Daming Town Haiwang

Chapter 172, Artifact Cement

In Tianjin Cement Plant, a huge cement furnace stands on the ground like a giant.

Inside the cement factory, workers wearing uniforms, short hair, shaved beards, and masks are busy.

Cement is very common in later generations. It is the most important building material. Whether it is building bridges and paving roads, building houses and tiles, cement is an indispensable thing. For a long time, the output of cement has even surpassed that of steel. Output has also become an indicator of a country's industrial capacity.

For such an artifact, Liu Jin would naturally not let it go.

Liu Jin originally wanted to get the cement out when he was in the capital, but the time was too short, and there were so many things to do on the Xishan side, and glass and mirrors were made later, so there was no time at all.

Now on the Tianjin side, Tianjin needs to build a huge port and wharf, as well as many factories and staff dormitories, and then to build a cement road leading to the capital. These are all large-scale infrastructure, without cement. It is not acceptable.

Therefore, Liu Jin has also invested a huge amount of money here, and the priority is to burn the cement first. With cement, it is much easier to build infrastructure.

Otherwise, in the era without cement, the adhesive used to build the wall was glutinous rice juice, which was very costly in material and financial resources, and more importantly, the speed was too slow.

The bricks in ancient times were green bricks. The firing of these green bricks was extremely difficult, the output was extremely low, and it was time-consuming, labor-intensive and labor-intensive. Generally, only rich people could afford them. Ordinary people used clay more often to build houses.

First, the soil is continuously trampled by manpower or cattle and sheep, etc., and then poured into small squares, and then exposed to the sun, the moisture inside evaporates into earth bricks, which is extremely labor-intensive and time-consuming. And it is also necessary to choose a time when there is good weather, otherwise the adobe bricks will be directly wiped out by the rain when it rains.

Therefore, the roof tiles of this adobe-brick house need to be repaired every year. Once there is a leak, it must be repaired in time. Otherwise, the adobe-brick house will fall down soon after being wet by rain.

If you want to engage in large-scale infrastructure construction, this cement is definitely indispensable.

Fortunately, the firing of cement is not too difficult. The raw materials needed are lime water, clay, iron ore, coal, etc., which are very common and can be found everywhere in the north and south of the river.

Liu Jin has also mastered the firing method. After arriving in Tianjin, he immediately ordered people to build a furnace for firing cement. After a period of construction, the first batch of cement was finally ready to be fired.

"Old Liu, you are so mysterious, what good things do you have?"

After the cement was fired, Liu Jin naturally wanted to bring Zhu Houzhao over to see it. After all, such an artifact as cement was really important to the Ming Dynasty.

With cement, whether it is used to build city walls in border towns or to build bridges and pave roads, it is an absolute magic weapon.

The city wall of the town here has been raised, and it is not so easy for the nomads in the north to go south. The road has been repaired, and it is very convenient whether it is used to transport grain, supplies, or deploy troops. In the words of later generations It is said that if you want to get rich, build roads first, which is the truth.

When Zhu Houzhao heard that Liu Jin said that there were good things, he followed him enthusiastically, wanting to see for himself what the good things Liu Jin said were.

"Your Highness, you will know later."

Liu Jin was still holding the key, pointing to the cement-fired blast furnace with a little mystery and said: "As long as the things inside come out, our Ming Dynasty will no longer have to worry about building roads and cities from now on."

"This is an artifact!"

"Artifact?"

Listening to Liu Jin's arrogant words, Zhu Houzhao was also full of curiosity and said, "Build roads? Build cities?"

He was completely at a loss, and he really didn't know what kind of artifact was in the blast furnace in front of him, which could make Daming stop worrying about building roads and cities from now on.

"Let's turn on the stove~"

This first furnace of cement was specially ordered by Liu Jin to wait for himself and Zhu Houzhao to arrive before starting the furnace.

Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao came over, and Sun Xin, the chief manager of the cement plant, also wisely grasped the timing and ordered the furnace to start.

Soon, workers in a cement factory began to open the sealed cement furnace and began to pick out loads of cement. One of them came to Liu Jin and Zhu Houzhao with a load of cement.

"That's it?"

"Is it an artifact?"

Zhu Hou looked at the gray cement in front of him. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed to have nothing to do with the artifact, nothing special, and nothing eye-catching, just like a pile of ashes.

Liu Jin grabbed a handful of cement and observed it carefully. It was similar to the packed cement, but Liu Jin could feel the obvious graininess.

"It seems that the most difficult part of cement firing is the initial grinding process. Whether it is limestone, iron ore, coal, etc., it needs to be ground into powder. Not enough."

After careful analysis in my mind, limestone and iron ore are the most difficult to grind, and I also wondered in my heart whether to build a water conservancy grinding machine in the future, otherwise it will be difficult to burn cement comparable to later generations.

"Your Highness, don't look at this thing as gray and inconspicuous, but it is the most suitable thing to be used as a building adhesive. With it, no matter how tall the city wall is, no matter how tall the building is, it will not be a problem. .”

Liu Jin patted the cement on his hand and said to Zhu Houzhao with a smile.

"Is he construction adhesive?"

When Zhu Houzhao heard this, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he also grabbed a handful of cement and looked carefully, but he quickly clapped his hands and did not research anything.

"We'll see if we try."

Liu Jin smiled, very confident, and then gave Sun Xin a look. He also understood immediately, and he had already prepared everything according to Liu Jin's request.

Soon, workers from more than a dozen cement factories came over with sand and gravel, piled the gravel into a pile, and then added cement to it, stirring it evenly, then added water, and continued to turn it over with a shovel Go stir well and quickly turn into a grout.

After the cement slurry is ready, the workers of these cement factories also choose a section of the potholed road in the cement factory, use formwork to support the frame, pour the cement slurry into it continuously, and then smooth it.

In less than half an hour, a concrete road with a length of more than ten meters and a width of seven or eight meters was paved. The speed was very fast and the efficiency was extremely high.

"It's soft, I can make a big footprint with one foot, what's the use of that?"

Zhu Hou took care of paving the road, and stepped on it immediately, wanting to try it out, stepped on it, and immediately made a deep footprint.

(End of this chapter)