Chapter 822: Dumpling Making

"Incredible!"

Zhao Heng could not help but lean his head out the window, looking toward Jinghai City, ignoring the gusts of wind slamming against his face.

He still refused to believe it until he clearly saw the two characters for "Jinghai" on the city gate, only then pulling his body back in, speechless for a long time.

Zhao Heng was focused on the speed of the steam locomotive, while Imperial Concubine Mi was simply feeling gratified by the achievement her son had attained, much like an old mother.

Seeing Zhao Heng and the ministers acting as if they had never seen the world before, she remained cheerful throughout, her gaze toward Zhao Xu full of doting affection.

Besides that, there was a trace of moisture in the corners of her eyes.

She recalled these past years, how Zhao Xu had faced death at every turn in Yanzhou to achieve today's glory, which was truly not easy.

"This is a powerful tool for marching to war and transporting provisions; with such a tool, why worry about being unable to drive out the Northern Di?" Yang Feng had been sitting in his chair, but suddenly slapped the table and stood up, his eyes shining.

Since ancient times, the Central Plains dynasties have conquered many territories outside the Central Plains, such as the Ningjin Dusi in the northeast of Great Song, and Jiaozhi in the south.

But afterward, they were lost one by one.

Why? It was because these places were too far from the center of the Central Plains dynasty, and the cost of administration was too high.

Moreover, once a force rose up in these places, the Central Plains dynasty would have to expend a massive amount of manpower and material resources on a long-distance expedition.

During the peak of the Central Plains dynasty, they could withstand such turmoil.

Once they declined, these regions would become a heavy burden on the Imperial Court.

They could only let the rising forces occupy them.

Currently, the Ningjin Dusi is one such example.

Regarding this point, Yang Feng, as a veteran of a hundred battles, was naturally very clear.

But with this steam locomotive, these places are effectively brought closer to the center of the Central Plains dynasty.

If there were any emergencies, it would only take a few days to transport tens of thousands of troops and a large amount of provisions there.

It was precisely because he thought of this that he was so uncomposed.

"The old general is right."

"Oh my,

now that you mention it, it is indeed so."

"From now on, whoever says that Yanzhou's steam industry is just clever tricks and trivial skills, I'll go up and slap them in the face."

"..."

Those sitting beside Yang Feng were all generals; having grasped the meaning in Yang Feng's words, they began to discuss it one after another.

Liu Fu and the other civil officials were similarly chiming in, their mouths full of endless praise for the steam locomotive.

Zou Rong looked smug and at this moment said loudly: "This was just a test run; the locomotive's speed was only half of its full-speed operation. If it really ran at full speed, it could reach Jinghai in less than an hour."

Pausing, he continued: "And this time we only prepared six carriages; in reality, it can pull twenty carriages, each twenty-five meters long, capable of seating one hundred and twenty people. This one trip could transport two thousand four hundred people."

"Tsk tsk!" The crowd let out a sigh of amazement upon hearing this.

Zou Rong was even more pleased with himself, "And this is just for carrying people. If we replace the carriages with freight carriages, one carriage can carry sixty tons; twenty carriages could pull one thousand two hundred tons, which is twenty thousand shi of grain."

The generals and officials nodded incessantly.

These twenty thousand shi of grain would be enough to feed an army of one hundred thousand for a month.

Most importantly, in the past, when laborers transported grain, not only was it a waste of manpower, but the laborers themselves had to eat while transporting the grain from the production site to the battlefield.

What they ate was naturally the grain being transported.

It would be good if half a shi remained by the time one shi of grain reached the battlefield.

But the steam locomotive, other than burning coal, obviously does not need to eat grain.

When fighting a war, both domestic grain and manpower could be greatly reduced.

Zhao Xu smiled without a word, simply letting the ministers and generals discuss it.

At this time, Yang Susu gently touched Zhao Xu's arm, her eyes full of admiration.

"Chug, chug..." The steam locomotive slowly decelerated after entering Jinghai County, finally pulling into the station.

Because Zou Rong had notified the Jinghai Government Office in advance about the test run.

The Jinghai County Magistrate and a group of officials had already been waiting for a long time.

Zhou Yi led the naval generals, and Chen Shou led the officials of the Shipbuilding Department, and they had also arrived.

"This subordinate greets the Emperor, greets the Highness." "This subject greets the Emperor, greets the Highness."...

The carriage doors were pulled open, and Zhao Xu and the others stepped off the train; Zhou Yi and Chen Shou hurriedly paid their respects one by one.

The people on this train were all high-ranking and powerful, which kept them quite busy.

The Jinghai County Magistrate even took a handkerchief from his sleeve from time to time to wipe the sweat on his forehead, his speech somewhat stuttering from nervousness.

The commoners also jumped down from the sixth carriage; their eyes darted around as they looked at this unfamiliar city, their expressions excited.

Due to inconvenient transportation, they had never left Yancheng in their entire lives, and this was their first time traveling so far.

However, railway staff immediately went to attend to them.

Having departed in the morning, it was now noon, the time for lunch.

Zhao Xu also ordered the Jinghai County Magistrate to lead Zhao Heng and the officials and ministers to dine.

He himself traveled light and went straight to the Shipyard with Chen Shou and Zhou Yi.

This time, he planned to return in the evening.

"Your Highness, after the steamship was launched, this subject expanded the dry docks; now the Jinghai Shipyard already has thirty-six dry docks."

The group arrived at the coast, and Chen Shou pointed to a row of docks along the sea.

Inside the docks, craftsmen were busy, and one steamship after another was taking shape.

Zhao Xu nodded.

Along with the expansion of the Jinghai Shipyard, the Pingcheng Shipyard was also expanded, adding eight dry docks to reach a total of thirty dry docks.

This is already the maximum capacity that the Jinghai Shipyard and Pingcheng Shipyard can expand to.

After all, the places suitable for building dry docks at the shipyards are limited.

Especially since the Pingcheng Shipyard is located on an inland river, the available space is even smaller.

After the first steamship was launched, he realized that the time to contend for hegemony over the seas had arrived.

Currently, Britain possesses the most powerful maritime force on the seas and holds mature steamship construction technology.

To defeat this navy that has run rampant on the seas for hundreds of years, there is no other way but to build warships.

And one must build a large number of warships in a short period of time.

Otherwise, once Britain reacts and deploys the focus of its navy to the waters of Dongtu, he will be in trouble.

At the same time, water transport in Jiangbei also requires a large number of steamships, making it even more necessary to increase shipbuilding production capacity.

"The navy's current situation cannot be called absolutely safe; you will still have to endure hardship for a while," Zhao Xu said to Chen Shou.

In order to improve shipbuilding efficiency, all sailing warships are currently handed over to the Pingcheng Shipyard for construction.

Because the navy's first warship was born in Pingcheng.

The Pingcheng Shipyard's sailing warship construction technology is very mature.

As for the Jinghai County Shipyard, it will build only steamships.

If everything goes smoothly, by August, the Jinghai Shipyard alone will have another thirty-six steamships in service.

By the end of the year, the Pingcheng Shipyard will have thirty sailing warships.

By then, the Yanzhou Navy will have ninety sailing warships and sixty steamships.

"A little hardship is nothing; as long as the Great Song navy can traverse the seas, this subject is willing even if he is worked to death," Chen Shou said, his expression moved.

This is his, and every official's in the Shipbuilding Department, most humble wish.

They only hope that today's hard work can bring about the future prosperity and flourishing of Great Song.

Otherwise, what would be the point of building warships?