Ascending the rostrum, the eyes of everyone around were focused, Li Ke knocked on the microphone in front of him, this railway station is the first place to supply power in addition to Datang Never Sleeps City.

It is mainly used for lighting in the workshop and other places where it is overhauled, in fact, now Datang's power generation capacity is also lighting. Other applications are not yet complete for the time being. So it's not popular, and sometimes it's good to be slower.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to come here today to let you witness a new way of travel, a major mode of transportation in Datang in the future, which will bring earth-shaking changes to Datang and all lives."

"I've never liked to be verbose, and this new way of getting around is the road that took two years to build – the railway!"

As soon as the word railway came out, everyone was stunned for a moment, railway? It can't be a road made of steel, right...... This...... Immediately, the road paved with iron plates instead of bluestone slabs appeared in their minds.

That's too extravagant, isn't it?

However, the thoughts in their minds had not yet fallen, so Li Ke directly continued: "Let's move on to the next item, you will understand after reading it, and now please prepare for the train test." Begin. ”

With Li Ke's voice, the staff who had been on the side of the railway track not far in front immediately rang the bell of "dang" and "dang", this small bell is not big, it was the sound of this thing that accompanied him through the entire primary school when Li Ke was in elementary school.

The bell was quickly transmitted, and soon a melodious sound was heard in the distance, and the sound was very loud.

The shrill sound of "Woo ......" was a bit like a horn, but it was much louder than the sound of a horn, just as everyone looked at what it was.

The rhythmic sounds of "Bang Dang" and "Bang Dang" began to come from a distance, and these sounds were somewhat like the sound of gold and iron, but everyone had not yet seen anything concrete.

Until...... A behemoth with black and red paint jumped out from behind a house on their right, and the huge volume drove the sound of "Bang Dang" and "Bang Dang" instantly stunned everyone.

It was coming towards them at a steadily increasing speed, and the workshop was not too far from here, so when it reached the platform, it was only a speed of more than a dozen kilometers per hour, which was the speed of a person jogging, to be honest.

But this huge black steel creature has a long dozen carriages behind it! How much do these carriages weigh?! What's more, it seems to be accelerating.

As it moved away from unfolding, its speed gradually began to increase until it completely disappeared from everyone's sight.

It wasn't until it completely disappeared that everyone suddenly came back to their senses, and a crisp voice with surprise had already sounded in the ears of many people, "Steel Dragon, Steel Dragon, Third Brother, Is this a Steel Dragon?" ”

Jin Yang's voice suddenly woke everyone up, this, the fairy tale that His Highness just told was actually true? Oh. That's not a fairy tale, it's obviously just made up by His Highness.

"Li Ke, what is this?" Li Shimin didn't suppress his shock, he tried to calm his emotions, looked at Li Ke and asked.

This thing...... It's amazing!

"This is called a train, and the road made of steel rails in its form is called a railway. It is a kind of train driven by a steam locomotive, and at present, this group of trains can dispatch fourteen cars at a time, a total of two locomotives. The length of each carriage is 25 meters. Li Ke said with a smile.

The biggest improvement of the steam locomotive developed by Li Ke compared with the steam engine train in the early stage of history is to solve the problem of its front and back operation, so that the problem of locomotive steering can be solved proudly, and the marshalling of the two locomotives can make it go back and forth freely.

"At present, it can transport more than 2,000 people at a time, or 800 tons of various materials at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, that is to say, it can advance 100 miles per hour, and at present, for safety, our regulations move forward 10 hours a day, which means that it can advance 1,000 miles in one day!"

"But in fact, with the advancement of our technology, it can advance 24 hours a day, at least 2,000 miles a day."

"This speed means that from Chang'an to the Yili River Valley, the westernmost part of Datang, if the railway is completed, this speed will be shortened to three days!"

"More than 6,000 miles can be reached in three days! That is to say, theoretically, as long as the railway is completed, all the territories of the current Datang can be reached within seven to ten days from Chang'an, and it will not exceed ten days at most! ”

"It's an economical way of operating, and if it's an extreme way of operating, it's possible to cut that time in half."

"Do you know what that means? This means that even if the army starts from Chang'an and arrives at any location in Datang, tens of thousands of troops can theoretically arrive within a few days, including grain and grass and other equipment. ”

"This is the train!"

Li Ke's words made everyone's breathing a little heavy, and Li Shimin and the ministers of the court suddenly understood why Li Yan said before that even if the Tang Dynasty had a treasury income of 40 million yuan next year, it was possible that it would owe money.

Because once this road is successfully operated, it means that Datang will inevitably build a large number of railways, even if some mountains cannot be crossed, some rivers cannot be crossed, but the construction of railways in sections will also be an inevitable choice.

And at this moment, Li Yinan and other nobles from the grassland suddenly felt a trace of happiness in their hearts, that is, they were glad that they agreed to Datang's request in advance and joined the big family of Datang, otherwise, when the railway was built to the grassland, the situation of the grassland and the Central Plains would completely change.

At that time, it was too late to say anything.

And now, although the pattern of the grassland and the Central Plains will also change permanently, at least no one will be injured in it, and in the same way, even if there is a disaster in the grassland in the future, I am afraid that it will not be able to get rid of the control of the Tang Dynasty.

Because the railway was built, Datang had the capital to garrison troops and build cities in the grassland, and as for the nomads who would go, they were not afraid of Datang chasing after them.

That's true, but does Datang need to chase?

They only need to control the pasture, and they can't run the herdsmen, but they can't run the pasture! Even if you don't come back, Datang doesn't really need you people, they just need this land.

Is this the charm of industry? Those craftsmen...... Even such a machine that can be called a divine object can be built! What His Highness just said...... Iron birds that can fly to the sky...... Is it true or not?

May was completed without leave, and the eighth month was completed without leave and without interruption.