Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 498 The First Railway

In November of the third year of Chu Li, all the money from Wei State arrived. Liu Ye couldn't wait to carry the battleship... Oh no, he left Chu State on the battleship and could finally go home to celebrate the New Year!

In the fourth year of Chu Li's reign, the Marquis of Shu needed a [-]% deposit for ordering salt brocade. The preparations had been completed and sent along the Three Gorges last month.

The Chu State also kept its word. After the ship carrying Chu coins left Kuimen, the Xinye Division organized an evacuation from Badong County.

However, the layout of the Three Gorges area is not wasteful at all, because... various commodities must be continuously transported to Yizhou, especially the official salt and brocade!
As expected, Liu Zhang finally agreed to Chu's conditions.

He even felt that the Marquis of Shu's Mansion was completely profitable at the price given by Chu State!

Zhang Song, who could see that there was something wrong and was the only one who had any hope of stopping Liu Zhang, was going to the Han Dynasty court on behalf of Liu Zhang to "report on his work" and also seek help.

It was not until the Chu State had invested the deposit of the Marquis of Shu into the railway that Zhang Song returned to the capital.

However, Liu Zhang had already paid a high deposit at this time, and... it was impossible for Chu to renegotiate now. If he wanted to break the contract, he would have to prepare for war, which Liu Zhang absolutely could not accept.

Zhang Song had no choice but to do the next best thing and advised Liu Zhang not to be greedy for the profits of Chu Salt and Chu Jin, but to share the risks of this business with other nobles!
The so-called "risk" is not the risk brought by the profits of Chu Yan and Chu Jin, but... the dangerous actions that the big players of Jing Yan and Shu Jin may make after learning about this news and the shrinking of their own markets.

Even so, Zhang Song still felt that something was wrong, but it was a pity that Chu Yan and Chu Jin could not stop him from entering. While sighing secretly, he also sighed: He is indeed His Highness the King of Chu!

In fact, Zhang Song's level of "patch" was originally expected by Bai Tu, but it doesn't matter...

As long as a large amount of Chu salt and Chu brocade enter Yizhou, they will inevitably suppress Shu brocade and well salt, the two original pillar industries of Yizhou. Even if Liu Zhang cooperates with the original salt brocade family, he will not be immediately hated by the salt brocade family. It will also cause Yizhou's local salt and brocade production to decrease.

The original salt brocade family directly obtained Chu salt and Chu brocade at a profitable cost. It seems that the loss is not big. However, a large number of original salt workers, weavers, a series of middlemen, and small workshops will be affected next. Influence!
It is inevitable to suffer backlash, it is just a difference between backlash from the middle and upper classes, and backlash from the middle and lower classes.

Of course, as the king of Chu who cares about the people and the sufferings of the people in Yizhou, he has notified Zhao Yun and Fazheng who stayed in Badong County in advance to recruit experienced salt workers and weavers in Badong County. Not only did they take him in Badong County, but they also provided help for his family to move to the mainland of Chu State.

Especially for those with superb skills, after inquiring about the corresponding situation, you can send people to invite them and provide them with favorable conditions for migration.

If Chu State wants to stay ahead, it must continue to attract foreign talents and continuously improve itself.

No matter how strict the confidentiality of the salt farm is, there are already signs of leakage - and it cannot be ruled out that a pattern has been speculated.

On the coasts of Qingzhou and Jizhou, the navy discovered that both the Marquis of Qi and the State of Wei were trying to dig out salt fields for drying salt. However, they obviously didn’t understand many of the key points. There were no steps or pools, and no finished salt had been produced yet...

But at least they already know that Chu Yan was "exposed". If they continue to explore, they will be able to achieve results sooner or later.

Of course, if you want to reach the level of Chu State in a short time, you must poach a few core experts!

In fact, well salt, that is, salt collected from underground brine, also has great potential to be mined, regardless of the method of drilling a well or the method of collection.

Even when Bai Tu dug deep wells to fight drought, if Yizhou had learned some lessons at that time, the well salt production would have been greatly improved now.

In fact, in modern times with a huge population, most of the salt used in China comes from well salt, not sea salt. The peak of sea salt was only in the Ming and Qing Dynasties - after the demand for salt increased sharply, well salt was "influenced by industrialization". Bonus" is bigger!
After all, the sun-salting process, even if combined with modern technology, has limited improvement, while well salt is "earth-shaking" in comparison.

Of course, that is what happened after Chu State's Xichuan, but now it is beneficial to Chu State to gather the salt workers and weavers of Yizhou in advance.

……

At the end of November, the first to fourth railways built by the Chu State were also completed.

It’s not that Chu State’s construction speed is unparalleled, but that these four are all transit routes from mining areas to nearby areas. The longest is more than ten Chuli, and the shortest is only six Chuli—each Chuli is equivalent to 1000 meters. Take the height of King Chu as 1.8 meters.

The medium-sized Zhenqi machine can already operate with a load of more than ten tons, which has indeed greatly improved the efficiency of mineral transportation and materials entering the mining area...

But it’s more of an experimental nature!

When I was at the Ministry of Industry, the scale of the experiment was too small after all. After seeing that the railways for several miles could indeed operate and the transportation efficiency was greatly improved, the ministers became more confident in the railways.

Of course, for the sake of ceremony, after several experiments, the first day of December was designated as the first day of official operation. Baitu also personally attended the opening ceremony...

For this reason, Liu Ye and Qin Mi didn't even see Bai Tu when they left.

The four short railways were all built in Kuaiji County - a place with a lot of ore!
And because of the transportation restrictions between Kuaiji County itself and the northern part of the Chu State, it would be a little slower for the news to spread out of the Chu State when the railway was built here.

However, even if the Zhenqi train is still among the people, it is still a weird rumor that "the auspicious steel beast appears in the mountains and transports transportation for the Chu country", but... now that it is officially put into use, the magic of the "Zhenqi machine" will surely continue. Presented to other princes.

Even in Kuaiji, it could take as little as a year or as fast as a few months. It is estimated that the Marquis of Qi and the State of Wei will get the news, but how they will "receive the move" will only be known later.

How important railways are to a vast country has been proven time and time again in history.

In the history without the White Rabbit Effect, this land missed almost all development opportunities in the early and even middle stages of the Industrial Revolution. In the end, when the railway started, it was completely used as a prop for the great powers to divide their interests. In the early 20th century, they all "helped" to build.

In the most intensive ten years, the great powers built more than 8000 kilometers of railways in China.

Later, after the Qing government and civilians discovered the importance of railways, they began to prepare for self-construction of railways. However... the Qing government's rude operations on the railways also indirectly led to the Wuchang Uprising.

It can be said that the history of railway construction is the history of the national destiny in the early 20th century and the end of the Qing government.

More than 30 years later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China and a lot of waste waiting to be renovated, more than 8000 kilometers of railways were built in one year.

And now Bai Tu has started his first "railway" attempt in Kuaiji County - although the total distance is only thirty miles.

Bai Tu and Lu Lingqi also insisted on standing in the first carriage... or in the carriage compartment during the first run!

The current few trains, except for the huge front end where the medium-sized Zhenqi engine is placed, are all large cargo boxes without roofs.

The trained first-generation train driver was a little nervous after learning about it.

The other accompanying officials couldn't help but stand aside after seeing this. They all accompanied Bai Tu into the simple carriage, and...the first carriage had to have some identity and was mainly related to the operation of the railway. Only personnel can come in, and the rest are in the back of the car.

After the train started, some civil servants couldn't help but stumble, but a golden general like Bai Tu naturally stood firm!

It has to be said that the current Zhenqi trains are not very comfortable at all - they are not originally passenger cars.

The "power" of the Zhenqi machine is very strong, and its mechanical design is already leading in terms of energy and energy. It can basically match the speed of a train in the late 19th century, and can reach a speed of fifty or sixty miles per hour!

This is already the explosive speed of the cavalry when charging naked, and even slightly exceeds it...

And you need to know that a Qi train powered by this type of Qi machine can carry a load of more than ten tons.

For the miners in the mines, as well as the residents of the towns that were "developed" because of the mines and water sources, this can be called a "miracle" more inspiring than any spectacle.

The effect of soothing the hearts of the surrounding people is no less than that of Shennong Essence Promotion, but the scope is not like that of Shennong Essence Promotion and Harvest - perfect coverage of all promotion areas!
Even Ji Zai in Kuaiji and two other counties with railways have an extra set of "skin" as a flight attendant because of this.

The successful trial run of the Zhenqi train further boosted the morale of the Chu State, but it was more concentrated in the several counties of Kuaiji where the train was built, as well as among the core policy ministers of the Chu State.

This time, the Chu court did not deliberately publicize it, and nominally issued a "gag order," but the enforcement was not strong...

After all, such a large train is here, and many of the people who usually use it are ordinary laborers. The area stretches for several miles, and it will even be used in more and more places. The confidentiality is not as good as that of the salt farm that has been hidden for several years. It's impossible to keep it completely secret.

They just use an attitude of not publicizing and not encouraging dissemination to delay the exposure of Zhenqi Train.

The only thing that actively publicizes is to actively popularize the law - stealing railway tracks is regarded as "tax robbery". If there are consequences, intentional injury or murder will be severely punished!

Therefore, in some places where there are no railways yet, or where railways are being laid, but they know what the Zhenqi train is, the state of Chu is laying steel on the ground...

This move undoubtedly made other princes even more angry - you, the King of Chu, are really bad!

To promote Qi to ordinary people for the sake of food prices, and now to spread steel directly on the ground for the sake of steel prices? Tui!

Because there was no radio yet, the speed of news transmission was still very restricted by transportation - and the places where railways were given priority to be built were places where transportation was not very convenient. Real long-distance lines also required a period of accumulation of technology and experience, and... …Laying also takes time.

After all, Baitu only has data on a hard drive, not a real railway!
It is estimated that as long as there are no special people to investigate, it will take at least a year to spread to the Central Plains based on word of mouth. After that, people from the Central Plains will probably come to confirm and investigate the principles. After two years, they will know what the concept of Zhenqi Machine is. It’s already pretty good…

(End of this chapter)