People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 479: Opening Su Shi's Way of Physics
The next morning.

As the rumbling train arrived, Xiangyang West Station was already bustling with people.

Su Xun's family of five stayed in Xiangyang for one night yesterday to relieve the fatigue of the boat journey in recent days. They will set off for Bianliang by train this morning.

Just after the hour of Mao, they arrived at Xiangyang West Station.

Su Xun first went to the stationmaster's office to get a note to confirm that he was going to Bianliang on business, and then he was allowed to buy a ticket and board the train.

Because currently the only railway line in operation in the Song Dynasty is the Jingxiang Railway, the rest of the Changcheng Railway from Chang'an to Chengdu, the Jingguang Railway from Xiangyang to Guangzhou, and the Jingbei Railway from Bianliang to Yanyun are all under construction.

The Changcheng Railway was also planned in the Qingli Five-Year Plan and construction began in the sixth year of the Qingli Period. However, the Jingxiang Railway has been in operation for four years, but the Changcheng Railway will not be open to traffic until next year due to the terrain.

The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was planned in the ninth year of the Qingli Period, so it is estimated that it will be completed in the year after Ming or Ming. Only the Beijing-Beijing Railway will be built a little later, but the construction speed in the plain area will be very fast.

However, even though Zhao Jun has already made a 30-year railway plan for the Song Dynasty, it is expected that within the next 30 years, the Song Dynasty's railways will connect all the roads, prefectures, and counties in the country, making trains the main means of transportation in the Song Dynasty.

But at least there is still only one now.

Moreover, the main transportation of the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway is cargo, and most of the trains are freight trains. For example, freight trains usually run every three hours, while passenger trains run every six hours, so delays are common.

Therefore, at present, trains are still not affordable for ordinary people, and ordinary people are temporarily not allowed to buy tickets to take trains between Beijing and Xiangyang.

Currently, it only serves a few people. One is big business owners, such as tea merchants, grain merchants, salt merchants, etc., who spend a lot of money to hire trains to transport goods. Naturally, the bosses and their entourage can also enjoy the convenience of taking the train.

The second group is officials on official business who have clear evidence of being on official business. For example, Su Xun was going to Bianliang this time. He would first report to the Ministry of Personnel, then go to the Court of Official Examination for examination and selection, and then wait for notification from the Ministry of Personnel, and naturally he could take the train.

The third group includes people in special circumstances, such as extremely wealthy officials and dignitaries, or clerks delivering urgent reports to the court, as well as troops who are ordered to travel between two places for rotation or garrison.

This means that trains cannot be considered a convenient means of transportation for the common people.

But this is a normal thing.

Just like many new technologies in later generations, they are often used in the military first. Since these things have not yet been popularized, they naturally cannot benefit the general public. Once the national railway network is rolled out, it will become normal for ordinary people to take the train.

Although Su Shi's family were officials on official business, they still had to buy tickets. The high ticket prices were painful even for the Su family, a large family in Meizhou with abundant wealth.

After buying tickets from the ticket office, the family of five went to the waiting hall.

The train station is quite simple, surrounded by an iron fence on the outside and a factory-like bungalow made of concrete inside.

This bungalow is the waiting room, but it is very spacious. The first floor is the waiting hall and the second floor is the office. The overall look is a bit like a county bus station in later generations, but it was already very luxurious in the Song Dynasty.

The waiting hall was quite quiet at this moment. Those coming and going were either big businessmen and big bosses, or officials and dignitaries. Naturally, it was not as noisy and bustling as the train stations and bus stations of later generations.

It's very chaotic outside.

Because of the freight traffic, a large number of workers are needed outside to move and unload goods. After the train arrives at the station, it often needs to change tracks through switches, turn around, stop outside to unload and load goods, and finally set off to Bianliang.

Freight trucks have a higher priority than passenger buses, so sometimes unloading and loading are completed earlier or later, which takes up the departure time of passenger buses and causes delays.

Su Shi and Su Zhe looked around like two curious babies. They saw a huge open space to the south of the bungalow where a large number of horse-drawn carriages were unloading goods. In the farther direction, there was a train parked there, obviously being loaded.

Compared to Su Zhe, the 16-year-old Su Shi quickly thought of a question. He said to Su Xun: "Father, the train runs every hour and a half, right?"

"Ah."

Su Xun thought Su Shi was asking about the departure time, and said, "I asked Stationmaster Liu before, and he said that we should be able to leave in another half an hour."

Su Shi shook his head and said, "I don't want to ask this. I want to know, if a train breaks down and stops on the way, then if it is not repaired within an hour and a half, will the train behind it hit the train in front?"

"This"

Su Xun was suddenly speechless, as this question touched upon his blind spot in knowledge.

Su Che was smart and said, "It is impossible that the Ministry of Railways did not think of this. Besides, the Beijing-Xiangyang train has been running for many years and there has been no reports of any accidents. There must be some way to communicate."

"This young man is right."

A businessman sitting across from them smiled and pointed to the platform outside the station and said, "Look what that is?"

They all looked over and saw that there were telephone poles with electric wires hanging on them near the platform where people boarded the train outside.

It’s just that electric wires are not yet widely available. Currently, only some have been installed in Chengdu, and they use steam engines instead of hydroelectric power, so they don’t know what they are doing.

Seeing their puzzled expressions, the businessman smiled and said, "That's an electric wire."

"electric wire?"

"Yes, the imperial court has laid wires along the route. There is a telegraph station at every station, and a telegraph booth every ten miles."

"what's it for?"

"The wires can be used to send telegraph messages to inform the platform. If a train stops due to a breakdown, the line between the train line and the telegraph booth can be used to report to the platform."

“There are wires on the train too?”

"Yes. Each train has a six-mile-long wire. In this way, within a ten-mile radius, no matter where the train breaks down and stops, it can be connected to the line of the telegraph booth in time."

"But."

Su Shi quickly thought of a loophole and said, "What if there is no time to report to the platform, or the next train has already departed?"

"That's why the court arranged a trip every hour and a half and restored Xinye County, which was abolished in the former Tang Dynasty."

The businessman laughed.

"Why?"

Su Shi was puzzled.

"Do you know how far a train can go in an hour?"

"do not know."

"About 200-220 miles."

"I understand."

Su Shi suddenly realized: "The distance between each platform must be less than this mile, so if a train breaks down, the previous train must not have arrived at the previous station yet."

"Yes."

The merchant said, "To be precise, it should be two stations ahead, because each station on the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway is about 110 miles away. If the front train leaves for an hour and a half, the rear train will be at least 300 miles behind. Even if the time spent stopping at each station is included, it will not be less than 300 miles at most, so the rear train must be two stations behind. Originally, the most appropriate schedule should be one train every hour, but for safety reasons, the court still schedules one train every hour and a half to completely eliminate the possibility of collision."

This issue was first discussed by Zhao Jun and Zhao Zhen. The telegraph had not yet been invented at that time, and they were very worried about communication between trains.

Once a fault occurs, if the following train is not informed in time, a rear-end collision may occur.

So in the early days, the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway ran a train every three hours, which means there were only four trains a day, in order to prevent such things from happening.

But not long after, Zhao Zhen developed the telegraph, which enabled long-distance communications.

But the telegraph is not a telephone after all, and it is difficult to install wires on the train to operate it, so a telegraph kiosk was adopted.

When the Song Dynasty built the railway line, there was a patrol booth every ten miles, because the steel used in the railway was very expensive at that time, a pound of steel was comparable to a pound of copper, and some local people would steal the rails. Therefore, there were garrisons along the railway as railway soldiers to guard the railway line, so that the patrol booths where the railway soldiers were stationed could connect to the wires on the train and send telegrams on the train - the telegraph was still too expensive, and it was impossible to equip each patrol booth with one.

The stations along the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway are Xiangyang Station, Xinye Station, Nanyang Station, Fangcheng Station, Yexian Station, Xiangcheng Station, Xuchang Station, Weishi Station and Kaifeng Station. The distance between each station is exactly about 60 kilometers.

At present, the maximum speed of the Song Dynasty's steam locomotives can actually reach more than 60 kilometers per hour, but the Ministry of Railways stipulates that the speed must be maintained at 70-50 kilometers per hour. Including the time spent at stops, the speed is about kilometers per hour.

Three hours is enough time for the front train to overtake the rear train by at least two stations. Once a vehicle breaks down and stops, the train will have a time warning of two stations and can stop the entire line instantly.

Although doing so can easily cause a large number of train delays, because sometimes the trains are often overloaded and overheated, causing malfunctions, and they can stop to rest for a while and then start again.

But once it stops, all the trains behind it will be unable to start, and this delay often lasts for several hours.

But there is nothing we can do about it.

For safety reasons, we can only use such an inefficient method. Perhaps the problem can be solved in the future when wireless communication is possible.

"So that's how it is. The people in the Railway Ministry are really smart."

Su Shi was amazed.

"Since the imperial court has done all this, it must have considered everything carefully. How could it disregard human lives?"

Although Su Xun heard this for the first time, it did not prevent him from educating his two sons. He said, "You should think more carefully in the future and never speak without thinking."

"It's father."

The Su Shi brothers responded.

Then Su Shi looked at the businessman and said, "You are amazing, you can even predict that the last train will lag behind the first one by two stations."

The businessman waved his hand and smiled, "It's nothing. I'm a businessman who travels all over the country. I've taken trains many times. Plus, being a businessman requires some math skills. I'll know the answer after a little thought."

"I would also like to ask, how do these wires send telegrams?"

Su Shi asked again.

He was curious.

"Forehead"

The businessman scratched his head and said, "I don't know about that. I heard that it has something to do with the physics that the government advocates."

"The way of physics?"

Su Shi thought for a while and said, "Some newspapers from Chengdu came to Meizhou before. I seem to have read about this. I heard that there are schools in Chengdu that teach this. What a pity..."

It's a pity that he didn't learn it.

"Although Chengdu is a prosperous place for commerce, it is too far from Bianliang, so it is normal that it is not well-informed. If you are interested in the way of physics, you can go to Bianliang to learn it."

The businessman said.

As he spoke, he looked Su Xun up and down again, and then asked, "Sir, are you going to the capital to be examined and appointed?"

"Your Excellency has a good eye."

Su Xun did not deny it.

He did not bring any servants with him this time because he wanted to keep a low profile, but he did not expect to be seen through.

But he was not surprised. Merchants travel all over the country and have good eyesight. Besides, trains are not something that ordinary people can ride, so it is normal for him to see that he is an official.

The merchant said to Su Xun, "You are very smart. You may try to take the Bianliang High School Examination when you go to Beijing this time. Mathematics, physics, and chemistry are gradually added to the imperial examination, and they account for a lot of points. If you don't learn them, it will be difficult to pass the imperial examination in the future."

Mathematics, physics, chemistry?
Bianliang High School?

After thanking the businessman, the Su family father and his two sons memorized the information firmly.

Especially Su Shi and Su Zhe.

Due to misfortunes in the Su family in recent years, Su Xun passed the imperial examination and took them to Guangning Prison.

Then Old Master Su passed away, and Su Xun had no choice but to return home to observe mourning.

Then there was the dispute with the Cheng family. Su Shi and his brothers stayed at home all year round, being taught by their parents, and had never been to school.

The main reason was that after Su Xun passed the imperial examination, he didn't pay much attention to the imperial examination. In addition, he stayed at home for many years and was isolated from the news. Naturally, he didn't know that the proportion of science subjects in the imperial examination has been increasing in recent years.

Now that we have come out and witnessed the changes in the new era, we will naturally slowly accept their existence.

Otherwise, it would be terrible if both sons failed the exam.

As for the brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe, they were full of curiosity about the science that the businessman talked about.

The rumbling train, the glowing electric lights, and the wires that enabled long-distance communications all filled them with a sense of novelty.

Especially when I see the rumbling train coming in the distance, my heart is filled with a spirit of exploration.

"woo woo woo woo."

After more than ten minutes, with the sound of the whistle, the train finally arrived at the station.

But it’s not time to set off now.

The vehicles also needed to be refilled with water, coal, and passengers offloaded.

It was not until more than forty minutes later, more than an hour after Su Shi and his companions entered the station, that they finally boarded the train.

It was their first time taking a train and the Su brothers were extremely curious. When they got on the train, they saw rows of seats. Every passenger carried their luggage, found their own seat, put it on the luggage rack and sat down.

Many of them were obviously experienced passengers, and they all put down their books - the journey was a total of 380 kilometers, about 8 hours, so naturally they needed to prepare something to pass the time.

The five members of the Su family did not bring much luggage, mainly a few sets of clothes - Su Xun said it was inconvenient to bring too many things, so they could just buy them when they got to Bianliang.

After placing the luggage on the luggage rack, several people sat down in their seats, exactly five people in a row.

Su Xun and his two sons sat together. Su Shi happened to be sitting at the window. He curiously touched the transparent thick glass, which had not yet appeared in his hometown of Meizhou.

Moreover, the windows of the train can be opened. The previous passenger did not close the window, so Su Shi stuck his head out, just as the train started to preheat.

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!"

White smoke billowed out of the chimney. The sun was not very bright in the morning, but Su Shi seemed to see a rainbow.

He didn't know how the trains ran or why smoke came out of the chimneys.

But he knew.

This time I went to Bianliang, I not only wanted to meet Mr. Lu Xun, whom I admired, but also to see what the way of physics is.

(End of this chapter)