Daming: I, Yang Xian, really govern Yang!

Chapter 17 The Current Situation of Yangzhou Workers
On both sides of the road, outside the wooden fence.

The people of Yangzhou stretched their necks and looked at the strange big iron barrel behind the carriage, their eyes full of curiosity.

At this time, the chimney on the big iron barrel was blowing smoke out.

Just like the chimney of a stove at home.

There is also a simple stove under the iron bucket, and a dedicated person stands aside to add firewood to it.

"What exactly is in this iron barrel?"

"Master Yang, are you planning to cook for these civilians on site?"

"It must be like this. Did you hear it? There seems to be a gurgling sound coming from the iron bucket. Master Yang must be cooking porridge."

"Guess what kind of porridge it is, Mr. Yang loves the people like his own son, so I guess it must be mung bean porridge."

"This smell doesn't smell like porridge. I guess it's love tea or Shiquan Dabu Decoction. Don't you smell something similar to Chinese medicinal materials?"

Soon, the workers’ next actions directly interrupted everyone’s speculation and discussion.

I saw the hot, melted asphalt flowing out of the large iron barrel and finally flowing into the ground.

Several workers holding special tools were already ready. After the asphalt was poured into the ground, they used the tools in their hands to quickly spread the asphalt before it solidified.

There are also specialized workers following behind, spreading a layer of finely crushed sand and gravel on top.

This is just the first layer of asphalt.

Also called underlayment.

This layer of asphalt will be poured directly into the surface and firmly adhere to the surface.

Its function is to reduce soil base deformation, improve soil base humidity and temperature, and at the same time, it can also provide drainage and water isolation, anti-freeze, and anti-fouling effects.

After the asphalt solidified slightly, Yang Xian directed the workers to roll it a second time to make it stronger and smoother.

Then spread a layer of tarpaulin used to make umbrellas on the ground.

This is a geotextile used to replace modern asphalt paving.

Spreading this layer of cloth can disperse the concentrated pressure on the ground, strengthen and protect it, improve the fatigue strength of the road surface, and extend the service life of the asphalt road.

In this way, a total of three layers of asphalt are laid.

Final shape.

Compared with later generations, the whole process seems very rough. After all, even concrete mixers are useless. But in this era, it is already a very luxury to be able to build such a smooth, dustproof, waterproof and durable road. things.

"What kind of road is this?"

The people on both sides looked at the dark road, looking at each other with confusion on their faces.

"My adults said this is called asphalt road."

When a young worker heard the discussion of the people next to him, he subconsciously straightened his back and said with great pride.

In fact, this was his first time seeing such a road.

His face felt the burning heat coming from the direction of the iron barrel, and his nose smelled the unique smell of asphalt, which was an indescribable smell.

The young worker is very proud to not only be a witness to the birth of the world's first asphalt road, but also to be a participant.

He looked at the figure in the distance, his face full of admiration.

"Brother, when will this wooden fence be removed?" a commoner asked. "Master Yang has ordered that it will be removed after three days. Someone will be responsible for guarding it during these three days, because the asphalt road needs to dry for three days before it can be passed." The young worker pointed to the distance and said. "Master Yang has considered everyone's travel problems, so we have divided the journey into sections. I would like to trouble you to take a detour in the past few days."

In order to prevent people from coming in out of curiosity, a sign is placed every other section of the wooden fence, which states that entry is prohibited for three days.In addition, civilians will be arranged to patrol day and night.

"What did you say, little brother? Mr. Yang will build roads for free for our people. Let alone three days, even 30 days will be no problem. This road construction will cost a lot of money. I heard that the migrant workers recruited, Mr. Yang Everyone is paid over there." A middle-aged commoner asked.

For large projects like road construction, the imperial court would often directly recruit civilian laborers in order to save money.Civil servants recruited according to this method are equivalent to serving in the army. This situation is considered voluntary labor. Most of the time, there is no wages. The court only takes care of the food.

But this time, it's completely different.

Yang Xian hired these civilian workers and craftsmen to participate in the road construction on a long-term or short-term basis.

Not only do you have to take care of the food, but the most important thing is that you also get wages.

This is also a great thing for the people.

For Yang Xian, there is nothing more cost-effective than exchanging money for merit points.

"Yes, only a good official like Mr. Yang who truly loves the people would do this. Not to mention the wages of us workers, I heard Mr. Lu say that the money spent on tools and materials for road construction is astronomical. Numbers." The young worker replied.

The people on the side also nodded their heads.

They may not be able to understand other materials, but they know that oilcloth is not cheap.

And now they have to completely cover the entire road with tarpaulin, which is scary to them just thinking about it.

"It's time to serve dinner, Kun!"

At this time someone shouted from a distance.

When the young worker heard the shouting, a smile appeared on his face.

He responded loudly, then waved goodbye to the people outside the wooden fence, and ran quickly towards the distance.

Every day when he eats, Liu Kun is the happiest time of the day.

The father died of famine, and the mother raised the brothers and sisters.

He is the eldest brother in the family, followed by a younger brother and a younger sister.

It is not yet the autumn harvest time, although the family has received ordinary rice seeds as rations distributed by the Yangzhou government office.

But the quantity is limited after all.

On weekdays, most people mainly eat porridge. After all, my brother and sister are still young and need to spend a lot of money.

Therefore, when he heard that the imperial court was recruiting workers this time, it happened to be not the busy time for farming, so he came over immediately without thinking.

He originally just thought that he would be able to feed himself. After all, if he ate outside, he would be able to save a ration for his family. He never thought that he would still have wages to earn, which would also subsidize his family.

What surprised him the most was that the road construction workers like them actually ate real dry rice instead of the misleading rice porridge that the imperial court used to distribute.

Not only that, the Yamen even hired a chef to cook for everyone.

You can even see something fishy once a day.

This can be said to be a great blessing for ordinary people like them who have not seen oil and water all year round.

But when he arrived at the dining table today, Liu Kun suddenly saw a small jar on the table and couldn't help but feel curious.

The workers who arrived early happened to be discussing this matter as well.

(End of this chapter)