Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 206, Carriage

In the port of Tianjin Port, four-wheeled carriages were parked neatly on a concrete 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 honeycomb coal to Beijing. Later, major coal industries also began to imitate it one after another.

Although in all aspects, without advanced bearings and springs, this four-wheeled carriage is not very well controlled, requires a very skilled driver, and has relatively high requirements for the road, so it can only be used on some relatively flat roads. drive on.

Once driving in a potholed place, this kind of four-wheeled carriage will appear very cumbersome, far less practical, flexible and convenient than a two-wheeled carriage, and it is difficult to get out of the mud pit.

But the four-wheeled carriage has the advantage of the four-wheeled carriage, because it uses four wheels to walk, so all the weight of the four-wheeled carriage is on the four wheels, which puts much less pressure on the horses. You can use all your strength to pull goods, and the transport capacity of this four-wheeled carriage is extremely powerful.

Ordinary two-wheeled carriages can only carry a few hundred catties. 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. They are prone to fatigue, and naturally they cannot pull too heavy.

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, and all the strength can be used to pull the goods. Adding four wheels to walk, the capacity is extremely amazing. Two horses can pull more than two thousand catties. goods (here we refer to the data of four-wheeled carriages in England in the [-]th century, with two horses and eight horses driving a Guangfu four-wheeled freight cart, with a load of about four tons, so one ton of these two horses should be There is no problem at all, the comparison is to take the cement road).

Because of the strong ability of the four-wheeled carriage to pull goods, it has gradually become the most common freight carriage in the capital and Tianjin, especially in Tianjin, where these four-wheeled carriages can be seen between major construction sites.

Because there is no bearing, Liu Jin also adopted a relatively simple design of two horses in the design of the four-wheeled carriage.

Originally, because there were two parallel fulcrums, the four-wheeled carriage could actually be made very long, just like the four-wheeled carriage of the old American westward movement in later generations, it was big and long, and its 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 too long, it was only one foot long, which is about three meters long, and the width was designed according to the width of the buttocks of two horses.

Such a four-wheeled carriage is naturally incomparable with the later generations of four-wheeled carriages, but because the body is relatively small, the maneuverability is more flexible. Otherwise, without bearings, the longer the design, the more 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 drivers were inspecting the four-wheeled carriages, especially the horses had a small belt behind their buttocks, which was specially used to hold excrement.

"Fortunately, there is this kind of four-wheeled carriage. Otherwise, even if there is food and sea fish in Tianjin, it would be difficult to transport it to the capital. If you only carry it on your shoulders..."

Li Dongyang looked at the huge horse convoy in front of him, and couldn't help expressing his admiration for 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 it's different now. This four-wheeled carriage specially designed by Liu Jin to transport honeycomb coal is extremely powerful, and it is becoming more and more popular in the capital.

"That's right. Otherwise, it would take too much time to transport hundreds of thousands of catties of sea fish to the capital. Even if it could be transported to the capital, it would take too long to walk, and the fish might be spoiled." gone."

Zhou Jing also nodded, fish is no better than food, food can be stored for a long time, unless the fish is dried in the sun, otherwise it is extremely difficult to preserve, it will rot easily after a long time.

Regardless of the fact that the distance between Beijing and Tianjin is only over 100 kilometers, it would take at least three days to reach it by walking.

Now that there is a four-wheeled carriage, coupled with the cement road that is being built rapidly, the sea fish can be transported from Tianjin to the capital in a day or so.

"Clang~clang~"

While the two were chatting, bells rang from the lighthouse in the port, and the watchman on the lighthouse began to call with a big iron horn.

With the ringing of the bell and his cry, the calm port began to boil. Everyone looked at the place beyond the port where the sea and the sky connect. Indistinctly, several large ships were speeding towards the port. Come.

It didn't take long for the 9 ships to berth slowly at one of the docks, and the port steward immediately began to organize people to get busy and unload the fish from the boats.

At the same time, the carriages that had been waiting for a long time also came to the side of the big boat one after another. Baskets of sea fish were continuously loaded into the carriages. Soon, a cart was full of sea fish, and then drove by the coachman to start along the road. Drive towards the capital on the concrete 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 dragon.

"Let's go, we should go back to Beijing."

Li Dongyang turned around and got into a four-wheeled carriage. When he came here, he came here on horseback in order to hurry up. Now when he goes back, there is no need to worry about anything. Naturally, he can go back slowly in a four-wheeled carriage.

This kind of four-wheeled carriage is used for people to sit in. It is very soft with thick cotton padding inside, and some quilts are put on it, and after a trip inside, you will arrive in the capital after a good night's sleep.

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 he had already returned to the capital alone on horseback.

The name is to report the situation in Tianjin to Emperor Hongzhi first, but in fact, the main thing is to go back to the capital to raise money to buy fishing boats to go fishing, and also to prepare to do it with Dingguo Gong Xu Yongjiu and Chengguo Gong Zhu Fu For sea trade, here in Tianjin Port, he saw three million taels of silver with his own eyes. Knowing that the benefits of sea trade are amazing, is there any reason to miss it?
Liu Jin has no plans to return to Beijing for the time being. It is not suitable to go back at this time, because he feels that Tianjin is relatively safer. Once the person behind him loses everything, he may be disadvantaged, so he is still in Tianjin. It's better to strategize here.

　Four-wheeled carriages have a very long history in Europe, and their carrying capacity is extremely powerful~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)