Road to the Crown

Chapter 288: The train is now finished

14th September 1574

"Fuck it, fuck it, fuck it!"

Watching as the engineering group that came along with the military party continued to fix several parts together, I couldn't stop myself from cursing. Improvement to the army mobility? Enhanced logistics? How could I consider myself to lead in this part of the innovation if we still had to take three days to move from New Tarnow colony to the Tarnow proper?

"You are not helping!"

Turning his head around, Henry scolded me with an annoyed look, before moving his head back to where his hands were. With how we were once again behind the schedule, even despite pushing the date of Train presentation by two days, wasting time on idle Lord's whining would not help anything at all.

Improvements to communication my ass. While I would have to be blind to miss how much easier it was to move the troops around now that they were properly trained in the art of stable and prolonged marching, it didn't change how much we had to slow down once the reality of Commonwealth legendary poor road hit us. 

Most of the time, rather than walking on the road, we would have to guess where the tracts was supposed to be. Rather than stable, hard and dry surface on which we could walk, my soldiers had to find all sorts of creative ways to prevent their expensive shoes from turning into scrap leather due to how they had to traverse something that could only be called a marsh.

When I was thinking about relocating everyone, I simply failed to take one element into account. The weather.

With how I got used to sun prevailing on the sky, being hit by the constant two days of the relentless storm was akin to God slapping me right in my cheek as if to remind me how much he cared about my plans. It was also the moment when I understood the meaning of the saying, that nothing makes God laugh more than human plans!

"Okay! The main transit system is ready! Let's bring all those damned parts together!"

Finally, as my thoughts were constantly taking turn for worse and worse, Henry pulled himself out from something that looked like a damned operating table. Wiping down the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve, he quickly gestured at the workers that stood on standby nearby.

"PULL!"

What this genius of business meant by the transitional system, was in fact something aking to the entire machinery of the locomotive, stripped out of the casing and the power unit itself. Just by looking at it I could tell how freaking heavy it has to be, warranting the use of over fifty men that pulled on the metal chains on which it was hanging!

At this point, someone might be wondering why, with all my improvements and inventions, I didn't use steam engine to solve this problem. After all, its reliability was supposed to be the main reason for switching from human labour, outside of the obvious matter of greater power output and lower costs of maintenance.

But we simply didn't have the time to prepare the necessary framework that would allow us to not only ground the steam horse in place, but also set it up in a way that would give us the power to precisely control its immense power! 

"Slowly, slowly DO NOT LET GO!"

Noticing how quickly the workers responsible for maintaining the hold on the chains were tiring down, rather than hoping for the best, I quickly called one of the officers of the military that was currently busying himself with overseeing the process of allocating the soldiers to their respective housing.

"Bring fifty no, bring a hundred men. We need them right now."

Form one side, calling for volunteers to help might sound easier, but I wasn't willing to put the face of this insane project in the hands of some random people. While my soldiers picked their job to avoid working as simple labourers, there was no denying how strong and obedient they were. Considering all sorts of training that they had to go through before being accepted as fully-fledged recruits, I was much keener on relying on their strength rather than involving myself with the crowd that spectated the entire spectacle. 

"On it, sir!"

Instantly dropping whatever he was currently occupying himself with, this random officer of mine, with marks on his uniform indicating that he barely even passed through the training course, jumped into action. In just a few moments, he came back to the place, leading two entire platoons, amounting to eighty able-bodied men.

"Secure the chains! We can't allow this traction system to fall down!"

With just a quick look, Henry noticed the change in the situation. Not even bothering to ask for approval, he started ordering my soldiers around. While I could see several looks of discontent caused by the civilian ordering the damned military, with how they could see that I didn't protest, none of the soldiers dared to disobey their orders.

"Slowly now! We need to make sure it fits perfectly!"

As if the fact that several tons worth of iron and steel was of no importance for them, nearly twenty workers jumped right under it, with bolts and screwdrivers in their hands. Rather than allowing the mechanical part to just gently sit down on the casing with the ginormous steam horse already mounted on it, they had to manually place the long bolts in the traction system first. Sadly, only by screwing all the bolts at the same time, the two huge parts would be fit perfectly into each other, allowing the train to avoid the risk of the locomotive just falling apart due to the constant stress of the forces influencing it. 

"Fix the screws!"

Even though I didn't personally take part in the entire process, I was just as anxious as everyone else. While the others had to risk their health by standing under this insanely heavy part, the reality was that even if something happened, even if half of the workers that were responsible for keeping it above the casing Nothing really would happen at all! With how only a few centimetres separated the two parts, with that distance constantly shortening, even if the chains were to break, at worst the traction system would just fall down on the casing, forcing everyone to repeat the steps once again.

But on the other hand, if anything were to go wrong now, then I would have to face another delay!

As silly as it sounded, this train was supposed to arrive in the capital initially three days ago. When the first delay was confirmed, that date was pushed back by two days, and even now we were already a day past the deadline!

If any accidents were to happen right now, everything would go even slower, completely unrooting all the trust that I managed to build in the populace about how I would always deliver anything I promised on time!

CLANG!

"It's done."

At first, Henry said this sentence with a soft voice, with his eyes completely fixed on the finished product. In this one moment, everyone simply stared at the locomotive, that outside of the outer casing aimed only at protecting it innards and pretty easy to add, was finally finished.

The clanging sound from before meant that all the bolts were in their respective places, indicating that everything was lined up perfectly. With that, the chains could no longer hold the traction system, allowing it to just slide down, and push the nails down their slits with its own weight. 

"HURRAY!"

After this moment of silence, the entire place erupted in cheers. Everyone knew that this was one of the most important moments of the recent history, that would forever change how the entire country operated. Even though so far only a single, short line connected two cities in the commonwealth, the fact that the very first train was now right on its tracks and nearly ready to venture into its very first real journey, meant that its prowess could be finally prowed!

"Guys, guys!"

While I was happy to see that even the people who lacked the basis to understand the true meaning of this event, were capable of sharing the joy of those who could, there was no point in wasting more time than necessary on cheering alone. With how late we were, every single minute mattered.

"GUYS!"

Shouting from the bottom of my lungs, I finally managed to calm the surroundings to the point where people could actually hear their respective orders.

"Just like I promised, everyone who took part in this great moment will have their wages doubled for the next three months. But we can't just stop here. Since the train is nearly finished, how about we just do this one, last stretch, and actually get it running?"

Most of the troubles bound to appear with the construction of the train were tackled by Henry. But it went without saying that as the one who came with the idea, provided necessary technology, funding, materials and the project itself, I held the right to be the host of the commemorative moment like this. But rather than holding to it for too long, I just summed up the situation with a few words, before pointing my hand to the side, where Henry stood.

"This is a man, who initially wanted to profit off the opportunities that Tarnowian Colony created. By joining his hands with me, he now turned into one of the most important figures in the entire country. This is a man responsible for creating and bringing this train for everyone's use! Everyone, meet Henry!"

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