The sun never sets in America

Chapter 125 Railway Construction and Development

The California sunshine is as old and vibrant as the land of California.

If the Spanish occupation of California and the establishment of the 60-year-old Los Angeles (now Xijing) were the beginning of civilization in this ancient land of California, then the establishment of the Han Dynasty was the rebirth of this ancient land.

If you ask a Spaniard what California is, they will tell you that it was a colony they colonized next to Mexico decades ago.

And if you ask a Mexican what California is, you'll get a painful yet hopeful answer.

As the Mexican writer Santerton wrote in his new book, Tears of Mexico, California, published in March 1841:

“When I was a kid, I heard California a lot because my aunt married and moved to Los Angeles.”

"When I was young, I heard that California was a land full of gold. Many Mexicans who were eager to get rich took their tools and luggage and hurried to California, but except for a few people, most of them never came back. , because many of the gold mines in California are already privately owned...those that are not yet privately owned are also undergoing severe competition."

"Just like my uncle who got into a shootout with someone because of gold and lost a leg, and then returned home and married a 16-year-old girl based on gold sand, in California, nothing belongs to you, including your life."

"I naively asked him at that time, isn't California a Mexican territory? Where is the government there??"

"My uncle laughed. I was still young at the time. I just thought he was looking down on me and was unwilling to tell me the truth. It wasn't until a group of pagans called the Chinese occupied the place and established their own country that I understood what my uncle said. What means."

"I remember when the Han Dynasty was established, the city where I was was full of curse words for pagans. I even saw several mixed-race children hanged because they looked too much like pagans..."

"Then our government announced that it would defeat the infidels and take back California. Everyone was excited. When my neighbor Mocha and I were drinking, he said to me that he had enlisted in the army and that he was going to kill those infidels and let them Taste the power of a Mexican man... After saying that, he smiled at me obscenely."

“At that time, I felt that everything could still be saved, especially when I saw the army formed in my hometown, the soldiers with guns higher than their own, shouting the slogan of victory for Mexico over and over again. At that time, I was just like them, fighting for Proud to be Mexican.”

"Everyone knows what happened later. We lost and ran around like bereaved dogs. However, those Han people who were looked down upon by us hugged our women and occupied our land... and told us contemptuously that now You are all our trophies."

(During the Sino-Mexican War, many soldiers exchanged candies and cigarettes for Mexican women)

"Later, we signed the treaty that we are still criticizing to this day, and then those people who criticized him kept criticizing President Santa Anna, saying stupid things like if he were president, he would not lose... …”

"And the news I recently heard from Han is that they want to build a railway across the entire California. God...[-] kilometers. I have never traveled that far in my life."

"And when I learned that the Han people would spend 500 million yuan to build this railway, I clearly remembered the silent expression of Moore, who lost an arm because of participating in the war. It was an expression of despair and inability to accept reality. Such expressions were common throughout Mexico, especially after the war.”

"In addition to the railways, there are also changes in the country of Han in Mexico as a whole. From the past, people always shouted when they met Han, to now, some people want to go to Han and become Han people. Even those nobles and rich people are discussing the development of Han in a low voice... …”

"I know that many of them have connections with the Han State, especially Charles, who provided gunpowder to the Han State during the war. He kept describing the civilization of the Han Army, and even those around him showed longing expressions. .”

"I think they must be looking forward to being Han Chinese!!"

"When I finished writing this book, I learned that the Han Dynasty's California Railway (Xijing Railway, called the California Railway by Mexicans) had been built for hundreds of kilometers, and it was said that it would be completed by the end of the year."

"I'm already planning to go to Han to have a look. After all, the railway is a new thing."

After Santerton finished writing this, he added another sentence, and then left the small town in southern Mexico where he was located, going to a country he had heard of but never been to, a country with railways! !

When Santeton set foot on the road to Han Dynasty, the railway section from Xijing to Beimen was about to be completed, which meant that Xijing, Jinshan, and Beimen, the three most developed cities in Han Dynasty, were about to be connected. .

This is a good thing for the entire Han Dynasty.

According to the latest demographic statistics of Han, the total population of Han is 310 million, of which about 200 million live in California. The largest population in other places is the second region near Mexico, the northernmost Nevada, Arizona, except for Arizona which has a population of 20, the entire Nevada has a population of less than 10, and these populations also include local indigenous people.

Among the more than 200 million people in California, about 150 million live in Xijing, Jinshan, and Beimen, and in and around the cities.

If it were not for the two cities of Red Mountain and South Gate on the Baja California peninsula, even the 60 million people would not be able to maintain their population if it were not for the greater California region. They would all have to be sucked away by the three cities above.

The reason is that most of Han's current gold mines, coal, and steel are in the greater California area, and cities like Jinshan and Xijing, which have the two best ports on the west coast, are naturally suitable for export and import trade.

According to statistics, most of the trade between Britain and Han was completed in the two cities of Xijing and Jinshan. Even Beimen has developed a food industry due to coastal trade and the cultivation of cash crops such as cotton and peanuts. Even in the textile industry, the cotton grown is eventually transported to Jinshan Port or Xijing Port through cotton merchants, where there are a large number of British merchants responsible for purchasing cotton...

However, due to the distance and cost of transporting goods, cotton and even other cash crops grown in Beimen City are often easily priced down. The only reason given is that it is too far away.

In this era of maritime trade, unless there are golden waterways like the Yangtze River and Danube River inland, the cost of this road is destined to be high, even if the Han Dynasty built many highways before (actually they are just cinder roads) ).

Under normal circumstances, the people of Beimen were destined to accept this reality, but the Xijing Railway interrupted everything.

crackling...

After the last sleeper of the North Gate Section of the Xijing Railway was placed, the firecrackers that had been prepared were like bombs, sounding continuously and exploding for more than ten minutes...

From this we can see how much the people of Beimen love this railway.

Everyone knows that this railway has brought huge benefits to Beimen City that cannot be compared with any previous construction.

"Director Lan, thank you... thank you for building the railway to our north gate." Beimen Mayor Zhang Bing held the hand of Railway Bureau Director Lan Shanhe and said excitedly, "On behalf of the 40 people in Beimen, Thanks to our friends from the Railway Bureau for helping us build a railway and a road to wealth..." Zhang then thanked Lanshanhe and other Railway Bureau officials present with a grateful expression on his face.

"Mayor Zhang is very polite, this is what we should do." Although Lan Shanhe was very happy in his heart, he still replied modestly on the surface, "Your Majesty said that the [-]th century is the century of railways, and our country must build more railways. Prosperity, prosperity of the country..." Lan Shanhe told Zhang He about a speech Liu Peng gave at the court meeting recently because of the construction of the railway. This speech was published in the Hanguo Daily and became known to the whole country. (Official newspaper of Han Dynasty).As the saying goes, if something is good at the top, it will be very bad at the bottom.

Liu Peng's speech quickly set off a craze for railway construction in Han Dynasty. Some local governments wanted to build railways even if they borrowed money.

Even Nevada has said that it will build a railway connecting the California area, euphemistically called it to develop Nevada's economy and so on.

If the central government had not issued an emergency stop, in a period when the whole country was frantically building railways, they might have dared to borrow debt to build railways.

Just like a certain central official of the Han Dynasty scolded: "People build railways because they have population, finances, and minerals. You have no one, no finances, and the local environment is bad. You build a railway... It's not about achieving results." That’s what happened.”

Although the incident was finally settled, it still caused other parts of Han to laugh at the Nevada region. The one who laughed the most was Arizona. After all, even places like Arizona, which has a much better environment than Nevada, have not built railways. Nevada has A place where birds don't poop has any right to build a railway.

Such remarks naturally triggered a war of words between Nevada and Arizona.

Although it soon calmed down, it can be seen that not all places in Han are suitable for railway construction.

Whether one of them can recover the cost is enough to block many places.

"Mayor Zhang is so polite. This is the responsibility of our railway bureau." Lan Shanhe smiled and replied to Zhang He, "It will be open to traffic in a while. Mayor Zhang, do you want to come up with me and have a ride?" Lan Shanhe said with a smile. Shan He invited Zhang Bing.

"Okay, I've never made a train like this before!!" Zhang Bing heard that Lan Shanhe invited him to make a train, and he agreed without hesitation.

Then everyone on the platform was anxiously waiting for the train to arrive.

woo... woo...

Suddenly, a strange cry came from a distance, and then a huge thing with white smoke and rattling sounds was seen approaching.

Some people on the pier who had never seen a train opened their mouths. In their eyes, what kind of monster this was.

It has a centipede-like body, segment by segment, but it is surprisingly big, like a giant dragon wandering on the railroad tracks.

The white smoke was the dragon's breath, and the clicking gears were like dragon claws rubbing against the ground repeatedly, until everyone felt scared...

click... click...

When this kind of old-fashioned train, which only appeared in later movies, appeared in front of people of this era, everyone present felt as if they were looking at an alien creation, and it was incredible.

Especially the immigration representatives who were invited to watch the ceremony today were as if they were seeing gods, and they almost had to kneel down to pray.

Only the local Chinese could remain calm. After all, many of them had grown up in Liujiabao's factories. They might not have seen trains, but they had definitely seen machines.

To them, the constantly smoking top of the locomotive looked like the smoke produced by a steam engine burning coal.

After carefully observing the structure of the train and the gears that drove the carriages, the officials who had been workers reacted immediately.

Isn't this thing just a large locomotive driven by a steam engine? ?

"Mayor Zhang, please..." Lan Shanhe invited Zhang Bing, who was looking at him.

"Ah... Director Lan, please come too!!" Zhang Bing didn't react for a while. After reacting, he waved to Lan Shanhe and motioned for him to go up first.

Lan Shanhe didn't care and was the first to get into the carriage that had been opened by the steward.

Then other people on other platforms also climbed onto the carriage cautiously but very curiously.

Sitting on the seat wrapped in cotton cloth, Zhang Bing looked at the aisles and seats in the car, constantly looking around, trying to see clearly what this train looked like.

But before he could react, he was interrupted by the same whine as before, and then the same click sound as when the car was parked.

Slowly, everyone can feel the movement under their buttocks.

This surprised everyone, and then they saw the train slowly pulling out of the platform and heading towards the wilderness outside the platform...

Large areas of immature cotton fields appeared on both sides of the railway, and not far away, you could see a small town closest to the platform.

This town is Luotai Town! !

And when the train moved faster and faster, the entire carriage was filled with people sticking their heads out of the window to blow the wind.

Looking out the window at the endless wilderness, the vast land, and the endless railroad tracks ahead, for them, this is the most unforgettable moment in their lives.

Even when they are old, these people can proudly say to their grandchildren:

"Boy, your grandfather and I were the first man to ride on the train!!"

　Please give me a reward and make a full order.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)