I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1232 The New Era of Warfare
Gaizka stood in front of the carriage door, his heart filled with trepidation.

The train lay silently on the ground, like a giant python with a black head. At that moment, he felt as if he wanted to crawl into its belly.

“Is this thing really safe?” He turned to look at Sergeant Popard, the honorary representative.

The latter chuckled and patted him on the back: "I remember you said you weren't afraid of the Austrians' cannons, but now you're afraid to get on a train?"

"I, of course I dare!" Gaizka shouted, his face flushed, then pulled hard on the strap of his musket, gritted his teeth, and jumped into the car.

Some of the dimly lit carriages contained dozens of rows of wooden benches, with two rows of benches sharing a backrest that was about a meter high.

Gaizka sat down next to Nasserli in order.

The seats are very crowded. To increase capacity, each carriage has 23 and a half rows of seats, with 6 people per row, for a total of 141 seats.

But Gaizka and the other soldiers seemed quite happy—the wooden bench was much more comfortable than riding a horse. You see, riding a horse all day would leave your back and hips aching terribly. Without exception, all the cavalrymen had thick calluses on the inside of their thighs.

As for the infantry, it goes without saying that walking 20 or 30 kilometers a day is no easy task, but now they can just sit and do it.

Half an hour later, a loud whistle sounded from ahead. The carriage jolted violently, then began to move slowly.

The soldiers on the vehicle immediately erupted in shouts of excitement or tension, while others bowed their heads and prayed incessantly. It took considerable effort from the officers of each company to gradually calm everyone down.

Gaizka stared wide-eyed as the trees outside the car window receded into the distance.

They retreated faster and faster, and soon the trees had become blurry horizontal lines.

He felt his heart was about to jump out of his chest—this was too fast! Well, or perhaps, as Nasserli said, it really would fly.

He was relatively lucky; several soldiers had already closed their eyes in fear.

In reality, the car was only traveling at 37 kilometers per hour. But in that era, apart from nobles who owned purebred horses, no one had ever experienced such a speed—even if an ordinary horse ran like crazy, it would be difficult to exceed 30 kilometers per hour.

It wasn't until noon that Gaizka got used to the rattling sound of the car speeding along. He turned to the honorary representative sitting behind him and asked, "Sergeant Popard, who invented such a wonderful car?"

"It is said that it was a gentleman named Trevich, but he completed the design under the guidance of His Highness the Crown Prince."

Nasserli and several soldiers exclaimed in astonishment, "Your Highness is truly omnipotent!"

"The great chosen one of God!"

Gaizka, however, recalled the image of the 50 livres that had been left at his home that year. He was young then, but later he heard from his father that the young man was most likely His Highness the Crown Prince.

That money saved his whole family's lives.

"May God bless His Highness the Crown Prince." He devoutly made the sign of the cross on his chest.

From the middle of the carriage came the tireless shouts of the company sergeant: "Those who are urinating must hold on tight to the railing, or they may fall!"

Well, this train doesn't have a toilet. If you need to relieve yourself, you have to go to the connection between the two carriages and just "throw" it out.

When Gaizka heard him shout, he felt a tightness in his bladder and was about to raise his hand to relieve himself when he saw the train slowly stop next to a huge wooden "rain shelter".

In the middle of the "rain shelter" was a small mountain of coal piled on the ground, next to which was a huge water tank.

When the train came to a complete stop, he saw a huge wooden sign with a string of words written on it. As he struggled to spell it, Nasserly had already read it aloud: "Verdun Railway Station. God, this is Verdun!"

The carriage immediately erupted in noise again.

They set off at eight in the morning and have already arrived in Verdun from Paris, just past one in the afternoon. Normally, this journey would take at least a week.

This made everyone feel like they were dreaming!
At the station, dozens of inspectors used hammers to tap on the bottom and joints of the train for nearly half an hour. After confirming that there were no mechanical faults, the train continued its journey.

And so, around 6 p.m. that day, Gaizka's company arrived by train 60 kilometers east of Nancy.

The sergeant shouted an order for the soldiers to prepare to disembark.

They were only 50 kilometers from their destination, Strasbourg. They could reach it in less than two days.

Currently, the railway has only been built up to this point. Once the entire line is completed, they will be able to reach the front lines that same day.

More than 2500 soldiers disembarked from passenger train 008 and began to assemble. In the distance, the locomotive detached from the carriages and struggled to turn around on the triangular track.

Gaizka quickly called out names and then set up camp on the spot.

Steam was already rising from the field food truck.

Sergeant Popard sat among dozens of soldiers and began his regular nightly "program": "Today we continue talking about the 'Tsar's patricide'."

Where were we last time?

"Zubov has been stopped by Count Boblinsky!" Nasserli was still the quickest to react.

“Oh, that’s right.” Sergeant Popard nodded, breathing on his cold hands, “Zubov was so scared that he knelt down when a sword was pointed at his nose.”

Count Bobulinsky shouted to the surrounding assassins, 'Put down your weapons! Your leader has surrendered!'

"While everyone else was still in a daze, Crown Prince Alexander of Russia ran up from downstairs, accompanied by dozens of guards."

"'Hand over these assassins to me!' he waved to Count Bobulinsky, 'You bravely thwarted a coup.'"

"The moment His Excellency breathed a sigh of relief, Alexander suddenly kicked his sword away, then drew his pistol and pressed it against his chest. 'You're too fond of meddling, you bastard. My father's era is over...'"

He told the story of Viscount Scheller's assassination attempt on King Paul I, adding some of Alexander's romantic escapades, and serialized it for over 40 chapters. After Joseph's revisions, the plot became more compact and suspenseful, and it was also published in several other languages, including German and Russian.

Since its publication, the book has sold 30,000 to 40,000 copies in various European countries. Although it has been banned in countries such as Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, it has not stopped its rampant and clandestine circulation among the people.

It was a hot topic of discussion in France, and the play adaptation was a sell-out success.

The next day.

Gaizka's troops unloaded their logistical supplies from the newly arrived F021 freight train and continued their journey toward Strasbourg.

They will cross the middle Rhine there and be stationed in Baden.

Not far away, Gaizka saw a dense crowd of people busy building something.

Some people were carrying sand and gravel, while others were moving railway tracks. However, all the workers were wearing shackles.

In the distance, the foreman was shouting something in a language he couldn't understand, and occasionally cracking his whip.

Sergeant Popard pointed over there and explained to everyone:
"Look, these are the Russian soldiers captured by General Massena. There are tens of thousands of them."

(End of this chapter)