Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 215 Huang Er sees business opportunities, my father is the Duke of Ying [Please subscribe]

Money is not a problem for Huang Xinyi, but in his impression, a travel permit is not so easy to get.

Seeing this, the servant reminded him, "Second Master, it's much easier to get a travel permit from the government office now than before. If you only leave Yingtian Prefecture and not Zhili, it will be even easier."

Upon hearing this, Huang Xinyi immediately made up his mind and waved his folding fan: "Let's go! To the Jiangning County Government Office!"

Huang Xinyi arrived at the Jiangning County Government compound and found the courtyard where the household registration office was located. Sure enough, he easily obtained travel passes for several people to Xuzhou. It took only a quarter of an hour and cost only a few dozen coins - remember, there were five of them.

Holding the pass, Huang Xinyi rushed to the train station with his servants.

When they arrived near the train station square, Huang Xinyi saw that there were still many royal army soldiers standing guard outside the square, almost one guard post every five steps and one sentry every ten steps. He felt a little scared.

I thought: The railway station is so heavily guarded, how can ordinary people like us really get in?
Then he saw a young man who seemed to be from a powerful family, entering the train station square with a dozen servants.

As a result, he was stopped.

The young man shouted, "I am Fu Rang, the youngest son of the Duke of Ying. I came here by train. Why are you trying to stop me?"

Historically, Fu Youde had to wait until the 17th year of the Hongwu reign to be granted the title of Duke of Ying. However, in this time and space, because the war in the southwest ended more quickly, Fu Youde returned to the capital almost a year earlier, so he was granted the title of Duke several months ago.

Upon hearing that the visitor was the youngest son of the Duke of Ying, the soldiers on guard remained calm and composed. The leader pointed to a sign not far away and said, "Mr. Fu, please read this. The imperial court has regulations prohibiting the bringing of weapons into the train station."

Fu Rang frowned and said, "Haven't I entered the station yet?"

Xiaoqi said, "The square is also part of the train station. Please don't make things difficult for us, Master Fu."

Although Fu Rang, the youngest son of Fu Youde, was a little arrogant, he did not dare to disobey the court's orders, let alone go against the imperial army. He immediately ordered everyone to lay down their weapons and hand them over to the four servants to take them back.

Then he entered the square with the remaining eight servants.

"It turns out that bringing weapons into the station is not allowed."

Huang Xinyi understood what was going on, so he led his servants into the square, and as expected, he was not stopped by the guards.

This made him feel relieved.

He saw Fu Rang and his group heading towards the small building marked with the ticket office, so he followed them.

However, there were already more than ten people queuing in front of a large window at the ticket office, and there were royal soldiers maintaining order. Even Fu Rang was queuing obediently.

Huang Xinyi naturally did not dare to act rashly, so he led his men to line up behind Fu Rang and others.

After about a quarter of an hour, Fu Rang, who was in front of him, finally reached the ticket window. Not long after, Huang Xinyi heard Fu Rang's shouting again.

"Only four people in a household can buy tickets for a train at the same time? What a ridiculous rule!"

The ticket seller at the window was a minor official from the Railway Bureau. He showed no sign of groveling before Fu Rang, a true gentleman. He sat steadily in his chair and explained, "Firstly, there are still too few train carriages open to civilian use, so they're not suitable for large groups. Secondly, we need to prevent gangs of criminals from boarding the train and causing chaos."

Fu Rang pointed at his own face and said, "Do you think I look like a gangster who is going to cause trouble?"

The ticket clerk said, "This is the Railway Bureau's policy. Mr. Fu, please don't make things difficult for us. If you want to buy a ticket, go ahead. If you don't want to, please don't bother us here."

Fu Rang frowned, glanced at the soldiers not far away, and took out his banknotes, saying, "Then I'll buy train tickets for four people!"

When Huang Xinyi heard this, he said to the servant standing at the back, "Huang San'er, go home and tell my mother that I'm going to Xuzhou for a few days and will be back soon."

"Take care, Second Young Master."

Huang San responded and left the square.

Soon, it was Huang Xinyi's turn to buy a ticket.

When he asked about the price, he found out that the train ticket was much cheaper than he expected. It only cost five strings of cash per person to travel from the capital to Xuzhou, and the four of them only spent twenty strings of cash.

Although he was the son of a wealthy merchant family, he knew that to travel from the capital to Xuzhou by boat, even without carrying any cargo, it would cost several strings of cash for one person - the specific number of strings of cash depended on the type of boat. If he took a large and good boat, it was normal for the fare to be more than ten strings of cash.

Perhaps influenced by his upbringing in a merchant family, Huang Xinyi bought train tickets for four people, and suddenly an idea struck him. He asked, "May I ask if trains are allowed to carry common people's goods nowadays?"

The clerk smiled and said, "If you can transport people, you can also transport goods."

Huang Xinyi's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he quickly asked, "How is the fare calculated?"

The clerk said, "That depends on what's being transported. Generally speaking, the fare is 10% to 20% more expensive than the ship fare by sea."

"But our railway company's train transportation is much safer than water transportation, and it's also faster."

"Thank you very much." Huang Xinyi thanked him and walked away, thinking as he walked.

"Although it's 10% to 20% more expensive than water transport, if you need to ensure the safety of goods and want to transport them to Xuzhou as quickly as possible, rail is definitely the better choice!"

"I can tell my mother about this later so she won't scold me for not doing my job and hanging around all day."

Huang Xinyi soon stopped thinking about it, because they arrived in front of the waiting hall, which was in front of the main building of the railway station.

There were several officials guiding us at the door.

As Huang Xinyi and his group arrived, a young black-robed clerk came up to them and asked, "Are you the passengers who have purchased train tickets?"

As a son of a merchant, Huang Xinyi felt a little nervous and scared when facing the officials. When he turned around, he saw that the two attendants and personal servants who served as guards were hiding behind him, and they were even worse than him.

Helplessly, Huang Xinyi could only stand in front and respond, "Exactly."

The clerk smiled and pointed to the side, saying, "Please check your tickets here, then go through security. Then, just wait in the waiting hall for the train listed on your ticket to arrive."

Huang Xinyi was quite surprised that the guide was a minor official who was so kind.

'Could it be that this person recognizes me? But if he does, why doesn't he say hello?'

Huang Xinyi was puzzled, but he still followed the clerk's instructions, went to a door, took out his train ticket, and had another clerk check it.

After passing this door, there was a passage of about ten steps. There was another clerk guarding inside, who searched him - fortunately, it was not a detailed search, but just a rough touch of the places where larger objects might be hidden, otherwise Huang Xinyi would not be able to accept it.

After going through security, Huang Xinyi inexplicably felt that "it's not easy to take a train, and I'm even more excited."

When he arrived at the hall, Huang Xinyi's eyes suddenly lit up - he didn't know how this hall was built, it was too spacious, even bigger than the largest workshop in his weaving workshop!

Seeing that there were rows of wooden benches placed near the north, with dozens of people sitting there sparsely, Huang Xinyi also led his people to sit over there and deliberately sat near Fu Rang.

Just as he was thinking about how to greet and establish a friendly relationship with the youngest son of the Duke of Ying, he saw the master letting him sit on the bench opposite him and asked casually, "What is your name, brother?"

Huang Xinyi quickly stood up, bowed, and said, "I am Huang Xinyi, the humble servant, and I am honored to meet you, young master."

Fu Rang waved his hand, "I'm the youngest son in the family, I can't be called a young master. Sit down and talk - if you stand like this, I have to look up to talk to you."

The two rows of benches facing each other were only two steps apart, and it was indeed inconvenient for Huang Xinyi to talk to them while he was standing like that.

He then sat down stiffly - in the capital he was just an idle son of a wealthy businessman, and his status was so different from that of a duke's youngest son like Fu Rang that he had no choice but to be stiff.

Although Fu Rang had acted a bit arrogant when buying the ticket before, he was more easy-going, or casual, when facing Huang Xinyi this time.

"You came here just to take the train, right?"

Huang Xinyi said, "Young Master, you have a keen eye. I did come here for this very reason. When the train first came out, I often came to the train station to see the wonders. I've been watching for nearly a month now."

Fu Rang grinned and said, "Hey, so we are kindred spirits. When the train was first put into trial operation, I used my connections to go to the nearby area to see the wonders. But I am not as determined as you. I got bored after only seven or eight days."

"It's a pity that the people from the Science and Technology Department won't let me sit on it, and won't even let outsiders get close to it, otherwise I would definitely have sat on it early in the morning to experience it a few times."

Huang Xinyi showed envy after hearing this and thought: He is indeed the son of a powerful family, he actually has the opportunity to watch the train in advance.

Then he wanted to become friends with Fu Rang even more.

Huang Xinyi was just about to say something to arouse Fu Rang's interest in conversation when he suddenly heard the unique sound of a train whistle coming from behind.

Then a clerk came over and announced loudly, "Train No. 3 is about to depart. Passengers on this train, please check your belongings and luggage and be ready to board!"

"The train is about to leave?!" Fu Rang stood up excitedly.

The same is true for Huang Xinyi.

He wanted to go out and see the scenery before the train started, but found that he didn't know where to go.

Logically, we should exit from the north gate because it is closest to the railway outside the building, but the iron gate is locked.

　Second update.

　　I feel a little unwell, so I will update less tonight.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)