Capital Datang

The next morning, just after Li Yin had breakfast, Bai Qing ran to King Liang's mansion to ask for an audience, and Li Yin hurriedly called him in.

In just a short while, Bai Qing, who was covered in dust, trotted in from outside the hall, prostrating with two red eyes: "My next official, Bai Qing, see Your Highness King Liang."

"Well, get up!" Li Yin sipped tea and laughed, "Seeing that you came in such a hurry, it must be because yesterday's cement has been calcined, right?"

"Your Highness is wise, yesterday I worked all night with the craftsmen, and finally finished calcination of the cement. Sure enough, as His Highness said, what I got was a kind of gray powder. I just want to invite Your Highness to take a look!" Bai Qing replied very excitedly .

"Okay!" Li Yin slapped the table, stood up, and went to the prison with Bai Qing. On the way, he deliberately let him ride with him. As a result, Bai Qing, who was nearly fifty years old, was moved to tears. He kept talking about his gratitude and admiration, and in the future he would definitely follow Li Yin's lead.Capital Datang 35

It was still the lime-burning yard of yesterday, but on a mat in the middle of the yard, there was a pile of very inconspicuous gray powder.Li Yin walked forward quickly, stretched out his hand to grab a little bit and rubbed it: Well, it feels good in the hand, basically no different from the cement of later generations.

"Your Highness, is this calcined cement usable?" Bai Qing next to him asked nervously. Although the cement produced was basically the same as Li Yin's description, he still had no idea. He was afraid that some negligence would make the cement unusable. .

"Well, you did a good job. This cement is calcined very well!" Seeing that Bai Qing and the craftsmen around him looked nervous, Li Yin couldn't help laughing. It seems that they thought cement was too complicated. It's so cheap, just find someone to tell him how to make it, and you can make usable cement, let alone these experienced craftsmen?

Hearing Li Yin's praise, Bai Qing and the others breathed a sigh of relief. This is something Li Shimin personally confessed. Although Li Yin can't do it, but they, the craftsmen who are mainly responsible for the work, will inevitably be implicated, at least they will be implicated. Penalty half a month's salary.

In fact, this is not real cement, because the last process is still missing.Li Yin asked people to fetch the gypsum powder that had been ground yesterday, and then added about [-]% of the gypsum powder in proportion to mix it evenly. The main purpose of adding gypsum was to delay the hardening speed of the cement, so as to facilitate subsequent construction.It was not until this time that Datang's first batch of cement was truly successfully produced.

"Bai Qing, ask someone to prepare water, sand and gravel, and dig a five-foot-square pond on the ground. The depth should not exceed half a foot." Although the cement has been made, it is not the time to dedicate it to his father , At least try it out to see how the effect is, at least you must have a bottom line in your mind.

When Bai Qing heard Li Yin's order, he immediately led people into action, digging holes, carrying water, and after a while, everything was ready.Bai Qing and those craftsmen just received orders from above to assist Li Yin in firing cement, but as for what the cement is for, they didn't know at all. Li Yin didn't say anything when he came yesterday, and of course they didn't dare to ask. .Looking at Li Yin's posture now, he must be testing the effect of cement, so these craftsmen stretched their heads and waited to see, after all, everyone has curiosity.

Li Yin directed the craftsmen to mix the sand, gravel and cement into a slurry, and then poured it into the square pit on the ground. In order to increase the strength of the concrete, Li Yin also deliberately reduced the proportion of sand and gravel, if not too little cement , Li Yin even wanted to make pure cement board directly without adding sand and stone.

After the cement slurry was poured into the pit, Li Yin asked people to flatten it with wooden boards, and then spread a layer of straw, and told Bai Qing to sprinkle water from time to time so that the concrete would not crack. Bai Qing was still very serious about it. Take notes.

It will take at least a week until the concrete is really dry, and the craftsmen can't wait for these seven days.So Li Yin ordered Bai Qing to let the craftsman burn the lime with all his strength these few days, and also gave him a task that challenged his patience, which was to ask him to mix cement and sand in different proportions, and then mix it like the one he just did. Make a concrete slab, make a comparison, and find an optimal ratio.

Naturally, Bai Qing accepted the order gladly. Li Yin's ability to entrust him with such an important matter shows his trust in him, and this matter is not difficult. Anyone can do it as long as they put in a little effort. Obviously it was Li Yinbai who gave it to him. Credit, figured this out, made Bai Qing feel inexplicably grateful to Li Yin.

After explaining the matter, there is nothing to do with Li Yin.But now that he has already entered the imperial city, Li Yin is not in a hurry to go back home. He first went to find Li Shimin to report the progress of the cement production. Hearing that the cement has been made and is now testing the effect, Li Shimin was overjoyed and patted Li Yin on the shoulder. Shout out, if Li Min didn't stop him, Li Shimin would probably run to appreciate the muddy cement slurry now.

After the old man was settled, Li Yin went to Wangyun Palace to visit Concubine Yang again, but this time she threw herself into a trap. Concubine Yang was very dissatisfied with Li Yin's public 'confession' of Xiao Wenxin at the Five Kings Banquet, and took him He taught him a lesson for a long time, and finally found a chance to escape.

Seven days passed in a flash, and two major events happened during these seven days.

The first thing is that the Tubo ambassador insulted the royal family and was caught by the Jinwu Guard. He should have been sentenced to death, but he wanted to make good relations between the two countries, so he only killed a few followers of the Tubo ambassador. As for the ambassador Lu Dongzan himself, he was sentenced to death. He was severely beaten with [-] boards and imprisoned for two years as a punishment.Moreover, Taizong Li Shimin also wrote a severely worded letter to Tubo Zanpu, reprimanding him very strongly.At the same time, the general Niu Jinda was sent to lead [-] elite soldiers into Jiannan Road to closely monitor every move of the Tubo people.

The second thing is that Li Yin, Li Daozong, Li Xiaogong and other five people jointly opened the wine making workshop, which has officially started wine making.Originally, the wine making workshop would not start until the end of the month at the earliest, but since Li Yin got the cement out, he kept the construction in the workshop simple, and the houses and roads were put aside for the time being, and all the cement was replaced with cement. Cement is much stronger than masonry and civil structures.

The cement-burning courtyard of Jiang Zuojian was formally set aside by Yuwen Hu to be used as a cement workshop, and Bai Qing was in charge of it. Bai Qing would go to Li Min's house every morning to report everything about the cement workshop. The main point of the report is that before dawn today, Bai Qing came to report that the cement had finally condensed into durable concrete.

Hearing the news, Li Yin immediately collapsed from the bed, got dressed as quickly as possible, went to the front hall to find Bai Qing, and the two arrived at the prisoner.

In the yard of the cement workshop, apart from the cement slab supervised by Li Yin himself, there are also cement slabs made by Bai Qing's commander later, some of which are almost dry.The first cement slab was surrounded by craftsmen, and everyone touched the cement slab with their hands from time to time, discussing something in a low voice.Capital Datang 35

"Get out of the way, Your Highness is coming!" These craftsmen were attracted by the concrete slabs below them, and they didn't even notice the arrival of Li Yin and Bai Qing. the way.

Li Yin smiled and nodded at the craftsmen, and then walked quickly to the cement slab. The straw on it had been cleaned, revealing a very smooth cement slab.Li Yin stepped on it with his foot and found that it had solidified.

"Come on, dig out the cement board!" Li Yin ordered excitedly.Immediately, craftsmen who had prepared earlier stepped forward to dig. After a while, a half-foot-thick cement slab was dug out, and was supported by the craftsmen with sticks.

"Your Highness, this cement is really a strange thing. Who would have thought that after being calcined with a few common materials, it can actually bind gravel and sand together, and it is extremely hard. Even if it is not as good as marble, it is probably not much different. " Bai Qing tapped the cement board with his fingers and said with admiration.

"Well, you have to try it to know whether it is hard or not. Go get a big hammer!" Li Yin will not be confused by the appearance of the cement board. He believes that only practice is the only criterion for testing the truth. Do you know if cement board is strong?It's very simple, just hit it with a hammer and you'll know.

After a while, a craftsman brought a sledgehammer, the head of which was half the size of a watermelon. Li Yin took it and tried it. It felt okay, and then he swung it and smashed it hard on the cement slab.

"Bah~" With a muffled sound, Li Yin only felt numbness in his hands and a dull pain in his arms. Looking at the smashed cement board, only a few pieces of debris flew out, leaving a shallow dent That's all.

"Hiss~, it's so strong!" The craftsmen around gasped and exclaimed in unison.

Li Yin then smashed it a few more times, and finally he was so shaken that he lost all feeling in his arms, so he stopped. Although the cement board left traces of being smashed, it was not at all for a cement board as thick as half a foot. What kind of.

"Hehe, the quality is good!" Li Yin nodded in satisfaction. The quality of this cement board is almost the same as the board made of general-purpose cement in later generations. Of course, this is mainly because the craftsmen polished the material very finely. Great care was taken from calcination to subsequent hardening. If large-scale production is to be carried out in the future, without the help of later generations of machinery, the quality may drop a little, but it is enough to meet the needs of Datang at this stage.

"It's all because of the master's command to make a miracle like cement!" Bai Qing would not miss any chance to flatter Li Yin, seeing Li Yin so happy, he immediately flattered him.

"Hahaha~, I'm just moving my mouth. Without the help of Bai Qing and all the craftsmen, how could cement be made? You are all waiting here. I will invite Father to come and have a look, and help Please credit everyone!" Li Yin patted Bai Qing's shoulder with a smile and praised.

After hearing Li Yin's words, Bai Qing and the craftsmen behind him burst into laughter. Bai Qing wanted to be modest, but Li Yin had already turned around to leave, but just as he walked to the door, he suddenly turned around again. Said to Bai Qing: "Don't forget to invite brother Yuwen here, he also has a share of the credit here."

Bai Qing was startled, and immediately agreed. After seeing Li Yin leave, he immediately trotted to invite Yu Wenhu, and at the same time, he was also rejoicing. If Li Yin hadn't reminded him, he really forgot to invite Yu Wenhu. Bai Qing's immediate boss, and all of them were selected by Yu Wenhu, so of course he is also indispensable in terms of credit. . ..