I want to be emperor

Chapter 675 The train test that caused a sensation in Jinling

Since learning that Guangzhou Machinery Company has produced a practical commercial train, the Ministry of Communications has attached great importance to it. The subordinate railway management office immediately contacted Guangzhou Machinery Company. Train running test.

Not only that, they are also going to let Luo Zhixue watch the first running test of the train!
These officials are very aware of how much Luo Zhixue attaches importance to trains. They have often asked about the development progress of high-pressure steam engines before, and they are also very concerned about the construction of railways.

The establishment of the Railway Management Office was established under the personal instruction of Luo Zhixue.

Now that the train is finally out, they naturally want to let Luo Zhixue see it as soon as possible.

And it is obviously impossible for Luo Zhixue to go to Guangzhou to watch the train test, so the test site can only be carried out in Yingtianfu.

Anyway, there is a railway in Yingtianfu... between the port area of ​​Jinling and the urban area, there is an eight-kilometer railway. In addition, the Dangtu Industrial Zone in the west also has a railway that is more than ten kilometers long connecting the port and the industrial zone. railway network.

There are actually railways in many large docks and industrial areas in the Great Chu Empire, but they are only horse-drawn railways. At the same time, most of them are small railways with average load-bearing capacity.

Considering that the weight of the train itself is several tons, and it will also carry tens of tons or even hundreds of tons of goods, some pig iron railways built in the early stage cannot bear this kind of weight, so the railway management office also plans to carry out the Jinling The port railway in the city will be upgraded and transformed, and the old pig iron rails that have been in service for a long time will be replaced with new standard wrought iron rails.

At the same time, the standard 1.5-meter gauge is adopted to facilitate the subsequent expansion of the railway, especially connecting Dangtu to the west and Zhenjiang to the east.

The Guangzhou Machinery Company and the Railway Management Office hit it off, and soon launched related actions.

Based on the prototype, Guangzhou Machinery Company further optimized the design, and then worked overtime to produce the locomotive of the first Type 21 train. At the same time, it urgently designed and produced multiple carriages, some of which were passenger carriages and some were freight carriages.

When designing and producing carriages, although they referred to carriage carriages, they did not do this before, so they designed and built carriages based on their own understanding.

So there are some differences... For example, the train cars produced by Guangzhou Machinery Company have individual brakes for each car.

Why did you bring up the brakes?Because it is not easy to apply uniform brakes in multiple carriages.

In the original time and space, the early trains did not have brakes... When they were about to reach the station, they slowed down and then coasted. After the speed slowed down, the male passengers on the train jumped off the train, and then helped to pull the train together, so that the train finally stopped Come down...pure manual braking!

Then slowly progress until the front of the car has brakes, but the car still has no brakes, the braking efficiency is very poor, and emergency braking is even more impossible.

It was not until later that brakes were installed in each compartment, and personnel were assigned to brake under the unified command of the driver.

It was not until 1868 that there was a vehicle brake that could be controlled by the driver alone, that is, the air brake.

Nowadays, Guangzhou Machinery Company naturally does not have any air brakes. What they do is to install brakes in each car, and then the personnel will conduct unified control to avoid any accidents caused by the car not being able to stop.

After all, it is going to Jinling, and it will be displayed in front of the imperial court, so there should be no embarrassing situation where the car cannot be stopped.

At the same time, on the wheels of the carriage, they did not have the big wheels on the original carriage, but used small iron wheels, and installed a reliable spring suspension system, which can make the train run more stable and safer.

The train they made has a strong industrial style, and it can be seen at a glance that it is made by engineers who play with machinery.

After the two locomotives and more than 20 carriages were manufactured, they were first tested on the test railway inside their factory, and after passing the test, they were shipped to Jinling City.

At the same time, the railway management office also upgraded and reconstructed the port railway in Jinling City, adopting the standard 1.5-meter new wrought iron I-shaped rail, and also expanded the route by several kilometers along the way, making the length of the port railway Reached about ten kilometers.

With the gradual completion of the reconstruction of the railway line, the locomotive of Guangzhou Machinery Company was also successfully transported to Jinling City in the spring and February of Chengshun's 22nd year.

When everything is ready, February [-]th, this is the day scheduled for testing.

Early in the morning of this day, the palace of the Great Chu Empire was filled with cheerful voices. The dozens of harem concubines who were allowed to go out of the palace with Luo Zhixue to watch the train test, and even the beautiful girls who followed them, were ordinary. The maids are all brisk on their feet, and they are full of anticipation for leaving the palace.

Even the Queen is no exception, dressing up and getting ready early in the morning.

In addition to the concubines in the harem, there are more than 20 younger princes and princesses who are still living in the palace, and they are also planning to go with them.

Outside the palace, several princes who have reached the age of becoming kings and moved to live outside the palace, as well as two married princesses also brought their family members into the palace early and waited.

Today, Luo Zhixue is not only going to watch the first public test of the train, but also to take the whole family out for an outing and let them watch the excitement and joy.

How should I put it, today is the first train test in human history, well, at least it is a public test, Guangzhou Machinery Company's own test in the factory does not count...

During this important historical moment, the weather is also very good these few days, the sun is shining, the spring breeze is blowing, and the temperature is suitable. It is also suitable for taking the whole family out of the city for an outing.

These harem concubines, together with those unmarried princes, or the underage princes who have not been named kings and moved out of the palace, in fact, their daily life is very boring.

The main reason is that the scope of daily activities is basically confined to the palace, and there is no chance to go out. Even in the past few years, Luo Zhixue directly extended the back garden of the palace to the back, all the way to the edge of Xuanwu Lake, in order to expand the number of members of the royal family. range of their activities.

However, the palace is a prison after all!
So whenever there is a chance, Luo Zhixue will take the children and concubines out of the house.

In the past, when he went to Jiangnan, Zhejiang, Anlu and other places for inspection, he also brought some family members with him.

He went to inspect work, and his family followed him on a trip to relax, without delay.

This time watch the train public trial as well!

After all, this is not a very proper political activity. To some extent, it is more like going to see the excitement, to see something novel...

It wasn't just that Luo Zhixue took a whole family to watch the excitement, in fact, many of the important imperial officials who accompanied him also brought their families.

How should I put it, Luo Zhixue has gone out with his wife and children. When he arrives at the place, men and women have different reasons. The concubines and princesses in the royal family will definitely not meet with the officials. At this time, there must be some People speak and serve is not...

Especially this time, Queen Wang also came along.

She is the mother of a country going out, isn't there a vote of imperial wife around here to follow?
So, this time watching the train experiment, the official husbands followed Luo Zhixue and a group of princes.

The female family members of the officials, mainly Mrs. Hao Ming and their unmarried daughters followed the queen.

Simply put, there is a wave of men and a wave of women.

It is worth mentioning that this time, the rich and powerful in Jinling City came out in a group, and many families also brought their unmarried children, so many people took the opportunity to find a daughter-in-law or son-in-law for themselves.

The gentlemen at the front thought it would definitely be beneficial to marry the other party, then the ladies at the back would go to inquire about the news, and then the elders would take a look at the marriage partner opposite, and if they thought it was good, they would make a decision.

As for the views of the parties involved in the marriage... Sigh, although the Civil Marriage Law of the Great Chu Empire currently stipulates freedom of marriage, it is still popular among the people to order the parents to order the matchmaker.

Young men and women rarely even meet the opposite sex, how can they talk about freedom in love...

On April [-]th, a large number of dignitaries went out together, and there were many ordinary officials and even ordinary citizens who heard the news and came to watch the excitement, so that there were people on both sides of the short ten-kilometer railway line...

According to inaccurate estimates, on this day, at least 10 people gathered along the railway line to watch the excitement...

Fortunately, these people were scattered on both sides of the railway ten kilometers away, and they were not clustered together. Otherwise, various crowding and trampling accidents would have been discovered.

But if this is the case, it also makes Yingtianfu's government, the patrol department and even the military panic.

In order to ensure safety, the Governor of Yingtian Mansion, for example, did not even have time to go to the front of the imperial court to ensure safety. For example, some people ran to the railway to die and cause various accidents. .

On the military side, um, to be precise, the Guards directly dispatched an entire Guards Division and a Guards Cavalry Regiment.

These Guards officers and soldiers will be stationed in various places to suppress the turmoil at any time, to control the safety of the holy driver, and to protect the dignitaries by the way.

In order to avoid accidents, there were more than 5000 patrol police officers who were used to maintain law and order, tax police officers who were transferred to support them, and ordinary civil servants from other departments.

And the guards even dispatched more than [-] people...

With such a strong vigilance, the spectators were allowed to follow the planned route and go to the planned area for viewing experiments.

And Luo Zhixue's family also went out of the palace smoothly, and then brought a group of officials and their family members, thousands of people in total, out of the city.

Sitting on the royal carriage pulled by six white horses, Luo Zhixue looked to both sides from time to time!

On the inner side of the two sides are dozens of imperial guards who drive close to protect them, and on the outer side are more than a hundred ordinary imperial guards.

And farther away and front and back is the Fourth Cuirassier Regiment of the Guards, which is the only independent cavalry regiment in the Guards and the only heavy cavalry regiment.

He became famous in the first battle in the Battle of Dongyao, and has almost become synonymous with elite heavy cavalry, and it is also a model for the Chu army to build heavy cavalry.

In addition to sending troops to the front line to perform military tasks in rotation, the heavy cavalry regiment will stay in Jinling City to perform defensive tasks.

This is also a major feature of the Guards, that is, through the method of dispatching in rotation, some troops are regularly deployed to form a mixed force to fight in a hotspot area to maintain combat effectiveness. At the same time, it is also for the soldiers of the Guards. seniority.

Most of the guards who did not have the rotation time stayed behind in Gyeonggi, responsible for the defense of Yingtianfu and the surrounding areas.

The same is true for the Fourth Cuirassier Regiment. They have a full establishment of more than 600 cavalry (including heavy cavalry and auxiliary cavalry), but only a thousand cavalry appear here today, and the other 600 cavalry are currently on the northwest front. Perform rotating combat missions.

The cavalrymen of the [-]th Cuirassier Regiment of the Guards rode their horses to guard Luo Zhixue's vehicle, and on the periphery, including on the roofs of some buildings, at some intersections, and on both sides of the road along the way. It's the soldiers of the [-]nd Guards Division.

Behind the royal driver, there is a group of royal carriages, and then there is a group of powerful people's carriages.

Many carriages, under the protection of the Guards, drove out of the Guanghua Gate of the inner city, continued westward, crossed the Qinhuai River, and arrived at the outer city area.

Going forward to more than 2000 positions on the southwest side of Yuhuatai, you will arrive at the place where you will watch the train test this time.

The Port Area Railway, which was expanded and improved by the Ministry of Communications, stretches from the wharf of the Yangtze River all the way to the southeast to the 3000-meter southwest side of Yuhuatai, with a total length of about ten kilometers.

According to the plan, the test train will be visited and inspected by Luo Zhixue first, and then the formal test will start. It will go from the southwestern platform of Yuhuatai to the pier by the Yangtze River, complete the U-turn here and then return.

The total journey is about [-] kilometers, and it is expected to take about two hours!

In fact, the power of the 21-type train is still very sufficient, with more than 100 horsepower. If it does not transport too much cargo, it can actually run at a speed of [-] to [-] kilometers or even higher.

When they were testing before, the top speed once exceeded [-] kilometers...

But this speed is too scary in these years. If you are not careful, the car will crash and people will die. Therefore, in the current public test and even in the subsequent actual operation, it is impossible to engage in such a fast speed, otherwise accidents will easily occur.

In addition, the running speed of empty cars is naturally fast, but this time the public test is to pull the goods and some voluntary participants, well, in fact, it is the employees of Guangzhou Machinery Company and the officials of the Ministry of Communications... an outside voluntary None of the personnel.

This is not too much, not too much, including people and goods, exactly one hundred tons!

This is not counting the weight of the carriage and the body itself.

With so many carriages, goods, and personnel, the current power of the 21-type train is actually a heavy burden. It is estimated that the speed may not be able to reach [-] kilometers per hour when it really runs.

For the sake of safety, but also to reflect the cargo capacity, so this time the public test of the train, the scheduled speed is [-] kilometers per hour.

Coupled with the U-turn at the pier, a series of acceleration, deceleration and other times, it will take about two hours before and after.

The convoy arrived at Yuhuatai Station one after another. At this time, a temporary stand had been set up here, and there were still many tents behind.

But the most conspicuous thing is a train parked in the station!
Luo Zhixue waited for the carriage to stop, got out of the carriage, and walked towards the train ahead.

This is the main inspection target of his trip, the Type 21 train.

Although there were still hundreds of meters away, Luo Zhixue could already clearly see the whole picture of the train.

The locomotive is the locomotive, which is also the core of the train. The locomotive looks very simple to Luo Zhixue, and it has a style of the primitive industrial age. However, Luo Zhixue will not be disappointed by this. On the contrary, he is very excited when he sees it.

Compared with those stupid low-pressure steam engines with low power, this thing is the steam engine he wants. The whole is very compact, but it can achieve more than 100 horsepower in a limited volume and weight.

The locomotive is not a lone steam engine. In fact, the whole locomotive is composed of two parts. The front is the steam engine, and the rear is the carriage loaded with coal. The combination of the two is the complete locomotive.

After all, trains rely on burning coal to get power, no way to rely on a steam engine alone.

The rear of the locomotive is hung with the same size, a total of eighteen carriages, of which the first eight are freight carriages, which are already loaded with goods for teachers.

Behind the eight freight cars, there are ten passenger cars, carrying more than 400 passengers in total.

In Luo Zhixue's eyes, these carriages are relatively simpler and shorter than the train carriages of later generations.

In addition to the iron structure for the load-bearing structure, the carriage is mostly made of wood, especially the sides and top of the carriage are basically made of wood, which is for weight reduction.

After all, the power of the 21-type locomotive is limited. In order to pull more goods and transport more passengers, the weight of the carriage naturally needs to be controlled.

In addition, it is also related to cost... Iron materials are still relatively expensive these days, and as for wood, apart from the precious wood used to build warships, ordinary wood is actually very cheap.

There are also a lot of forest resources in the Great Chu Empire these days, and there are ordinary trees that can be felled and used in large areas of barren mountains and wild forests.

Therefore, in the current Great Chu Empire, although the production capacity of steel has increased significantly, it is still far from being able to replace wood in industrial applications.

All kinds of wood are still indispensable and widely used materials in the industrial production of the Great Chu Empire.

Trains and even railways are no exception.

The carriages of trains are largely made of wood, and the railway also has a large number of sleepers.

Walking over and looking at the train ahead, Luo Zhixue had a smile on his face.

This is not easy. After more than [-] years of hard work with this empire, the train was finally created.

So when he saw the train, Luo Zhixue had a happy feeling that his hard work had been rewarded.

Even though the train has not started yet, let alone the test, Luo Zhixue still couldn't help shouting: "Okay!"

"This is what I want to see!"

When Luo Zhixue said this, many of the courtiers who followed him breathed a sigh of relief, and joy appeared on their faces.

On the contrary, the heads of the Steam Engine Research Institute of the Royal Institute of Technology looked a little embarrassed!

As we all know, their Royal Institute of Technology is the top teaching and research institution in the Great Chu Empire, and the Royal Institute of Technology's Steam Engine Research Institute is the top steam engine research institution in the Great Chu Empire.

However, after so many years of hard work, they failed to produce a mature and usable high-pressure steam engine. Instead, the Guangzhou Machinery Company under the Ministry of Industry took the lead in making a breakthrough and produced a high-pressure steam engine.

This incident caused a great shock to the Steam Engine Research Institute of the Royal Institute of Technology, and even had a very bad influence.

When the news that Guangzhou Machinery Company had developed a high-pressure steam engine reached Jinling City, several high-level leaders from the Royal Institute of Technology were very dissatisfied with the people at the Steam Engine Research Institute.

It is said that they need people, money and money, and there are countless domestic manufacturers who can cooperate.

However, in the research and development of high-pressure steam engines, it is even inferior to a mere company.

He almost scolded them for not being enterprising, lying on the credit book of the low-pressure steam engine and waiting to die.

Because of this matter, the senior management of the Royal Institute of Technology has been thinking about the path of change because of this matter.

They think that there is no pressure on the many teaching and research personnel in the school, and they don't communicate with the outside world very much. They all work hard. More importantly, there is no pressure and no indicators, which makes them feel slack.

At the same time, the research and development investment in many basic fields is also very huge, and the Royal Institute of Technology alone can no longer support it.

Although they also have patent income from patent licensing and a lot of funding from their superiors, they also have a lot of research projects, and many of them are basic theories with little profit.

Burning money does not make money!

In recent years, the funding of the Royal Institute of Technology has also been very tight, and the pressure is even greater.

Now, they want to introduce funds from enterprises to carry out cooperative research and development together.

For this reason, they are thinking about what kind of industrial integration with enterprises, enterprises will provide funds, Royal Institute of Technology will provide talents, and the model of sharing results will promote the research of many projects.

As for the first project, they just want to cooperate with Guangzhou Machinery Company, and they want everyone to work together on the follow-up improvement and research and development of high-pressure steam engines.

After all, in terms of the number and ability of high-end talents, their Royal Institute of Technology is still very powerful, and Guangzhou Machinery Company is far from being able to compare with them. With their participation, the follow-up improvement of high-pressure steam engines will be faster.

And Guangzhou Machinery Company is not short of money, and it is easier to establish its own technological advantages and extend its huge advantages in high-pressure steam engines by bringing in the Royal Institute of Technology to do it together.

So Guangzhou Machinery Company is also very interested in this.

Regarding the cooperative research and development, several people in charge of the Steam Engine Research Institute were very unhappy, but helpless.

So in today's public train test, everyone else was in high spirits, but the heads of the Institute of Steam Engines at the Royal Institute of Technology were stern, as if others owed them 800 million.

On this occasion today, some people are bound to laugh and some will cry.

However, these things outside can't affect the mood of a group of female relatives.

The queen and queen brought a group of harem concubines, the emperor's wife, Mrs. Haoming, the wife of the imperial dignitaries, and the daughter-in-law. At this time, they have also got off the car one after another, and they are staying in the female-only area surrounded by curtains on the side.

Nearly forty years old, but still looking very young, Queen Wang looked at the train connection in front of her and let out a sound of amazement, while the other concubines and Mrs. Hao Ming who were waiting on the side were also dumbfounded.

They were amazed and even more curious.

"Such a big car, can it really run?" Queen Wang carefully looked at the train ahead, a little unbelievable.

On the side, the co-organizer, Ji Dehua's wife, Erpin Haoming's wife, Ji Chenshi, the co-organizer and Minister of the Ministry of Industry, bowed slightly and said: "Empress, this car can really run. I have heard my husband say, It has been tested in Guangzhou, and it runs fast and stable."

After hearing this, Queen Wang nodded slightly and smiled: "It really is a wonderful workmanship, so many cars can be pulled away with only a mere coal!"

Mrs. Hao Ming stepped forward and said: "The queen's eyes are like a torch, the train is really exquisite, and only we Dachu can make such exquisite things. All of this depends on your majesty and The grace of the queen!"

……

When the female family members in the back began to flatter the queen, Luo Zhixue had already continued to move forward, ready to approach and even wait for the car to have a look.

It's all here, so naturally I want to get in the car and take a look.

After entering, he turned around the locomotive. The wheels of this locomotive are a bit big... two on each side, and there are four driving wheels on both sides. Just looking at the wheels, you can tell that this thing is a product of the early industrial age.

Because the train hadn't ignited and started, and the boiler hadn't been fired, Luo Zhixue reached out and touched the car body, feeling that although this machine looked very simple, it was still full of the atmosphere of the era of big industry!

Just like what he said before, this kind of mechanical equipment full of industrial atmosphere, made of iron guys, and violent at first glance, is what he is looking forward to!
After a brief walk around, Luo Zhixue went directly to the door of the driver's cab, and went up.

Because the cab was relatively small, only a few personal guards followed. Luo Zhixue looked left and right, and found that he still couldn't understand the operation of the train...

Nothing but a few stems and some dials...very primitive.

Otherwise, Luo Zhixue would have to drive a train on the spot to enjoy himself, but he couldn't drive the train, so he would have to take this train later.

He was going to be one of the passengers on the first official train of the Great Chu Empire.

As for the danger in the eyes of many courtiers!
This broken train can only run at a speed of more than ten miles per hour. Before riding a horse, it runs fast, and there is a danger of farting.

Besides, he didn't get hit by a train, but went by car...

(End of this chapter)