Chapter 543: Emperors of the Ming Dynasty Riding a Steam Locomotive
Soon, under the guidance of Li Huan, the group of people came to what looked like a station. There was already a group of people waiting there, and the leader was familiar to everyone.
As one of the few great bachelors of Gewu in the Ming Dynasty, Luo Tong was naturally an extraordinary figure in the eyes of high-level officials, especially since Luo Tong was awarded the title of bachelor with the approval of the cabinet and summoned by the emperor himself.
Therefore, everyone present is not unfamiliar with Luo Tong at all, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are deeply impressed. Now when they see Luo Tong, everyone is not too surprised. On the contrary, they think that Luo Tong's presence here is natural.
things.
With Luo Tong's ability, the steam car that Li Huan mentioned was most likely made by Luo Tong, which made everyone even more curious about the steam car that they had not yet seen.
Luo Tong, who had received the news early, was naturally filled with excitement when he saw Li Huan and the Emperor and his entourage coming.
Li Huan had said at the beginning that one day when they built a practical steam engine, he would definitely ask the emperor for a reward for them.
Now Li Huan even invited the cabinet, a group of nobles and even the emperor to come over. Thinking of the steam train that they had verified several times, Luo Tong was so happy.
He can guarantee that if everyone sees the steam car next time, they will be able to see what earth-shaking changes the invention of the steam car will bring to the Ming Dynasty.
While these thoughts flashed through his mind, Luo Tong did not dare to show any signs of neglect and hurriedly stepped forward to greet the emperor and others one by one.
Zhu Houzhao waved his hand at Luo Tong and said with a smile, "Grandmaster Luo, Li Qing invited me today to show everyone a magical machine. I think this machine was probably made by Luo Aiqing."
Luo Tong heard this and said hurriedly: "I dare not ask for the merits of Heaven. This steam engine was described by the Duke of Qin, and I only made it according to the instructions of the Duke of Qin. If we really want to reward based on merit,
So the first meritorious service belongs to the Duke of Qin. The ministers and others only did their meager efforts."
Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao glanced at Li Huan first, and then smiled and said: "I know Li Qing's ability. If Li Qing proposed this steam engine, then I believe it, but Li Qing does not have the ability to build it.
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While talking, Zhu Houzhao said: "Take me here to see what is so magical about this steam car that Li Qing praised so much."
Soon, under the leadership of Luo Tong, the group of people arrived at a place and saw a rather strange-looking long train parked quietly in front.
This long train is actually made up of several long carriages. There are as many as four carriages at a glance, which is larger than the carriages of the large carriages they have seen that are specially used to pull goods.
many.
Seeing this long train, everyone made a rough estimate and calculated in their minds that if this train was just for hauling goods, it would be equivalent to the transport capacity of a dozen large carriages.
However, after everyone's eyes swept across the long carriage, they finally landed on a strange-shaped front of the car at the front.
There is a thick pipe standing on the front of a rectangular car, 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 strange creation, everyone couldn't help but feel a little curious.
Li Huan nodded slightly towards Luo Tong and said, "Master Luo, the car can start to warm up."
Luo Tong nodded slightly, and then gave an order. Soon everyone saw a burly man feeding coal into a furnace. Under the raging flames, thick smoke came out of the tall chimney.
The black smoke clearly indicates that coal is burning violently.
It was just a matter of time for a cup of tea. Luo Tong looked at the smoke coming out of the chimney and said to Li Huan: "My lord, the steam engine has been preheated and can be started at any time."
Li Huan clapped his hands, and soon he saw a group of personal guards coming with war horses. Everyone was stunned when they saw this, as if they didn't quite understand what Li Huan was doing with these war horses.
Li Huan said with a smile: "The steam car will start later, and everyone will have to ride on horseback to watch. Otherwise, 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, everyone was able to ride a horse, so with the emperor taking the lead, they all got on their horses.
At this moment, a long whistle sounded, and the long car body that was parked there shook slightly, and then the whole weird car began to slowly move forward.
"It's moving, it's actually moving!"
Some people opened their eyes wide with a look of disbelief on their faces.
This scene was really shocking. They didn't see any human or animal power pulling the long car body, but the heavy car body started to move slowly.
You must know that no one is blind. Not to mention other things, just the front of the car, which looks like it is made of steel, and the rows of carriages at the back, the entire car weighs tens of thousands of kilograms in total.
Even if horses or oxen were used to pull such a weight, more than a dozen of them might not be able to pull it.
But now they didn't see a horse or a cow, but the car started to move on its own.
Everyone's eyes widened when they saw this scene, and their shock was palpable. Even Zhu Houzhao, the emperor, showed surprise and curiosity at this moment.
It seems that as the power of the steam engine becomes stronger and stronger, the speed of the steam car that was originally moving slowly is also increasing little by little.
At the beginning, everyone just followed the car slowly, but gradually they noticed that the speed of the car was accelerating. In the end, they even had to use all their strength to drive the horses under them to keep up with the speed of the car.
After enough time for a cup of tea, the speed of the car that was originally told to move forward slowly dropped until the entire car came to a complete stop.
At this moment, Li Huan, Zhu Houzhao, Wang Yangming and others also turned over and dismounted. At this time, the horse under him was already panting, and it seemed that its horsepower had been almost exhausted. If it continued, it would not take more than an hour and three quarters.
, the horse might not be able to hold on anymore.
At this time, everyone did not pay attention to the condition of the war horses at all, and all their eyes were focused on the car.
Li Huan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, please allow me to get on the train and experience it myself."
If this were the case in the past, I am afraid that someone would stand up and object immediately, but now the people who can stand here are no longer the kind of narrow-minded people. Instead of no one standing up to stop them, they are all eager to try.
Followed and got on the bus.
Among the four carriages, one was obviously modified, so when everyone entered the carriage, they found that there were neat seats for more than a dozen people.
Seeing this scene, many people's eyes lit up. Zhu Houzhao even chose a place to sit down and smiled at Li Huan and said: "Don't tell me, this car can carry everyone to Tianjin Wei Port."
As the emperor, Zhu Houzhao was naturally no stranger to the land of Gyeonggi. He followed the car all the way, obviously heading towards Tianjin Wei, so Zhu Houzhao smiled casually.
However, when Li Huan heard this, he smiled and nodded and said: "Your Majesty knows things well. This road leads directly to Tianjin Wei Port. Your Majesty, just sit back and 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 this: "Qin Guogong, how long do you think it will take to arrive at Tianjin Wei Port?"
Not only Wang Yangming, but everyone else also looked surprised.
In fact, Li Huan's statement that he could arrive at Tianjin Wei Port in less than two hours surprised them.
You must know that the distance from the capital to Tianjin Wei Port is hundreds of miles. If it is a fast horse galloping, by changing horses along the way, it only takes about an hour to arrive.
But if it is a carriage pulling goods, it will take almost four or five hours. This is because the Ming Dynasty repaired the cement road from the capital to Tianjin Wei Port.
Now Li Huan actually said that it would only take about two hours to arrive at Tianjin Wei Port. How could this not shock everyone?
Li Huan chuckled and said: "If you don't believe it, why don't you start timing now and you will know when you arrive at Tianjin Wei."
Yang Yiqing laughed loudly and said: "Just keep the time. I want to see if this steam car is really as fast as Qin Guogong said."
The steam car that had stopped here started again, and the people sitting on the car could clearly feel that the speed of the car was increasing little by little.
Although there was no sound of howling wind, looking out, one could see the scenes on both sides of the car reversing rapidly, which meant that the car was moving forward rapidly.
To be honest, Li Huan already knew a thing or two about the speed of this locomotive after receiving the report from Luo Tong. If it is running normally, it will be about thirty miles an hour. If it is running at high speed, it can reach almost more than forty miles.
hour speed.
This speed is indeed nothing compared to later generations, but in this era, it has already amazed Li Huan.
After all, the steam engines manufactured by the Ming Dynasty are still quite primitive and are far from reaching their limits. It is already quite difficult 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 speeds of hundreds of miles per hour.
We must know that in later generations, after hundreds of years of development, several countries in Britain and Germany were able to build trains with a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour in the 19th and 1930s.
So in comparison, the current steam train built by the Ming Dynasty only reaches a speed of thirty or forty miles per hour. It can only be said that it has just entered the right track.
The speed of the steam locomotive is quite smooth. Although there are some bumps during the journey, compared with riding a horse or riding a carriage, this bump is negligible.
Just as Luo Tong was explaining the principles and manufacturing process of steam locomotives to everyone, more than an hour passed in a flash. With a whistle, the speed of the steam locomotive that was running slowly slowed down.
After the car came to a complete stop, someone suddenly exclaimed: "Hey, look, that seems to be Tianjin Wei Port."
Apparently someone saw the prosperous Tianjin Wei Port in the distance.
Following this exclamation, everyone looked around and saw the prosperous Tianjin Wei Port in the distance.
Looking at the steam locomotive under them and 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 that such a weird car could have such speed.
The group of people stepped off the steam locomotive and looked at the locomotive carefully again, as if to remember it in their hearts.
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 the artifact of my Ming Dynasty."
Yang Yiqing stared at Li Huan with burning eyes and said: "Qin Guogong, I wonder how much this steam locomotive costs? If it is built on the model of the railway from Beijing to Tianjin Wei, how much does 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 too expensive, then its value is too great and it cannot be promoted on a large scale. However, if the cost is not high, it will be of great significance to Ming Dynasty.
Of course, even if the cost is too expensive, no one will give up. It is just 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. However, if the subsequent manufacturing scale increases and the technology improves, the price can be reduced, but in a short period of time
, and it won’t drop too much.”
Everyone didn't speak when they heard this. Although they were mentally prepared to a certain extent, everyone couldn't help but feel nervous when they suddenly heard that a motorcycle cost as much as ten thousand taels of silver.
Wang Yangming took a deep breath and looked at the road paved by one hundred steel-making projects and said slowly: "Then how much does it cost to build a railway paved with steel?"
Li Huan glanced at everyone and said: "Fortunately, our Ming Dynasty has made a breakthrough in steel-making technology, which has caused the price of steel to plummet. It costs almost three thousand taels of silver to build one mile of railway."
To be honest, Li Huan felt that this price was not high at all. You must know that later Tatars built the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway, which was 200 kilometers or 400 miles, and cost 7 million taels of silver.
Putting aside the depreciation of silver value and other factors, one mile costs more than 10,000 taels of silver. However, the previous construction of the more than 100-mile railway from the capital to Tianjin Wei Port only cost nearly 500,000 taels of silver.