In November of the third year of the Chu calendar, all the money of Wei arrived, and Liu Ye couldn't wait to carry the battleship...... Ah no, I left the Chu State on a battleship, and I can finally go home for the New Year!

The Marquis of Shu has been in Chu for four years, and he needs to order a deposit of 30% of the salt brocade, which has also been prepared, and was sent along the Three Gorges last month.

Chu State also believed in its word, and after the ship carrying Chu coins left Kuimen, the Xinye First Division was organizing the evacuation of Padang County.

However, the layout of the Three Gorges area is not wasted at all, because ...... It is also necessary to continuously deliver all kinds of commodities to Yizhou, especially the official salt and brocade!

Liu Zhang finally agreed to the conditions of the Chu State.

He even felt that with the price given to him by the Chu State, the Shuhou Mansion was completely profitable!

Zhang Song, who could see that there was something wrong and was the only hope of stopping Liu Zhang, was going to the Han court to "report on his work" on behalf of Liu Zhang at this time, and at the same time he was asking for help.

It was not until the capital of Chu had put the deposit of the Marquis of Shu into the railway that Zhang Song returned to the capital.

However, at this time, Liu Zhang had already paid a high deposit and ...... Now it is impossible for the state of Chu to talk about it again, and if you want to break the contract, you can only prepare for war, which Liu Zhang absolutely cannot accept.

Zhang Song had no choice but to retreat, admonishing Liu Zhang not to be greedy for the profits of Chu Yan and Chu Jin, and to share the risks of this business with other scholars!

The so-called "risk" is not the risk brought by the profits of Chu Yan and Chu Jin, but ...... The big farmers of Jingyan and Shujin may make dangerous moves after learning the news and their own markets are shrinking.

Even so, Zhang Song still felt that it was inappropriate, but it was a pity that the entry of Chu Yan and Chu Jin could not be stopped, and while sighing secretly, he also sighed: It is worthy of His Royal Highness the King of Chu!

In fact, Zhang Song's "patch" of this degree was originally expected by Bai Tu, but it didn't matter......

As long as a large number of Chu salt and Chu Jin enter Yizhou, it will inevitably suppress Shu Jin and Jing Yan, these two pillar industries of Yizhou, even if Liu Zhang cooperates with the original Yanjin clan, so that he will not be hated by the Yanjin clan immediately, it will also cause Yizhou's local salt brocade production to decrease.

The original salt brocade clan, at a profitable cost, directly obtained Chu salt and Chu brocade, which seemed to have little loss, but next will be a large number of original salt workers, weavers, a series of middlemen, and small workshops will be affected!

Reaction is inevitable, but it is only the difference between reaction from the middle and upper layers or from the middle and lower layers.

Of course, as the king of Chu, who cares about the people and always cares about the livelihood and suffering of the people in Yizhou, he has already notified Zhao Yun and Fa Zheng who stayed in Badong County in advance to recruit experienced salt workers and weavers in Badong County, not only to take them in Badong County, but also to provide help for the whole family to move to Chu County.

Especially for those who are skilled in it, after finding out the corresponding situation, they can send someone to invite and give them generous relocation conditions.

If Chu wants to stay ahead, it must continue to absorb foreign talents and constantly improve itself.

No matter how strict the secrecy of the salt works is, there are already signs of leaks - it cannot be ruled out that they have been speculated to be regular.

In the coastal areas of Qingzhou and Jizhou, the navy found that the Marquis of Qi and Wei had attempts to dig salt drying fields, but there were many key points, and they obviously did not understand them, there were no ladders and pools, and no finished salt had been dried yet......

But at least they already know that Chu Yan is "sunned", and if they continue to explore, they will be able to achieve results sooner or later.

Of course, if you want to reach the level of Chu State in a short period of time, you must poach a few core experts!

In fact, well salt, that is, salt collected from underground salt brine, also has great potential to be excavated, whether it is the way of drilling or collecting.

Even when Baitu drilled deep wells to fight drought, if Yizhou had learned some at that time, the output of well salt would have increased greatly.

In fact, in the modern era with a huge population in later generations, most of the salt used in China also comes from well salt, and is no longer sea salt, the peak of sea salt is only in the Ming and Qing dynasties - after the demand for salt skyrocketed, well salt was subject to the "bonus" of industrialization!

After all, the salt drying process, even if combined with modern technology, has limited improvement, and well salt is "earth-shaking" in comparison.

Of course, that is what happened after Xichuan in the Chu State, but now the salt workers and weavers in Yizhou are collected in advance, which is beneficial and harmless to the Chu State.

……

At the end of November, the first to fourth railways built by the Chu State were also completed.

It's not that the construction speed of the Chu State is against the sky, but these four are all routes from the mining area to the nearby transit, the longest is more than a dozen chuli, and the shortest is only six chuli - each chuli is equivalent to one thousand meters, and the height of the king of Chu is one meter eight.

The medium-sized real gas engine can also supply more than 10 tons of load to operate, which has indeed greatly improved the efficiency of mineral transportation and material entry into the mining area......

But it's more of an experimental nature!

When he was in the Ministry of Industry, the scale of the experiment was too small after all, and after seeing that the railways in these Chuli could indeed operate and greatly improve the transportation efficiency, the ministers were more confident in the railway.

Of course, for the sake of ceremonial sense, after several experiments, the first day of December was set as the first day of official operation, and Bai Tu personally drove to the opening ceremony......

For this reason, when Liu Ye and Qin Mi left, they didn't even see Bai Tu.

Four short railways, all built in Huiji County - a place with a lot of ore!

And because of the traffic restrictions between Huiji County itself and the northern part of the Chu State, the construction of a railway here, the news will be slightly slower to get out of the Chu State.

However, even if the true qi train is now among the people, it is still a strange rumor that "there is a steel beast in the mountains, transporting traffic for the Chu State", but ...... Now that it has been officially put into use, the magic of the "True Qi Machine" will also be presented to other princes one after another.

Even if it is in Huiji, it will be a year at a time, or a few months at a time, it is estimated that Qi Hou and Wei Guo will get the news, but how they will "take the call" will not be known until the reaction later.

History has proven time and again how important railways are to a vast country.

In the history without the White Rabbit effect, this land missed almost all the development opportunities in the early and middle stages of the Industrial Revolution, and finally when the railroad started, it was completely used as a prop for the division of interests among the great powers, and in the early 20th century, they "helped" to build it.

In the most concentrated decade, the great powers built more than 8,000 kilometers of railways in China.

Later, after the Qing government and people with lofty ideals discovered the importance of the railway, they began to prepare for self-construction of the railway, but ...... Later, the Qing government's riotous operation on the railway also indirectly led to the emergence of the Wuchang Uprising.

It can be said that the history of the construction of the railway is the history of national transportation at the end of the Qing government in the early 20th century.

For more than 30 years, when New China was founded, more than 8,000 kilometers of railways were built in one year.

And now Bai Tu is in Huiji County, and has begun the first attempt at the "railway" - although combined, it is only thirty chuli.

Bai Tu and Lu Lingqi also insisted on standing in the first carriage during the first run...... Or in the body!

At present, the trains are all large cargo boxes without roofs and loaded goods, except for the huge locomotives where medium-sized real gas engines are placed.

The first generation of trained train drivers was still a little nervous after learning about it.

The other accompanying officials, seeing this, could not stand on the side, and accompanied Bai Tu into the simple car body, and ...... In the first section, you have to have some identities and the main people involved in the operation of the railway to be able to enter, and the rest are in the back body.

After the train started, some civil officials couldn't help but hesitate, but a golden and jade general like Bai Tu naturally stood steady!

I have to say that the current real gas train has no comfort at all - it was not a passenger car originally.

The "energy" of the real gas engine is very sufficient, and the design of the mechanism is even more advanced in terms of energy, which is basically comparable to the speed of trains in the late 19th century, and the speed can reach fifty or sixty chuli per hour!

This is already the burst speed of the cavalry when it is naked, and it is even slightly exceeded......

And you must know that the load of this type of real gas train powered by the real gas engine can reach more than ten tons.

For the miners of the mines, and for the inhabitants of the town that "grows" because of the mines and the water source, this is a more inspiring "miracle" than any spectacle.

For the pacification effect of the surrounding people, it is no less than the promotion of Shennong essence, but the scope is not as good as that of Shennong essence promotion and harvest - it perfectly covers all the promotion areas!

Even including Huiji Ji, there are two other county Ji who have railways, and they all have an extra set of crew "skins" because of this.

The successful trial operation of the Zhenqi train further boosted the morale of the Chu State, but it was more concentrated in the counties of the several Huiji counties that paved the train, as well as the core ministers of the Chu State.

This time, the court of Chu did not deliberately publicize it, and nominally issued a "gag order", but the enforcement was not strong......

After all, such a large train is here, and many of the ordinary laborers are usually used, and the range stretches for several miles, and there will even be more and more local applications, and the secrecy is not as good as the salt works that have been hidden for several years, and it is impossible to keep it completely secret.

It's just an attitude of not publicizing and encouraging dissemination to delay the exposure of the True Qi Train.

The only active propaganda is to actively popularize the law - theft of railroad tracks is regarded as "looting tax silver", and if the consequences are caused, it will be punished severely for deliberately injuring people and killing people!

Therefore, in some places where there is no railway, or where a railway is being built, but you know what the true qi train is, it has become the state of Chu laying steel on the ground......

This move undoubtedly made the other princes even more indignant - you King Chu is really bad!

For the sake of food prices to promote true gas to ordinary people, and now for the sake of steel prices, steel is directly spread on the ground? tui！

Because there is no radio, the speed of news transmission is still very limited by traffic - and the priority of building railways is in places where transportation is not very convenient, and real long-distance lines also require a period of technology and experience accumulation, as well as ...... Laying also takes time.

After all, Baitu only has a hard disk of data, not really built a railway!

It is estimated that as long as there is no special person to investigate, it will take at least a year to reach the Central Plains by word of mouth, and then the Central Plains will probably have to come again to determine and investigate the principle......