The new material Zuo Mengeng brought out was, of course, cement.
As a military expert, it is impossible for Zuo Menggen not to know about cement.
Not only do they know it, but they also know the formula of the full grade cement.
Of course, in this era, all he can bring out is the most basic cement.
Cement is one of those things that is very common in daily life, but the gap between the highest and lowest specifications is like the product of the Mariana Trench.
There will be no country in the future that cannot produce cement, but for the best cement, only a limited number of countries have mastered the technology.
But even the most basic cement conquered Lu Hao at once.
The Lu family has been running a brick factory for generations and is an expert in construction. Of course they understand the value of cement.
The reason why Zuo Mengeng didn't take out the cement until now was simply that the new army's weapons had made tremendous progress.
The application of collodion explosives doubled the destructive power of the new army's weapons. Even rudimentary cement fortifications cannot withstand it.
In the past, the New Army's artillery used black powder. Not to mention facing concrete, even big cities in this era are powerless.
I can't come up with a good thing and then have it bought and used by the enemy, making it impossible for me to defeat myself, right?
Now, with new explosives, it’s time for cement to come out.
The first application place of cement was actually in Jiaozhou Bay.
Today's Jiaozhou Bay has long become a busy and lively construction site.
Countless people were mobilized here, completely changing the appearance of this place.
"Take a seat, we have hired all the people around us, and we still don't have enough manpower."
As soon as they met, Fu Yusun started complaining.
What projects are currently underway in Jiaozhou Bay?
The first is the demolition of the city wall of Lingshan Guard.
After a comprehensive discussion by the Administrative Committee, everyone agreed that Jiaozhou Bay has a bright future. Therefore, it is necessary to build a large and special city here to make it a big city that is not weaker than Jinan, Yanzhou, and Dongchang.
After demolishing the city wall of Lingshan Guard, it can be spread around based on the existing city.
Zuo Mengeng predicts that once developed here, the prosperity of Qingdao in later generations will be restored within a hundred years.
In addition to the construction of the town, there is the Dagu River Saltworks.
After Huang Zonghui's autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves, the Dagu River salt field was cleaned up, and all the kitchen households were full of life.
Fu Yusun reformed the salt field and established a salt industry company. All Zao households have become employees of the salt industry company and have a fixed monthly income. They no longer have to worry about being hungry or full.
What made the kitchen households burst into tears of gratitude was that Fu Yusun canceled their salt lessons.
From now on, kitchen households no longer have to pay taxes, and their burden is lightened.
Moreover, Fu Yusun promised to build new houses for the kitchen households, and advance preparations have now begun.
The new salt industry company residential area is on the east bank of the Dagu River north of the salt field and south of Yantaiding.
The Lu family is also Fu Yusun's partner and wants to provide bricks and tiles to the salt company.
In view of the situation here, after comprehensive consideration, Lu Hao decided to set up a brick and tile factory directly here, and as a result, another batch of labor was absorbed.
In addition to people's livelihood, the military is also the focus here.
Both sides of the Baisha River estuary in the east were requisitioned by the New Army.
The east bank of the river mouth became the headquarters of the Fourth Division of the New Army.
The Fourth Division will be formed here and will also be responsible for local defense.
For an army of more than 10,000 people, the construction of military camps and daily consumption are astronomical figures.
But this also helped the people around him.
The local people discovered that the new army not only did not bully the people, but was also very wealthy, so they spontaneously moved their business closer to the military camp.
The consumption of the New Army soldiers is currently enough to feed the nearby people.
On the west bank of Shahe River, the uses are even greater, and they are all related to the sea.
Two schools will be established here.
One is the Naval Academy and the other is the Naval Academy.
The Naval Academy will provide talents for the soon-to-be-established navy and is the cradle of the future navy.
The Naval Academy is both a military and civilian institution.
Not only will various disciplines of shipbuilding be developed here, but crews will also be trained. It can be used to develop the maritime economy, and can also be incorporated into the navy to help with operations at critical moments.
The coast of Hongdao, which protrudes into Jiaozhou Bay, will be built into a naval pier.
Most of the ships transferred from Dengzhou dock here.
The construction of these places alone has absorbed the surrounding population. So much so that people from Haiyang heard the news and came here to make money.
"You are also stubborn. If you are short of labor, you just need to recruit people. Our territory is all around here, who can stop you from recruiting people?"
After being scolded, Fu Yusun defended himself.
"I... I'm not afraid that if we recruit too many workers, no one will be able to plant the crops, which will affect next year's spring plowing."
Zuo Mengeng had no choice but to teach in person.
"Although Shandong has been fighting for so many years, the population has dropped sharply, but there are still more people and less land. With so many people, how can they survive just by farming? And you have also seen our agriculture in Dongchang Prefecture. Reform and know what agriculture should do to increase production and income. Completing the labor distribution through recruitment is also a reflection of your ability."
Fu Yusun suddenly realized this and scratched his head, excited.
"It's better to stay with Shenzao. You can learn something every moment."
Zuo Mengeng smiled and said: "What's the use of learning more by my side? You can only have one secretary on your side, so how can you be useful? Look at this place, the sky is high and the sea is vast. As long as you run it well, you can even compete with Songjiang Mansion." .”
Seeing Zuo Mengeng raising the prospects of Jiaozhou Bay so high, Fu Yusun couldn't help but feel excited and determined to start a vigorous career.
Speaking of Songjiang Mansion, the people there came over again, and went directly to Jiaozhou Bay to find Zuo Mengeng.
"The cloth you mentioned last time has been researched by major cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture, and they think it would be good to use back cloth."
"The fabric on the back?"
Zuo Mengeng was a little confused and felt that Xu Erdou was entertaining him.
It's not like he has never seen a back, which is exquisite, delicate, soft and luxurious, but only ladies can afford to wear it.
How to use this kind of fabric to make military uniforms?
Only then did Xu Erdou realize that he had misunderstood. He quickly took out a piece of very rough and strong cloth and said, "I'm talking about the backs of the Song Dynasty, not today's ones."
Zuo Mengeng took the cloth and examined it carefully. He found that the cloth in his hand was very thick and airtight. He took the dagger again and cut it casually. He was surprised to find that it was difficult for such a sharp dagger to pierce and cut through the cloth in his hand.
The texture of this fabric is quite like the denim clothing of later generations.
Although it is not as hard as that, it is indeed enough for military uniforms.
Xu Erdou introduced in detail: "The backs of the Song Dynasty were generally worn by laborers or warriors because they were very cheap and very strong. After listening to your request last time, we searched in many places after we went back, and an old weaver mentioned this kind of backs. Fabric.”
Zuo Mengeng was very satisfied with the fabric and asked, "Can it be mass produced?"
Xu Erdou was sure of it.
"It's easy. With the size of Tianwei Factory, it can produce 30,000 horses every day."
Zuo Mengeng made the decision immediately.
"Okay, order half a million pieces here. When Shandong ships cotton to Songjiang Prefecture next spring, the fabric must be ready."
Xu Erdou was very happy with this deal.
Although the fabric Zuo Mengeng wanted was not expensive, the quantity was too large. This business alone is as much as Tian Weaving Factory's profit for a year.
Zuo Mengeng asked him to keep all the fabric samples he brought, and also ordered someone to call Wang Xiuqin over.
"This is the fabric that will be used in the military uniforms of our army in the future. What your garment factory needs to do next is to produce military uniforms that are unique to our new army."
Wang Xiuqin was greatly surprised.
"Are we no longer wearing Ming army uniforms?"
Zuo Mengeng shook his head.
"no need."
He asked Fu Yijian to take the drawings and show them to Wang Xiuqin.
"Let's see if we can make it."
Since he decided to establish his own system, Zuo Mengeng decided to be more thorough.
Anyway, the New Army is a pure firearms force, and the military uniforms of this era are really not suitable.
The style he took out was based on the HBT military uniform of the US Army in World War II.
Compared with the military uniforms of various countries during World War II, this kind of military uniform is not the least bit superior.
Because most of the military uniforms of other countries have not yet broken away from the category of uniforms. Although it is good for identification, to be honest, it is really uncomfortable on the battlefield.
As soon as HBT military uniforms appeared in the style of field military uniforms, they received unanimous praise from the US military.
Moreover, this kind of military uniform is made of cotton and fine canvas fabrics, which are quite similar to the fabrics of the backs of the Song Dynasty, which coincidentally solves the problem of using materials.
At the same time, Zuo Mengeng also made modifications according to local conditions.
For example, HBT military uniforms are mainly in khaki and olive green colors, which could not be printed and dyed in the late Ming Dynasty, so Zuo Menggeng decided to use the ocher yellow common in Shandong.
If the clothing factory can make it, then the new army will enter a new era.
