August 8th, the 32nd year of Hongwu.

This is a special day.

The Ming Dynasty train came into being.

Si time, which is nine o'clock in the morning.

In the past, all officials had to gather and line up at the palace gate at the hour of Yin when they went to court, which meant they had to arrive before five in the morning to enter.

Zhu Ying felt that this was too tiring, as officials from remote areas had to come to the early morning court at around 2 a.m.

This is even worse than the 996 in later generations.

So it was suggested to enter the court at nine o'clock.

Nine to five.

In this way, even officials who live far away can get up at 7 o'clock and come here, which at least ensures basic sleep and avoids sudden death.

Zhu Ying felt that court meetings were meaningless.

Hundreds of people were talking about a few things. Except for the Shangshu and Shilang who were qualified to speak, eighty to ninety percent of the officials were just background members.

If everyone says a few words, we can probably only get one thing done every day, and it may not be finalized.

So now the morning court is held every three days. Several ministers will give a general description of the situation of their respective departments, and if there are no major problems, it will be over.

Yesterday, the Six Ministries’ Secretaries had already issued a notice to convene a grand court meeting.

"I heard that we are going to see something new today, and the court meeting will not be held in the palace."

"Is this true? Where did you get this information from?"

"The Ministry of Works has spread the word that something big has shocked the world, so His Majesty has specially convened a grand court meeting to let everyone see it."

"It must have been made by the Research Department, eh? **Technology is the key, the Crown Prince places too much emphasis on craftsmen."

"A colleague from the Ministry of Revenue said that the Crown Prince recently issued an order to transfer 300 million treasure notes from the national treasury as funding for the Research Department. This Research Department is simply a gold-eating monster."

"Let's not talk about millions anymore. The Ministry of Education has a new reform. We have to talk about billions in the future. To be honest, I don't feel anything about hundreds of millions of dollars now. Just look at the Research Department. They have spent nearly 700 to 800 million this year."

"Come on, don't be so ungrateful. Our treasury is rich now, and this is all thanks to the crown prince. In the past, we had to argue over hundreds of thousands of treasures, but now no one would talk about it. We can sleep soundly every day, and we have to thank the crown prince."

"Of course not. Your salary is so high, and even eating meat every day can't stop you from eating."

"Well, that's what I said."

In front of the Meridian Gate.

The officials were talking among themselves.

At this time, the side door of the Meridian Gate opened and a group of eunuchs walked out.

The leading steward asked the guard on duty, "Are they all here?"

The guard on duty bowed and said, "Sir, everyone is here, 372 people in total, no one is absent."

The consul eunuch snorted coldly: "The court meeting is held every three days now. It would be disrespectful to be absent."

Then he walked to the front of all the officials and said loudly: "Silence."

All the officials suddenly fell silent.

The consul eunuch said loudly: "Your Majesty has decreed that today's grand court meeting will be held in the Research Department outside the west gate."

"My Lords, please."

Of course it was impossible to take a ride, so we had to walk.

After passing the Wumen Gate, do not enter the Fengtian Gate, but exit from the Youshun Gate and go to the Xihua Gate.

Walk about a mile and you will reach the Scientific Research Department.

When all the officials arrived, Zhu Ying and Zhu Yuanzhang had already arrived by carriage.

All officials greeted him and shouted "Long live the emperor".

Zhu Yuanzhang said "no need to be so polite", and the process was concluded.

All the officials looked at the giant dragon in front of them and were very curious.

But with Your Majesty here, we dare not whisper or discuss things with each other. It would be a crime to be impolite.

The Imperial Censor and officials from the Honglu Temple were watching from the side.

In front, Zhu Yuanzhang was very satisfied with the giant dragon in front of him.

The shape of a giant dragon is a wooden sculpture.

A dragon head was added to the front of the train, and the middle carriage also had carvings of dragon scales, and a dragon tail at the back.

From a distance, it looks like a ferocious dragon.

"Grandson, let's go."

Zhu Yuanzhang took his eldest grandson's hand and walked towards the carriage in front. He had been looking forward to this place for a long time since he came here.

I blame the officials for being too slow.

Liu He saw His Majesty walking towards the train, and then he nodded to his subordinate, the eunuch.

The Central Supervisor walked up to the officials and said in a loud voice: "All officials, get on the carriage. The fifth-rank officials will sit on the upper seats, and the fifth-rank officials below will stand."

After His Majesty and the Crown Prince got on the car, the officials lined up to board the train.

Almost everyone was very curious about this train.

"It has wheels underneath, can it move? How many horses would it take? I don't see any horses in the front."

"Could it be that the soldiers were dragging the rope in front of them?"

"Doesn't Li usually read the imperial gazette? Some time ago, the Crown Prince asked the Research Department to make a steam-powered ironclad ship. I guess this carriage is a steam-powered carriage."

"Steam carriage? I heard that a steam-powered ironclad ship is several times faster than an ordinary ship. This steam carriage must be very fast as well. I'm afraid that since it's so big and carrying hundreds of us, I don't know how fast it can go."

"There are long iron blocks underneath, which are used to guide the steam carriage."

Once on the train, the officials became curious about the decorations inside.

The four sides are made of iron, just like a huge airtight iron cage.

The left and right rows of seats are connected, with a narrow aisle in the middle.

"Master Zhang, please take a seat."

"Master Li, please take a seat."

"Master Zhao, let's sit together."

There are less than 200 seats in the seven carriages of the train. There are 372 people here, and most of them have to stand.

Eunuchs have also been arranged in the front, and only those above the fifth rank can have seats.

There are windows on both sides of the carriage, but they are not glass windows, but iron windows that open sideways.

Today's glass technology is not yet capable of producing flat sheets of transparent glass.

That is, the windows of the first two carriages are made of highly transparent glass.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Ying were not in the first carriage, but in the second.

Because the first section is too noisy next to the front of the car.

Palace maids, eunuchs and guards can be on standby here.

"Your Majesty, everyone is on the car." Liu He bowed and reported.

There are not many seats in the luxury carriage, and most people need to stand.

Zhu Yuanzhang was lying by the window and nodded, "Light the fire."

Liu He received the imperial edict and immediately walked to the first carriage and said loudly: "Your Majesty has given the order. Light the fire."

The craftsman who received the imperial edict immediately pulled a bell on top.

The bell was connected to the rear of the car, indicating that they should start the engine together.

Large chunks of coal were shoveled into the boiler and burned.

The rumbling sound gradually changed from slow to fast.

The train began to move slowly.

“It’s moving. It’s moving. It’s really moving.”

"Oh, it's amazing."

Zhu Yuanzhang could hear the shouting and yelling of the officials behind him who had never seen the world.

The vibration of the train is very strong, but it is much smoother than a horse-drawn carriage, with almost no bumps.

As the two steam engines worked, the speed of the train became faster and faster.

From the window you can see the scenery passing by outside.

"It's so fast, so fast, grandson, come and see."

Zhu Yuanzhang was immediately excited, young and old. At this moment he was like a child seeing a new toy, completely disregarding his demeanor as an emperor.

However, it seems that Zhu Yuanzhang never paid much attention to the emperor's demeanor in his daily life.

Looking from outside the train, the windows of the seven carriages at the back were packed with people.

Among the officials, some were shouting, some were murmured in shock, and some were stunned.

Everyone was crowding towards the window to watch the rapidly changing scenery outside.

This is much faster than a horse-drawn carriage.

As the train accelerated, howling winds blew into the carriages, but this still could not dampen the enthusiasm of the officials.

Before I could feel anything, I saw Xuanwu Lake.

Then it quickly passed by.

In the Ming Dynasty, where horse-drawn carriages were the main means of transportation, almost no one had ever experienced such a speed.

Even a war horse can only achieve this at the moment of charging.

The rumbling sound could not conceal the excitement of the officials.

"Look! That's the Yangtze River. It hasn't been long and we can already see the Yangtze River."

an official shouted.

The Yangtze River in the distance is in full view, and it quickly appears before everyone as the train moves forward.

At this time, there was a wooden sign next to the train tracks with the word "Stop" written on it.

When the craftsman in charge of operating the train saw this, he immediately began to pull the bell several times.

This is a signal sign, indicating that the train can start to slow down.

To stop, the steam train has to slide for more than a thousand meters.

The speeding train gradually slowed down.

The officials' emotions calmed down a little. Everyone was talking loudly about the moment and had no time to care about their own manners.

Zhu Yuanzhang in front asked Liu He beside him: "How long has it been?"

Liu He bowed and said, "Your Majesty, it's been about a quarter of an hour."

Zhu Yuanzhang exclaimed: "It's really fast, really fast. If we keep going, we can reach the Nine Borders in just a few days."

"The soldiers don't need to expend any physical energy on this train. They can eat and rest at night."

"We have traveled thousands of miles and are fully rested when we get there. We are ready to fight at any time."

"Not only soldiers, but also food and fodder can be carried along. Soldiers at the front no longer have to worry about logistics and can just fight without restraint."

"Good stuff, really good stuff."

I had heard my eldest grandson say it before, and it was just my imagination.

Now that I'm sitting on it and feeling it, it's completely different.

As the train gradually slowed down, it came to a full stop.

Hundreds of people were already waiting ahead.

They are the officials of the Scientific Research Department and the craftsmen headed by Huang Guan.

Not long after, the train stopped.

The craftsmen over there had already prepared a wooden ladder and quickly put it next to it.

Zhu Yuanzhang got off the train and looked at the nearby Yangtze River, feeling extremely relaxed.

"Grandpa, the train is running successfully. From today on, we can build railway tracks directly to Jiubian." Zhu Ying said beside him.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Repair it, repair it immediately, repair it immediately."

"Once it's repaired, we'll have to sit down and go to Jiubian in person."

The time was too short, and before Zhu Yuanzhang could savor the food, he had already arrived near the port.

Naturally, I want to ride farther.

The situation among the officials is similar.

Zhu Yuanzhang walked towards the officials and shouted, "See? This is the Research Department that you often impeach. This is the Research Department that you think is draining the national treasury."

"Now that you have ridden on this train once, do you know how important this steam train is to our Ming Dynasty?"

"This train can travel day and night without sleeping. Even the fastest horse in the world is not as fast as it."

"Now, do you know where the treasures of the Research Department have been spent?"