Start with Baihuguan

Chapter 546
Soon, under the guidance of Li Huan, a group of people came to a place that looked like a site. There was already a group of people waiting there, and the leader was no stranger to everyone.

As one of the rare Grand Masters of Gewu in the Ming Dynasty, Luo Tong is naturally an extraordinary figure in the eyes of all the high-level officials, especially when Luo Tong was granted the status of a Grand Master, it was approved by the cabinet and summoned by the emperor himself.

Therefore, the people present are not unfamiliar with Luo Tong at all, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they were deeply impressed. When they saw Luo Tong now, they were not too surprised. On the contrary, they thought it was natural for Luo Tong to appear here. things.

With Luo Tong's ability, nine out of ten of the steam cars that Li Huan talked about were made by Luo Tong, so that everyone was even more curious about the steam cars that they hadn't seen yet.

Luo Tong, who had already received the news early, was naturally full of excitement when he saw Li Huan and the emperor and his party coming.

At the beginning Li Huan once said that one day when they built a practical steam engine, he would definitely ask the emperor for a reward for them.

Now that Li Huanlian's cabinet, all the dignitaries and even the emperor have invited over, thinking of the steam car they have tested several times, Luo Tong is delighted.

He can guarantee that if the next people see the steam car, they will be able to see the earth-shaking changes that the invention of the steam car will bring to Daming.

While these thoughts flashed through his mind, Luo Tong didn't dare to neglect in the slightest, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute the emperor and others one by one.

Zhu Houzhao waved his hands at Luo Tong and said with a smile, "Scholar Luo, Li Qing invited me to come today and said that he wanted to show everyone the same amazing machine. I think this machine is probably made by Luo Aiqing."

Hearing this, Luo Tong hurriedly said: "I dare not ask for the merits of heaven. This steam engine was described by Duke Qin, and I just made it according to the instructions of Duke Qin. If we really want to reward meritorious service, Then the first contribution should belong to Qin Guogong. The ministers and others are just trying their best."

Zhu Houzhao first glanced at Li Huan when he heard the words, and then said with a smile: "I know Li Qing's ability. If Li Qing proposed this steam engine, then I would believe it, but Li Qing doesn't have the ability to build it. .”

While speaking, Zhu Houzhao said: "Let me take me there to see what is so magical about the steam car that Li Qing praised so much."

Soon, under the leadership of Luo Tong, a group of people came to a place, and saw a rather strange-looking long train quietly stopping in front.

This long train is actually made up of several long carriages linked together. At a glance, there are as many as four carriages, which is larger than the carriages of those large carriages that they have seen that are specially used to pull goods. many.

Seeing this long train, everyone roughly estimated it in their hearts, and they could calculate in their hearts that if this train was only for hauling goods, it might be worth the capacity of more than a dozen large carriages.

However, after everyone glanced at the long carriage, they finally landed on a strangely shaped front of the front.

A thick pipe is erected on the front of a cuboid, which looks like a chimney. In addition, a large amount of coal can be seen piled up in the front of the car.

Seeing this weird creation, everyone couldn't help but feel a little curious.

Li Huan nodded slightly at Luo Tong and said, "Lord Luo, the car can start warming up."

Luo Tong nodded slightly, and then gave an order, and soon everyone saw a burly man feeding coal into a furnace, under the raging flames, thick smoke rose from the tall chimney. It is obvious that the coal is burning violently.

It was just tea time, Luo Tong looked at the smoke from the chimney and said to Li Huan: "Duke, the steam engine has been preheated and can be started at any time."

Li Huan clapped his hands, and soon saw a group of personal guards coming leading the horses, everyone couldn't help but stunned for a moment, as if they didn't quite understand what Li Huan was going to do with these horses.

Li Huan said with a smile: "The steam car will start later, and everyone has to ride a horse to watch it. If not, everyone will not be able to catch up with the speed of the steam car."

Hearing Li Huan's explanation, everyone became more and more curious. Fortunately, all the people could ride horses, so under the lead of the emperor, they got on their horses one after another.

But at this moment, accompanied by a long whistle sound, the long body that was originally parked there shook slightly, and then the whole weird car began to move forward slowly.

"It moved, it actually moved!"

Some people's eyes widened, and a look of disbelief appeared on their faces.

This scene was really shocking. They didn't see the long body being pulled by manpower or animal power, but the heavy body began to move slowly.

You must know that no one is blind, not to mention other things, just the front of the car that looks like it is made of steel, and the few carriages in the back, the whole car may weigh tens of thousands of catties.

With such a weight, even if it is pulled by horses or oxen, it may take as many as a dozen or so, and it may not be able to pull it.

But now they didn't see a horse or a cow, but the car moved by itself.

Everyone's eyes widened when they saw this scene, and the shock was beyond words. Even Zhu Houzhao, who is the emperor, showed surprise and curiosity at the moment.

It seems that as the power of the steam engine is getting stronger and stronger, the speed of the steam car that was moving slowly is also increasing a little bit.

At the beginning, everyone just followed the car slowly, but gradually everyone noticed that the speed of the car was accelerating, and in the end they even had to drive their horses with all their strength to keep up with the speed of the car.

There was enough time for a cup of tea, the car that was originally told to move forward slowed down, until the whole car came to a complete stop.

And at this moment, Li Huan, Zhu Houzhao, Wang Yangming and others also got off their horses. At this time, the horses under them were already panting, and it seemed that their horsepower had almost been exhausted. , I'm afraid the horse won't be able to hold on anymore.

At this time, everyone didn't pay attention to the situation of the war horse at all, and all their eyes were cast on that car.

Li Huan said with a smile, "Your Majesty, please get on the train and experience it yourself."

If this was the past, I am afraid that some people would stand up to oppose it immediately, but the people who can stand here now are not the kind of narrow-sighted people. Not only did no one stand up to stop them, but they were all eager to try. Followed in the car.

Among the four carriages, one was obviously modified, so when a group of people entered the carriage, they found that there were neat seats for a dozen people to sit on.

Seeing this scene, many people's eyes lit up, and Zhu Houzhao even chose a place to sit down and smiled at Li Huan and said, "Don't tell me, this car can take everyone to Tianjin Wei Port."

Zhu Houzhao, who is the son of heaven, is no stranger to the land of Gyeonggi. He followed the car all the way before, obviously heading for Tianjin Wei, so Zhu Houzhao said with a casual smile.

However, Li Huan nodded with a smile when he heard the words: "Your Majesty knows things like a god. This road leads directly to Tianjin Wei Port. Please sit down, Your Majesty. You will arrive at Tianjin Wei Port in less than two hours."

Wang Yangming on the side couldn't help showing a bit of surprise when he heard the words: "Mr. Qin, how long do you think it will take to reach Tianjin Wei Port?"

Not only Wang Yangming, but everyone else showed surprise.

In fact, what Li Huan said was that they would be able to reach Tianjin Wei Port in less than two hours, which surprised them.

You must know that there is a distance of hundreds of miles from the capital to Tianjin Wei Port. If it is a galloping horse, it only takes about an hour to arrive by changing horses along the way.

But if it is a carriage for pulling goods, it will take about four or five hours. This is because Daming repaired the cement road from the capital to Tianjin Wei Port.

Now Li Huan actually said that it only takes about two hours to arrive at Tianjin Wei Port, how can this not make everyone astonished.

Li Huan said with a light smile: "If you don't believe me, why not start the timer at this moment, and you will know when you arrive at Tianjin Wei."

Yang Yiqing laughed loudly and said: "The timing is the timing, the old man wants to see if this steam car is really as fast as Qin Guogong you said."

The steam car that had stopped here started up again, and the people sitting in the car could clearly feel the speed of the car increasing a little bit.

Although there was no whistling wind, looking out, one could see the scene on both sides of the car reversing rapidly, which indicated that the car was moving forward rapidly.

As for the speed of this locomotive, to be honest, Li Huan already knew a thing or two after receiving the report from Luo Tong. If it is running normally, it is about 40 miles per hour. If it is running at high speed, it can almost reach more than [-] miles per hour. speed.

If this speed is compared with later generations, it is indeed nothing, but in this era, it has already amazed Li Huan.

After all, the steam engine produced by Daming is still quite primitive, and it is far from being developed to the limit. It is not easy to reach the current level.

Of course, Li Huan would not underestimate the development space of the steam engine. You must know that the limit of the steam engine is that it can reach a speed of hundreds of miles per hour.

We must know that in later generations, after hundreds of years of development, in the 30th century and 200s in Britain and Germany, trains with a speed of more than [-] kilometers per hour were already able to be manufactured.

So in comparison, the current steam train manufactured by Daming is only thirty or forty miles per hour, and it can only be said that it has just entered the right track.

The speed of the steam locomotive is quite stable. Although there are some bumps during the driving, compared to riding a horse or riding a carriage, this bump is negligible.

While Luo Tong was telling the crowd about the principle of the steam locomotive and the manufacturing process, more than an hour passed in a flash, and with a sound of breath, the speed of the steam locomotive that was originally running slowly slowed down.

After the car came to a complete stop, someone suddenly exclaimed: "Hey, look quickly, that seems to be Tianjin Wei Port."

Obviously someone saw the prosperous Tianjin Wei Port in the distance.

Accompanied by this exclamation, everyone also looked around, and saw the extremely prosperous Tianjin Wei Port in the distance.

Looking at the steam locomotive below them, and looking at the Tianjin Wei Port in the distance, if they hadn't seen it with their own eyes, to be honest, they really couldn't believe it, such a weird car could still have such a speed.

A group of people walked down from the steam locomotive, and looked at the locomotive carefully again, as if they wanted to keep it in their hearts.

But at this moment, Wang Yangming stroked his beard and sighed: "It took less than two hours to arrive at Tianjin Wei Port from the capital. This creation is my Ming's artifact."

Yang Yiqing stared at Li Huan with burning eyes and said, "Mr. Qin, I don't know how much this steam locomotive will cost? If it is built like the railway from Beijing Normal University to Tianjin Wei, how much will it cost per mile?"

As soon as Yang Yiqing said this, everyone looked at Li Huan.

Anyone who is not a fool can see the value of this steam locomotive and railway. Because of this, everyone pays more attention to the cost of things.

If the cost is really too expensive, then its value is too great to be promoted on a large scale, but if the cost is not high, then it will be of great significance to Daming.

Of course, even if the cost is too expensive, everyone will not give up, it is nothing more than that it cannot be rolled out on a large scale in a short period of time.

Under the gaze of everyone, Li Huan pointed to the front of the steam locomotive and said: "This locomotive alone costs nearly ten thousand taels of silver, but if the follow-up manufacturing scale increases and the technology improves, the price can be lowered, but in a short time , and will not decrease too much."

Everyone didn't open their mouths when they heard the words. Although they were psychologically prepared, they couldn't help feeling tense when they suddenly heard that a locomotive cost as much as ten thousand taels of silver.

Wang Yangming took a deep breath and looked at the roads built by one hundred steel smelting shops and said slowly: "Then how much will it cost to build the railways built by the steel making shops?"

Li Huan glanced at everyone and said: "Fortunately, my Ming Dynasty has made a breakthrough in steelmaking technology, which has caused the price of steel to drop sharply. It costs about 3000 taels of silver to build a mile of railway."

To be honest, Li Huan felt that this price was not high at all. You must know that the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway was built by the later Qing Dynasty, which cost 700 million taels of silver for [-] kilometers, or [-] miles.

Aside from the depreciation of silver value and other things, one mile is more than 1 taels of silver, but the construction of the more than 100-mile railway from the capital to Tianjin Wei Port last time only cost nearly 50 taels of silver.

(End of this chapter)