to his cabin.

Yanagihara Maeko looked out through the porthole and looked at the vast sea, feeling for the first time that he was surrounded by a deep sense of helplessness.

"You're the again! Bastard! Yanagihara Maemitsu scolded fiercely.

He understands now that all this is Lin Yizhe's intentional arrangement! The purpose is to prevent him from arriving in Tianjin as soon as possible!

The gunboat "Fusheng" he was on was steam-powered, and he had already seen its speed (the "Fusheng" could run at the fastest of 13 knots, which had already been shown when he caught them), and since it left Jilong Harbor, this gunboat has been running slowly (Deng Shichang is sailing at an economic speed of 7 knots), and he has never seen a full speed sailing, and the intention of this is very obvious.

And judging from the performance of that Captain Deng in the past few days, his judgment has been further confirmed.

The speed of this gunboat was supposed to be very fast, and after the captain set sail, he never gave the order to let the gunboat sail at full speed, obviously deliberately "grinding foreign workers"!

When Yanagihara Maemitsu asked Captain Deng to sail at full speed, the captain said that he could not help, because he consumed coal at full speed, and coal was very expensive, and his monthly "sailing fee" was only a little bit, and he had no extra money to buy coal. However, Captain Deng said that if the Japanese could pay for the extra coal, he certainly wouldn't mind "going a little faster."

Hearing Deng Shichang's answer, Yanagihara Qianguang's nose was almost crooked. He and his subordinates had confiscated all the equipment and materials except for their belongings, where did they get the money to buy coal?

Now the ship has just passed the waters near Shanghai, but there is another machine failure that cannot be eliminated, so that the ship has been floating on the sea for two whole days!

Unless it is deliberately arranged, how can there be such a coincidence in this world?

At this time, Lin Yizhe's "guilty face" appeared in front of his eyes again.

Thinking that he was once again being played by Lin Yizhe in his palm, Yanagihara Qianguang was indignant.

In addition to anger, there is fear.

At this time, Yanagihara Maeko felt a sense of helplessness that permeated his whole body.

Yanagihara Maemitsu didn't know that at this time, he had already suffered from "Lin's phobia" and became the second patient of Lin's phobia (the first was Prussia's "Evil Young Willy"), and in the future, this list will continue to lengthen!