Building roads at this time is not a simple job. Excavation alone is a big trouble. You must know that there are no large machinery at this time. Just digging up the soil and carrying it away requires a lot of labor. What's more, when building a road, it needs to be leveled, and stones must be tied to wooden sticks, and several people must carry them and hammer them down bit by bit to make them strong.
Twenty thousand people would not have two months to complete the thirty-mile road, let alone a few days.
Hui Niang, who was hiding behind the door and eavesdropping, heard the old man's words, and hot tears flowed down her face. Of course she believed in the words of her boss. She clenched her little fist as if she wanted to cheer him up, and she also seemed to want to take it out and hit the old man on the head.
Sanwazi was not nervous at all. Facing the expressions of several old people, he just laughed and said, "Uncle, listen to me."
The old man glanced at the old patriarch and saw that his face was expressionless, so he had to lower his head and continue listening.
"Originally, we were thinking like my uncle. This corvee can't be completed in less than two months. I'm still worried about what to do if the dry food I brought with me runs out, but I didn't expect..." Sanwazi laughed. Shake his head.
"Wait a minute," the old patriarch looked at Sanwazi with a serious face, "just now you said that a craftsman will teach you how to do this corvee? What did he teach you?"
"This is what's different about the corvee this time," Sanwazi continued with a smile, "After we arrived, we were not arranged by people from the county government like before. Instead, we were... Yes, I remembered it, and I heard from the craftsmen that the construction of the road was not organized by the imperial court, but by Mr. Han of the Baochao Collection Department."
Bao Chao Li Si? The old patriarch and the others looked at each other, they had never heard of it. However, since this department can allow the county government to recruit civilians, it is expected to be a bigger government office than the county government.
They knew about the treasure banknotes, but they didn't know what the relationship between the treasure banknotes and road construction was.
Seeing that what Sanwazi said was true and not like he was just making up lies to deceive them, they were not in a hurry and continued to listen.
"After we arrived, we were divided into two groups by Mr. Han. Some went to the river to dig stones and sand, and some like me went to learn from the craftsmen to build roads. The old patriarch didn't want to know what the craftsman taught us. ? He taught us how to use cement."
cement?
Another thing they haven't heard of.
"What is cement?" the old patriarch asked the thoughts of several people.
Hui Niang, who was hiding behind the door, also widened her bright eyes and raised her ears.
"A magical thing." Then Sanwazi told the old patriarch and others the magic of cement.
When Sanwazi started speaking, their mouths opened wide and never closed.
It melts when it comes into contact with water, and when mixed with water and sand and stones, it can be made into various shapes like tofu. After solidifying the next day, it will be as solid as a rock?
Is there really such a magical thing in this world?
The old patriarch and the others looked at Sanwazi with their mouths agape, and their remaining sanity warned them not to believe it.
Sanwazi took a sip of water and moistened his dry throat, "Anyway, the road has been built and it's right there. If you don't believe it, you can go and see it early tomorrow morning. And the craftsman also told me that this thing doesn't exist at all. We are not afraid of rain erosion, so even on rainy days, there will not be any muddy water on this road. However, this road is extremely smooth, so it is good for everyone to go for a walk on a sunny day."
Aren’t you afraid of rain washing?
If Sanwazi hadn't reminded them that "the road is there, they can go see it tomorrow", it would have been impossible to lie to them. They might have simply thought that Sanwazi was possessed by evil spirits. How could such a thing exist in this world?
But they had to believe what Sanwazi said. As long as they took a look at it tomorrow morning, it would be obvious. Sanwazi could not lie to them.
Several people left Sanwazi's house in despair, preparing to go see that magical road tomorrow.
After hearing several people leaving, Huiniang opened the door and came to Sanwazi's side.
"The head of the family." Huiniang buried her head in Sanwazi's arms.
"Huh?" Sanwazi put his arm around Huiniang's petite body.
"Tomorrow, tomorrow Hui Niang also wants to see that road." Hui Niang raised her head and looked at San Wazi pleadingly.
"Uh!" Sanwazi frowned into black lines. But he quickly disappeared without a trace, "Okay, let's go together tomorrow so that you can see how magical the road we built with our own hands is."
"No matter how amazing it is, it's not you, it's the cement you were talking about..." Huiniang hammered Sanwazi with her small hand.
Sanwazi then thought about it and realized that this was actually true. But have you forgotten something? Hey, that’s right, it’s cement. Since I was taught how to use cement by a craftsman, did I learn a craft?
I felt excited. It is not easy to learn a craft these days, and it is something as magical as cement. But it seems that my craft requires cement to be effective. Without cement, it is nothing.
Things like cement must only be available in the imperial court, and it is impossible for you to get it yourself.
"The boss..."
The sound of murmuring sounded from his ears, and Sanwazi felt a small hand drawing randomly on his chest.
At this time, it is more important to create a little person to accompany Huiniang. Who cares about cement or not?
Sanwazi straightened his strong back, hugged Huiniang and entered the house.
Suddenly there was a spring breeze and drizzle, and the rain was sparse and the wind was violent all night.
Early the next morning, Sanwazi and Huiniang had an early meal, and then came to Cement Avenue with some dry food.
"Wow, there are so many people!" Huiniang couldn't help but marvel when she saw the people standing on both sides of the road.
These are also common people like them who come to see something strange.
The 20,000 civilians each returned home, and naturally, like Sanwazi, they boasted about the road. Naturally, it aroused great curiosity among the people, attracting a large number of people to come and see what happened.
These people gathered around both sides of the road and marveled. Some people walked back and forth on the road, feeling a different experience from the muddy road.
Banknote Bureau.
Han Du was lying on the desk, drawing continuously with a pen. He was drawing the structural diagram of the blast furnace.
If you want to make steel, you will naturally need to use a coal blast furnace.
Although the coal blast furnace has been eliminated as a product in the modern steelmaking system, as it supported the initial stage of industrial development, it is like a plug-in in this era. And this kind of blast furnace can be big or small, so small that one family can build a furnace to make steel, and so big that even the whole country cannot build many truly super-large blast furnaces.
Naturally, Han Du would not build a blast furnace that was too small, one that could be built by one household, and that could make steel by burning wood. In fact, strictly speaking, that was not called steelmaking, that was called ironmaking. Because the blast furnace is too small, the temperature will inevitably be insufficient, and it will not be able to reduce the carbon impurities contained in the iron.
After all, Han Du was also an official of the imperial court and had about 200 people under his command. What's more, he also had a high-quality anthracite coal mine, so he decided to build a larger blast furnace that could directly produce steel. Just plant it.
After working for a long time, I finished the drawings. There were seven or eight drawings. I straightened up, relaxed my back, and gave instructions to the people on the side.
"Go and find Mr. Huang."
After a while, Mr. Huang opened the door and came in.
"Sir, are you looking for a younger one?"
Han Du nodded and ordered: "Find someone to get some clay and bake it into bricks." Han Du and Mr. Huang emphasized the size of the bricks.
Mr. Huang nodded in agreement and said casually: "This is easy. I wonder how many bricks you need to burn?"
Han Du pondered for a moment, raised his head and said casually, "Let's burn ten thousand first. If it's not enough, we will add more later."
Huang Lao was slightly startled when he heard the number of ten thousand, and said hesitantly, "Well, sir, this requires a lot of clay..."
There is no ready-made clay banknote paper here. If you don't have it, you need to spend money to buy it. This thing is not cheap. According to the size required by Han Du, the clay required for ten thousand bricks is not a small sum of money to buy.
Han Du waved his hand casually, "You can do it. I have great use for this thing. Just go to Xiong Shi to give you the money."
"Okay." Mr. Huang agreed and was about to go out, but was stopped by Han Du.
"Wait, where is that boy Heizi? Is he back?"
Han Du decided that among his craftsmen, in terms of skills in building kilns, this young Heizi was the best. The cement kilns and lime kilns built later occasionally leaked smoke during firing. It was obvious that the sealing of the kilns was not good enough.
But there is no such phenomenon in the buildings built in front of Heizi.
One indicator to ensure high temperatures in a blast furnace is the sealing of the blast furnace. The better the sealing, the less internal heat will be lost, and the better the temperature can be obtained.
Therefore, Han Du felt that it would be better to let Heizi build the blast furnace.
"Sir, he hasn't come back yet." Mr. Huang answered truthfully.
Han Du frowned, wondering how long it had been. Could it be that Heizi hadn't taught the craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry yet? But now that I am in a hurry to hire people, I can't take care of so much of the Ministry of Industry.
"If you send someone to urge you, just say that I have important things to do and you need Heizi to come back immediately. If the Ministry of Industry still needs people, wait until I have used them up first."
"Okay." Mr. Huang turned around and went out, and began to make arrangements.
In the afternoon, Mr. Huang came back.
As soon as he entered the door, he started shouting, "Sir, this is not good!"
"What's wrong?" Han Du raised his head and glanced at the panicked Mr. Huang strangely.
"Sir, today someone went to the Ministry of Works to look for Heizi. The person who came back said that he had not seen Heizi, and the people from the Ministry of Works would not let him in at all."
Is there such a thing? Han Du was confused and continued to ask: "Did the person who went there say that he was the person who brought the treasure banknote?"
"I told you." Mr. Huang sighed nervously.
That would be strange.
