"Childe, the territory of your Great Song Dynasty is too big, it takes more than a month to go from Guangzhou to the capital, no wonder you haven't been home for two years." On the wide surface of the Yellow River, Agnes standing on the deck looked at the scenery on both sides of the Yellow River while smiling and complaining to Zhao Jia next to him.

At this time, the Yellow River was not as turbid and turbulent as in later generations, especially in the middle and lower reaches of the river, the river surface was relatively gentle, so the general big ships could travel on the river, and most of the material transportation in Tokyo City also needed to pass through the water transportation of the Yellow River, so it can be said that the Yellow River at this time was the busiest period in history.

"Yes, the territory is too large and there is indeed a problem of inconvenient transportation, but this is not without a solution, now my Da Song has been solving the problem of transportation, maybe in a few years, it will not take more than a month to travel from Guangzhou to Tokyo." Zhao Jia smiled when he heard this.

"How can the traffic problem be solved, it is nothing more than building roads, but along the way, I looked, from Guangzhou to Tokyo, whether it is a water or land route, it is already very good, how can this be solved?" Agnes said very puzzled when she heard Zhao Jia's words.

"Haha, improving transportation is not just about building roads, if you are interested in this aspect, we will soon go to the river port outside Kaifeng City, and then we will get off the boat there, and then I will take you to see something." Zhao Jia laughed mysteriously at this time, the main reason why he didn't say it was because he was afraid that Agnes would ask questions, so it was better to take her to see it directly.

Hearing that Zhao Jia refused to speak, Agnes was also full of curiosity, but she asked a few questions Zhao Jia just smiled and didn't say anything, which made her pout a little dissatisfied, Zhao Jia looked at Agnes angry with the corner of her eye, but she smiled secretly in her heart. Speaking of which, when Agnes first met him, she was very timid and cautious, but when the two got acquainted, Agnes slowly showed the lively side of the girl, and her personality was a little naïve, but judging from the character she showed now. Agnes is indeed unfit to rule an empire, and it is estimated that her father was also carried away by the betrayal of his two sons, and in a fit of rage, he made her the heir to the throne.

Zhao Jia's boat went up the Yellow River, and it was about to arrive at the river port on the south side of Kaifeng, which already belonged to the scope of Kaifeng, and even stood on the port to see the city wall of Kaifeng City, but there was still a distance to go in the middle.

However, just as Zhao Jia and their boat were about to enter the river port, they suddenly saw a medium-sized boat rushing towards the river in front of them, and this boat had a strange style. There were no sails on the boat, but the speed was surprisingly fast, and Zhao Jia and their boat passed by, and in the blink of an eye, they had already rushed out a few hundred steps, and disappeared from everyone's sight after a few turns on the river.

"Childe, what kind of ship is this, how can it run so fast without sails?" Agnes looked in the direction of the strange ship and said in amazement. It was the first time she had seen a ship so fast.

"Hehe, this ship is called a steamboat. For the time being, it is only found on inland rivers, but it is believed that it will not be long before such steam ships will appear on the sea. Zhao Jia said with a smile, although the speed of the ship just now was fast, he also saw a lot of cargo piled up on the deck of the ship, and it seemed that this kind of ship had begun to enter the practical stage. It's just that because the promotion time is not long, and the people's acceptance of new things always needs a period of transition, so I haven't been able to see more.

"Steamship? It's a weird name, and there are no sails on the ship, why does it run so fast? Agnes asked again puzzled.

"This ......," Zhao Jia hesitated, still a little embarrassed. The principle of a steamship is more complicated, but I'll show you something in a moment and help you explain it later. ”

Hearing Zhao Jia say this, Agnes had no choice but to put all the doubts in her heart for the time being, and then looked at the huge river port in front of her with curiosity, which is the main junction between the Yellow River waterway and Kaifeng City, so the port is full of people, and the carts drawn by oxen and horses are lined up in a long line, waiting to load and unload the goods.

"Hey, why do all the horses and cows pulling carts carry a bag behind them?" Agnes asked again.

"That's to prevent cattle and horses from defecating in the open and polluting the environment of the port." Zhao Jia replied a little weakly, he really wanted to pry open Agnes's little brain at this time to take a look, why did she have so many questions to ask?

"Oh, then why are there so many tall poles in the harbor to raise the flag?" Agnes asked, pointing to the large poles lining the harbor.

"Those are for lifting, and the poles are tied with ropes and pulleys, so that they can lift heavy loads and facilitate the loading and unloading of goods on the ship." Zhao Jia explained again that in fact, these poles are simple cranes, which are very convenient for loading and unloading goods, but the cost is not low.

"Then why don't we see these poles in the port over there?" Agnes asked again.

"Guangzhou is close to Nanyang, and the price of the natives in Nanyang is cheap, many merchants are willing to buy natives to work as coolies in the port, the cost of these natives is much cheaper than these big poles, and the city of Tokyo is more restricted on the affairs of native slaves, and the manpower is more expensive, so there are these big poles." Zhao Jia patiently explained again.

"Oh, I see!" Hearing this, Agnes nodded, and at the same time she also thought that when she was on the docks in Guangzhou, she did see many natives from Nanyang working as coolies.

"Woo~Woo~" Just as Zhao Jia and Agnes were about to get off the boat, they suddenly heard a loud cry from the dock, accompanied by a strange roar, and then saw a long monster swallowing clouds and mist coming from a distance.

"Ah~!" Seeing the monster in the distance that was like a long snake swallowing clouds and mist, Agnes immediately screamed in fright, and then suddenly got into Zhao Jia's arms, and his whole body trembled with fear, "Dragon...... It's a dragon! ”

In Western mythology, only dragons are creatures that swallow clouds and fireworks, so it is normal for Agnes to have such associations, and Western dragons have always been representatives of evil in their mythology, no wonder Agnes is so afraid, but Zhao Jia laughed and said: "Agnes, hurry up, this is not a dragon, but a train made by our Great Song Dynasty, this is the tool I said before to improve transportation." (To be continued.) )

PS: Yesterday was still sunny like early spring, but the night was a gust of wind to cool down, the electricity on the old fish's side also stopped, more than nine o'clock to come, and the wife also caught a cold, the old fish had to look at the daughter while coding words, a morning was only two thousand, but the wife's illness is much better, in the afternoon the old fish will make up for the lack of a thousand words.