Chapter 479: Opening Su Shi's Way of Physics

The next morning.

As the rumbling train arrived at the station, Xiangyang West Station was already bustling with people.

Su Xun's family of five stayed in Xiangyang for one night yesterday to relieve themselves from the fatigue of the boat trip in recent days. They will set off to take the train to Bianliang this morning.

Just after Mao Shi, they arrived at Xiangyang West Station.

Su Xun first went to the stationmaster's office and wrote a note, confirming that he was going to Bianliang for business, and then he was allowed to buy a ticket and board the train.

Because the only train line currently in operation in the Song Dynasty is the Beijing-Xiang Railway, the other Changcheng Railway from Chang'an to Chengdu, the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway from Xiangyang to Guangzhou, and the Beijing-North Railway from Bianliang to Yanyun are all under construction.

Like the Changcheng Railway, it was also planned in the fifth year of Qingli, and construction started in the sixth year of Qingli. As a result, the Beijing-Xiangxiang Railway has been in operation for four years, and the Changcheng-Chengdu Railway is limited by terrain and will not be opened to traffic until next year.

The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was planned in the ninth year of Qingli, which is probably the year after tomorrow. Only the Beijing-North Railway is slightly later, but the construction speed in the plain area will be very fast.

It’s just that even though Zhao Jun has made a thirty-year railway plan for the Song Dynasty, it is expected that in the next thirty years, the railways of the Song Dynasty will connect all roads, prefectures, and counties across the country, making trains the main means of transportation in the Song Dynasty.

But at least there is still only one.

Moreover, the main transportation of the Beijing-Xiangxiang Railway is still cargo. Most of the trains are trucks. For example, trucks often run every three hours, but passenger trains run every six hours. Delays are also common.

Therefore, the current trains are still not affordable for ordinary people, and ordinary people are not allowed to buy tickets and take trains between Beijing and Xiangyang for the time being.

It currently only serves a few clients. One is the big business bosses, such as those tea merchants, grain merchants, salt merchants, etc., who spend a lot of money to hire trains to transport goods. The bosses and their entourages can naturally enjoy the benefits of taking the train. convenient.

The second is for officials who are on official business and have proof that they are on official business. For example, if Su Xun is going to Bianliang this time, he will first go to the Ministry of Personnel to report, then go to the Court of Judges for selection and selection, and then wait for notification from the Ministry of Personnel, so he can naturally take the train.

The third is some people in special circumstances, such as extremely wealthy officials and dignitaries, or official officials who deliver urgent reports from the court, and troops who are ordered to travel between two places to change defenses and garrison.

This means that trains are not yet a convenient means of transportation for the common people.

But this is normal.

Just like many new technologies in later generations, they are often used in the military first. Since the things have not yet been popularized, they naturally cannot benefit the public. When the national railway network is rolled out, it will be normal for ordinary people to take the train.

Although Su Shi's family were officials on official business, they still had to buy tickets. The high ticket price was heartbreaking even for the old Su family, as a large local family in Meizhou with rich wealth.

After buying tickets from the ticket office, the family of five arrived at the waiting hall.

The train station is quite simple. It is surrounded by an iron fence on the outside, and a cement building is used inside to build a bungalow similar to a factory building.

This bungalow is the waiting station, but it occupies a very spacious area. The first floor is the waiting hall and the second floor is the office. The whole building is a bit like a small bus station in a county town in later generations, but it was already very luxurious in the Song Dynasty.

The waiting hall was quite quiet at the moment. The people coming and going were either big businessmen, big bosses, or officials and dignitaries. Naturally, it was not as noisy as the train stations and bus stations in later generations.

It's very messy outside.

Because of freight transportation, a large number of workers are required to move and unload goods outside. After the train arrives at the station, it often needs to change tracks through switches, complete the U-turn first, then stop outside to unload and load goods, and finally set off to Bianliang.

Freight trucks have a higher priority than passenger cars, so sometimes unloading and loading are often completed earlier or later, which takes away the departure time of passenger cars, resulting in delays.

Su Shi and Su Che looked around like two curious babies. They saw a huge open space to the south of the bungalow, where a large number of carriages were unloading. There were trains parked there in the further direction, and they were obviously loading.

Compared to Su Che, 16-year-old Su Shi quickly thought of a question. He said to Su Xun: "Father, the train leaves every hour and a half, right?"

"Um."

Su Xun thought Su Shi was asking about the departure time and said, "I asked stationmaster Liu before and he said we should wait another half an hour before we can leave."

Su Shi shook his head and said: "I don't want to ask this, I want to know if the train breaks down halfway and stops, and if it is not repaired within an hour and a half, will the train behind it hit the train in front of it? ?”

"this"

Su Xun was speechless for a moment. This question brought up his knowledge blind spot.

Su Che was smart and said: "It's impossible for the Ministry of Railways not to have thought of this. Moreover, the Beijing-Xiangxiang train has been running for many years and we haven't heard of any accidents. There should be some way to communicate."

"This young man is right."

A businessman sitting opposite their family smiled, pointed to the platform outside the station and said, "What do you think that is?"

They all looked over and saw that there were telephone poles with wires on them near the boarding platform outside.

It's just that electric wires are not yet widespread, and only some have been repaired in Chengdu. They use steam engines instead of hydroelectric power, so they don't recognize them.

Seeing their doubtful expressions, the businessman smiled and showed off: "That's a wire."

"electric wire?"

"Yes, the imperial court has installed wires along the route. There is a telegraph station at every station and a telegraph booth every ten miles."

"what's it for?"

"Wires can send telegrams to notify the platform. If a train stops due to a malfunction, the line between the train line and the telegraph booth can be used to report to the platform."

"Are there wires on the train?"

"Yes, each train has a six-mile-long wire, so that within a ten-mile range, no matter where the train stops due to a malfunction, it can be connected to the line of the telegraph booth in time."

"But."

Su Shi quickly thought of a loophole and said, "What if there is no time to report to the platform, or the train behind has already departed?"

"This is why the court arranged a trip every hour and a half, and restored Xinye County, which was abolished in the former Tang Dynasty."

The businessman laughed.

"Why?"

Su Shi was puzzled.

"Do you know how far a train can travel in one hour?"

"I don't know."

"About 200-220 li."

"I understand."

Su Shi suddenly realized: "The distance between each platform must be less than this li, so if a train breaks down, the previous train must not have reached the previous station."

"Yes."

The businessman said: "To be precise, it should be two stations, because the distance between each station on the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway is about 110 li. The front train has set off for an hour and a half, so the rear train is at least 300 li behind. Even if the time spent at each station is included, it will not be less than 300 li at most, so the rear train must be two stations behind. Originally, the most appropriate one should be one hour, but for safety reasons, the court still has one hour and a half, so as to completely eliminate the possibility of collision."

This issue was also first discussed by Zhao Jun and Zhao Zhen. At that time, the telegraph had not yet been invented, and they were very worried about the communication between trains.

Once a malfunction occurs, if the rear train is not informed in time, a rear-end collision may occur.

So at the beginning, the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway had a trip every three hours, that is, only four trips a day, just to prevent this from happening.

But not long after, Zhao Zhen developed the telegraph, which could carry out remote communication.

But the telegraph is not a telephone after all, and it is difficult to install wires on the train to operate, so the form of a telegraph booth was adopted.

It happened that when the Song Dynasty built the railway line, there was a patrol booth every ten miles, because the steel used in the railway was very expensive at that time, a pound of steel was comparable to a pound of copper, and some local people would steal the rails.

So there were wing troops guarding the railway line as railway soldiers, so that the patrol booths where the railway soldiers were stationed could connect to the wires on the train and send telegrams on the train - the telegraph machine was still too expensive, and it was impossible for each patrol booth to be equipped with one.

The stations along the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway are Xiangyang Station, Xinye Station, Nanyang Station, Fangcheng Station, Yexian Station, Xiangcheng Station, Xuchang Station, Weishi Station, and Kaifeng Station. The distance between each station is exactly about 60 kilometers.

At present, the maximum speed of the steam locomotive in the Song Dynasty can actually reach more than 100 kilometers per hour, but the Ministry of Railways stipulates that the speed must be maintained at 60-70 kilometers per hour. Including the time of stopping at the station, it is about 50 kilometers per hour.

Three hours is enough for the front train to overtake the rear train by at least two stations. Once the vehicle stops due to a malfunction, the train will have a time warning of two stations, and it can stop all lines instantly.

Although this can easily cause a large number of trains to be delayed, because sometimes the train often fails due to overload and heating, and it can be started again after stopping for a while.

But once it stops, all the trains behind will not be able to start, and this delay is often several hours.

But there is no way.

For safety reasons, we can only work with such an inefficient method. When wireless communication is available in the future, it may be solved.

"So this is the case. The people in the Ministry of Railways are really smart."

Su Shi was amazed.

"Since the court has done all this, it must have considered everything carefully. How could it disregard human lives?"

Although Su Xun heard this for the first time, it did not prevent him from educating his two sons. He said, "You should think more about problems in the future and never speak without thinking."

"Yes, father."

Su Shi and his brother responded.

Then Su Shi looked at the businessman and said, "The senior official is also very good. He can actually calculate that the next train will lag behind the previous one by two stations."

The businessman waved his hand and smiled, "This is nothing. I am a businessman who travels all over the country. I have taken a few trains. In addition, as a businessman, I have to learn some math. I will know it naturally after a little thought."

"I would like to ask, how does this wire send telegrams?"

Su Shi asked again.

He was very curious.

"Uh"

The merchant scratched his head and said, "I don't know about this. I heard that this is related to the physics that the government advocates."

"The physics?"

Su Shi thought for a while and said, "Some newspapers from Chengdu came to Meizhou before. I seem to have seen this. I heard that there are schools in Chengdu that teach this. Unfortunately..."

It's a pity that he has never learned it.

"Although Chengdu is a prosperous place for commerce, it is too far away from Bianliang. It is normal that the news is not well-informed. If you are interested in the physics, you can go to Bianliang to learn it."

The merchant said.

He looked Su Xun up and down again, and then asked, "Your Excellency is going to Beijing to be examined and transferred."

"Your Excellency has a good eye."

Su Xun did not deny it.

He did not bring a servant this time because he wanted to keep a low profile. He did not expect to be seen through.

But he was not surprised. Merchants traveled all over the country and had good eyesight. Besides, ordinary people could not ride trains, so it was normal for him to see that he was an official.

The merchant said to Su Xun: "You are very smart. You may try to take the Bianliang High School Examination this time when you go to Beijing. Now the imperial examination has gradually added mathematics, physics, and chemistry, which account for a lot of points. If you don't learn them, it will be difficult to take the imperial examination in the future."

Mathematics, physics, and chemistry?

Bianliang High School?

After thanking the merchant, the three Su family members remembered these pieces of information.

Especially Su Shi and Su Zhe.

Due to the misfortunes of the Su family in recent years, Su Xun first passed the imperial examination and took them to Guangning Prison.

Then the old master Su died of illness, and Su Xun had to go home to mourn.

Then there was a dispute with the Cheng family. Su Shi and his brothers stayed at home all year round, taught by their parents, but never went to school.

The main reason is that Su Xun didn't pay much attention to the imperial examination after he passed the imperial examination. In addition, he stayed at home all year round and was closed to the news. Naturally, he didn't know that the proportion of science in the imperial examination in recent years has increased.

Now that he has come out and seen the changes in the new era, he will naturally slowly accept their existence.

Otherwise, it would be bad if his two sons failed the exam.

As for the two brothers Su Shi and Su Zhe, they were full of curiosity about the science that the businessman talked about.

This rumbling train, the bright lights, and the wires that can communicate remotely all made them full of novelty.

Especially when they saw the rumbling train coming in the distance, their hearts were full of exploration spirit.

"Woo woo woo."

After more than ten minutes, with the sound of the whistle, the train finally arrived at the station.

But it was not leaving now.

The vehicle still needed to be refilled with water, coal, and passengers.

It was not until more than 40 minutes later, more than an hour after Su Shi and his friends entered the station, that they finally boarded the train.

The Su brothers were very curious when they took the train for the first time. When they got on the train, they saw rows of seats. Each passenger carried their luggage, found their own seat, and then put it on the luggage rack and sat down.

Many people were obviously old passengers, and they all put books on the table - this trip was a total of 380 kilometers and about 8 hours, so they naturally needed to prepare things to pass the time.

The five members of the Su family did not bring much luggage, mainly a few sets of clothes - Su Xun said it was inconvenient to bring too many things, so they would buy them in Bianliang.

After putting the luggage on the luggage rack, several people sat down, just five people in a row.

Su Xun and his sons sat together, and Su Shi happened to be at the window. He curiously groped for the transparent thick glass, which had not yet appeared in his hometown of Meizhou.

Moreover, the windows of the train can be opened. The previous passenger did not close the window, and Su Shi stuck his head out, just as the train began to warm up.

"Woo woo woo woo!"

White smoke billowed out of the chimney. The sun was not blazing in the morning, but Su Shi seemed to see a rainbow.

He didn't know how the train ran or why smoke came out of the chimney.

But he knew.

This trip to Bianliang was not only to meet Mr. Lu Xun, whom he admired, but also to see what the physics was.