The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 156: Cement factory idea, wedding and army expansion

"Stone?"

The red lady was surprised again.

She has been guarding Queshan for three months and has learned a lot about this place.

Recalling some of my experiences, I discovered that there are indeed many stonemasons in Queshan, and there are even shops specializing in selling stone carvings.

She puzzled: "There are indeed many quarries in the west of Queshan, which are rich in marble and granite. But quarrying is difficult, and people's demand is limited. How can it become a big business?"

Liu Sheng tapped the table and said: "Marble and granite alone cannot be sold for much money, but limestone can be sold for a lot of money."

"Limestone? Do you sell burnt lime?" The matchmaker frowned slightly, "But limestone is found in many places. Why can we make more money from Queshan's lime?"

Ancient people began to use lime very early.

Ancient Greece was in the eighth century BC, and my country was in the seventh century BC.

By the Ming Dynasty, lime had become a relatively common building material.

Limestone is relatively common, and there are many private lime-burning workshops (lime kilns).

There are many peers, competition is fierce, and the market demand is so huge, it is naturally difficult to make big money by burning lime.

Liu Sheng said with a smile, "It is indeed difficult to make big money from lime, but cement can."

"What is cement?"

"Cement is a good building material..."

Liu Sheng immediately told the matchmaker some knowledge about cement.

Among the various types of cement, the most common is Portland cement, whose main raw materials are limestone and clay.

There are not many clay mountains, but there is no shortage.

The two are crushed, batched, and ground into raw materials, which are then fed into the cement kiln to be calcined into clinker, and then an appropriate amount of gypsum is added and ground again.

If you want the lime to have other properties, you can add other mixing materials and additives during the mixing step with gypsum.

In addition, cement production is divided into dry process, semi-dry process, wet process and semi-wet process.

Anyway, Liu Sheng had the relevant information, and he was ready to take it out and give it to the craftsmen to test, and then use whatever method was suitable for production.

Previously, Liu Sheng's main site was in Tianmu Mountain. The reason why he did not bake cement was that he had not found any limestone mines that were easy to mine, and he was afraid that the cement production method would be leaked too soon due to lax confidentiality.

It should be noted that since he wants to change the world, the rebel army will definitely focus on siege warfare for a considerable period of time in the future.

If Ming Ting obtained the cement production method, wouldn't he have shot himself in the foot?
As for producing it in North America and then transporting it here for use - this process is too complicated, and Liu Sheng doesn't want to spend all day transporting supplies in the living room on the first floor of the villa.

Moreover, no large limestone mines have been discovered in North America yet.

However, as Huabu's sphere of influence expands, it should not be difficult to find small limestone mines.

Since he is planning to build a cement plant here in Queshan, he will definitely build one in North America as well.

With cement and masonry, whether it is building houses, roads, or water conservancy facilities such as reservoirs and ditches, the speed will be greatly increased and the buildings will be stronger.

Of course, in order to keep it secret, the Ministry of Health must send troops to guard the cement factory here in Queshan.

The production process will also be as detailed and separated as possible to prevent too many people from knowing the complete formula and production technology of cement.

In addition, for a considerable period of time, cement will only be sold by Guanbu officials - similar to the salt and iron monopoly of the Han Dynasty, but relying on technology to monopolize the sale.

Although the official sale of cement will cause many disadvantages if it lasts for a long time, it is perfect in the early stage of the expansion of Guibu's power.

The red lady was very excited after hearing this.

With a series of industries such as coal mines, briquette plants, coking coal plants, lime plants, and cement plants, it is indeed not difficult for Queshan to develop.

Maybe next year the lives of ordinary people will improve significantly and they will no longer be as poor as they are now...
On December 29, Liu Sheng returned to North America to celebrate the New Year with North American immigrants.

It was the 14th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, 1641 AD, the fifth day of the first lunar month.

Liu Sheng married the red lady.

After the wedding, both of them looked radiant.

Especially the red lady, who is originally very beautiful, with a heroic spirit in her softness.

Nowadays, the heroic demeanor is slightly reduced, and there is more of a feminine touch, and the whole person is so hydrated that it seems like you can pinch water.

Moreover, the Red Lady did not step down from her command of the Fourth Regiment of the Standing Army, as most had suspected.

Not only does she still hold this general position, but she also serves as the civil affairs manager of Tianmu Mountain - Queshan County is also under her jurisdiction.

Obviously, with the relationship between husband and wife, Liu Sheng can more safely leave the rear to the red lady.

As for the matter of "harem interfering in politics", it was not within his scope for the time being.

Li Changwen and others were also very sensible, and no one gave any advice on this matter.

After all, Liu Sheng has no relatives or clan to support him. If he does not allow his "harem" to interfere in politics, how many of his "own people" will he have in his army?
On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, before Li Changwen left, he even secretly said this to Liu Sheng.

"The Marshal has no relatives to support him, so he can only rely on his relatives. Therefore, if the time is right, I hope the Marshal can marry more side wives as soon as possible.

Giving birth to more heirs earlier will also allow the bloodline of the commander-in-chief to spread here as quickly as possible. "

Although Liu Sheng didn't say it explicitly, through the "Jingshe", various treasures, "supernatural powers", and the fact that Liu Sheng was alone and had no relatives, Li Changwen had already implicitly assumed that Liu Sheng was a "relegated immortal".

That's why the suggestion was made to let Liu Sheng marry wives and concubines and have more children.

Liu Sheng was amused, but he didn't refuse. He responded carelessly: "I'll take care of it."

···
The seventh day of the first month.

Liu Sheng held a meeting of Yibu Rebel Army-level generals in Zhumadian.

At this time, Zhumadian was just as its name suggests. It was just a market that arose due to the inn and official roads.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it had grown to the size of a town, with thousands of households and a population of several thousand.

Previously, they also formed strongholds to protect themselves.

Now that Queshan, Suiping, and Ruyang are all in the hands of the Weibu, Zhumadian has naturally been captured by the Weibu long ago. As early as last year, when Liu Sheng led his troops to attack Suiping, Zhumadian surrendered in front of thousands of rebels. .Liu Shengxuan held the meeting here not because of any future generations' complex, but simply because it was relatively close to Queshan, Ruyang and Suiping.

The generals can arrive on horseback in two hours at the latest.

You can come to the meeting on the same day and return on the same day.

Although the rebels already had a garrison in Zhumadian, for safety reasons, Liu Sheng still came with his guards.

The meeting took place in the Guards camp outside Zhumadian Market.

Inside Liu Sheng's big tent.

Because this was Liu Sheng's first collective audience with regiment-level generals since he became commander-in-chief.

Therefore, the regiment commander, regiment deputy, military and political officials present at the meeting, including the red lady, all gave Liu Sheng a fist salute.

"See Master!"

Liu Sheng solemnly exchanged a fist-cup salute and then said: "The Chinese New Year is over, and I am getting married. I have called everyone here today to discuss our military operations for the beginning of spring."

After speaking, Liu Sheng walked aside and pointed with a bamboo pole at the military map hanging behind the seat.

"I plan to capture Zhenyang and Xincai counties within ten days, as well as Yangbu, Minggang and other market towns guarding military arteries.

And this military operation can only be completed by you. I will lead another army to Biyang and Tang counties to prepare for the surprise attack on Xiangyang. "

A surprise attack on Xiangyang?

All the generals were puzzled after hearing this.

Although Xiangyang is not far from Runing, it is not close either.

They really didn't understand why Liu Sheng didn't take Xinyang Prefecture, Guangshan, Luoshan and other places, but went to take Xiangyang hundreds of miles away.

The generals subconsciously looked at the red lady.

Because in the past, if the generals did not understand the military plan given by Liu Sheng, the red lady would always ask questions.

But the red lady finally changed after marrying Liu Sheng - besides, when they got along in private, Liu Sheng had actually explained the reason to her.

So at this time, she was standing on the ground and had no intention of asking.

Seeing this, Yang Heqing asked: "Why is the commander in a hurry to take Xiangyang?"

Liu Sheng said: "I have received information that Xiangyang was a place where the Ming army gathered military supplies to encircle and suppress the Eight Great Kings, Cao Cao and others, and it was also the location of Prince Xiang's palace, but now the defenses are empty.

In addition, if the Eight Kings, Cao Cao and their like break through the Ming army siege from Sichuan, they will inevitably enter Huguang again, and Huguang will be turned upside down.

Therefore, I want to make a surprise attack on Xiangyang before that and seize the military supplies accumulated by the Ming army and the money and food of Prince Xiang's palace. "

Liu Sheng's explanation was not detailed and contained many ambiguities, so it was naturally difficult to convince Yang Heqing and others.

But due to Liu Sheng's long-standing prestige, no one raised any questions.

Liu Sheng also knew that these words were not very convincing.

But he can't say that Zhang Xianzhong will surprise Xiangyang in early February, so his strength will skyrocket. Does he want to intercept Zhang Xianzhong's attack?
That's harder to explain.

Simply "have your own way".

But in order to reassure everyone, he still said a few words of comfort.

"You don't have to worry. I will only take the Guards and the newly-established fifth regiment this time. If things cannot be done, I will not force it and will bring the army back."

After hearing this, the generals did feel a little relieved, but at the same time their attention was diverted by the "new fifth regiment".

Peng Youyi was the most excited and asked: "Commander, are we going to expand our army again?"

Liu Sheng smiled and said: "Of course we must continue to expand the army, otherwise why did I ask you to step up the training of civilian bravery when I left Ruyang last year?
If we don’t have enough troops, how can we realize our military vision of occupying Runing in the spring? "

The strategic vision of these regiment-level generals under Liu Sheng is actually very average, and most of them come from lower-level backgrounds. They don't have much idea about strategic matters. They basically follow Liu Sheng's lead.

But they are very active in military expansion.

In fact, in the eyes of these generals, the rebel army's expansion was too cautious.

If, like those rogue peasant armies, they seize every opportunity to expand their army, I am afraid that the Kuei tribe would already have an army of 10,000+.

Of course, they also know that compared to other peasant armies, the Yibu army can barely be called "elite" even if it is a civilian army.

Therefore, if they face the bandits, they will have a great psychological advantage.

Then, Liu Sheng announced a new military expansion plan.

To put it simply, it means adding four more regiments to the standing army!
The three regiment deputies, Hu Dongliu, Mao Chengguo, and Shi Jincai, and the commander of the Shengjie Battalion, Helian Yue, each led one battalion of the standing army, and each was combined with four civilian brave battalions to form the fifth to eighth regiments of the standing army.

The commander of the fifth regiment is Helianyue, with the seventh battalion led by Zhang Guying as the backbone.

Former battalion commander Zhang Guying was promoted to regiment deputy, military and political officer Wang Wei was promoted from battalion level to regiment level, and former battalion deputy Shi Shiwu was promoted to commander of the first battalion of the fifth regiment.

And so on for the remaining three groups.

The sixth regiment is commanded by Hu Dongliu, regimental deputy Shen Zhaoxian, and military and political officer Wei Junjie.

The seventh regiment was commanded by Shi Jincai, regimental deputy Liu Changhe, and military and political officer Gao Feng.

The eighth regiment was commanded by Mao Chengguo, regimental deputy Liu Erhe, and military and political officer Xu Yu.

At the same time, Zheng Erli, Zhang Ao, and Huang Gan were promoted to regimental deputy, and still served as the former battalion commander.

Previously, after the Yibu rebel army was reorganized in Suiping, there were 10 civilian brave camps that followed Liu Sheng to attack Ruyang.

In addition, Hong Niangzi and Wen You each trained five civilian brave battalions to assist in guarding Queshan and Suiping.

In other words, there were previously a total of 20 civilian brave camps.

After capturing Ruyang, Liu Sheng asked Yang Heqing and others to use single young men among the refugees as a source of troops to continue training the people's bravery.

Today, there are 12 more civilian brave camps in Ruyang.

Therefore, there are currently 32 civilian brave camps in the Yibu Rebel Army!
　Second more.

　　Good night~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)