Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 295: Confucian scholar becomes fisherman, Electrical Equipment Research Institute [Please subscribe]

Although Qi Tai was from Lishui, Yingtian Prefecture, it was his first time taking a train.

It wasn't that his family was poor and he couldn't afford to take a train, but he had been buried in his studies before, and he had some resistance to things related to science such as railways and trains, so he had never taken one.

Yao Shan, who was born in Anlu, Huguang, had never taken a train. However, two other scholars who were exiled to America, Zhou Rui and Zhang Bing, both had experience of taking a train.

Zhou Rui was from Zhejiang and came to Beijing by train from Suzhou at the beginning of the year. Zhang Bing was from Shanxi and came to Beijing by train from Xuzhou.

The four of them, their families, and the police officers escorting them were all in the same carriage.

When the train started, Qi Tai and Yao Shan both felt emotional as they watched the scenery outside the window recede faster and faster, while the train continued to run steadily on the railway with the sound of clanging.

"I never expected that my first experience of riding a train would be as an exiled prisoner."

"If this train is used to transport troops, food, and goods, it can indeed be called a powerful tool. However, I heard that building a railway and a train may require hundreds of thousands of strings of cash, or even millions of strings of cash."

"The Yangtze River and the Yellow River are connected by rivers, which can facilitate water transportation. But he insisted on wasting money and manpower on building a railway. Isn't he worried about repeating the mistakes of the Qin and Sui dynasties?"

"If the Ming Dynasty really perishes for two or three generations because it prioritizes science over Confucianism, I only hope that one day I can return to restore order and restore the world to its roots, using Confucianism to cultivate virtue throughout the world!"

'···'

Just as the train passed the Xian Bridge, Qi Tai and Yao Shan were looking at the receding scenery outside the window, thinking about the great changes that might lead to the demise of the Ming Dynasty in the second or third generation due to its "emphasis on science and neglect of Confucianism", when bursts of shouting rang out in the carriage.

"Cakes, drinks, dried fruits, and boxed lunches!"

"Please make way... take the leg."

The two looked in the direction of the sound and saw a young man in a smart uniform pushing a small multi-story iron cart slowly along the aisle, selling things as he walked.

Although the two had never been on a train, they had heard people around them talk about things on trains many times and knew that this was an extra-staff clerk who sold food and drinks on the train.

As exiled prisoners with the world in their hearts, Qi Tai, Huang Guan and the other two were naturally not in the mood to care about food and drink.

But when the cart came near Qi Tai's home, Qi Tai's six-year-old daughter couldn't take her eyes off the various dried fruits and cakes on the cart.

Qi Tai's wife, Wang, thought about the family being exiled to a remote and barbaric land thousands of miles away, and how her daughter might never again eat these dried fruits and cakes. So she said, "Master, can you buy some cakes for Zhen'er?"

Qi Tai then noticed his daughter's expression and sighed, "Buy it."

Although Qi Tai's house was ransacked, his wife said that the government did not take any further action and allowed her to pack up a lot of clothes and other items as well as the family's remaining property.

Wang first asked about the price. Although she felt it was much more expensive than outside and was reluctant to buy it, she thought that there might not be many places where Ming Dynasty treasure notes would be used overseas, so she bought a bag of cakes and dried fruits for her daughter as snacks.

On the other side, Yao Shan’s eight-year-old son Yao Jie also wanted to buy one when he saw this.

Yao Shan's wife had a relatively strong and aggressive personality. She was angry that Yao Shan had caused the whole family to be exiled overseas, so she didn't even bother to ask for his opinion and bought a lot of dried fruits, cakes and drinks for her son.

Zhou Rui and Zhang Bing's families may have had similar thoughts, worried that they would not be able to eat these things again after going to America, so they paid for a lot of them, and the goods on the small iron cart were almost sold out.

The young man who got the commission happily showed his big white teeth and pushed the cart back to restock...
···
In less than two days, Qi Tai and the other four families were escorted to Jinan. This was because they spent some time crossing the Yellow River in Xuzhou, otherwise it would have been much faster.

Railway and train transportation are so fast and convenient that even though Qi Tai and the other four are somewhat hostile to natural science, they have to admit that such tools invented by science and technology are really useful.

They transferred to an official ship in Jinan, first entered the sea from the Daqing River, and were sent to Dengzhou in just one day and handed over to the Beiyang Navy officials.

After the four families settled down in a camp near the navy camp that was specially used to accommodate exiled prisoners, everyone over the age of sixteen was assigned tasks such as farming, fishing, weaving, or helping craftsmen.

What surprised Qi Tai and his three companions was that the officials actually arranged for the children of the four families to attend classes at the official school of the nearby garrison, and did not actually treat the children as exiled prisoners.

However, what upset the four of them was that the class hours for mathematics and natural sciences in the official school of the garrison accounted for a larger proportion, already exceeding half!
Every day after class, the children have to do math and natural science homework, and sometimes they come to ask them questions - isn't this just opening up the wounds in their hearts and rubbing salt into them?
At the beginning, Zhang Bing, who had a relatively bad temper, was so angry that he not only did not help his son with his homework, but also beat him up.

As a result, the next day the teacher of the official school of the garrison called him in for a talk. The teacher was not even a scholar, but he scolded Zhang Bing, a candidate, on the issue of education. He was unable to refute and was so ashamed that he almost committed suicide.

After this incident, Qi Tai and the other two were afraid of being called in for a talk by the official school teachers, so they could only hold their noses and tutor their children in math and science homework.

In fact, even if their level of mathematics and natural science is average, they may be able to pass the provincial examination and have no problem tutoring children who are just starting to learn this knowledge.

While the adults are working and the children are in school, the family also regularly goes to the ship for training.

After all, they will be exiled to America and will have to sail on the sea for one or two months. If they cannot adapt to life on the ship, they are likely to get sick or even die at sea.

Time flies and we have entered the hot summer and it is June.

Qi Tai was fishing in the bay near the navy camp with the fleet arranged by his superiors that day. He and several other soldiers in charge of fishing shouted slogans, skillfully cast a large net into the sea, and then went to steer the boat.

If Huang Zicheng were here, he probably wouldn't recognize him at this moment.

Because compared to two months ago, Qi Tai's image has changed a lot.

He wore a bamboo hat, common among fishermen, a sweat-soaked grayish-white short sleeveless jacket with a slanted collar, and gray short trousers. The exposed skin had long been tanned to a bronze color, and his tendons were clearly visible.

It can be said that if you ignore his features, he no longer looks like a Confucian scholar, but rather more like a fisherman.

Qi Tai's family was a prominent and influential landowner in Lishui, and his line alone owned hundreds of acres of land. Although he cared about farming, he had never worked in the fields since he was a child, and his only knowledge of the hardships of farming came from reading about them.

Now, after working as a fisherman for two months, he realized that the hard work of farmers and fishermen described in books is probably less than one-tenth of the reality.

At the same time, he also gained a deeper understanding, and even a new understanding, of life and some classics passed down by Confucian philosophers such as Confucius and Mencius from the pre-Qin period.

Sometimes after a tiring day, before falling asleep at night, I think back on and comprehend the classics left by some sages, and I feel like I have gained more than from all the hard study in the past years.

"Let's raise the net!"

When Qi Tai was lost in thought during a moment of rest, he heard a long shout from the bow of the boat. His thoughts were immediately cut short and he went to help others raise the net.

When the fishing net was pulled up and Qi Tai saw at least a hundred kilograms of various sea fish inside, he, like everyone else, smiled with joy.

Suddenly, someone with sharp eyes shouted, "A lot of boats are coming back from the east!"

Qi Tai looked to the east and saw a fleet coming. The sails were like clouds and it was quite large.

The group watched from the boat for a while. When the large fleet came closer, the experienced captain said, "The long-distance exploration fleet has returned!"

"They're back from America again? It's not easy."

"I heard that many things in America are different from ours. I wonder what good things this exploration fleet will bring back."

"Even if they bring back something good, it's for the emperor, not for us to see."

"You never know. Didn't they bring back several varieties of American grain last time? I heard the court is cultivating them. In a couple of years, when the new grain varieties are promoted, we'll be able to eat American grains too."

"Aren't they all food? What's the difference?"

"What you said, wheat is the same as rice?"

"···"

Hearing the argument among the fishermen from the guard post on the same boat, Qi Tai couldn't help but think about it.

"American grain? Even if it's different from the grains grown in the Ming Dynasty, doesn't it compete with the grains for land?"

"There are already ripe crops, but we still waste manpower and resources and send soldiers across the ocean to search for food in America."

"Don't you know that most foreign crops have difficulty adapting to local soil and climate, and require many years of domestication before they can produce a good yield?"

"He also comes from a farming family. Logically, he should understand these principles, but he still did these things that were costly and useless. I really don't know what he was thinking. Sigh."

After working as a fisherman here for two months, Qi Tai felt that he had changed a lot both inside and out. The only thing that hadn't changed was probably his heart that was concerned about the country and the people.

"Mr. Qi," the captain suddenly approached, "now that the exploratory fleet has returned, I'm afraid you'll be joining them to sail to America in two months."

"I don't know why the government exiled a man of your talent to such a faraway place as America, but I think it's a good thing to live wherever you go."

"I heard the land in America is so fertile you can squeeze out oil, and hunting and fishing are easy. As long as you can get there safely, your family will definitely live a good life!"

Qi Tai bowed and said, "Thank you, Boss Zhan, for your kind words. Thank you for your care these days."

"Why thank you? Hasn't Mr. Qi taught us a lot of great teachings from Confucius and Mencius these days? Haha."

While chatting and laughing, the group worked together to maneuver the boat back to the dock...

···
Capital.

The weather is just as hot.

Liu Kuan, accompanied by several subordinate officials and Yiluansi guards, came to a large courtyard near Lime Mountain.

There was only a wooden sign hanging next to the gate, with the words "Electrical Research Institute" written in simple black brushstrokes.

Now the re-evaluation of the craftsmen's grades in the entire Zhili region has been completed. It cannot be said to be perfect, but there have been no major mistakes.

Engineering schools in all prefectures, cities and counties are also steadily carrying out their second semester teaching work and preparing to promote engineering schools to other provinces this fall.

So during this period of time, Liu Kuan had a rare period of free time. He happened to hear that the "Electrical Research Institute" had made new achievements, so he brought people to inspect and learn more about it.

　First update.

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)