What was used to build city walls and houses in ancient times when there was no cement?
However, through their own exploration, the ancients found many things that could act as adhesives instead of cement.
The first method is lime mortar.
Burning lime is not a difficult task. The ancients have learned to use lime mortar very early on.
But lime mortar, which is made by mixing lime, sand and gravel, is not suitable for building large, very tall buildings. Otherwise, the strength of the building will be greatly reduced.
The second type is glutinous rice lime slurry.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a building material called glutinous rice lime mortar appeared. Glutinous rice soup was mixed into lime mortar to form a new composite mortar.
The strength of glutinous rice lime mortar is much greater than that of pure lime mortar and it is very strong.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, there were many buildings whose brick walls were made of glutinous rice lime mortar and have remained standing for hundreds of years, such as the Great Wall and Ming city walls in various places.
These walls were even stronger than modern buildings and would be difficult to knock down even with bulldozers.
The third method is rammed soil, also called Sanhe soil.
According to the "Tiangong Kaiwu" record: One part of the ash is put into the river sand, and the other two parts are the loess, which is mixed with glutinous rice and sheep peach and vine juice. It is built firmly and will never be damaged. It is called Sanhe Tu. This so-called "sanhe soil" is actually a super adhesive, which is comparable to concrete in terms of viscosity and strength.
Zhou Yi really admires these methods explored by the ancients.
It’s just that whether it is the second or third method, glutinous rice is required.
People in Pingliang County didn't have enough to eat before Zhou Yi came. How could they find so much glutinous rice to build the city wall?
Now with this cement, Zhou Yi's group of people no longer need to use the first lime mortar method to build city walls.
And with this cement, Zhou Yi and their city wall projects can greatly speed up the construction progress.
Zhou Yi called out his panel attributes again:
Host: Zhouyi
Sex: Male
Money: 17 taels of silver.
Popularity: 1937/3000
System warehouse: 6/7 (upgradeable)
Current supplies: rice, Fuling mustard, Yunnan Baiyao, potato seeds, water, cement.
Now Zhou Yi vaguely understood why the system provided water as a supplement.
At this time, the system suddenly reminded: "Please upgrade the system warehouse as soon as possible. If the system warehouse has no inventory, the host will not be able to draw the lottery even if it has the chance."
If you can't win the prize, what kind of business is this? This is the foundation of Zhou Yi's time travel.
So Zhou Yi hurriedly asked: "The system is so big, how should we upgrade this warehouse?"
The system's mechanical voice sounded: "The host can use gold and silver finance to upgrade. Currently, 100 taels of silver are required to upgrade the warehouse."
When Zhou Yi heard this, he couldn't help but sigh: "What a guy! Upgrading Ku Rong costs so much money."
Zhou Yi himself only had seventeen taels of silver in total, and all of this money was still in Yang Xiu's hands.
"After the city wall is built and safety is guaranteed, we need to find a way to get some money to upgrade the warehouse."
Zhou Yi, who was resting and even a little tired, got up from the recliner and called two teams of people, took them to find a suitable place, and then ordered: "You guys will dig a well here so that everyone can use water. "
There was an old man in the crowd who had experience in digging wells and said to Zhou Yi: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. Judging from the villain's many years of experience in digging wells, it doesn't look like water can be drawn here. Judging from the soil layer here, If you can’t dig more than a foot down, you will find hard rocks, and then it will be difficult to continue digging.”
"It doesn't matter, just dig. I am confident that water can be dug here." Zhou Yi said with confidence.
Zhou Yi was not only the county magistrate, but also the great benefactor who kept the people of Pingliang County alive.
Now who in Pingliang County dares not to listen to his words? Since the county magistrate has ordered a well to be dug here, he can only do it.
"I'm afraid the old man will give up only after digging out solid rock and unable to dig deeper!" Old Man Sun, who has many years of well drilling experience, thought to himself.
Mr. Sun is indeed a professional technician with many years of well drilling experience.
As old man Sun had inferred, after digging more than two meters in the land chosen by Zhou Yi, he encountered an extremely hard boulder. Old man Sun quickly went to report the matter to the county magistrate Zhou Yi.
"My lord, the county magistrate, I just led people to dig a well at the location you designated. When I dug less than a foot deep, I encountered a huge rock as hard as iron. I really can't dig any further there. Sir, How about we dig a well somewhere else?"
Yang Xiu, who had always believed that his young master had a destiny, couldn't see this cunning man questioning Zhou Yi, so he shouted angrily before Zhou Yi spoke: "What identity and knowledge do you have, you cunning man, you dare to question the county magistrate, the county magistrate?" Sir, that’s..."
Zhou Yi directly waved his hand to interrupt the nonsense that Yang Xiu almost said in excitement.
Yang Xiu also realized that he almost said the wrong thing and quickly changed his words: "That is someone who has read thousands of books and traveled thousands of miles!"
As a non-professional, Zhou Yi chose to dig a well in that area simply because it was close to the place where the city wall was built, making it easier for everyone to get water.
Now that there is an obstacle just like what Lao Suntou said, Zhou Yi naturally has to take a look.
"Come on, take me to see you."
Lao Suntou, who was unable to lift his head after being scolded by Yang Xiu, quickly led the way.
Zhou Yi also reprimanded Yang Xiu at this time: "Yang Xiu, we can't do this anymore. We must treat our people as warm as the spring breeze, and treat our enemies as ruthlessly as the cold winter."
Yang Xiu nodded secretly and summed up the first half of Zhouyi's sentence in four words in his mind - love the people like your own children!
Zhou Yi followed Old Man Sun to the place where they dug the well and found that they had dug a well with a diameter and depth of more than two meters.
Without thinking, Zhou Yi jumped directly into the well that had not yet been dug.
The few people who had not yet gone up in the well were afraid that the magistrate would fall when they saw this, so they quickly went up to help Zhou Yi who jumped down.
Zhou Yi took the digging hoe from a man's hand, looked at it and knocked the huge stone under his feet.
The hoe collided with the boulder and made a clanging sound.
Old Suntou, a well-digging professional, was old and did not dare to jump down like Zhou Yi. If he jumped like this, his whole bones would fall apart.
So a rope hanging from the side of Old Sun's head slowly fell down, and Yang Xiu also followed Old Sun into the pit.
This well pit is only four or five square meters in size, and Zhou Yi and the other two workers are not spacious in this space. Now that Yang Xiu and Old Man Sun came in, the pit seemed even more cramped.
