July 5, 1899 — East of Nanjing, China
A whistle echoed across the rice fields.
The freshly laid steel rails shimmered in the summer sun as the first construction train of the East Asia Railway clattered slowly along a testing segment near Nanjing. Dozens of Chinese laborers, joined by engineers from Korea and technical observers from Japan, cheered as the locomotive passed. It wasn't sleek or fast—just a squat, coal-fed beast hauling flatbeds loaded with gravel and beams—but it was history in motion.
Minister Zhang Mingyuan stood on a raised platform under a white sun canopy, flanked by several China officials and an Amerathian delegation led by Daniel Reaves of the Hesh Corporation. Zhang wore a dark silk robe embroidered with modernized insignia of the imperial government, his expression unreadable as the train approached.
When the train screeched to a halt, Reaves stepped forward, dusting soot from his sleeves.
