Chapter 656 Sand Table (Repair)
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A month passed in a hurry.
The military newspapers of victory are still sent to Xianyang every day in the northwest military camp, and the Daqin Metropolis Daily, which has been continuously published several consecutive issues, also published the battlefield news sent back with the military reporters. This great victory once again stimulated the mood of the people in Xianyang.
But Chen Xu didn't have much interest in paying attention to these already expected victory, and his main energy was still on the construction of the Oriental Road.
As more and more merchants signed formal contracts, large loans were also issued from China Money Houses. Merchants who received these large loans began to build their own construction teams, recruit soldiers and horses to seize the opportunity to recruit people from all over the country to build carriages and buy cattle and horses.
It seemed that in an instant, the entire Central Plains area became noisy and lively, and a large number of caravans were running back and forth on the soon-to-be-built Oriental Road.
With the continuous and extensive publicity of Daqin Metropolis Daily, the news of the construction of the new Oriental Road has spread throughout the Qin Dynasty. After countless remote counties and counties received this news, a large number of merchants rushed to Xianyang. First, they wanted to see a magical building material called a magical art of cement, and second, they naturally wanted to participate in a share of the pie. If cement is real, they will inevitably monopolize the entire construction industry in the future. If cement is not available, they can also negotiate with the authorized merchants to mine clay limestone for coal, stone, iron ore clay limestone. Being a material supplier can also make a fortune. Otherwise, they can cooperate with merchants who have obtained the Oriental Road contract to build roads, be a small contractor, and grab a few bites of food from the huge investment project of tens of millions of stones of money and grain.
Chen Xu no longer had the leisure of the past. Although most of the matter was handled by Yang Kun, Sun Shujiong and Fan Caiying, he still needed to repeatedly remind and urge merchants who had signed the contract to start preparations as soon as possible.
Under his repeated oppression, good news came one after another. Hedong, Hanoi, Sanchuan, Shangdang, and Nanyang, which are close to Xianyang, have been prosperous and prosperous since ancient times, and have begun to prepare for the construction of cement plants along the Dongfang Road. Zhang Wen and Gongshusheng, the supervisors of the experimental factory, also sent a large number of craftsmen familiar with cement kiln construction and large iron mill pouring to command everywhere.
At the end of August, the autumn harvest has ended one after another.
The grain production in Guanzhong has indeed been somewhat reduced this year, but it is not as severe as imagined. The grain within the Neishifu area is similar to the harvest last year. According to statistics, the production reduction is less than 10%, and autumn grain tax is gradually beginning to enter warehouses.
As the autumn grain harvest ended, news of recruiting civilians began to appear everywhere.
"Recruiting a large number of civilians for a long time, those with strong health are preferred, and one pound of grain takes away a day is two dollars for subsidy..."
"Don't miss it when you pass by. The Qiu Family Engineering Team of Sanchuan County recruits workers, with one kilogram of grain per day, and another three cents subsidy..."
"Hedong Cement Factory recruits a large number of people, no limit on men and women, five cents for men and three cents for women, and settled in person every day..."
"The purchase of large quantities of wood is urgently needed for carpenters, and the price is negotiable..."
"Sand, gravel, sand, gravel, a large number of worthless sand, gravel, no limit on the quantity of each stone, one or two..."
Almost at the same time, construction teams gathered everywhere in counties and towns near Xianyang and along Dongfang Road. A large number of idle civilians could not withstand this temptation, and they took their clothes and dry food to work in cement factories and construction sites. There was a subsidy of two or three cents a day, and nearly a hundred cents a month, and thousands of cents a year were earned. This was definitely a huge temptation for all farmers who worked hard on farming but did not have much income.
The merchants spent a lot of money to recruit people, and the effect was immediately effective. Many places along the Oriental Road began to gather a large number of civilians and craftsmen, and sand, gravel, wood and other materials began to accumulate soon. In addition to building large kilns in the cement factory, clay and stone materials from coal, stone, iron ore, and cargo were also transported to the factory.
In mid-September, almost when Li Xin and Jiang Hu joined forces to strangle the Huns entrenched in the northwest corner of Hetao, after more than a month of preparation, the first cement kiln at the Weinan Cement Plant, nearest to Xianyang, was officially put into use. The kiln fire was lit and thick smoke rose into the air, like a pillar of wolf smoke rushing into the sky hundreds of feet high, adding a completely different scenery to this late autumn season.
At this time, the entire Taiyi Mountains are covered with deep autumn, and the red and yellow are intertwined all over the mountains and fields, colorful and gorgeous like a pair of colorful brocade.
But all those involved were not in the mood to appreciate the romantic scenery of autumn. Both merchants and craftsmen and workers were immersed in the excitement and joy brought by this newly put into production cement factory.
The opening of the cement factory not only means that all efforts have begun to pay off, but also means that the construction of the new Oriental Road has begun to be on the real track.
Moreover, the completion and production of the Weinan Cement Plant has also given other merchants participating in investment and fundraising great confidence and enthusiasm. As long as this road is completed next year, it will surely bring a steady stream of huge wealth to all their participants. In ten or twenty years, everyone will make a fortune like the merchants who participated in the three chapters of the Constitution, and truly become a wealthy class that is as rich as the country.
Moreover, once this road is completed on time, the law to suppress merchants will be abolished, and merchants will usher in a booming spring. There are still endless roads to be repaired in the Qin Dynasty, and there will be countless opportunities to make money.
Five days later, news came that the first cement kiln of Xin'an County Cement Plant near Luoyang was also ignited and put into production.
The next good news was continuous. By the end of September, seven cement factories had officially started production along the Oriental Road. As the kiln fire continued to rise, cement, a magical building material, began to show its powerful power, and with the smell of industrial smoke and dust, began to spread to the entire Qin Empire.
All cement plants that are put into production will be the first to build the storage warehouse of the cement plant and the cement road to Dongfang Road. Because in the next year, all cement plants will inevitably operate at full capacity and will continuously provide Dongfang Road with sufficient cement to meet the construction of the road.
Although the cement plants are currently supporting them with a loan of 10 million, this money is enough for all cement plants to support the construction of Dongfang Road and even have a surplus. However, as long as the road is built, the cement plants will inevitably start to make money, because at that time, with Dongfang Road as the backbone, a highway network connecting nearby counties and counties will soon form. Officials from all over the country will do their best to promote the development of this matter. Because if the road is not built, it is estimated that a large number of merchants are unwilling to do business and it is difficult to transport grain. Seeing the benefits of cement roads, the emperor will inevitably ask all localities to speed up the transformation of Chidao, because this project covering the whole country has long been within Qin Shihuang's plan.
The road that has been built and built across the country is tens of thousands of miles, enough for more than ten years to be built.
Time flies into October and winter is coming.
The outside of the Great Wall and the northwest had already been ice and snow, and the weather in the Central Plains gradually became cold.
However, with the preparations of Dongfang Road, the counties along the way from Xianyang to Qijun have become extremely popular.
After more than two months of surveying, the General Administration of Architectural Affairs of Oriental Road has collected all the measurement data of the entire road and is ready to start planning detailed engineering sections and construction methods.
"According to the summary survey data, the new Oriental Road is based on the previous roadway. The roadbed is basically intact. Only a few sections of the roadway have been damaged and collapsed to be repaired. Moreover, the previous roadbed is wide enough. Therefore, in order not to affect the passage of goods during the road construction process, our road only accounts for one-third of the roadbed width. The design width is two meters, and the concrete thickness is still one foot. However, the roadbed must be compacted. A large layer of gravel must be laid below, so that the road surface can withstand greater strength..."
After several days of discussion, Chen Xu convened all officials and craftsmen from the Academy of Sciences and the Oriental Road Engineering Command to hold a meeting, and personally explained the allocation plan and construction rules of the sections in the conference room of the Academy of Sciences in detail.
Those who participated in the audition were also officials responsible for coordination by the Shaofu Order Zhao Wei and the three provinces and six ministries, as well as representatives of merchants who participated in the investment and fundraising of Oriental Road.
There is a huge sand table in the center of the conference room, three meters long and one meter wide. It uses sand as the ground, mud and stone as mountains, black graphite powder as rivers, and a thin linen is the former Oriental Chi Road. A rough sand table map was created based on all the survey data. Chen Xu held a long bamboo stick in his hand, and while speaking, he used the bamboo stick to point out the locations of several unavoidable bridges along the way.
"Please take a look. The construction difficulties are the Ba River Bridge and the Luo River Bridge. These two bridges are slightly smaller than the Wei River Bridge currently being built, but the investment is at least 200,000 stones. In addition, there are some small bridges that cost a lot..."
Zhang Cang and others gathered around the sand table to listen carefully.
Zhang Cang and others could be said to be an eye-opener for this huge sand table, because thirty surveying teams kept returning to the Academy of Sciences, but although these drawings had various data, because there was no unified standard, even if all the drawings were placed together, they were dazzled. Therefore, under the guidance of Chen Xu, several craftsmen built this sand table under the guidance of Chen Xu.
The sand table is made very roughly, and it is definitely not a product that later generations have strictly made at fixed scales. Although Chen Xu mentioned the scale problem, because time is tight, he can only roughly determine a proportion based on the measurement drawings and data, and use sand, soil, stones and other items to make this super huge sand table map.
But even this sand table that looks rougher than the 50 cents special effect in Chen Xu also made everyone in the Academy of Sciences admire him.
Chapter completed!