The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

The three of Leo cleaned up the things on the ground, and then Jason picked up the remaining backpack and walked along the path between the wheat fields to the place where the cooking smoke was rising in the distance.

Although the field paths are a bit muddy, compared to the slippery ground in the Black Forest, walking on such roads is good enough.

While walking, Leo and Jason were also surprised by the invisible wheat fields beside the road.

Because compared to the primitive forest scene of wild grass and woods outside the east side of the Black Forest they had seen before, the scene on the west side really surprised them.

The wheat field was planted less than 50 meters away from the Black Forest. Is this still the Black Forest? This was a thought that came into the minds of both of them at the same time.

Jason, who couldn't hide his words, couldn't help asking his question, and Nelson, who happened to have read the history of the French Empire, was able to answer this question.

As they can see, unlike the relatively primitive forest on the east side of the Black Forest, all the developable land on the west side of the Black Forest has been developed to the extreme.

The main reason is because of the terrain. Most of the east side of the Black Forest is dominated by hills and mountains. The land is not suitable for development into farmland, while the west side is a complete large plain terrain. From the Bodo Hills at the southernmost end of the Black Forest , to the northernmost border of the French Empire, the Villent River, the entire land is dominated by plains.

Although the French Empire has always regarded itself as an ancient empire that has been passed down for more than 2,000 years, in fact, the French Empire has experienced thirteen royal families, which is now recognized by Velen historians. .

Among the thirteen dynasties, seven dynasties have always been stationed on the four great plains on the west side of the Black Forest, and their capitals are also set up in Leon, which is located in the center of the great plain. The seven dynasties of Leon, also known as the western French dynasty.

At the end of the Seventh Dynasty, a large-scale slave uprising broke out. A slave who was born as a gladiator not only led slaves, serfs, and free people to overthrow the French Dynasty at that time, but also almost killed the French royal family. Finally, the last heir of the royal family of France was taken by loyal knights to the Beirut tribe in the winter snowy land north of Velen Continent.

Ten years later, the grown-up descendants of the French royal family led the people of Beirut over the Vinovi Mountains and came to the east side of the Black Forest. It took several years to subdue the mountain tribes there. After that, he led an army of more than 100,000 people, ventured across the Black Forest from the Valente River that runs through the Black Forest, bypassed the natural fortress at the southern end of the Velen Continent, and directly rushed to the center of the slave dynasty. It took less than a month to completely disintegrate This slave dynasty that has occupied the west side of the Velen continent for more than ten years.

The new emperor of the French Empire felt that the previous dynasty would be overthrown by slaves so easily because they had lived in the favorable environment of the Valencia Continent for a long time, and their long-term comfortable life had corroded their fighting spirit. The thing is to move the capital, move the imperial capital from Leon to Winterring City under the Vinovi Mountains in the northern part of the Eastern Continent.

As the capital of the Faran Empire moved to Winterrin City on the east side of the mainland, historians also habitually referred to the dynasty that followed it as the Six Dynasties of Winterrin, or the Eastern Farland Dynasty.

However, what is different from historians is that the anthropological school that has emerged in the past 100 years is more willing to call the western French dynasty the farming dynasty, while the eastern French dynasty is called the knight dynasty.

Because looking at the seven dynasties in the west, the main national policy of the French Empire was to reclaim land and cut mountains to make fields.

Most of the six dynasties in the east are related to war. In the history of the French Empire, there were 300 knights. This period was called the prosperous age of the Villen Knights, and this period was during the Eastern Kingdom of France.

It is precisely because of the difference in national policies that the use and development of land in the two dynasties were also different.

The eastern dynasties prefer to keep the original appearance of the terrain. They will build fortresses and castles in some dangerous places to defend against possible enemies, and the plains will be used by them to domesticate war horses instead of reclaiming them as farmland.

On the other hand, the western dynasties turned all the land that could be reclaimed into farmland. They developed the land to the extreme, and even boldly cut down all the trees near the Black Forest, and planted crops such as wheat on the land. The land there is very fertile, and anything you sprinkle on it can grow well.

In addition, although the French Empire has never recognized it, some historians have discovered that during the Western Dynasty, the then Emperor of the French Empire sacrificed the lives of a large number of slaves every year in order to be able to reclaim the land outside the Black Forest. The ancient creatures in the black forest, and this was also the main cause of the slave uprising.

When Nelson explained why the land on the west side of the Black Forest was so thoroughly reclaimed, the group had already arrived at the small town where the cooking smoke rose in the distance.

After entering this slate town, the three of them found a hotel to freshen up, changed their clothes, and then found a small restaurant in the town to eat something.

While eating in a small restaurant, they heard some people in the surrounding town talking about a young man named Albon. They mentioned that Albon seemed to have gone to the Black Forest not long ago, and because the Black Forest was dense Fog appeared, thinking that Albon must be dead.

When people here talk about Albon's death, they have completely opposite attitudes.

One is the attitude of the elders, with expressions of regret and regret on the surface, but the tone of speech is not difficult to hear that they seem to be very happy. The other type is young people. They are really sad about Albon's death, and they don't want to believe that Albon is dead. They all think that Albon should leave the small town and go to Leon and other big cities.

This young man from Alban made the three of them think of the poor man who was poisoned to death in the Black Forest. Although they knew the final outcome of this young man very well, it was unavoidable, and they did not plan to say it.

"If you want to go to Lanxi, what is the best way to go?" Nelson asked the restaurant owner when he was checking out.

"If you're not in a hurry and don't have much money, you can take a carriage at the intersection. Every morning at eight o'clock in the town, there are six carriages dedicated to taking people from the town to Lanxi, and they will arrive in the afternoon." The restaurant owner looked for He said, "If you are on your way and have some money, you can use the steam train for the quarry. From 6:00 in the morning, there will be another steam train from the quarry every two hours to Lanxi to transport stone materials." , the train will have a carriage dedicated to passenger transport, but it will cost a lot more than taking a horse-drawn carriage.”

"Thank you." Nelson thanked him, took the change, left the restaurant with Leo, and walked towards the railway platform built by the quarry in the town.

After arriving at the train station platform, I was lucky. I just sat on the chair for a while, and the train came from the direction of the quarry.

Compared with Nelson and Jason, who had seen and personally ridden a steam train, it was the first time for Leo to see this kind of mechanical product that could only be seen in old earth books or movies. Perhaps Leo's body had been on a steam train before, but this memory did not seem to be inherited by Leo.

In Leo's view, the steam train that is slowly entering the platform is definitely a big monster. Although the size cannot be compared with those of the Earth Alliance spaceships, the heaviness caused by the volume, the feeling of being in the steam The sense of coercion slowly approaching is stronger than that of those spaceships. Even when the locomotive approached his position, he had the illusion that the train would rush out of the rails and hit him, and because of this illusion, he had a strong desire to attack.

Compared with the steam train recorded in the old earth movies that Leo watched, this steam train is huge now. Leo estimated a little, the height of the steam locomotive is about ten meters, and the width is also ten meters. , the length reached more than 30 meters, except for the driver's cab, the remaining parts were all huge steam cylinders, counting as many as seven. There are two separate air outlets next to each steam cylinder, and these air outlets continuously emit steam, soon completely submerging the small platform.

Perhaps it is to be able to withstand such a heavy train, so the rails in this world are also different from those on the old earth. The rails here are at least fifty centimeters wide and forty centimeters thick, and there are not only two instead of four rails.

As a doctor, Nelson can be said to be knowledgeable and knowledgeable, but in terms of knowledge about steam trains, he unexpectedly lost to Jason.

Although Jason's brain is a bit stupid, he has an extraordinary memory for the things he likes, so as a steam train fan, he can easily tell the model, specification, etc. of every type of train in the world today. Others seem extremely boring The data.

The train stopped as a puff of steam escaped from the exhaust pipe, covering the entire small station.

At this time, Jason was like a child seeing a toy. He walked around the huge locomotive several times, and reached out to touch here and there. I will also climb under the car and touch the chassis of the train with my own hands.

After the service staff on the train guided the three of them to the designated seats in the passenger car at the end, Jason changed his previous taciturnity and introduced the train to Leo and Nelson impatiently, as if he had changed into a different person.

Under Jason's introduction, Leo knew that the model of the giant locomotive in front was the Maris Titan VII locomotive. The locomotive that was made was a locomotive specially made by the Academy of Sciences of the Maris Kingdom in the eastern Minsk continent. .

Because the Maris Kingdom has a large number of mineral deposits, but in the past due to transportation problems, these deposits were difficult to develop. Later, the Maris Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Mechanical Engineering created a giant locomotive specifically for the transportation of minerals, that is, Titan. Series locomotives.

Now the Titan VII locomotive they built is the best locomotive of its kind, and its power can make it tow at least fifty and up to ninety wagons full of various goods, so now The vast majority of freight locomotives in various countries use Titan model locomotives.

However, this type of locomotive is not without its disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is that it must have special rails, and four rails need to be laid, which greatly increases the operating cost.

In addition, the speed of this type of train is also a problem. According to the test, even if it is empty, the speed of the Titan locomotive is a little slower than other common locomotives. If the carriage is attached, the speed will slow down to only half of the ordinary train or even lower. .

But even so, the speed of this kind of train is still much faster than that of a horse-drawn carriage. Some people in Shiban Town who are in a hurry to go to Lanxi for business will choose to take the train, just because the price of the ticket discourages many people.

For example, the carriage that Leo and the others took was originally specially prepared for the managers of all levels of the quarry. There are sofas, a bar and a restaurant, and several small rooms specially provided for rest. It can also be placed in other places. It can be regarded as a high-end car. Therefore, the bus tickets here are also very expensive. It costs 50 Biya, which is almost ten days of meals for a family of four. It is definitely not a price that the residents of Shiban Town can accept.

However, the person in charge of the train is a very business-minded person, who specially hangs a freight car at the end of the train to transform it into a passenger car.

He managed to separate a layer of wooden boards in the middle of the carriage, transforming the carriage into upper and lower floors, and did not install seats. Tickets were counted by head, and each person only needed one Biya to get on the train until the carriage was full. And this carriage will not be counted in the freight expenditure, that is to say, how many people can be transported in this carriage, and how much extra income he can get.

Thus, the scene that Leo sees through the car window now appeared. More than two hundred people were forced into the last car by the station staff. He didn't even need to enter that car. He could feel the suffocation of the crowded people inside, which reminded him of the painful memories of when tens of thousands of people were forced into a small troop carrier when they retreated from the great battle.

Just when Leo was in love with the situation in the rear compartment, a siren piercing into the sky sounded from the front, the compartment vibrated slightly and made a series of creaking sounds, and slowly drove away from the platform, and gradually increased the speed until entering A relatively stable uniform velocity state.

The train leaving Shiban Town did not head west immediately, and the trailer full of stones was extremely heavy. Even with a Titan model locomotive, it was very difficult to drag the more than 70 carriages up the undulating hills, so we had to Sticking to the wheat fields, it circles along the gentle area on the edge of the hilly area, and moves westward a little bit.

One of the orbiting tracks was almost parallel to the Black Forest, and the distance between the two was less than 20 meters. Leo, who was sitting by the car window, watched the Black Forest shrouded in thick fog move quickly in front of him.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he vaguely felt that the unknown being who had been watching him before appeared in the thick fog again, and seemed to be watching him as well, and was moving with the train. This feeling didn't completely disappear until the train passed this section, turned a corner, and disappeared after approaching an arched hill.