"So you two came on foot from the West?"

Albert speaking of Marco? It immediately became clear to him that the two men must have read the travelogues written by the Italian merchant and chose to cross the Eurasian continent on foot to ancient China.

The Ottoman Empire, which straddled the Balkans and Asia Minor, as well as West Asia and North Africa, was an almost insurmountable obstacle, and although they were still slaves of the Mongols, they eventually managed to reach China.

"Conrad and I set out from Württemberg, passed through Bavaria, Austria, Poland, Russia, bypassed the Ottomans, the enemy of God, and then went south into Persia in the Caucasus, passing through the Kalmyk territory before finally reaching the steppe ruled by the barbarians......"

Li Xin knew the rest of the experience, if he hadn't accidentally hit the cavalry of the Han Department outside the border wall, I am afraid that these two explorers from the West would have to live as slaves for the rest of their lives.

Now Europe is the heyday of the Renaissance, it is no longer the dark Middle Ages, and China is about to usher in the darkest and darkest era in its history, these two guys full of adventure passion have not come at the right time.

"You don't stay in Europe to enjoy the liberation and freedom brought by the Renaissance, but you want to come to the East to wade into troubled waters, and if you don't meet me, you may be slaves to the Mongols until you die!"

The two of them looked dazed, not knowing what Li Xin was talking about. It's no wonder that this was originally a term summarized by later generations, and it's not surprising that they don't know.

"General Li, I'm afraid you don't know much about the situation in Europe, there is a protracted religious war going on in the Holy Roman Empire, and it has been fought for more than twenty years now, and I don't know when it will come to an end."

"Religious Wars?"

Heisenberg nodded, and Albert continued: "Ludwig's family was Protestant, and after being defeated in the war, the two of us wanted to come to the East to have a look. ”

Listening to Albert's meaning, Heisenberg was really a nobleman in Germany, Albert saw the puzzled look in Li Xin's eyes, and said bluntly: "Ludwig's father is Count Van Lingen, and he has the noble blood of the Hohenzollern family in his veins......"

Li Xin didn't know much about the history of Europe, and listening to Albert, this family seemed to be very good in Europe, but he only knew that there was a Habsburg family in Europe who was very powerful, and now he should be the king of Austria.

He chatted with the two foreign devils for a long time, and then he learned what kind of chaos had become in Europe, especially Central Europe. Suffice it to say, all the countries he could name and the countries he couldn't name were involved in the war, and it was France, Austria, Bohemia, and Saxony that were all in one pot. Heisenberg's father's county should be considered a very inconspicuous small territory in these countries.

In the end, Li Xin only felt hungry and growled, and just wanted to ask someone to make three bowls of noodles and serve them, but an idea jumped out of his mind. It's better to go to the street to see what to eat, and by the way, you can also visit the people.

The two foreign devils immediately readily agreed, they had long been suffocated and had always wanted to see China's customs and customs, and Li Xin's mentionable yì could be said to be right in the middle. But after Li Xin took them to the street, he immediately regretted it.

Due to the first war, there were not many people on the street, but two blond, blue-eyed, deep-eyed Fanbang people followed left and right, and the rate of turning heads and onlookers increased exponentially. There are even good people who follow all the way, just to see the strangeness.

In this way, Li Xin can't keep a low profile if he wants to. In a moment, dozens of people followed behind the three of them, and there was a lot of commotion. This situation immediately attracted the attention of the post-war pickets patrolling the city.

An officer on a tall horse led a dozen riders quickly arrived at the scene of the riot, and this kind of gathering to make trouble was repeatedly forbidden, and their task was to disperse these people, and then arrest the first perpetrator of the disturbance and interrogate him.

But when I got closer, I realized that the two strange-shaped Fanbang men weren't the subordinates brought by the three guards? Looking at the leader again, it is the chief soldier of the three guards. Where did the officer dare to slacken, he immediately ordered people to drive away the good deeds who were following him one by one.

Li Xin saw that there were pickets coming to drive people out so soon, and he thought that Mao Weizhang's work was still quite similar, and the work efficiency of the pickets was also good. He took advantage of the chaos to drag the two people away, straight out of the two streets, and then settled down.

However, it was originally going to the north of the city, and after this toss, it went to the south of the city. Because the Mongol Tartars broke into the north of the city that day, the damage to the south of the city was relatively small, and the ruins and broken walls of the northern city were actually two worlds.

Suddenly, I smelled a burst of aroma, and my saliva suddenly surged. I came out to find food, but I didn't expect it to be there. Looking up, a cart stall is not far away. It turned out that the south gate was open today for merchants to enter and exit, and even the food stalls came out.

"Delicious haggis ......"

Li Xin had never eaten this kind of food, and there was no second place to eat, so he walked over with Heisenberg and Albert and sat down at an old wooden table.

"Three bowls!"

"Good ......"

The stall owner didn't spit out a word, and was frightened back into his stomach by Heisenberg and Albert's strange appearances.

Not long after, three bowls of haggis noodle soup were served, and it turned out to be lamb haggis stewed vermicelli.

Li Xin was so hungry that he didn't care about thirty-seven twenty-one, and picked a big chopstick first...... Heisenberg and Albert did the same.

"Do you have railcars in Europe?"

Albert ate a mouth full of oil, he had not eaten hot food in the Mongols for a long time, after being out, he basically ate vegetarian food, and only now did he open the meat, listening to General Li's question, he didn't even have time to swallow the haggis and replied: "Of course there is, but there is no application value, and there are wars everywhere, which lord can still have the money and experience to build this kind of thing?" However, if it can be operated for a long time, the efficiency of the flow of goods between the cities under construction will be greatly improved. ”

Heisenberg also put down the chopsticks he was still very used to, and listened to the discussion between the two people, and seemed to be unable to wipe his mouth.

"If you build a track between Zhenyuwei and the two cities of Yang and Wei, how much manpower will it take and how much time will it take?"

Li Xin didn't expect anyone to answer this question, but the governor just wanted to ask someone to share his thoughts. Who knows that Albert tilted his head and thought for a long time, and then asked another question: "I wonder how far the two cities are apart?" ”

"It's always about one hundred and eighty miles."

Albert said with a wry face: "The distance is so far, and it costs a lot to calculate the wooden tracks. In addition, wooden tracks are highly susceptible to wear and tear, making maintenance more cumbersome. Therefore, this idea is unrealistic. ”

"What if we build a railroad track?"

"Rails?"

Albert's eyes widened as if he had heard of something incredible.

"Oh God! My general, are you joking? ”

"Of course not!"

Wooden tracks are expensive, but they are much easier than iron ones. How many blacksmiths would it take to make this? Even if it is built without cost, I am afraid it will be ten or twenty years later.

"My general, you're joking, to put it mildly! First of all, the construction of iron tracks is our first problem, even if all the people in the city come to strike iron, the speed is not up to the requirements. Secondly, we also need to have abundant iron ore resources......"

Albert listed a lot of the sufferings in front of him, that is, he said that they were all real problems, and it was not easy to overcome them, but Li Xin had his own ideas.

The construction of a track between Zhenyuwei and Yanghewei was to shorten the travel time between the two places. In this way, whether it is marching or transporting goods, it will save time and money. At the same time, it is also the first trial he has conducted, and if it is feasible, it is bound to be rolled out to the whole country.

Just imagine, if there is such a track between Beijing and Shandong, once there is a police in Beijing, Shandong's army can suddenly arrive in a few days. However, if it is a normal march on foot or by water, it will take ten days and a half months.

Li Xin had his own thoughts, and Albert argued for a long time, but he did not refute it, nor did he continue to speak, but continued to bury his head in eating the remaining half bowl of haggis. The peddler was very curious when he saw the two men talking words that they did not understand at all, and looked back and forth at them without a glance, but did not dare to stare at them for too long to be discovered.

A large bowl of haggis was eaten by Li Xin.

"One more bowl!"

The hawker understood this time, and went to the pot again in a hurry! The fire under the iron pot is burning, and it is not firewood.

"This thing that ignites the fire is coal?"

Putting a bowl full of haggis in front of Li Xin, the small vendor bowed his waist, nodded and smiled: "It's the charcoal of our Datong Mansion, so burning!" ”

"Oh? But the coal of our Yang and Wei? ”

The vendor shook his head.

"It's not, we Yang and Wei only produce peat, and it's hard to burn tightly. The good burning charcoal was transported from the Datong Left Guard. ”

"Is there any other place besides Datong Zuowei that has this kind of good coal?"

"Except for Datong Zuowei...... the peddler said for a moment, as if thinking, "then count Hunyuan Prefecture in the south." ”

These two places are not close to Yang and Wei, both are two or three hundred miles away, Li Xin is faintly a little disappointed, although it is not very far, but it is by no means convenient, why Yang and Wei and Zhenwei have not heard of a coal mine! What's more, these two places are not his jurisdiction, and there are many things that he is inconvenient to beak.

Li Xingang wanted to continue asking, but saw Mao Weizhang rushing over with a roaring look!