At the beginning of the civil castle, the Ming God of War was a little panicked

Chapter 78 The Birth of Cement
After many days, Uncle Pingxiang Chen Huai finally appeared.

Daming has always been very cautious about such things as conferring titles. This time, there are only three people who have been promoted to the title of titles. They are the British Duke Zhang Fu, who was promoted to the county king, Li Zhen, the uncle of Xiangcheng, who was promoted to the Marquis of Xiangcheng, and the commander of the imperial guards. Fan Zhong, promoted to Uncle Zhongwu.

Zhang Fu was the deputy commander of this army's expedition, and he served as the commander-in-chief after the emperor went deep into Mobei. He also fought with Wala head-on to the end.

It is worth mentioning that those who refuse to accept are locked up in the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice!
Li Zhen and Fan Zhong followed the emperor all the way from Mobei, and they were promoted to the title of title as a matter of course.

As for other nobles, such as Chen Ying, the commander of the Shenji Battalion, they did not receive this honor.

Chen Huai's name did not appear in the list of promotions either, and he only got the false title of Prince Shaobao.

However, his current mind is not on this, but is devoted to the infrastructure construction of Daming wholeheartedly.

In his opinion, as long as he can complete the tasks assigned by the emperor on time, he will be more satisfied than being a marquis.

At the beginning, the emperor personally ordered that this thing is not only necessary for the construction of the Martyr's Shrine, but also the infrastructure construction of the entire Ming Dynasty will be inseparable from it.

Finally, it worked!

At the moment when the development was successful, he finally understood the deep meaning of the emperor.

Lime and clay are mixed at a ratio of three to one, and then calcined in a kiln at a high temperature. The seemingly ordinary gray powder is harder than stone after it meets water!

Chen Huai immediately thought that it would not be too convenient to use this thing to build houses, roads and bridges in the future!

In the past, the stone and wood required were expensive, and transportation was a big problem. There were no mountains in the plains, so stone materials had to be transported from the mountains if needed, and the tall trees were mostly concentrated in the Yunnan-Guizhou area. They were transported from deep mountains and old forests, and the cost was extremely high. .

Well now, only limestone and clay are needed to calcine cement. The cost is low and the transportation is convenient, which can greatly improve the construction efficiency and quality.

When Zhu Qizhen saw Chen Huai appearing in front of him with a big stone pier in his arms, his first reaction was a little confused.

"Uncle Ping, what are you doing?"

"Your Majesty, look!"

Chen Huai threw the big stone pier to the ground, making a muffled bang.

The big Han general not far away glanced sharply at this side, and seeing that nothing happened, he continued to stand guard.

Only then did Zhu Qizhen realize that something was wrong, and he squatted down to study it carefully, and suddenly realized.

"Success?"

Chen Huai laughed loudly and said, "It's actually not difficult. There is no problem with the ratio of raw materials. The key is that the temperature is not easy to control. Later, I found out that coal was produced in Xishan, so I tried to use coal as fuel. The temperature was much higher than charcoal. It's done!"

Zhu Qizhen turned his head and asked: "Wynn, you go to the Ministry of Industry and ask Lu Xiang, the left servant of the Ministry of Industry, to come and see me immediately!"

The construction of the Martyr’s Shrine was personally presided over by Lu Xiang, the left servant of the Ministry of Industry. This person has a lot of background. He once presided over the construction of the Forbidden City and was very good at stone carvings. The two giant pillars in front of the Chengtian Gate we see today are his masterpieces.

Lu Xiang is 70 years old this year. Urged by Wynn, he almost trotted all the way to the imperial garden.

"The emperor summoned you, why do you want to go to the imperial garden?"

"Our family doesn't know either. It seems to be related to the construction of the Martyr's Shrine."

"What is the relationship between the construction of the Martyr's Shrine and the Imperial Garden?"

"The emperor is discussing with Heping Township uncle about Heni!"

Lu Xiang asked with question marks all over his face: "He Ni?"

Wynn said awkwardly: "this... our family doesn't understand. "

When Lu Xiang came to Zhu Qizhen, he was out of breath.

"Old minister...see..."

"You don't need to be too polite, Wynn, just watch!"

Huai En moved two Jindun over, Chen Huai and Lu Xiang thanked each other in unison.

"Lu Qing, have you got the revised drawing?"

Lu Xiang looked a little strange, and said: "Please forgive the old minister for speaking bluntly, the emperor's revised drawings... I really can't understand it."

Zhu Qizhen asked: "What don't you understand?"

"Your majesty, if you remove the bricks, stones and wood, don't you mean that you have removed the bones of the person? If there is no bone support, how can a person stand?"

"Didn't I already indicate that the main structure uses the pouring method."

Lu Xiang frowned and said: "It doesn't make any sense here. The poured... what kind of mud is just adobe after drying. If a farmer builds a few tiled houses, it will fall down. However, to build such a large ancestral hall, How can this be?"

Zhu Qizhen waved his hand and said, "Uncle Pingxiang, come and show Lu Qing's family a demonstration!"

Chen Huai nodded, immediately took out half a bag of cement, and poured it on the ground.

"Wait a mininute!"

I saw Chen Huai looking around, and then found a few bricks to build a rectangular space.

Immediately afterwards, I found a bucket of water and poured it directly on the cement, stirred it with a shovel, and then filled it into the brick wall.

Lu Xiang was confused and asked, "Is this the end?"

"It's over!"

Chen Huai nodded, and said, "Then we have to wait."

"Wait for what?"

"Wait to solidify!"

Lu Xiang was still puzzled, he stretched out his finger to poke it, and asked, "How long?"

"It takes at least half a day to completely solidify, but the effect can be seen in an hour."

"That's just right!" Zhu Qizhen looked at the sky and said, "Lunch is almost ready, the two Qing families will have dinner with me."

Chen Huai is a martial artist, and he has a friendship with the emperor who killed enemies side by side, so he would not be polite if he just had a meal.

Lu Xiang wanted to decline, but he was full of doubts about the cement, so he agreed.

After lunch, the monarchs and ministers returned to the imperial garden again, only about half an hour later.

Lu Xiang walked up to him and looked at it, he seemed to be no different from just now, poked it with his finger again, and suddenly froze.

He was a little unbelievable, thought it was an illusion, and poked again, yes, it was hard!
Chen Huai said: "Lu Shilang, wait a little longer, it will be healed soon!"

However, before Lu Xiang could wait, he could not help but peel off the bricks and take out the concrete pier inside.

At this time, the cement has initially solidified, and although it has not yet dried out, it has already demonstrated its powerful functions.

"This... is this... what?"

Chen Huai was puzzled and said, "Didn't I tell you, this is cement!"

"Is this cement?"

Lu Xiang looked excited, and tremblingly put down the concrete pier, then picked up a brick, and smashed it hard.

The brick broke into two pieces immediately, and the concrete pier was also smashed into a gap, and it was obvious that it was still wet inside.

"I told you and haven't done it yet!" Chen Huai pointed to Shidunzi beside him and said, "You hit that, it's completely dry!"

Lu Xiang came to the stone pier that Chen Huai carried, and after looking at it carefully, he raised a brick and threw it on it.

Snapped!
This time, the bricks were shattered, but the concrete pier was still intact, not even scratching the skin.

"This is simply... an artifact!"

Lu Xiang bowed his head and said excitedly: "There is nothing wrong with the emperor's blueprint. It's because the old minister is superficial. The construction of the Martyr's Shrine will be carried out according to the emperor's blueprint!"

Zhu Qizhen nodded and said: "That's the matter, but there is one thing, it must be completed before the end of the year, otherwise the weather will be too cold and the cement will not solidify, which will affect the quality of the project."

Lu Xiang thought for a while, and then said: "During this period of time, there is less rain and the weather is dry. The old minister promises to complete the project within three months!"

"Uncle Pingxiang!" Zhu Qizhen turned his head and said sternly, "The method of making cement is temporarily classified as a top secret. Anyone who dares to reveal it will be punished as treason!"

Chen Huai's heart trembled, and he hurriedly replied: "I obey the order!"

　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)