Bang, bang, bang, bang... The noisy sound accompanied by the vibration below made Ren Baqian feel like he might fall apart at any moment.
In an open space surrounded by fences outside Lancheng, a circle of 400-diameter rails is coiled on it, and a train pulling two wooden carriages runs along the rails, making rattling noises non-stop.
And Ren Baqian, the Empress and others were in the second compartment behind the train, and the wind blowing towards them was the thick smoke from the locomotive...
"It's much faster than an ox cart." Minister of the Ministry of Punishments Zhuoyan said, feeling the wind blowing.
"And it's much more stable." Everyone said one after another.
With the roads of this world, plus wooden tires and shock absorption, you need to have extremely strong buttocks to ride even in the city, let alone outside the city.
After leaving Lancheng, as long as the speed of the bullock cart is a little faster, it will be a disaster, and it will make you spit out all your internal organs.
"It's just that the smell is too bad." Shaonong Siqing Yushang said while covering his nose.
"After all, if there is an advantage, there is a disadvantage." Ren Baqian smiled, and then introduced to everyone: "This kind of train can reach 70 miles in half an hour, 140 miles in an hour, and can run up to 1,680 miles in a day. Northeast Protectorate or Northern Protectorate only needs two days, and this is only the current speed, and it can continue to increase in the future, even doubled!"
"So fast? Doesn't this thing need to rest?" Someone immediately asked in surprise.
"This is not a living thing, so it doesn't need to rest like livestock. As long as there is enough coal, it can keep moving at this speed." Ren Baqian explained to everyone.
"And this kind of train can pull a lot of goods. The train carriages are made of metal, and the load of one carriage is equivalent to about 60 ox carts. A trip can pull dozens of carriages, which is equivalent to the load of more than 4,000 ox carts. There is no need to use so many people, and there is not so much loss of food and grass.
This kind of train can not only carry a large amount of goods, but also can be used to transport troops. It only takes two days to send tens of thousands of troops to the Northeast and North Protectorates, which also saves a lot of time and food. Especially when there is war.
Whether it is speed or load capacity, it is completely unmatched by livestock carts.
More importantly, with this thing, it will be much easier to rule the Izumo country. No matter what happens there, they can respond and dispatch troops in time. Various materials from Izumo Kingdom can also be transported back in large quantities. "
"hiss!"
Everyone gasped in unison.
Everyone may not be very clear about the concept of load and speed, but when they talk about the load of more than 4,000 ox carts and the time of two days, everyone immediately has a relatively clear concept in their hearts.
You must know that a cart of horned cattle is only more than a thousand catties, and the speed is even slower, at most it can travel more than 100 miles a day.
That is to say, a train running for one day is equivalent to more than 4,000 ox carts traveling for ten days.
The manpower, material resources and food and grass that need to be consumed are astronomical.
Not to mention the reduced time, even the ancients understand the value of time.
Such a comparison, everyone in the field was shaken, and each of them was beaming with joy, as if they could drive a train straight to Izumo halfway tomorrow.
"What Governor Ren said is very touching, and I am also very moved. But you must know that the so-called railroad tracks below alone consume more than 200,000 catties of steel, enough to arm 10,000 troops.
And from the foot to the cloud, it is thousands of miles, how much iron is needed? More than tens of thousands of catties! There may not be so many irons to hollow out Damo Mountain, and it will take tens or hundreds of years. "Tuwan poured a basin of ice water on everyone, from head to toe.
Everyone doesn't need to count with their fingers, just hearing that these things under their feet have consumed more than 200,000 catties of iron is scary enough. What is even more frightening is the cost of going from here to Izumo. That number has completely exceeded everyone's concept of numbers.
They always feel that the number is inexplicably far away, so far away that it seems that it will never be completed.
Everyone looked at Tu Wan and then at Ren Baqian in astonishment, not knowing what to say.
"That means it can't be built at all?" Someone sighed.
"No, no, my plan is ten years, from Lancheng to Izumo, instead of connecting to Northeast Protectorate." Ren Baqian waved his hands. "Everyone listen to me."
"Actually, it's not as difficult as you think. Although iron ore is in short supply in Dayao, there is no shortage in Izumo. As far as I know, there are seven known iron mines in Izumo. There may be more that have not been identified. .
This railway is calculated based on 4,000 miles, and the standard rail is 200 catties per meter, which requires 40 million catties of steel.
Even if it is the smallest iron mine, one hundred million catties of iron ore is mined. According to the content of 50%, it is enough to have fifty million catties of steel, which is enough to build such a railway.
A slightly larger small-scale iron mine can build ten such railways, and a medium-sized iron mine can build a hundred such railways.
So you don't need to worry about the amount of steel consumed, Izumo has enough steel reserves to consume.
As for mining, that's even less of an issue. A prisoner of war only needs to dig up ten catties of iron every day, and it will be more than three thousand catties a year. The iron mine in Izumo is not Mount Damo. You adults don't think that they can't mine even ten catties a day, do you? One hundred thousand prisoners of war can dig enough iron ore for our needs in two years. "Ren Baqian directly put the others aside and used numbers to calculate for everyone.
As for mining iron ore, that was not a problem at all in his eyes.
The physical fitness of people in this world is much better than that of people on Earth. If you encounter problems, there are so many masters of the earth wheel who can solve them. , the difficulty is also reduced too much.
"Moreover, we can directly build a steel plant in the Northeast Protectorate, and after smelting in the Northeast Protectorate, lay the railway directly from there to the country. Even if it fails in the end, those rails can be used for other purposes, but it only consumes a little manpower and It's just food and grass, and the consumption is still prisoners of war. We can still get a lot of steel.
If it succeeds, then this is a matter of great merit, and the Izumo area will also be firmly in the hands of the empire. "
After Ren Baqian finished speaking, everyone began to think deeply.
"Although I don't know how much is needed, what Master Ren said is correct." Qin Chuan scratched his head. "Master Ren's knowledge is definitely better than the old man, and the old man thinks it works."
To know that this railroad track can really be realized, the Ministry of War is also the beneficiary, and the troops can be mobilized at will. Thinking about it makes him feel excited, so he opened his mouth immediately.
"This old man thinks what Lord Ren said is right. If this is done, the entire Izumo region will be in His Majesty's hands, and it will be worth paying even a little." Shi Qing said slowly.
"The old man seconded." Kou Zhehai also nodded.
"I know Master Ren's knowledge and ability." Tong Zhenye chuckled, and then changed his voice: "But Izumo really has so much iron?"
"Definitely, and definitely. Iron is one of the most common substances in nature. As long as iron ore is formed, the amount will not be too small. And I am speaking according to the most conservative, iron that can be found with Izumo's prospecting level Most of the mines are open-pit mines exposed on the ground, and the reserves and ore quality may be higher than what I said.
In particular, three of the iron mines are very close, and it is likely that a large iron mine is buried underground.
And the location of these three iron mines is exactly where Zi Donglai's current guard is located.
As long as we continue to push forward, these three iron mines will fall into our hands. "Ren Baqian said.
As soon as he said this, even Tu Hong had nothing to say.
After all, if such a railway achieves the effect that Ren Baqian said, then the value is too great, and it is worth their risk.
What's more, they don't need to pay much.
Whether it's a mine or a prisoner, it's all from Izumo. The most important problem of food and grass can now be solved by the high-yield food such as pumpkins and sweet potatoes brought by Ren Baqian.
All they had to do was to bring down Izumo, which was originally planned.
Everyone has been coveting the wealth of Izumo for a long time.
Even if there is no such goal, everyone will not let go of this piece of fat, not to mention that this piece of fat is already on the chopping board.
Now Dayao has sent 60,000 reinforcements to the Northeast Protectorate one after another, plus the original army of the Northeast Protectorate, a total of 75,000 troops, which is close to the original national strength of Dayao, and all of them have invested in the direction of Izumo.
As for Izumo, a quarter of the land has now been lost, and the country is in a panic.
Everyone jumped off the train and watched the train run for a full six hours, as Ren Baqian said, without any slowdown, and then went back to the city to arrange the next things with satisfaction.
The looting of iron ore and the laying of railroad tracks had become one of the most pressing matters on everyone's minds.
And Zizhu University will continue to improve the design of the train to ensure that there are no problems. If the speed can be doubled as Ren Baqian said, then everyone will wake up laughing from their dreams.
They didn't have a second thought about letting them take down Great Xia, and immediately made preparations for war.