On August 16, a company sent back by Gan Ning had already sent Xia Houyuan to Jinling - of course, when they docked near the port, the "Five Flowers Binding" had already been untied.
He had to be tied up before, and he refused to let go even if he relieved himself. He only fed him compressed biscuits during meals, because if he ran away, the military law would be merciless. He would escort a golden general, even if he had already issued the military talisman.
Can't be ignored.
As for the nearby ports, they have already reached the Chu State's territory, so naturally there is no need to be so careful.
Even if Gan Ning didn't remind him specifically, they still knew Xia Houyuan's identity...
As important captured enemy generals, they would have received certain treatment, not to mention that Xia Houyuan and "Princess Cao Juan" were still father and daughter. These grassroots generals did not know that Xia Houyuan "adopted" the daughter of his deceased brother.
However, we also know that Cao Juan's "Cao" was changed later and was actually Xia Houyuan's "daughter".
Therefore, we had to save some face for him. Besides, Xia Houyuan didn't cause any trouble along the way.
Being sent all the way to Jinling, Xia Houyuan also had mixed feelings in his heart...
At first, it was just the shame after being captured, and the embarrassment of meeting his "daughter and son-in-law" under such circumstances.
But then I took the "Zhenqi Car" directly from Jinling Port and raced on the railway track. I arrived at Jinling from the port in just two hours!
And...it took half an hour after "arriving" in Jinling before he finally arrived at the familiar city of Jinling!
When Xia Houyuan came to Chu State six or seven years ago, Jinling City was already surrounded by a large number of workshops, but now... the surrounding area is even more exaggerated.
The original Jinling City was now very inconspicuous compared to "Jinling" in terms of area, but it was even more "lively" and prosperous than before.
Some you know, some you don't know, some you can understand, some you can't understand... There are many more "strange" infrastructures than before.
It was more than a year ago that the rail-based Zhenqi trains began to operate with major cities as hubs.
Although the coverage is not very developed, there are "only" less than 5,000 miles of railway tracks in the entire Chu State, half of which are relatively lightweight, but there is no problem in scaring the generals of other princes who have "never seen the world."
This data is actually not shocking. After the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, the late Qing Dynasty built more than 20,000 miles of Han-made railways in the last thirty years. It can be seen that the steel production is completely sufficient...
Although the population of Chu State is only 5% of that of the late Qing Dynasty, in terms of national strength, compared with the top powers, it is only inferior to accumulation. During the same period, France's railways were equivalent to 100,000 miles of Han-made railways.
Five thousand miles is far from being connected in all directions. Basically, a small cross is drawn in Jiangdong, a small cross is drawn in Huainan, and another small cross is drawn in Jingbei...
In addition to the transportation in these important areas, there are some small railways that transport ore over short distances.
However, even so, for Xia Houyuan, it was already a miraculous skill.
After all, he saw that those who came to Jinling with him, and what seemed to be countless kilograms of stone, were also packed in boxes, and they arrived at Jinling in two hours.
If he was not captured now and was too embarrassed to ask, he would really like to know what kind of beast this thing was "trained" by.
Could it be the Qilin from Jiaozhou, the southern beast?
Although I heard that there are these giant beasts with long necks and long noses in South Vietnam, but... they can't be so huge, right?
Or...the same as a chi ship?
The Chu State's railways had been prepared for a long time, but the Zhenqi chariots were only "taken out" in the past two years, that is, after the relationship with other princes further deteriorated.
Therefore, even Xia Houyuan did not know the details - Wei's Ma Jun did. After all, Chu's technology had always been the focus of investigation.
But it's useless to know. Ma Jun was able to simulate the structure of the Zhenqi car. However, there were still two difficulties in the "Zhenqi machine".
The first is the production of a core that stores a large amount of true energy, and the second is... if a large amount of true energy is obtained!
The former was a technical difficulty that took Pang Tong a long time to overcome. Although Wei State had Chu State's pearls and jade in front of them, no matter how hard they blocked the technology, some of it would be leaked, which would reduce a lot of difficulty for latecomers. However, Wei State had the corresponding talents.
Too few, Ma Jun is not very good at this either...
As for the latter...the principle is very simple. It is a universal Qi cultivation method that is known to the whole Chu Kingdom. It is not too easy to find out.
But this is meaningless to the Wei State. Both farmers and workers are still struggling to survive. Where can the real energy come from?
However, now in the "center" of Chu State, Xia Houyuan saw the scenes in Chu State and began to question Wei State's decision-making - not questioning Cao Cao, but questioning Wei State!
As the core of the Wei State, Xia Houyuan naturally knew that with the current situation in the Wei State, although Cao Cao could suppress the court, he could no longer use his arms and fingers...
As for the various measures to benefit the people before popularizing Zhenqi, or in other words, measures that are more beneficial to the middle and lower classes, the biggest obstacle is definitely not Cao Cao!
But now Xia Houyuan no longer has to think about these things. He also knows that Bai Tu will not let him go back. When he thinks about this, he even feels a momentary sense of relief... just for a moment.
Sure enough, when Xiahou Yuan saw Bai Tu again, Bai Tu still respected him very much. He also called Xiahou Juan and Bai Ningning, pointed at the latter and said, "This is also the child of the Xiahou family."
However……
Xiahou Yuan's situation is obviously very different from that of his son Xiahou Ba in history.
Xiahou Ba was forced to the Shu Han Dynasty by the Sima clan, and Liu Chan's queen was still the son of Zhang Fei and the Xiahou clan. Naturally, Xiahou Ba could surrender to Shu without any psychological burden - after all, the Wei Kingdom was already controlled by Sima Yi, and both the Cao and Xiahou clans were
It is the object of suppression, especially the latter, which is completely naked liquidation.
However, Xia Houyuan was only defeated and captured. At this time, using "relative relations" to describe his surrender seemed too weak.
Not to mention that his whole family is doing well in Yecheng, and his adult sons are all high-ranking officials and well-paid. Besides, Xia Houyuan's character is not one that would surrender just because of this.
"Although the Mid-Autumn Festival has passed, the fifteenth moon is sixteen round, and General Xiahou Yuan has not come back late. Let's have a good reunion with Juan'er." Bai Tu didn't force it...or in other words, he didn't expect Xiahou Yuan to surrender.
"...Thank you, King Chu."
As for being more upright... I can't get angry at Bai Tu.
After all, the State of Wei and the State of Chu were just competing for simple interests. The direct trigger of the Bohai War was also the reason why the State of Wei began to attack the State of Chu. There was no hatred between the two countries before. If there was... then...
It’s also new!
And although the Chu State was ruthless this time, it still dared to speak frankly to the world - after all, most of those smuggler ships were in the business of catching slaves. When the news of the defeat of the Wei State spread to the north and the Seafood Peninsula, it is estimated that the local
The people will only be grateful to the Chu army.
even……
Xia Houyuan also vaguely felt that although this would do more harm than good to the Wei State, it was by no means without "benefits". After all, the annihilation of the navy would obviously hurt those clans more!