Daming: I asked you to supervise the country, Daming is all crazy?

Chapter 126 The first concrete road in Ming Dynasty is completed! ! !

On the way back, Zhu Zhanji's mind was full of the eternal truths that firepower is paramount, caliber is justice, and range is truth.

He imagined that when Zhu Di returned to Yingtian, he would be able to get rid of the matter of supervising the country directly.

At that time, you don’t need to supervise the country, don’t care about this and that, and you will take your young army to wander around the world, or go directly to Europe with Zheng He’s fleet, and go to the West to let the so-called Renaissance die directly.

Or directly equip it with a machine gun, turning the grassland people into a singing and dancing nation hundreds of years in advance.

…………

Today is a very special day for today.

Because Yingtian's first cement road was built.

The cement road from Yifengmen to the Yangtze River Wharf was built very quickly. As a large number of civilians were hired by Zhou Chen in the name of the construction company, it took only two days. This is the first cement road in the world. It's almost done.

Then the rest is the later maintenance and the details.

In about ten days, after the survey by the construction company, this cement road has been confirmed to meet the basic traffic requirements.

December 23rd is the delivery time given by the construction company to the Ministry of Industry.

According to Zhu Zhanji's previous regulations, although the construction company is under the name of the Ministry of Industry, it is not controlled by the Ministry of Industry and operates independently.

The task of the Ministry of Industry is to check and accept the results of the construction company. After the acceptance is completed, the Ministry of Accounts will settle the final payment.

Although it seems a lot more troublesome than before, but at the same time, the functions of each department are clearly divided.

The weather has been pretty good these days, and the construction of the cement road has been attracting the attention of a large number of people since it started.

Some people are optimistic about this road that the imperial court has worked so hard to build, while others are skeptical.

However, because the cement road has always been covered with a layer of grass mats, no one has ever witnessed the entire cement road. In addition, there are warning signs not to allow people to approach, and Yingtianfu's yamen guards are patrolling, and they only occasionally pass through the gaps in some straw mats. A smooth gray ground can be seen.

But these people don't know the specific things.

When Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Gaochi came, the place was already full of onlookers eating melons.

After all, paper can't contain fire. Although Zhou Chen didn't let anyone reveal the cement road, he was busy for so many days.

Some news spread out, and at the same time, there were several versions of the rumor that the imperial court had learned a kind of sand-condensing fairy art.

Outside the gate of Yifeng, flags are flying!
In order to celebrate the completion of the first cement road in Ming Dynasty, Zhu Zhanji specially arranged some simple ceremonies.

In front of the concrete road at Yifengmen, Zhu Zhanji, Zhu Gaochi, Xia Yuanji, Jin Zhong, Jian Yi, Zhou Chen, and a group of officials including the heads of the six departments, all arrived here today.

Even Yao Guangxiao, who had been staying in Jiming Temple all this time, never leaving the gate, came here in a simple carriage.

Zhu Zhanji and Zhu Gaochi stood in front of everyone.

Zhou Chen looked very excited today. Since he entered the official career, it is the first time that almost half of the Ming court has gathered here because of him.

After seeing people from Zhu Zhanji's side coming, he immediately walked over and saluted:
"Chen Zhou Chen sees His Highness the Crown Prince, sees His Highness the Grandson."

"Servant Zhou is free!"

Zhu Gaochi smiled and helped Zhou Chen up himself. He also knew about his son's right-hand man before, and knew that Zhou Chen was also a rare talent.

The natural attitude towards Zhou Chen also brought a bit of attention.

Moreover, if he decided to build the concrete road from Yingtian to Shuntian in his plan in the future, he would have to rely more on the actual speaker of the Ministry of Industry.

So after lifting Zhou Chen up, Zhu Gaochi smiled and pointed to Yao Guangxiao who just got off the carriage, and said to Zhou Chen:

"This is Yao Guangxiao, the young master of the prince. You should have heard his name. You probably haven't seen him much before in the Ministry of Punishment. Today, the young master came here for the matter of cement."

Zhu Gaochi directly explained Yao Guangxiao's intention to Zhou Chen.

When Zhou Chen heard Zhu Gaochi's words, he naturally hurriedly greeted Yao Guangxiao.

Seeing this, Yao Guangxiao also performed a Buddhist ceremony, smiled and said: "A few days ago, the poor monk heard His Royal Highness talking about the cement road, and he came to observe it several times in private in the past few days."

"It's just that the management here is very strict, and the cement road has always been covered with straw mats, which made the poor monk miss several times."

Zhu Zhanji was speechless when he heard Yao Guangxiao's words.

I feel that this old monk is a bit hypocritical.

In fact, with Yao Guangxiao's status at this time, except for a few places in the entire Ming Dynasty, you can basically go there if you want.

Not to mention just looking at the cement road, as long as you report your name, let alone a straw mat, it will be useless even if the army stops it.

Zhu Zhanji directly ordered Zhou Chen: "Open the straw mat and test it!"

Zhou Chen heard the words, with a hint of excitement on his face, he said: "Yes, the minister leads the order!"

The waste rocks and wastes for the construction of the cement road have long been cleaned up, and both sides of the entire cement road look clean.

It's just that because of the times, it is not popular to plant any green trees on both sides of the road, or other decorative flowers and plants, and it looks a bit bare.

This can also be regarded as a way for safety considerations, in case someone hides and assassinates!

Following Zhu Zhanji's order, dozens of craftsmen also stood up in person, and with the joint efforts of several people, the straw mats were immediately lifted.

The weather is fine today, a rare warm sun.

Under the warm sun, as the grass mat was lifted, a blue-gray cement road with a width of seven feet and a width of about 20 meters immediately appeared in everyone's sight.

The blue-gray road surface is smooth and smooth, except for some gaps deliberately left, it looks like a whole as a whole, like a giant blue-gray dragon, lying between Yifengmen and the Yangtze River Wharf.

And under the lead of Zhu Gaochi and Yao Guangxiao, some of the people in charge of the six departments, or some bigwigs with certain status, also came forward to watch at this time.

Some people squatted down curiously, and some simply touched it with their hands, and there were bursts of surprise for a while.

The avenue in front of me looks like it is made of one piece, and there are almost no gaps on the whole, as if it was polished with a huge blue-gray stone.

They couldn't help but be shocked. We must know that in this era, let alone the time it takes to polish a boulder several feet long and several feet wide to such a smooth level, and the craftsmen.

The difficulty of transportation alone has exceeded everyone's imagination, not to mention the direct use of so many boulders to directly build a road. The problem of mining so many stone materials alone is not a small project.

In the past, almost no one would think about this kind of thing, because the price involved was completely unworthy for the imperial court.

Definitely a waste of time and money.

But what about the road in front of us, called the cement road?

It's only been a few days, how many craftsmen and civilian husbands have been abolished?
It's not that no one doubts the cement road, after all, such things as condensing sand into stone are too unreal.

But as the straw mat was lifted, after experiencing it for themselves, these people couldn't help but shut their mouths!

Zhu Gaochi and Yao Guangxiao were together, and they were squatting on the ground without any image at this time.

Unlike others who directly touched it with their hands, the two took a knife directly from the guard's hand, and began to beat and chop against the concrete road.

But the facts have proved that cement is worthy of being cement. Although the current cement is only the most primitive cement, the essence of firmness is not much different.

Even if you cut it with a sharp knife, it just left some insignificant marks on it.

"Unbelievable!"

After Zhu Gaochi changed several places to test the road surface himself, he couldn't help showing some shocked expressions on his face.

He had seen the paving of the cement road with his own eyes, and he knew that the road was paved by mixing some sand and stone with cement.

In the beginning, it wasn't even much different from ordinary sand and stones, and he easily left a footprint on it.

However, in just a few days, the cement road has undergone earth-shaking changes, and even cutting with a knife cannot destroy it.

He didn't know what kind of change it was.

But at the same time as he was surprised, his eyes were also shining.

Cement, sand, water, except for the cement that he doesn't know how to produce, the other two things are not cherished, and it can even be said that they can be seen everywhere.

As for the cost of cement, he naturally asked Zhu Zhanji, knowing that the cost of this kind of thing is also extremely low, not even much more expensive than ordinary sand and gravel.

What was abolished was just some simple craftsmen, but for this era, craftsmen are naturally not precious.

Not to mention that in the past, fired bricks and stones were used to pave roads. Not only did bricks and stones require special soil, but the manpower consumed was no less than that of cement.

Even paving the road is even more troublesome. Not only is it easy to sink, but it is also extremely easy to break when it is crushed by heavy objects!
Thinking of this, Zhu Gaochi's eyes began to brighten up.

The more obvious the advantages of cement, the more benefits it means, the more achievable it becomes for me to build a concrete road that suits the sky.

As long as such a road is built, it will undoubtedly bring great convenience whether it is traveling between the two places or transporting money and food between the two places in the future.

At that time, for the imperial court, moving the capital to Shuntian, even if they still need to rely on money and food from the south for transportation, the loss on the road will undoubtedly be reduced by not a little bit.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaochi couldn't help looking at Yao Guangxiao:
"How about it, young master?"

Zhu Gaochi knew very well that if he wanted to build a concrete road from Yingtian to Shuntian, such a large project, in addition to the book, it must be supported by someone.

And Yao Guangxiao, who is in charge of building Shuntian, is undoubtedly an excellent candidate.
Not only Yao Guangxiao's weight in the emperor's heart, but more importantly, the road connecting Yingtian and Shuntian, which can be regarded as building Shuntian to a large extent.
As long as Yao Guangxiao is willing to support, it can be said that most of the matter will be settled.

Most of the rest is in the hands of his son, the grandson of Jian Guo, as well as the Ministry of Households and the Ministry of Industry.

Needless to say, Zhu Zhanji, in Zhu Gaochi's view, although his son sometimes cheats his father, he can still see the big things clearly.

Naturally, he would choose to support him, and Zhou Chen from the Ministry of Industry is his son's man.

The only thing that made him unsure was Natsuhara Kichi from the household department.

There's no way this Ming's old Beibi has always been famous for being stingy in the Ming court.

Not to mention asking him to pay for road repairs.

But now the household department is not short of money, plus the construction of a cement road, the money and food saved after moving the capital is also saving the household department, so it is reasonable for Xia Yuanji to support it.

Yao Guangxiao nodded subconsciously when he heard Zhu Gaochi's words, and said:
"Solid as a rock!"

His answer was simple, but Zhu Gaochi laughed when he heard it.

On the other side, Zhou Chen also came here with several officials from the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Households.

This is the process stipulated by Zhu Zhanji, the Ministry of Industry checks and accepts, and the Ministry of Accounts clears accounts.

Zhou Chen asked Zhu Zhanji for instructions, and nodded along with Zhu Zhanji.

The Ministry of Industry soon saw someone driving a carriage slowly approaching.

This carriage was not a special carriage, it was an ordinary cargo carriage that the Ministry of Industry had obtained from the wharf.

The carriage was empty, and no goods had been loaded in advance, but as the acceptance inspection began, officials from the Ministry of Industry began to organize some folks to load some stones onto the carriage in front of everyone.

These stones were not loaded directly, each stone was weighed before loading, and officials from the Ministry of Industry were in charge of recording. When a certain amount of stones were loaded, someone stopped immediately:

"For the first inspection, the stone material is 510 catties, the cart weighs 140 seven catties, the horse weighs 450 catties, and the coachman weighs [-] catties, totaling [-] catties."

Officials from the Ministry of Industry reported the weight.

When Zhou Chen heard the words, he immediately shouted:

"acceptance!"

As the order came down, officials from the Ministry of Industry immediately began to bring a stick of sandalwood that had been prepared for time calculation.

The carriage slowly pulled onto the cement road, and did not start running in a hurry, but officials from the Ministry of Industry immediately started to check.

Along with the inspection, a voice of report also sounded:
"The road surface is as usual, no subsidence, no broken, can be transported!"

"Start delivery!"

After a series of procedures, the sandalwood was set on fire, and the carriage started to move immediately driven by the coachman.

The benefits of cement roads are also clearly reflected at this time.

Compared with soft dirt roads or paved with bricks and stones, the surface of cement roads is undoubtedly harder.

In this way, when the carriage is started, it is the most useless time. Often the carriage needs to be charged up before it can slowly pull the carriage. Using force, the carriage was immediately pulled up.

And as the carriage started, the rest was even easier. Except for the horse itself, the weight of more than 1000 kilograms was easily pulled, and the speed was getting faster and faster.

After a short time, he had disappeared from everyone's sight.

"How big is the difference?"

After seeing the carriage disappear, Zhu Zhanji looked to Zhou Chen and asked.

Zhou Chen immediately said: "According to the measurement data given by His Highness, if the road surface is dry on the dirt road, it takes about five to seven breaths to pull the carriage. The masonry road is similar, but if the road surface is soaked in water and the soil becomes soft. The longer the time, the softer the soil, the longer the wear time, and even need someone to push it before it can start normally, but it does not rule out that the wheels will get stuck in the mud again, but there is no such worry on the cement road, and the rain has little effect on it. It takes about two to three breaths."

Zhu Zhanji nodded, which was quite different from what he thought.

The advantage of cement roads is that, compared with bricks and stones, there will be no subsidence in some places and the trouble of frequent repairs.
The biggest advantage is undoubtedly that in rainy weather, compared with the dirt road, there will be some muddy places from time to time, hindering the progress of the carriage, but the cement road will not be affected in the slightest.

You must know that in this era, most of the roads are actually dirt roads, that is, in Yingtian, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, bricks and stones are paved outside the city.

It would not be such a luxury to change places.

In this way, the problem actually arises. The dirt road is basically impassable when it rains and snows. If it rains too much, it will even take many days to dry before it can pass.

This is also the main reason why people in this era rarely choose to travel far, not just because the means of transportation are too slow.

The road is also the main factor. Once it rains, even if you are riding a carriage, you will be easily trapped. Once you are trapped, you will not be able to pass immediately.

If it is a place where there is no village and no shops, eating and drinking will be a big problem.

　Too busy, it was past two o'clock when I got home last night, and I immediately coded after a while, and I just added it now, and there are rewards and updates, and I will make it up later, don't worry, everyone.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)