SWDnovel Chapter 66 Trains and Mission Members
Chapter 66 Trains and Mission Members
Chapter 66 Trains and Mission Members
The fleet carrying the delegations from the United States, France, and Great Britain continued their voyage, and the distant coastline and docks slowly came into view.
As they drew closer, the view from the dock became clearer, and Palmerston and the others finally understood what made this port so special.
This is a brand new industrial port.
Inside the wharf, there are several large storage yards where black coal is piled up like mountains.
On the other side of the dock, several steam-powered sailing ships were moored, busily refueling with coal and water.
There is a shipyard right next to the dock, where several steam-powered sailing ships are being built at the same time.
The shipyard and dock are directly traversed by railways that extend northwards and eventually disappear into the distance.
On the bow of the first ship of the British mission, Stephenson, a famous British train maker, carefully observed the situation in Rotting Harbor with a telescope.
Stephenson, observing the steam engines on the dock and the long railway stretching out behind them, excitedly exclaimed to those around him, "The Great Han is building a railway now! This railway should connect the coal mines and even the capital. With a railway comes the need for locomotives!"
Stephenson put down his binoculars and rallied his colleagues and investor representatives: "This proves that the Han Emperor's need for locomotives is clearly real!"
These people were also slightly excited, just like Stephenson, and started chattering amongst themselves after he finished speaking.
"We can make a lot of money."
"Of course, that's on the condition that His Majesty the Emperor of the Han Dynasty is willing to purchase our locomotives!"
"According to His Excellency Palmerston, the Han Dynasty did not use steam power two years ago and should have had no experience with it."
"So without a doubt, our motorcycles are the best."
"The question now is, how much money or other conditions is His Majesty the Emperor willing to pay for this?"
The group became more and more excited as they talked, and the fatigue from their six-month journey quickly dissipated.
As the fleet approached the dock, when it was only about a kilometer from the shore, someone pointed into the distance and shouted, "The train is coming! The Han train!"
Stephenson, alerted by the reminder, picked up his binoculars again to observe the distance, smiling as he assessed the performance of the train the Great Han was currently using: "It's only been two years, maybe only a little over a year, it's impossible to achieve anything too significant—"
"Wait! Something's not right!"
Stephenson's smile slowly froze: "How is this possible! How can the carriages be so big? They're completely filled with coal, probably more than thirty tons!"
"It has a total of ten freight cars, and the total weight should be over three hundred tons."
"But the speed is still at least twenty miles per hour (32 kilometers per hour)!"
"Two years! How did you do that?!"
The others around them, watching this scene, also found it incredibly unbelievable.
At that time, the carrying capacity of a single car on the regular British railway was not high, typically only between ten and twenty tons.
The load capacity of the entire train is usually between one hundred and two hundred tons.
The speed is usually only about 20 kilometers per hour.
Even passenger trains typically travel at only about 30 kilometers per hour.
Stephenson's own record of 57 kilometers per hour was achieved by running the car empty.
The freight trains of Great Han now carry twice the weight of British trains and have caught up with the speed of passenger trains.
As for the passenger trains of the Han Dynasty at this time, they could actually run at speeds of up to fifty kilometers per hour.
The maximum speed of an empty vehicle is approaching 80 kilometers per hour.
Liu Yulong has been paying close attention to the construction and upgrading of trains and railways, and is very satisfied with the results of basically doubling the number of trains in two years.
I was even a little surprised, thinking that the speed seemed a bit too fast.
However, Liu Yulong quickly convinced himself that the main reason was that after the Han Dynasty's train was put into use, the Institute of Geography did not stop related research, and the upgrading and improvement of steam engines and trains continued.
The Institute of Physics has a large number of engineers who, with ample resources, continuously collaborate on research and development. This research efficiency and improvement speed are much faster than that of ordinary British engineers working alone.
So in the last two or three months, the train data has been completely updated, and it has grown to a level that Liu Yulong finds somewhat abnormal.
However, compared to British trains, there is another very important and crucial reason why the Great Han train was able to upgrade so quickly, which Liu Yulong himself did not realize.
At that time, apart from the Han Dynasty, there was no railway in the entire world that was laid with steel rails.
Other railways in Britain, France, and the United States were either built with wrought iron sheets wrapped around wood or laid with cast iron tracks.
The wrought iron-clad wood track is the most primitive type, and it cannot bear even slightly heavy weights, so it is being rapidly phased out.
The new tracks made from pig iron have limited lengths for individual tracks and poor consistency.
The key issue is that pig iron lacks toughness and is prone to breakage when subjected to impact.
At that time, the locomotives and carriages did not have cheap steel leaf springs, and many carriages still had rigid suspension between the wheels and the locomotives.
Such trains, coupled with such rails, severely limit the train's performance.
Designers and drivers must control train speed, reduce train load, and minimize impact and collisions between carriages and tracks to prevent accidents and fatalities.
It was not until the 1850s, when the converter steelmaking process was finally introduced, that steel rails and inexpensive spring plates became widespread.
At that time, the train's operating speed will see a major upgrade.
The speed has been rapidly increased from 20 to 30 kilometers per hour to 40 to 50 kilometers per hour.
The maximum speed of an empty vehicle soared, quickly exceeding 100 kilometers per hour, and by the end of the 19th century it had exceeded 200 kilometers per hour.
Liu Yulong instinctively felt that the rails must be made of steel, so he only started laying railways after realizing the converter steelmaking method.
This overlooks the fact that early railways evolved through a process of upgrading and transformation, from iron-clad wood to cast iron and rolled steel.
The Han Dynasty already had a usable converter steelmaking method, as well as steel rails and inexpensive spring plates.
Therefore, there was no such limitation from the beginning, and the train's performance could be rapidly and continuously improved.
Therefore, it is foreseeable that the performance of Han Dynasty trains will become stronger and stronger.
Before Europeans also developed the converter steelmaking method, it was almost impossible to keep up with the speed of the Han Dynasty's train upgrades.
Stephenson and his team watched as the coal train drew closer and closer, slowing down about a kilometer from the dock, gliding into the dock's stopping point, and then coming to a stop before unloading the coal.
Stephenson and his group watched the train's trajectory in a prolonged silence.
Everyone began to worry: if the Han train was clearly superior to their own, wouldn't they have come for nothing?
The key is the total investment of several million pounds, as well as the machinery and equipment of three ships.
If they can't be sold, I could really lose everything.
Even though most of the investment came from other people, it was all invested in Stephenson.
If this investment fails, Stephenson himself probably won't go bankrupt, but he might be ruined in the process.
Stephenson remained incredulous, constantly speculating and muttering to himself, "This is completely abnormal. It's impossible for such a big change to occur in just two years."
"Even the best trains in Britain can't do this."
"There must be something wrong with this."
Under the guidance of the port pilot ship, the high-class passenger ships of the delegations from the United States, France, and Britain successively entered the passenger terminal of Laoting Port and docked directly on the pier to prepare for disembarking passengers.
The accompanying cargo ships and passenger ships anchored around the pier, awaiting further arrangements.
When the three delegations were completing formalities at the Shanghai Maritime Trade Office, the office arranged for a steamship responsible for communication to travel north ahead of time to deliver the official documents from the three countries, the list of delegation members, and the office's explanation to the capital.
Four days before the three-nation delegation arrived at Leting Port, Liu Yulong received a report from the Shanghai Maritime Trade Office.
Liu Yulong was not surprised by the British delegation's return; they were originally going to consult Parliament and the King before responding to his demands.
Therefore, Liu Yulong gave advance instructions to the Shanghai and Bao'an Maritime Trade Offices.
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Once their fleet is spotted again, there's no need to intercept them and then ask for instructions on how to proceed; we can simply lead them directly to Leting in the north.
However, Liu Yulong did not expect that the British mission would be so large.
There were more than two thousand people in total, more than twenty large ocean-going ships, and more than a dozen cargo ships loaded with various goods.
They even said they had invited them.
Liu Yulong did verbally invite the British to build a factory in the Han Dynasty, but he didn't take it particularly seriously at the time.
Liu Yulong did not expect the British to react so strongly.
Moreover, Liu Yulong was quite familiar with several of the members of this visiting delegation.
For example, Stephenson and Talbot, whom Liu Yulong named at the time.
There's also Charles Babbage, who designed the difference engine, and Smith and Erikson, who invented the propeller.
The unfortunate Erikson was actually the designer of the world's first ironclad warship.
Even Michael Faraday, who was doing electromagnetic research, came.
Even Robert Irwin, the businessman who started the New Harmony Commune, came.
I only said a few words casually, and you people are willing to travel halfway around the world to come here?
Aren't you afraid of being swindled into bankruptcy, or even dying on the road?
Especially since many of them are now in their fifties, and Irving is already over sixty.
As for the delegation from France and the United States, Liu Yulong was surprised, but he immediately understood their thoughts.
Because the Britons came, you came along too?
You probably see what the British have achieved, and you all feel you can't fall behind, right?
Among the members of the Franco-American delegation, there were many people that Liu Yulong recognized.
Henri Gustave Delverne was likely the engineer who invented the base-expanding projectile.
Louis Daguerre, the inventor of the daguerreotype process.
Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, a renowned chemist, summarized and discovered several laws governing gases and invented the Lussac Tower for recovering sulfuric acid vapor.
Samuel Morse, the designer of Morse code.
Jacob Perkins, the inventor of the compressor, is considered a pioneer of modern refrigeration technology.
Samuel Colt, the American arms magnate and founder of the Colt Corporation, invented the modern revolver and established a standardized firearms production line.
John Hancock Hall, the designer of the Hall M1819 breech-loading rifle in the United States, established a standardized rifle production line that was "easy for even a child to operate" in order to produce this type of rifle with interchangeable parts.
Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical harvester —
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