The special train that Ang Lee was on had more than 20 carriages, and the total length was one to two miles. There were nearly 500 people on the train, including 300 elite guards, Ang Lee's own guards, and the technical talents that he brought along. There were also many people on the train itself, such as the driver, the cook, and so on.
Ten carriages were enough for all the people, but there were also a lot of supplies, so they naturally needed more carriages.
There were a lot of supplies. Just Ang Lee's personal supplies took up two whole carriages, including two extremely reliable small cars, two docile horses, and of course, a telegraph.
The 300 elite guards and Ang Lee's personal guards all had horses. However, it would be inconvenient to carry horses on a long journey, so they only brought 50 horses. After arriving at their destination, if there was a need for horses, they could choose from the local cavalry. These guards were all high-level guards in the capital, so they had the right to do so. The local army could only obey.
In addition, they could not go to Summer Province empty-handed. At the very least, they had to bring some practical weapons and daily necessities for the garrison there. This would also pacify the soldiers' morale and make them more willing to risk their lives.
The weapons were all improved weapons, which were much better than the ones that the soldiers were currently using. As for daily necessities, they were nothing more than newly developed items such as solar stoves. These would be of great help in improving the soldiers' living standards.
After all the people and equipment boarded the train, it slowly left the station and gradually accelerated, heading north to Summer Province.
Sitting in the third high-end carriage, Ang Lee looked at the scenery outside the window and felt very happy. He could finally go out to play again, so how could he not be happy?
According to Ang Lee's request, tall trees were planted on both sides of the railway. There was also a dirt road that was not tall, which was naturally formed when the railway was being built. Without this road, the railway could not be built smoothly. After all, supplies still needed to be transported by road.
A row of electric poles was erected near the trees. This was a line that had just been built recently. Its purpose was to connect the capital to Summer Province. In this way, when Ang Lee was in Summer Province, he could directly contact the capital. No matter what happened in the capital, Ang Lee could be informed immediately.
On the way to Summer Province, they had to pass through Fang Province, Feng Province, Yanzhou, and many rivers. The larger ones included the Wei River, the Jing River, the Luo River, the Huachi River, the upper reaches of the Luo River, the Wu River, and so on. Bridges had to be built on every river they passed, so the cost of this railway was really not low. However, this was an important strategic railway in the north, so it was worth it no matter how much money it cost.
As the capital continued to expand, in the first hour, Ang Lee saw that the scenery outside the window was more prosperous. Besides the scenery on both sides of the road, there were houses and markets, giving people a very comfortable feeling. After an hour, when the carriage passed through Jingyang County, what appeared in front of Ang Lee was another scene. There were green wheat fields everywhere, and the wheat in the early spring had already sprouted. There were very few houses and people, and the houses were very low. They were basically one-story straw huts, and there were very few brick houses.
Although it was not very far from the capital, the area to the north of Jingyang County was indeed very backward and barren. It was not that there was no good land here, and many rivers flowed through it. However, because the capital's industry had not yet expanded here, and the people here envied the prosperity and resources of the capital, a large number of people entered the capital to work hard. Most of the people who stayed here were not very promising people, as well as the elderly and children. As a result, this area naturally became more desolate, and no one was responsible for tidying and repairing the ruined vegetable gardens.
In other words, it was the prosperity of the capital, Chang 'an, that attracted the local power away. Like a vampire, it sucked the fresh blood of the surrounding counties, making these areas poorer, more desolate, and more dilapidated than before.
The speed of the train was not fast. It could travel more than a hundred miles in about two hours. If it did not stop for a day, it could travel more than a thousand miles. Xia Province was only more than a thousand miles away, so as long as it did not stop, it could reach Xia Province in one day and one night. There seemed to be not many places worth stopping along the way.
The area of a carriage was 60 square meters. Such a large area could reach the level of two bedrooms and one living room in the future. At this time, the luxurious carriages of the Tang dynasty were of this standard. However, there was one bedroom, one living room, one bathroom, and one storage. Its functions were extraordinarily powerful. This did not include a passage on the side, which was a narrow corridor that people could pass through to meet the needs of the guests to walk from one carriage to another.
In such a large carriage, there were only two people, Ang Lee and Li Hanlu. It could be said that it was very spacious. The closest personal guards were also in the carriage behind. As long as Ang Lee did not summon them, these guards would not enter the carriage where Ang Lee was at will to protect his personal privacy.
The 60-square-meter luxurious carriage was all for Ang Lee and Li Hanlu. In such a spacious environment, it was naturally very comfortable to sit inside.
Ang Lee sat in the living room with a soft sofa next to the window. Li Hanlu was sitting next to him, reading the Tang dynasty newspaper with great interest.
"Hanlu, is there any interesting news?"
Ang Lee saw Li Hanlu reading so seriously and asked with a smile.
Li Hanlu continued to read the newspaper and replied, "There is nothing particularly interesting. Most of it is related to the lantern festival. More than half of it is. There are also many pictures of the lantern festival."
Ang Lee picked up a Tang dynasty newspaper, turned a page casually, and saw a large number of lanterns.
Although the quality of the Tang dynasty newspaper was getting higher and higher, the aesthetic requirements of the people had also greatly improved. As a result, they would feel that the quality of the Tang dynasty newspaper had declined. In fact, the quality of the Tang dynasty newspaper had not declined. On the contrary, it had greatly increased. It was the readers' taste that had become more and more sophisticated. This was the most fundamental reason and the only reliable reason.
Li An was no longer interested in boring gossip news and advertisements. These things were published in the newspapers almost every day, and people were sick of reading them. Even Li An's serialization was showing signs of fatigue. Many people would feel that it was all the same after reading too many books. The content of the books was somewhat similar, and reading them would cause people to be aesthetically fatigued. And aesthetically fatigued was the most fatal thing. It would cause a person to lose interest in certain things, or even completely lose interest in them.
"I'm so sleepy! Take your time to read it! I'm going to sleep for a while. "
Ang Lee didn't sleep well last night. At this moment, the car had been driving for a long time, and Ang Lee gradually felt sleepy. It was time to make up for it.
Li Hanlu continued to read the newspaper and didn't pay attention to Ang Lee.
After sleeping for about an hour, Ang Lee woke up and found Li Hanlu lying beside him. Her eyes were quietly looking at his face. Her expression was indifferent, and he couldn't tell what she was feeling.
"Hanlu, why are you looking at me? How long have I slept?"
Ang Lee asked.
"It's been more than an hour. It's time for lunch in another hour."
Li Hanlu answered.
Ang Lee rubbed his eyes and looked out of the window. He said, "This should be Huayuan County. It looks more dilapidated than Jingyang County!"
"Yes! If this place is like this, I can't imagine how poor Summer Province is. "
Li Hanlu said.
In fact, although these places were very poor, they didn't lack food and drink. It was much better than in previous years. The reason why they felt that this place was very poor was that they had lived in Chang 'an, the capital city, for a long time and were used to the prosperity of Chang' an. Therefore, when they saw the dilapidated counties around them, they naturally felt a little uncomfortable. This was a very natural thing.
As for Summer Province in the north, needless to say, it was definitely poorer. After all, although it was poor, it was a land of fish and rice. The people living in such an environment didn't have to worry about food and drink. However, Summer Province was different. It was close to the desert and was geographically more northerly. It was a bitter and cold place. The output and quality of crops would definitely be worse. However, perhaps the meat there would be cheaper. In the relatively barren grassland area, animal husbandry would generally develop very well. Moreover, Summer Province was the trade center of the grassland nomads and the Tang dynasty. In theory, the center of the county would definitely be more prosperous, but the suburbs would be different and would be very dilapidated.
"Summer State City is a city of trade between the grassland tribes and the Great Tang. It's a medium-sized city, and the market in the city should be very prosperous. Otherwise, it wouldn't have attracted so many bandits to cause trouble."
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said.
Li Hanlu was a little excited when she heard about the Horse Gangs. She said, "We've come all the way here. We must exterminate these Horse Gangs."
Ang Lee nodded and said, "I've only heard about the Horse Gangs. I don't know the specific situation. We need to investigate it before we decide whether to exterminate them or to exterminate them."
"What do you mean, husband? Do these Horse Gangs have something they can't tell us?"
Li Hanlu asked.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Maybe! Everything is possible. We haven't seen these Horse Gangs before. How do we know what's going on with them? "
"General Guo is a famous general of the Tang dynasty. Even he can't exterminate these Horse Gangs in a short time. Then, can we successfully exterminate these Horse Gangs when we come here?"
Li Hanlu was a little doubtful.
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "Who knows? We can't know until we get there. Even if we can't exterminate the Horse Gangs, it's good to come out and enjoy the scenery. "
"You're right, husband. We came out to relax. Whether we can exterminate the Horse Gangs or not is secondary."
Li Hanlu said.
This time, in order to accommodate Ang Lee's trip, there were no vehicles traveling for two hours before and four hours after the departure of Ang Lee's special train. This was to prevent collisions and ensure absolute safety.
In other words, Ang Lee's train could stop halfway for four hours, as long as it didn't block the cars behind it.
When it was time for lunch, a subordinate came over to greet them.
"Madam, what would you like to eat?"
Ang Lee asked for Li Hanlu's opinion.
"Anything! I'm not that hungry. "
Li Hanlu said with a smile.
Ang Lee didn't know what to eat. He looked out the window and said, "What's outside?"
The subordinate replied, "Assistant Minister Li, it's Fenghuang Valley."
"Fenghuang Valley, the scenery is not bad! Stop the train! We'll continue after eating. "
Ang Lee ordered.
"Yes, Assistant Minister Li."
The subordinate hurried to pass on the order.
Soon, the train began to slow down and gradually came to a stop. Moreover, it stopped at a place with a rather beautiful scenery. Both sides were towering mountains and the undulating terrain was very beautiful. There were even many branches of evergreen plants. These evergreen plants looked so pleasant to look at.
At this time, it was a sunny day, the sun was shining brightly, and the temperature was quite comfortable. After Li An and Li Hanlu got off the car, dozens of guards also got off the car one after another, walking in all directions to protect Li An's safety.
Not far from the train tracks was a small hill. Ang Lee decided to climb up to see the scenery. The guards led the way. As it wasn't very high, they climbed up quickly. Once they reached the top, they saw a village in the distance. The villagers could also see it, but because of the distance, they couldn't see it clearly. At the bottom of the hill, near the train tracks, there was a fence made of tree branches. Its purpose was to prevent the villagers from getting close to the train tracks. After all, getting close to the train tracks was a very dangerous thing. If a car suddenly passed by, it would be very dangerous.
And it wasn't as if this sort of danger had never appeared before. Ever since the automatic railways had appeared in the Great Tang, there had been many tragedies of people being hit by vehicles. But as the common people began to revere the rails, such incidents had gradually decreased and been brought to a reasonable level.
Although the appearance of the train had caused some casualties to the common people, these losses were not worth mentioning compared to the enormous effect of the train. The loss of a small number of common people was nothing to an empire, but the enormous freight capacity of the train could greatly increase the efficiency of the Great Tang Empire's goods and greatly reduce the cost of logistics. The significance of this was far too great, and the train could not be stopped just because a few common people had been killed.
Perhaps because they saw a big train stopped nearby, some people in the village came over to watch the fun. However, the adults kept scolding the children to make them behave to prevent them from being in danger.
The children in the village were also timid. After getting closer, they found that there were many soldiers with weapons. They were so scared that they didn't dare to leave. An old man with a white beard came over to greet them with five or six people.
The hill came from the direction of the village. There was almost no slope. Even the elderly could easily walk up without any pressure.
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