Half a year after the completion of the Jinlu Railway, the railway connecting the capital city and the provincial capital Taiyuan was officially opened to traffic and was named the Jingtai Line.

The Beijing-Taiwan Line connects Tianjin from Taiyuan, Shanxi Province to Beijing. Most of the road sections are in Zhili Province. Through railways, Ningwufu's industrial products can be exported in large quantities. They rely on Tianjin Port to ship these products to all parts of the country and even exported abroad. Materials imported from all parts of the country or from abroad can also be imported into Shanxi in large quantities.

This closely links Taiyuan, capital, Tianjin and the entire Zhili Province. Using steam locomotives and telegrams, telephones replaced the original carriage transportation and flying pigeon letters, providing Shanxi with an extremely valuable lifeline for modern logistics, and the importance of Tianjin Port is therefore even more prominent.

Furthermore, Zhili Province has always been the most developed region in China with industry and agriculture, and the modern industrial and commercial foundations of several important cities are also good. Ningwufu can also exchange its own industrial products for its wheat, cotton, hemp, beets, fruits, sea salt, sea goods, various minerals and industrial products, forming a complementary trend. As a place where imperial power is concentrated, Zhili Province relies on this economic interest relationship, which is more conducive to the development of Shanxi.

As the starting point of the Beijing-Taiwan Railway, Taiyuan will be concentrated here first, and then it can be turned around inside and outside the province. Taiyuan will naturally become a commodity turnover station, so large cargo storage yards, warehouses and various lifting and transportation equipment are built. As a transportation center in Shanxi Province to outside the province, Taiyuan Railway Station is naturally the place where the flow of people is the most concentrated. With its complete telegraph, telephone and postal network, it has initially met the conditions to develop into a modern commercial center. However, the turnover of materials in the province is still using carriages with extremely low transportation efficiency, and the total logistics volume is severely restricted and must be changed.

Therefore, after discussing with Hu Pinzhi, Kang Fan decided to build another provincial main railway centered on Taiyuan and runs across the north and south of Shanxi. Hu Pinzhi named this railway Jinxing Line, and then extended the railway branch line horizontally to the east and west based on the Jinxing Line. It is planned to build a railway network covering the entire province in five years, connecting all important cities and important raw material supply bases in the province with Taiyuan.

Ningwu County is located between Datong, an important raw material supply base in the north, and Taiyuan, the most economically developed provincial capital, with a very superior geographical location. As long as the Jinxing Line is completed, under the leadership of Ningwu Prefecture, it can accelerate the economic development pace of Shanxi Province and further expand the scale of railway industry workers, which is of great significance.

The Jinxing Line is from Datong, an important town in northern Shanxi to Fenglingdu, a famous Yellow River ferry crossing in southwestern Shanxi. It is 865 kilometers long and has 108 large and large stations along the way. After discussing with everyone, Kang Fan decided to concentrate all resources in Shanxi Province and build them on his own. Hu Pinzhi is responsible for raising road construction funds, which are divided by provinces, roads, prefectures and counties in proportion. Ningwu Prefecture is not listed here, but is fully responsible for railway construction projects. It is planned to build the Ningwu County Railway Station into a railway hub, and transport the steam locomotives, carriages, rails, sleepers, electrical equipment and other road equipment produced by the Ningwu Prefecture industrial system, as well as steel, cement, bricks, glass and other materials required for the project to various construction sites along the Jinxing Railway through trains. At the same time, transmission lines and telegraph and telephone lines are set up along the railway line, power supply and communication systems are improved, and railway transportation, power transmission and postal and telecommunications networks are gradually built.

If this network can be built, it will be of great significance in both economic and military significance. The project is arduous, but it also provides a valuable opportunity for the new Ningwu Mansion to train itself.

Kang Fan set up a special working group for this purpose, responsible for the planning, coordination and implementation of the entire railway project, and the preliminary preparations began immediately.

Hu Pinzhi transferred 50,000 garrison troops to Ningwu Prefecture from all over Shanxi, specifically for railway engineering construction. Kang Fan gathered the established Jin army standing army and internal security forces and other more than 20,000 people together to go to various construction sites along the railway. In addition to the front-line troops, they allowed the engineers, medical, transportation, communication, cooking and other auxiliary troops to undertake surveying, mapping, transportation, construction, disease prevention and control, logistics supply, communication and communication, etc. to obtain practical training and accumulate experience.

In this way, nearly 80,000 strong officers and soldiers became the main force in railway engineering construction. The General Staff of the Jin Army was responsible for the daily management and logistics support of each unit and temporarily obeyed the dispatch of the working group.

All the government departments, factories, mines, hospitals, etc. in Ningwu Prefecture immediately put into intense work. A large number of laborers from all over the country came here and found their suitable positions in all walks of life. The industry in Ningwu Prefecture has obtained a large number of experienced workers, managers, engineering and technical personnel who are in urgent need of, and the human resources situation has been greatly improved. Mei Xiang, the students of the scientific and technological workers in the scientific research center, have led the vast number of scientific and technological workers to work hard day and night, and batches of technical achievements have become tangible products in various enterprises and are continuously produced. There are all kinds of black hair and yellow-skinned Chinese people contributing their talents and strength meticulously!

"Let those foreigners see the power of us Chinese!" Kang Fan said excitedly.

Hu Pinzhi heard it beside him, looking at Kang Fan with a look of relief, "Young people are so scary! I can be able to work with my nephew to pursue great development in Shanxi with my nephew, and this life will be worth it!"

When Kang Fan heard him call him "nephew" and got closer, he couldn't help feeling warm. But when he remembered that Hu Pinzhi was dismissed by Empress Dowager Cixi after the failure of the Reform Movement because he strongly advocated the Reform Movement, he felt miserable. It was 1897 now, how could Hu Pinzhi know what he would do next year? Kang Fan didn't know what to say.

Seeing that his expression was strange, Hu Pinzhi said kindly: "My nephew has something to say, but it's okay to say it."

Kang Fan hesitated for a long time before saying, "Sir, the officials believe that although the reformists in the court are deeply supported by the emperor, the promotion of the reform movement is still not in a hurry, and they may cause major changes in their rush. The adults support the reform. If the reform fails, it will definitely lead to implicit consequences, and the consequences will be unimaginable. I hope the adults will think twice."

Hu Pinzhi was stunned and asked, "What about the opinions of his virtuous nephew?"

Kang Fan said: "The officials believed that only by time, Shanxi's strength has become a decisive trend. However, it is now a critical period of development, and it is necessary for adults to control the overall situation. Why not put Shanxi's development first, temporarily abandon the affairs in the court, and escape without taking it all?"

Hu Pinzhi laughed, "The countries in the five continents, those who reform will prosper, and those who follow will be in danger. The Japanese country is a clear proof. The Qing Dynasty is weak and poor, and the people are slaughtered by the powerful. If they do not implement reforms, they will wait for the country to be destroyed? As a major minister of the country, how can I ignore the state affairs? My nephew joked."

Kang Fan persuaded him earnestly, but Hu Pin's attitude was firm and unmoved. Kang Fan was in vain.

"Some things cannot be changed just by wanting to change. Kang Fan, you are not a god." Mei Xiang advised.

Kang Fan was sad. The most important thing now is to use this rare development period to enhance the comprehensive strength of Ningwufu’s jurisdiction first, establish its own technological advantages, and then use this advantage to gradually expand to the whole province, with the effect of point leading to the whole. However, such as the Reform of 1898, the Reform Movement of 1898, can only let it go.

After the industrial system of Ningwufu was completed, Meixiang's classmates had already digested and absorbed the advanced industrial technology of the four cars they brought with them based on the knowledge they had mastered. A batch of new materials, new processes, new technologies, new equipment, new power, etc. developed in the scientific research center began to be applied to local industrial and agricultural production, and immediately showed a situation of blossoming everywhere: after the development of industrial departments such as metallurgy, chemical, electrical, and optics, it could provide the machinery manufacturing industry with various materials and equipment needed. After the machinery manufacturing industry received these support, it could produce various machine tools and mechanical products such as internal combustion engines, generators, motors and even cars, trains, ships, aircraft, etc., and of course, it could also produce guns, ammunition and other weapons and equipment. Since the machinery manufacturing industry is the department that best represents the overall strength of the industry, Kang Fan placed it in the most priority development position, and Meixiang's classmates also knew this and actively worked for it.

After the Beijing-Taiwan Line was completed and opened to traffic in July 1897, it was used at the beginning with old and small old antique trains rationed by the imperial court. These imported European and American trains were very primitive, with low power, low efficiency, and constant failures, and their performance was really unsatisfactory. Later, several classmates and workers from Mei Xiang from the Steam Locomotive Branch of the Machinery Joint Enterprise worked together to design and manufacture a new steam locomotive: the output power of each new locomotive increased to more than 3,000 horsepower, and the maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour during the test was reached, which could tow more than 2,000 tons of cargo at a time, and the performance was far exceeding the products of contemporary Western powers.

The new locomotive has a tall and powerful appearance, and it is breathing clouds and fog when driving, and it has become a symbol of the industry in Ningwufu that is brave to explore and enterprising. It is then named the "Yongjin" steam locomotive. After the new "Yongjin" steam locomotive was put into use in the spring of 1898, although the output was not large, it slowly and resolutely gradually replaced the imported old antique trains, and finally seized all the locomotive traction tasks of the railway line. Therefore, Kang Fan seized the opportunity and reported to Emperor Guangxu through Hu Pinzhi to repay the road construction money borrowed from the British on behalf of the Qing government, and won the right to road for the entire railway, and took the lifeline of the logistics in his own hands.

Mei Xiang's classmates used the gasoline engine of Wallace Chung's van as a reference to design and develop a gasoline engine with a power of 120 horsepower. Immediately afterwards, a tractor using this engine and a synthetic rubber high-patterned low-pressure pneumatic tire was developed. After injecting gasoline produced using coal liquefaction technology, the gasoline was rumbling and successfully tested in the He family's fields. Due to its small size and strong strength, it was named "Beetle".

In the blink of an eye, it was the spring plowing season of 1898. The first batch of six "beetle" tractors that were made were driven by Mei Xiang's classmates. They started to plough in one of the largest official farms in Shenchi County. Although these tractors were very simple, they were real power agricultural machinery: as the blue smoke spurted and the motor roared, the fertile black soil rolled out from under the plow, and in a flash it rushed from the field to the tail of the field. From this point of view, a guy like this is not as good as a hundred cows!

Hu Pinzhi, Yu Hao, He Shuichang and others were stunned by the scene in front of them! Although Chada Engine Company in Chicago, USA, built the world's first agricultural tractor "Baga" using gasoline internal combustion engines as early as 1889, this kind of monster has never appeared in contemporary China. How can it not be surprising?
Chapter completed!