In the Tianjin Port, four-wheeled carriages were parked very neatly on a concrete open space in the port area. There were hundreds of them, and the scene was spectacular.
This kind of four-wheeled carriage only started to emerge at the end of last year. It was first used by Xishan Coal Industry to transport briquettes to Beijing. Later, all major coal industries began to imitate them one after another.
Although in all aspects, without advanced bearings and springs, this four-wheeled carriage is not very easy to control, requires a very skilled driver, and has relatively high requirements for roads, and can only be used on some relatively smooth roads.
Drive on.
Once driving in potholes, this four-wheeled carriage will appear very cumbersome and far less practical, flexible and convenient than a two-wheeled carriage. If it gets stuck in a mud pit, it will be difficult to get out.
However, a four-wheeled carriage has the advantage of a four-wheeled carriage. Because it uses four wheels to travel, all the weight of the four-wheeled carriage is on the four wheels, and the pressure on the horses is much smaller. The horses used to pull
All the power can be used to pull goods. The transportation capacity of this four-wheeled carriage is extremely powerful.
Ordinary two-wheeled carriages can generally only carry a few hundred kilograms. Once the weight is too heavy, the horses have to pull the cart on one side and bear part of the weight on the other side. They will easily tire and naturally cannot pull too heavy a load.
Therefore, these two-wheeled carriages are generally used to carry people and are rarely used to pull goods.
The four-wheeled carriage is completely different. The horses do not need to bear the weight. All the power can be used to pull the goods. With four wheels for walking, the transportation capacity is extremely amazing. Two horses can pull more than two thousand kilograms.
of goods (here we refer to the data of four-wheeled carriages in the eighteenth century in England. Assuming that the driver has two horses and eight horses, and one Guangfu four-wheeled transport truck, the load is about four tons, so the two horses should pull one ton.
There is no problem at all, it is more like taking a cement road).
Because of their powerful ability to pull goods, four-wheeled carriages have gradually become the most common freight carriages in Beijing and Tianjin. Especially in Tianjin, these four-wheeled carriages can be seen in major construction sites.
Because there are no bearings, Liu Jin also adopted a relatively simple two-horse design in the design of the four-wheeled carriage.
Originally, because there were two parallel fulcrums, this four-wheeled carriage could actually go very long, just like the four-wheeled carriages used during the American Westward Movement in later generations. They were large and long, and their ability to pull goods was extremely amazing.
But now there is a lack of bearings, so in terms of design, Liu Jin did not design it to be too long. It is only one foot long, which is about three meters long, and the width is designed according to the width of the buttocks of two horses.
This kind of four-wheeled carriage is naturally incomparable with the four-wheeled carriages of later generations, but because the body is relatively petite, the operability is more flexible. Otherwise, without bearings, the longer the design, the less flexible it will be.
The worse it is, the harder it will be to turn a corner.
At this time, in the open space in the port, the coachmen were inspecting the four-wheeled carriages, especially since the horses had a small bamboo pole behind their buttocks, which was specially used to hold excrement.
"Fortunately, there are four-wheeled carriages like this. Otherwise, even if there is food and sea fish in Tianjin, it would be very difficult to transport them to the capital. If you just carry them on your shoulders..."
Li Dongyang looked at the huge fleet of carriages in front of him and couldn't help but admire Liu Jin's layout again. In this era of extremely inconvenient transportation, in this era of extremely backward transportation, the transportation of materials is extremely difficult and requires a lot of manpower.
and time.
But things are different now. This kind of four-wheeled carriage specially designed by Liu Jin to transport briquettes has extremely powerful transportation capacity and is becoming more and more popular in the capital.
"Yes, otherwise we don't know how many people would be needed to transport hundreds of thousands of kilograms of marine fish to the capital today. Even if it could be transported to the capital, it would take too long just to walk. The fish might be bad.
Already."
Zhou Jing also nodded. Fish is no better than grain. Food can be stored for a long time. Unless the fish is dried, it is extremely difficult to preserve it. It will rot easily over time.
Even though the distance between Beijing and Tianjin is only over 100 kilometers, it would take at least three days to reach it by walking.
Nowadays, with four-wheeled carriages and cement roads being rapidly constructed, marine fish can be transported from Tianjin to the capital in about a day.
"Dang~dang~"
While the two were chatting, a series of bells came from the lighthouse in the port, and the lookout on the lighthouse started shouting with a big iron trumpet.
With the ringing of the bell and his shouting, the originally calm port began to boil. Everyone looked outside the port where the sea and the sky connected. Indistinctly, several large ships were speeding towards the port.
Come.
Without waiting for too long, nine ships slowly moored at various piers. The port steward immediately began to organize people to get busy and unload the fish from the ships.
At the same time, the carriages that had been waiting for a long time also came to the big ship one after another, and basket after basket of sea fish was loaded into the carriage. Soon, one car was filled with sea fish, and then the coachman drove them along the way.
Drive towards the capital on the cement road.
One after another, hundreds of carriages were filled with fresh sea fish in a short period of time, heading towards the capital like a long queue.
"Let's go, it's time for us to return to Beijing."
Li Dongyang turned around and got into a four-wheeled carriage. When he came here, he came directly on horseback in order to make time. Now that he is going back, there is no need to rush for anything. He can naturally ride back in a four-wheeled carriage and go back slowly.
This kind of four-wheeled carriage is used to seat people. The inside is padded with thick cotton wool, which is very soft. You can also pad it with some quilts, go inside, and have a good sleep before arriving in the capital.
Zhou Jing also turned around and got into his four-wheeled carriage. As for Zhang Mao, he had already seen the opportunity to make a fortune and had already returned to the capital alone on horseback.
The euphemistic name is to report the situation in Tianjin to Emperor Hongzhi first, but in fact, the main purpose is to return to the capital to raise money to buy fishing boats to go fishing.
In sea trade, here at Tianjin Port, he saw three million taels of silver with his own eyes. Knowing that the benefits of sea trade were amazing, how could he miss it?
Liu Jin has no plans to return to Beijing yet. It is not appropriate to go back at this time because he feels that Tianjin is relatively safer. Once the person behind it loses everything, it may be disadvantageous for him, so he still stays in Tianjin.
