My hotel is full of emperors throughout history.

The train slowly came to a stop, and the "whoosh" of the doors opening jolted the emperors from their shock.

The group stepped out of the car and walked out of the station exit.

Looking at this high-speed rail station, which was many times larger than the previous one, the group was still filled with emotion.

At the exit, the ride-hailing car that Chen Mo had called using his mobile phone was already waiting.

A seven-seater SUV, just enough to seat everyone plus their luggage.

The car drove out of the high-speed rail station and merged into the city's main road.

The sights outside the window once again dazzled the emperors.

They had seen skyscrapers before, at Chen Mo's place.

But compared to this, it's like heaven and earth.

The density of road signs, the scale of traffic, the density of high-rise buildings, and the complexity of overpasses are all unprecedented.

The six-lane main road was bustling with traffic.

The traffic lights change regularly, and vehicles pass through in an orderly manner.

The pedestrian overpass spans the road, and it is crowded with pedestrians.

Further away, several skyscrapers under construction are enveloped in green construction netting, and the booms of tower cranes slowly rotate.

"How many people live in this city..." Li Shimin looked out the window.

"It's probably a few million in the city, and around twelve million in the suburbs."

"Twelve million..."

Li Shimin repeated this number.

Even at its most prosperous, Chang'an had a population of no more than one million.

And here, a city...

"Is this... a big city?"

Old Zhu wanted to say, "Is this what the future is like?" but considering the driver in front of him, he quickly changed his mind.

"I feel like I'm from the countryside here!"

"No!"

Zhu Di immediately refuted this.

"Dad, not only here, but it was similar at the inn!"

Fuck you!

Old Zhu cursed angrily, then looked outside again with a complicated expression.

Previously it was mostly farmers moving to the city, but now it seems there are more than that.

I wish that the Ming Dynasty could be this prosperous someday.

"That's how it is in big cities,"

Chen Mo sighed.

"There are also small towns and villages. However, the urbanization rate is very high, and most people live in cities."

"Of course, the housing prices here are very high, ridiculously high! And the pace of life is fast!"

……

As the car drove onto the overpass, the view suddenly opened up.

On the right, the high-speed rail line extends in parallel, and another "Harmony" train roars past, its silver-white body like a lightning bolt in the sunlight.

To the left was the vast expanse of the river—the very same great river they had just crossed.

The car drove for a long time until the surrounding tall buildings gradually decreased.

Chen Mo was getting sleepy, but Li Shimin and the others looked around with great interest.

Finally, a vast open area appeared ahead.

That's an airport.

Road signs began to feature airplane symbols and English letters.

The huge signs read "Terminal 1", "Terminal 2" and "International Departures".

The lanes are divided into several sections, some leading to the departure level, some to the parking lot, and some to the freight area.

Traffic has become more congested.

Taxis, buses, private cars, airport shuttle buses...

There were also several dedicated vehicles painted with airline logos.

"Let's go to Terminal 2."

Chen Mo said to the driver.

"Departing from within China".

The car climbed up a spiral ramp and finally stopped on a spacious platform—the drop-off area for the departure level.

As soon as the car door opened and the group got out, a tremendous roar came from above.

Everyone instinctively looked up.

Then they saw it.

A white passenger plane was flying low overhead, only a few hundred meters high, its massive fuselage obscuring the sky.

The silver wings shimmered in the sunlight, with two thin white streaks trailing from the wingtips.

Four engines emitted pale blue exhaust flames, propelling the hundreds-of-tons steel behemoth upwards smoothly.

It didn't fly very fast—at least it didn't look fast—but the visual impact of that enormous creature hovering in the air was more stunning than any speed.

Liu Che's mouth was open, his head was tilted back, and his neck was almost broken.

He watched helplessly as the plane climbed, turned, and finally became a white dot on the horizon.

"That's... an airplane?"

His voice was trembling.

"airbus!"

Chen Mo also looked up, his face filled with emotion.

"It can carry more than 800 passengers and fly continuously for 15,000 kilometers."

"Ten thousand...five thousand kilometers?" Zhu Yuanzhang counted on his fingers, "From Yingtian to the Western Regions...that's enough for a round trip?"

"That's enough for several round trips."

Another roar came, and another plane was landing.

Chen Mo smiled as he looked at the group of people who were staring intently at the screen.

"Let's go in and take a look."

The automatic doors slid open to both sides, and a blast of hot air from the air conditioner hit us.

But the scene inside the door—is yet another world.

The hall, with a ceiling at least thirty meters high, has a mirror-like floor that reflects the lights from the ceiling.

The check-in counters stretched out in rows, with queues forming in front of each one.

Huge screens are hung everywhere, displaying flight information.

The boarding announcements were played alternately in Chinese and English.

And the flow of people... is even greater than at the high-speed rail station.

Passengers pushing luggage carts, parents carrying children, ground staff in uniforms, business people dragging suitcases...

There were also groups of elderly people and children wearing matching hats, clearly part of a tour group.

"So many people..." Ying Zheng murmured, "Do they all have to take airplanes?"

"Hundreds of flights take off and land here every day,"

Chen Mo said.

"Passenger throughput...is probably around two or three hundred thousand."

"Daily? Two or three hundred thousand?"

Li Shimin gasped.

What does this mean?

This means that the number of people transported by this airport in a single day is more than a quarter of the permanent population of Chang'an, the capital of the Tang Dynasty.

China has dozens of such airports.

Chen Mo smiled.

"I'm not sure either, but last year the total throughput of airports nationwide was about 1.5 billion..."

"1.5 billion..."

The group murmured to themselves.

It's that familiar yet unfamiliar workplace again.

Chen Mo led the group toward the check-in counter.

"We should be grateful for the visa-free period, otherwise it would have taken a long time for the visa to be processed."

Chen Mo talked as he walked, but it was clear that the others weren't really thinking about it.

They looked around like curious children, marveling at their surroundings.

Soon it was their turn.

Chen Mo handed over everyone's ID cards.

The check-in clerk was a young woman who glanced at the group of people—especially the emperors—a few more times.

"Are the gentlemen together?"

"right."

Do you have any luggage that needs to be checked in?

"no."

Have a pleasant journey.

She handed back her ID card and boarding pass.

Finally, the group arrived at the waiting area.

Outside the huge floor-to-ceiling windows is the helipad.

At that moment, there were more than a dozen planes parked there.

Some planes are boarding passengers, with boarding bridges connecting to the fuselage; some are loading and unloading luggage, with conveyor belts coming and going; and some are refueling, with tanker trucks parked under the wings.

The nearest plane was only a few dozen meters away, and you could clearly see the paint scheme, windows, and cabin doors.

Even more impressively, a passenger boarding bridge was pulling up, the cabin door opened, and passengers began to disembark.

So many people walked out of the belly of that giant steel bird.

"Let's go over there."

Chen Mo pointed to a viewing platform.

That's a special area for passengers to watch planes take off and land; it has a whole glass wall and an excellent view.

Just as they arrived, a plane began to taxi.

The plane slowly left its parking position and turned onto the taxiway.

Ground crew waved to the pilots, who waved back from the cockpit.

Then, the plane turned onto the main runway.

After a brief pause, the roar of the engines suddenly intensified. All four engines simultaneously spewed out scorching exhaust plumes, and the aircraft began to accelerate.

It started slowly, then got faster and faster. The landing gear bounced on the runway, and the flaps on the wings were fully deployed.

At two-thirds of the way up the runway, the nose of the plane began to lift.

The front wheels are off the ground.

The main wheel is off the ground.

The entire fuselage detached from the runway and began to climb.

The landing gear slowly retracted and went into the wheel well.

The plane climbed at a graceful angle, getting higher and higher, smaller and smaller...

Finally, it turned into a silver dot in the blue sky.