On the morning of early autumn, a night rain last night took away the heat, and the whole world was cool. The southeast wind rustled the green trees and red flowers on the outskirts of the Shengjing City, and even louder were the two rows of red flags that could not be seen, which were blowing under the southeast wind.

In the middle of the red flag exhibition, there are four straight railroad tracks, forming two railways, which, like the red flag, stretch into the distance with no end in sight.

Next to the red flag, there is a spacious building, if someone in later generations sees it, they will recognize it at a glance: Isn't this a train station?

In fact, this is the Seikyo Railway Station, which was recently completed.

The whole station is tall and spacious, occupying dozens of acres of land, and several of the halls are spacious, which makes people marvel. Nowadays, the whole station has been decorated with colorful flags and flowers, full of joy and peaceful festive atmosphere. On the main hall gate of the station, a wide banner with black letters on a red background is hung, which reads: Celebrate the opening of the Shengdong section of the Suzhou-Zhi Railway! On both sides of the gate of the second main hall, eight big characters are arranged with flowers and plants: China Railway, the rise of the empire.

Today is the first five-year plan of the Chinese Empire, the second railway under construction - the Shengdong section of the Suzhou-Zhizhi Railway opened to traffic, after half a month of preparation, the Ministry of Public Works organized 1,000 people to carry out the first opening of the train meeting.

These 1,000 people are all meritorious people related to the construction of the railway or people who sacrificed their lives in the demolition and relocation along the line.

As soon as the time arrived, hundreds of soldiers of the captive army outside the gate of the Shengjing Railway Station opened a fence, which was already crowded with dense crowds.

These people looked excited, marveling at the grandeur of the Seikyo train station, and ran towards the station.

Inside the station, Sheng Kang dragged his twelve-year-old son and ran forward panting with the crowd.

"Run, the hour hasn't come yet. Run blind! Entering the waiting hall, Sheng Kang slowed down. He was looking at the tall waiting room, a few acres of land, and there were 16 thick pillars that lifted up the entire hall, although he knew that the pillars were made of cement containing iron rods, but he was still a little apprehensive in his heart: what if this collapsed?

Sheng Kang also knew that he was worrying about nothing. He was one of the people involved in the construction of the station, but he had seen with his own eyes how strong the concrete pillars were.

Like him, his son is also a small flat head, looking tiger-headed, and he looks much more energetic than last year. Just last year, he and his son still had Manchu pigtail braids, but after his hometown of Changzhou was conquered by the captive army, he followed some other gentry and surrendered to the Chinese Empire, and took the lead in cutting pigtails.

After dedicating his excess land, Sheng Kang was not questioned, originally thought that he had more than ten acres of land, and he had survived, but he didn't expect it, and I don't know who revealed that he was good at financial management, and he had been in Jiangnan Daying and Jiangsu Governor Yamen to help handle grain and income-generating affairs, and the Ministry of Public Works of the Chinese Empire, which was in urgent need of talents, actually recruited him to the Railway Division to prepare for the construction of the Suzhou-Zhizhi Railway. As a result, he became a participant in the construction of the Shengdong section of the Suzhou-Zhizhi Railway, and thus had the opportunity to participate in today's opening ceremony.

For more than a year, his son had often heard him talk about the railroad and the smoking carriage, and he was very interested, so he brought his son with him to witness this rare moment.

He was a native of Changzhou, originally a Manchu Jinshi, starting from the county order, and rising to the Taoist platform until the fall of the Manchu Dynasty. Although he was an old minister of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, but now he has completely forgotten the Manchu Dynasty, no, in fact, it is not that the Manchu Qing Dynasty has been forgotten, but he does not want to remember, he feels that it is a shame to become an official of the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the first place.

There is a difference by comparison! The Manchu Qing Dynasty was too far from today's Chinese Empire. Today's political communication makes him feel that this is the Han people's own country and the Han people's own court!

Seeing that the lives of the people around him are getting better day by day, he feels that the ideal of a rich people and a strong country that he could not realize at the beginning seems to be closer to him.

Woooooo

A deafening whistle quieted the noisy waiting hall.

Sheng Kang glanced at a large Western clock hanging in the waiting hall, "Ah, the auspicious time for the celebration is coming!" ”

Two gongs sounded, and a team of railway personnel wearing dark green military uniforms opened the inner door of the waiting hall, and the crowd began to crowd, "Everyone pay attention to safety, line up, and enter the station in order!" ”

Sheng Kang took his son to follow the crowd, out of the waiting hall, and came to the platform of the station. It is said that it is a platform, but it is actually a concrete floor, which is poured relatively flat, about a meter higher than the railroad tracks. The platform is five meters wide and a mile or two long. A thousand people on the bus got on the platform and didn't feel crowded at all.

And next to the platform, there are already dark green rectangular iron beasts parked one by one, and everyone knows that this must be the train that everyone has been waiting for for a long time!

"Dad, that's what you said, train? I didn't see fire, only smoke? The son asked as he tugged at the hem of his shirt.

"Hey, fortunately, Dad heard someone say it, otherwise I really wouldn't have been able to answer your question!" Sheng Kang touched his son's head and said with a smile: "Do you see the shorter carriage at the front?" That's the front of the car! Is there a big chimney? During the day, there is smoke, and at night, you will see the light of the fire, hence the name "train"! ”

"It runs at night too? Dad, didn't you say that the train also has to eat, so it doesn't sleep? ”

"Silly boy! Didn't Dad tell you that what you eat on the train is actually coal and stone. Hey, there are some questions, my father can't figure it out, and when your father transfers it to the intermediate school in the Shengjing City next year, there are advanced Western studies, as long as you learn well, you will naturally know what this train eats, and whether you want to sleep or not. ”

The son hid behind Sheng Kang a little frightened, but he couldn't help but poke his head out to look at the green train, and just wanted to continue the interrogation, there was a rapid whistle on the train, which attracted everyone's attention.

I saw a man who looked like an official of the Chinese Empire on the roof of the middle carriage of the train shouting: "Everyone, be quiet, be quiet!" I am Zeng Yuheng, Vice Minister of Public Works directly under the Cabinet of the Chinese Empire, and I am ordered by His Majesty the Emperor to preside over the opening ceremony of the Shengdong Section of the Suzhou-Zhizhi Railway today! ”

Everyone was shocked!

"As you know, under my feet, is a train known as the steel dragon, I believe everyone knows something about the train, it is extremely powerful, a train, like the power of a thousand cows and horses, can carry people 500,000 catties to millions of catties, and gallop up, as fast as a horse, do not need to rest, day and night. It is more convenient than water transportation. Trains and railways, as early as twenty or thirty years ago, began to rise in the Western countries, and now they have begun to spread, and our Chinese empire has lagged behind, therefore, Your Majesty deliberately decided to build four large railways in the first five-year plan. What will be opened to traffic today is the Shengdong section of the Suzhou-direct railway, which leads from Shengjing to Tokyo and Shanghai. ”

"No more gossip! First of all, I would like to thank the compatriots who have made great contributions and efforts to the early opening of the Shengdong section of the Suzhou-Zhizhi Railway, thank you! The smooth opening of the Suzhou-direct railway has the credit of each of you, and history will remember you! Next, I announce that the Shengdong section of the Suzhou-direct railway is officially opened to traffic! ”

As Zeng Yuheng's shouting was completed, a railway officer in dark green military uniform behind him waved the green flag in his hand violently, and suddenly, a deafening response came from the locomotive: Woo woo~.

After a short, sharp whistle, the chimney above the locomotive spewed out a large puff of smoke, and the whole locomotive roared, spewing out smoke rhythmically.

"Please get on board!" Just as everyone looked up and marveled at the billowing smoke, the doors of the train were opened, and a railway clerk in green military uniform jumped out of each carriage, waving to everyone and shouting loudly for everyone to get on the train, but because the roar of the train's steam engine was so loud that only half of the people heard it.

Everyone got into the car. Sheng Kang's son also urged him impatiently, and Sheng Kang hurriedly pulled his son and got on the train. The little boy looked at the huge tin box in amazement and touched it with his hands.

The platform outside the car looks like there are a lot of people, but it can be spread out into each car, and there are not many people in the car, almost everyone has a seat. The seats look very simple, just a row of iron slabs covered with planks and soft cloth, but they can seat quite a few people.

Sheng Kang and his son sat by the window, looking at the cheering and waving crowd outside, and his heart was very excited. The train whistled again and whistled, and everyone in the train got on board, and it was about to start.

The locomotive's huge steam engine gasped and spewed white mist, driving the connecting rods and wheels to slowly turn, and as it turned, the wheels under each carriage of the train began to turn, pushing the train forward.

"Dad, the train is moving, you see, the people and flags outside the window are going backwards, and the retreat is getting faster and faster!" The son looked out the window and screamed excitedly.

Sheng Kang patted the top of his son's head, he didn't speak, he was also excited, he didn't know what to say, he just quietly experienced, sighed at the magic of trains and railways, and broke the strength of the empire.

And this little boy, with bright eyes, already fantasized about what he wanted to do in the future.

……

When the steam engine train spraying white mist roared slowly and quickly out of the Shengjing Railway Station, the whole ceremony scene cheered, cheered, exclaimed, and applauded, and the scene became a sea of celebration.

The people on both sides of the railway along the way extended to the distance along the station, and the crowd of onlookers slowly thinned out from dense, but twenty or thirty miles away from the Shengjing Railway Station, there were still people who came to see the excitement.

Although two low walls were built with bricks and stones on both sides of the railway line to isolate and protect them, in order to ensure that the crowd of onlookers and the people along the line did not affect the opening of traffic, the Ministry of Public Works applied for the transfer of tens of thousands of soldiers and soldiers of the captive army to stand guard on the railway along the line.

The crowd on both sides of the railway watched a long line drive away, all stunned and swaying.

As the train passes along the railway, the driver blows the whistle every other mile on the side of the road, and the sound waves impact the onlookers in front of them, cheering, and the whole railway, a jubilant, smoking train, like a giant beast of industrial civilization, in this ancient country, all the way forward, impacting the deposited heart, all the way to sowing the seeds of industrialization.