This triumphal army returning north took a boat down the Yangtze River, and then turned to the Grand Canal of Beijing and Hangzhou to return to the capital.

Along the way, I rushed to Tongzhou in early December of the 18th year of Chongzhen.

Standing on the front deck and looking at Tongzhou, which was already in sight in the distance, Zhou Yuji sighed very much: "I finally came back before the canal freezes. Otherwise, this year's New Year, maybe I will celebrate the New Year outside again!"

After he said this, no one paid attention to him. The generals around him were all looking at Tongzhou in the distance with their telescopes.

"Not good, Tongzhou seems to be out of water!" Bai Guangen said suddenly and a little anxiously.

"What?" Zhou Yuji was surprised when he heard this, and quickly picked up the telescope on his chest and looked at it.

Sure enough, I saw Tongzhou in the distance. If I guessed correctly, it would be near Tongzhou Pier. There was smoke. Could it be that the warehouse was on fire?

Thinking of this, Zhou Yuji was a little worried. As soon as he came back, he encountered such a thing. It was not a good omen!

I haven't been back for so long, and I don't know what's going on in the capital?

"Ding..."

When Yuan Shizhong heard this, he couldn't help but say in surprise: "What's that sound? How strange?"

Everyone around him heard it, but they didn't know what it was.

At this moment, on the bow of the boat passing by them, a young man laughed loudly and said, "How long have the soldiers not been back? It was the sound of a steam train! The smoke was also sent by the steam train. I don't know what happened today, so I mobilized a lot of steam trains at the Tongzhou Railway Station!"

“???”

Hearing the young man's words, a string of question marks popped up in Zhou Yuji and others' minds: Steam train, what is that?

Although I don’t understand, one thing is certain, that is, I definitely didn’t leave!

Tang Tong wanted to ask clearly, but the ship had already passed by and could not ask, so he had to give up.

However, the Tongzhou Wharf will arrive soon and you will know when the time comes. Therefore, they are not in a hurry.

No matter what this steam train is, what does it have to do with them?

Basically, these generals think so.

Compared to this kind of steam train that is unknown, they are more concerned about when they will arrive in the capital.

I heard Zhou Yuji say to them: "It's afternoon now, so I definitely don't have time to rush back to the capital. There are still 40 miles left!"

"Yes, I guess I have to rest for one night in Tongzhou and I will not be able to arrive in the capital tomorrow!" Ma Ke nodded and agreed.

"Haha, Brother Zhou misses his sister-in-law, right? He is so home-home, I wish I could go to the capital today!" Li Fuming next to him said with a smile after hearing this.

Zhou Liu's family has been guarding Princess Kunxing. It has been a long time since they separated two years ago.

Zhou Yuji didn't deny it either, but just looked at Tongzhou with a smile.

Suddenly, his face turned right and he quickly said to the people around him: "It seems that there is Dahong Fei Pao waiting for us on the dock. They all tidy up their faces, so they don't have to smile!"

When the others heard this, they all noticed it and quickly sent orders to the back to cheer up their subordinates.

In the Ming Dynasty, the big red robe was worn by officials of the highest level of the imperial court.

Officials of this level came to Tongzhou to greet them. To be honest, they were all very surprised.

When they wanted to come back triumphantly and officials of this level came to greet them outside the capital, it was a manifestation of the court's great importance to them.

All of them ran to Tongzhou and then wasted a day of time to welcome back to the capital. This kind of treatment was never heard of before.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yuji, all of them were moved and showed up their spirits to accept the inspection by a senior official of the Ming Dynasty!

After getting closer, Zhou Yuji and the others found that they were two big red robes, one was the eunuch Wang Erbiao, who was familiar to them, and the other seemed to be from the Minister of War.

When they were surprised, they suddenly saw Wang Erbiao wave.

After a while, I heard a "beep..." sound from Tongzhou Wharf.

It seems that the sound of many giant beasts made together, sharp and far away, is definitely not the sound of humans or cannons. Anyway, it is something I have never heard of before.

Then, the welcome sounds of gongs, drums, suona and other things sounded immediately, and Tongzhou Wharf suddenly became very lively.

Zhou Yuji and others had no time to think too much, so they immediately concentrated. Before the boat under their feet could dock, they clasped their fists to pay salute to the two senior Ming officials on the dock.

The boats docked and the music stopped.

"Hahaha..." Wang Erbiao laughed happily and said to Zhou Yuji and the others, "You must come later, our family and Mr. Wang will be frozen!"

Hearing this, Zhou Yuji and others were moved and quickly expressed their guilt and dared not take it.

"You have been fighting abroad for nearly three years. The emperor is thinking about you and let our family and Minister Wang come to welcome you back to Beijing." Wang Erbiao said kindly, "If you want to be grateful, I will make an agreement with the emperor myself later!"

If it weren't for Emperor Chongzhen's will, Wang Erbiao would have come to greet them in this winter when he saw the ghost!

Zhou Yuji and others also knew this very well.

But at this moment, they had no time to say anything else, and they were shocked and said, "What, Your Majesty has also arrived in Tongzhou?"

Wang Erbiao was also shocked when he heard this, and immediately asked in surprise: "Where did the emperor come from Tongzhou?"

"Didn't Eunuch Wang just say that we will tell the emperor one by one? If the emperor hasn't arrived in Tongzhou, what should we say?" Zhou Yuji quickly reminded him.

When Wang Erbiao heard this, he turned around and looked at each other with Mr. Wang. Then both of them laughed, making Zhou Yuji and others look at each other. What the hell is this?

After laughing, Wang Erbiao rubbed his hands and said angrily: "Forget it, let's not talk about it. We're really freezing to death. Let's get on the bus quickly. In an hour, we'll arrive at the capital. The camp there is ready for you!"

"..." Zhou Yuji and others were stunned when they heard this. Get on the car and arrive in the capital one hour later. What kind of car is this? Is there such a fast car in the world?

Wang Erbiao was indeed afraid of the cold, so he turned around and left, and asked while walking: "Do you not read the Dibao or the Mingbao?"

When Zhou Yuji and others heard this, they looked at each other, and then Zhou Yuji replied: "Eunuch Wang said that we are all fighting, either we are on the road, so how can we have time to read "Dibao" or "Mingbao"!"

In fact, most of them don’t know words. Even if they know words, they are resistant to reading words. Who would have nothing to do to read those things? I heard from Governor Sun in front of the army. On the way back, it’s hard to do something like reading a book!

After hearing this, Wang Erbiao did not expose these warriors.

Tongzhou Railway Station is right here at the wharf, you will arrive after a turn.

However, after a turn, Zhou Yuji and others were stunned. They even stopped their steps and looked at everything in front of them in surprise.

Tongzhou Railway Station is no longer the time when it was first built last year. After expansion, it has become large. For this time, all the trains here have been transferred, and they are placed in front of Zhou Yuji and others.

The first time I saw a steam train, there were still so many, and there were smoke rising from the front of the car. I have to say that it was actually normal to stunned Zhou Yuji and others!

The cavalry continued to advance along the official road, and all the infantrymen entered the carriage and took the bus under the arrangement of the people at the railway station.

At this time, a train, like the troop transporter, could hang twenty cars, one train could transport one thousand people, and ten trains would be ten thousand people. Three round trips could transport 30,000 infantry back and forth. The remaining cavalry about ten thousand could only walk back by themselves.

Every Ming army soldier who passed by triumphantly looked at the steam train in surprise. At this time, no military vocational level, all Liu Laolao entered the Grand View Garden.

The steam train slowly started, which made them feel very novel. They didn't bother to be cold. They opened the door of the car and watched the train really move, and they were so excited that they couldn't do it.

When the train really started, they caught up with the horse-riding robes on the official road, greeted each other with a smile, and even screamed strangely, mocking the cavalry's rashness.

The cavalry was also laughing and "annoyed", but they had military discipline and had to cherish the war horses. They couldn't let go and ran away. They could only look at the previous infantry and sat in that strange thing, rumbling away from each other.

If it weren't for the inconvenience of riding a horse on this cold day, they would have discussed the novel car, which was so powerful! I don't know what changes would be so strange in the past few years when I was not in the capital!

Before the cavalrymen had walked halfway, they saw the steam train rumble back. This made them even more surprised.

When they finally arrived at the capital, they suddenly found that in such a cold weather, there were many people surrounding the Tongzhou River on both sides of the capital, and the Jinyiwei was on guard.

Some soldiers who were originally from Beijing Camp were surprised to see this scene.

In the past, the Tongzhou River from Tongzhou to the capital was no longer able to sail. But now, not to mention the boats on the river surface, there are so many people watching in such cold weather?

So curious, when they stretched their necks to look, they found something different again.

There are two boats on the river surface, both of which have no sails. One of them is the strangest. There are two big wheels on both sides of the boat. What kind of boat is this?

They didn't know that this was a paddle ship. And this day was the day when paddle ships and propeller ships were experimenting together.

Emperor Chongzhen had a global mind and cared about this new ship very much, so he also watched it here. Inevitably, Zhang Mingwei accompanied him.
Chapter completed!