Chapter 63 South China Sea Railway Chronicle (3)

“…… With a loud whistle and the smoke drifting from the front chimney, the carriage of the train began to vibrate slightly, and the steel wheels made a screeching sound, causing the train to slowly move on the tracks.

――Although the entire Hainan Island Round-the-Island Railway System, which has just been completed in this time and space, is a 22nd century black technology product obtained from the Doraemon world, it is only an antique toy-level thing after all. Therefore, not only is the locomotive an old steam locomotive, but the train itself is also very slow, with an average speed of only 40 to 50 kilometers per hour, and counting the time it takes to stop at various stations along the way to add coal and water, it takes almost ten hours for a train to travel from Lingao to Sanya. Moreover, the carrying capacity of trains is also very small - each carriage of modern trains can carry about 60 tons of cargo, and a whole train can pull up to 1,000 tons of cargo. However, the steam trains on the Hainan Island Ring Island Railway in this time and space can only carry 15 tons per carriage, and a locomotive can pull up to 7 to 8 carriages and transport less than 200 tons of goods, which is simply incomparable with modern trains.

The train from Lingao to Sanya had seven carriages hung behind the locomotive, one of which was a fuel tank for coal, and the remaining were two third-class carriages, two second-class carriages, one first-class carriage and one dining car. Because the locomotive constantly spews out a lot of soot and water vapor, the first class car and the dining car of the steam train are hung at the end, and then the second and third class cars are placed in the same order.

The so-called third-class carriage is actually a flat-top convertible, which is used for both passengers and goods, so simple that it has neither a roof nor a seat, but a ring of fences is installed on the floor of the carriage on all sides to prevent passengers from falling. Because there were no seats, the passengers had to sit on the floor, and when they couldn't sit down, they stood crunchyly - because it was completely open-air, there was no problem with ventilation. However, when it rains, everyone will be drenched in soup, and under the scorching sun, the frail people are also prone to heat stroke...... By the time the steam train started, the smoke and water vapor poured from the front of the car backwards, choking the passengers on the first few wagons.

Fortunately, the poor people who are only willing to buy third-class tickets to go out these days are usually born from the hardships of countless hardships, and they can basically endure the suffering of sun and rain, soot and water mist -- otherwise they would not have lived to such a long time in such a cruel world.

The second-class carriage was also convertible, but like a modern tourist car, it was equipped with rows of wooden bench seats and a canvas shed overhead to shelter from the sun and rain. And it was buffered by the first few third-class carriages, and the soot drifted here has faded a lot. Xu Xiake and his brother Xu Zhongzhao sat in the second-class carriage, facing the tropical sea breeze and watching the pristine scenery around them. In the late Ming Dynasty, although Hainan Island had been cultivated and developed by the Chinese ancestors for 1,700 years since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established Zhuya County, it was still vast and sparsely populated, with a total population of less than one million. Even in Lingao, an industrialized town with a large population explosion, the train leaves the station in just 20 minutes, and the roadside is already full of reckless jungles, barren mountains and mountains...... Luckily, the railway was built along the coastline, and most of the sections are not far from the sea, and from time to time the cool sea breeze blows, which dispel the humidity and sultry heat of the jungle and lift people's spirits.

“…… Alas, fortunately, I didn't try to save money before and went to buy a third-class ticket, otherwise I am afraid that this old bone for my brother will have to be crushed."

Xu Zhongzhao drank the herbal tea in the bamboo kettle, and looked at the crowded appearance of the third-class carriage in front of him, and couldn't help but muttered in a low voice - the two flatbed cars in front of him were crowded with passengers and goods, and from a distance, people were stacked on top of each other, just like ants crowding. There were also many passengers who couldn't squeeze in, some hung on the fence, some climbed up the luggage pile, and even in the body where the coal was loaded, there were many passengers who were not afraid of getting dirty, and they all turned themselves black from head to toe despite the coal ash, and they all became black Africans.

“…… It's really crowded, no wonder the third-class ticket is so cheap. Xu Xiake also looked uneasy, "...... But...... With so many people and goods loaded, the train could run as fast as a horse...... This Australian skill of fire and water is truly amazing......"

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Just as Xu Xiake leaned back in his chair with a lazy expression, squinting at the locomotive in front of him that was belching black smoke, trying to see some secrets of the "Australian Trick", a loud shout with a northern accent interrupted his train of thought.

“…… Selling rice, selling rice, instant noodles, rice balls, eight-treasure porridge, peanut cakes, fruit candy and all kinds of canned food."

With the shouting of his voice, a "merchant" with short hair and blue clothes with four pockets pushed a small cart and moved from behind, and at the same time, there was a burst of aroma of food, which caused the Xu brothers to swallow their saliva.

Looking up again and seeing the poor people in the third-class carriage, they all took out flatbreads, sweet potatoes and other rough grains from the baggage baskets, shook off their cheeks and chewed on them, and looked at the sun hanging high above their heads, and the Xu brothers finally realized that it was now time for lunch.

So, Xu Xiake, who was also hungry in his stomach, turned his head to look at the vending car, and found that it was an ordinary-looking young man who came, with a dark complexion, just like the "naturalized people" and "Australians" in Lingao, with short hair like a layman monk, his face was clean and clean, he had no beard at all, and he was wearing a gray cloth cardigan, which looked a little poor and sour, but the clothes were very neat, and his whole body was full of clean and neat energy......

However, looking at him doing this cheap labor here, it is estimated that he is a "wig" with a shaved head and easy to wear...... Xu Xiake thought so.

-- But in fact, the salesman who pushes a trolley on the train to sell snacks is actually a real person...... Although it is true that he came all the way to this place with other Ruoyu wanderers, and then was stuffed into a purification camp by the Lingao Senate and shaved his head......

“… This uncle, these are the two big bowls of eight-treasure porridge you wanted, the bowls of porridge and chopsticks are given to you."

“…… Do you want cigarettes? Uh, sorry, but in order to prevent fire, this car is non-smoking......"

“…… Huh? Think this canned dace with tempeh is too expensive? There's no way, it's sold at this price, it can't be cheaper......"

Dressed in a blue tunic and squeezing out a stiff smile as much as possible, Li Meng pushed the trolley on the train to sell all kinds of food and snacks, and then collected from the passengers the "temporary currency" issued by the Senate of the Lingao Traveler - the circulation scroll.

-- Li Meng, the former Shandong salt lord who was chased and suppressed by the official army in Jiaozhou, Shandong Province for selling illicit salt, had to make a cameo appearance as a homeless person and defected to Lingao "thief", and carried a large bag of food at the dock, one of the most bitter people in this time and space.

Since that day, after seeing the PLA airship formation arrive at Lingao across time and space, Li Meng, who had suffered enough, was busy identifying himself, and after some tedious review and interrogation, he immediately obtained permission to return to the modern world.

But the problem is that although Li Meng had a miserable life at the end of the Ming Dynasty, even in the modern world, Li Meng is just a jobless vagrant who has been unemployed for a long time and can't even pay his rent. Then, he has been fighting and killing all day long in the crisis-ridden ancient society, and I am afraid that it will be difficult for him to adapt to modern urban life in a short time, and it may be even more difficult to find a job, and he may have to be reduced to a beggar gang to ask for food in a few days.

What's more, as a former leader of a military group, Li Meng still has a few Shandong brothers who have crossed the ocean with him to come to Gao, and Li Meng needs to find a way to settle them - it is not a matter to continue to carry a large bag at the dock, not to mention the hard work and income, and he can only sleep in a collective dormitory, not even his own house, let alone marry a wife and have children...... If you don't settle down these brothers who followed him into battle, shared weal and woe, and followed him all the way to Hainan Island, Li Meng would not be at ease in the modern world

So, he wanted to continue working on this plane for a period of time, so that he could save some money and find a way to arrange a slightly better future for a few brothers. As a result, Li Meng really found a good errand - since the opening of the round-the-island railway on Hainan Island, the General Railway Administration set up in Sanya originally used female conductors to sell goods and clean up, who knew that the morality of the people in the late Ming Dynasty was really worrying, and even surpassed the level of Japanese subway idiots, which was comparable to the rape ♂ buses in modern India...... As a result, female conductors from the modern world are frequently harassed and violated in various ways, no matter how much the railway police warn and intimidate, and even hang a few idiots at the station gate is useless.

In view of the above situation, Li Meng came over with his vote of Shandong strong man and recommended himself to take the position of attendant of one of the passenger trains -- for Li Meng's Shandong brothers, working on the railway is more decent and easier than carrying a big bag at the wharf. As for the Railway Bureau, no matter what, Li Meng is a modern person, relatively more reliable than the natives of the late Ming Dynasty, and knows how to work on the train. And although those Shandong brothers are a little stupid, they all listen to Li Meng, the eldest brother, and are willing to study in order to make a living......

Now, some of the others are shoveling coal at the locomotive, and some are cleaning the carriages, all of which are clumsy jobs. And the salesman who needs to use his brain (settle accounts) the most can only let Li Meng be responsible for himself - he has to collect money to find money, use rattan shell hot water bottles to make tea for customers, and instruct those Ming Dynasty turtles how to open canned food and eat instant noodles, and have to prevent someone from stealing things, which is really busy. Fortunately, the third-class carriage in front was too crowded, so the vending trolley only operated in the second-class carriage and the first-class carriage as usual, otherwise Li Meng would have more headaches.

“…… Young man, bring my brother a big bowl of eight-treasure porridge. And what is instant noodles? ”

Xu Xiake looked at the dazzling variety of food on the small cart, discussed it with Xu Zhongzhao, and then beckoned to Li Meng and ordered.

When Li Meng heard this, he scooped out a large spoonful of eight-treasure porridge from the porridge bucket in the car, put it into a rough coconut shell bowl, and then handed it over with a pair of shoddy wooden chopsticks, "...... There are three flavors of instant noodles in the porridge you want, which one do you want? Or do you try both? ”

Xu Zhongzhao took the bowl of eight-treasure porridge, stirred it a few times with chopsticks, and immediately looked dumbfounded - perhaps because Qiongzhou is located in a remote area, and some foreign specialties such as walnuts, lotus seeds, and grapes are not easy to purchase. This eight-treasure porridge is also very local, which is a thick porridge made from a mixture of rice and millet (a specialty of millet called chicken feet in Hainan), mixed with mung beans, peanuts, jujubes, and small pieces of pineapple, sweet potato, and coconut meat. It looks like the flowers are green, quite tempting, and the sugar in it is also very appetizing.

At the same time, Li Meng also introduced three kinds of instant noodles on the trolley to Xu Xiake - considering the cost of transportation, these instant noodles are produced in the latest factory on Hainan Island using modern machinery and equipment and raw materials from this time and space. Because the difficulty of making disposable paper bowls is too high (don't think that the technology of making zuò paper bowls and paper cups is very simple, just the heat-proof, waterproof and non-toxic coating on the inner wall of the paper cup is enough to stump all the factories before World War II, and North Korea boasted of the success of developing the "Daedong River" bowl noodles as a glorious achievement at the end of the 20th century), so they are all bagged noodles, divided into three flavors: Sichuan-style beef, clear soup seafood and curry chicken. Except for the plastic packaging, which was forced to change to oily paper bags, the sauces, seasoning powders and dehydrated vegetables and meat could only be placed in small bamboo tubes that came with each box of instant noodles for diners to scoop with their own spoons, and the rest were exactly the same as modern instant noodles.

Looking at the three kinds of instant noodles in the oil-paper bag, Xu Xiake hesitated for a while, feeling that he had eaten all kinds of seafood at two ends for three days in Bopu Port, and the Tianzhu curry rice had also tasted many times, and he was already a little tired, and finally asked for a package of Sichuan-style beef noodles.

Li Meng took out the dough cake from the oiled paper bag, put it into another coconut shell bowl, sprinkled with sauce, seasoning powder and dehydrated vegetable meat, then poured boiling water and covered with a paper lid. Then he handed the bowl and a pair of chopsticks to Xu Xiake, and asked him to wait patiently for three minutes, and a bowl of steaming noodle soup would be fine.

After a while, smelling the delicious aroma gradually emerging from the bowl, Xu Xiake couldn't help but open the paper lid, looked at the soup that was as red as watermelon juice, and couldn't help but praise: "...... Well, this instant noodle is really good, the price is not expensive, it is ready in a moment, and it smells very good. Although it is not yet in the mouth, there are already two of the best in this fragrance, which is really appetizing. ”

“…… It seems to be quite fragrant, let me taste it. ”

At this time, Xu Zhongzhao had already eaten his bowl of tropical-style eight-treasure porridge, and smelled the fragrance of instant noodles, so he couldn't help but turn around, snatched Xu Xiake's noodle bowl, and poured a mouthful of noodle soup with a large amount of chili, red oil, pepper, green onion, ginger, garlic and spices into his mouth...... Immediately afterwards, Xu Zhongzhao, a gentleman from Jiangsu Province who had never tasted such an imported product as chili peppers in his life, was choked by the spicy noodle soup and coughed again and again, and even splashed tears. After a long time, he still felt that his cheeks twitched, his throat and mouth were burning with pain, and even his lips didn't seem to be his own.

After Xu Xiake took back the noodle bowl, he saw this, so he only took a small sip of soup on the edge of the bowl suspiciously, but despite this, he was still speechless for a while. Then he covered his flushed face, wiped the tears oozing from his eyes, and sighed with palpitations:

“…… Ahem, this is really eating fire, do the people of Sichuan and Shu like to eat such things to spoil their stomachs? ”

-- At the end of the Ming Dynasty, chili peppers had just been introduced to East Asia, and China only cultivated them in small quantities in coastal ports, so the ancients did not tolerate spicy taste as much as later generations. And Xu Xiake was born in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and has always been known for its light food taste. In the end, because the plastic craftsmanship of the traverser is not up to par, it is impossible to make a bag for future generations, so this kind of locally produced instant noodle seasoning has to be scooped from the bamboo tube by yourself, and often a slippery hand will accidentally put too much......

On the other side, just as the Xu Xiake brothers, who were sitting in the second-class carriage, were choked with tears by this super spicy instant noodles, the future travelers in the first-class carriage and the celebrities of Jiangnan in this time and space were also enjoying their lunches.