Chapter 499 The Cemetery's "Technology" is Breathtaking!
Edward is very efficient, especially when it comes to things he considers important; he is almost unwilling to wait even a moment.
The day after His Highness Colin brought his steel behemoth to demonstrate its power to the Duchy's new elites, the Governor's Office of Thunder City announced a sensational piece of news that shook the entire city—
The Campbell Royal Railway Company was officially established.
That evening, the front pages of all the major evening newspapers in Leiming City were completely dominated by this news, which detailed this unprecedented plan.
The newspaper reported that the railway company would be fully funded by the royal family. Once the first key phase is completed and its value demonstrated, the company will follow the successful example of the Collins Group and go public on Queen Street in Thunder City!
At that time, the royal family will issue shares to all interested investors through the banks of Thunder City. Whether they are big bankers or ordinary citizens, they can participate in the wave of building the duchy's future and share in the profits after the railway becomes profitable.
This blueprint is ambitious.
The first phase of the project planned two main lines, one to the north and one to the south.
The first railway is the lifeline of the entire duchy. It will run north to south, passing through seventeen densely populated towns and baronies, firmly connecting the valley plains that the duchy has just reclaimed from the rebels with the bustling port of Thunder City.
In the middle section, the line will branch off into a branch line that extends northeast to the Count of Spinor.
That was another piece Edward had quietly laid out on his strategic map, and it was also a relatively undeveloped mountainous area in the Principality of Campbell.
It is located near the Wanren Mountains, rich in coal and iron resources, and close to the territories of the dwarves and ratmen. However, due to the lack of a flowing river and the distance between the mountains and the coastline, the cost of maintaining rule is high, and therefore it has not been effectively developed.
The core sphere of influence of the feudal nobility was mainly in the plains, and the Count of Spinor was no exception, with the population mainly concentrated along the narrow coastline.
Without the railway, Edward probably wouldn't have prioritized the Earldom of Spinore in his work schedule.
But now, the situation is clearly different.
If a coal and iron industrial zone could be established there, it would not only absorb the agricultural population into the factories, but also add fuel to the industrialization wave in Thunder City.
This was also Prince Colin's suggestion, and Edward was preparing for it.
The citizens of Thunder City were discussing it animatedly in taverns and on street corners.
Most of them had never even seen a "railway," but just seeing the words "fully funded by the royal family" was enough to excite them so much that they couldn't sleep all night.
They vaguely realized that this might be a major event that could change their destiny, just like when the Colin Group went public.
Outside the teahouse on Queen Street, citizens waiting for the "Stock Exchange" to open for business flipped through their newspapers and exclaimed, "So that's how it is!"
"No wonder His Majesty the Grand Duke expanded the size of the council."
"So it turns out our Emperor has started a company too!"
They didn't see anything wrong with it; they just found it intriguing that the Grand Duke, sitting on the printing press, would be interested in making money.
This has never happened before.
In fact, they really misunderstood their emperor. Edward had no energy to start a company and had absolutely no experience in that area.
The Royal Railways simply uses the Royal name to signify the Campbell family's endorsement and support for the project.
Although the company is funded and controlled by the Ta Kung family, the actual operator is not the Ta Kung family itself.
Its management team consisted partly of personnel from the city hall, road planning department, and water conservancy department of Leiming City, and partly of supervisors appointed by the royal family and scholars recommended by the staff.
After providing a detailed planning proposal, Royal Railways will put the Thunder City project out to public tender.
This plan is undoubtedly extremely advanced in Leiming City at present. However, due to the limitations of the times, there is only one company that actually meets the bidding qualifications.
In fact, not to mention the Duchy of Campbell, even the entire Empire couldn't find a second bidding entity with the qualifications.
Unsurprisingly, this epic engineering contract fell into the hands of the "Cemetery Railway Group" players.
They're "old railroad workers" from the Great Cemetery, mainly dealing in Hell Dwarves, and they've practically turned "Cataclysm Online" into "Railroad Tycoon Online".
And it's a fantasy version.
However, on the very first day of work, these experienced lizardman players encountered the most challenging problem of their professional careers.
On a newly designated construction site in the suburbs, the group's head, "I'll form the head," was staring blankly at a patch of mud.
He had just received a secret order from the Demon King.
The use of any undead laborers is prohibited in this project.
The use of ratmen and goblin slaves is prohibited.
as well as--
Human NPCs must not be injured or killed.
The railway is still in the promotion stage, and if casualties occur, it will undoubtedly cast a shadow on the promotion of the new technology.
However, while I can understand it, this is simply unreasonable!
If there are no dead, is it still a cemetery railway?
[I'll form the head] I'm furious.
Inside the shed, the atmosphere was as oppressive as a swamp before rain, and there was no trace of the excitement of receiving a "big order".
"I'll form the legs," she said, poking the boss's arm with her paw and whispering a question.
"Hey boss, what's wrong? Is there a bug in the mission?"
[I'll form the head] kicked the surveying stake away and roared, "Damn it! Our core productivity has been banned!"
[I'll form the crotch area] He looked completely bewildered.
"What do you mean?"
The expression "I'll form the head" is like wearing a mask of pain.
"No skeletons! No zombies! All undead laborers are banned! Without the undead, how are we going to lay the railroad? Are we really supposed to do it ourselves?!"
The players looked at each other in bewilderment, finally realizing the seriousness of the problem, and a chorus of groans filled the air.
Undead laborers are their livelihood!
The ability to work 24 hours a day without eating, drinking, sleeping, or even changing shifts—there's no better workforce in the world!
Now, this link has been severed by the Demon King himself.
Just when everyone was in despair, [I'll form the legs] suddenly had a bright idea.
"Wait a minute, boss! The boss only said we can't use undead, ratmen, or goblins, but he didn't say we can't use other living creatures!"
[I'll form the head] rolled his eyes.
"Nonsense! How could I not know? But the problem is, you have to pay people's wages. Are you going to pay them?"
"It didn't say we'd hire everyone! For example... we could go to that swamp city!" [I'll form the legs] chuckled. "Those lizardmen are strong; we can just leave the heavy lifting to them!"
[I'll form the head] was stunned upon hearing this, then slapped his thigh: "Holy crap! You're such a sweet potato!"
The lizardmen in the swamp city are like livestock; give them a bite to eat and they'll happily go off, since they're idle anyway.
Especially recently, with a large influx of things from the human world into that swamp, many lizardmen are filled with curiosity about the outside world.
Using these guys to do the work might not be much more expensive than using the undead!
After all, the undead aren't entirely without cost; things that don't eat require magic crystals, it's just that magic crystals are cheaper in the underground world.
“But they’re stupid,” [I’ll form the crotch] hesitated. “This project requires a lot of precision; if it’s done wrong, it could cause a lot of trouble.”
"Are they stupid, and you stupid too?" [I'll form the head] gave him a disdainful look. "Why don't we just bring in some talking lizardman players to be the foremen?"
After a few seconds of silence, the eyes of "I'll form the crotch" suddenly widened.
"……genius!"
"Once you're dead, you won't be afraid of ghosts anymore." Looking speechlessly at these guys who were flattering each other, where was the genius in such an obvious solution?!
Although there were some minor setbacks in the process, such as the chiefs of the Southwest Swamps only cooperating after receiving ghost money, and the fact that the corpses of the Cave Spiders also had to be bought with ghost money, the new project of the "Graveyard Railway Group" was finally successfully launched after the unremitting efforts of all the players.
The very next morning, the residents of the outskirts of Thunder City witnessed a scene they would never forget.
Thousands of strong, sturdy lizardman laborers poured out of the city. They wore only a roll of rag around their waists, were shirtless, and surged toward the newly built construction site on the outskirts of the city.
The guards of Thunder City initially thought that the desperate lizardmen had invaded human lands, until they saw that the weapons in their hands were not spears, at which point they breathed a sigh of relief.
As players predicted, these scaly creatures showed unprecedented enthusiasm for the "food and lodging included" job.
In particular, the mission issued by the Dragon God's messenger instilled absolute conviction in every lizardman—
Once they complete the mission entrusted to them by Lord Gutaf, they can follow Lord Sak Gale to the legendary continent of Gana and become true children of the Dragon God!
In a sense, the lizardmen's idea wasn't wrong; their chieftain had indeed earned enough for the ship tickets.
Recently, Grand Justice Campbell has been considering issuing travel permits to the neighboring Lizardmen, allowing the chieftains of the River Bend Tribe Alliance to enter Thunder City and board ships at human ports to travel to the continent of Gana, as a reward for the Kingdom of Gutaf transferring advanced technology and equipment to the Duchy of Campbell.
He said he wouldn't make things difficult for Prince Colin, and he's always remembered that.
However, while the lizardman chieftains took their wealth to Thunder City, the lizardmen in the Reach did not come away empty-handed.
At least for the time being when the Demon King still needed them, they moved out of their original mud hut, exercised, and mastered the skills of nailing nails and laying wooden sleepers.
Meanwhile, the engineering spiders that the Great Cemetery consumes every day have found a new place to go.
Besides becoming Mrs. Alacinos's snacks, they can now be "exported" as food for the lizardmen.
This may be inhumane, but it is absolutely hellish.
On the construction site, the player foremen, with their colorful tails curled up, shouted commands through megaphones made of rolled-up metal.
Those are small gadgets wholesaled from the Orc alchemy workshop; they can help them translate languages and, incidentally, even include the accent of the Gana Continent.
It actually has a built-in translation crystal.
"Team One! Carry the sleepers! What's your slogan?"
The Dragon God's messenger responded with a neat and energetic shout.
"Hey--!"
"Second team! Keep up with the rails! Keep your distance! Hey you over there, I'm talking to you, don't bite! Hey! Let go, that's your neighbor's tail!"
"ha--!"
The deafening slogans rose and fell in waves.
Thousands of lizardman laborers toiled in the heat, their sweat mingling with the dirt, reflecting an obsidian-like sheen onto their scales.
Thanks to the biotechnology of the Zeta civilization, which gave them sweat glands that are comparable to those of humans, they really wouldn't be able to do such strenuous physical labor.
At the players' command, they split into four teams.
One team carried sleepers, another carried rails, one nailed rails, and another tamped ballast. Moving across the plain, they were like a slow but steady machine.
The construction materials were on the train behind them. The lizardmen were responsible for unloading the rails and wooden sleepers, and then pushing them to the construction site in front of them using carts.
The railway was not laid quickly.
Without the aid of the undead, advancing three kilometers a day would be a miracle. Even if some impatient players spontaneously used magic to assist in construction, it would probably take half a year to lay the railway to Granston Castle, which is more than 200 kilometers away.
However, the bustling scene of labor still amazed the Campbell officials who came to inspect the area.
They've dealt with the lizardmen of the Southwest Swamp for so many years, and they've never seen those insects work this well.
As expected of the people of the Dragon God Gutaf, they easily brought the spark of civilization to the swamp where the holy light could not reach!
This power, which transcends the extraordinary, is simply unfathomable!
Amidst the roars of the crowd, a major artery running through the north and south of the duchy took its first slow but firm step.
In the spring of 1054 AD, it seemed that something big was happening every day.
...
The fact that the Royal Railway Company hired lizardmen to build the railway seemed even more surprising to the citizens of Thunder City than Edward starting the company himself.
In just one day, the news spread throughout the streets and alleys of Thunder City, becoming the hottest topic in taverns and on dining tables.
By the weekend, curiosity finally overwhelmed everything.
Hundreds of residents of Thunder City did not go to church for worship, but instead brought their families to the suburbs to witness this once-in-a-century spectacle.
The crowd gathered on the earthen slope at a safe distance, standing under the tall windmills, pointing and commenting on the "iron road" that was being paved.
"This is the railway?" a baker scratched his head. "What are two iron bars on the ground for?"
“That iron rod is no ordinary thing!” An adventurer dressed in worn leather armor, looking as if he had just come out of a maze, lowered his voice and said in a pretentious tone, “I’ve seen it with my own eyes. There are these things in the dwarf mines of the Ten Thousand Ren Mountains. But they use goblins to pull minecarts, and sometimes slave rats.”
"Nonsense!" A well-informed merchant nearby immediately corrected him. "This isn't some contraption those dwarves tinker with in the mines! The Thunder City Daily clearly states that this technology comes from the United Kingdom of Gutaf! It was brought by the children of the Dragon God!"
Upon hearing the words "Kutaf United Kingdom" and "Dragon God," a collective gasp immediately rose from the crowd.
This is far more prestigious than the name of the dwarves.
However, what truly shocked and left the citizens speechless was not the railway tracks themselves, but the bustling construction team.
The lizardmen of the southwestern swamp have actually been tamed by that Lord Sak Gale from the continent of Gana!
In the eyes of the citizens of Thunder City, these "swamp reptiles" have always been synonymous with danger and savagery, and are frequent visitors to the Adventurers' Guild's quest list.
Their obedient behavior now is astonishing, as shocking as when the citizens of Twilight City saw the angels summoned by the Divine Child.
Soon, some observant citizens noticed the difference.
"Look! Those lizardmen are different!"
Looking in the direction his index finger pointed, people quickly noticed that among the shirtless barbarians, there was also a group of completely different lizardmen.
They wore linen clothes, which, though cheap and shoddy, were decent enough.
Not only that, these guys were also carrying blueprints and strange measuring tools, and were loudly directing the "wild lizardmen" with burlap wrapped around their waists.
"They're wearing clothes!"
"By Saint Sith..."
"Wait! Listen to their accents! That accent... it's exactly the same as Mr. Sak Gale, the cousin of the chief of the Wind Howl tribe!"
Rumors began to spread among the crowd.
"I get it!" an old citizen exclaimed in realization. "These clothed lizardmen are... 'Dragonborn' that Prince Colin brought from the Kingdom of Gutaf!"
This statement was immediately accepted by everyone.
"So they're dragon descendants! No wonder they can command these guys!"
The lizardmen of the southwestern swamps claim to be the people of Gutaf, forgotten by the dragon gods on this filthy old continent at the end of the First Age.
That makes it easier to explain.
After a general understanding, everyone realized that those "Dragonborn" were similar to their priests, essentially the spiritual totems of the lizardmen.
The players who were directing the lizardmen to work at that moment were unaware that in the short time they were busy driving piles, they had gained another title: "Dragonborn".
The clamor of discussion still lingered on the earthen slope.
Farmers from the neighborhood pushed their carts over and started selling the pickled cucumbers and dried pumpkins they hadn't finished eating during the winter to the city dwellers.
Other farmers stood with the city dwellers, curiously gazing at the spectacular sight stretching into the distance below the earthen slope.
If the city dwellers felt a sense of novelty and awe, the farmers living in the suburbs felt a genuine sense of reverence.
Unlike the citizens who only arrived today, they watched as the long steel dragon traversed the fields at a visible speed.
A week ago, the monster spewing black smoke was still hovering on the horizon, but in the blink of an eye, it had moved up to the side of the slowly turning windmill.
They were both amazed by the formidable strength of Thunder City's factories and deeply uneasy about the passing of those days.
More and more things are being consumed by the steam engine.
What's next?
"By Saint Sith... what on earth is this thing?" A young farmer couldn't help but swallow hard and mutter to himself.
“I don’t know,” said an elderly farmer standing beside him, puffing on his clay pipe and squinting. “But I believe Saint Sith is protecting our Emperor, and he shouldn’t lead us to a terrible place.”
He wasn't very educated and couldn't read newspapers, but he could look at the illustrations.
Clearly, compared to the old man sitting in the slaughterhouse with a crown in his hand, their emperor was in his prime, not much less impressive than the esteemed Prince Colin.
It's obvious who the gods will favor!
As it turns out, even seemingly nonsensical logic can sometimes lead to profound insights.
Although Edward wasn't a good person like Irene, he was still far better than His Majesty Theodore de Valle, who tormented his own people.
Just as everyone was whispering and discussing, a strong smell of ale wafted over, interrupting their conversation.
Everyone turned to look, only to see the village's notorious bachelor limping unsteadily toward them.
"Hey guys, what are you looking at?"
Everyone was shocked to see him in such a drunken state.
"Old John?!"
"Why are you... drinking in broad daylight?"
"How much money did they make?"
The farmers of Thunder City are wealthier than those of Granston Castle, but it's still a bit difficult for them to "squander" like the workers of Thunder City.
Moreover, even the wealthiest textile worker wouldn't drink during the day.
"Hehe..." Old John smugly rubbed his bright red, bulbous nose with his index finger. "Get rich? More like it!"
He deliberately got drunk in broad daylight and came here to show off, just waiting for these animals to ask him that question, didn't he?
Puzzled by his suspense, the crowd immediately surrounded him, putting their arms around his shoulders and asking him questions.
"Stop talking nonsense and confess!"
"What kind of deal did you make?"
"You gambled?"
"Trading? I don't do that stuff! As for gambling... I'm not stupid, you'll never beat those cheating adventurers," he hiccuped, pointing to the extending railway track, "See that thing? Just yesterday, it went right through my crumbling house!"
By this point, he couldn't suppress the smile on his face.
"Haha, Saint Sis, the Baron has abandoned me, and the devout old John is worried about what to do! Just then, His Majesty the Grand Duke's men knocked on my door and bought my dilapidated house and the entire backyard!"
“Praise be to our Majesty! That’s a huge sum of money, enough for me to buy a decent house in the suburbs and still have some left over! Come to think of it, it’s the first time I’ve ever seen what a silver pound looks like.”
He was hardly a devout follower.
A devout person would never drink like this on a day of worship, much less make the sign of the cross while drunk.
This is even more blasphemous than calling a village girl a saint.
Even so, it did not stop him from praying for the esteemed Archduke Edward, after all, such a thing had never happened in the past thousand years.
Today is the first time.
The farmers looked at each other, their eyes no longer filled with worry about the past, but with naked envy.
“…Damn it,” the young farmer said enviously, looking at old John with a sour undertone, “If only that iron lump could pass right through my door.”
...
The heated discussion was not limited to the windmills in the fields.
As the citizens who went to the outskirts to watch brought back what they saw and heard to the city, the residents of Leiming City finally had a direct impression of the railway.
The taverns in the new industrial district were bustling with noise, the din almost lifting the roof off.
As expected, the hottest topic today is no longer who will be the councilor of this street, but rather the wonder that His Majesty the Grand Duke is building.
Listening to those clueless young men spouting nonsense, an old man with a messy beard slammed his beer mug on the table, splashing white foam everywhere.
He made no attempt to hide the disdain in his eyes, and said with a sneer.
"A road made of iron? Just so that that dark, iron monster can run on it? That's ridiculous!"
Before anyone could object, he pointed his index finger at the cargo wagon outside the tavern, where several wine barrels that had not yet been unloaded were placed.
"This thing can easily travel eighty kilometers a day, and it doesn't care about the road! How fast can that iron lump go? I doubt it can even be faster than a horse! Just wait, in two months when it rains, this thing will be completely rusted! All the silver pounds invested in it will be wasted!"
"Old man, you're wrong about that."
The fabric merchant sitting at the next table chuckled and chimed in; he had just returned from the suburbs during the day and witnessed the scene firsthand.
I was also quite shocked by the sight.
“You didn’t see how much cargo that monster was hauling! I counted, a full twelve carriages, loaded with steel and wooden sleepers! In my experience, that one carriage full of stuff would take at least a dozen horse-drawn carriages to move—”
"How is this possible!" The disheveled old man's eyes widened. "Could the horse withstand it? Could the road withstand it?"
“That’s why we need railway tracks, isn’t it?” the fabric merchant said with a smile. “If you don’t believe me, that’s fine. Once the first station is completed, you can buy a ticket and experience it for yourself… Anyway, I plan to try this wonderful thing. If it’s really as amazing as the newspapers say, the trade route to Granstonburg won’t need to go through the River Runner.”
Another businessman at the same table nodded in agreement, his ambitious face also filled with anticipation for that day.
"If this thing could transport all the grain from the valley plains over here in one go, the price of grain in Thunder City could drop by at least 30%!"
It's not just about lowering food prices by 30%.
He saw even further!
This entirely new mode of transportation will not only reshape the economic landscape of the Principality of Campbell, but may also transform people's lives.
For example, let the workers in Thunder City drink milk!
Based on his experience dealing with farms, he knows that fresh milk spoils very easily and will turn sour if it is not refrigerated or boiled within a day.
Most people cannot afford spatial rings and refrigeration magic devices, so the "fresh milk" that city residents can drink often comes only from pastures within 20 to 30 kilometers around the city.
Although there are many ranches around Thunder City now, the high logistics costs and hidden risks mean that milk is destined to be a food for nobles. Ordinary working families can hardly drink real "fresh milk" and their diet is mainly based on dairy products such as butter.
However, the invention of the railway made this possible.
He could clearly see a vast market unfolding before his eyes.
Thanks to a booming economy and an enlightened society, Thunder City is experiencing a baby boom after the end of the civil war, with diaper orders at textile factories at an all-time high.
Perhaps he could come up with an idea from the newspapers, like spending some money to buy an ad to promote the idea that cow's milk is better than human milk...
People were caught up in imagining and debating the future.
"But what about us coachmen?" a coachman cried out worriedly. "And what about the boatmen on the rushing river... Is this iron monster going to steal our business?"
"What's there to be afraid of! Business will only get better in the future!" a dockworker said optimistically. "At worst, you can come work for me, and you won't have to pay for car rentals!"
A seemingly devout believer made the sign of the cross on his chest and sighed.
“I’m more worried about our Grand Duke. What if the railway tracks go through the priest’s vineyard? And what about those cemeteries…”
The debate raged on, and neither side could convince the other.
Whether they were worried or excited, accepting or resisting, everyone vaguely realized that a brand new era, like a monster spewing black smoke, was rushing towards them with unstoppable momentum.
No one knew where Archduke Edward's train would eventually go.
But at least for now, these people who have just emerged from the shadow of the civil war are full of hope for the future.
(End of this chapter)
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