In the cabin of the ferry, several people were chatting happily.
They all talked about some situations they had learned, which did not involve imperial secrets and were things that ordinary people did not know much about.
Chu Sheng gave these people a brief introduction to the history and complex relationships of European countries.
The sound of the ferry's air whistle as it arrived broke the chatter of several people.
They walked onto the deck and prepared to disembark. Lan Ke clasped his hands and asked, "You guys hit it off immediately. What is your destination?"
My destination is Beijing. If we are on the way, we can take the same train."
"I'm so sorry, I have to transfer to the ferry to Siam at the port."
"It's just a short journey, I want to get off in Guiyang.
He went to the Island of Ceylon to hunt down the fugitive, but the fugitive fled to Africa.
I still don’t know how to explain it when I go back.”
Chu Sheng cupped his hands and said: "Brother Lan, we two are on our way, I want to go to the capital as well.
I happen to be unfamiliar with this section of the road, so I have to rely on Brother Blue to lead the way."
Lan Ke said happily: "Brother Chu is traveling with me. This is great. We can chat freely along the way."
He could tell that Chu Sheng's position was unusual. An official who could bring his master back from Europe was definitely an official he needed to look up to.
In the officialdom, one should make more friends. Who knows which friend will be able to help him when he encounters difficulties.
They stepped off the ferry and arrived at Jing'an, a small town in southern Myanmar.
Lan Ke introduced: “This small town Caizhu was named after Liu Zhiyong, the governor-general of Myanmar.
Governor Liu loved names all his life. He thought the names in various places in Myanmar were strange and changed the names of many places.
The capital of Myanmar has been moved to the center of the railway, and the new city is named Jingan.
We just want to hire a carriage to go to Jing'an and take the train back to the empire."
Chu Sheng looked at the pedestrians on Myanmar Street and listened to Lan Ke's introduction to the situation here.
He said with emotion: "The situation here in Myanmar is indeed different from what I learned when I left the empire.
When I left, cable telegraphy was relatively advanced.
Is there a telegraph office in this small town? I want to send a telegram to my family."
Lan Ke looked stunned, and clapped his hands together, making a loud snap.
"Telegraphs have touched every corner of the empire. As long as they are in counties or important military passes, there are telegraph offices set up by the empire.
Rubber production has been rising steadily, rubber processing technology has improved, and scholars have produced submarine cables.
Eight months ago, the first submarine cable was connected from Fujian to Taiwan, and then to Japan via Ryukyu.
This cable was successfully connected and started a frenzy of submarine cable construction.
Except for islands like Ceylon that are too far away from our territory, even Luzon Island can communicate directly with Dahua mainland.
Now as long as you are willing to spend money, you can know the world's affairs without going out.
It's just that sending a telegraph is too expensive. Each time it passes through a regional telegraph central office, each word adds one silver coin.
It costs five silver coins to send a word from here in Myanmar to the capital.
Send a message and one month's salary is gone.
It's not a wealthy family, and no one would send a telegram easily unless something urgent happens."
Chu Sheng marveled that the telegraph had been laid to most of the empire's territory.
Information is transmitted at the speed of light, and any changes in any area can be transmitted to the center in time.
The court can respond as quickly as possible.
Important areas are connected to railways.
With these two sharp weapons, areas far away from the mainland like Myanmar can no longer be separated.
Chu Sheng was previously worried that the empire's territory was too large and it would be extremely difficult to rule the occupied areas for a long time.
Chu Sheng was also surprised by the high cost of telegram.
At the cost of five silver coins per word, this is definitely not a contact method for civilians.
Even for wealthy businessmen, they are painful to use once and can only convey the most urgent and important information.
Chu Sheng cupped his hands and said: "Brother Lan, you are more familiar with this place, so I will leave the matter of hiring the carriage to you.
I will go to the telegraph office and after sending the telegram, I will wait for you at the door of the telegraph office."
When Lan Ke heard this, he thought that Chu Sheng wanted to get rid of them and go to the telegraph office alone.
He is a very knowledgeable person, and if others don't want to disclose some little secrets, he won't get to the bottom of it.
Lan Ke clasped his fists and said, "Leave the matter of hiring a carriage to me. I know which car dealers here have a better reputation."
Chu Sheng clasped his fists in return, and asked his master to hire a carriage and go to the telegraph office to send a telegram.
They accepted the carriage driver's warm service and arrived at the splendid telegraph office.
The glazed electric lamp hanging at the door shines with colorful light during the day.
Just this lamp can illustrate the wealth of the telegraph office.
Chu Sheng came to the telegraph office and asked his master to call the supervisor here.
He looked at the lobby of the telegraph office. There were many people in gorgeous clothes. They wrote content on paper and asked the telegraph operator to send it out in time.
Any news is timely. If businessmen can get the market trend earlier, they can earn huge profits.
When Chu Sheng saw the director of the telegraph office arriving, he showed his official seal.
Official seals are extremely difficult to forge and can be used as proof of identity.
Chu Sheng was welcomed into the private room by the director of the telegraph office. He said in a calm tone: ""
"I want to use the telegraph to send a message to the palace and the cabinet."
The director of the telegraph office has verified Chu Sheng's identity.
Officials have the right to use telegraphs for official duties.
Their telegraph office is only responsible for sending and receiving telegrams, and is not responsible for the authenticity of the contents of the telegrams.
The director of the telegraph office took Chu Sheng to a better-decorated workshop.
There is an occasional beeping sound here, and the telegraph machine is receiving telegrams forwarded by the Myanmar Telegraph Central Bureau.
Telegrams are summarized by the regional center, and the regional center passes them to another regional center or forwards them to a subordinate telegraph office.
Chu Sheng heard the director of the telegraph office explain that the equipment had been debugged and the transmission could be sent now.
He took out a few pages of paper and asked the telegraph office to send the message according to the contents on the paper.
The director of the telegraph office looked at the contents on the paper.
It begins with the sender's name and a complex number.
The contents of the telegram seemed a bit messy and filled with a large number of secret texts.
[The apes on both sides of the Taiwan Strait can’t stop crying. I am born with talent and will be useful]
[The cow and the chicken bribed the bear with carrots, and they were going to rob the rabbit]
When the director of the telegraph office saw these secret messages, he was not surprised at all.
This is not a dedicated line, but an open line.
Telegraphs sent by telegraph machines, and a regional network composed of telegraph central offices, each telegraph machine can receive the same content.
Important content is sent in secret text.
I don’t know how to decrypt it, and when other people get the contents of the telegram, they are also confused.
When Chu Sheng saw the telegram sent out, he breathed a sigh of relief.
This telegram briefly stated that England, France, and Russia had reached a secret agreement and that they were preparing to provoke a war with the Chinese Empire.
Chu Sheng could die on the road, and this news must be sent to the central government.
He made a lot of preparations to ensure the delivery of the message.
There was a secret message wrapped in rubber in the middle of Chu Sheng's clothes. Even if he had an accident, as long as his body was left intact, the message could be passed on.
There were really no bones left of him, and he made a special confession to Wei Yuansheng before leaving.
After hearing the news that he had an accident, someone should be sent promptly to spread the relevant news about the Three Kingdoms Secret Agreement back to the country.
…………………………
Chu Sheng sent a telegram to his family at his own expense to report that he was safe.
He stood at the door of the telegraph office with a look of pain on his face.
The cost of sending a telegram is too expensive, even with his income, it feels painful.
Lan Ke had already found the carriage. When he saw Chu Sheng's expression of pain, he knew he was sending a telegram to his family.
He came over and said: "Brother Chu, I have hired a carriage and we will set off now.
There is a train departing from Jing'an every three days.
If we walk faster, we can catch a train in time, otherwise we will have to wait another three days."
Chu Sheng nodded, thanked him and got on the carriage.
A total of five carriages headed towards Jing'an. Chu Shenglanke and others sat in the first carriage, the master and the waiter rode in the second and third carriages, and the last two carriages carried luggage.
The horse-drawn carriage was speeding along the cement road, constantly overtaking the slow-moving mule carts.
Lan Ke broke the dull atmosphere and said: "Brother Chu, except that the telegraph is expensive, it has no shortcomings.
Sending telegrams is convenient and quick, so our family members know our current situation.
This is not like before, where you still need to write letters to contact your family.
Maybe we are all back home and the letters are still on the way.
Telegraphy has developed rapidly in recent years, and telegraph offices have spread throughout most corners of the empire.
As long as you know the whereabouts of your family and friends, you can send them a telegram.
The price was so expensive that the silver coins saved by ordinary people in a year were not enough to send a telegram.
If the price can be lowered to one copper coin per word, this will definitely be welcomed by ordinary people."
Someone agreed: "Brother Lan is right, I saw in the newspaper that the Royal Academy of Sciences is solving the problem of sending multiple signals through one cable.
With today's mature technology, one cable can only send one set of signals, and the cables and telegraph machines are extremely expensive.
When the technology is broken, the price of telegraph will definitely fall."
Chu Sheng also agreed with this view, and they chatted about current events in the newspaper along the way.
Time passed slowly, and the carriage drove into a huge city.
The city is full of reinforced concrete buildings, which are incompatible with the wooden buildings elsewhere.
Chu Sheng was walking in the city, observing the situation of the people in Myanmar along the way.
He has not come into contact with the people at the lowest level and does not know the living environment of these people.
Many of the caravans on the road and the residents in the city can tell from their appearance that they are all indigenous people here.
But these people have been integrated into society.
They spoke Chinese with an accent, and their living scenes were not much different from the residents of the imperial town in Chu Sheng's impression.
Lan Ke saw Chu Sheng's surprised look on his face and was observing the situation in Jing'an City.
"Brother Chu, you have lived overseas these years and you don't know how fast the country is changing.
I have been away from my hometown for more than a year, and when I returned to visit my parents, I was still a little unfamiliar with the situation in my hometown.
These overseas governor's palaces develop at a slower pace, but they also undergo rapid transformation."
Chu Sheng nodded and said: "No one can stop the people's drive to pursue happiness.
As long as they are not tied to the land, the power they unleash will shock the world.
This sentence was something that impressed me deeply when I was monitoring His Majesty the Emperor's lectures at the Imperial Academy.
The current changes in the empire are confirming the foresight of His Majesty the Emperor."
When Chu Sheng said these words, everyone immediately agreed.
They soon took a carriage to the train station.
There is a huge flow of people here, and there are small vendors carrying packages everywhere.
Lan Ke said: “It is precisely because there is a railway here that the fares are very cheap.
Local vendors like to come here to sell some small commodities and take back some specialties.
The Governor's Office provides many welfare policies for immigrants, and some people come here to inspect and prepare to immigrate their families."
Chu Sheng and his companions chatted about the changes in the country.
He sent his master to queue up to buy train tickets to his destination.
Lan Ke took the train ticket and said in a relaxed tone: "We are very lucky this time. The train will leave at ten o'clock today. Let's board the train quickly."
They went to the waiting station to board the train. There was only one train here, and that was the train to Kunming.
On the way Chu Sheng boarded the train, he observed the train.
The appearance of the train was very different from the train he took when he left the empire.
The most obvious change is the locomotive. The boxy locomotive has an industrial aesthetic.
The number of train carriages has also increased significantly, allowing more people and goods to be hauled.
Chu Sheng boarded the train. The train compartment was very spacious, with two tables and chairs side by side, and the corridor was also very spacious.
He sat by the window and could see the outside scene through the glass window.
Not long after they waited, the whistle of the train's departure sounded.
The train collided with the rails and made a huge noise. It rushed along the track at a speed several times faster than the horse-drawn carriage.
Chu Sheng chatted with his friends, time flew by, and the train soon stopped at Kunming Railway Station.
The friends all had different destinations, and a farewell party was held at the hotel at the train station.
Chu Sheng and Lan Ke traveled together, bought train tickets to the capital, and embarked on the last leg of their journey.
Lan Ke put the luggage under the bed and said: "Brother Chu, this train is a direct train to the capital.
It only sells sleepers, and we lived on the train all the way."
Chu Sheng felt that the train was already moving. He sat still and asked: "Brother Lan, the empire's current train technology can now directly cross most of the country. There are no problems with the steam engine."
When Chu Sheng left the empire, the steam train had to undergo major repairs after it had traveled thirty or forty kilometers.
In just a few years, the steam engines used in trains can drive directly from Kunming to Beijing. This is really shocking.
Lan Ke explained: "Brother Chu probably doesn't know what happened a few years ago.
Ship steam engines can travel to America and back again, and the technology is very mature.
The steam engine technology used for trains is more mature, and there is still no problem running a normal line.
I read in the newspaper that steam engines were prone to breakage in the past, mainly due to poor processing accuracy, brittle cylinders, and poor sealing.
These problems have been gradually resolved."
Chu Sheng chatted with Lan Ke, and he wanted to understand the changes in the empire in recent years.
Lan Ke is also curious about the situation overseas.
The two of them chatted happily and watched the sun rise and the moon set on the train.
Chu Sheng heard the long sound of the air whistle and saw the familiar building outside the window.
The train had arrived in the capital. He hugged Lan Ke and agreed on a time to meet next time.
Chu Sheng immediately rushed to the cabinet and handed all the information in his hand to the cabinet ministers.
He learned that the telegram sent in Burma was received by the Cabinet and the Royal Palace on the same day.
The Great China Empire has made careful arrangements in the northwest.
Chu Sheng received the official uniform and official seal of the Right Minister of Rites at the cabinet.
He drove to his house and looked at the familiar door.
Chu Sheng left two lines of tears, he could finally meet his family.
He wanted to open the door, but he was a little timid about being close to home, fearing that bad news would come from home.
Chu Sheng thought for a moment, made up his mind, and opened the door of his home.
