Castle of Black Iron

Wind and snow had disappeared soon after Zhang Tie left the territory of Northeast Military Region. At supersonic speed, only after 6-7 hours’ flight, Zhang Tie had already traveled across many climate zones. The southern it was, the high the temperature would be and the more tender the north wind would be. When Zhang Tie arrived at Jinghe Prefecture, Jiangzhou Province, the air was still a bit cold; however, it was warmer than that in Youzhou Province.

The Class A city in Zhang Tie’s vision was many times larger than Youzhou Province.

Xuanyuan Hill didn’t have a city wall; however, the Class A city in Zhang Tie’s eyes had eye-catching red city walls. From the sky, the 70-m higher red city wall was like four arms of a giant or four fortresses which surrounded the entire city.

Given the prosperity of cities in Zhang Tie’s memory, besides Xuanyuan Hill, this city could rank among the top ten for sure.

There were dense, high buildings inside the city and dotted towns outside the city. The broad Jinghe River was flowing by this big city from west to west. There were crowded ships at the wharf in the north bank of the river and endless field in the south bank…

This city was Datang City, the private city of Xuanyuan Wuji the third prince of Taixia Country.

It was still dark all over. Although it didn’t snow in Jiangzhou Province, the sky was still a bit gloomy due to weak starlight when winter was near. As the day had not broken, Datang City in the north bank of Jinghe River was still in a dream. Few people had woken up, except for the airships that took off from the airport and the steamers which were docking at the wharf outside the city while turning on lamplight, which indicated the diligence of crew and sailors.

It only took Zhang Tie a few minutes to enter 120 miles of this city since he caught sight of it.

The traffic in Datang City was pretty complex, which included water, land and air. When Zhang Tie was in the air, he saw crisscrossed roads and railways on the land like a cobweb; especially the latter. There were six railways connecting to Datang City as the hub of Jinghe Prefecture.

When Zhang Tie was flying at a high speed, he saw a steam train moving towards Datang City at a speed of about 48 miles per hour while giving out steam and white smoke.

Previously, Zhang Tie planned to fly all the way to the center of Datang City. When he saw the passenger train, he instantly lowered down and dove downwards from over 100,000 m high before landing on the staircase outside the end of the train.

Nobody was monitoring the back of the last carriage. The train just kept running on the rails with clacking sounds. However, nobody discovered the stranger at the end of the train.

As for passenger train, its last carriage was always used to store luggage. There was a door at the end of the train, through which, people could load and unload luggage. Additionally, the last carriage was also connected to other carriages. That was to say, he could enter the train through its end.

Although the door was locked, it was a piece of cake for Zhang Tie. Only after throwing a glance at the lock, Zhang Tie had unlocked the door. After pulling open the door, Zhang Tie entered the carriage.

Being filled with luggage, this carriage smelt like leather grease.

The carriage was isolated like a can. Therefore, it was a bit breathless. There was an ordinary fluorite lamp above the aisle in the middle of the carriage, which gave out dim light. On both sides of the aisle were two-story racks, which were occupied by leather cases and crates in various sizes.

Zhang Tie walked forward towards the other door along the aisle, during which process, he saw a corella. The moment the bird was going to chirp at the sight of Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie made a hand gesture as he said, “Shh…”. Closely after that, the parrot closed its mouth and eyes.

The door in front was also locked. However, it opened itself like a humble servant when Zhang Tie came to its front.

At this moment a fat male train attendant in dusty blue was snoring on the seat near the door. After leaving the last carriage, Zhang Tie continued to move forward.

Most of the people were sleeping at this moment while all the curtains were closed. Few people were walking in the aisle. Zhang Tie could only hear monotonous and snoring sound from rails. The moment Zhang Tie passed through the two carriages, he had met the train conductor who was inspecting the train.

With an evident mark on his clothes, this train conductor was almost as old as Zhang Tie’s dad.

Zhang Tie instantly caught the attention of the middle-aged man. The train conductor walked towards Zhang Tie with a bit alert as he wanted to say something…

“It’s not comfortable here. May you take me to my compartment?” Zhang Tie watched and told the train conductor by battle qi as a bizarre light flashed across his eyes.

After receiving Zhang Tie’s order, the middle-aged man’s alert instantly disappeared as he revealed reverence and passion to Zhang Tie like meeting an old friend.

“Aah, childe Liu. Follow me please. I’ve been keeping the luxurious compartment for you. It’s right in front of us. Please follow me…” After leaving the words, the train conductor turned around and led Zhang Tie to an empty compartment in front of them.

“Sorry to trouble you!” Zhang Tie turned around and put a gold coin into the train conductor’s hand when he entered the compartment.

“You bet. Childe Liu…” the train conductor smiled brilliantly. After declining it for a second, he had taken the gold coin as he said, “Childe Liu, just let me know if you have any need…”

After closing the door of the compartment, Zhang Tie smiled and lay on the bed, eyes closed…

When the train conductor left the compartment with a smile, a train attendant asked him out of curiosity, “Aah, head, who’s that guy…”

“It’s Childe Liu!” the train conductor replied as he shook his head. After that, he foisted that gold coin into his own pocket under the gaze of that train attendant, continuing, “This childe from a rich clan is really special. When in Feiyu City, he wanted to try hard seat; however, he couldn’t stand it anymore in midnight. Therefore, I led him back to his compartment…”

“Ohh!” the train attendant nodded as if he had understood it. At the same time, he admired that the train conductor acquainted with so many noble people. What a quick tip!

…

Three hours later, the day broke. Zhang Tie also got off the train at the station of East Datang City…