Zhutian: Starting from the Space-Time Merchant

Chapter 346 Railway
"Empress~"

The Lan family member, holding a swaddled infant in her arms, appeared somewhat respectful.

"Sister Lan~"

Holding her aching back, Ma Xiuying stepped forward with a beaming smile to greet her, "My dear sister, there's no need for such formality between us sisters."

She reached out and gently stroked the sleeping baby's face. "You're such a pretty little girl!"

"She's only a month pregnant, how can she look pretty?"

Lan's smile seemed somewhat forced.

It's said that sour foods indicate a boy and spicy foods indicate a girl, and after she became pregnant, she always craved sour foods.

After going to the temple to offer incense, I dreamed about my son.

But to my surprise, the baby was born without a penis!
The Lan family knew very well how much their master longed for a son.

If it weren't for that, she subconsciously glanced at Xiuying's stomach.

Her future attitude towards her daughter will depend on this.

"Empress~"

"Just call me Xiuying, there's really no need for formalities between us."

"Alright, Xiuying," Lan said calmly. "I plan to go to Dadu with the main group."

Since the Ming King was not returning to Jiangnan, his civil and military officials naturally did not return either.

Their families were making preparations to travel north together.

The Lan family planned to go with everyone.

"Good sister."

Ma Xiuying held her hand, her expression solemn. "I consider you my own sister. You must listen to my advice."

"Take good care of yourself and don't rush things."

She knew what Lan was thinking; she was in a hurry to go to Changchun Yuchun to give birth.

However, the ancients also knew that having children in succession would take a heavy toll on the body.

"Xiuying, my sister."

Madam Lan said anxiously, "I know you mean well, but my master is so hot-blooded. What if some vixen gets pregnant?"

"It's alright," Ma Xiuying comforted her, holding her hand. "Your brother-in-law knows what he's doing."

What is moderation?
Before the birth of the principal wife's son, other women were not allowed to have children.

The bizarre phenomenon of illegitimate children inheriting property, common in the modern world, would never have existed in ancient times.

Before the principal wife had a son, other women didn't even have the opportunity to have children.

Even if the legal wife cannot give birth to a son, the children born to other women will still be registered under the legal wife's name.

That's the rule.

"listen to me."

Ma Xiuying held her hand tightly. "After you've recovered, let's go together."

"Okay." Looking at her belly, Madam Lan smiled and asked, "It'll be soon, right?"

"Soon, next month."

"It's bound to be a big, chubby boy!"

"Thank you for your kind words. I will never forget the marriage agreement."

Far outside the capital, Chang Yuchun did not indulge in the pleasures of wine and women in his vast mansion, as Lan Shi had imagined.

At this moment, Chang Yuchun, fully armed, stood on the command platform, receiving the sword and the seal of the Grand General from Lin Dao.

He appointed Chang Yuchun as the Grand General Who Conquers the Barbarians, and ordered him to quell the rebellious tribes of the grasslands.

Lin Dao did not stagnate; after a brief rest, he launched a large-scale campaign to conquer various regions.

After pacifying Shaanxi Province, Chen Youliang continued his westward journey to the bathhouse.

Chang Yuchun then led troops to the southern desert.

In a few days, Lin Dao will lead Xu Da eastward to attack Goryeo.

There were also Tang and Fu Youde, who were preparing their troops for the second batch of reserve forces to be deployed to the battlefield.

As for the civil officials, Shi Nai'an, a veteran who had followed Lin Dao since the beginning of the river management uprising, was appointed as the garrison commander to oversee all government affairs and concurrently lead the Ministry of War.

Luo Guanzhong was in charge of the Ministry of Works, and his primary task was to build a railway line from the capital to Tianjin.

Previously, in the Wude era, the railway line that Lin Dao sold to Li Erfeng used horse-drawn trains, and the power source for the tracks was horses.

This place is different; Lin Dao plans to go straight for a steam locomotive.

It's not that we can't afford the more advanced ones, but rather that the more advanced ones are difficult to maintain and service in this era.

The only thing to do is boil water first.

Of course, this is on the premise that the railway tracks have been laid.

"It's simple now."

Riding his horse to inspect the bustling construction site, Lin Dao chuckled and said, "Land acquisition is convenient; no compensation is needed."

The land of Yan and Yun has been recovered. Its former owners are either buried in the ground or spending their youth and sweat in labor camps.

The route was planned according to the most standard and suitable route, and no one objected along the way.

"You need to study hard this time."

Lin Dao instructed Luo Guanzhong, who was following him, "This journey is short, so the main purpose is to train technical backbones and accumulate experience."

“Building longer railways in the future, crossing rivers and mountains will be very difficult.”

"Study hard now, so you'll have ways to solve problems when you encounter difficulties in the future."

"Yes, yes~" Luo Guanzhong bowed carefully. "Your subject will do his utmost."

"After this railway is completed," Lin Dao continued, "the next step is to build a vertical and a horizontal railway."

"From Dadu, we headed north to Liaodong."

"From Dadu, we headed south to Jinling City."

"This is a vertical line."

"Starting from Dadu, we traveled westward, crossing mountains and ridges into grasslands, heading westward to Lanzhou, and continuing to extend westward."

“The construction will be very difficult.” After a pause, Lin Dao, who was on horseback, sighed. “I will provide explosives to blast the mountain, as well as steel bars and cement to stabilize the mountain.”

"When encountering dangerous areas, let the coolies go first."

"What a pity. We shouldn't have killed so many. They would have been better off working in the labor camp."

Luo Guanzhong looked somewhat embarrassed.

That's a difficult topic to respond to, and besides, those people have all become fertilizer, so what's the point of talking about this now?

"In a few days, I will go to attack Goryeo." Lin Dao chuckled. "This time, I need to control my emotions and capture more and kill less."

"Now that we need to build a large-scale project, we urgently need hard laborers." Lin Dao was in high spirits today. "With railways and telegraphs, everything will be different."

"The army followed the railway, and the migrants migrated along with the railway."

"Cities were built one by one, and the land and wealth were firmly controlled."

"Only in this way can we truly expand our living space."

Luo Guanzhong and others never quite understood why His Majesty always talked about things like living space.

The Central Plains are so vast and rich that after the war, many places were almost uninhabited, so there was no need for any living space.

There are indeed not many people now.

"But have you ever thought about this?" Seeing his expression, Lin Dao shook his head with a smile. "In a peaceful and tranquil environment, the large-scale use of chemical fertilizers, the emergence of high-yield crops, and various advanced medical drugs..."

"With these things, the population will double and double again over several generations."

“Confucianism would choose internal strife and exploitation, and at worst, another dynastic apocalypse would occur to eliminate the excess population.”

"But it won't work here."

Riding his horse, Lin Dao subconsciously gripped the Emperor's Sword. "I want everyone to live, and to live well."

"This requires enough land and enough wealth."

"There are no countries I won't conquer here; I'll fight anyone!"

Railways and telegraphs were truly groundbreaking products.

With railways, troops could be transported quickly.

With the telegraph, even those thousands of miles apart could receive news from various places instantly.

With these two factors working together, the control over the vast territory has increased dramatically.

As dusk fell, Lin Dao and his group decided to stay overnight at a construction site they passed by.

Although his status had changed, Lin Dao did not have the extravagant attire of having tens of thousands of people accompanying him or paving roads with yellow earth.

It means riding a horse and taking people with you.

As long as there is a telegram, any message can be received and sent at any time.

Although the sky was darkening, the construction site was brightly lit.

A lamp in the true sense of the word.

The oil-fired generator runs continuously, providing electricity for lighting throughout the construction site, as well as for some simple power tools.

Lin Dao stepped forward and asked, "How are the fuel reserves?"

The site supervisor didn't recognize Lin Dao, but he recognized the banner that Zhu Wenzheng was holding.

He hurriedly bowed.

Ever since he successfully sent his nephew Li Wenzhong to join the Red Turban Army, Zhu Chongba, who has now taken over the position of abbot, has become addicted to it, sending all his young relatives over.

Zhu Wenzheng was also sent by him.

Because of his youth, strength, and robust physique, he was specially selected to carry the flag for the forest road selection.

What he was carrying was not a general's flag or a commander's flag, but the imperial banner!

He can be considered the leader among those who carry the flag.

"The oil reserves are sufficient for five days."

Upon hearing this, Lin Dao looked at Luo Guanzhong.

Luo Guanzhong hurriedly stepped forward to report, "Your Majesty, the supply convoy from Tongzhou is dispatched once every ten days."

"We will depart tomorrow and arrive within five days."

Generators need fuel to operate.

Lin Dao's spacetime trade prefers operating tools rather than large-scale consumables.

To this end, he spent a lot of money to purchase a complete set of vehicle-mounted fully automated power generation and oil extraction equipment, personally trained the first batch of oil workers, and used mineral distribution maps to dig for oil in Hejian Road.

That's Shengli Oilfield.

The extracted oil was transported to Tongzhou via the Grand Canal.

Here are simple distillation and extraction devices purchased by the forestry department, used to extract fuels such as diesel and gasoline for generator power generation.

As for the waste residue, it is not wasted; it is used for road paving.

The railway line built from Dadu to Jinling will run south along the Grand Canal, which will greatly enhance oil transportation capacity.

Lin Dao dismounted and went up to the watchtower to observe the entire construction site.

There are over a thousand laborers working busily.

A hundred or so people carried heavy rails up the roadbed on their shoulders, using poles and ropes.

Those with the skills will quickly follow up and secure the rails.

Lin asked, "Are there enough laborers?"

"Return to Your Majesty."

The supervisor, with his head down, cautiously replied, "The rails are too heavy; we have to rest for a long time after each lift."

"It seems that it's not enough."

That's the truth, the rails are really heavy.

Even if more than a hundred men worked together to carry it, they would still be exhausted and in great pain.

After that, you need to rest for at least half an hour before you can continue to work on the next one.

Lin Dao pondered for a moment, then said, "Improve their food standards, add more oil and sugar."

"From now on, the break time will be shortened to 45 minutes."

Although it was manual labor, it was still manual labor that did the work.

Oils and fats are cheap in the modern world, and corn syrup is also inexpensive.

Eating well gives you energy, which is essential for doing more work.

"Criminals in various places in the future."

He then instructed, "They don't need to be locked up in prison anymore; they should all be sent to labor camps."

"Their prison term is their work period."

The next morning, before setting off, Lin Dao performed a miracle in front of everyone.

He arrived at the open space and disappeared.

When they reappeared, they brought back a large number of neatly arranged cement sleepers and railway tracks.

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, Lin Dao once again led his team forward on horseback.

Along the way, we saw many construction sites where various building materials and tools were laid out to speed up the construction process.

Finally, we arrived at Tianjin Weigang, which was under large-scale construction.

(End of this chapter)