Horse on the World

Chapter 899 Cement
Ren Ruqing was beaming, holding a bundle in his arms, seemed to be struggling, put the bundle aside and bowed to Li Qing first, then bowed his hands to Lu Yiming, said: "My lord, there is indeed a The new stuff was unintentionally calculated by the craftsmen, and I thought it would be useful, so I brought it to my lord to appreciate it."

Li Qing looked at the tightly wrapped bundle, and said with a smile: "You guys have made something new, open it quickly, don't you see that Lord Lu's neck is stretched so long?"

Several people burst into laughter, Ren Ruqing bent down to untie the burden, Lu Yiming took a closer look, but it turned out to be a lump of gray stone, only square, with sharp edges and corners, he couldn't help laughing and said: "I Say Master Ren, what are you doing with a stone, even if you cut it neatly, it is still a stone, could it be that there is precious raw jade hidden in it?"

Ren Ruqing proudly said: "I knew Master Lu didn't understand, he would definitely think it was a stone, my lord?" Ren Ruqing looked at Li Qing.

"Want to test me?" Li Qing laughed, stretched out his hand and picked up the sharp-edged stone. In fact, the moment Ren Ruqing opened the bag, Li Qing's heart skipped a beat. Recognizing this thing, what kind of stone is there, it is clearly the most common cube made of cement in the previous life, cement, Ren Ruqing and the others actually made cement!
"Is it true that this thing was originally made of some powdery things, mixed with sand, then mixed with water, and after it solidified, it became this thing?" Li Qing looked at Ren Ruqing.

Ren Ruqing's eyes slowly widened, his mouth opened into an O shape, and the smile on his face slowly disappeared, replaced by a look of shock, "Master, you, how do you know that you are like this? I am too. I just found out about it not long ago. The craftsman who made this thing didn't even realize that he had discovered a remarkable thing. It was not reported at all, and I discovered it by accident."

An inscrutable smile appeared on Li Qing's face, but he said nothing.Just hugging the concrete block and turning it over and over again, Lu Yiming smiled gleefully and said: "Master Ren, it's fine if you want to embarrass me, but you actually want to embarrass the Lord, isn't that self-defeating, the Lord is a pedant of heaven and man, Is there anything in this world that the lord doesn't know?"

Ren Ruqing nodded repeatedly, admiringly.He picked up a box from the furoshiki, which contained some very fine gray powder, "My lord, this is the raw material for making this thing!"

Looking at these powders, Li Qing couldn't recognize them, "What kind of raw materials are these, and how are they made?"

Ren Ruqing said: "My lord, isn't the First Military Factory researching the Shenwei cannon? In the process of continuous testing, because the Shenwei cannon is too powerful and the recoil is too strong, every time it is fired, the mound of the fort will be shaken." It is very troublesome for the craftsmen to rebuild the fort every time they fire a few shots. So several craftsmen decided to build a stronger fort. After repeated experiments, they came up with such a thing. , I have asked them carefully, this thing is made of limestone and clay as raw materials, it is rolled into a very fine powder, and then some gypsum powder is added to it, and it is finished. You know, my lord, here we have limestone There is a lot of it, and there is no shortage of clay. Although there is not much gypsum powder, the amount is not large, but it can be produced in large quantities. I thought, the fort made of this thing can't even be knocked down by the Shenwei Cannon, so how to use it? Building a house and building a city wall, ordinary trebuchets can't destroy it at all, so I hurried to report to the lord."

Li Qing smiled and said: "That's right, that's right, that's true, some great inventions are made by lazy guys!"

Ren Ruqing was taken aback when he heard this, "My lord, those craftsmen are very hardworking, not lazy!"

Li Qing laughed, and Lu Yiming also said, "Lord Ren, my lord is complimenting them. What's the name of this thing? Has the arsenal been named?"

"No, don't you just want to ask the lord to think of a name?" Ren Ruqing said.

"You'll flatter me!" Li Qing said with a smile, "This stuff condenses when it meets water, so let's call it cement!"

"Cement?" Ren Ruqing was a little dissatisfied, the name was too common, it was as loud as a Shenwei cannon, but since the lord had spoken, it was the final word, so he could only nod, "Well, from now on, this thing will be It’s called cement, my lord, can I order the arsenal to manufacture this cement in large quantities?”

Lu Yiming interrupted: "Wait a minute, Lord Ren, is this thing really easy to make and extremely strong?"

Ren Ruqing was displeased, "Lord Lu, if it wasn't so, would I dare to bring it in front of the lord?"

"Can you give it a try? Seeing is believing!" Lu Yiming insisted.

Li Qing smiled slightly, "Li Wen, come in!"

Li Wen entered in response, "Master!"

"Get a hammer and try Lord Ren's new gadget, can you convince Lord Lu!"

After a while, Li Wen came over with a hammer, threw the cement block on the ground, and knocked it down with a random hammer. With a bang, Li Wen let out a sigh, and the cement block only appeared a few times. You must know that although Li Wen didn't use much force, this hammer is a weapon of a guard in the guard team, and it weighs tens of catties. If I hammer it down, it will weigh a hundred catties at least. , I imagined that it should be broken in response to the sound, but I didn't expect that I would make a fool of myself in front of the lord. I couldn't help but blushed, and with all my strength, I slammed it and knocked it down with a hammer. This time, I hammered the cement block. It became several large pieces and fell to the ground in pieces.

"Good guy, it's hard enough!" Li Wen gasped, "It's much harder than ordinary rocks!"

Ren Ruqing looked at Lu Yiming proudly, "Lord Lu, what's the matter, this is what General Li said, I'm not bragging!"

There was no smile on Lu Yiming's face, "Master Ren, could you please demonstrate how this thing is made again?"

Seeing Lu Yiming's tireless expression, Ren Ruqing snorted and said to Li Wen: "General Li, please bring some water and sand!"

Li Wen nodded with a smile. He was also very curious. He turned around and went out to recruit a few guards. He gave some instructions in a low voice, and the guards flew away immediately. After a while, they brought a bucket of water, and half a bag of sand arrived outside the door. .

A few people went out, but the sun outside was scorching hot, Ren Ruqing strode into the sunlight, poured some sand on the ground first, and then poured the cement in the box into it, groaning After mixing it with water, Li Qing stood under the eaves with his arms folded and a smile, watching Ren Ruqing tinkering there.

Ren Ruqing mixed it evenly, then mixed it with water, mixed it over and over again, and randomly kneaded the mixture on the ground into a square with his hands, and placed it under the sun.

Everyone stared straight at the gray thing, Li Qing smiled and said: "Master Ren, wash your hands first, it will take a while for him to solidify, let's go in and have a cup of tea first ?”

Back in the house, Li Wen ordered to make tea for Ren Ruqing, and changed a cup for Li Qing and Lu Yiming. They drank the tea while waiting for the cement to solidify.

"Master Ren, have you ever thought about mixing this cement with steel? Well, I mean, you can ask Xu Xiaodao to pull the steel into thin iron rods, and then insert them into the cement Oh, by the way, this cement is mixed with sand and some stones, and poured together with steel, will it be stronger?" Li Qing laughed while drinking tea.

"Is that so?" Ren Ruqing tilted his head to think for a moment, then jumped up suddenly, and said to Li Qing, "My lord, this method is great, if it was done in this way, General Li would not have knocked it so easily just now Broken."

Li Wen laughed and said, "It's not so easy!" Li Wen didn't tell lies, with his kung fu, he swung the sledgehammer and hammered it down with all his strength, at least a few hundred catties, and he didn't hit the cement block either. It is broken into pieces, but only broken into several large pieces, which are indeed stronger than ordinary stones.

Ren Ruqing stopped talking, and fell into deep thought, obviously thinking about Li Qing's suggestion, everyone in the room had their own thoughts, and fell silent for a while.

About half an hour later, Li Qing stood up and said: "It should be almost the end of the day, let's go and have a look!" "

Everyone walked out of the house, and when they looked at the cement block, it had almost the same color as the block that Ren Ruqing took out earlier. Under the scorching sun, there was almost no moisture outside.

Li Wen walked over to pick it up, held it up high, let go, the cement block fell to the ground, but it didn't crack, and it was still in its original appearance.

"My lord, if he wants to reach the firmness of the previous cement block, it will take at least a day under the sun, because the outside is easy to dry, but the water inside has not completely dried."

Li Qing nodded, "Lord Lu, believe me this time!"

Looking at the cement block on the ground, Lu Yiming turned around and faced Li Qing, "My lord, I suggest that not only can this thing not be mass-produced, but it should also be strictly kept secret and not leaked at all."

Ren Ruqing jumped up, "Why?"

Lu Yiming said seriously: "Master Ren, if the manufacture of this thing is as simple as you said, then it is very easy for others to imitate it. As long as anyone knows the manufacturing method, anyone can manufacture it on a large scale. Think about it, if this The Luoyang side knew the refining method, and it was so convenient to use it to strengthen the city walls and build fortresses. It was easier than collecting stones, and stones were difficult to transport, but this thing was much simpler. This will give us soldiers on the front line It brought great trouble and brought more casualties when we attacked some cities in the future."

"This?" Ren Ruqing was momentarily at a loss for words.

What Lu Yiming said made Li Qing also startled. Lu Yiming was right, this thing does not have any core technology, as long as you know what the raw materials are, it is very easy to imitate.

"Yiming is right!" Li Qing pondered: "Cement is indeed useful, but it cannot be manufactured on a large scale now. How about it? Ruqing, the craftsman who invented this thing will be appointed as an official. As for keeping it secret, it's up to you Let me explain to them that a small amount can be manufactured in the arsenal and transported to the front line to build fortresses, but the transportation and construction must be carried out by fixed personnel, and the Overwatch Council is responsible for keeping secrets.”

"Yes, Ruqing understands!"

"Cement is a good thing!" Li Qing said with a smile: "When the battle between us and Luoyang is about to be settled, it can be manufactured on a large scale to pave roads, repair bridges, and build houses. Compared with ordinary building materials, It lasts a lot longer and is a lot stronger."

(End of this chapter)