Huang Xigon replied: "The capacity of the ships is limited, and we have a lot of ships, but there are not enough boatmen, and we have already mobilized sailors to transport women, children, old and weak to the south, and a large number of young and half-grown children can only go south on foot. www.biquge.info You also know that they are not an army after all, and they can travel thirty miles a day very quickly. ”

There are more than 2 million young people in Beizhili and Shandong who are going south, and these people are valuable laborers, Wang Yu naturally will not let all these people go to the south of the Yangtze River, and the Jinpu Railway currently under construction needs a lot of labor.

Wu Sangui asked: "There are so many disaster victims, just millions of mouths to eat!" I wonder how the king of the south will resettle these victims? ”

Huang Xigon replied with a smile: "Actually, it is very easy to arrange, the prince plans to build a railway from Pukou to Tianjin, and now the railway has reached Fengyang, but the Huai River is blocking the way of the railway, and a bridge needs to be built." The construction of a railway bridge over the Huai River requires more than 100,000 laborers. In addition, all of our railways are in the process of replacing rails. Originally, the wooden tracks were covered with iron sheets, but now they are all replaced with all-iron rails. ”

"All-rail rails? How much iron does this cost? How much silver does it cost to have so much iron? Gao Dejie was stunned for a moment, after all, he had seen the railway, and knew that just the wooden track was covered with iron sheets, which was already a big expense, but he didn't expect Nanyang Company to turn the railway into a real railway so quickly.

"The industry in the south is developing rapidly, several large steel plants have been opened, and the steel produced is simply not used up. The trains running on the railway line are getting faster and heavier, and the wooden tracks are no longer suitable for the requirements. Now the fastest steam locomotive can run up to 200 miles in an hour. Huang Xigon replied.

Two hundred miles per hour, that is, a speed of fifty kilometers per hour, such a speed was unbelievably high in those days. And the steam locomotive is getting bigger and bigger, the Suzhou locomotive factory is developing a steam locomotive with a weight of more than 100 tons, and the maximum speed of this new steam locomotive can exceed 60 kilometers per hour. The weight of the carriage is also getting heavier and heavier, the weight of the passenger car is almost more than 30 tons, and the total weight of the truck compartment will reach more than 60 tons.

With the development of railway technology, the track covered with iron sheet on the wood naturally cannot adapt to the new vehicles, just imagine what the effect of a steam locomotive of more than 100 tons at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour will be when it runs over the wooden track? Make sure to frack all the wooden tracks.

……

On the construction site of the Jiangnan Railway, the Beijing-Shanghai Railway (Shanghai-Nanjing), which has just been opened to traffic for more than two years, is undergoing an intense track change project. Some of the freight trains were suspended, and in between the passenger trains, railroad workers came to the railroad line, pulled out the spikes, and removed the original wooden tin tracks. Later, a worker carried the heavy rails to the railway line, placed the rails on the sleepers, and then nailed into the road spikes, and completed the track change project of a section of the railway line.

After the rails were replaced, ballast was added in some places to compact the ballast.

Tens of thousands of railway workers who were originally refugees were working intensively on the side of the railway line, all of them refugees from the north, and after coming here, some able-bodied refugees were incorporated into the railway yamen and became railway workers. Here, as long as they worked, they could eat their bellies every day, and they had an income of two silver dollars a month, which was as good as silver, even though it was a paper banknote.

Liu Quan and his workers carried a railroad track, walked to the side of the sleeper, under the command of the technicians, they put the rail firmly on the sleeper, and then other workers came over, nailed the road nail into the sleeper, fixed the rail with the sleeper, and this section of the track was replaced.

Replace the wooden tracks, remove the iron sheet covering them, and the wood can be picked up and used for other purposes.

When Liu Quan was about to carry another railroad track, someone in front of him waved a small flag: "The train is coming, brothers pull aside!" ”

"Guys, take a breath and smoke a cigarette!" The team leader beckoned everyone to rest in the shelter forest on both sides of the railway line.

Liu Quan walked into the woods and took out a pack of Nanyang brand cigarettes with five copper plates from his pocket, but found that there was no smoke inside. The team leader walked up, took out a pack of high-grade Nanyang brand cigarettes with a hundred copper plates from his pocket, took out one, and handed it to Liu Quan.

"Thank you, sir." Liu Quan took the cigarette and thanked him again and again. The kind of high-end cigarettes with a pack of 100 copper plates, but Liu Quan can't think of a good thing, his monthly income can only buy 20 packs of such cigarettes, his addiction to cigarettes is big, he has to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, if he smokes such a good cigarette, don't think about saving a penny!

Liu Quan lit a cigarette and took a puff. He thought to himself: his wife went to work in the Shanghai Food Factory, and she had an income of one silver dollar every month, and she had food and accommodation. Two sons and a daughter are all studying in public colleges, and the tuition fee is free of charge, and as for the cost of food and clothing, the wife's income alone is enough to support three children. Although the house in Shanghai is very expensive, the factory dormitory conditions are good, and the wife lives in the dormitory with three children, and only needs to pay 50 copper plates of rent every month.

One dollar of silver is equivalent to 1,000 yuan of copper plates, and the rent of 50 copper plates is very cheap in Shanghai.

On the railway construction site, I earn two silver dollars a month, deducting the cost of smoking and occasionally drinking some wine, about three hundred copper plates, I can save a seven-dime silver dollar a month, and my wife can save three cents a month, so that the family can save two silver dollars a month. As long as you do it for two years, you can go home and buy land.

"Lao Liu, what are your plans in the future?" A worker named Su Zhenpeng asked on the side. This Su Zhenpeng belongs to the kind of bachelor who feeds the whole family without hunger.

Liu Quan smiled and replied: "Save money for two years, take your wife and children home to buy a piece of land." ”

Su Zhenpeng laughed and said: "Lao Liu, Lao Liu, your thinking is backward!" You have saved for two years, forty-eight dollars, how much land can you buy? ”

"I can't buy much land in Shanghai, but I can buy at least 20 acres of land when I go home." Liu Quan replied.

"Twenty acres of land, how much can you earn in a year?" Su Zhenpeng laughed, "I saved money, but I still bought land in Hangzhou." Isn't Hangzhou about to open to trains? It's enough to buy a few acres of land next to the railway station outside the city, and when the land price rises, sell it immediately, isn't this a lot of money? ”

"The land in Hangzhou is too expensive!" Liu Quan shook his head, "Forty-eight yuan may not be enough to buy two acres of land." ”

"Hahaha!" Su Zhenpeng laughed and said, "Lao Liu, you will be optimistic when the time comes!" As soon as the train rings, there are ten thousand taels of gold! If I buy more than one acre of land, maybe it will increase more than ten times in the future! ”