Zhang Hao looked at the locomotive in front of him, with a boxy shape and a height of three meters. The track is also three meters wide, and the carriage is the same width as the track.

The materials of railways and locomotives are heat-treated with black iron – that is, ordinary steel. Huang Mingshan and others called this kind of steel, called 'black steel', which was obtained by quenching ordinary black iron. The dark iron content of these ordinary black iron and black steel is only 10%, and such a dark iron content is of little use.

But after all, it is after heat treatment, with the help of Zhangjia's more mature heat treatment, the hardness of these black steels is still very objective, at least enough to meet the requirements of ordinary railways.

In fact, after heat treatment, ordinary steel has reached the strength of ordinary magic weapons. The steam turbines that the Zhang family now sells to the outside world, including those used in their own factories, are made of ordinary steel. Because ordinary steel is fully qualified for the current production and technical requirements.

Zhang Hao circled around the locomotive twice and nodded with satisfaction.

This time, the locomotive uses an oil-fired steam boiler and a steam turbine, and after continuous research and exploration, the steam turbine technology is finally preliminarily mature.

In the previous steam turbines, the steam lines were open, and the steam was directly discharged, which caused a lot of waste and more importantly, a lot of water was required. This is not conducive to the study of small equipment such as locomotives.

Now, through the efforts of Huang Mingshan and others, a closed-circuit circulation steam system has finally appeared. Steam turbines were proudly downsized and moved to locomotives.

In the past, Huang Mingshan and others were researching a turbine driven by spirit stones, but that kind of equipment was complex and expensive, which was easy to cause coveting, and was not conducive to large-scale promotion—maybe it would be dismantled by cultivators.

Zhang Hao nodded with satisfaction, came to Huang Mingshan's side and asked, "How much does this locomotive cost?"

Huang Mingshan opened the notebook and replied seriously: "It is expected to be produced in large quantities, and it can be compressed to 10,000 spirit stones." In the case of the railway, the cost per kilometer is expected to be 200 spirit stones. The cost of such a railway does not include the actual construction costs.

In actual construction, excellent roadbeds, excellent bridges, etc. may be required, and the cost price is temporarily immeasurable. However, it does not exceed 500 spirit stones per kilometer. ”

Zhang Hao smiled: "It's okay! I'm going to build a branch factory for locomotives and railways, do you have anyone to recommend?"

Talent is already a bit scarce. At the beginning, Huang Mingshan and others had gradually separated, and although Huang Mingshan and others had also begun to consciously train apprentices, there were still not enough manpower. The development of the Zhang family is too fast.

This is ready to establish a locomotive branch, and Zhang Hao didn't know who to arrange for a while.

The old people around Huang Mingshan are Chen Feng and Wang Xuefeng, and the three of them are responsible for the research of all the technical systems and theories of the Zhang family, which is already quite difficult. With the progress and development of technology, the industry is becoming more complicated, and Zhang Hao feels that Huang Mingshan and the three can no longer be separated.

Huang Mingshan immediately pointed out a person: "Young Master, I recommend Zhang Yueshan!"

Zhang Yueshan? Zhang Hao suddenly had an impression in his mind: when the production team was selected for the first time, the team led by Zhang Yueshan was the first to complete the production of fans. But they were eliminated because they were not careful enough. (Chapter 22)

Huang Mingshan continued: "Young Master, later I found out that Zhang Yueshan began to study seriously and relied on memory to build a new fan, so I reactivated him. It's been a good time.

In the study of locomotives this time, Zhang Yueshan made a lot of contributions. ”

"Okay!" Zhang Hao nodded, "Then Zhang Yueshan." By the way, since the contribution is not small, have the rewards and so on been counted?"

"Here it is. ”

Zhang Hao took Huang Mingshan's roster, looked through it, and nodded with satisfaction. But then he said, "In the future, there will be no need to reward the pill, and in the future, the price of the pill will be reduced to the limit, and everyone will be replaced with spirit stones." Price...... Converted according to the previous price of the pill. ”

"Yes!" Huang Mingshan recorded it carefully, meticulously. Unknowingly, this little craftsman who only dared to sit on half of the stool in front of Zhang Hao has grown into one of the pillars of the Zhang family.

"What about Zhang Yueshan?"

Huang Mingshan immediately called Zhang Yueshan over, and Zhang Yueshan stood in front of Zhang Hao with some restraint. Zhang Hao smiled and patted Zhang Yueshan on the shoulder, "Work hard." I won't say anything superfluous, as long as you don't give up, I promise you a brilliant future. Tomorrow, you will go to the master's study and receive a copy of the exercises. ”

"Thank you, young master!" Zhang Yueshan was very excited. Compared with others, Zhang Yueshan is more excited. Because I lost it, I know how to cherish it.

Zhang Hao pointed to the locomotive next to him and said, "Can you be in charge of building a locomotive factory, which is responsible for production, as well as laying railways and locomotives?"

"Yes!"

"Good. The first goal is to build three railways, twin aisles, and reserve enough space for expansion. The three railways are the port, Zhangjia, and leading to Ranci Mountain, which connects to Ninghe County, and Ninghe County returns to Zhangjia.

You need to think about the turns, docking, transfers, etc. in the process of laying the railway. This kind of railway transportation volume should be very large, but there are many things that need to be solved in terms of climbing capacity and turning ability.

There are also railways that pass through river valleys, hills, etc., and it is necessary to build strong bridges and excavate tunnels.

And the roadbed of the railway itself also has to bear a huge weight, and you have to find ways to ensure that the roadbed of the railway does not sink. ”

"Young Master, I already have an idea. For the bridge problem, I can imitate the structure of the driving car, and already have preliminary design drawings.

Tunnels may not be needed, but they can be bypassed temporarily, and if they can't be bypassed, they can blow up mountains. You can even invite the masters of the Transformation Stage to move mountains.

For the roadbed, I prepared rammed earth and laid gravel and sleepers on top to build a bed for the rails, which would also reduce the vibration of the rails.

Problems such as steering and cornering, I made use of the 'human' shape, which can be solved very well. ”

Zhang Hao looked at Zhang Yueshan's confident expression and nodded with satisfaction. The technicians of the Zhang family have begun to learn to think actively, and they no longer need to be open all the time. This is good.

In the early morning of the same day, Zhang Hao officially determined the construction of the locomotive factory, and Zhang Yueshan was in charge. Zhang Yueshan led his team and worked out a development plan overnight.

The locomotive factory will be built in the Ranci Mountain, using the nearby iron ore resources. Ranci Mountain is not the fief of the Zhang family, but it has long been bought by Zhang Hao.

To build a new factory, Liu Ming and Bai Xiaodong of the machinery department are distressed, and they have to add new machinery. To build a locomotive factory, the machinery needed is not a small number.

Zhang Hao arranged the relevant things and turned around to be busy with other things. There are still many things, Zhang Hao wants to arrange for the craftsmen to make a batch of steel swords as soon as possible, and the cost price of this thing is really not much. Zhang Hao's quotation of 200 high-grade spirit stones is a little weak.

Now the Zhang family has adopted mechanical forging and forging, machine tool grinding and cutting, and four or five craftsmen can work together to make hundreds of swords in one night. And there is no shortage of such craftsmen in the Zhang family. In about five days, 10,000 swords were made, and it was easy.

Early the next morning, Zhang Hao held an auction in Ninghe County and the headquarters of Dayang Group. The auction was carried out on precious medicinal materials from other countries, and representatives of 32 trading houses from the East participated in the auction. Everyone traded for the precious pills they carried.

The precious pills that you carry with you include the Infant Pill, the 'Innate Pill' that breaks through the Jindan stage during the foundation building period, and the Crossing Er Jindan, the Shengsheng Creation Pill, and the Yangyan Pill that women love. The transaction was very enthusiastic.

Later, Zhang Hao participated in the economic planning, urban construction, and legal construction of the seaside, and was very busy.

............

But while Zhang Hao was busy developing the marine industry, Liu Xinyu was busy with the cause of hegemony.

As Liu Xinyu planned, after the prince of the Kingdom of Danyang brought back a large number of pills, the contradictions in the court broke out.

Most of the officials in the court of the Danyang Kingdom are representatives of nobles, families, etc.—this is exactly the same as the Qixia Country in the past. But these officials and big families began to take refuge in the country of vicissitudes more or less openly or covertly.

For them, the country is the second, and the development and inheritance of the family is the first. And the current country of Danyang made them see no hope, so they began to throw themselves into the arms of the country of Canglan.

And this time, the elixirs brought back by the prince of the country of Danyang made these officials frightened - they felt that the emperor of the country of Danyang seemed to want to repeat and return to the embrace of the West.

But once this is the case, once the country of Danyang returns to the embrace of the West, then the royal family of Danyang will definitely liquidate the nobles in the country!

With the example of the country of Qixia and the country of Jinyang, let these families and so on, there is a sense of crisis and fear. They broke out, and they even wanted to force the Emperor of the Kingdom of Danyang to declare war on the other five countries in the West, and pull the country of Canglan into the war circle.

And the emperor of the country of Danyang was angry by these officials. The current country of Danyang is still in civil strife, and the two counties in the northwest are still occupied by the country of Jinyang, who can we beat now!

For their own sake, these families no longer care about the future of the Danyang Country. This also made the Emperor finally make a decision.

Therefore, the Emperor of the Land of Danyang had to send messengers to ask for help from the Land of Qixia overnight. And the messenger is the only god transformation period of Song Yan and the country of Danyang.

After Liu Xinyu obtained domestic consent from the early dynasty, he immediately contacted the other four countries. This time, Liu Xinyu wants to take the country of Qixia as the core and pull up a legion to 'peacekeep'!

The country of Yanyun took the lead in responding, and an envoy arrived in the country of Qixia in the afternoon of the same day, and said that their 30,000 elite dragon horse cavalry had been prepared.

Later, the country of Zhoushan also made a statement, and the country of Zhoushan, which had just ended the chaos, could only send 20,000 'ordinary troops', but it opened the domestic passage and allowed the cavalry of the country of Yanyun to go south.

The country of Zhongshan and the country of Jinyang both sent 50,000 troops.

Coupled with the 50,000 troops sent to the southeast of the country of Qixia, everyone formed a total of 200,000 elites.

This time, everyone sent elites, even if the country of Zhoushan said that it was an ordinary army, but none of the people sent were in the Qi refining period, all of them were above the foundation building period.

Everyone knows very well that this is a contest of military strength of various countries - peacekeeping the country of Danyang is just a hand.

With the opening of the ocean in the country of Qixia, the development opportunities of the six western countries have come. But who gets more resources?

Liu Xinyu said that he was free to trade and did not make restrictions, but everyone understands that the world of cultivation is respected by the strong, even if it is a country.

Therefore, everyone is ready to use this 'peacekeeping' opportunity to flex their muscles and lay the foundation for the future division of interests."

It took three days for the army to gather. In the past three days, the country of Danyang has been divided: the country has been completely divided into two parts: east and west.

In the west, there is the royal family of the country of Danyang, and there are only two counties of land left, and in the east, there are domestic nobles, families, etc., who occupy the land of five counties - the county of the country of Danyang is much smaller than the country of Qixia.

These big families and others actually want to take refuge in the country of vicissitudes.

And the country of Canglan did send a legion. For the country of Canglan, the change of the country of Danyang is an opportunity for them to cut into the West, so they are not ready to give up.

Now the war between the country of Canglan and the country of Langya has begun to gain the upper hand, because Zhang Hao defeated the first sailor division of the country of Langya, which brought an opportunity, at least an opportunity in confidence.

So now, in order to 'return' the country of Qixia, the country of Canglan has gathered 300,000 elites, crossed the Southern Autumn Wind Ridge, and entered the country of Danyang through Tianqing Pass, Tianmen Pass, and Burial Soul Valley soldiers in three ways. And set up an army on the border of the country of Jinyang, and put on a ready to break the pass at any time.

The artillery purchased from the country of Qixia and the artillery produced by themselves using drawings were also used in large quantities.

A brutal war, a war with full artillery, seems to be about to begin!

Moreover, the reason for the country of Canglan to send troops is also very open-the country of Danyang has defected to us before, and all of them have signed a contract; you five Western countries are trying to provoke us, and we can't sit idly by!

The entire western part of the Fertile Continent has solidified again.

But everyone still kept their sanity after all. Before the start of the war, the country of Canglan sent an envoy to visit Liu Xinyu. The envoys were Fu Yun, Huang Shaoxian, the left minister, and Wang Ruiyang, the owner of Lingwei Commercial Bank.

Fu Yun is in the god transformation stage and does not participate in negotiations, he only guarantees safety along the way. The main negotiators were Wang Ruiyang and Huang Shaoxian.

Huang Shao was the prime minister first, while Wang Ruiyang was most familiar with Western countries.

There is nothing polite, Huang Shao saw Liu Xinyu first, and asked face to face: When your country of Qixia was in trouble before, we helped without saying anything, but now we can't get along with our country of vicissitudes, Your Majesty, you are not benevolent!

Facing Huang Shaoxian's questioning, Liu Xinyu just smiled faintly and turned his head to look at Wang Ruiyang, "This Wang shopkeeper, I remember you." I heard that it started with you, and the special black iron for alchemy sold to us in the six Western countries was adulterated by 20%, and the price was not bargained. Right?"

Wang Ruiyang was thick-skinned, and he smiled faintly: "Your Majesty said that these are not too much? If it weren't for the fact that we sold the special dark iron for alchemy, the west of the Fertile Earth Continent in the past would be unsustainable at all." I'll admit it's a bit expensive, but I can sell it anyway! If it weren't for us, your country wouldn't have been able to buy it with money!"

Liu Xinyu smiled and laughed angrily, "If the two of you are here to say these things today, then please go back." My time is precious, I can't afford to waste it!"

Huang Shaoxian suddenly shouted: "Your Majesty really wants to be the enemy of the country of Canglan?"