Steel Dynasty - Chapter 144

[Chapter 144 Benefits of Cement]

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“Your Highness, can this matter be forgotten?”

Zhan Xingchang was a little unwilling.

“Remember, anger without strength is meaningless. Conspiracy and conspiracy are nothing but paper tigers in the face of absolute power. Just wait, I will make them beg for money and food, but before that, you should mainly focus on Let’s repair Cangzhou City,”

Xiao Ming said to Zhan Xingchang.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Zhan Xingchang nodded. These feudal kings were so shameless, and there was nothing he could do about it.

When it came to repairing the city wall, Xiao Ming said: “By the way, you and I will go to the workshop area. The method used to repair the city wall this time is not the same as before. It is too slow.”

After that, the two arrived at the workshop. In the square area, Xiao Ming took Zhan Xingchang directly to the cement square.

“Your Highness, what are these powders?”

Even Zhan Xingchang couldn’t enter or leave the workshop area at will, so naturally he didn’t know what was inside.

“This thing is called cement. Until now, this cement has only been used in the construction of the workshop area.” Xiao Ming looked around at the workshop area that was now beginning to take shape.

As the workshop area becomes more and more perfect, the living area and workshop area have been separated.

A canteen was also established in the living area to provide slaves with three meals a day. The houses in the living area were all brick-concrete structures, composed of cement and blue bricks.

The design of these houses naturally comes from Xiao Ming.

Although it is not as beautiful as the wooden structure, it is very durable and strong. Each house is in the shape of a long strip, with a large bunkhouse inside, and each room can accommodate fifty people.

“Cement?” Zhan Xingchang looked at what was between the blue bricks in the cement workshop and asked doubtfully, “Your Highness, is this cement?”

Zhan Xingchang pointed to what was between the bricks.

Xiao Ming has always kept a low profile when it comes to things like cement. Many people do not pay attention to the role of cement. Now it is finally time to let cement play its role.

Traditional city walls basically quarry mountain rocks and then transport them back for construction, which is too inefficient.

Cement is different. Green bricks or red bricks can be made from local materials, and only the cement needs to be transported from Qingzhou.

During the masonry process, the amount of cement used was not very large, and one-time transportation is estimated to be enough to meet the needs of Cangzhou City.

Furthermore, the masonry process is very flexible and fast. If one layer of bricks is not enough, you can build another layer to continuously increase the thickness.

In modern times, there are mature masonry techniques for reference. Generally speaking, ten craftsmen can build a house of 400 square meters and more than three meters high in three days.

Now Xiao Ming has trained some mature bricklayers in the Gongfang District in order to prepare for the renovation of the city wall of Cangzhou City.

“Well, as you can see, if cement is stuck between two bricks, after it dries, the two bricks will be very strong. Now I will take you to see how the craftsmen build them. Do you think about how to put them together? The city wall of Cangzhou City has been expanded to be more suitable for artillery shooting,” Xiao Ming said to Zhan Xingchang.

In view of the barbarians going south this time, the artillery has been put on the agenda to achieve city fortification and artillery superiority, and the repair of Cangzhou City must also be put on the agenda.

During this period, while the cannons were being cast, Xiao Ming ordered the cement workshop to step up cement production in order to deliver the cement to Zhan Xingchang today and ask him to go to Cangzhou City to repair the city wall.

Zhan Xingchang nodded and followed Xiao Ming to a building under construction in the Gongfang District. This building was built near the water and it seemed that construction had just started.

“This is a textile workshop. The factory is currently under construction. When the textile machines come out, this place will provide military uniforms and other quilts for the Qingzhou Army.” Xiao Ming said.

He is now asking Chen Qi to restore the multi-spindle spinning machine based on the Huang Daopo spinning machine. The current spinning machine in Dayu can only spin one yarn, which is inefficient.

Such efficiency is far from meeting current needs, and once multi-spindle spinning machines appear, this phenomenon will change.

In the modern Yuan Dynasty, the emergence of Huang Daopo’s spinning machine once greatly increased the production of cloth in Huang Daopo’s hometown. There is a saying that Songjun cotton cloth is the world’s clothing and quilt.

Now Xiao Ming asked Chen Qi to make a spinning machine that is more advanced than Huang Daopo’s. Moreover, this spinning machine is also pedal-powered. It can be promoted among the people and is enough to activate women’s spinning in six states and promote the development of Qingzhou’s textile industry. .

When modern Britain emerged, it was the textile industry as the leading industry that accumulated a large amount of wealth.

So Xiao Ming also attached great importance to this matter.

While talking, Zhan Xingchang kept watching the masons building the wall. When he saw a mason building a thick wall quickly, Zhan Xingchang gradually showed an excited look.

“Your Highness, masonry is much faster than mining rocks to build city walls. If you give me enough manpower, I guarantee that I can build Cangzhou City into a world-famous gate in five months!”

Zhan Xingchang said.

Zhan Xingchang suffered a big blow from begging for money and food from other vassal kings. Xiao Ming deliberately let him regain some confidence, because he might not be able to handle this matter well. At least Zhan Xingchang still asked him to do it. King Yong vomited something.

“In that case, this matter will be left to you, but what are your plans?” Xiao Ming asked.

He still wanted to know about Zhan Xingchang’s construction plan. After all, the barbarians going south was not a child’s play.

“Building gun towers on top of the city wall is one. Second, I will extend the city wall and build gun towers and arrow towers on the extended city wall. This will allow more artillery to fire.”

After a pause, Zhan Xingchang suddenly smiled evilly and said: “And after seeing the function of your highness’s cement and blue bricks today, I suddenly thought of a new method, which is to build brick pillars one by one in front of the city wall. In this way, if the barbarians come, , which can slow down their attack and prevent them from setting up the ladder in time.”

Xiao Ming nodded with satisfaction, Zhan Xingchang understood this very quickly.

The stone pillars he mentioned were similar to those used to guard horses, but at this time, these pillars were used to guard people.

Artillery is for long-range shooting. Once under the city wall, the effectiveness of the artillery is greatly reduced. At this time, a short-range weapon is needed to fight back, which is naturally a crossbow.

Zhan Xingchang’s suggestion made Xiao Ming suddenly consider making an indigenous grenade.

This method is to put gunpowder in a medium-sized clay pot, plug the mouth of the pot with a cork, place a powder twister in the middle, light it and throw it away. It is similar to a firecracker, but more powerful.

When they got closer, these barbarian soldiers were blocked by stone pillars. When they gathered into a pile and threw them inside, they were probably very happy.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ming became more confident in dealing with the barbarians heading south this time. As long as the barbarians came over, they would be scared to death by this new weapon.

(End of chapter)