I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 404 The Experience of Taking the Train
The completion of Tiezhen Railway Station was like a meteorite crashing into the calm Dead Sea, instantly creating a huge upheaval.

As the floodwaters swept across the surrounding countries, the Kingdom of Minicia, the Empire of Leteria, and the Empire of Bohemia all responded to the news and sent envoys and diplomats to the Kingdom of Bagnia.

Their goal was both simple and complex... to obtain the steel behemoth, the steam train; if they couldn't get its blueprints, they wanted to be able to buy the finished product.

Nobody's a fool. When steam locomotives were still on paper, people thought their future was uncertain; they might be useful, or they might be a huge waste of money.

However, when it was actually manufactured and roared out of the Bagnya Mountains, pulling thirty carriages loaded with a massive amount of supplies that could form a small mountain, all discerning people trembled at its appearance.

There was no other way. Chris provided the resources, and the players worked together to build a steam train. The technology they created was so advanced that other countries either didn't have steam trains or had similar things, but they weren't very useful.

The appearance of the steam train in the Kingdom of Bagnia was like a bomb, leaving them dizzy and disoriented.

……

"Ugh...!!!"

A piercing whistle suddenly blared overhead, causing Prince Hornloe, sitting in the carriage, to flinch and nearly drop his delicate cane.

The sound was far more aggressive and penetrating than the descriptions he had heard from his scouts, carrying a savage declaration of power's arrival. Immediately afterward, a muffled roar, as if emanating from the depths of the earth, came from beneath his feet...

"Pfft... Pfft... Boom! Boom! Crack! Crack!"

The prince could feel a surge of power coming from the floor beneath his feet. The steel floor and the people inside were shaking violently, and the entire carriage emitted creaking metallic sounds and the friction of wooden components.

It was a continuous, rhythmic low-frequency roar, accompanied by the crisp and heavy "crack" sound of the iron wheels rolling over the joints of the rails, like the heartbeat and footsteps of a giant beast, instantly filling all his senses.

A strong smell of coal smoke and engine oil filled the air, somewhat pungent, a byproduct of the burning of fuel.

He now felt a tremendous, irresistible force coming from the front, and the inertia forced him to lean back against the not-so-soft chair back, throw his cane away, and grab the window.

The platform outside the window began to slowly move backward, its speed increasing.

The "push-back feeling" and continuous vibration during startup were completely different from the horse-drawn carriages he was used to, which were pulled by animals and had a springy, bumpy start.

This is the brute force of steel—direct, brutal, and unstoppable.

Prince Hornloe was deeply shocked and sat there motionless, completely stunned.

The prince was the ambassador of the Bohemian Empire, and his mission was to establish good diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Bagnia.

When Chris unified the Kingdom of Bagnia, the empire intended to send envoys to Votradnoy.

Then, when the three countries of the Leterian Empire, the Kingdom of Minicia, and the Kingdom of Bagnia were at war, the dispatch of ambassadors ceased.

The reason was simple: the Bohemian Empire wanted to wait and see who would have the last laugh in this battle. The Bohemian leadership, including Prince Hornloe, did not think that the Kingdom of Bagnia could win.

Prince Hornloe, the Emperor, and other high-ranking nobles held numerous large and small meetings, and in these meetings, they all concluded that the victor would be either the powerful Retalia Empire or the Kingdom of Minicia, which was fighting on its home turf.

The possibility of the Kingdom of Bagnia winning exists, but it is extremely low.

However, the truth is that the Kingdom of Bagnia achieved a great victory over the Kingdom of Minicia and the Empire of Retelia, and even defeated the latter two in one fell swoop when the two countries joined forces.

Although some things happened during this process that the Bohemian Empire was unaware of, such as why the two allied countries suddenly turned against each other in the later stages of the battle, and why the Reteria Empire's iron cavalry army even marched north to plunder the Kingdom of Minicia.

Although the details are unknown, there is no doubt that the final victor was the Kingdom of Bagnia. They defeated the two countries that were stronger on paper in a direct confrontation and also tore off a large piece of the spoils and swallowed them whole.

It was obvious that the Kingdom of Bagnia had become a regional hegemon, so the ambassador was urgently changed from a marquis to Prince Hornloe himself.

Then, the prince traveled to the capital of the Kingdom of Bagnia to prepare for diplomatic work.

Prince Hornloe was very confident about this job because the two countries had a friendly relationship in private... The smuggling of saltpeter had grown so large that it had become a semi-public activity, and naturally, high-ranking officials were involved.

Prince Hornloe was one of the driving forces behind this. Although he did nothing, he tacitly approved of the situation and even accepted protection money from the nobles below.

Therefore, Prince Hornloe contributed to the Kingdom of Bagnia's victory over the two nations. Every lead bullet fired by the Bagnia soldiers on the battlefield, and every enemy killed, earned him an assist.

So even though Chris stayed in the new territory and never returned to the capital, Prince Hornloe remained calmly in Woltradnoy, waiting for him to return.

However, once steam trains officially appeared in various countries, Prince Hornloe could no longer sit still.

So he applied to Bagnia’s Ministry of Transport for permission to travel by train to the Anvil Fortress, and it was granted without any problems.

After boarding the train, Prince Hornloe declined the first-class compartment offered by the Bagnian officials… that was too much like sightseeing.

He chose a regular passenger carriage further forward, with a wider view, so he could feel the pulse of this "steel behemoth" most vividly.

As the most trusted envoy of the Bohemian emperor, he was to carefully assess every detail of this revolutionary means of transportation and then write a report to draw attention to it within the country.

"It moved...it moved..."

The other passengers in the carriage let out excited whispers; most of them were ordinary merchants from Bagnia, civil servants going to take up positions in the new territory, and curious players.

The noise actually reduced Hornloe's tension.

The prince took a deep breath and released his grip on the window frame, his knuckles turning white.

The train quickly accelerated, leaving the train station outside the city of Waterladnoy and entering the winding valley.

The scenery outside the window began to fly by. The continuous Bagnia Mountains, which used to require mules and horses to trek for several days, now rushed past the window like a flowing green scroll.

The terraced fields on the hillside, the villages nestled in the valleys, and the rugged peaks in the distance all became blurred background colors.

The prince had never experienced such speed before. Even the best four-wheeled carriages on the Bohemian plains at full speed could not match half of what he was seeing now. Time seemed to be compressed, and the distance in space was ruthlessly shortened under the giant steel wheels. He subconsciously took out his pocket watch and calculated the time, his inner shock beyond words.

However, to the prince's surprise, the train was much less bumpy than he had expected when it was traveling at high speed on straight or gentle curves.

Yes, the noisy sounds of wheels clashing against rails and pistons roaring continued endlessly, like a never-ending background noise that made one's eardrums buzz, requiring one to deliberately raise their voice to have a conversation.

The carriage swayed slightly from side to side in rhythm, as if one were on a steel ship sailing on a calm sea.

But this swaying is nothing compared to the violent bouncing and erratic shaking of a horse-drawn carriage on a bumpy road, which can shake your internal organs out of your body.

It was a regular, relatively controllable vibration. The prince tried to let go again and found that as long as he swayed his body slightly with the rhythm of the carriage, he could even sit comfortably in his seat without being thrown out.

He tried to pick up the water glass handed to him by the servant. Although the water surface trembled slightly and rippled, it did not spill.

This made him realize that this seemingly wild steel behemoth actually possessed a precise stability in its operation.

Of course, stability is relative.

As the train entered the steeper bends in the mountains, centrifugal force began to manifest. The prince felt his body being pressed against the outer wall of the carriage by an invisible force, and he had to grip the handrails tightly to maintain his balance.

The screeching sound of the wheels rubbing against the rails drowned out the roar of the pistons, making one's teeth ache.

The tilting and swaying of the carriage also increased significantly. The water cup stuck in the groove of the table finally gave way, and the water inside shook violently, almost spilling out, which made some passengers sitting around Hornloe gasp.

The bigger challenge is the constant torment caused by noise and vibration.

The incessant "booming and cracking" sounds seemed to penetrate his bones, continuously bombarding his ears and reason. Hornloe could feel his temples throbbing, and an indescribable sense of irritability and exhaustion began to grow.

Opening the window, the smell of coal smoke inside the carriage was somewhat diluted by the fresh air rushing in, but it still lingered faintly.

Even the resolute Prince Hornloe found it difficult to concentrate in a noisy environment for extended periods and longed for a moment of peace.

He was considering heading to the last compartment of the train, where he'd heard the soundproofing was better and people could lie down and sleep.

In his agitation, Prince Hornloe began to look at the other passengers in the carriage.

Some passengers dressed in outlandish costumes seemed a little uncomfortable, but some of them were excitedly pointing out the window, while others were even laughing and talking loudly or resting with their eyes closed amidst the noise.

Some of the kingdom's civil servants and merchants, after a half-day train ride, appeared exhausted, their faces showing signs of patience and frustration.

The prince thought to himself, "This steel behemoth is unmatched in speed and carrying capacity, but it will also be a test of the passengers' endurance. If we want to popularize long-distance passenger transport in the future, sound insulation and vibration reduction will probably be problems that must be solved."

Upon realizing this, he immediately stood up and, accompanied by more than ten guards protecting him, walked towards the back of the carriage... Prince Hornloe was going to his own compartment.

As dusk fell, the Anvil finally sounded its heart-wrenching whistle again and began to slow down. The massive brakes screeched against the wheels, producing a long, chilling "squeak..." sound. The iconic, anvil-like silhouette of the Anvil Fortress appeared on the horizon.

The immense inertia caused the carriage to lurch forward abruptly. Prince Hornloe, in the last compartment, leaned out of the window and looked towards the fortress. He breathed a sigh of relief... They had finally arrived.

However, he was also shocked once again that it was possible to travel from the kingdom's capital to the border region in just one day, even considering the small size of the Kingdom of Bagnia.

But the fact that steam trains could do this is enough to show that they could change the world order.

Prince Hornloe was absolutely against a military conflict between the Empire and the Kingdom of Bagnia, at least until he also acquired steam trains and laid railways throughout the country.

With a final, heavy hiss, the steel behemoth finally fell silent and came to a complete stop beside the platform of Anvil Fortress Station.

The seemingly endless roaring and vibrations that had lasted for more than ten hours suddenly disappeared, and the world seemed to fall into a strange, tinnitus-inducing silence.

Prince Hornloe slowly stood up, feeling the ground beneath his feet still trembling slightly.

He straightened his elegant formal attire, which had been slightly wrinkled by the jolt, took a deep breath of the complex mixture of coal smoke, engine oil, and fresh air, and, surrounded by guards, pushed open the door, stepped off the train, and onto the solid platform.

On the high platform, as he looked back at the long steel dragon, emitting its last wisps of white smoke and panting as if it had just finished a long march, the prince's shock reached its peak.

This is more than just a trip. It's a firsthand experience of a completely new power, a power that utterly overturns the old rules of the world.

Speed, capacity, and the relative stability inherent in the wildness... all of this is incredibly real, far more impactful than any report or description.

He saw mountains of supplies being efficiently unloaded from the platform, and another train was ready to depart, transporting soldiers awaiting rotation at Anvil Fortress, along with many large crates, to the kingdom's capital.

This steel lifeline is tirelessly injecting unprecedented vitality and strength into the Kingdom of Bagnia.

The prince felt a chill.

Bohemia's prized horse-drawn carriages, its postal system across the plains, and even the sheer size of the empire... all appear so fragile and outdated in the face of this steel behemoth and the industrial power it represents.

What Prince Chris holds in his hand is not a machine, but the key to unlocking the future, a strategic weapon powerful enough to crush all competitors.

Fortunately, the Kingdom of Bagnia was too small in size and had too few people.

He would report to the emperor, describing everything in the most detailed and genuine terms.

Bohemia, either acquire this technology at all costs, or... destroy it.

Suppressing his discomfort from the noise and vibration, as well as the heaviness in his heart, the prince straightened his back and, guided by Bagnian officials, walked toward the welcoming party, his face regaining the impeccable, composed smile befitting a diplomat.

But his steps still felt somewhat unsteady after landing on solid ground... It was the last tremor left in his body by the steel behemoth, and the heavy echo left by the wheels of time.

(End of this chapter)