I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 950: Sheler's Travels II
Nohfelden is a city in northern Saarland.

Scherer's carriage stopped at the outskirts of the city. The driver put the whip on his waist. He looked pitiful, but his tone was quite firm:

"Master, we agreed at the beginning that you would hire my car for half a month. You see, it has been seventeen days since we left Vienna..."

In order to raise money, Scheerer sold his family's carriage, so this time he had to hire a car to come to France.

If they had gone from Strasbourg, half a month would have been enough, but because they had taken a detour through the Rhineland and the driver got lost, they had only just reached the French border.

Oh, now it is considered the heartland of France, and the Rhine River is the border.

Scherer sighed helplessly: "I will pay you another 3 florins to continue to take us to Reims."

The driver rolled his eyes and shook his head. "You know, Mr. Metzger has reserved my car."

"Oh, please do me a favor."

"Five florins. I must pay Mr. Metzger for breach of contract."

Scheerer bargained with him for a long time, but he was unwilling to give in. Just as he was about to accept the blackmail, he suddenly saw a carriage disappearing at a very fast speed among the buildings of Nofelden in the distance.

What surprised him most was that the carriage was pulled by only one horse, the carriage was twice as big as his own, and yet it could maintain that speed.

He walked to the end of the road curiously and saw several rows of wooden tracks.

He walked a little further along the track, and saw several oversized carriages of the type he had just seen. Someone was holding up a wooden sign and shouting, "Only 6 sous to Lorraine, leaving in 20 minutes."

Wooden track bus? Scherer had seen this thing in the cities of the Palatinate, and he was immediately inspired. He walked up to the man and asked, "Sir, is there a bus to Reims?"

For a well-educated aristocrat like him, French was a compulsory course.

"Of course, sir," the soliciting driver said enthusiastically, "our car can take you all the way to Paris. It costs 1 franc and 4 sous to go to Reims."

Scheherr was delighted. He and his wife only needed 2 francs and 8 sous to reach Reims.

It is equivalent to just over 1 florin.

He needs money badly right now, and every penny he can save is a penny he can save.

He immediately turned back and waved to the driver unceremoniously:

"Take my luggage down. You can go back to Vienna."

More than ten minutes later, the Scherers got into a horse-drawn carriage that could carry six passengers and set off westward along the wooden tracks.

An old lady sitting opposite them complained to the young man next to her: "It's better to take the 'big barrel', the 'light' is too expensive..."

The young man smiled and said that he had just received a salary increase, which was enough to pay for the "light" fare.

And the old woman kept chattering.

Scherer quickly understood.

The so-called "big barrel" is a large carriage that can carry 10 people. It is quite crowded, but it only costs 9 sous per person to get to Reims.

The six-passenger carriage they were riding in was called "light" and was much more expensive, but also more comfortable.

He felt a little regretful. He should have asked more questions just now, so that he could save more money.

The carriage moved fast and steadily on the track and entered Lorraine at noon that day.

Scherer looked out the window at the trees flying backwards, and was impressed by the convenient transportation in France. At this time, the young man opposite said to the old woman: "Grandma, fortunately the war is over, otherwise the track would be occupied by the army, and we would have to hire a carriage to attend my sister's wedding."

"Why hire a carriage? It's too expensive." The old woman waved her hand immediately, "In that case, of course we'll just walk..."

Scherer was suddenly stunned when he heard this.

Yes, this kind of wooden track transportation is not only fast but also low-cost, and its transportation capacity is several times higher than that of ordinary horse-drawn carriages.

If used to transport logistical supplies for the army, the efficiency would be amazing!
He couldn't help feeling sad. It seemed that France's victory over the Anglo-Prussian and Austrian coalition was not due to luck.

As a nobleman, he had to take some military courses, so he was very clear about the importance of strong logistical transportation capabilities to war - for example, the Allied forces only had 100 artillery shells delivered to the front line, but the French army had delivered 500 shells, how could they fight?
An idea then came to Scheer's mind: if the Emperor had examined France's transportation capabilities in detail, would he have withdrawn his decision to go to war?

As we went deeper and deeper into Lorraine, a sour and bitter smell began to appear in the air, and thick black smoke could be seen everywhere floating into the sky.

The old lady opposite covered her mouth with a handkerchief and coughed from time to time.

She stared at a very thick smoke not far away and complained to her grandson: "What are the people here, uh, burning?"

The young man smiled and said, "That should be the coke factory. They are burning coke. That stuff can be used to make steel. The very sharp scissors I bought you at the beginning of the year were made here."

"Look, that thinner smoke over there is from the steam engine.

"I heard that the steel mills in Lorraine are already using steam engines for forging. In the past, it took more than a dozen people several days to complete the work, but now a steam engine can do it in just one morning."

Scherer's heart sank again.

God, the blacksmiths in Vienna were happy to have a forged water wheel, while the French were using steam engines.

On his way here, he saw the black smoke from at least five or six steam engines, and this was only a small part of Lorraine.

It can be seen that the French steel forging speed is much faster than that of Austria?

This is equivalent to the production speed of flintlock rifles, swords, gun carriages, and carriages.

He only felt a surge of indignation: How could the foolish emperor and the greedy ministers around him think that France was vulnerable?

A day and a half later, the "light" rail carriage had entered the city of Reims.

This city, which ranks among the top three in France, is quite prosperous, with clean streets and almost no smell of feces.

Every few dozen meters on both sides of the road, there is a uniquely shaped gas street lamp, full of industrial atmosphere.

There were many pedestrians on the street, who stopped from time to time to ask the vendors for prices. Newsboys squeezed through the crowd, shouting news headlines and selling newspapers in their hands.

Mrs. Scherer noticed that many pedestrians were wearing loose gray round-necked jackets and black linen trousers. Although simple, they looked quite capable.

"Is this the latest popular style in France?" she asked her husband, gesturing towards the men.

The middle-aged lady sitting next to her immediately covered her mouth and chuckled when she heard the words, whispered a few words to the man accompanying her, and then laughed even harder.

The man coughed dryly and whispered, "Celine, dear, this is a bit rude."

He immediately looked at Scherer and said in a friendly manner: "Judging from your accent, you should be from the Rhineland, right?
He gestured out the window: “Ah, actually, those are factory work clothes.

"According to the Labor Protection and Safety Decree, factories with assets exceeding 20,000 francs are required to provide workers with a set of work clothes free of charge."

(End of this chapter)