In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 561 Cement Appears
"With Batu here, and Guyuk and his mother killing so many people at the last meeting, Yelu Zhu is just daydreaming. Batu and Mongke will not compromise. Even if they want to compromise, many of their subordinates will not be willing to do so."

What a joke! During the last Khuriltai Conference, Guyuk and his mother went on a killing spree and killed so many Mongolian nobles.

The Subutai faction now also hates Guyuk to the core.

It was impossible for Guyuk to ask them to surrender.

The Mongol Khans, the East and the West, can only be reconciled if one of them dies.

"Your Majesty is wise." Meng Gong and Liu Zheng said in unison.

The two of them could only make judgments based on previous battles, but Zhao and Rui had intelligence from the Intelligence Department.

Guyu stopped attacking this year in order to rest and try to persuade the enemy to surrender, and then wait for more support supplies from the Song army.

Batu had been on the defensive and was now taking the opportunity to rest and regroup. He also began to recruit local troops in Xiongu and Poland to fight against Guyuk.

If nothing unexpected happens, the two Khans will still fight in the second half of the year.

All the Song army had to do was to add fuel to the fire, and continue to do so, handing the knife to Guyuk and asking him to stab Batu.

The Song army can continue to provide gunpowder, iron, and copper. Of course, the gunpowder has a changed formula and is definitely not as good as what the Song army has.

"They are still not good at farming." Zhao Yurui said at this time.

According to the intelligence obtained from the Intelligence Department, the Mongolian army, whether in Sarai or Damascus, actually wanted to cultivate the land, but because of the war and the fact that the Song army was trading with both sides, it was easier for them to obtain food, and now they can't even farm well.

"Your Majesty, this two-way deal is definitely a good idea. If I were you, I would not be willing to farm either." Liu Zheng said with a smile.

It turned out that Zhao Yurui and the two Khans were all trading.

He gave Guyuk military supplies such as gunpowder, iron, copper, and even bows and arrows, and asked him to fight Batu.

At the same time, they provided food to Mongke and Batu through a third party, the Abbasid Dynasty and the Ayyubid Dynasty.

Guyu also provided a steady supply of food.

In this way, both sides will not be short of food, and the herders will not be so eager to store crops, and both sides will still focus on pastoralism.

Zhao Yurui made them develop a habit so that once the Song army stopped supplying food, they would soon fall into a food crisis.

Of course, the two Mongolian Khans were not idiots. They both asked their subordinates to farm and store grain.

Unfortunately, most herdsmen and European people are not very strong in this regard, so the territories of the Eastern and Western Khans of Mongolia now have enough food, but certainly not much surplus.

This year, the Song army will rotate a wave of troops in various overseas locations, so it is unlikely that the Song army will launch a large-scale battle this year, and will continue to watch the Eastern and Western Khans fight.

In the next two years, Zhao and Rui focused on the Delhi Sultanate.

The Delhi Sultanate is a huge country both now and in the future.

The place is not much smaller than the Song Dynasty, and its population is larger than that of the Song Dynasty.

It has never been conquered by anyone in history.

The territories of Zhao and Rui surround the Delhi Sultanate on all sides, and they will certainly launch an attack in the next year or the year after.

Sure enough, Zhao and Rui soon talked about this issue.

Depending on the situation in Mongolia next year, if Guyuk continues to fight Batu, the Song army may have to take action against the Delhi Sultanate in the first half of the year.

Meng Gong sent troops from the Central Asian province, marching from north to south.

Liu Zheng sent troops from Bola, heading from south to north.

Li Tingzhi sent troops from Bengal, heading from east to west.

The Persian troops did not move, mainly for defense, because Zhao Yurui knew that the situation in Persia was not stable enough and they had to guard against the Mongols.

In this way, the Song army would attack the Delhi Sultanate from the east, south, and north at the same time, and would probably have to mobilize about 200,000 troops.

Meng Gong and Liu Zheng's faces turned slightly serious.

It has been a long time since the Song Dynasty deployed so many troops.

After Mongolia withdrew from the Central Plains, the Song army mobilized small forces of tens of thousands.

This time, an army of 200,000 is being dispatched, which shows how much importance His Majesty the Emperor attaches to the Delhi Sultanate.

"You will have to prepare yourselves when you return."

"Each person must bring more than 20,000 civilians. The Delhi Sultanate has a large territory and a considerable depth. We must be prepared for a long-term resistance."

The two men nodded quickly. They had also looked at the map. The Delhi Sultanate was very wide from north to south, about four or five thousand miles, and it did have a long strategic depth.

In the morning, Zhao Yurui chatted with them for a long time, and then invited them to have lunch in the palace. After lunch, he took a short rest and left the palace with the two generals and came to the Carpenters' Bureau.

Today Zhao Yurui took them to see the new things in the court.

"We call this thing cement." Zhao Yurui pointed to bags of cement.

Zhao Yurui wanted to make cement in the tenth year of Yuanzhen, but progress has been slow.

In the early days of ancient times, buildings were fixed with limestone sand paddles. Later, glutinous rice paddles and lime paddles were invented. Until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the ancients often used glutinous rice and lime paddles to build cities.

Cement requires three raw materials: limestone, clay and iron slag.

Limestone is the easiest to find because it was used to build cities and houses in ancient times.

There is also clay, because clay was used in making ceramics in ancient times.

There is even more iron slag. Zhao Yurui's Song Dynasty's iron and steel production are now the highest in the world, and there is an inexhaustible supply of iron slag every year.

Zhao and Rui had enough of the three raw materials, but what they lacked was the accurate formula.

When making cement, these three raw materials must be combined one by one, and it is very important to choose which one comes first.

Special abrasives, the finer the better. Zhao Yurui's craftsmen specially built a heavy-duty steel grinding wheel for this job.

The last step is to burn the clinker, which requires a temperature of over 1,800°. This step is easier with coal, but the disadvantage is that it is expensive.

The current coal production of the Song Dynasty is not at the point where it can be consumed so arbitrarily.

The only way is to improve the bellows and use a piston bellows to increase the temperature.

In short, after step-by-step improvements, cement was finally successfully developed.

"When you return, you must bring some craftsmen with you, and then build cement factories in the four provinces of Daming (Persia), Borneo, Central Asia, and Singapore and Malaysia. At least four factories must be built in each province. All employees must be locals, and management personnel must be Song people."

"The cement factory is strictly managed, people can only enter but not leave."

"The cement produced is first used to build roads and ditches, and then used in other buildings."

Zhao and Rui gave instructions one by one, and the two quickly wrote them down.

Zhao Yurui required that in two years, the annual output of each province would reach more than 10,000 tons.

This number is not worth mentioning in later generations, but it is still a relatively high requirement at this time.

Zhao Yurui gave priority to road construction, which not only made life more convenient for the people, but also made it easier for him to mobilize the army.

After looking at the cement, Zhao Yurui took the two to see another new thing.

This time we still looked at the tracks and train carriages.

Last year, the Craftsmen's Bureau had already built train carriages and tracks, but the carriage could only seat two people, and the speed was about ten kilometers per hour, far slower than a horse.

Now more than a year has passed, and this thing has improved a lot. But last time Zhao Yurui brought a lot of civil and military personnel to watch, today he only brought Meng Gong and Liu Zheng.

Because this thing cannot be put into production yet, Zhao Yurui cannot show it off, so he lets Meng Gong and Liu Zheng see it first.

More than a year passed, and after improvements made by the craftsmen, the carriage was much larger than last time, and the steam engine was also improved.

The two generals were stunned when they looked at the long track and then at the huge carriage.

Then Meng Gong quickly discovered that there was no horse at the scene.

"Your Majesty, this thing can move without a horse?"

"General Meng, did you figure it out? That's amazing." Zhao Yurui said with a smile.

Meng Gong looked incredulous.

Liu Zheng was not to be outdone and pointed at the railroad tracks: "Do we need something like a ladder?"

"This is called a railroad track. It's made of steel. Yes, as long as you lay this railroad track anywhere, the train can go anywhere."

But the two still didn't see what the use of this carriage was, even if there were no horses?
"This carriage can't hold it all?" Meng Gong stopped talking halfway.

Zhao Yurui laughed and said, "It's one section now, but we can have five, ten, or even twenty sections in the future."

"And he can drive it all day and at night, and now his speed has reached 15 kilometers."

"In the future, if the full load can reach 15 kilometers, that is, 30 miles, we can travel nearly 700 to 800 miles a day. Generals, think about it. If we want to deploy the army of the Song Dynasty to a place thousands of miles away, it will only take two days."

The two were shocked and looked incredulous.

After Zhao Yurui finished speaking, he asked someone to perform a martial arts demonstration.

Now the carriage is empty, with only one person on board, and the speed is approaching thirty miles per hour, which is not low.

Of course, if it is fully loaded with people or goods, the speed will definitely slow down.

Zhao Yurui’s goal is to put a fully loaded carriage into operation at a speed of 30 miles per hour.

This thing can not only carry people, but also transport supplies. Meng Gong and Liu Zheng are both generals, and they immediately thought of the key.

Even if it's not about transporting people, but transporting supplies, no amount of horses can compare.

"Can this thing be driven back and forth?" Liu Zheng looked at the railroad tracks and immediately thought of the key.

"That's right. General Liu is smart. He can drive back and forth, and he only needs to burn coal. Two or three drivers can transport thousands or tens of thousands of dan of grain and travel one or two thousand miles in a day or two."

"Divine artifact, divine artifact--" Meng Gong exclaimed in surprise, calling it divine artifact one by one.

"When can our troops be used?" Liu Zheng was anxious.

This way he won’t have to take a boat to return to the capital, as he really doesn’t like taking a boat.

"Well, it's still early." Zhao Yurui said helplessly.

Currently the speed and load-bearing capacity have not yet met his requirements, and further research is needed, but the court’s first railway track is scheduled to begin construction in the second half of next year.

"The railway tracks will be built in the second half of next year, but it may take another five or even ten years before they can be put into use."

“It takes several years to build a track.”

"Where should we build first?" Meng Gong asked anxiously.

"I'm still considering it." Zhao Yurui wanted to build to the north and also wanted to build to the west, and was not considering the south for the time being.

The south can use ships.

"We can build it in Central Asia." Meng Gong became even more anxious.

The Central Asian province where he is located has a good terrain, making it very convenient to build railways. It is also vast and sparsely populated, making it very suitable for trains.

"I will consider it." Zhao Yurui said with a smile: "As long as there is enough financial resources and manpower, we can build several lines at the same time."

"You should be more careful when fighting the Delhi Sultanate. Capture more strong prisoners and civilians to help us build the railway."

"We obey your order." The two generals said happily.

After seeing the prototypes of the steam engine and the train, Zhao Yurui took the two generals to another factory area.

As soon as they reached the door, Zhao Yurui stopped, turned around and asked, "Do you have any iron tools on you?"

"I haven't."

"Neither do I."

The two men were shocked. They wore armor and carried weapons in the military camp, but they were in casual clothes when they entered the imperial city, so it was impossible for them to carry weapons.

"That's fine." Zhao Yurui smiled and led the two of them in.

As soon as they entered the factory, they saw a huge U-shaped metal block. Later they realized that it was a magnet.

Magnets can be natural or artificial. Zhao Yurui uses natural ones.

At that time, there was magnetite in Zhangzhou of the Song Dynasty, which was used as medicine by the people.

The Tang Dynasty's "Compendium of Materia Medica" says: "It comes from the northern mountains of Xiangzhou. Magnetite is the mother of iron. Taking iron is like the mother attracting her son."

Xiangzhou is now Zhangzhou, famous for its magnet production.

Zhao and Rui chose a relatively large one, and then wound the wire coils around two iron cores, so that they were aligned with the N and S poles of the magnet respectively. They also led out the coil wires and installed a handle in the middle of the magnet.

This is the earliest generator in history.

Originally, this thing was to be made by a Frenchman named Pixy using the principle of electromagnetic induction five or six hundred years later, in the second year after Faraday discovered the principle of electromagnetic induction.

But Zhao Yurui had already figured out electromagnetic induction the year before. With his inspiration and guidance, the craftsmen spent nearly two years and finally made the earliest generator in the Song Dynasty.

During this period, Zhao Yurui went to the Craftsmen's Bureau more often than he went to court, and he had to personally do many things. After all, the craftsmen of the Song Dynasty had zero experience in this area.

Meng Gong and his friends had never seen electromagnetic induction before, so today was an eye-opener.

When the craftsman cranks the handle, the magnetic lines of force change, resulting in an electric current in the coil wire.

Zhao Yurui didn't care whether they understood or not. Anyway, there were craftsmen here, so he mainly told them: "Every time the magnet rotates half a circle, the magnetic pole of the magnet corresponding to the coil will change, causing the direction of the current to change as well."

"In order to keep the current constant, we have to add a rectifier."

The commutator was originally invented by Pixie and has been used until later generations.

Although the commutator is useful, it also has its shortcomings and needs to be improved. Moreover, rotating Zhao Yurui's U-shaped magnet is not as convenient and flexible as rotating the coil.

Zhao Yurui said: "The current output is not strong enough and cannot be used practically."

"The next step to improve is to increase the number of magnets and coils and control the output current intensity within a certain range."

This step includes changing the magnet into an electromagnet, which can produce strong magnetism, and using iron coils instead of iron rods.

After Meng Gong and Liu Zheng finished reading, Meng Gong hesitated and asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, may I ask, what will this thing called electricity be used for in the future?"

Zhao Yurui was stunned for a moment, and after a few seconds he said, "General Meng is still young, and he will definitely be able to see in the future that the role of electricity is irreplaceable and pervasive in all things. In the future, we will definitely see it everywhere in the Song Dynasty."

Zhao Yurui was too lazy to explain to them, as it would take a lot of words. They would have to wait until they saw the real thing.

Now he invests huge amounts of money every year in researching electricity, but there are no results, and what he says is not convincing.

(End of this chapter)