bookcurios Chapter 132 Organization of cement kiln construction
Chapter 132 Organization of cement kiln construction
The lord on the main seat pondered for a moment, then said to General Lu and Military Advisor Chen: "This time, your merits and demerits are equal, so there is no need to mention it again."
After that, he shouted outside: "Come here, hang the body of the little emperor's grandson on the city wall. Send someone else to quickly spread the news that the little emperor's grandson has been executed and hung on the gate of our Dragon City. Make sure it spreads throughout Daxia in the shortest possible time."
"My lord is wise!" Military Advisor Chen knelt down and praised. General Lu also hurriedly followed suit.
The subordinate replied "yes" and went down to give orders and make arrangements.
Within a few days, almost everyone in Daxia had heard the news that the emperor's grandson had died.
For a time, people all over Daxia were in panic.
You know, in the Great Xia Dynasty, the current emperor is already over fifty years old. Although the crown prince is virtuous, he is in poor health, so he died early, leaving behind only a grandson.
Now that the crown prince has died, the Great Xia Dynasty has no successor. Sooner or later, the rebel army will capture the Great Xia Dynasty.
However, given the rebel army's style of action, will the people have any chance to survive wherever they go?
For a time, everyone from court officials to ordinary people felt insecure.
When the emperor heard the news, he threw the memorial on the spot and said angrily: "The news spread so quickly, it must be a conspiracy by someone with ulterior motives. Isn't the emperor's grandson in the fiefdom of Prince Li? Someone, go check it out for me."
"Yes, Your Majesty. I will go to King Li's fiefdom to investigate right away." The man said and then withdrew.
The emperor, who was in his fifties, was still tall and straight, with an elegant face and noble and majestic appearance. He said to the ministers below: "This rebel actually spread such rumors! General Rong, I order you to lead the troops immediately to suppress the rebellion. Are you willing?"
A man in his twenties called General Rong stepped out and knelt on the ground, saying, "Your Majesty, I am willing to go."
"Okay, I want you to not persuade the rebel army to surrender, do not take any prisoners, and kill them all without mercy." The emperor continued to give orders.
"I obey your order." After saying this, the general kowtowed and left.
The outside world will be in turmoil again because of a piece of news.
Everyone in the valley knew nothing about the news outside.
Under Gu Ji's leadership, everyone successfully produced the first batch of red bricks.
And according to the drawings provided by Gu Ji, a brick kiln was built.
Gu Ji looked at the newly built large brick kiln and said happily to everyone: "Fellow villagers, after our hard work over this period of time, the brick kiln has been built. The next step is to produce bricks in large quantities. Everyone keep working hard. The bricks produced will be used to build houses for everyone."
"That's great. I have to keep working hard to make bricks as soon as possible and build the house as soon as possible." Someone in the crowd responded.
"I also have to work hard. The Chinese New Year is in two months, and I must move into the new house before the New Year." Someone else said.
"We must also work hard and strive to live in a new house before the New Year!" People responded one after another, and for a moment, everyone was full of energy.
Gu Ji waved his hand and said to everyone, "If everyone works together, we will all be able to move into our new house before the New Year."
"Building a house requires more than just bricks. If we want the house to be stronger and the yard to be smoother, we need one more thing: cement."
"Next, some of us will continue to prepare materials for making bricks. Some of us will join me in building the cement kiln."
"Do you see the stone in my hand? It's dark blue in color. It's called limestone. Come on, some strong guys, let's go mine this stone together."
When everyone heard that they still needed to mine stones, some people hesitated.
A thin man in his thirties said, "Master Gu, bricks and tiles are enough to build a house. These bricks and tiles are outside, and they are things that only wealthy families can afford."
Someone else echoed, "Yes, Mr. Gu, we have never heard of this cement, so it doesn't matter whether we use it or not."
"Yes, Young Master Gu, this brick house is strong enough." People echoed.
Gu Ji looked at everyone's reactions and secretly thanked himself for being well prepared. He had gotten cement bricks from his sister in the morning and now was the perfect time to show them to everyone.
"Zhishu, go get a red brick and a cement brick."
"Yes, young master." Zhishu accepted the order.
The two ladies of the Duan family woke up at noon the next day after drinking the spiritual dew. So in the past few days, Duan Shuhuan and Song Renjing have also been working with them.
After hearing Gu Ji's instructions, they took the initiative to say, "Brother Ji, let's go and help too." Gu Ji nodded to the two of them.
The three of them took a cement brick and a sledgehammer from the bamboo basket that Gu Ji had carried in the morning and from the kiln factory, and also took a few red bricks.
Gu Ji placed the two types of bricks side by side, then raised the sledgehammer and smashed the red brick. With just one hit, the red brick broke into several pieces.
He raised the sledgehammer and smashed the cement brick, and everyone saw only a faint white mark left on the surface of the cement brick.
"Did everyone see that?" Gu Ji shouted, "If the wall was made of red bricks, it would be easy to break it with a hammer, but if it was made of cement bricks, it wouldn't be so easy."
Everyone was still skeptical. "Young Master, I know Kung Fu, can I try it?" a man with a square face and narrow eyes said.
"Of course you can. If you have any questions, you can try it yourself," said Gu Ji.
After all the skeptics tried it, everyone finally understood the advantages of cement bricks.
I couldn't help but think in my heart, if every household at that time had built their houses with cement, my house would not have been burned so cleanly.
Duan Shuhuan was also wondering, if the city walls were built so solidly, would they not be breached so easily?
Song Renjing thought more about it. If river embankments, dams, city walls, and roads were all repaired with this, then there would not be so many dam breaches and cities being destroyed.
If the roads are built so smooth and solid, the efficiency of transporting supplies and marching will be greatly improved.
The more Song Renjing thought about it, the more excited he became, and he wished he could pass this method on to his grandfather immediately.
Seeing that everyone had seen how strong cement was, Gu Ji continued, "Now everyone has seen how hard cement is. Of course, when we build our own houses, we don't need to use all cement bricks. We can also mix cement with water and apply a layer on the brick wall to strengthen it. So, do you still have any questions about building cement kilns?"
"Brother Ji, I support building a cement kiln." Song Renjing was the first to respond.
"And me, Brother Ji, I support you too." Duan Shuhuan also shouted.
"We support it too." Everyone expressed their support.
"Okay," Gu Ji said happily after seeing everyone's reaction, "Stone quarrying is hard work, and my Gu family will give you an extra meal of meat every day. Anyone who wants to go quarrying can find Zhishu to sign up."
For a time, everyone responded one after another.
There were too many people who wanted to go, and Gu Ji was about to pick them.
A man with a square face and narrow eyes quickly stood up. "Listen to me, everyone. We still need to leave some people to burn bricks and build houses. We can't all go. In my opinion, why don't we go into the mountains to quarry stones? Let's select some brothers who are good at martial arts. The brothers who are good at martial arts can have a simple competition, and the winner will go to quarry stones. What do you think?"