I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 794: Ming Dynasty Qianjin Type Steam Locomotive

On the tenth day of May, just three days after the annual extremely lively Dragon Boat Festival Carnival ended, tens of thousands of people flocked to Beijing South Railway Station, surrounding it tightly.

Beijing South Railway Station is located southeast of Zuoanmen and east of Nanyuan, covering an area of ​​12,000 square meters. The main building is 15 meters high, with a modern architectural style and a gabled dome. There are five large doors in a row on the front and a clock tower on the left with a large mechanical clock and a thick and long pointer that can be seen from miles away.

The bell would ring every hour to tell the time, and the whole South City could hear it, with its melodious sound reaching as far as Datong Bridge.

The main entrance leads to a hall that goes straight to the ceiling. The entire wall from the front to the ceiling is a white marble relief. Pangu created the world, Houyi shot the sun, Kuafu chased the sun, Jingwei filled the sea, and Yugong moved the mountains. The mythological stories are vivid.

On the left is the ticket office, which has eight windows. Above the two leftmost windows there is a large sign that reads: "Priority purchasing windows for the elderly, pregnant women, the disabled, and active military personnel."

On the left side of the ticket office is a glass wall, which is very bright with sunlight shining in. There are four glass ceiling lamps hanging on the ceiling, each of which is like an unfolding flower with sixteen petals, and each petal is a lamp.

It is said to be a new type of gas lamp, which lights up very brightly.

On the right side of the wall is a huge wooden sign with a table drawn on it. The upper half of the table shows the trains departing from Beijing South Railway Station, with the train number, departure time, stations passing through and arrival time.

The lower part shows the trains arriving at Beijing South Railway Station, which also include the train number, departure time, starting and passing stations, and arrival time.

The wooden sign was huge, but there were not many train numbers listed in the table.

There are only four trains departing from here.

Train No. 101 departs from Beijing South Railway Station to Tianjin Railway Station at : a.m., passes through Tongzhou, Xianghe, Wuqing and Yangcun stations, and arrives at Tianjin Railway Station at : p.m.

Train No. 103 departs from Beijing South Station to Dagu Station at : in the morning, passes through Tongzhou, Xianghe, Wuqing, Yangcun and Tianjin Stations, and arrives at Dagu Station at : in the afternoon.

Train No. 202 departs from Beijing South Railway Station to Qinhuangdao Station at : in the morning, passes through Shunyi, Sanhe, Kaiping, Yongping, Lulong and Funing, and arrives in Qinhuangdao at : in the afternoon.

Train No. 204 departs from Beijing South Railway Station to Lulong Railway Station at : a.m., passes through Shunyi, Sanhe, Kaiping and Yongping, and arrives at Lulong Railway Station at : p.m.

The other four arriving trains are also trains departing from Tianjin, Dagu, Lulong and Qinhuangdao, and their arrival times are 7:20 a.m., 15 p.m., 16:30 p.m. and 18:10 p.m.

Opposite the ticket office, on the right side of the lobby, is the spacious waiting hall with forty iron-framed wooden benches, placed back to back in pairs, divided into two areas on the left and right, which can accommodate five to six hundred people.

The benches were full of passengers, some of them waiting to take the first train departing from Beijing South Railway Station since its completion, which would depart at 204: a.m. and be headed for Lulong Station, Train No. .

This train was also the first commercial passenger train operating normally on the Daming Railway.

Some passengers were waiting to take the second train, Train No. 101, which departs for Tianjin Station at a.m.

The first train is of great significance and it is difficult to get tickets, so many people have to settle for the second best and grab tickets for Train No. 101.

Now these passengers were sitting in the waiting hall, feeling uneasy because the exits, the train station gate, and the square in front of the station were all filled with soldiers.

These soldiers from the Beijing camp were dressed in field gray uniforms, round-brimmed hats, and holding smoothbore muskets. They were fully armed and there was a guard post every three steps and a sentry every five steps. They surrounded the entire Beijing South Railway Station.

Tens of thousands of people who wanted to rush into the train station to see the new things could only point and talk from across the square in front of the station.

Through the bright glass windows of the waiting room, you can see two rows of soldiers on the platform. Next to the platform in the waiting room, there is a green passenger car parked, blocking the sight of everyone in the waiting room.

On the second platform, there was a group of people standing.

The most eye-catching one is Zhu Yijun, who is wearing a short-sleeved light grass green shirt, navy blue new-style trousers, a simple summer outfit, with his hands placed in front of his abdomen.

Without the sleeves of his robe to cover his hands, he couldn't help but put his hands in front of his abdomen.

More than twenty people followed behind him, and the four who followed closely were Zhang Juzheng, Tan Lun, Zhao Zhenji and Wang Chonggu.

Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun were wearing simple summer clothes similar to Zhu Yijun, except that Zhang Juzheng's short-sleeved shirt was white and Tan Lun's was light blue.

Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun also had their hair cut short, making them look particularly energetic.

Zhao Zhenji and Wang Chonggu were still wearing fine gauze straight clothes, lake blue and light green respectively, with belts tied around their waists and big hats on their heads.

Among the other advisors, there was Hai Rui, who was wearing a short-sleeved cotton and silk shirt with a front opening, wide-leg cotton and silk trousers, and a wooden hairpin in his hair. He looked neither decent nor vulgar.

There was one who looked like Zhang Siwei, wearing a round-collared red robe, an official's uniform, and a black gauze hat.

For example, Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou wore the summer uniforms of the army and navy - the style was similar to Zhu Yijun's simple summer uniform.

Some wore white, light blue, or light cyan short-sleeved shirts, like Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun.

There were even some people wearing Qilin costumes and sweating all over their heads.

Yang Jinshui was wearing a cotton and silk double-breasted shirt, the same style as Hai Rui's, but in a different color. She had a jade hairpin in her hair and followed behind Zhu Yijun.

Next to them, also in lane 4, was a passenger train.

A group of people surrounded Zhu Yijun and came to the front of the coach. A black behemoth stopped on the rails, which was very oppressive. Two red flags crossed in front of it added a bit of festive atmosphere.

It is a steam locomotive.

"Huang Daolin!" Yang Jinshui waved to Huang Daolin who was waiting beside the motorcycle, "Come and introduce him to the emperor and the gentlemen."

"I see you, Your Majesty!"

Huang Daolin crossed his arms and bowed.

"No gift."

"My subordinate greets all the gentlemen." Huang Daolin bowed to Zhang Juzheng and others.

Zhang Juzheng and others smiled and nodded.

Huang Daolin coughed and stood next to the steam locomotive, and his whole aura changed.

"Your Majesty, gentlemen, this is our steam locomotive, the Forward 2 model. It is 6 meters long, weighs 1 tons, uses a 148-- wheel pattern, has an output of horsepower, a designed speed of kilometers per hour, and a minimum curve radius of meters."

Seeing that everyone's eyes were full of laughter, Huang Daolin skipped over it.

"The large cylinder lying in front is the boiler, and the one in front is the headlight, which is lit by gas and focused by a concave glass mirror. The one above the boiler is the chimney, and below is the smokebox and the complex smoke pipes that lead directly to the firebox.
The hump-like thing over the chimney is a sandbox. "Sandbox? What is it for?"

Zhang Juzheng asked curiously.

"In response to Prime Minister Zhang, this sandbox is used to store dry sand, which is sprinkled between the moving wheels and the rails at critical moments."

Huang Daolin's words not only stunned Zhang Juzheng, but also made others more curious and started asking questions one after another.

"It's fine if the steam locomotive burns coal, but why does it have to spread sand?"

“What’s the use of spreading sand?”

"Is it some kind of ceremony?"

Huang Daolin replied: “My Lords, spreading sand is very important.

For example, when a train is climbing a slope, spreading sand appropriately can enhance the friction between the driving wheels and the rails, prevent the driving wheels from slipping and spinning, and help the train climb the slope.

On rainy days, when the rails are slippery, or when a train overruns an axle on flat roads, spreading sand can prevent the driving wheels from slipping.

When a locomotive encounters a dangerous situation during normal driving and needs emergency braking, spreading sand can increase the friction between the driving wheels and the rails, enhance the braking force, help prevent the driving wheels from sliding and avoid scratching the driving wheels.

We had no idea before that the test locomotive had many malfunctions, and several serious accidents occurred. Later, when we reported the development situation to the emperor, we installed this sandbox with his guidance, and we saw the effect immediately. "

Everyone couldn't help but look at Zhu Yijun.

Our emperor is truly a genius, he understands this too.

Zhu Yijun laughed and remained calm.

There is no way. I grew up in a railway compound when I was a senior civil servant.

My father has been driving steam locomotives for more than 20 years. When I was a child, I often went into the locomotive cab to watch my father operate it and listen to him explain the functions of each component.

When I grew up, a railway museum was built in my hometown, which houses several steam locomotives independently designed and developed by New China, including the Qianjin, Jianshe, Shangyou, and Renmin types.

Among them, there is also a people-type locomotive with a full cross-section on display.

Every time I go home, I will accompany my retired father to take a tour of the museum, and the people's steam locomotive will be the one that is most often visited.

Seeing that no one had any other questions, Huang Daolin continued his explanation.

“Behind the sandbox is the steam tower, which has some control valves. Behind that is a row of safety valves that release air if the boiler pressure gets too high.

Further on is the cab, with three people inside: the driver, the co-driver, and the fireman.

Behind the cab is the coal-water truck, the front part is the coal trough, and there is a door connecting to the cab. The rear part is the water tank, which can be used to refill water to the boiler at any time through pipes.

The locomotive model and number are written on both sides of the tender. The top two lines say Qianjin 0006, and 0002 is the factory number. The bottom line says Gyeonggi Railway Bureau Car , which is the running number of the Gyeonggi Railway Bureau.

Huang Daolin led everyone forward.

"Your Majesty, my Lords, we have seen the locomotive from the top, and now from the bottom we can see it from the bottom. We can see that the tender has two sets of four wheels, which we call four axles.

Beyond the bottom of the cab is the ash box, which collects coal ash. Beyond that is the fire box, where coal is shoveled in through a valve and burned, heating the copper column above the fire box.

This set of copper columns goes directly to the boiler in front, transferring heat directly to the water in the boiler, boiling the water.

Your Majesty, my Lords, do you see these three tall iron wheels? These are the moving wheels, three on each side, a total of six wheels. The moving wheels are connected to the piston cylinder in front through connecting rods and sliding bars.

The water in the boiler is burned into steam and injected into the cylinder through pipes and valves, pushing the piston forward, pushing the slide bar and connecting rod, and then turning the driving wheel.

The moving wheel rotates one circle, the cylinder valve switches, the steam pressure is released, and the piston is pushed back to its original position through the connecting rod.

Seeing that everyone was starting to get circles again, Huang Daolin made a long story short.

"Your Majesty knows the principles of the steam engine better than I do. As for you gentlemen, even if I explain it in detail, you won't understand it for a while, so just skip it."

Zhang Juzheng and others smiled and nodded, "Yes, we should skip it."

"I don't care how the hen lays eggs as long as I can eat them."

"Ha ha!"

Huang Daolin waited until everyone finished laughing before continuing with the introduction.

“Above the last moving wheel is an air compressor, which pushes the piston when the moving wheel rotates, compresses the air and stores it in the cylinder in front.

This high-pressure air is connected to the bottom of the rear carriage through a pipe and used as a brake. Since the entire train is two or three hundred meters long and weighs thousands of tons, braking cannot be done by the locomotive alone, and distributed braking must be adopted.

That is, high-pressure air is spread throughout the train through pipes, and when the driver pulls the brake, the brakes at the bottom of all carriages work simultaneously. "

Although I didn’t quite understand what it said, I found it magical.

Hai Rui, who looked like a Taoist priest, asked, "It was the Emperor who told you this brilliant idea."

"Mr. Gangfeng hit the nail on the head." Huang Daolin laughed and was quite frank. "We have made the steam engine and the steam locomotive, but we all know that the emperor gave us the guidance step by step. Otherwise, we wouldn't even be able to make these six wheels."

You are right. Without cheating, no matter how clever and skillful people are today, they cannot put together this thing. Moreover, it has developed in leaps and bounds, jumping directly from the research and development stage to the mature stage.

I am familiar with the principles and structure of steam locomotives. I just need to make continuous modifications and adjustments based on current materials and manufacturing levels, and omit what can be omitted to achieve basic functions and ensure safety.

Huang Daolin continued, "With the emperor's guidance, we encountered many setbacks along the way. Fortunately, the right time came, and we finally completed the final development at the end of last year, adding the last piece of the puzzle to the steam locomotive."

What weather?
Everyone looked at Huang Daolin curiously, waiting for what would happen next.

(End of this chapter)