Woo—woo—woo—
Accompanied by the piercing whistle, the train, which had been racing at full speed along the tracks for three or four straight days, finally began to slow down and gradually pulled into the busy station platform in the capital.
The instant the entire train came to a stop and its doors opened, the impatient crowds poured out in one great rush.
Some ran toward the family members, friends, and lovers who had come to meet them, embracing them warmly.
Others went to the freight cars piled high with goods and hired workers to load and unload them.
Still others auctioned off the constantly bleating cattle, sheep, pigs, chickens, and other livestock and poultry to wholesalers who had come to purchase meat, after which the animals would be sent to nearby slaughterhouses for mass butchering.
Everything looked busy yet orderly.
Though the scene felt somewhat chaotic, everyone clearly knew what they were supposed to do.
As a major city with a population of over a million, the amount of grain, vegetables, fruit, and meat consumed here every day was astonishing. Therefore, most trains carried a mixture of freight and passengers.
So long as the locomotive's maximum hauling capacity was not exceeded, freight cars could be temporarily attached to the rear whenever there was demand.
After all, the most important thing for promoting economic prosperity was allowing goods to flow quickly from producers to consumers, rather than trapping them behind exorbitant transportation costs.
Many backward countries rich in natural resources remained poor precisely because of this.
That was why trains were universally recognized as the greatest invention of the First Industrial Revolution. Perhaps even the phrase "one of" could be omitted.
For the first time, they had lowered land transportation costs to a level even ordinary people could afford, while also