"Your Majesty, we have finally succeeded!"

Just as Wang Ze was excitedly touching the black steam locomotive in front of him, suddenly a black-faced strong man in his fifties with a beard and beard ran over, his clothes were dirty, and his hands were smeared with a thick layer of black engine oil, it seemed that he should be doing the final debugging just now.

Wang Ze didn't see who this black-faced man was at first, but after a closer look, he found that it was Cao Lei, the eldest son of Cao Blacksmith, and it seemed that Cao Lei still didn't change his original temper, so he liked to take the lead in researching and manufacturing something.

This is a person's temper and character, just like the original Cao blacksmith, although the father and son both love to talk to people, and sometimes they also love to brag, but they are first-class talents in terms of technical research, without Cao's father and son, the development of the manufacturing industry in Sword Casting City will not be so rapid.

In fact, this steam locomotive was not made by Cao Lei himself, after all, it is impossible for the modern industrial system to be done by one person, this steam locomotive was led by Cao Lei, and then jointly built by the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and several other Xia Guo Academy of Engineering.

Cao Lei, as the host of the Sword Casting City, not only is the Sword Casting City he is responsible for the construction of the main structure of the locomotive, but also the School of Mechanical Engineering, like the School of Metallurgy, was personally presided over by Cao Lei's father Cao Blacksmith, so the contribution of Cao's father and son in this is not insignificant.

The appearance of steam locomotives today is not abrupt, but a natural product of the accumulation of technology in the Xia Kingdom for decades.

Since the appearance of the most primitive steam machines more than twenty years ago, Sword Forge has been researching more advanced steam engines over the years.

First of all, on the basis of the original version of the pumping steam engine, the new steam engine was further studied, and then a large number of steam power-driven machinery was manufactured.

After more than 20 years of hard work, thousands of elite craftsmen and technicians in Xia have paid a lot of effort for the new steam engine, and now this steam locomotive is the first sample that they have paid countless energy and sweat.

Just now, after Cao Lei repaired the last hidden danger, he heard the news of the arrival of Wang Ze and the ministers of the Government Council before he had time to wash his hands, so he ran over in a hurry, but before he could walk to Wang Ze's side, he found that his hands were black.

But Wang Ze didn't care about Cao Lei's black engine oil at all, he excitedly stepped forward to hold Cao Lei's hands and said to him: "Brother Cao, I have been waiting for this day to come!" By the way, why didn't Uncle Cao come? Is his health better? Wouldn't he be happy if he saw this steam locomotive when it was built! ”

In the years of busy state affairs, Wang Ze has not been to the Sword Casting City for a long time to inspect, last year I heard that Cao Blacksmith is not in good health, he let the seventy or eighty-year-old Cao Blacksmith retire to recuperate, and Cao Lei will continue to preside over the affairs of the Sword Casting City.

With Wang Ze's greeting, Cao Lei's face was pale, he pointed not far away and explained to Wang Ze: "My father has actually come, but people are starting to get confused, I am afraid that he will be noisy by the sound of the machine starting, so I have to let him take a look from afar, this time the locomotive is also his wish!" ”

"Hey······ hey"

When Wang Ze walked in, he only saw that the high-spirited blacksmith Cao was already a little demented, and he could only look at the smoking locomotive and smirk.

However, after seeing Wang Ze, he suddenly came to his senses, looked at Wang Ze and said, "Your Majesty has come to see me!" Haha, Your Majesty has come to see me! The machine is done, I succeeded! ”

After saying two words, he kept giggling there, Wang Ze felt sad for a while, and he said loudly to Blacksmith Cao: "Uncle Cao, your hard work is not in vain, all of us will remember your contributions!" You must take good care of your illness! ”

It's a pity that Blacksmith Cao didn't pay attention to Wang Ze's speech anymore, and was still there to entertain himself.

"Daochang Zhou personally diagnosed and treated my father!" Cao Lei shook his head helplessly and said, "He said that this is the dementia described in "The Secret Biography of Hua Tuo's Divine Doctor", and we can only provide him with good food and drink, he doesn't even recognize me, only the children of the second family, and then I recognized Your Majesty just now!" ”

At this time, Wang Yong also walked over with his youngest grandson Wang Ke, he looked at the demented blacksmith Cao and couldn't help but shake his head and sighed: "Brother Cao hasn't had too many good lives in his life, he used to work hard every day in the cottage, even if we are the queen of the Xia Kingdom, he has been working hard in the Sword Casting City, Dalang, you can't be disadvantaged!" ”

"That's what my father said!" Wang Ze looked at Wang Ke, the sixth son who was a little afraid of Blacksmith Cao, stroked his head and then said to Cao Lei, "At least Uncle Cao also lived to be eighty years old, and his life is rare for seventy years, and it is actually rare to live to eighty, which can be regarded as a high life!" Plus his exploits are enough to go down in history! In the future, we will have to write a strong inscription in the history books of the Xia Kingdom! ”

"How can this be! You have to be affordable! Wang Yong was very dissatisfied and secretly kicked Wang Ze's heel, but Cao Lei didn't see it that way. 100 Literature

He listened to Wang Ze's words and said with tears in his eyes: "Since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasties have regarded our craftsmen as strange and skillful people, only Your Majesty attaches importance to us, and now after decades of development, it is just a machine, Your Majesty will leave a name for us in history, and we should swear to die in revenge!" ”

Wang Ze can also let out a long sigh, and he will definitely live up to the expectations of these people in the future, and then a personal guard brought alcohol for Wang Ze and Cao Lei to scrub their hands clean, after all, there are still many activities today, and it is impossible for the two of them to continue to talk here like this.

Speaking of Liu Xin, Yang Ku, Xiao Jing and others from the Government Council, Wang Ze saw that these people are now all old people, except for the new Fuyu Wang and Feng Jing, who have joined the Government Council, the other old ministers seem to be about to reach the age of retirement, Wang Ze is sad when he thinks of this.

But Wang Ze knows in his heart that this historical development trend is like this, just like the train next to it, as long as it starts, it will quickly leave everything around it behind, and only by constantly changing the ruling blood can the country develop well.

"Everyone, hurry up and get on the train, let's also feel what advantages this steam locomotive has today!" Wang Ze turned to the crowd behind him, and then took the lead in carrying his father into the car, Wang Yong is also seventy years old this year, it is better to be careful.

Wang Ze naturally had a few daughters-in-law behind him waiting for his mother-in-law to get on the car, and then Wang Ze's family squeezed into the second carriage specially prepared for them, because the first carriage was still too close to the front of the car, and some of the noise was not too good, and the environment of the second carriage was much better.

Except for Liu Xin, Yang Ku, Xiao Jing, Pu Yangxun, Feng Jing, Fuyu Wang and others, the ministers all took the third and fourth carriages behind, and the first and top of the carriages were the royal guards, after all, this time the royal family was all dispatched, and they couldn't afford it in case of an accident.

After months of hard work by tens of thousands of slaves and craftsmen, Xia succeeded in building a railway from Zhenhai Port to the southern shore of Bibo Lake (Xingkai Lake) last year, which lasted hundreds of miles.

With the start of the train, although it has always maintained a speed of approaching 100 miles (20-30kmh) every hour, but because there is no need to stop and rest, it actually ran for two hours in one breath before stopping to check, and the cavalry of the Central Guardian Army, which was following on horseback outside at the beginning, has been thrown away without a trace.

At this moment, almost all the generals and ministers were shocked.

In the past, they had heard Wang Ze vigorously encourage various academies and workshops to study this kind of steam machinery, even if it consumed more money, they were not afraid, many people had expressed their opposition to this big money consumer, but they couldn't imagine that this kind of vehicle had such a fast speed after the successful development.

What surprises everyone even more is that this is only the first machine, according to the first to the next few of each kind of machinery has great technological progress, which means that this steam locomotive can also have more room for improvement, isn't this a day and night can walk more than a thousand miles?

This intolerable turtle speed in later generations shocked the ministers of the Xia Kingdom!

However, some people also refute that if such a railway paved with steel is paved for thousands of miles, I don't know how much it will cost, and if it is paved all over the country, it is even more costly, and in this era when steel is money, it seems that there is no need to build a railway with so much steel.

However, this argument was soon refuted by the generals of the Xia State, because in the opinion of the generals of the Xia State, if such railways were built everywhere in the Xia State, then as long as there was a rebellion anywhere, the Xia army would soon be able to rush to the local area to quell the rebellion.

When the Xia Kingdom was at war with the Turks and the Great Sui, it was also possible to use these railways to transport heavy materials more quickly, which alone could save a lot of time and loss, and this huge benefit made all the Xia ministers consider the advantages and disadvantages of steam locomotives.

Of course, there are also smart ministers who have long known the importance of steam locomotives from Wang Ze's attitude, although because of their limitations, they have not yet seen the impact of steam locomotives on the future, but the blind trust and worship of Wang Ze for many years make them feel that this thing must be very important.

On the steam locomotive, Wang Ze, Wang Yong, Liu Xin and other ministers discussed for a long time, and finally planned the first batch of four railways to be built in the Xia Kingdom.

In addition to the railway in front of him, Xia Guo also has to build an important railway from Zhenhai to connect Jiangzhou City in the upper reaches of the difficult water, after all, Jiangzhou City has become the hinterland of Xia China, if you take the waterway from Zhenhai to Jiangzhou and detour Sanjiang County, it is too wasteful of time.

After the construction of the railway, the time from Zhenhai to Jiangzhou City will be shortened from ten days to less than three days, and this railway is of great significance.

The third railway will connect Jinhae-gun to Pyongyang-seong in Lerang-gun, and then all the way to the seaport not far away, and in the future, it will be connected to the southernmost tip of Hanyang-gun (the hometown of Baekje) on the peninsula, so that the distance from Jinhae-gun to the Cheung Chau Islands in the East China Sea can be carried out in winter and summer.

The last railway, however, was the one that connected Nanshui and Liaodong City, and would be connected to Beisha Port (Dalian) in the future, so as to increase the foreign trade capacity of the hinterland.