"I'm done here!"
"I've finished mine too!"
"It's done!"
"alright!"
Amidst shouts and cheers, the thousand-mile-long railway was laid in a single, swift motion. What could Lin Linyang say about this? He could only conclude that in the Han Dynasty, cultivating immortality was the primary productive force! These Taoist priests were the true scientists!
A thousand miles after another, and then another thousand miles. By the time Lin Yang woke up the next day, the Taoist priests who had worked all night had laid a full ten thousand miles of railway.
It seems like a lot, but in reality it's just three round-trip railways: from Wu Commandery to Wu State, from Kuaiji Commandery to Wu State, and from Wu Commandery to Kuaiji Commandery.
Although there are no sleepers, there are Taoist principles! There are all sorts of Taoist patterns that can certainly ensure that passengers sitting on the train feel safe and secure.
As for why they built 10,000 li (approximately 5,000 kilometers) at once, it was because Zhang Lu was very optimistic about the future of the project, as were his uncles.
Lin Yang had also wanted to ask him if he wasn't afraid of failure. However, he ultimately didn't ask, because it was really inappropriate for him to ask such a question.
In the morning, after breakfast, Lin Yang, Guo Jia, Taishi Ci, and other important officials of the Wu Kingdom, along with Zhang Lu and his cousin, all arrived in Wu County, a distance of over a thousand li (actually more than a thousand li, nearly two thousand li).
The officials and Yin God cultivators mostly arrived via teleportation arrays. The Yang God cultivators mostly flew over.
With Lin Yang's arrival, the attention of the scions of noble families and the common people was also drawn to him.
"Is everything ready?" Lin Yang asked Guo Jia directly.
"We are ready. These people include all the villages, towns, and counties in Wu County. They include merchants, ordinary people, wandering knights, and many officials. When the time comes, the results of the experiment will surely spread throughout Wu County through their mouths."
"As for these goods, they also encompass the vast majority of products available on the market. There is the most basic rice, as well as higher-end silk, a considerable number of standard weapons, and even the imperial court's crystal cannons are all prepared."
"In addition to these dead animals, there are also many live poultry and livestock, even warhorses, and several tigers, lions, and wild boars. We'll put them all on the train and see how the transport goes."
Listening to Guo Jia's introduction, Lin Yang was quite satisfied. With the preparations done to this extent, he couldn't ask for more.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Kingdom of Wu. Welcome here. What you see and hear from now on will be very different from your daily lives. Once this experiment is successful, it will herald the arrival of a new era..."
After saying a few words, Lin Yang stopped. Looking at the clueless faces of the crowd, he immediately lost interest in giving a long explanation. "Forget it," he thought, "let's wait until the results are in."
Thinking of this, Lin Yang nodded to Ou Yezi beside him. At this moment, Ou Yezi's cultivation had already reached the level of a fourth-order Human Immortal.
Under Ou Yezi's operation, the train with two hundred carriages landed quietly on the tracks without making a sound throughout the entire process!
(Because it was initially used to transport troops and civilians, there were two hundred carriages, not twenty! It was only later that twenty carriages were added for civilian use.)
A new era has dawned!
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Chapter 30: The Train's First Signs of Fangs
Soon, under Lin Yang's command, more than 6,000 people entered the carriages one by one. Since each carriage could hold a hundred people, even if there were more than 6,000 people, it would only be about 60 carriages.
Following closely behind, a series of living animals, including chickens, ducks, fish, pigs, dogs, tigers, and wolves, were also herded onto the train amidst a commotion.
Next, there are purely goods. These include rice, cloth, weapons, and even vinegar; basically, anything you can buy in the market, you can find here.
Next came ten thousand Yin God cultivators, one thousand Yang God cultivators, and one thousand soldiers. By the time they had all boarded the train, the two hundred carriages were almost completely full.
Then, led by Ou Yezi, Lin Yang, along with officials from Wu, Zhang Lu, and his uncle, headed towards the first carriage. Accompanying them were the scions of prominent families from Jingzhou.
"This steam engine is the result of my long and arduous research. As for what a steam engine is, you can think of it as a machine that provides power," Ou Yezi said, examining the steam engine in front of him without looking up.
Behind him were Lin Yang and the others. However, for a better display, the partition between the locomotive and the first carriage had been removed.
Anyway, after today, this secret can no longer be hidden, so it's better to reveal it openly and gain benefits.
"Furthermore, the power of this thing is incredibly strong. It can move quickly even when pulling two hundred carriages. It burns two kilograms of standard fuel per hour. As for the so-called standard fuel, that is my unique research."
As he spoke, Ou Yezi opened a lid, picked up a box, and began adding fuel. The crowd looked on curiously and discovered that the so-called standard fuel was actually a pale blue, transparent liquid.
"These fuels are made from complex materials and are very effective. They are also very expensive, containing one gram of spirit stone powder in every kilogram of standard fuel. In short, they are very precious. Now, I will start this steam engine. Everyone, keep your eyes wide open and watch carefully."
As he spoke, Ou Yezi fiddled with the steam engine for a while, then turned on a few switches. With a click, the array inside the steam engine was activated, and the standard fuel began to burn.
Immediately, a low humming sound came from inside, followed by a series of clanging and clattering sounds from the machinery, which were quite jarring.
However, the people standing nearby didn't find it jarring at all; on the contrary, they found it quite pleasant to hear. For example, Lin Yang and Zhang Lu.
"It moved! It moved! Although it was slow, it really moved!"
"Yes, there were no large-scale magical fluctuations, or even any magical fluctuations at all. Except for the very beginning, when the steam engine started, there was absolutely no magical fluctuation!"
"It's very smooth, without any bumps. This is about the level of comfort most people experience when riding in a carriage. I just don't know how fast it is or how long it can last. But just getting two hundred carriages moving at the same time is no easy feat!" Pang Tong thought to himself.
At the same time, he also began to compare it with the spells he had learned.
"If we were to simply use magic to move these two hundred carriages simultaneously, the amount of spirit stones consumed would be far more than just a few ounces. Moreover, the caster would need to be at least a fourth-level Human Immortal cultivator; it's simply impossible to popularize this technique using only cultivators!"
"Even if the speed is only thirty li per hour (that is, 7.5 kilometers per hour), it is still much faster and safer than the speed at which ordinary merchants transport goods. In other words, as long as the speed can reach thirty li per hour, it is worth investing in."
Rumble!
As time passed—actually, it was only about a minute—the sound inside the steam engine changed from a low, buzzing sound like a bee to a deafening roar.
It can only be said that in this day and age, train drivers must be highly skilled, because this job is simply not something ordinary people can do!
Meanwhile, the train itself slowly began to move. As the fuel burned, the train's speed gradually increased. Before long, it reached a speed of twenty kilometers per hour.