Before the train started, the crowd around the train station had already dispersed, and not only pedestrians, but also small vendors pushed their carts to retreat into the distance to shout - to avoid being sprayed by the thick fog from the side of the train.

At the platform of the station, an old man with a bent back and a shabby black hat looked at the train that was gradually moving away, and his back that was already a little rickety collapsed a lot, as if he had lost something.

"Bless Bao Guowei to come back safely."

In this era, the speed of "carriages and horses" is not slow, even the journey of 2,000 miles is only a three-to-five day drive, but it is undoubtedly still a big thing for people at home to go out once, and it is not uncommon for people to go back to go back, and the only thing Lao Bao can do is to pray for Bao Guowei.

"Woooooo

The whistle of the train sounded violently, the locomotive began to spew water vapor upward, and the heat generated by the combustion of coal was converted into kinetic energy, pushing the wheel drive shaft to make a reciprocating piston motion.

Passengers sitting by the train window saw the masonry buildings around them rewind faster and faster—until they had crossed the open wall, signaling that the train had finally left the city.

Out of town!

The scene outside the car window has become a large field of flowers and trees speeding backwards, the ground is "dangling" with weedy mud, and in the distance, you can only see the sparkling water at the rivers and lakes, and the rolling hills are endless, and the sky is occasionally filled with birds and birds roaming in the air.

During the construction of the railway, the most flat terrain is often selected, the road is smooth, and it is the easiest to walk, so you can also see farmers carrying burdens, pushing carts, and wearing shuttle hats walking near the railway, carrying goods and preparing to go to Suzhou City to sell.

However, as soon as the peasants saw this steel beast driving in smoke, they would often subconsciously feel fear, and with a nervous look on their faces, they hurriedly left the vicinity of the railway, watching the train go away, and only then did they dare to walk to the side of the railway again.

Probably because the train has just been on the road, the situation in the carriage has not yet stabilized, especially in the third-class carriage, there are too many people inside, it is really noisy and chaotic:

People huddled together, stood together, and at the same time had to cover their collars and pockets, and watch their luggage so that their belongings would not be stolen by pickpockets.

Hungry men do not forget to rub oil on women, and those who have not bought tickets blend into the crowd, and jump around the crowd like monkeys, avoiding the inspection of the ticket inspectors.

The situation of the second-class carriage is much better, people can easily sit down, there is a special place to store luggage, it does not have to be placed on the ground, so the aisle is not crowded, and even two or three people can be easily accommodated to walk side by side.

The only fly in the ointment was that the sound coming from the third-class carriage was very noisy, although people could hear the unbearable shouting, the shouts of the ticket inspectors, and the crying of children, which made people feel a little upset.

"Flight attendant! Close the door! It's noisy! ”

"Yes! It's really poor, even if it's poor, there's a lot of! ”

"Close! Close the door! ”

Soon someone got impatient and shouted to the flight attendant, and when someone spoke, there was a chorus of echoes.

After the conductor closed the door of the second-class carriage with a "bang", it was as if a world was cut off, and the original noisy and noisy sound was suddenly reduced a lot.

The journey of this trip is really not far, from Suzhou to Shanghai only need to travel more than 100 miles to the west, even if the railway needs to detour, at most it is only a few hours away, maybe sleep a little, wake up and find that you have arrived at the destination.

Looking at the beautiful scenery of mountains and rivers outside the car window, Bao Guowei was a little nervous and excited at the same time, he stretched out a hand, felt the cold wind blowing, and retracted his hand.

The three subordinates of the Bao family sat on this kind of "high-tech" product for the first time, and they sat in the same row as Bao Guowei, and they also looked sideways to see everything outside quickly retreating, and they couldn't help but feel a little shocked in their hearts.

"Young Master, how do you say this kind of thing is made? Such a big piece of iron! I'm afraid that dozens of cows can't pull it, and there are so many people sitting inside, they can still run so fast! ”

Wang Xiaowu's heart was full of doubts and curiosity, and he couldn't help but ask curiously at his young master, in his opinion, this young master who had gone to the foreign academy knew everything and should be able to answer this question.

Bao Guowei was in a good mood at the moment, and when he heard Wang Xiaowu's question, he also explained to him with great interest:

"This steam train, if you just talk about the principle of operation, it is actually not too difficult, and it is not much different from boiling water in essence."

Just like a pot of water can be boiled and the lid can be lifted, this kind of steam train also boils water by burning coal......"

Hearing Bao Guowei's easy-to-understand explanation, the three subordinates around him were interested, and they all pricked up their ears and listened carefully to their young master's explanation.

Even the passengers sitting in the front and back seats were aroused by Bao Guowei's words, and they all cheered up and listened attentively, wanting to hear what the young student-like person in front of them could say.

"Although the basic principle of steam locomotive operation is simple, it is not so easy to build a train, not only in terms of materials...... This requires a certain industrial base......"

"In order to build a practical steam locomotive, the structural design also needs to be carefully calculated...... The connecting rod also needs to be designed with a shaft to adjust the direction of water vapor conduction......"

Bao Guowei once had a hobby, which was to study steam-powered machinery, and he had collected a lot of information on the Internet to watch, so he knew a lot about the working principle of steam engines.

Bao Guowei gushed endlessly, although the surrounding passengers couldn't understand what he was talking about at all, but just listening to these "fresh words" felt very high-end and atmospheric.

Even the sound of small talk gradually became quieter, and in the end, the surroundings were almost quiet, and only the sound of Bao Guowei explaining the operating principle of the train remained nearby.

It's just that the principle is based on language alone, without the aid of pictures, and the knowledge of how the train can make the piston move back and forth is a little puzzling to the surrounding passengers.

A man who was sitting behind Bao Guowei, a little obese, and a somewhat obese figure, took off his top hat, opened his mouth to this Bao Guowei, and asked a question:

"Young man! Since you said that the principle of this steam train is the same as boiling water, why have we been boiling water for so many years, and we have not discovered this truth? ”

The man's voice was a little rough, and although the questions he asked were easy to understand, it was difficult to give an answer that would satisfy everyone.

This kind of thing involves various reasons, and Bao Guowei can only summarize it in general terms:

"The basic principles of steam power are indeed not difficult to say, but if you want to make something practical, you need deep mathematical science and long-term engineering practice......

"In addition to this, the social system and people's ideological ...... should be taken into account."

After all, Bao Guowei has received nine years of compulsory education, and he may not be good at learning from the truth, but he is really easy to say some big words and clichés, and he obviously frightened the people around him.

The people around listened to Bao Guowei's explanation, and they were secretly a little surprised in their hearts, and their eyes looked at Bao Guowei with more awe.

In this era, the status of scholars is still relatively high, and people tend to respect people who have knowledge, especially those who know Western.

When the person who asked Bao Guowei a question just now heard Bao Guowei's answer, he realized in his heart that the person in front of him who looked like a rich student was not simple, and he "squeezed out" a smile on his face and took out a card.

"Haha...... Lad! I...... My name is Fu Dalong, I usually respect you cultural people the most, this is my business card, if you come to Shanghai if there is anything you can find me, big things can't be done, small things can still be done! ”

Bao Guowei didn't refuse, he still took the business card, and he still had to make more friends when he went out, even if it was just a nodding friend, maybe it would come in handy that day.

Bao Guowei looked at this card, the thickness is about the same as card mahjong, Fu Dalong's personal contact information is written on it, as well as the landline phone, look at the contact address, it seems that he is opening a song and dance hall.

Although the people who open the dance hall can't get on the stage and do some obscene things, most of them are not good at stubble, so that they match this person's name and appearance.

……

The train gradually entered a stable period, and Bao Guowei sat in the window seat, humming a brisk tune - "Five Hundred Miles", only humming the song, not reading the words.

The surrounding passengers couldn't help but be amazed when they heard this calm and peaceful tune, and they were a little intoxicated.

Not only was there a lot of people in the steam locomotive, but there was also a fire burning at the locomotive, which was enough to transfer the heat to the middle of the car, and when people closed the windows, the surroundings became very warm, and soon Bao Guowei felt a little sleepy......

The train departed from Suzhou at 11 o'clock in the morning and approached its destination in the afternoon.

The tall buildings in the distance are getting closer and closer, and you will reach the first city in the Far East - Shanghai!

After the previous wall demolition movement, there were only a few sections of the old city wall left in Shanghai, so the train entered the city without passing through the city wall, and after the train traveled for a while, the speed gradually slowed down.

"Young Master! It's almost there! Let's get out of the car! ”

Wang Xiaowu shook Young Master Bao, who was already asleep.

After Bao Guowei got up in a daze, he looked at the gold-plated watch on his wrist: the hands pointed to 3:15 p.m.

Seeing that the three subordinates had already packed their luggage and prepared all their belongings, Bao Guowei got out of the car with the three of them.

At this moment, the vicinity of the railway station is simply crowded with people, selling tea and sour plum soup, salty and light melon seeds, spicy hot, sugar gourd, sugar people, I am afraid that hundreds of meters around here are gathered to live.

The four of them finally squeezed out of the crowd, and a boy in a horse coat and a newsboy hat looked around, seemingly casually leaning towards Bao Guowei's side.

After all, Zhang Ergou is old and has rich life experience, so he can see at a glance that this is a small pickpocket, he directly raised his calloused hand, and slapped him on the head when the boy came over.

This slap made the little pickpocket have a lot of meat and vegetables in his brain, and after a few steps, he bumped into someone else, causing a scolding.

However, the little pickpocket didn't care about what the others were scolding, so he ran away and quickly hid into the crowd.

Bao Guowei reacted and threw an appreciative look at Zhang Ergou, obviously satisfied with his performance just now.

Zhang Ergou scratched his head, and with some effort, he squeezed out a smile on his square face in response.

At this moment, another woman with heavy makeup and colorful clothes came up, and her figure was still a little fat, and she pinched her orchid finger and spoke:

"Hey! Junhou Sheng! Do you want to come to our Xiaoxiang Courtyard to have fun? They're all good girls...... There are also chicks, who are not yet sixteen years old, they are smart, there is absolutely no dirty disease, and they can definitely serve you comfortably! ”

As soon as she got out of the car, a pimp stared at Bao Guowei and his party, and when she saw Bao Guowei's dress as a young master, both eyes began to glow.

Bao Guoweili ignored the pimp, greeted the three subordinates and walked straight out, preparing to find a restaurant to eat and then find a hotel to stay.

The roads in Shanghai are very smooth, the surrounding building signs are lit with neon signs, and the sound of records in the dance hall comes from the ballroom.

Before leaving, the three of them also looked at the travel time notice written near the train station: there is no next train today, and the next train to Tianjin will be scheduled until half past one tomorrow afternoon.

……

Compared with Suzhou, Shanghai is undoubtedly much more prosperous and developed, and has a somewhat modern feeling.

It seems that electricity is everywhere, and even during the day there are still neon lights, so it will shine brightly enough at night.

Trams are everywhere, full of passengers, cars running through the road, and the special rickshaws of the era are naturally needless to say, and some people are riding bicycles.

Well-dressed policemen carry long guns to direct traffic, and clean and neat pedestrians walk in the aisles—men like to wear long shirts and horse coats, Western-style robes, women like to wear cheongsams and hairpins, and the faces of foreigners can be seen everywhere on the streets.

This city is undoubtedly a good place, but unfortunately Bao Guowei has something to do in a hurry and can't stay here for long, and he will have to rush to Tianjin after staying for a day at most.

There was no time to get drunk in this bright city, so at ten o'clock in the morning of the next day, Bao Guowei went to Chu's house in Shanghai to find Chu Ze, and after some talking, he got his letter of introduction.

This time, Chu Ze's attitude towards Bao Guowei was obviously more important than before, and as soon as they met, they called each other brothers, and gave each other some small gifts.

After all, Bao Guowei first provided the production method of allicin, which benefited the Chu family a lot, and then won the first place in the weekly test and monthly examination of Zhicheng Provincial Middle School, which undoubtedly fully demonstrated his potential, or "utilization value".

After just one day of repair, the three of them hurriedly stepped on the train to Tianjin.

This time, I was still in a second-class carriage for a different reason: the long-distance train ticket price was too expensive.

The third-class ticket costs three yuan, the second-class ticket is doubled, that is, six yuan, and if you take the first-class car, it is doubled, twelve yuan.

If there is only Bao Guowei alone, he has not yet taken the twelve yuan in his eyes.

But Bao Guowei also brought three people to take care of himself, if all four of them were first-class carriages, it would cost forty or eighty yuan for a ticket! One round trip is ninety-six dollars!

This price is even scary for Bao Guowei, who has a "big family and a big business", not to mention that he only brought a total of more than 200 yuan on this trip, and it took 16 yuan to make a car before, and he couldn't take a car back and forth to deduct most of it.

After two days and one night of driving, he finally arrived in Tianjin, and as soon as he got off the bus, Guowei spent a dime to find a local rickshaw driver to inquire about the location of Yongli Alkali Factory.

……

"Mr. Hou! I'm coming! ”

Looking at the chemical plant in front of him, Bao Guowei read excitedly in his heart.

(End of chapter)