Dawn of the Empire

Chapter (3:56)

Zhao Xingde shook his head and said with a smile: "You don't need to order from the Song Dynasty, the components used in the city can be made nearby."

"Then what is the solution Mr. Zhao said?" Han Ningshuang's tone was hopeful, while the other generals of the Han army were skeptical. Everyone put down their wine glasses, looked at Zhao Xingde, and waited for his next words.The candles around the tents of the Chinese army shone brightly on faces with different complexions, showing different emotions. "Could it be that Mr. Zhao is really the reincarnation of Kong Ming, and he can make wooden cows and horses?" Xu Detai thought to himself.

"The construction of the Nanshan city wall is slow now, and the place is small. Even if more manpower is invested in it, it will not be able to be used." Zhao Xingde said in a deep voice, "But we can use the factory method to build Nanshan city."

"Factory-like." Han Ningshuang chewed the word thoughtfully.The faces of the other generals of the Han army were also bewildered and puzzled.

"Exactly." Zhao Xingde was faintly excited, "We can build a prefabricated part factory near Nanshan City at the same time, first use wooden or iron plates to make certain types of molds, and then ram the earth into various prefabricated parts , and then build the city wall." This industrialized system of buildings originated from later generations, and most of the prefabricated parts were made of reinforced concrete, steel, and synthetic materials. Using soil prefabricated parts to construct and splice the city wall is something unprecedented and unprecedented.

"Isn't it just using mud bricks?" Wang Xuansu frowned, thinking to himself, I thought you had some good way.He leaned back and said in a rather expert tone: "It's okay to build a farmhouse with mud bricks, but it's too weak to build a city wall. Bring down the walls."

A look of disappointment appeared on Xu Detai's face.Han Ningshuang's eyes moved slightly, what Zhao Xingde said and what Wang Xuansu said seemed to be different things, but she couldn't tell what the difference was.Wang Xuansu continued: "Using rammed earth to build the city, the city wall is strong and not easy to collapse. The whole city wall is one piece. The enemy army attacking the city cannot pry off the mud bricks one by one. In fact, stones and city bricks are used to wrap a layer outside the city wall. Even better, it can be protected from rain and water, and it is difficult for the enemy's axes to chisel in."

"The rammed earth prefabricated parts are somewhat similar to the mud bricks, but the difference is not small," Zhao Xingde said while gesticulating, "First of all, the material of the rammed earth is different. I think your army used it to ram the city walls, but it was made of The sticky red soil produced in Guannan, Suzhou, is mixed with lime, sand, brown sugar and rice milk, and then rammed tightly with a stone tamping pestle, so it is difficult for rain to soak it soft, and it is far harder than ordinary farm soil. The same is true for the prefabricated rammed earth bricks. The material is special and has been compacted vigorously. It is much harder than the mud bricks of ordinary farmhouses. Because the material is fine and dense, it is not easy to be soaked by rain, even," Zhao Xingde said after deliberation. , "Because the rammed prefabricated parts are made in the workshop, we can use the stone pestle pulled by the ox-horse to increase the force of the ramming. The standardization, compactness and hardness of the prefabricated parts will even exceed the original rammed city walls. And Compared with the mud bricks of ordinary farmhouses, there is a world of difference."

Listening to Zhao Xingde's explanation, Han Ningshuang was quite moved. Xu Detai's face was skeptical, Du Chuijiao's expression was admiration, but Liu Zhijian was thoughtful.

Wang Xuansu frowned and said: "This rammed 'prefabricated part', can it be harder than city bricks? According to what Mr. said, it's better to simply burn city bricks to build the city wall." He immersed himself in the way of city building. It's been a long time, and the original Nanshan City designed by Wang Xuansu was a combination of the advantages of the world's city style, but because of Zhao Xingde's intervention, it was completely overthrown.Although Wang Hengzhi also thinks that Zhao Xingde's redesigned Nanshan City is easier to defend, but there is always a knot in his heart, and now, seizing the opportunity, he can't help but criticize Zhao Xingde's "mud brick" city for inappropriateness.

Zhao Xingde said with a smile: "This is the second difference. The size of the city bricks is limited by firing. If it is too large, it is easy to crack. The rammed prefabricated parts can be much larger than the city bricks. The tamping force is enough," he gestured with both hands, "there should be no problem with the length, width and height of several feet, which are much thicker than city bricks, and because the prefabricated parts are too big, it is impossible for the enemy to attack the city. When the whole piece is pried out, it can only be hollowed out a little bit like dealing with the rammed earth wall.”

"Such a big 'prefabricated part', even if it is difficult to carry?" Xu Detai hesitated.

"The rammed earth, which is several feet long and wide, can be moved with a horse-drawn cart or even a cart," Zhao Xingde said with a smile, "General Xu asked about the idea. In fact, the bigger the prefabricated rammed earth, the faster the city wall will be built. The more you think about it, the more unfortunately you have to be limited by the transportation, and the length and width of the rammed earth are already the limit." He murmured slightly, "If it comes to winter, it can still be made with ice and rolling logs. A little heavier and bigger."

"The prefabricated city building method that Mr. Zhao mentioned, these big soil clods are built together, I am afraid that the Liao Kingdom's artillery will collapse, and moreover, the gaps between the soil clods will inevitably leak rainwater."

Zhao Xingde replied in a deep voice: "It is more convenient to ram prefabricated parts than to fire bricks and stones. The mold can also be changed in various ways. If we can refer to the tenon and tenon method of carpentry, let the prefabricated parts bite into one body from top to bottom, left and right. As for the prefabricated parts The gaps between them can be made with brick-bonded mortar. There are so many city walls wrapped with city bricks in the world, and there is no gap that leaks.”

"The method of carpentry tenon and tenon?" Wang Xuansu said in amazement, "How can it be used in rammed earth to build a city? This method is too whimsical, and Wang has never heard of it." Xu Detai next to him also asked hesitantly: "Mr. Zhao , your method of building a city with rammed earth prefabricated parts, is there any previous method that you can refer to?"

Zhao Xingde said with some embarrassment: "This method of construction is unprecedented."

Wang Xuansu said in a deep voice: "This method of building prefabricated parts is unprecedented and unheard of in the previous generation. It is really difficult to be perfect. Wang thought, "Although Mr. Zhao has good intentions, Nanshan City is of great importance. The method of building the city that Mr. Zhao said , should be used with caution. "This is an era of teaching from master to apprentice and following the construction method extremely. From city walls, palaces to private gardens, the construction of any building must follow certain rules. In the concept of most people, a building that does not follow the construction method must be a It cannot last long, and it is even very dangerous. The so-called "a gentleman does not stand under a dangerous wall", even if it is an ordinary house, few people are willing to try a new construction method, let alone the crucial Nanshan City.

"Can you ram out some of the 'prefabricated parts' that Mr. Zhao called, and try to build a section of the city wall to see the effect?" Han Ningshuang said in a deep voice. She listened to Zhao Xingde's justifiable explanation, and she realized that it was a factory. The construction method of producing prefabricated parts is most suitable for large-scale projects. If it is really feasible, it can be used not only to build Nanshan City, but even the entire fortress in Guannan, Suzhou, so Han Ningshuang still wants to try it.

"Yes, if you are worried that you are not sure, you can try to build a section of the city wall first." Zhao Xingde repeatedly considered the technical details of many prefabricated rammed earth parts, but he did not consider people's acceptance, not to mention that the prefabricated parts of later generations did not Even if it is made of rammed earth, he is not fully sure.

Wang Xuansu shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "Although there are 10,000+ soldiers and civilians in Guannan, there is a shortage of all kinds of manpower. How can there be extra people to do this trial construction. If this section of the trial city wall is too short and too It’s small, and there’s no way to prove that Mr. Zhao’s construction method is reliable, but if the building is tall and large, if it fails, the wasted manpower and material resources will not be small.”

By this time, Wang Xuansu had acted out of selfishness, and did not intend to target Zhao Xingde.He was more reluctant than anyone else to see that Nanshan City could not be completed on schedule, but Wang Xuansu really could not accept using an unheard of construction method to build the crucial Suzhou City.He finally sighed, and said in a deep voice: "Mr. Zhao, I'm sorry, but the lives of soldiers are at stake. I object to what you said about building a French-style Nanshan city."

Wang Xuansu was the general who presided over the construction of Nanshan City. He opposed it so clearly that Han Ningshuang frowned slightly. Although he wanted to try it, he couldn't ignore his opinion.She made a decision, looked at Zhao Xingde apologetically, and asked: "General Zhao, if you only use the construction methods commonly used in the past dynasties, can you have a way to speed up the progress of building the city?"

Zhao Xingde was a little disappointed in his heart. He spent a lot of thought in the past few days on applying the industrialized system construction method to rammed earth for city building. What he lacked was experimentation and the implementation of specific technical details.However, the doubts of the generals of the Han army, and the situation in Guannan, Suzhou, could not be tested. The ideas that had been in his head for the past few days seemed to be punched in the air.He smiled shyly and said: "If we only use the methods commonly used in the past dynasties, what I want to achieve is to reduce the height of the city wall, reduce the thickness of the rammed earth, and use giant logs to strengthen the structure inside the city wall, that's all."

Han Ningshuang's eyes lit up, and she murmured: "Do you use giant trees more?" Wang Xuansu also nodded. The Han army often used civil and wood mixed structures to build cottages.In the commonly used rammed-earth building method, it is also mentioned that wood can be buried in the wall as wall studs. Zhao Xingde's proposal to use giant logs to build a strong frame to strengthen the forcedly thinned city wall is a way.The thickness of the wall is closely related to the height. Although the city wall was forced to be cut down, as long as it survives this winter, the city wall can be thickened and raised again next year. These are the successful methods of building a city.

"Such a simple method, why didn't I think of it." Wang Xuansu secretly blamed himself.Because the Han army built camps with mixed civil engineering and the formal method of building cities are completely two ways, so he has not thought about it all the time, thinking that he was a little awakened by a word.Wang Xuansu looked at Zhao Xingde with more admiration.This person does not stick to established methods. Although the construction method proposed at the beginning was whimsical, he immediately proposed a remedial strategy, just like a powerful and unconstrained style.

"Thank you, General Zhao." He cupped his hands sincerely. "This city was originally designed by the master. It is feasible to replace the rammed earth with giant trees. As for how to measure it, I need more guidance from the master."

"It's easy to say, easy to say." Zhao Xingde cupped his hands listlessly.He deeply felt how difficult it was for Chun Yuzhen to trial-produce the new cannon-casting technique when he was able to break his family's business.When he raised his head by chance, Han Ningshuang gave him an apologetic glance, and said in a deep voice, "Thank you, General Zhao, for your guidance."