My brother Ying Zheng, who dares to kill me?.

Chapter 849: A total loser! How do you think I saved up my manpower and time?

Under the forceful pulling of Ying Chengjiao, Ying Zheng followed Ying Chengjiao downstream along the river bank with an uneasy look on his face but a smile in his eyes.

Soon, another wave of heat came over them. Ying Chengjiao breathed a sigh of relief and said cheerfully, "We're here!"

Looking at the blast furnace standing in front of him, Han Cang asked in confusion: "Does it mean that iron is needed to build that road?"

Ying Chengjiao shook his head and said, "Iron is useless. When I have mastered the art of steelmaking, I will put steel bars in the road."

"This blast furnace in front of you is not used for smelting iron, but for burning materials needed for road construction."

When the Qin emperor and his ministers heard what Ying Chengjiao said, they were secretly amazed.

That's fucking steel!

If anyone has a steel sword at home, it can be regarded as a family heirloom, helping generations to charge into battle and win military merit.

So you're going to bury the steel in the road?
spendthrift!
A total prodigal son!

As for Ying Chengjiao's second sentence, it left the Qin emperor and his ministers completely confused.

Ying Zheng couldn't help but ask: "My brother, the materials needed to build Changlan Avenue actually need to be calcined in a blast furnace?!"

Ying Chengjiao nodded and said, "Brother, what you said is correct."

Ying Zheng:  …

My dear brother, can't you hear that I am questioning you instead of asking you?
Pointing to the river bank, Ying Chengjiao introduced: "The various materials that have just been ground into fine powder will be transported here by water."

"After unloading the ship, the craftsmen will mix all the powders except the slag powder in a uniform proportion, and then put them into this furnace to calcine at high temperature. After the clinker is formed, it will flow out from this outlet."

Following Ying Chengjiao's gesture, Ying Zheng saw that the lower hole of the blast furnace, from which the molten iron was supposed to flow out, had been widened a lot, and what flowed out was no longer molten iron, but molten slurry!
Ying Chengjiao continued walking downstream along the pipeline, saying as he walked: "The calcined clinker will flow along the pipeline all the way to this place to cool down."

"Then the craftsmen will smash the cooled clinker into pieces, crush it with a water pestle, grind it with a water mill, and finally mix it with slag powder according to the proportion."

"The final product is what I call cement!"

"Although this cement is not very useful right now, it is enough to support my daily transportation."

"When I have mastered the art of steelmaking, I will study it further!"

The cement refined in this way is sufficient to meet Ying Chengjiao's current requirements, allowing fully loaded carts to travel back and forth on the cement road like the wind!
However, it is still far from being able to build high-rise buildings or allow vehicles weighing several tons to travel at high speeds, which is enough to make countless civil engineering guys laugh.

Therefore, in Ying Chengjiao's view, this method is just for temporary use.

After the steelmaking technique is perfected and Daqin is able to produce steel bars on a large scale, Ying Chengjiao will naturally take the time to study a better cement production method that is more suitable for Daqin's productivity!

However, Ying Chengjiao's words only made the Qin emperor and his ministers feel incredible and incomprehensible.

Han Cang's fingers slid across the blast furnace, the water mill, and the stone mill, and finally pointed to the cement powder. He asked with confusion in his eyes: "Changan Jun spent so much effort and mobilized so many people, but he only made some powder. It's a long way to go before we can build a road!"

"Even so, Lord Chang'an is still not satisfied and wants to continue to study the technique of making this powder?"

"So, Lord Chang'an also said that it only took a few hundred people to build the road outside the workshop?"

If Ying Chengjiao had not mentioned the term "materials for road construction", the Qin rulers and their ministers would never have imagined that the final product of this assembly line would be the material used to build roads - one of them!

First it is pounded and then ground, and then it is fired at high temperature using the iron smelting method, which consumes a large amount of fuel. After the firing is successful, it is pounded and ground again.

If Ying Chengjiao had not invented the flat-wheel water mill and the vertical-wheel water pestle, the manpower just for pounding and grinding would have been at least several thousand people.

After all this operation, only some powder was produced.

Even the Qin Dynasty didn’t have so much trouble forging armor and weapons!
Ying Chengjiao smiled and said, "The cement powder has already been used, how far is it from building a road?"

"Brother, colleagues, please!"

After taking a final shocked look at the complicated production line, Han Cang closely followed Ying Chengjiao's footsteps and went to the east gate of Lantian Workshop with Ying Chengjiao.

When Ying Chengjiao and Ying Zheng stepped out of the east gate side by side, the five hundred strong men outside the gate hurriedly bowed and shouted: "Your humble servants greet the king! You greet the Lord of Chang'an!"

Ying Zheng smiled and nodded: "No need to be polite, everyone."

"Are you here to build a road for Lord Chang'an?"

The five hundred strong men responded carefully, "Yes!"

Ying Zheng bowed and said sincerely: "Thank you for working so late at night. It is really my fault."

"In addition to the money and food that you have to pay, I will give you another 100 coins for all the men who work tonight, and I will also allow you to rest for two days after your work."

Originally, the 500 able-bodied men were somewhat unhappy because they had to work late at night.

After hearing what Ying Zheng said, the five hundred strong men were at a loss: "This, this, this, working for the king and Chang'an Jun is our duty, how can you give us such a heavy reward?"

"That's a hundred coins! We are just repairing the road late at night, how can we take the reward money that we can only get in seven or eight days!"

"Since the king and Chang'an Jun have given orders, I will obey them. If the king gives me more rewards, I will not feel at ease with them!"

Ying Chengjiao said in a deep voice: "The king has given a great reward, so you two should do your best!" "Cheer up and work hard for me."

"As long as you two or three are willing to sacrifice your lives, the king's reward is what you deserve!"

Hearing what Ying Chengjiao said, the five hundred strong men were somewhat embarrassed but also happily clasped their hands and shouted: "We will serve you!"

Ying Chengyu nodded happily: "Very good!"

"Brother?"

Ying Zheng found this somewhat amusing, but he followed Ying Chengjiao's wishes and shouted in a deep voice: "Pass on my order!"

"Changlan Avenue, construction begins!"

At a command, a thousand guards came out with torches in hand, dispelling the dark night for the craftsmen.

Zhang Han, Liu Ji and ten craftsmen stepped out and walked towards the able-bodied men.

Under the assignment of Zhang Han and Liu Ji, five hundred able-bodied men and ten craftsmen were quickly divided into three groups.

Two hundred strong men, armed with axes, and led by a craftsman, cut down all the bushes and trees along the designated route.

Two craftsmen holding lime powder followed behind the two hundred strong men, carefully marking the edge of the cement road along the predetermined route.

Two hundred and fifty able-bodied men, armed with shovels, dug soil within the area defined by the lime powder, and piled the dug soil on both sides of the lime powder to raise the shoulders of the road.

Another fifty strong men quickly ran into the workshop.

Seeing this, the Qin emperor and his ministers all felt quite calm.

So far, Ying Chengjiao's method of building roads is exactly the same as the method used by the Qin Dynasty today!
If they followed the Qin Dynasty's method of building roads, the able-bodied men would continue to dig deeper into the soil until they could dig no further.

Then they would pile the weeds and trees pulled out along the way and cut down on the excavated soil and set it on fire. After the grass seeds and insect eggs in the soil were burned to death, the soil would be backfilled, compacted, backfilled, and compacted, and the cycle would be repeated over and over again.

However, when the hundred strong men rushed out of the workshop, the situation on the scene became different.

Under Han Cang's nose, a strong man poured a full truckload of cement powder onto the ground.

Han Cang suddenly became anxious: "Be careful!"

"This substance is not easy to make. Even if it is spilled all over a truck it would be a huge waste!"

The strong man pushing the cart looked back blankly, gave Han Cang a silly smile, and then ran away with the cart!
Han Cang was so angry that he laughed: "Hmm!"

“You…”

Before Han Cang could finish his words, another strong man pushed a cart full of river sand and ran to Han Cang, and then poured all the river sand on the cement powder under Han Cang's nose!
Han Cang: ???
Under the astonished gaze of the Qin emperor and his ministers, four strong men came one after another pushing carts and poured three carts of stones and half a cart of river water on the cement powder that had just been made after so much hardship!

Seeing this, Han Cang finally understood: "Are they further processing this cement?!"

Ying Chengjiao smiled and nodded, saying, "Han Shangqing is a man of great talent."

"As Han Shangqing said, cement needs to be mixed with sand and gravel before roads can be built."

"This is to reduce the amount of cement used and fill the road surface with simpler and more readily available materials, and also to allow them to play a supporting role like bamboo strips in the wall, making the road more solid."

However, Han Cang couldn't laugh at all after listening to Ying Chengjiao's explanation. He shook his head and said, "Cement is difficult to make. After it is made, it needs to be prepared again. I don't know how much manpower will be wasted!"

"Looking at the color of this paper (paste), it is quite similar to the surface of the road just now."

"I think Chang'an Jun compacted the road back and forth like he was building a highway, and then poured this stuff onto the surface of the road to make it as hard as gold and stone!"

"Changan Jun, if you use this strategy to build roads, you can certainly make the road surface smooth and hard, but it will definitely be extremely wasteful!"

"It is even more impossible to build a road of more than ten miles in two months with only a few hundred people!"

While Han Cang was questioning, the strong men had already dug out a pit about three meters long and one foot deep.

Fifty strong men were quickly selected from the digging team to carry out simple tamping and leveling of the road with wooden boards and rammers. Six craftsmen placed one-foot-wide wooden boards in the pit along the route drawn with lime powder.

Under the stunned gaze of Han Cang, Zhao Cheng and other court officials, a dozen craftsmen hoe the mixed cement directly into the pit!
Zhao Cheng pointed at the cement and looked at Ying Chengjiao, his eyes full of shock as he asked, "Chang, Chang'an Jun."

"Just poured it in like that?"

Ying Chengjiao nodded as a matter of course and said, "Yeah!"

“It just fell in.”

Zhao Cheng's eyes widened a little: "No need to dig deep into the hard soil, no need to backfill the cooked soil and compact it repeatedly."

"After just digging out a foot of soil, you just dumped this thing in there?!"

Ying Chengjiao nodded confidently and said, "Yes!"

"Otherwise, how did I save the manpower and time?"

(End of this chapter)