Chapter 1321 - 1239: Lighter-than-Air Balloons
In early June, the cicadas were chirping incessantly.
Horses pulled the train, fully loaded with peat and timber, disappearing in front of Hanske amid the sparks flying from the wheel and rail friction.
With his mouth wide open, Hanske blinked constantly, surprised that such a large mine cart required ten horses to pull.
"This is a horse-drawn train," Delawan introduced with pride, "In the future, they’re all going to run on spring machines."
Holy Alliance, Thousand River Valley, at the port side of Langsande County.
A big and small figure stood by the railway tracks, flanked by mounted gendarmerie patrols to prevent iron theft.
In fact, the Holy Alliance allocates the railways layer by layer, and if any section of railway has issues, the nearby Hundred Households District faces reprimand.
So far, apart from refugees from other places, it’s rare to see anyone stealing iron.
Nowadays, with the thriving steel industry of the ry Court Barracks, raw materials for railway construction are no longer a problem.
The two major metal processing centers, Gray Furnace Town and Hot Spring Castle, ensure manufacturing is also not problematic.
Currently, the biggest issue, however, is moon mercury.
Since there’s only one Ethereal Tower, the monthly production of moon mercury is capped.
Even if there are spring machines, they run very well within the ether clock. Outside its range, they rely on moon mercury.
So currently, spring machines are used only for long-distance routes and on very few lines opened.
Most of these, a county’s own built railways, still run on horse-drawn trains.
But despite this, the efficiency of commodity circulation has improved several folds, leading to certain degrees of price reductions for various goods.
"Alright, stop looking. We’ll take the next train to Xia Lvcheng." Delawan pulled Hanske’s arm and walked toward the platform.
Because Hanske had learned some characters in church, plus Pierre’s introduction, he successfully enrolled in Friendship Primary School as a "Holy Path Sect Enthusiastic Youth."
Friendship Primary School is a boarding school, with one in the capital of each county of the Holy Alliance.
Though called a primary school, the students are teenagers and even youths in their twenties.
Because this primary school is an adult elementary school designed to enhance cognitive skills for newly joined soldiers or social youths.
It is entirely militarized management, with a three-year curriculum, rapid teaching, very rigorous.
Typically, as long as one passes the basic literacy and calculation exams of the military literacy class, they can attend school.
There are self-organized literacy classes in the rural military from which elites are selected to quickly learn calculation, reading, and common knowledge.
Then they either enter factories or an artisan school and then into factories, producing a large number of workers.
Unlike the Imperial People who consider workers inferior, the Holy Alliance sees being a worker as an honor.
Entering a factory allows one to gradually become a factory director or ascend quickly through "model labor," reaching positions as high as county governor or central high monk.
It must be said, Hanske has remarkable talent; within less than half a year of study, added with some foundation, he actually passed the literacy test.
However, Hanske himself, facing these circumstances, is somewhat afraid.
This is foreign land after all; he originally intended to reunite with family, but now finds himself here, bewildered.
As for his sister, Pierre promised to use his connections to help find her as long as he attends school.
Otherwise, such talent would be wasted.
Until now, Hanske thanks the Holy Father for letting him meet Pierre and his son.
"The train’s here, let’s get on."
"Oh oh, alright."
Tightly following Delawan, Hanske boarded the horse-drawn train.
This train is not wide, made entirely of walnut wood, with two rows of double-seater benches on each side, and a corridor in the middle wide enough for one and a half people.
On the sides sit both farmers carrying burlap sacks and young lawyers holding notebooks, not to mention crying children.
A jumble of luggage and burlap sacks piled up in the train aisle, requiring nearly every step to step over a piece of luggage or a tall sack.
Hence, the Holy Alliance has the joke about "Dwars and horse-drawn trains."
No matter how noisy, with the ring of the bell, the horse-drawn train started on time.
Sitting on the train, Hanske’s nose was filled with the pungent smell of smoke and burnt potato roots, forcing him to stick his face out the window for fresh air.
Gazing at the towering levee outside the window and the spraying sluicegate, though young, his mind soon drifted away.
And the fields between the levee and tracks, unlike what Hanske recalled, with special plows, huge horse-drawn seeders, screw pumps located beside the ditches...
There was even a moment when he seemed to see, behind berry bushes, a mechanical dog entirely made of brass and clockwork gears digging the earth.
As for Delawan, the wind whipping through the window lifted his spirits further.
He returned to resume his duty, having left notable achievements as an international consultant for three months.
After applying, he received a medal and a week of vacation, returning this time to collect the medal and visit his family.
The questions from the seemingly rural boy beside him only added to his hidden joy.
After all, he contributed to the construction of the Holy Alliance, why shouldn’t he feel proud?
"What is that?"
"A spring machine sand dredger."
"What about that?"
"Spring-driven crane."
"Is that person a lord?"
"The Holy Alliance doesn’t have lords, judging by the attire, it’s likely a trend-following farmer."
"And what is that?"
"That is... Hey, what the heck is that?"
Standing still, Delawan’s eyes blinked rapidly as he pulled Hanske over, sticking his head out the window.
On the levee beside the rails, without any wind-catching devices, two glowing dark brown spheres unexpectedly floated in the air.
Tethered securely to the levee with several thick hemp ropes, no Alchemist-looking individuals were seen around.
As for the space between the spheres, a banner was hung—"Warm Welcome to His Majesty Saint Sun Visiting Xia Lvcheng for Guidance!"
Seeing Delawan’s surprised expression, a farmer nearby couldn’t help but chuckle, whispering "rural boy" before speaking: "Those are light balloons."
"Hydrogen balloons?"
"No, you pronounced it wrong, they’re light balloons." The farmer corrected Delawan with a heavy accent, "Invented by Franz Zieg."
This Franz, said to be an inventor, is actually just an entrepreneur recycling Mithril.
He used to be an Alchemist at Black Snake Bay, later defecting early to the Holy Alliance, making a fortune as a land-renting reseller.
Later, he transformed into a factory owner, primarily extracting excess Mithril from hollow soil waste.
Simply put, he profited from scavenging garbage.
But it was during this entrepreneur’s extraction of hollow soil waste that he indeed synthesized a derivative of Mithril.
Since the Holy Alliance has popularized the concept of gases, and this product is gaseous and lighter than air, it can float in the air.
Therefore, Franz named it—light gas.
As long as light gas is pumped into a balloon, it can naturally ascend, and Alchemists can even control the movement, gathering, and dispersing of light gas.
Thus, light balloon flight amusement projects sprung up all over the Holy Alliance; any park has this contraption.
"But recently, due to operator’s mishaps, a fatal accident occurred, and His Majesty Saint Sun was exceedingly furious, quickly making headlines in the Holy Alliance newspapers." The farmer spread his hands, "So it was banned, and now they can only do smaller ones."
"And Franz’s company?"
"They say it was acquired by the military, but how he managed it himself, he seems to have found a way out and is now living the good life at the Holy Council."
"Acquired by the military..." Delawan fell into contemplation, something didn’t feel right.
"Next stop, Friendship Primary School! Next stop, Friendship Primary School..."
"We’re here, we’re here, let us through, we need to get off."