I-shaped railways were laid, and many people didn't know what it was. In particular, business travelers who passed by were surprised to see the railway not far from the road.

In the eleventh year of the Apocalypse, because of the opening of the civil business of the telegraph, the price was not too expensive, only 20 wen yuan per word, which was considered a conscience price in the era when the telegraph first appeared. One yuan can send a telegram of 25 words, even ordinary people can afford to use it in an emergency.

Therefore, the people also have some experience with these novelties, although they don't quite understand what these railways do. Soon people inquired about trains, and things like trains began to spread among people's mouths, but few people had ever seen a train and didn't know how fast things were.

However, some horse-drawn carriage passenger merchants feel a little bad at this time.

Previously, the post station has undergone some reform, private businessmen can participate in passenger transport, and the post station provides accommodation along the way, the effect is quite good, which greatly facilitates the flow of the private population.

Finally, in the middle of the year, the first railway was officially opened.

Beijing-Tianjin Railway, this is not a very long railway, and there is no difficult terrain along the way, as long as a roadbed is laid, and then the sleepers and rails can be laid, and the construction speed is relatively fast.

On the day of its opening, the railway station was almost full of people on the inside and outside of the three floors. It is a double-track railway, one train departs from the capital and the other departs from the Tianjin Port Railway Station, and the two trains depart almost simultaneously.

Both trains were hung with ten wagons, and the trains, full of passengers, moved at the sound of a whistle, and slowly accelerated, and after a while the speed increased to 18 kilometers per hour, and then stopped accelerating.

Obviously, the train speed at this time is not fast. That's a lot slower than the afterlife.

However, the train only needs to make short stops along the way, and most of the time it runs 24 hours a day.

It can travel 180 kilometers in ten hours, and even if the cavalry troops are lightly armed, the speed of the march in a day is basically only 100 kilometers. If you are an infantryman, you can travel 100 miles a day, that is, 50 kilometers, which is considered a very fast speed.

In the course of the war. Long distances are often the most disadvantaged. After a long journey, if logistics can no longer keep up with the logistics of a strong combat unit, the combat effectiveness will drop sharply.

But with the train, the soldier was at best a little tired from the car, and he recovered quickly after getting off the train, and the train ensured military supplies.

The appearance of the train, which was definitely of great military significance, meant that the Ming Dynasty could control more distant territories.

If it's twenty hours. The train can travel 360 kilometers, which is equivalent to a distance of 720 miles, and it actually takes less than 4 hours to replenish along the way, and the train runs at full speed for a day, deducting the time for supply, it is very easy to travel 800 miles, which is equivalent to an eightfold increase in the marching speed of the infantry, even the cavalry does not have such a speed.

After the opening of this railway. From Beijing to Tianjin, it only takes about 7 hours. Even being able to ride back and forth on the same day was unimaginable in the past, and even if it was only 120 kilometers away, it would take almost two days to travel by horse-drawn carriage.

Trains are not only faster, but they are also more efficient, carrying large numbers of people and goods at a time. Transportation costs have dropped dramatically.

The goods equivalent to the port of Tianjin can be quickly transported to the capital at a low transportation cost, and the goods in the capital can also be quickly transported to the port, and then transported from sea and land to the coastal provinces and overseas colonies and trade ports.

With railways, the regional division of production can be further clarified. The cost of transporting bulk goods that are not expensive is solved.

Commercial grain from the Tohoku region can be transported in large quantities to the provinces of Kannai. and the coastal provinces of the south. Shanxi's coal can also be sold to the provinces at a lower cost.

Cotton from the Western Regions can also be transported to the coastal provinces for weaving at a low transportation cost, as can Mongolian wool.

The prices of various commodities and raw materials can be lowered, and the competitiveness of commodities can be rapidly improved. Overseas trade can be further expanded, and the production scale of bulk commodity producing areas can also be expanded.

Commodities can also be manufactured and sold in large quantities.

Commodities are wealth, and when the scale of wealth production is large, and then we do a good job in wealth distribution, the people at the bottom will naturally become rich, and the people's livelihood will naturally improve.

That's what development is for.

Zhu Youxiao saw that loading was still using manpower to resist the bag, and there were a large number of workers at the railway station and the wharf who resisted the bag. Orders were then placed to study steam cranes to further improve transportation efficiency.

Of course, there are no cars yet, and there is no way to make such a thing as a container. Or it can be sorted out, but the train has to be repaired to the port to load the ship, and the trains in these years are directly repaired to the factory gate and the port. However, the loading and unloading of containers requires more complex supporting facilities, and there is nothing to do for the time being.

However, if there is a crane, even if it is a loose crane, that is, a one-time lifting of twenty or thirty bags of goods, the efficiency can be further improved.

The steam crane is not a technically complex thing, as long as the mechanical principle is used and the steam engine drive can be added.

With the current mechanical level accumulated by the Ming Dynasty, it can be completely realized. Moreover, the speed of government-funded research and development is very fast, and there is no need to worry about the shortage of manpower, material resources and other resources.

Tianjin Industrial Park and Jingshi Industrial Zone were the first to enjoy the benefits of such technological progress, and the state-owned factories and private factories in the industrial zones soon tasted the huge sweetness.

If the railway can spread throughout Daming, it will mean that the goods can be sold farther and have a broader market.

In the past, the goods of a factory were restricted by transportation conditions, and after the goods were sold to a certain distance, they would lose their competitiveness due to the rise in transportation costs, but now it is different.

Merchants desperately needed more railroads and joined in supporting their construction. The Daming Railway Company also absorbed private funds on the stock exchange for development, and soon a stock fever was formed. In order to speed up the construction of railways, businessmen invested in railways one after another.

At the same time, after the opening of the Beijing-Tianjin railway, it quickly became profitable.

Passenger transportation on the railways is efficient and fast. Moreover, there are many people transported at one time, and the profit in passenger transportation is very high. The price is not much different from horse-drawn carriage passenger transport, which is the reason for the huge profits. But even with such a high price, there are still a large number of passengers who take the train, because the train is faster and smoother.

At the same time, it also generates higher profits on freight. This has led to a return on investment of 13% and is highly sought after by investors.

At this time, the railway construction is not only supported by the central government, but also supported by bank loans, and more private funds are absorbed, which can be said to be fully guaranteed in terms of construction funds.

Under such circumstances, the scale of railway construction expanded rapidly.

The construction of the strategic railway began rapidly, and the construction of the railway has become the top priority of the entire New Deal area. Merchants and the common people alike began to desperately hope that the railway would be laid to the provinces.

Railways meant greater benefits and opportunities not only for businessmen, but also for ordinary people. It's also extremely convenient.

In the past, when there were only horse-drawn carriages, it was very inconvenient to go out across regions. Nowadays, a large number of migrant workers and other groups have appeared, and with the prosperity of industry and commerce, the floating population has also increased.

For some immigrants and migrant workers, it is not very convenient to return to their hometowns.

After having a train, it is very convenient, you don't have to worry about food and accommodation along the way, and the speed is relatively fast. And as long as it's not a natural disaster to some degree, the train is rain or shine.

With the application of steam engines to production on an increasing scale. Commodities are also manufactured in large quantities, and the transportation problem is very prominent.

The advent of the railroad. It can be said that this problem is solved.

However, the problem has not been completely solved, because the efficiency of shipping is still a little unable to keep up with the speed of industrial development. In the port of Tianjin, the first steamship was also built in the tenth year of the Apocalypse.

There aren't many technical things about ships. It was nothing more than building the hull out of steel, and at the same time installing a steam engine to drive the propellers. This creates the momentum that proppels the boat forward.

Therefore, after the advent of the high-pressure steam engine, the steamship was quickly and successfully manufactured. The first steamship built was not of much tonnage, but a 500-ton 'small steamer'.

Ships of this class can indeed only be called 'small steamers'. This kind of small steamer is very advantageous in the river, can penetrate deep into the upper reaches of the river, if there are a large number of these small steamers, the local water transport efficiency in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River can be greatly improved.

The cargo that this small steamer can carry is not too much, and for every 2 times the tonnage of the ship, the propulsion required will only increase by 1.5 times, so the larger the ship, the larger the cargo. Especially for steamships powered by steam engines, a larger vessel means a smaller proportion of the power system and a smaller proportion of space to store coal, and a larger proportion of the ship's hold to transport cargo. At the same time, the larger the ship, the stronger the storm resistance at sea and the safer it is.

The telegram was sent to the capital, and Zhu Youxiao was overjoyed.

"Great, with the ship, Daming has not swept the world yet." Zhu Youxiao looked excited, he continued to expand overseas, immigrate, and export goods, but because of the lack of maritime capacity, the progress was relatively slow. Year after year, a lot of financial and material resources have been invested, and it is only the current situation.

In fact, the colonization efficiency and development efficiency have been very fast, but in the eyes of the traverser, it is indeed very slow, and nothing is convenient.

There are various restrictions on sailing boats, such as monsoons, etc., and although it is possible to sail against the wind with a sidesail, the speed is relatively slow. At the same time, the living environment of the personnel on the ship is very harsh and bumpy. However, China's traditional ship types have been limited by sailing materials and other problems, and have not been able to improve.

Now with steamships, the problem is solved.

Ships no longer use sails, and they don't have to look at the face of the monsoon to go to sea. At the same time, the traditional Chinese ship type is more scientific, which is very suitable for the installation of steam power, the comfort is greatly improved, and the sea environment is no longer so harsh. Useful for sea activities and migration activities.

In addition, the speed of steam ships has also been greatly increased, and the efficiency of maritime transportation will be greatly improved.

With the first steamer, are you afraid that there will be no second?

Zhu Youxiao immediately ordered the shipyard to build a steamship with a larger tonnage, and as long as the tonnage of the steamship was increased, the efficiency of shipping would be greatly improved.

At that time, it will be much easier to emigrate overseas, and it will be much easier to export goods.

"It seems that the foreign strategy has to change again." Zhu Youxiao thought about it, the emergence of steamships will inevitably solve the problem of commodity transportation, and the Ming Dynasty will need a larger commodity market at that time.

The nearest huge commodity market today is naturally India.

At this time, India was still ruled by the Mughal dynasty established by the Mongols, since the Mughal dynasty could rule India, why couldn't the Ming Dynasty?

The idea of conquering India by force soon appeared in Zhu Youxiao's mind.

To conquer India, it is actually relatively simple. India is a country where basically any cat or dog can rule for a period of time.

The reason for this is that India is a political structure composed of hundreds or thousands of princely states, and it is impossible for foreign invaders to eliminate these princely states, and once they seize the central rule, the final result is to become one with these princely states, and everyone continues with the previous system.

The power of local administration is still in the hands of those princely families, many of which are millennium families, similar to the kind of gate-lord clans before the Sui and Tang dynasties in China, but with greater power over local secession.

As a central ruler, if India is to be conquered outright, the price is too great. Once everyone in those princely states is in danger and rises up to resist, the power is absolutely incomparably huge, and the foreign invaders will not be able to swallow India whole. Therefore, the successive rulers of India have let these princely states manage the places and then extract taxes.

As for the change of central power, those princely clans are not very concerned. So on the battlefield, they can't really work hard.

This has also led to a very weak resistance of India to foreign invaders.

If the Mongols could rule India, why couldn't the Ming Dynasty? Even if the Mughal dynasty was in its heyday, so what?

Later, the reason why Britain was able to rule India was actually to discover the problem of India's ruling structure, bribed the princely state army on the battlefield, and let the princely state army defect, which defeated the Mughal dynasty in one fell swoop, and then signed a series of treaties, continued to bleed the Mughal dynasty, and when the blood was drained, the Mughal dynasty was kicked away, and began to rule India directly, signing treaties with local princely states.

If you want to truly and thoroughly rule India, it will indeed cost a lot of money, and Zhu Youxiao is not the savior of the Indian people, so there is no need to spend such a big price to go to India to 'cut the feudal domain' and destroy those princely states. But with the current strength of the Ming Dynasty, it is not difficult to defeat the central power of India.

Just when Zhu Youxiao was planning to attack India, news came from Honglu Temple that a Mongolian had reported to the embassy and found traces of the remnants of Jiannu...... (To be continued.) )