Since the successful development of the high-pressure steam engine, related train steam engines, shipboard steam engines and industrial steam engines have been developed one after another.

At the same time as the shipboard steam engine was loaded and tested on the Lady, in fact, the steam engine for the train had already completed the design, and the prototype was manufactured to start various tests, and it is currently the final test on the Jingzhen Railway, if there is no major problem, it is expected that the train will be operated at the same time when the Jingzhen Railway is opened.

At this time, it is probably in October.

Under this big background, the planning and preparation of the national railway also began rapidly.

In addition to the Jiangnan Railway and the Northern Railway, the Northwest Railway is also an important part of the national railway network planning.

According to the current plan, the Northwest Railway is the railway line from Kaifeng to Jiayuguan!

The reason why Kaifeng is the starting point is because according to the current solidification of the imperial railway, Kaifeng is an important transit station of the railway network of the northern provinces, connecting Kaifeng, you can go south to Jinling City, north to Tianjin, east to Huai'an, Shandong.

Take Kaifeng as the starting station, then connect Luoyang, Xi'an, Shaanxi, and then enter Gansu, all the way to Jiayuguan!

If this Northwest Railway is completed and connected to the Northern Railway, which is also under planning, then the supply problem along the railway will no longer be a problem!

From the situation in the Western Regions, and then to the strategic planning of the Tang Empire, it can basically be concluded that the day the Northwest Railway is opened to traffic is the time of the Tang Army's westward expedition!

It's just that even if everything goes well, it is estimated that it will be several years before we can see the scene of the opening of the Northwest Railway, after all, it takes time to build the railway.

Before this, the strategy of the Tang Army in the northwest will still be mainly strategic defense, and some small and medium-sized battles may break out in the confrontation with the Tatars, but it will not be said that tens of thousands or even more than 100,000 troops will be dispatched to conquer the Tatars.

This also means that the Tatars will not face much threat in the northwest in the short term, and they can raise more forces to invest in the westward expedition.

I have to say that Altan Khan's westward retreat was a good move, if he had been stumbling with the Tang Empire in the Hetao and Fengzhou areas at that time, it is estimated that this would have been tightened by the Tang Empire, and it was about to end, and because of the continuous attrition war, it would also make the Tatars gradually lose blood, and finally they would not be able to retreat and flee westward.

However, when Altan Khan was still strong, he decisively chose to retreat westward.

As soon as they retreated to the west, the Tatars were like tigers escaping from their cages, and they could run wild at will in the Western Regions, but others were helpless against them.

Li Xuan has been paying attention to the movements of the Tatars, but he is only limited to paying attention, anyway, he can't fight now, so let these Tatars toss it.

Now he is more concerned about domestic construction.

After years of recovery of people's livelihood and industrial development, the development of the empire has now entered a new stage, once the high-pressure steam engine is widely used in transportation, mining, industrial production and other aspects, it will set off a real industrial revolution.

If the low-pressure steam engine of the year allowed the empire to touch the threshold of the industrial age, then the high-pressure steam engine will allow the empire to completely open the door of the industrial age, and then set off a real industrial revolution.

Only this true industrial revolution can achieve the global expansion that Li Xuan had in mind.

With expectations for the future, at the beginning of October of the eighteenth year of Xuanping, Li Xuan once again left the palace and participated in the inspection of the steam engine project, this time the inspection was not a ship-based steam engine, but a train!

The steam engine project team of the Royal Institute of Technology has long had the design of a train, and like the shipboard steam engine, in fact, in addition to the high-pressure steam engine itself, most of the other subsystems have been perfected, just waiting for the high-pressure steam engine itself.

This is also the reason why after the successful development of the high-pressure steam engine project, it was able to transplant so quickly and develop the shipboard steam engine and locomotive.

This time, the test was not chosen at the testing ground within the Royal Institute of Technology, but directly on the Jingzhen Railway.

At present, all the main works of the Jingzhen Railway have been completed, and the final finishing work is currently being carried out.

As long as this train operation test can be successful, it can be operated on this railway at any time.

Jinling Railway Station, located in the east gate of the old city of Jinling, and the area connected to Dongcheng District, the scale of the whole railway station design is very huge, after all, it is the capital railway station, the train can not be used well, but the face can not be lost, so the entire Jinling Railway Station, the design is not only huge, but also magnificent.

The main building is a three-storey building, and on either side there are two one-story buildings, which are connected to each other, and in front of it, there is a huge plaza, behind the building, there is a huge platform, and farther away, there is the dispatch area

"The entire railway station can accommodate at least tens of thousands of people at the same time, and there are perfect supporting facilities!" The official next to Li Xuan kept explaining the situation at the train station to Li Xuan.

In fact, there is no need for them to explain, Li Xuan also knows, because in the design process of the railway station, he also put forward a lot of constructive suggestions.

There is no way, the train is a new thing, people don't even know what a train is, let alone how to design a railway station, so Li Xuan first put forward requirements for the design of the railway station.

Considering the huge flow of people, the area must also be large, and there needs to be complete waiting facilities, such as seats, and then there must be facilities such as sanitary toilets, as well as some shops that provide water and food.

It is also important to take into account the diversion of public transport, such as horse-drawn carriages, which need to have a special stop here to pick up and drop off passengers from and from the train station.

Li Xuan didn't care about the specific design, but he demanded that this railway station must meet the needs of 10,000 people at the same time, regardless of whether it was waiting for the train or getting off.

Anyway, the place is enough, and it must not be repaired too small, otherwise it will be troublesome to wait for the flow of customers in the future.

No matter how good the train station is, it is just a bunch of buildings, Li Xuan just glanced at it a few times and was not interested, but walked directly inside.

The focus of today's inspection is not on this station, but on the train that will be put into trial operation.

Entering the building, and then coming to the platform, Li Xuan saw the train they made for the first time!

The first thing I feel when I see this train is that it has a strong retro style!

Just like those old trains seen in film and television dramas, the whole train looks simple and primitive.

In addition to the locomotive, the whole train also carried five carriages at the back, and these five carriages were obvious, which were obviously different from the very common horse-drawn carriages, which looked much heavier and stronger than the horse-drawn carriages.

The Tang Empire's rail horse-drawn carriage has been played for many years, and in addition to being used as a public carriage, running in big cities such as Shanghai and Jinling, in fact, it is more used in major mines.

Almost every mining area of the magnitude has at least one railroad track on which horses pull wagons laden with minerals.

The carriages of horse-drawn carriages, because of the limited strength of the horses, cannot be made too big, and the goods loaded are too heavy, but these carriages in front of them have many steel structures, which are obviously much heavier.

And the front of the train also looks relatively simple, similar to the prototype of the train that Li Xuan had seen at the Royal Institute of Technology before.

At this time, someone on the side explained to Li Xuan: "This is our specially designed and developed eighteen-year-old locomotive, the whole locomotive, using a pair of horizontal high-pressure cylinders, more than 100 pipes of various sizes, by adjusting the air valve, you can control the locomotive's start, acceleration, deceleration, etc.

According to our calculations, this eighteen-year-old locomotive is enough to tow five laden wagons and gain a speed of twenty kilometers per hour. ”

Li Xuan listened and watched, and then personally ran to the train to look east and west, and then sat down directly in the carriage and said, "Didn't you say that you want to conduct an operation test, let's start, I'll wait!" ”

However, some of the courtiers who followed showed concern on their faces, and Liu Bagou leaned closer and whispered: "Your Majesty, is it better to go to the platform to see and inspect, but the ministers have heard that this train is a new business after all, and today is the first real car test, in case of any accidents!" ”

Liu Bagou is not worried about the train, he is not a pedantic person, he rejects these new things of the train, but feels that the train has not been tested too much after all, the first time it runs, the probability of an accident is still relatively large, in case there is any accident, such as a rollover or something, it is not dangerous!

Li Xuan didn't care!

Dangerous fart!

This train will run 20 kilometers per hour at the top of the sky, and no one can run fast, what danger can there be, at most the steam engine will not work, and then the cylinder will burst or something, and if the cylinder bursts, it will not explode, and he will not stay in the locomotive, but in the last carriage, and it will not get in the way.

Even if there are various messy accidents such as overturning, it is a big deal to jump out of the car directly, and at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour, you can't die by jumping out of the car.

What's more, since they dared to test in front of them with a train, they must have been sure, otherwise, the test would fail, and the consequences would be very serious.

After all, everyone is not stupid, and they are not completely prepared, so they dare to show it to Li Xuan.

Li Xuan insisted on taking the train test in person, and the others naturally had no choice, so they could only follow Li Xuan on the train and accompany the Son of Heaven to participate in the train-opening test.