Due to the cutoff of the sea route, Carmen had to return to his hometown of Poitou by land.
It was an arduous journey. Early in the morning, Carmen got on a bus bound for Gesar City, the southern gate of Gyeonggi Province.
The 200-kilometer journey took him two days and cost 20 silver coins.
During this journey, the long-distance carriage changes every 2 to 3 hours, including the driver, which is quite convenient.
Although it was summer, the carriage used an open carriage and had a sunshade awning set up. The eight passengers were forced to squeeze together, and the heat was still unbearable. The traffic conditions of this era are increasingly unsuitable for actual needs.
Especially the roads are in disrepair and the bumpy carriages can almost knock the food out of people's stomachs.
This is within the economically developed Gyeonggi Province, but the road conditions are so poor. I really don’t know where the huge road taxes collected every year are spent.
During this period, all passengers must spend one night on the road and pay for their own food and accommodation. Some people just find a place to stay up all night in order to save money.
Carmen's trip was a business trip, so of course he wouldn't save money for his boss. He found the best hotel to spend the night. Thanks to his youth, the journey for the first two days was quite bearable.
After arriving in Gesar City, there is a tributary of the Longjiang River where you can sail. With the sea route cut off, both road and inland water transportation in the inland area suddenly became busy. Carmen waited in Gesar City for two full days.
, it cost twice the price to buy a ferry ticket to the south.
The boat trip on the inland river was not as smooth as Carmen imagined.
On the night of the third day of sailing, two cargo ships collided and sank. The river was blocked in front of them. All the ships going south and north were crowded together, and no one could move.
Carmen had to disembark early and teamed up with a stranger to hire a private carriage at a high price to continue south.
Seven days later, they finally reached the city of Carmanla on the north bank of the Longjiang River. Carmen and thousands of people had to stay here, while a large number of ships were only used to transport important materials: food, cloth,
Salt, coal, etc.
After waiting for seven days, Carmen finally crossed the Longjiang River and arrived in Minsk, the capital of St. Nuve. At this time, Carmen was exhausted and seemed to be falling apart.
Fortunately, he met one of Viscount Connery's confidants, Mr. Paul Fitch, in Minsk, so he was able to take Mr. Fitch's carriage to Genoa.
Before leaving the Holy City, Carmen wrote a letter to Sean and prepared to go south to conduct an exclusive interview with Sean as a reporter for the "Voice of the Righteous" newspaper.
Mr. Fitch also knew about this, but what he didn't expect was that Carmen spent so much time on the road that he went on a business trip to the province of Saint-Nuvi to finish his official work, and met Shanshanlai in Minsk.
Late Carmen.
"It will be better in the future. When the railway is built, business trips will not be so scary." After listening to Carmen's complaints, Fitch smiled and said, "The train is fast and smooth, and it is much more comfortable than a carriage."
"I'm afraid it won't be possible to take a train to the Holy City in my lifetime." Carmen complained.
"No, no, I think it will be realized within twenty years. Do you know? The Viscount has a very great idea, which is to use railways to connect every city in the empire." Fitch said confidently, "Any
People, like you and me who travel frequently, will never take a carriage again if possible, even if it is the most luxurious carriage."
Only then did Carmen notice that Mr. Fitch's carriage was very luxurious. It had an excellent shock-absorbing system, soft seat cushions and backrests, could lie down, and even had a wine cabinet.
As Sean's confidant and financial controller, Mr. Fitch is worth a lot of money. Although the stocks he owns have no chance to pay dividends because his businesses have not yet realized profits, their total value is hundreds of thousands.
The first people who followed Sean are now rich men.
In fact, Carmen's exclusive interview with Sean has already begun. Not many people know Sean's career better than Mr. Fitch.
"You know, the Viscount is a member of the Emperor's Scientific Association. He has a terrible intuition about science and technology. Those idiot professors at the University of Poitou can immediately produce some results with just a little guidance from the Viscount. Smallpox is like this, electromagnetic
This is true for science, and it is also true for new explosives..."
Fitch was unstinting in praising his employer.
"The same is true for ironclads. Although Mr. Andrew Johnson was the first person to use steam engines on ships, the idea of propellers came from the Viscount. These two technologies are one of the two most critical technologies for ironclads."
"Technology is the primary productive force. This is what the Viscount often tells us. He is keen to invest in engineers and professors at the University of Poitou, even if he does not see results for a long time. But so far
, every one of his judgments is extremely wise..."
It took three days to cross the entire province of San Nuve and reach the Otter Mountains. It took Carmen and Mr. Fitch another three days to cross the Otter Mountains.
The mountain trails in the Otter Mountains are being widened, and the sound of explosives can be heard from time to time. Needless to say, these explosives are also the latest products from Poitou.
With the sea route cut off, land transportation became even more important. Of course, there were suddenly more checkpoints in the provinces along the way.
Arriving at Fort Patram is like truly setting foot on the land of Genoa.
This remote place was originally a semi-abandoned military fortress. Now its population has at least doubled. This is related to the mining and smelting industries that have developed here. It belongs to the northwest of the Darlington Iron Mining Area.
It became a new city.
Fitch and Carmen were warmly entertained by Herbert Wells, commander of the garrison's 201st garrison brigade, and stayed in the military camp that night.
The next day, Fitch took Carmen to board the legendary train here. The railway made a small bend at Fort Putnam, starting from the Dockton coal mining area in the west, to the Darlington iron ore area in the east, and now extends
The total distance to the outskirts of Darlington is less than 100 kilometers.
But this was the first railway in history.
The planned railway that leads directly to the capital Poitou is already under construction. There are construction sites everywhere, and a large number of workers are working in the harsh southern sun.
Previously, Fitch also led Carmen to visit the Genoa Coal Mining Company, Genoa Steel Company and the corresponding mining areas. The power of industry shocked Carmen. A large number of immigrants, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, formed new small towns in the mining areas.
In fact, railway construction is imminent, the mined coal cannot be transported, and the smelted steel has to control the scale of smelting due to transportation bottlenecks.
"Therefore, the construction of railways is extremely important, because it can not only improve transportation efficiency, but it itself consumes a lot of steel." Fitch said, "Our Kangshi Railway Company is responsible for the construction. The rails come from Genoa Steel Company and the trains come from Kangshi.
The mechanical power company and the coal used in future trains will of course come from the Genoa Coal Company, these are the Viscount's industries."
"Who does the railway line belong to?" Carmen asked.
"It belongs to the province. The province has invested 3 million gold louis. Of course, all the profits from the railway from Darlington to Poitou will also belong to the province.
You have to know that the province is very rich now. The Governor's Palace doesn't even need to provide money, and the bankers in Poitou are rushing to provide loans to the province." Fitch said with a smile.
"Bankers like to lend money to rich people who don't need to borrow money," Carmen said.
"Haha, Carmen, what you said is very insightful." Fitch shrugged, "Generally speaking, Genoa is not what it used to be. As long as they are not lazy, everyone has work to do."
Carmen nodded: "Yes, I have only been away for a year, and this place has become a bit strange to me."
"So, what is the purpose of your interview?" Feige asked.
"To be honest, this has deviated from my original purpose. I have to think about it carefully."
…
Just when Carmen arrived in Poitou, a big event happened in the holy city.
Overnight, more than 300 people were arrested by the secret police, including many prominent figures.
The Marquis of Walker, who had a place in the political arena, was one of them and was charged with disloyalty to the royal family and conspiracy to treason. The Marquis later spent most of the family's property to save his life, but the family lost its title.
The secret police raided three orphanages in Gyeonggi Province without disclosing the real reasons, which triggered strong protests from the church.
Because these charities all belong to the church. However, what surprised observers was that the church then suddenly announced that it would donate 20 million gold louis to the country and waive all interest on the previous year's loan. This was a huge amount of money.
One result is that Joseph Frank was promoted to major general, and the Frank family gained another general.
For this major general, although it was a great victory. He broke the reserve force of the Bloodthirsty organization and captured many key members, but the wise master still escaped, so it can hardly be said to be a decisive victory.
of victory.
The wise master's revenge soon came.
Fires broke out one after another in shipyards that received orders from the navy, causing huge losses to the empire and directly affecting the war against the fish demon.
Officials from important departments were also assassinated one after another, including several with the surname Frank or those related to the Frank family.
Someone even caused a series of bombings near the White House, which once made the situation in the Holy City very tense and made Frank lose his face.
However, this was still not enough to calm the anger in the wise master's heart.
The secret police was his old rival, but this time the secret police seemed to be very targeted. They carried out arrests at multiple points at the same time. They were prepared. Therefore, the secret police could hit him hard this time, making him completely uneasy.
Reaction time, years of planning and hard work were ruined in one fell swoop.
This must be supported by reliable intelligence so that the secret police can succeed.
Therefore, the wise teacher learned from the pain and began to investigate the cause of the incident.
Then, the name of Carmen Gable appeared in front of him. While investigating the origin and background of this reporter, the wise teacher found that he met an acquaintance.
"Sean Connery? It seems that this Viscount has no respect for my power!"