Chapter 403： Train trial run

The imperial examination is a major event, but there are many similar major events in the Great Chinese Empire.

Wu Changqing also paid attention to the imperial examination when he was scoring the papers, and spent the rest of his time busy with other things.

For example, inspect the trial operation of the locomotive.

In early February, Wu Changqing and some ministers and many people came to the suburbs.

The scientific research team led by Feng Xianzhong has already obtained the most primitive locomotive, and today it will conduct a trial run in front of Wu Changqing.

In order to let the people understand the train and accept this new thing more quickly, Wu Changqing also allowed the people to come and watch.

The more people understand this train, the less obstacles they will encounter when building the railway.

Otherwise, with the current level of superstition in this era, if you want to build a railway from a certain place, the local people will worry that Feng Shui will be destroyed, and what veins and veins will be destroyed.

Although these opposing voices can be suppressed by force, it is naturally better for the people to understand and accept them autonomously.

A two-kilometer railway track was laid in the test site, and a locomotive has been placed on it.

Its appearance and size are roughly similar to the locomotive in Wu Changqing's impression. As for the details, he is not clear about it.

But this is not important, the key is to look at performance.

"What is the horsepower and speed of this locomotive now, how long can it run continuously, and how much coal does it consume?"

Wu Changqing asked a lot of professional questions, and he knew at a glance that he knew very well about trains.

The other ministers were not surprised, after all, the concept of train was first proposed by Wu Changqing.

"Your Majesty, the horsepower of this train is currently about 1,000 horsepower. In an empty state, it can travel 40 miles an hour. It can pull ten carriages and carry a load of 100 tons. When fully loaded, it can travel 30 miles an hour. It's about the same speed as a person's walking.

The disadvantage is that it consumes more coal and water. When pulling ten cars, at least one car must be used for coal and three cars for water. After the railway is built, it will be necessary to set up a coal and water supply station every tens of miles..."

Feng Xianzhong introduced the performance of this locomotive.

At first glance, it feels like **** and troublesome. However, Wu Changqing was more satisfied.

Because the early trains were just like this.

"Yes, it has practicality and can start to formally lay the railway. However, this performance is still very poor, and the room for improvement is very large. It needs continuous improvement. I want to see that it can pull dozens of cars and still A locomotive with a speed of two to three hundred miles per hour."

Wu Changqing said.

The locomotive at this time has very poor efficiency and is only suitable for use in some economically developed places, such as the Jingsong line from Nanjing to Songjiang.

Except for this line to make money by laying railways, it is now difficult to make money for laying other sections of railways.

Only when the efficiency of trains is improved, can railways be laid in places where the economy is not particularly developed.

Therefore, Wu Changqing is relatively calm about the locomotive in front of him.

However, the other ministers who followed the inspection together did not have this calmness. They were shocked by the statistics Feng Xianzhong said.

A load of 100 tons at a time can still reach the walking speed of a person. This carrying capacity is simply against the sky.

If one hundred tons of coal are transported in the traditional way, at least a horse convoy of four hundred people is required.

But now, only one train driver, three coalers, and a few handymen are needed.

This increase in transportation efficiency has more than doubled dozens of times.

More importantly, if people and horses are used for transportation, both people and horses will be tired and need to rest halfway. People want to eat, horses want to eat grass.

As for this locomotive, it doesn't need to rest, as long as it keeps adding water and coal.

"This is a weapon of the country."

Hong Chengchou sighed with emotion. He thought of a major function of trains, which is to transport troops.

Calculated on the basis of one hundred catties per person, this train can carry two thousand people at a time.

As long as he gets a dozen or so locomotives, he can quickly drop tens of thousands of troops to a certain place at a time.

This kind of weapon can greatly enhance the control of the world.

In the past, when a rebellion broke out in a remote place, it took more than a month for the transmission of news, and at least three to five months for the deployment of troops.

A small rebellion of a thousand people occurred in one place, and the court had to send 10,000 troops to it. Because when they rushed to the rebellion, those rebels had already grown to tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands.

That's how Li Zicheng broke Daming.

The rebellious general led three thousand people on the road confidently. He was dumbfounded when he arrived in Shaanxi, because Li Zicheng's manpower had grown to tens of thousands.

With trains, this kind of thing will never happen again.

As soon as there is a rebellion, the train can quickly deploy its troops to wipe out the rebellion in the bud.

This train is simply the emperor's favorite.

"The minister please build a railway from Nanjing to Beijing and beyond."

Li Shaobin said that as a soldier, he is naturally concerned with the military use of trains.

Seeing the powerful transportation capabilities of trains, he couldn't help but get excited.

If there is a railway from Nanjing to Guanwai, then their northern expedition will become very easy, and their control over Guanwai can also be very firm.

In his opinion, the route from Nanjing to Guanwai is a route that must be repaired.

After all, the threat in the north has always been greater than that in the south. Otherwise, the former Ming Dynasty would not have set the capital in Beijing, so that the emperor would guard the country and guard against foreign enemies in the north.

Nowadays, the capital of Dahua is in Nanjing, which is very far from the north. It has very weak control over the grasslands outside the pass. This is a hidden danger.

Only moving the capital or building a railway can solve this problem.

Moving the capital involves too much, and it is better to build the railway simply.

"Commander Li, don’t worry, you probably don’t know how much it costs to build a railway. I think that in the early stage of building a railway, it is still necessary to repair those routes that can be profitable. Only when there is money in the future, can they be built for military purposes. ."

Ruan Dacheng of the Ministry of Industry said that his department is mainly responsible for the construction of the railway.

He can't let the military dictate and point blindly.

Building a railway is so expensive, and if it fails to produce economic benefits in the future, then building a railway will be a heavy burden.

The Ministry of Industry cannot afford this burden.

"Is money important to the stability of the world?"

Li Shaobin dissatisfied.

"With money, the people will have a good life in the world to be able to be stable. We all know that the construction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal is in the future.

But for the Sui Dynasty at that time, it was an important reason for its demise.

Our current financial resources are not enough to build a railway from Nanjing to outside the pass unless the people are crushed. And squeezing the people will cause the people to feel dissatisfied. "

Ruan Dacheng retorted.

"Don't fight for the first time. I have already made a decision in my heart to repair the route from Nanjing to Songjiang. As for the route to Beijing and the Guanwai, I will talk about it later, but I won't wait too long. It should be fine in a few years. Up."

Wu Changqing interrupted their argument. He had already made a decision about this kind of thing, and there was no need to let the people below argue so much.

"Your Majesty is wise."

Ruan Dacheng smiled.

Wu Changqing’s statement clearly supports his theory and gives priority to economic development. The address of the latest chapter of the aircraft carrier I built in Daming: https://www.novelhall.com/book/149212.htmlI built the full text of the aircraft carrier in Daming to read the address: https://www.novelhall.com/read/149212/I built the aircraft carrier txt download address in Daming: https://www.novelhall.com/down/149212.htmlI read it on the mobile phone built by Daming: https://m.novelhall.com/read/149212/In order to facilitate the next reading, you can click \"Favorites\" below to record this (Chapter 403 Train Trial Run) reading record, next time Open the bookshelf to see it! If you like "I Build an Aircraft Carrier in Daming", please recommend this book to your friends (QQ, blog, WeChat, etc.) ,Thank you for your support! ! (www.novelhall.com)