Tang Chongdao was the first to stand up, arched his hand and said: "The prince is above, the prince has given us businessmen this good policy and opportunity, and we naturally can't lag behind." I am willing to organize a railway company to undertake the construction of this branch railway from Yangzhou to Luzhou. ”

The other merchants saw that the old soup man had taken the lead, and they all stood up one by one.

"We are willing to respond to the call of the prince and form a railway company!"

"The prince's railway plan is magnificent, and we are willing to contribute to it!"

As soon as the medal system came out, all the businessmen would be used by Li Zhi and become the vanguard of national construction. Looking at these scrambling businessmen, Li Zhi smiled.

####

Li Zhi sat on the speeding train and drove towards Kaifeng, Henan Province with the roaring locomotive. Along the way, all kinds of beautiful scenery of a town and nine provinces are like a movie to the back. The customs of Tianjin and Shandong can be seen at a glance outside the train window.

As soon as the train passed through Shandong, it entered the newly opened Henan section.

Here, the locomotive that appeared for the first time apparently aroused great interest among the common people. Everywhere the train went, the people threw down their farm tools and looked at the smoke of the train with wide eyes. Seeing this new machine speeding over the railway at a speed of more than 50 kilometers per hour, the people seemed to have seen a fairy spell.

Su Laosan, the director of the locomotive factory, sat opposite Li Zhi and excitedly introduced to Li Zhi: "Lord Wang, now the steam locomotive has been developed to the fifth generation. The Venus we are riding in now is a fourth-generation mature product. The locomotive is machined on the most advanced machine tools in the machine tool factory and operates with boiler pressures of up to 0.9 megapascals. ”

Hearing Su Laosan's introduction, Li Zhi nodded.

Li Zhi has a lot of tricks in his stomach about steam engine technology, which he saw when Li Zhi checked the historical materials of steam engines before he crossed over. But now that Fanjiazhuang's steam engine has developed to this level, Su Laosan's understanding and mastery of the steam engine has surpassed Li Zhi's. What Li Zhi can teach Su Laosan is only some theoretical key to new technologies.

Su Laosan still worships Li Zhi as a god, because Li Zhi's words are often on top of his own inspiration for several years.

However, in fact, the specific transformation of these new technologies described in a few words into practical new products depends entirely on Su Laosan and his team of craftsmen to explore and gradually improve.

In fact, the various industries of Fanjiazhuang have developed to this day, and Li Zhi has been unable to fully grasp many fields. In terms of machine tool technology, in firearms technology, and in the field of chemical industry, some craftsmen who stand at the forefront have mastered technical details that exceed Li Zhi's level. It can be said that without these craftsmen, Li Zhi would not have been able to engage in specific scientific research by himself.

Now Fanjiazhuang's scientific research team has basically entered the "post-Li Zhi era". Li Zhi is now only leading from the strategic direction, and occasionally can come up with some key technical tips to point out the direction for the scientific research team, so that the scientific research team can avoid detours.

Therefore, Li Zhi now respects and treats scientific researchers very much, and gives them high treatment and courtesy. For example, Su Laosan is now the official body of a guerrilla general, and he can be regarded as getting ahead.

0.9 megapascals is already quite a high pressure, equivalent to nine atmospheres. Such a boiler has extremely high requirements for the manufacturing accuracy of the steam engine, and only the most advanced machine tools in Fanjiazhuang can produce such a steam engine. After reaching such boiler pressures, the output horsepower of the fourth-generation steam locomotive far exceeded that of the original locomotive.

Su Laosan said: "Today, our trains can reach a maximum speed of 70 kilometers per hour. However, for the sake of operational safety, we still control the operating speed to 55 kilometers per hour. ”

Li Zhi said appreciatively: "Very good! Su Laosan, you did a good job. ”

Su Laosan touched his head, laughed, and said: "Lord Wang, one day you have time to meet our locomotive research team, there are many postgraduates who graduated from the Institute of Science and Technology, all of them are good offspring who can endure hardships." ”

Li Zhi smiled.

Gao Ligong arched his hand at Li Zhi and said: "Lord, now that there is a railway, the distance from Tianjin to Kaifeng has been greatly shortened. ”

"The distance from Tianjin to Kaifeng is 1,700 miles, and in the past, the freight between the two places relied on ox carts, and it took half a month to walk on the road. In the event of a rain or snow storm, it takes more time. Our industrial products in Tianjin are transported to Henan, and the freight is higher than the cost of production, which directly makes the prices of industrial products in Fanjiazhuang inflated and uncompetitive. ”

"But now that the railway is open, the freight rate has dropped to a very low level. According to the current level of our freight, the freight of one ton of goods from Tianjin to Kaifeng is four dollars and five cents of silver. If you transport a stone of grain, the freight is less than five cents of silver. If you transport the cotton cloth of Fanjiazhuang, a piece of cloth weighs about ten catties, and the freight is only a few pennies. ”

"As soon as the railway is repaired, raw materials and industrial products can be transported back and forth without hindrance. The areas along the railway line can vigorously expand their own advantageous products, and the local economy will be greatly boosted in the future. ”

Li Zhi nodded.

The railway continued to speed forward, and gradually drove to the Yellow River.

Gao Ligong suddenly pointed forward and said loudly: "Lord Wang, the front is the Kaifeng Yellow River Bridge!" We're crossing the bridge! ”

Li Zhi stuck his head out of the window and looked out the window at the steel bridge in front of him.

The reinforced concrete and steel bridge is about five or six kilometers long and looks like a long dragon on the rolling Yellow River. The piers are all cement piers, and the bridge body is almost all steel, which looks very spectacular.

Gao Ligong said: "Lord Wang, this bridge is 7.3 kilometers long, and the main bridge is 1,163 meters long. The bridge pier is a caisson technique taught to the craftsman by the prince, using a rectangular caisson with the same bottom surface and base to lay the foundation for the bridge pier. ”

Caisson technology is not complicated, in the original history, in 1892, the poor and white Qing Dynasty even used caisson technology to build railway bridges. After Li Zhi taught the key to this technique to the bridge craftsmen, the craftsmen quickly mastered the technique with the help of the Fanjiazhuang factory.

With caisson technology, building bridge piers in the course of the Yellow River is not a problem.

The reinforced concrete piers were built, and the difficulty of the railway bridge was basically gone.

Gao Ligong continued: "Lord Wang, the bridge body of the bridge is composed of steel trusses, and the trusses are composed of section steel and steel plates, which are combined with riveting technology. ”

Before Gao Ligong finished speaking, the train had already driven onto the bridge.

Li Zhi looked at the surging Yellow River on both sides of the bridge and smiled heartily.

"Good! Very good! This new locomotive and the Yellow River Bridge is the pearl of our Fanjiazhuang technology throne, Gao Ligong, you go back to inform the Ministry of Finance, so that the new version of the banknote is printed on the scene of our new train passing through the Yellow River Bridge, and strengthen the prestige of our country! ”