The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 595

Not long after Yang Yiqing finished speaking, the train began to increase its speed little by little. Although the increase was very slow, everyone could see that the steel monster in front of them was accelerating.

As the train whistles sounded one after another, it sped up and soon disappeared from everyone's sight.

Before the train disappeared from everyone's sight, everyone saw that although the train's speed was far slower than that of a horse-drawn carriage, it wasn't very slow either.

Emperor Jiajing and his officials waited on the platform for a full half hour before the train reappeared in their sight.

When Zhou Chu and his group arrived at the next station, they changed tracks and turned back.

It's important to know that Zhou Chu drew the railway blueprints. While he might not be entirely sure about many aspects of the trains, he drew the railway blueprints with extreme precision, clearly showing how to change tracks.

"Your Majesty, the train trial run was a success."

Zhou Chu got off the train, looking excited.

The success of the train signifies that the Ming Dynasty is about to enter a new phase. This is not only of epoch-making significance for the Ming Dynasty, but also for the entire Chinese nation and even the whole world.

How fast can this train go?

Jiajing was also very excited and looked at Zhou Chu to ask.

"Your Majesty, the train's maximum speed when empty is about 80 li per hour. If it is loaded with carriages and full of goods, the speed is about 30 li per hour. Of course, this depends on how many carriages are loaded. The more carriages loaded, the slower the speed will be. But overall, it is more than 20 li per hour."

Zhou Chu answered truthfully.

This problem is easy to calculate; Hai Rui, Yang Shengzhai, and others already figured it out on the train.

Upon hearing this, Emperor Jiajing and his officials were immediately in an uproar.

Nowadays, the most common land transport vehicles are horse-drawn carriages and donkey carts. Horse-drawn carriages are faster than donkey carts. Horse-drawn carriages with only passengers are faster than empty trains. The speed is about 100 to 140 li per hour, depending on the breed and endurance of the horses.

If the truck is fully loaded with goods, the speed will be greatly reduced, with a speed of only twenty to thirty miles per hour.

Judging from the size of the train in front of him, Jiajing knew that its transport capacity was far superior to that of a horse-drawn carriage.

"If ten carriages were attached to this locomotive, and those ten carriages were filled with coal, how many kilograms could they hold?"

Jiajing continued to ask.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chu silently calculated in his mind. However, when it came to arithmetic, Zhou Chu was no match for Hai Rui and Yang Shengzhai, since the two of them were now experts in this field. Zhou Chu glanced at the two of them, and Yang Shengzhai immediately understood and stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, if it were ten carriages, based on the size of the carriages we designed, it would weigh about a million catties. However, the train has just been built, and it is still a bit difficult to pull ten fully loaded carriages. Four carriages should be enough, and four carriages can pull about 500,000 catties."

In terms of talent in mathematics and physics alone, Yang Shengzhai surpassed Hai Rui. Although Hai Rui was also very talented, what was more remarkable was his perseverance and dedication. Therefore, Zhou Chu appointed Hai Rui as the leader of the research team, with Yang Shengzhai serving as Hai Rui's deputy.

Facing the emperor, Hai Rui and the others were still somewhat intimidated, their minds not quite functioning. Yang Shengzhai, on the other hand, as the grandson of Yang Yiqing, had been used to grand occasions since childhood. Although he was also a little nervous facing Jiajing, he was not as nervous as Hai Rui and the others.

Upon hearing this, not only Jiajing, but also the officials behind him looked at Zhou Chu and the others in disbelief.

“Lord Zhou, it’s not that I’m questioning you, but this number is just too unbelievable. You should know that the maximum load a single horse-drawn carriage can carry is generally around 1,000 catties. Of course, a good horse can carry more, but the carrying capacity of your train is actually five hundred times that of a single horse-drawn carriage?”