Great Wei Overlord

Chapter 499
Chapter 503

Ran Min asked curiously, "What is this cement?"

Ran Ming said: "Cement is made from limestone and clay, and then ground into powder. This kind of thing will solidify into a rock-like thing when it meets water. If it is used for road construction, as long as it is not seriously overloaded, it can be used for a hundred years!"

The excitement in Ran Min's eyes slowly disappeared, and an unnatural expression appeared on his face: "I know tomorrow, but now my treasury is out of money."

To build roads, especially such a good road, I am afraid that it will be expensive. The first emperor built the road across the country, but it cost 200 million people's effort and accumulated more than ten years of work.Regardless of financial resources or people's resources, our Great Wei has more than enough, but not enough! "

The new year is coming soon, and after the new year is spring plowing, and the strong men must devote themselves to spring plowing, so as to ensure sufficient food for the coming year and prevent people from starving to death.Besides, at this time, the Jin Dynasty would never sell a grain of grain to Wei Guo. Even if Ran Ming had great abilities, he couldn't change the grain that more than four million people would eat.

Ran Ming smiled and said: "Father, the ministers don't need a penny from the national treasury, they just need the local government to requisition the land needed for road construction. In addition, the state of Yan needs 10 people to capture the ministers. And at least [-] elite troops are needed to guard these captives along the way, so as not to cause trouble.”

Ran Ming didn't know that in ancient times, when roads were built and land was expropriated for building cities, the people would not be compensated at all.

When Ran Min heard that the treasury didn't need money to build the road, he became interested: "Minger, if you don't need the treasury to pay for the road, first build the section from Yecheng to Luoyang, and then from Luoyang to Chang'an."

Ran Ming said: "I have a request, I hope the emperor will grant it!"

Ran Min said: "What's the matter, tell me!"

Ran Ming took out a few more pieces of paper, handed them to Ran Min, and said, "Father, at the New Year's meeting, I want to ask Father to pick out some outstanding craftsmen, either as a banquet, or as a virtual noble, anyway, please ask Father The emperor gave them a thought, a hope!"

In the army, Ran Ming established the third and ninth ranks of warriors, which greatly inspired the enterprising spirit of the soldiers.Similarly, Ran Ming made the craftsmen into the third and ninth ranks.Apprentice craftsmen are divided into upper, middle and lower classes, and the monthly salary ranges from [-] to [-] renminbi. In fact, they are ordinary craftsmen with skills.A craftsman is a skilled worker with a certain technical content. The upper-class craftsman can be equivalent to a ninth-class scholar, and the monthly income should not be less than [-] yuan. Low-class craftsmen also have a considerable status, at least equal to the fourth-class civilians, with a monthly salary of [-] yuan!

The first level of craftsman belongs to the craftsman.

The third-class craftsman can start a sect, accept apprentices and pass on skills, and the political status is the same as that of the sixth-class scholars, who belong to the high-end existence of the folk lords.

The second-class craftsman is the real gentry, not only can have the title, but also can have certain privileges.Regardless of public or private, as long as second-class craftsmen are hired, they must at least be given a certain amount of equity dividends, and the state will give them a certain amount of salary, which is equivalent to the subsidy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Academy of Social Sciences in later generations.

As for the first-class craftsman, Ran Ming intends to leave it empty. At least he must wait for the invention of the super-era to appear and make a certain special contribution to the country and society before it can be awarded.The second-class craftsman proposed by Ran Ming only provided four people. Ma Ying, the inventor of Ma Gongnu and Ba Niu Crossbow, was a second-class craftsman; .

Xie Fei, the inventor of the five-tooth battleship and racket stick, is a second-class craftsman.Wei Meng, the inventor of the Xiangyang gun, four steering carriages, bearings, waterwheels, and hydraulic machine tools, was the master of the second carpenter.

When Ran Min saw these second-class craftsmen, he was very familiar with each one of them. It can be said that their functions are quite powerful, especially the Magong crossbow, which is basically equipped with [-]% of Wei army troops now, as well as the powerful Xiangyang cannon and The nomadic people's field battles may not be very useful, but once they want to unify the world and fight against Jin Dynasty, Liangguo, a country where the Han people are the main body, the city's offensive and defensive battles will inevitably be tragic, and the role of equipment will show its power.

Ran Min thought for a while and said: "I can agree, and add Ma Ying as Xiang Chengbo, Niu Shi as Yu Chengbo, Wei Meng as Gao Yangzi, and Xie Fei as Du Lingnan."

Ran Ming is not all-rounder, but he knows how to use these craftsmen and give full play to their ingenuity.The Eastern Jin Dynasty was deceived by Ran Ming to bring back 30 to [-] people. If these people can fully mobilize their positive energy and fully develop their own potential, Ran Ming's return will also be very huge.

Ran Ming believed that as long as Ran Min issued this imperial decree to the world, these craftsmen who had been extremely disturbed since the Eastern Jin Dynasty had just surrendered to the Wei State would explode in a small universe.They will definitely accelerate the progress of science and technology in their respective fields.Emphasizing business and revitalizing business is only a means, and only emphasizing craftsmanship is the real driving force for scientific development.

Ran Min read Ran Ming's road plan very carefully.Of course, Ran Min needs roads, especially the kind of expressway where six hundred miles of freight can be reached in one day!Ran Min asked Wei Meng to make a four-wheel double-bridge shock absorber, and use stainless steel wheels with sliding bearings. times more than twelve times that of rickshaws.

If it is transported at the usual speed, especially a human-powered two-wheeled vehicle, a full load can only hold four stones of grain, and it will take seven to eight days to travel 20 miles, and this is still in good weather.Based on the daily food consumption of one and a half catties for the two coachmen, they would need to eat more than 600 catties on the road.If it is more than [-] miles with two horse-drawn carriages, although it can be reached within three to four days, the horses need to eat three meals of forage a day, which consumes [-] catties a day. Transporting by horse-drawn carts takes time, but the consumption increases. .

Ran Min needs roads. Of course, Ran Min does not consider it from the economic aspect, but from the perspective of pure national defense war.Ran Min's overall national defense system of the Wei State urgently needs this kind of transportation line with a large transportation volume and is not restricted by weather and climate.If the whole country of Wei had such lines of communication, Ran Min would not need to assemble a heavy army at the border, and even if the troops were stationed, the waste spent on transport lines would be greatly reduced.

Ran Min has always followed the route of elite soldiers.If the elite troops can move quickly across the country, then the less important second-line troops can be liberated. With Wei's territory, there is no need for 20 troops now. After reorganization, Wei's troops will have 2 The elite cavalry unit with two horses, the heavy infantry, and the Modao army expanded to 400 horses, and then there were [-] main light infantry, and more than [-] sailors.Among the [-] million Wei people, the army only accounted for one-fortieth.

In this way, Ran Min can liberate more troops and go home to fully develop production.We must know that the productivity of this era is too low.The average yield per mu is only 240 catties, and the total grain production capacity of this era, apportioned to the per capita level, is the lowest level in China's history since the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.Therefore, the people are hovering on the line of life and death, without food reserves, and without the ability to deal with natural and man-made disasters.

Ran Min looked at the watch, and then asked puzzled: "Why is the expressway never built to Yecheng, but not from Yecheng to Luoyang and Chang'an?"

Ran Ming said helplessly: "Father, this cement is currently only being produced in a small workshop outside the city of Jiaodong Wangbuqi, and if this road is simply repaired with cement, although the road surface will be hard, it is easy to break. So Reinforced concrete must be used, so as to ensure a hundred-year service life. At present, in our Great Wei, only Qingzhou has built a cement workshop and a sound steel production base."

After hearing this, Ran Min suddenly realized, "Ming'er, you mean to build the road from Buqicheng to Yecheng, and after the road is repaired, the raw materials can be transported from Jiaodong Kingdom through the expressway?"

Ran Ming shook his head: "Actually, it doesn't need to be so troublesome. The technology of cement and steel is almost mature now, and this kind of factory can be built wherever there is a need for raw materials. Erchen plans to build factories from Buji to Dongwu County (which is today's Shandong Zhucheng) ) expressway, Buqicheng now has enough steel plants and cement plants, which do not need to be built again, but Tobu County can build a large steel plant and cement plant, so that, from the East Wu Xiangdong builds to the various counties, instead of building from east to west, the two hundred li distance can be opened to traffic quickly!"

Ran Ming paused for a moment, and then said: "I won't be able to build the [-]-mile expressway to Tobu first, and I will send all the craftsmen out to study, and when they learn the skills of building expressways and making steel And the technology of cement, in this way, we started to work in sections and lines.”

In fact, Ran Ming can't wait to build a highway network of several million kilometers in Wei State immediately, so that the perfect transportation system will greatly increase the efficiency of Wei State whether it is marching or doing business.Although the ideal is full, the reality is too skinny.

The annual production capacity of iron and steel in Wei State is not even as good as that of a small private iron and steel factory in later generations, let alone cement.I am afraid that the consumption of a building with an area of ​​more than one million square meters is a difficult task that Wei Guo cannot complete at present.Although Ran Ming didn't mention how much benefit this expressway would have on the aristocracy, in fact, when the expressway was built, they would see the benefits without needing to mention it.

Liu's Restaurant in Yecheng was busy before the door was ready.As winter in the north, this time is also the time when ordinary people have just had breakfast. Throughout the ages, dinners with guests are either at noon or at night. I am afraid that no one treats guests in the morning.

There is only one reason why the business of Liu's Restaurant is so prosperous today, that is, Wang Ranming of Jiaodong hosted a banquet here to discuss major issues.

(End of this chapter)