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Chapter 1089: Transportation Routes

Grumbling was one thing, but business still had to be attended to.

Padi Tu led his army into Kaixian.

The county magistrate and Tujia Pacification Commissioner Ran Ke both welcomed them, genuinely fearing that if this relief force left, the rebels would launch another surprise counterattack, putting Kaixian in peril once more.

Padi Tu entered the city and saw it swarming with refugees. Just as Ran Ke had said, people from the surrounding mountain villages had been forced to flee into the county seat. It was the same as when marauding bandits had plagued Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan: the common folk had no choice but to abandon their homes and rush to the cities for safety.

Padi Tu started, "Save—"

Before he could finish his sentence, the militia battalion commander beside him leaned in and whispered, "This is Sichuan, not our base of operations. We don't have enough supplies to help them right now; we have to wait for the transport convoy."

Padi Tu asked, "So where is the transport convoy?"

"Still a long way off," the commander muttered. "We barely made it here, getting lost and taking detours along the way. Do you think the transport convoy will have an easy trip?"

Padi Tu blinked. "Uh..."

In half of Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan, Gao Family Village's transport convoys could already deliver supplies with ease using their vehicles. But here in Sichuan, it was a different story; concrete roads hadn't even been built yet.

Their transport vehicles could only rely on their rather subpar off-road capabilities to navigate the dirt roads.

And the official roads in this Sichuan region were a constant challenge: steep ascents, sudden descents, treacherous S-curves, and stretches that narrowed to impassable widths...

The transport convoys and engineer corps had to work in tandem just to get the vehicles to barely transport supplies, making the task incredibly challenging.

Padi Tu declared, "Bear with it! Just a few more days, and when the transport convoy arrives, I'll make sure these refugees get good food!"

Meanwhile, a mass-produced avatar of the Heavenly Lord stood atop a mountain overlooking the breathtaking scenery of the Yangtze River Three Gorges.

Cheng Xu stood beside him and whispered, "Is the Heavenly Lord enjoying the view?"

Li Daoxuan turned his head. "I'm studying the shipping routes."

Cheng Xu immediately understood. "Transportation problems, then?"

"Without solving the transportation problem, we can't save Sichuan."

Li Daoxuan's Field of View Expansion hadn't yet reached Sichuan, preventing him from directly deploying supplies there. This meant the 'little people' had to transport everything themselves. However, Sichuan's challenging terrain, coupled with the insufficient capacity of the steam cars—which would be half-dead after just one climb—made land transport incredibly difficult.

Water transport was the only option!

That was why Li Daoxuan was standing by the Three Gorges.

As a native of Chongqing, Li Daoxuan had a basic understanding of Yangtze River shipping. Whether in modern times or ancient, transport ships could reliably navigate to Chongqing City; only the Three Gorges section presented a challenge, the rest was manageable.

Reliant on Yangtze River shipping, they could cover half of Sichuan's logistical needs.

But the problem was, how would the supplies enter the Yangtze River?

If Gao Family Village's supplies first traveled via the Yellow River, then took the Huai River to enter the Yangtze, it would be far too distant, a massive detour that would waste immense time on the road and incur significant grain losses.

"Is there a shortcut that could get the supplies into the Yangtze River?"

Li Daoxuan frowned, deep in thought.

Just then, Cheng Xu suddenly spoke up. "What about the Han River? From ancient times, the Han River has been navigable, from Hanzhong Prefecture upstream all the way to Hankou downstream; the entire route is well-established. We could dispatch ships from Hanzhong, transport supplies directly to Wuhan, then enter the Yangtze River there, and finally travel upstream to deliver supplies into Sichuan. While it might seem like a bit of a detour, it's actually much faster than land transport."

Li Daoxuan exclaimed, "Oh? That's a good idea. Hanzhong... that name sounds familiar. Which of our people mentioned Hanzhong before?"

Cheng Xu mused, "Let me think..."

He slapped his thigh. "I remember now! Zhu Cunji, the Prince of Qin's heir, has been working on the West Han Railway—that's the railway line from Xi'an to Hanzhong Prefecture, isn't it? I wonder if it's finished yet?"

Li Daoxuan quickly shifted his perspective, glanced back at Shaanxi, then switched back, laughing. "It's already operational!"

Zhu Cunji and Zhu Yujian were both sitting on the grand train, returning to Xi'an.

Zhu Yujian had also changed into a knight-errant's attire, complete with a bamboo hat, looking every bit like a great, if somewhat foolish, hero.

Two men in bamboo hats sitting on a train made the entire carriage feel rather odd.

Zhu Yujian, like some bewildered caveman, yelped and hollered at the grand train. "Such a wondrous thing exists in this world! It's incredible, absolutely incredible!"

"Hahaha, incredible, isn't it?" Zhu Cunji said smugly. "I have one of these myself, and I actually have two of them."

"What?" Zhu Yujian was astonished. "You have two? How... how did you acquire such things?"

Zhu Cunji made a gesture of weighing silver in his hand and chuckled, "Bought them!"

Zhu Yujian was speechless for a moment.

Right, the Prince of Tang's manor was poor and couldn't afford anything substantial, but the Prince of Qin's manor was wealthy! To be able to buy such grand iron carriages, and even two of them, was simply outrageous extravagance.

Zhu Yujian cautiously asked, "One of these must cost tens of thousands of silver taels, surely?"

Zhu Cunji burst out laughing. "Much, much more! Even over a hundred thousand taels wouldn't cover it. The iron carriages themselves are minor; the real cost lies in the tracks—the road laid beneath the iron carriages."

Zhu Yujian understood instantly. "It requires many workers, vast quantities of iron, countless railway sleepers... that's truly no small undertaking."

Zhu Cunji chuckled. "Hehehe, precisely! But I have two of them, hahahaha!"

At the peak of his pride, his laughter echoed through the entire carriage.

Just then, the golden-threaded Heavenly Lord on his chest suddenly spoke. "Zhu Cunji."

"Ah, the Heavenly Lord has come!" Zhu Cunji hastily bowed.

The first time Zhu Yujian saw the Heavenly Lord, he'd been scared senseless, but after Zhu Cunji's explanations, he now considered himself 'one of the faithful' and quickly bowed alongside him.

Li Daoxuan asked, "The militia needs to use your West Han Railway to transport a batch of supplies."

Zhu Cunji was overjoyed. "The Heavenly Lord wants to use it? Feel free! For my possessions to be of service to the Heavenly Lord, that's truly wonderful! Hahahaha, who would dare call me a useless fop now? My things are even useful to the Heavenly Lord; I am the most useful person in all the world!"

Zhu Yujian was speechless.

Li Daoxuan stated, "But it cannot be used for free! Your West Han Railway is privately owned, unlike the village-operated West Luo Railway. The village cannot use it without compensation; it is proper that they purchase tickets from you."

Zhu Cunji protested, "Oh? I wouldn't dare accept this money; it's far too hot to handle."

Li Daoxuan insisted, "You must accept it! Without rules, there is no order. If the village were to simply take things for free from private enterprises, or freely occupy their resources, it would inevitably lead to chaos in the future. Therefore, I intend to use your West Han Railway as an example: from now on, all cooperation between village-operated and private enterprises must involve settled payments, with no exceptions."