Wind Rises in North America 1625

Chapter 574 Transportation (Part 3)
June 15, 1643, Fu'an County, Kaiyuan Township (now Eganwood, Washington).

The early summer morning light spilled into a spacious courtyard. Tian Dacheng pushed open the door and took a deep breath of the air, which was filled with the fresh scent of pine.

The spruce seedlings planted five years ago have grown into small trees as thick as a bowl. Chickens and ducks in the poultry house flap their wings, and draft horses in the livestock shed leisurely chew their fodder.

In the distant fields, golden waves of wheat rippled in the breeze, and plump ears of corn were already sprouting on the emerald green corn stalks, creating a scene of impending harvest.

This once barren land has been transformed into a vibrant place thanks to the hard work of the immigrants over the past five years.

"Husband, hurry up and eat!" His wife, Wang, wearing a coarse cloth apron, poked her head out of the kitchen. "Aren't we supposed to be taking the villagers to repair the road today? Don't be late."

"Okay, I understand." Tian Dacheng replied from outside the door and turned to go inside.

Tian Dacheng hurriedly finished his corn porridge, ate two steamed buns, and then grabbed the wide-brimmed straw hat.

Now he is the militia captain of Kaiyuan Township, and today he is responsible for organizing more than 400 farmers from the township to participate in the construction of the national highway around the bay (now Puji Bay).

Five years ago, Tian Laoda taught new immigrants how to grow buckwheat on the ridges of the fields. Now, he is a highly respected figure in the village.

The construction site was already bustling with activity. More than two thousand laborers from several townships in Fu'an County were busy on the sprawling construction site like ants. The clanging of shovels against gravel, the shouts of workers, and the neighing of horses intertwined to create a magnificent symphony of labor.

"Captain Tian is here!" Several familiar laborers stopped what they were doing and greeted him.

Tian Dacheng nodded in response to each of them, but his gaze was unconsciously drawn to the scene of the quarry in the distance.

There stood a steam-powered stone crusher in operation, thick black smoke billowing from its chimney, its huge iron jaws opening and closing rhythmically, crushing hard rocks into uniform fragments.

This machine, which the laborers called the "Iron-Toothed Beast," was the most eye-catching new type of machinery in the road construction project.

"I heard yesterday that this iron machine can produce two hundred baskets of gravel a day, which is equivalent to twenty strong men smashing it for a day!"

"Absolutely! It can keep working at night by lighting an oil lamp. As long as it's fed with coal, it can work for days and nights without sleep. It's much stronger than twenty strong men!"

"How wonderful it would be if the machine factory could build its own road-paving machines! Then we wouldn't have to be pulled into such hard and tiring work every time we're not farming."

"What's wrong? You think road repair is too hard?" Tian Dacheng turned to look at the complaining young man. "If this were the Ming Dynasty, the county yamen runners would force you to do corvée labor. That would be a real hardship! You wouldn't even get enough to eat, and if you worked too slowly, you'd get whipped. If you weren't careful, you could even lose your life."

“Hehe…” The villager scratched his head sheepishly. “Captain Tian, ​​I didn’t say I complained about how hard the work was. I was just thinking that our Xinhua government is considerate of the people’s hardship and should work on a machine that can replace manpower as soon as possible. That way, we won’t have to work so hard on the road construction site and can take good care of our crops in our own fields.”

“If you want to tend to your own crops, there’s no rush!” Tian Dacheng said casually. “This highway was built with a large sum of money allocated by the special district government. This is a great thing for us ordinary people. It will be much more convenient for us to go to the county town to sell grain or to the prefectural city to see a doctor or buy New Year’s goods.”

“Captain Tian is right.” The young man nodded repeatedly. “What the imperial court does is naturally for the good of us common people. Tomorrow, once the road is repaired, I definitely want to go to Xuanhan Prefecture to see the world.”

"Look at you, so unambitious!" Tian Dacheng couldn't help but laugh. "When you have money in your pocket in the future, you have to go to Shixing City. That's what it means to see the world."

"Oh, that's probably a bit far, isn't it?" The young man rubbed his hands sheepishly. "I'm not afraid to admit it, but I've been in Xinhua for three or four years and I still don't know how big our country is or which direction the capital is. I don't even know if I'll ever have the chance to go abroad in my lifetime."

"Stop talking such discouraging things!" Tian Dacheng glared at him. "You act like you don't have much time left to live. Why don't you have a chance to go out and travel? If you take good care of your forty acres of land every year, you can easily save up more than ten silver dollars by the end of the year. If you save for ten or eight years, not to mention going to Shixing City for a stroll, it's not impossible for you to take a boat back to your hometown in the Ming Dynasty for a visit!"

"Back to the Ming Dynasty?" The villager was stunned. "I thought I'd never have the chance to go back and take another look in my lifetime..."

"When you were in the Ming Dynasty, you probably never imagined that one day you would have enough to eat, warm clothes to wear, and a piece of land of your own, right?"

"Of course! Oh..."

"Captain Tian, ​​Captain Tian..." Just then, a man in coarse work clothes walked over quickly and grabbed Tian Dacheng. "I've been looking for you all over the place. I was just about to assign you today's road-building tasks."

The visitor was Lin Sanfa, a road construction engineer sent by the Ministry of Transport. He said urgently, "...Your Kaiyuan Township will be divided into two groups. One group will be responsible for transporting the stones, and the other group will be responsible for laying the lower layer of the second section."

"Remember, the thickness of the paving should be at least eight centimeters, which is a little over two inches. Remember to use the 'horizontal paving method'. Yes, just like what I said yesterday, the joints between the gravel should be staggered to prevent rainwater from seeping into the roadbed."

Tian Dacheng nodded; he had already learned it yesterday.

The way this gravel road is paved is meticulous and rigorous, unlike the way dirt roads used to be built where stones were just laid on top randomly. Instead, it is laid in three layers: the bottom layer is made of coarser gravel, which is then compacted with a wooden rammer; the middle layer is made of medium-sized gravel, which is then rolled over with a horse-drawn stone; and the top layer is made of finer gravel, and the road surface is paved in an arc shape that is higher in the middle and lower on both sides.

Mr. Lin, the foreman, said that this was a reserved drainage slope to prevent water from accumulating and softening the roadbed during rainy days.

"Did you understand?" After explaining the details, Lin Sanfa looked at him seriously.

“I understand.” Tian Dacheng nodded solemnly. “Here’s what we’ll do: we’ll lay a short section first, then call you over to take a look. If it works, we’ll continue laying the rest. Don’t worry, Mr. Lin, I guarantee I won’t delay your work.”

"Excellent!" Lin Sanfa nodded with a smile. "Let's work together well these next few days and try to complete this three-kilometer road project as soon as possible. If you have any questions, feel free to come to me anytime. I'll be at the construction site all day."

"Okay!" Tian Dacheng replied, then turned and walked towards the villagers of Kaiyuan Township.

"Men, young and old, get to work! Zhou Chenggui, you lead the men from Fushui, Huangken, and Beigang villages to transport stones and sand. Sun Daye, you lead the men from the other four villages to pave the road. Make sure everyone does their job properly, don't cut corners, and don't try to fool us." "You know, this national highway around the bay is the most important transportation artery for Xinhua Bay. From now on, everyone will be relying on this road to travel to the county town! Alright, enough talk, let's get to work!"

At Tian Dacheng's command, the laborers of Kaiyuan Township immediately sprang into action.

Zhou Chenggui led the men of the material transport team, pushing wheelbarrows and carrying loads, heading towards the quarry in a grand procession.

Sun Daye led the villagers in the road-paving team to begin clearing the roadbed.

Several strong young men wielded shovels and picks, leveling the topsoil.

The older ones followed behind, using wooden rammers to compact the foundation.

The air was filled with the fresh scent of freshly turned soil, mixed with the smell of the men's sweat.

"It's time to compact the soil!" Tian Dacheng inspected the road section, occasionally squatting down to check the flatness of the foundation. "If the foundation isn't solid, laying more gravel later will be a waste!"

In the distance, the roar of the "Iron-Toothed Beast" could be heard continuously as truckloads of uniformly sized crushed stone were transported to the construction site.

Following the "horizontal paving method" taught by Master Lin, the villagers carefully laid the gravel on the roadbed.

Under the sunlight, shovels flew, gravel was scattered, and shouts echoed continuously.

As noon approached, a section of road over 300 meters long was beginning to take shape.

Lin Sanfa and several engineers took some time to inspect several sections of the road, pointing out a few areas that needed minor adjustments. The road then began to extend slowly but steadily forward.

At lunchtime, dozens of women who had been seconded to the site carried buckets of food to the construction site.

Steaming hot steamed buns, savory dried fish, and corn porridge served in large wooden buckets.

The laborers sat together, eating and chatting about their plans after the road was completed.

Some people suggested buying a horse-drawn carriage to run transport services during the off-season and earn some extra money.

Some people planned to go to Xuanhan Wharf to see the large, smoking ships.

"Master Lin, why don't you use cement to build the roads?" Tian Dacheng took a bite of his steamed bun, puffing out his cheeks. "A few years ago, I went to Shixing and Guangfeng and found that many streets there were paved with cement. The roads looked smooth and were so comfortable to walk on."

Upon hearing this, Lin Sanfa put down his bowl and said with a smile, "Cement roads may seem sturdy, but they're actually unsuitable for our construction conditions and road requirements. Several major cities in the headquarters, such as Shixing, Guangfeng, and Fenzhou, do have a few cement-paved roads, but they all developed cracks and faults after a short period of use. They also frequently flood during rainy days, and heavy horse-drawn carriages often sink into them. Do you know why?"

Tian Dacheng shook his head.

“The roadbed isn’t compacted.” Lin Sanfa stomped hard on the soft soil, as if demonstrating to him, “Cement roads look sturdy, but they’re actually quite delicate. First of all, the roadbed has to be compacted in layers before paving, and the load-bearing capacity has to be sufficient. Otherwise, when a horse-drawn cart rolls over it, the roadbed will sink and the road surface will crack. But right now we only have horse-drawn stone rollers, the heaviest of which weighs only a little over two thousand kilograms. The compaction of the roadbed isn’t enough. If we were to lay cement, it would break down in less than three months.”

As he spoke, he pointed with his chopsticks to a depression not far away: "Look over there, it's soft soil. If we were to lay cement, we'd have to first lay a three-foot-thick layer of gravel, and then use a 'rammer' to repeatedly pound and compact it. But with our current technology and equipment, we can't do that. If the road surface cracks, the cost of rework will be higher than building a new road. The district's finances can't afford to do that."

"Oh..." Tian Dacheng seemed to understand but not quite. "Is it like some stone slab roads, where heavy trucks drive over them and they become uneven or even break?"

“That’s right!” Lin Sanfa picked up the bowl and drank the corn porridge in a few gulps. “You think cement roads are easy to pave? You have to use templates to fix the thickness and you have to ‘vibrate’ it, uh, that is, to remove the air bubbles in the cement slurry, otherwise there will be voids inside, and it will break when you press it.”

"Hey, I didn't know there was so much to learn about building a road," Tian Dacheng exclaimed.

“In Xinhua, not only is road construction a science, but farming, herding, mining, building houses, and even constructing and producing various machinery and equipment are all subjects of great knowledge,” Lin Sanfa said with a smile. “In the future, Xinhua will definitely build many universities and various professional schools to teach students these seemingly insignificant subjects that require many tricks and methods.”

"..." Tian Dacheng was stunned.

What? Do we have to go to school to learn farming, herding, and raising livestock?
“By the way, the construction cost of this cement road is quite expensive, at least thirty-four times that of our gravel road. It’s really not worth it for horse-drawn carriages to run on it.” Lin Sanfa stood up, preparing to get another bowl of corn porridge. “In Xinhua, we have to consider the input-output ratio for everything we do.”

"This gravel road is just right. It's both economical and practical, requiring only simple maintenance each year to last for several years. In the future, it won't take ten days or half a month to travel from Xuanhan County in the north to Shaoyang County (now Olympia) in the south."

As Tian Dacheng watched Lin Sanfa's retreating figure, he looked down at the gravel road that was taking shape beneath his feet, and a complex and indescribable emotion welled up in his heart.

He recalled that when he first arrived here five years ago, it was still a wild and untamed place. Traveling relied entirely on the paths trodden out by foot in the forest. Even riding a horse was inconvenient, and it would take two or three days to go to the county town.

Today, this wide and sturdy national highway is extending inch by inch into the distance, closely connecting scattered villages, towns, and county seats.

"Input-output ratio..." He silently pondered the term, not fully understanding its meaning, but vaguely feeling that it was probably the same principle as farming.

Not all good land should be planted with the most valuable crops. We must consider the timing of the weather, the soil fertility, the harvest, and the losses, so that every bit of effort is used effectively.

Like this gravel road, it may not be as shiny as a cement road, but it is solid, durable, and benefits countless people.

"With this road repaired, life will only get better and better," he said to himself, looking at the noisy villagers around him.
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(End of this chapter)