Needless to say, the advantages of cement are obvious. More than 90% of the buildings in later generations used cement as raw material, which illustrates the problem.
And it’s not just construction, road construction, bridge construction, any project construction involved, cement is indispensable.
Cement was so important in later generations, and in the Wei Dynasty, which was still a feudal society, the use of cement was naturally not to mention.
Li Ke can not only use it to build city walls, but he will definitely expand the size of the city in the future. By then, building houses, roads, and even new concrete canals will require massive amounts of cement.
It can be said that cement is something that can almost run through Li Ke's entire development plan.
The only shortcoming is that the current calcining equipment is too simple, so that the production capacity is seriously insufficient.
Now after a whole day of calcination, Li Ke was able to get more than a ton of cement in total, which was obviously far from what he needed.
Li Ke made a rough calculation before and found that the collapsed city wall was three meters wide, six meters high, and about 25 meters long, which converted into earthwork was about more than 400 cubic meters.
Li Ke naturally did not want to use cement to build a city wall. His idea was to use stones to build the main body of the city wall, and then use cement to make concrete to fill the gaps and bond.
But even so, Li Ke estimated that he would need about 70 to 80 tons of cement.
Therefore, for the current plan, we can only customize a few more calcining furnaces.
Soon, under Li Ke's instruction, several brand-new calcining furnaces were started to be cast, and several calcining furnaces completely used up Li Ke's savings.
The production of the calciner was still in progress, but on the other side, Li Ke asked Su Xun to start transporting river sand and gravel.
The materials for making concrete are very simple. You only need cement, sand and gravel. Mix the three raw materials according to the proportion and add water, and the concrete will be formed.
Three days passed quickly.
Due to the addition of several newly cast calciners, the calcining speed of cement has been accelerated several times. In addition, Qi Rusong sent hundreds of soldiers to assist, and now the daily cement output can barely exceed ten tons.
In the past three days, more than ten tons of cement products have been calcined, which is obviously ready to start building the city wall.
Soon, Li Ke sent someone to notify Su Xun and Qi Rusong to wait for him at the collapsed city wall.
Half an hour later, when Li Ke appeared at the collapsed city wall, he found Qi Rusong and Su Xun already waiting for him.
As soon as the two of them saw Li Ke, they immediately surrounded him and asked with some anxiety on their faces: "Your Highness, it has been three days. When are you going to start building the city wall?"
"Yes, Khitan spies have appeared more and more frequently recently. I have even sent soldiers to ambush nearby. If I find the Khitan spies, I will immediately drive them away, for fear that they will find out about the collapse of the city wall, but this is not a long-term solution after all. …”
Looking at the anxious two people, Li Ke just smiled slightly and said: "You two, I called you two here today just to inform you that the city wall will be built soon."
After hearing this, both Su Xun and Qi Rushong's expressions became more or less relaxed.
However, just when they were about to continue asking questions, Qi Rushong suddenly looked towards the northeast of the city, and his face suddenly became ugly.
At this time, on a hillside four or five miles northeast of Kunyang City, four cavalrymen stood there impressively.
Although it was too far away to see their attire clearly, everyone knew that they must be the Khitans!
"Khitan spies!"
Suddenly, an unknown soldier shouted loudly, and a commotion broke out across the collapsed city wall.
Several soldiers even subconsciously took out the weapons from their waists and looked into the distance with nervous expressions.
"Have you been discovered after all?" Qi Rushong's fists were clenched until they turned white, and his expression was as if he was facing a formidable enemy.
Su Xun's face was ashen and his expression was like falling into an ice cave.
"What should we do? Why don't we quickly send someone to intercept and kill these spies?" Su Xun suddenly suggested.
But Qi Rusong just shook his head: "It's useless. The Khitan's light cavalry comes and goes like the wind, and the speed of the spies' horses is even more amazing. With our horses, there is no way we can catch up with them."
"Then just watch them go back and report the news?" Su Xun said with despair on his face.
Qi Rusong said nothing, but his expression said everything.
Then he waved his hand and said to the few soldiers beside him: "Send the order, all the garrison soldiers in Kunyang are now gathering at the school grounds in the city, ready to deal with the Khitan attack at any time. Anyone who disobeys the order or cowers will be killed!"
Su Xun also quickly ordered the yamen beside him: "You also quickly go to the city to post notices and recruit as many strong men as possible in the city to prepare for the shortage of soldiers. In addition, inform the people in the city that those who are willing to stay can stay and prepare to help resist. Khitan people who do not want to stay should go elsewhere as soon as possible."
"I'm afraid this Kunyang City is going to..."
Su Xun was so excited that his hands were shaking. It was obvious that he already understood what kind of result he was going to face next.
I followed Li Ke from the capital to the bitter cold land of Yanyun because I still had a glimmer of hope in my heart.
But now it seems that this last glimmer of hope is about to be dashed.
Just when Su Xun and Qi Rusong were making their final statements to their subordinates, a voice suddenly interrupted them.
"Boy, wait!"
It was Li Ke who spoke.
Hearing this, the two of them looked at Li Ke together, and then heard Li Ke continue: "In my opinion, things have not turned around yet."
Then Li Ke looked at Qi Rusong and asked: "Commander Qi, based on your guess, how long will it take the Khitans to kill them?"
Qi Rusong frowned slightly, thought for a moment and then said: "The Khitans are a nomadic tribe, and the people are usually scattered. If it takes these spies one day to go back, plus they go to various ministries to pass orders and gather people, it will take at least ten days."
However, Qi Rusong's face suddenly turned grim and he sighed: "But Khitan spies have been appearing frequently recently. It is obvious that the Khitan people are ready to make some moves, so I speculate that most of them may have already assembled, at least they are not far apart. so……"
