novelSusiti Chapter 40 Two railway tracks leading to the underworld? No, those are my personal coal transport li
Chapter 40 Two railway tracks leading to the underworld? No, those are my personal coal transport li
In winter, the sky over Xianyang takes on a sickly gray-white hue.
This wasn't entirely the color of clouds; it was more a mixture of soot spewed from tens of thousands of chimneys and steam emitted from workshops along the banks of the Wei River. To environmentalists of later generations, this might have been a nightmare, but for the Qin capital at that time, this hazy smog was a symbol of prosperity and warmth.
However, this warmth is facing the risk of being cut off.
Outside the "central heating boiler room" of the Epang Palace, Zhao Gao was fretting over a pile of coal ash that was about to run out. His expensive silk cotton-padded coat was stained with coal ash, making him look like a pheasant that had fallen into the stove pit.
"No more coal? How can there be no more coal?" Zhao Gao grabbed the collar of the official in charge of transporting coal and roared in a shrill voice, "Didn't they just deliver three hundred cartloads yesterday? Is that boiler a money-devouring beast that doesn't even spit out ash?"
The minor official, with a bitter face, pointed to the road behind him that led north.
"Prefect Zhao, it's not that the boilers are consuming too much coal, it's that the roads are blocked! Last night there was a heavy snowfall. Although the Qin Straight Road was cleared of snow, those cartloads of coal were too heavy. The oxen and horses slipped on the ice, and could only travel thirty li a day. Moreover..." The clerk swallowed hard, "These days, honeycomb briquettes are selling too well. The whole city is scrambling for them. Half of our palace's share has been intercepted by that... Prince Huhai's 'Great Qin Gas Company' and sold at a high price."
Zhao Gao trembled with rage. This Prince Hu Hai, when it comes to making money, dares to even cut off his own father's heating?
……
Inside the Qilin Hall, the temperature was indeed a few degrees lower than usual.
Ying Zheng, wrapped in a thick woolen cloak and holding his ever-present thermos, looked down at Hu Hai kneeling below with an unfriendly expression.
Hu Hai was dressed strangely today. He wore a black hard-shell hat with a small kerosene lamp attached to the front, and a set of overalls full of pockets.
"Father, you can't blame me for this!" Hu Hai said, looking aggrieved, pointing to the snow outside the palace. "This is the law of the market! Don't you understand the law of the market? The people are paying high prices for coal, I can't just let them not make money, can I? Besides, even if I make money, I still have to pay taxes to you, right?"
"Stop talking nonsense to me." Ying Zheng snorted coldly. "It doesn't matter if I get cold, but if the delicate instruments in the Institute of Physics are damaged by the cold, or if the craftsmen I've worked so hard to raise freeze to death, I'll stuff you into the boiler and burn you as coal."
Ying Zheng stood up, walked to the huge map, and tapped his finger heavily on the location of "Hedong Commandery".
That was the coal depot of the Qin Dynasty. Black gold was piled up like mountains, but because of the long distance and low transportation capacity, it could only be moved into Xianyang little by little, like a snail.
"bottleneck."
Ying Zheng uttered two words.
"Little G," he muttered to himself, "We have coal, we have cars, we have roads. Why is it still so slow?"
[Your Majesty, this is the limit of logistics density.]
[The carriages had rubber wheels, and the roads were made of cement; this represented the pinnacle of agricultural civilization.]
However, your current need is industrial-grade. Heating millions of people, plus the energy consumption of the steam engine, would be impossible to achieve even with oxen and horses pulling carts one after another—they'd be exhausted and still not be able to keep up.
You need a transportation method that... has less friction, a higher load capacity, and can chain dozens of vehicles together.
Ying Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly: "Pulling them all together? Wouldn't that exhaust the horses to death?"
No. If you lay two smooth rails on the ground and let the iron wheels run on them...
The friction will decrease to one-tenth of its original value.
A horse can pull 1,000 jin (500 kg) on a dirt road, 3,000 jin (1,500 kg) on a paved road, but on railway tracks... it can pull 30,000 jin (15,000 kg).
This is—a railway. Of course, there's no locomotive yet; we call it a "horse-drawn railcar."
Ying Zheng's breathing quickened.
Thirty thousand catties? That's ten times the transport capacity!
"Iron..." Ying Zheng pondered, "I don't lack iron right now. Isn't that rebel Zhang Liang serving time at the steel mill? I heard he recently came up with some kind of 'steel-making method,' doubling production?"
"The throne belongs to Zhang Liang! The throne belongs to the leader of the Mohist school!"
……
Half an hour later, Zhang Liang was brought to the imperial study.
Zhang Liang of this time was no longer the elegant young gentleman he once was. He wore coarse cloth clothes stained with oil and rust, his hair was casually tied with a hemp rope, and his face bore several traces of soot. But his eyes were brighter than before, a light ignited by the allure of mathematics and mechanics.
Since being imprisoned in the Imperial Academy of Physics, Ying Zheng did not kill him. Instead, he gave him a large number of blueprints and equations he had never seen before. For Zhang Liang, who was extremely intelligent, these things were more attractive than military strategy. While cursing the tyrannical Qin Dynasty, he couldn't help but solve those fascinating equations.
"Zhang Liang," Ying Zheng said, looking at his former mortal enemy, "I heard you're doing quite well at the steel mill? Did you improve the blower on that 'blast furnace'?"
Zhang Liang cupped his hands in a respectful gesture, his tone stiff: "That was to reduce the sweating of the workers, not for you, the tyrant."
"It doesn't matter." Ying Zheng waved his hand. "I've called you here today because I want you to solve a math problem."
Ying Zheng drew two parallel lines on the paper.
"If I were to lay two iron bars from Hedong County all the way to Xianyang, a total length of 800 li, with each bar three inches wide and one inch thick, how much iron would be needed? If these iron bars were used to transport coal, how much could a horse pull? How thick would the roadbed need to be to prevent subsidence?"
Zhang Liang glanced at the blueprint and almost subconsciously began to do mental calculations.
"The iron bars...that's the track. The drag coefficient...the load capacity..."
A moment later, Zhang Liang raised his head, a look of shock flashing in his eyes.
"Your Majesty, this...this is an attempt to create an 'Iron River'?"
"Yes. A river made of iron, flowing with coal." Ying Zheng stared at him. "Can it be built?"
Zhang Liang's Adam's apple bobbed. His engineer's instincts overwhelmed his stance as a rebel.
"Yes, it's possible. But..." Zhang Liang pointed to the blueprints, "These two rails must be absolutely parallel, with an error margin of no more than one centimeter. Otherwise, the wheels will derail, resulting in a fatal accident. This requires extremely high precision in measurement and construction."
"Also, the turning radius needs to be large, and the slope needs to be gentle. This isn't just about laying iron; it's about redrawing a line on the ground."
"Then go and draw it." Ying Zheng slammed an imperial sword on the table.
"I hereby appoint you as the Chief Engineer of the Great Qin Railway. Take your Mohist brothers and Fusu's construction team and go pave this road for me."
"The work is done. I hereby pardon your death sentence and grant you permission to open a 'Zhang's Machinery Shop' in Xianyang."
"If you can't lay it properly..." Ying Zheng sneered, "then you can refine yourself into the railway tracks and serve as a wheel chock for me."
Zhang Liang looked at the sword, then at the challenging blueprint. He gritted his teeth and grabbed the blueprint.
"I accepted! Not for you, but to see if this 'Iron River' can actually flow!"
……
Thus, the first railway project of the Qin Dynasty was launched in a grand manner amidst the cold winter wind.
This is much more difficult than building the Great Wall or the Straight Road.
A straight road can be a little wider or narrower, but as Zhang Liang said, the railway track cannot be even a fraction off.
To ensure accuracy, Zhang Liang invented a "track gauge ruler" that required measuring each sleeper three times before laying it.
However, while technical problems are relatively easy to solve, human issues arise.
This planned "coal transport line" will inevitably pass through the fields of some old aristocratic families in Guanzhong, and even... ancestral graves.
Mengjiazhuang, on the eastern outskirts of Xianyang.
A group of tribesmen, armed with hoes and rakes, were blocking the road. The leader was an old, white-haired chieftain, leaning on a cane, his beard trembling with anger.
"Stop! Stop all of you!" The old patriarch roared, pointing at the construction team ahead. "This is the Meng family's feng shui treasure land! My Meng family's ancestors for eighteen generations are buried here! How dare you disturb our ancestors' graves, and even lay down those black iron bars? You're trying to sever the Meng family's dragon vein!"
The construction team leader was none other than the Hun, Aguda. He was now the leader of the "Railway Assault Team," and spoke fluent Mandarin, but he dared not resort to violence in the face of this clan dispute.
"Master, this is an imperial decree!" Aguda waved the blueprints in his hand. "His Majesty said the road must pass through here! We will provide compensation!"
"Compensation my foot! Do you think I'm short of that little bit of money?" The old clan chief was a ruthless man; he lay down on the ground. "If you want to pass, you'll have to run over my dead body! Let's see if Ying Zheng dares to bear that infamy!"
The project was forced to stop.
When the news reached Xianyang, Li Si panicked.
"Your Majesty, the Meng family is a prominent clan in the Qin Dynasty with deep roots. If we forcibly demolish their property, it may cause dissatisfaction among the people of Qin. But if we don't demolish it, the railway will have to be rerouted by thirty miles, wasting tens of thousands of catties of fine iron."
Ying Zheng was not angry after hearing this. Instead, he slowly peeled a clove of garlic.
"Feng shui? Dragon veins?"
"Little G, do you believe in feng shui?"
[Your Majesty, feng shui is a form of environmental psychology. But if feng shui is used to hinder industrialization, then it is 'superstition'.]
However, dealing with such stubborn individuals is less effective than using bribery or... a more aggressive approach.
Ying Zheng nodded and looked at Hu Hai, who was fiddling with a kerosene lamp to the side.
"Hu Hai".
"Your subject is here!"
"Has your 'Daqin Gas Company' still not supplied honeycomb briquettes to Mengjiazhuang?"
Hu Hai was taken aback: "It seems so. They thought it was too expensive and said they had firewood to burn."
"Very good." Ying Zheng said calmly, "Pass down the order. Because the 'feng shui' of Mengjia Village is too good and the fire element is too strong, it is not suitable to use coal. Within a radius of ten miles, it is forbidden to sell honeycomb briquettes to Mengjia, and it is also forbidden to sell kerosene lamps."
"Furthermore, since that railway can't run on the ground, let's build a bridge. Let it 'fly' over their ancestral graves."
"But these bridge piers..." Ying Zheng chuckled mischievously, "will definitely block the sunlight. Their auspicious burial site will probably turn into a 'yin-gathering place' in the future."
……
Three days later, Mengjiazhuang.
The old clan chief was shivering from the cold. He had run out of firewood and wanted to buy coal, but found that all the coal shops in Xianyang had signs that read: "People and dogs from Mengjiazhuang are not allowed to buy coal."
At night, when they wanted to light a lamp, they couldn't buy kerosene, so they could only use the dim, smoking lard lamp.
Even more terrifying, the construction team actually started building the bridge. Huge concrete bridge piers rose up like monsters, blocking the direction the ancestral graves faced, instantly turning the once sunny slope into a gloomy place.
"Clan leader! Something terrible has happened!" A clansman rushed in. "The feng shui master examined it and said this is called 'Mount Tai pressing down,' a very bad omen! If we don't move, our Meng family line will end!"
The old clan chief looked at the unfinished bridge piers and touched the cold kang (heated brick bed), and finally broke down.
"Let's move! We'll move! Forget about building the bridge! Let's just lay it on the ground! As long as we have coal to burn, our ancestors... our ancestors will understand our plight!"
Thus, under the dual pressure of "coldness" and "feng shui", the most difficult obstacle to the Daqin Railway was removed.
……
A month later, on the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year.
Xianyang West Railway Station.
Ying Zheng, accompanied by his civil and military officials, braved the heavy snow to attend the opening ceremony of "the first railway of the Qin Dynasty".
Two dark, cast-iron tracks, like two parallel lines, stretch all the way to the end of the wind and snow.
"Where's the car? Why hasn't it arrived yet?" Li Si rubbed his hands together, his breath steaming in the air.
"It's here! Listen! There's a sound!" Zhang Liang lay down on the tracks and listened, a barely perceptible hint of excitement on his face.
"Clang... Clang..."
A rhythmic, unfamiliar metallic clanging sound came from the wind and snow.
Immediately afterwards, a huge black shadow broke through the snow.
That wasn't a car.
It was a long line of cars.
Twenty dump trucks, loaded with coal, lined up end to end, resembled a long black snake moving across the snow.
And what pulled this "long snake" was actually only... four horses!
"hiss--!"
The officials gasped in shock.
Four horses pulling twenty cartloads of coal? That must weigh 100,000 jin (50,000 kg)! That doesn't make sense!
The carriage slowly came to a stop in front of the platform. The horses pulling the carriage were not foaming at the mouth; on the contrary, they seemed quite relaxed and were even snorting.
Aguda was the one in charge of driving the carriage. He jumped off the carriage and bowed to Ying Zheng with a proud expression.
"Your Majesty! Twenty cartloads of high-quality coal from Hedong Commandery, totaling 30,000 catties, have arrived on time!"
Thirty thousand catties!
Previously, this would have required one hundred horses, one hundred carts, and two hundred laborers, taking three days and three nights to complete.
Now, with four horses and two people, it only takes half a day to get there.
This is the magic of the "railway". The reduction in friction leads to a geometric increase in transport capacity.
Ying Zheng stepped forward and reached out to touch the cold, hard iron rails.
He felt not coldness, but a burning future.
"it is good."
"This is my 'dragon vein'."
Ying Zheng turned around and looked at the dumbfounded ministers.
"My esteemed ministers, have you seen it clearly?"
"Wherever these railway tracks extend, so too will my will."
"With this, the coal from Hedong can be burned on your kang (heated brick bed) tomorrow. The grain from Shuzhong can fill the granaries of Guanzhong the day after tomorrow."
"Zhang Liang".
Zhang Liang, who had been hiding behind the crowd, stepped out with a complicated expression.
"You've done a great job. I'll personally write the signboard for 'Zhang's Machinery Shop' for you."
Looking at the coal carts stopped in the wind and snow, Zhang Liang felt a mix of emotions. He had intended to use this technology to prove Ying Zheng's cruelty, but instead, he had proven... the greatness of this power.
"Thank you... Your Majesty." Zhang Liang bowed his head, for the first time not cursing the tyrant in his heart.
……
With the opening of the railway, the coal shortage in Xianyang was completely resolved.
The continuous influx of cheap coal not only provided the people with a warm winter, but also ensured that the steam engines in the Imperial Household Department had ample fuel.
The gears of industry begin to turn faster.
However, just as the whole country was celebrating the Little New Year, a fast horse rushed into Xianyang City, shattering the festive atmosphere.
It was a horse from the north. Three arrows were stuck in its body, and the rider had a deep, bone-revealing knife wound on his back.
"Report—!"
The knight rolled down in front of the Qilin Palace, letting out his last roar.
"Urgent report from Yinshan!"
"The Xiongnu...the Xiongnu are back!"
"Not Touman! It's Maodun!"
"They...they've changed!"
Ying Zheng suddenly stood up from the dragon throne, slamming the thermos cup in his hand heavily on the table.
"Changed? How did it change?"
The knight was panting, his eyes filled with deep fear.
"They...they have stirrups now! And scimitars!"
"And... their arrows can pierce our leather armor!"
"General Meng Tian said...this doesn't seem like a group of barbarians. This seems like...an army!"
After saying that, the knight's head lolled to the side and he fainted.
The main hall was deathly silent.
All eyes turned to Ying Zheng.
Ying Zheng's face remained stern, but the veins on the back of his hand holding the cup bulged.
"Modu".
"Good lad. You learn pretty fast."
"It seems that my 'technology blockade' has been leaked."
"Or rather..."
Ying Zheng looked westward, in the direction Modu fled, which was also the direction of the Western Regions.
"Did he find a new 'teacher' in the west?"
"Little G".
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"What else is in the west besides those small countries?"
To the west lie Parthia and the Seleucids. Further west...
There is a rising giant called Rome.
Although it's still early, perhaps the aftershocks of civilization have already begun to collide.
Ying Zheng took a deep breath.
"it is good."
"Now that he's learned this trick too, we don't need to hide it from him anymore."
"Send the order to Xiang Yu."
"Has his Ironclad Cavalry had enough rest?"
"Tell him to stop repairing the statue. Sharpen his knife."
"This time, I want to have a good showdown with this 'new Hun'."
In the wind and snow, the newly laid railway track gleamed coldly in the moonlight, like a sharp sword pointing straight to the north.
The era of China's infrastructure spending spree has come to a temporary end.
What followed was a clash of steel and blood.