After the train passed through the town of Lu'an (present-day Daley Waters in northern Australia), it was difficult to see green scenes such as bush and meadows. Most of the rivers that pass through occasionally are also cut off, leaving only dry riverbeds. Outside the car window, there are endless deserts and salt flats, and large expanses of yellow and ochre red earth are exposed, which makes people look at it and can't help but feel bored. The evening sun shone on the vast red earth, and I even thought I had come to a non-human world in a trance.

In order to cope with the harsh climate, many buildings in the pastures and villages along the railway line in Lu'an Town are underground or semi-underground, like underground cities. As a result, the houses and courtyards seen by passengers on the train are generally lower than those in other areas, and the cisterns and tanks are all half-concealed and closed.

Of course, due to the poor environment, the vast desert area is extremely sparsely populated, and most of them are distributed along the railway, relying on extensive animal husbandry and simple cultivation for their livelihood.

Compared with the northern and eastern coastal areas, there were settlers first, then farmland, villages, cities and factories were built one after another, and finally roads and railways were connected together to form an organically unified domestic market.

In the inland desert areas, however, the railways and roads were built first by government investment and administrative orders, and then a small number of immigrants and domestic people were relocated near the lines of communication, in addition to securing and maintaining the railways and roads that connected the country's main arteries, in order to exercise effective rule over the vast hinterland.

Some shepherds on horseback, when they see the train whizzing past, will recklessly whistle or roar loudly at the passengers on the train, as if in this way, it proves that there is still life in this lonely and desolate land.

Some good travelers poke their heads out of the window and yell loudly, thinking that they echo, and at the same time venting the boredom and boredom of long-distance travel. There are even people who generously throw bags of food or jugs of wine out of their cars and throw them at the poor herders.

"Those herders may be a little boring except for their daily lives, but to say that they are pitiful, they are definitely not enough." The middle-aged man who looked like a scholar opposite Li Yanliang said with a smile: "Almost every family has dozens of cows, horses and camels, and sells their livestock through the railway every year, and they can easily earn more than 100 yuan a year. That's a lot more profitable than just farming and selling grain! Not to mention, the vegetables and fruits they grow in the courtyard are an extra income after selling them to travelers along the way. ”

"What's that?" Li Yanliang nodded, and then stretched out his hand to the wooden stakes erected next to the railway line, on which there were still several cables, extending infinitely into the distance along with the railway.

"Oh, that's the telegraph line." The scholar turned his head to look at the pole outside the window, and said with emotion: "A tool that can transmit sound for thousands of miles." From Jianye to Chang'an, as long as the copper wire on the pole is passed, real-time information transmission can be achieved without any distance barrier. ”

"Thousands of miles of sound?" Li Yanliang asked in surprise: "Just through the copper wire on the pole, can the information be transmitted in real time over a long distance?" ”

"Captain Li has served overseas for four years, but he doesn't know that all kinds of new things in China are emerging in an endless stream every year, which makes people feel dizzying." Zhang Huiyuan said with a smile: "This telegram was invented and researched by the Chang'an Royal Academy of Sciences in October last year. By the end of November, the telegraph line from Chang'an to Daxing had been erected, realizing the commercial application of telegraphy. Subsequently, under the leadership of the Cabinet Ministry of Industrial Development (which was dismantled by the former Ministry of Works), the construction of telegraph lines began throughout the country, and it was said that telegraph connections would be completed within three years for all prefectures and cities in the country, and within five years, for all prefectures. ”

"This ...... Telegram, can you erect a line across the sea? As long as this kind of telegraph cable is erected at the front of the war, the command headquarters in the rear or the logistics support department can receive the information from the battlefield in real time and make positive and effective responses accordingly.

This is a "divine blade"!

If it is extended to the political and economic aspects, it is definitely of great strategic importance, because it can interconnect the scattered territories directly under the overseas and the colonial territories that are indirectly ruled, and become an inseparable "part" with the mainland.

If the invention of the telegraph represents an important milestone in the progress of human communications, then the research and development of submarine cables is another milestone of equal importance. One facilitates communication within the country, while the other has the potential to connect countries, and indeed the world, and shorten the distance between human contacts.

You must know that even if the fastest steam engine steamer in the Qi country returns to Hanzhou mainland from India, it will take a month, and after waiting for the local people to make specific instructions and deployments, and bring back the corresponding orders, the time may have passed more than two months. A grand battle can take only a few days, or a few hours, from its occurrence to its conclusion.

If there is a telegraph line that can lead to India, His Majesty the Emperor, the Cabinet Government and the Ministry of War will be able to know the development and progress of the situation as soon as certain important matters occur there, and then make timely decisions.

"So far, there has been no news that the government is going to erect an undersea telegraph cable. …… It seems that the technical problem of erecting cables on the submarine has not yet been solved. Zhang Huiyuan glanced deeply at the army captain officer opposite him and understood the implicit meaning of his question.

These soldiers, as expected, wanted to impatiently apply any new inventions and discoveries that appeared to the military level, in order to realize their arrogant vision of world conquest.

The two were chatting on a ride as a man in a railway uniform checked passenger tickets in a darkening carriage. When he took Li Yanliang's ticket, he looked at it casually, then handed it back to him, and then said in a low voice: "This sir, our conductor asks you to go to the first three carriages." ”

"Why?" Li Yanliang looked at him puzzled.

"It's not a big deal." The locomotive officer smiled and said, "Our train captain was also a soldier before, and I just want to invite you to come over and talk about military life." ”

Li Yanliang was stunned for a moment, and glanced out the window, the sky had darkened, and the last trace of sunset in the distance had dissipated with the setting sun.

It's also boring to sit here, and you can talk about military life with your former military seniors, and you can pass the time somewhat.

So, Li Yanliang got up and followed the locomotive crew all the way to the three carriages in front.

However, when he first stepped into the three-car conductor's lounge, he was surprised to find that there were already eight or nine people inside, including two railway policemen and five soldiers, filling the small lounge.

What's going on?

"Sir!" Li Yanliang saluted and greeted a Xuanjie lieutenant (major) of the army, and then looked at everyone suspiciously.

The Army Captain Xuanjie nodded slightly, motioned for him to sit down, and didn't say much.

"I'm really sorry to make you all crowded here, tired." The bearded conductor bowed his hand to the people present with a slight apology, and then said: "I really can't help it here, so I specially recruited you to ask for help from my former colleagues in the army." ”

"Tell me what's going on." The Xuanjie lieutenant said expressionlessly.

"Lao Qiu, tell everyone about it." The conductor turned to a railway policeman.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and a few brothers in the army, we are really forced to ask you for help as a last resort." The railway policeman named Lao Qiu looked at everyone with a bitter face, and said in a solemn tone: "In the evening, we received a report from a passenger here that there were bandits plotting to rob money on the train. My grandson and I followed the traveler to arrest the bandit he had identified. However, when observing from a distance, it was discovered that two thieves with the National Wanted Poster of the Police Department had sneaked into the car. Based on this, we suspect that there may be more than these two bandits on the entire train, and there are more accomplices hiding in different carriages. ”

"You mean, there are so many bandits tangled up and mixed up on the train? Did they want to rob the whole train? Captain Xuanjie's eyes widened in disbelief.

This gall is too fat! Is this in the hinterland of our Qi country, robbing trains with such fanfare, not afraid of being pursued by the police and gendarmes across the country? Could it be that they could immediately escape from the country and sneak to other countries?

"This chief doesn't know anything." Lao Qiu said with a solemn face: "After the train passed Lu'an, it would almost continue to travel for more than 300 kilometers without stopping, and it would stop at Gangu (now the small town of Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory of Australia) to add coal and water. During this time, our entire train was in a desert with few inhabitants. Moreover, it was already dark. If the number of bandits is large enough, I am afraid that it will cause unpredictable consequences to all passengers. ”

"As you said, there may have been a lot of bandits in the car. So, the bandits are in the dark, and I am in the light, how can I catch them all? The Xuanjie Lieutenant asked.

"Bandits robbed trains, naturally, in order to make money. This train has a total of nine carriages, there are more than 700 passengers, with the heart of a bandit, it is impossible to rob those ordinary people in the third-class carriages, not only does it take a long time, but also may provoke the resistance of the passengers in the carriage. The two first-class carriages, on the other hand, were not only occupied by wealthy people, but also separated from each other, unable to take care of each other, and the number of people was small, so it was naturally the preferred target of those bandits. ”

"You mean, we're waiting in the first-class carriage for the bandits to fall into the trap?"

"That's right. We ambushed the first-class carriage in advance, and when they were in action, we suddenly launched and wiped them out! ”

"When will they do it?"

"It should be around two or three in the morning."

"What weapons do we have?"

"Three flintlock pistols, four daggers, and a few shovels to shovel coal, a few drill rods to poke into boilers, and handles and hammers to repair locomotives."

"Ambush in advance, sudden sneak attack, although these things are not very handy, they will be able to be used." The Xuanjie Lieutenant smiled and turned his head to look at the several officers and soldiers present, "I didn't expect that when we came back from a war overseas, we still had to deal with a few bandits in our homeland. Brothers, are you ready? ”

"Please command, I will obey your military orders!" The crowd responded.

(End of chapter)