1890 King of Southeast Asia

On August 31, the eight locomotives and seventy carriages that the revolutionary army "took" in Jinling and Zhenjiang gathered at the Zhenjiang Railway Station.

Although there were fewer carriages, they were still enough to transport the vanguard troops. The 14th Regiment was loading the trains.

The carriages needed to transport people were the least, but there were still a lot of weapons and supplies, such as artillery. When transporting 105mm cannons, one carriage could only carry two, and more would not fit.

A 105mm cannon battalion had twelve cannons, and shells and spare parts could be stuffed in. In total, one battalion needed eight carriages.

If it was just pure infantry, without considering logistical supplies, one carriage could hold about a hundred people, and one battalion only needed five carriages.

It can be seen that the revolutionary army's carriages were seriously insufficient, but there was no way. The train carriages were the assets of British merchants, and Sun Wugang did not control the station when he entered Jinling.

It is understandable. At that time, he was thinking about how to use the five thousand men in his hands to effectively defend against the attack of the Qing Empire while ensuring the public security of hundreds of thousands of people in Jinling City. How could he go looking for trouble?

These locomotives and carriages were sealed in the warehouse after the British retreated. The revolutionary army opened the warehouse and found a group of workers and students to drive the train.

Although it sounds a bit robbery... um... um!

"In theory, it only takes ten hours to arrive from Zhenjiang to Shanghai, but in fact, the train operating company has stopped the train transportation from Zhenjiang to Shanghai." Li Zuowen stood on the platform with the 14th Pioneer Regiment standing beside him.

"What does it matter? Where is the railway, can't we just drive over there?" Hu Weijie asked hesitantly.

After all, he was not familiar with the railway. He only knew that the train was running along the rails on the railway. No one would receive him in the middle. At most, he would just drive forward.

"It's not that simple. In short, take down the stations along the way to ensure the smooth operation of the railway. Unless attacked, try not to cause casualties." Li Zuowen didn't know how to explain it, mainly because he didn't understand it very well.

I only know that although the train is on the railway, the direction is actually controlled by the workers on the ground.

Dinglingling...

Toot~~

The alarm bells at the station and the train whistle sounded together. The loading was completed, the boiler was boiling, and the train could set off.

"Then Chief of Staff, I'll leave first. See you in Shanghai." Hu Weijie saluted Li Zuowen.

"Bon voyage." Li Zuowen returned the salute.

The 14th Regiment and an artillery battalion and some of their logistical supplies will move forward with the train, but that's all. There are only 70 carriages in total, and they can only transport so many things.

The brigade headquarters and the 11th Regiment, the other two artillery battalions, the field hospital, the logistics and transportation troops, etc. will move along the railway. Although it is a detour, it is obviously faster than walking to pick them up as soon as the train turns around.

Toot~~

The train whistle kept blowing.

What's more... What's more... What's more... What's more~~

The trains drove out of the station, one after another, slowly and firmly heading east.

ps: These rails are backward in design, and the train technology is also backward. The maximum speed is only more than 20 kilometers per hour, with loud noise and slow acceleration.

...

An hour and a half later, just before Hu Weijie was about to be shaken, the train stopped.

"Why did it stop?" Hu Weijie ran to the driver's cab.

There were three young people responsible for driving the train, one of whom was an international student who was currently a teacher at Liangjiang Normal School, and the other two were his students.

"There is an obstacle ahead, and we must clear the obstacle before we can move forward." Zhong Chenxuan wiped his sweat, and his face was already black and yellow.

Driving a train at this time is a hard job, which made him exhausted.

Moreover, the driving environment of the train is extremely poor, and coal dust and high temperature are basically unavoidable. At this time, his snow-white shirt has been black and yellow.

"Obstacle? I'll ask someone to deal with it." Hu Weijie nodded, turned around and called a platoon to go down with him.

"Oh, this is top-quality rosewood. This one is worth ten taels of silver. Who left it here? This one is enough to make a cabinet." A soldier said as he walked forward to move the obstacle.

"Oh my God, it's all rosewood. How many hundreds of taels must it be?"

In front of them was a pile of messy wood.

"Rosewood? Isn't it expensive? There are at least twenty pieces, but only a few hundred taels?" Hu Weijie looked at the pile of wood with a bad face.

"Captain, my family is a carpenter in Tianjin. There are expensive rosewoods, such as this red rosewood, which is also used in the palace. The price is cheaper than red sandalwood.

This kind of... to put it bluntly, it's just miscellaneous wood. The British have more of it. I heard that it was shipped from Heizhou and is not worth much." The soldier said.

"The British..." Hu Weijie shook his head.

Wood, stone, cement blocks, scrap iron, glass, a lot of debris, finally a company came and cleaned it up for half an hour.

"Are we going to the station?" Hu Weijie climbed onto the front of the train and asked Zhong Chenxuan.

"Yes, according to the time, we should be in Danyang." Zhong Chenxuan said, while he adjusted his hat that was stained by engine oil.

"Keep going, stop when you see the platform, and leave the rest to us." Hu Weijie nodded.

...

After stopping for half an hour, the train started moving again. After running for ten minutes, the speed just reached 20 kilometers, and Zhong Chenxuan began to slow down.

Feeling the speed getting slower and slower, Hu Weijie came to the front of the train again.

"Captain Hu, the platform is ahead." Zhong Chenxuan pointed to the building a few hundred meters away.

"Drive slowly and stop when you are 200 meters away. If the other party shoots, hide immediately. The front of the train is thick enough to block the bullets. Don't stick your head out." Hu Weijie warned.

The train was getting slower and slower. Two minutes later, when it was more than 200 meters away from the train station, the train stopped.

The workers on the platform looked at this situation and were a little overwhelmed for a while. After all, there shouldn't be any cars coming from the northwest...

"Quick! Get off the train, deploy in battle formation, and find positions for mortars. Quick!" Hu Weijie stood at the door of the train and said to the soldiers in the carriage.

The soldiers rushed out of the carriage one by one in an orderly manner, jumped off the train, and looked for shelter on both sides of the railroad tracks. Finally, they had to lie down on the spot.

"Go forward, control all personnel at the train station, stay alert, but don't fire the first shot."

Under Hu Weijie's order, a company ran towards the train station in assault formation.

There was no resistance, or the British knew that resistance was not a good way. The revolutionary army easily took over the train station and imposed martial law.

"Colonel, this is the property of British merchants and is protected by the British Empire. You are provoking the British Empire! Get out of here immediately. You are not welcome here!" Paul, the commander of the railway station, shouted when he saw Hu Weijie.

"Sir, we just want to use the train. We will pay according to the market price." Hu Weijie thought about it.

If the train can be used normally, there should be no such thing as the train being blocked, and supplies can be obtained at the railway station.

If not, he may have to "fight" one station at a time. In comparison, paying a certain amount of money to reach Shanghai quickly is obviously more cost-effective.

"You are in the middle of a war. Britain is neutral and will not provide you with services. Please go back!" Paul looked at the train in the distance and said viciously.

The Qing Empire does not have the ability to produce locomotives, so it is obvious who the locomotive belongs to, but Paul did not bring it up.

After all, he is just a worker. It is enough to ensure that nothing happens in his own jurisdiction. There is no need to bring it up to anger the "rebels" in front of him.

What if the "rebels" get angry and kill him and he won't get anything? Can they still expect the railway company to support him and his family? Forget it. At most, they can give him a pension of several hundred pounds, which is just his annual salary.

"Mr. Stationmaster, I still hope you can cooperate. We will pay." Hu Weijie nodded and finally persuaded.

"Impossible! This is intervening in another country's war!" Paul said firmly, but his legs trembled unnaturally.

"Take this Mr. Stationmaster to the train and gather all the railway workers." Hu Weijie waved to the soldiers.

"Humph! I can walk by myself!" Paul did not resist at all. He snorted and took the initiative to walk towards the train, showing a round face.

After a while, all the railway workers were gathered together. Among them were British technical workers and Chinese coolies.

"Train drivers, stand up." Hu Weijie said lightly.

No one moved. Hu Weijie nodded and took out his pistol.

Bang!

After firing a shot into the sky, Hu Weijie pointed his pistol at several well-dressed Chinese.

"Tell me, who is the train driver?" Hu Weijie showed the arrogance of the Qing Empire officials, and this arrogance made the foreman pointed at by the gun tremble.

"Three!"

"I say! I say! Tom! Only little Tom is the driver at this station. Everyone else has left. Because of the war, there are fewer people." The foreman who was pointed at hurriedly said.

"Mr. Tom, please come with us. We need a driver. Don't worry, we will pay the salary."

"And you, let the train enter the station and replenish coal. If you don't do well..." Hu Weijie said indifferently.

"Yes! Yes! Sir, don't worry, leave it to us. You sit down, drink tea, drink tea, Liuzi! Are you blind? Serve tea quickly!" The foreman said attentively.

…………

"Mr. Sun, this is a robbery! It is an insult to the British Empire. The British Empire cannot sit idly by and watch such an act that infringes on the interests of legitimate merchants!" Halsey, the consul of the British Consulate in Sanzhen

"Halsey, we just want to borrow the train, but the British merchants do not cooperate. You know, we are guests and we are willing to pay!" Sun Zairen looked confused.

"Sir, we are neutral outsiders and cannot provide you with services, even if you pay!" Halsey suppressed his anger.

The revolutionary army seemed to have a strategic advantage, and Halsey had to maintain etiquette and secretly cursed the waste of the Qing Empire in his heart. At this time, they were still fighting internally and not doing their best to suppress the rebellion.

"Mr. Halsey, you see, things have already happened. You know, young people are the least important, and I can't force them to do so. That will only make them replace me." Sun Zairen looked distressed.

"But this matter cannot end like this. Britain will not tolerate such a thing..."

"Then, how about selling this railway to us?" Sun Zairen looked reluctant.

Halsey stood up suddenly and almost cursed.

"I can't make the decision on this deal, but we need a result for your army's disregard for Britain and occupying the legal property of British merchants!"

"So, if we complete this deal, it's just a misunderstanding, right? Don't worry, we will offer a price that satisfies British merchants according to the market price..."

.