We made you the chief, and now you've become the world's chief?

Chapter 164 The city is named Yu!

The next morning, the people who came were not only the craftsmen and ordinary people who were responsible for helping with small tasks, but Xia Minghao also brought his own deer riders.

These men, originally from the Great Lakes tribe, found everything novel and fascinating after arriving in the Xia tribe: beautiful pottery, houses built on the ground as sturdy as mountains, and spacious houses as large as caves...

Having not yet had their fill of sights in the riverside village, seeing the cement now fills them with even more curiosity.

When someone leaves the group without permission, Li Ba, who is in charge of maintaining order, will strike them with six blows in one second.

Xia Minghao chuckled inwardly when he saw the group of people being completely subdued by Li Ba.

These people will be busy later, but not now.

Upon arrival, they arranged for people to fetch water and began setting up the second stage of the cement production line: pulp preparation.

Pulping is not just about adding water to produce calcium hydroxide, or quicklime. It also involves adding other substances as reinforcing materials, which can affect various properties of cement, such as strength.

In Xia Minghao's memory, the best thing that could be obtained under primitive conditions was volcanic ash. The famous Roman cement was actually made from volcanic mud, which has excellent strength because it contains elements such as silicon and aluminum.

Xia Minghao knew where the volcano was, of course, but the problem was that it was too far away. Even with the giant antler deer, he wasn't prepared to go to the volcano. He didn't know what dangers he might encounter along the way, and he might end up losing the whole team.

Therefore, they had to settle for second best and add clay to the pulp during the pulping process to increase its strength, in addition to wood ash.

“Go to the stream and bring back the clay and the sand from the stream.”

He said to the group led by Datan, and also asked them to dig up some sand along with the clay.

Adding sand is the final step in forming cement mortar. It is actually an aggregate, and the function of this aggregate is to improve crack resistance and make it less prone to cracking.

Xia Minghao had already experienced this firsthand when he improved pottery. Adding quartz to the clay body greatly increased the success rate of firing the pottery, and cracking rarely occurred anymore.

Most people went to the stream not far away, while Xia Minghao left a few people behind to begin the initial leveling of the road surface.

However, once cement is available, concrete cannot be poured immediately; the road must be paved first.

First, a road was paved from the cement concrete workshop to the stream, and then a road was paved up the mountain.

Ensuring a smooth road surface allows the deer to pull carts without obstruction, greatly increasing transportation efficiency.

However, we cannot lay the road blindly; we must find the right path before we begin.

This is what some of the deer riders had to do: find a path. The ground was relatively flat and it was closest to the stream.

This road is not only for transporting sand, gravel, and clay in the early stages, but also for transporting water before the second city wall is built after the city is completed.

"You all go find the way, in groups of five. Each group goes to search, and whoever finds the best way will be rewarded with honey when the ship comes next time."

They had never tasted honey before, but among the many Wa clan members in the riverside village, they had heard of it quite often during conversations.

Recalling the descriptions given by the Wa clan members, the Great Lakes tribe, who usually only eat palm fruits, were practically drooling with envy.

Seeing this, Xia Minghao was glad that he had started beekeeping in the Insect Valley, otherwise he wouldn't know what to use to motivate everyone and fully mobilize their initiative.

The deer riders set off towards the creek first, each group trying to find the shortest, smoothest path so they could get honey along the way.

Xia Minghao then led a group of people toward the plateau.

There's no need to look for a road; there's only one slope leading up to the plateau, with a gradient of about ten degrees. Even the steepest parts are easy for people to stand on. Although transporting goods up the mountain will be difficult, it won't be a problem if there are giant deer.

Choosing his path as he walked upwards, Xia Minghao looked out at the empty plateau and vaguely imagined the general shape of his city.

Where are the city walls, where are the city gates, and where is my own palace?

In the early stages, this place was mainly used to settle artisans, thus completely separating handicrafts from agriculture and animal husbandry.

This separation did indeed occur in the history of civilization and is known as the second major division of labor among humankind.

By the middle period, when the second city wall was completed, the artisans would be moved to the area below the plateau. The nature of this place would undergo a dramatic change, becoming the political center by the river and also the political center of the Xia tribe.

This will lead to the emergence of a group of people who do not engage in production but are only responsible for managing others.

But what Xia Minghao needs is not bureaucrats; what he really needs is a group of people who can provide services.

What kind of service?
Naturally, the primary purpose is to serve the Xia tribe, which I manage and have built myself, and secondly, to serve the people of the Xia tribe and help them live better lives.

Serve them!
It's hard to say if it's placed elsewhere.

However, for Xia Minghao, it's not only easy to talk about, but also entirely possible to achieve.

The reason is that Xia Minghao did not lag behind in understanding social changes.

Various social problems often arise due to lag.

For example, as the ancients said, when the Great Way is abandoned, there is benevolence and righteousness; when wisdom arises, there is great hypocrisy; when family relationships are not harmonious, there is filial piety and kindness; when the country is in chaos, there are loyal ministers.

This is a manifestation of lag.

If all officials were loyal ministers, would the concept of a loyal minister even exist?

It's like before Xia Minghao arrived, this was a primitive era, but after he arrived, civilization emerged, and then came the corresponding barbarity.

Therefore, of course not. Only when treacherous officials appear will corresponding loyal officials emerge, and the state will begin to advocate for loyal officials and promote loyalty.

But by this point, the disease is often already incurable, and even strong medicine may not be able to change the situation.

This is the problem caused by the lag; once the problem is discovered, it has already become quite serious.

Based on centuries of experience, Xia Minghao was able to predict what would happen.

Corruption, embezzlement, oppression, abuse of power, and personal gain are just some of the many problems that have emerged in the Xia tribe. Although it is not explicitly stated, many people have indeed wielded some power.

Now that we know about it in advance, we can eliminate this problem at its root and thus alleviate the internal conflicts within the Xia tribe.

When the bureaucratic system of the Xia tribe is established, what Xia Minghao needs to do is let them know that this is a job that serves everyone, not a job where managers ride on other people's heads.

We are all just cogs in the national machine.

To achieve this, it is necessary to improve this "state apparatus," which consists of various laws and regulations.

Xia Minghao decided to wait until the city wall was completed before considering this matter.

After surveying and confirming the terrain of the plateau again and establishing the general framework for the construction of the city wall, Xia Minghao looked at the large river plain beside the plateau.

It's time to give it a name.

At the very least, everyone should know exactly what they are building.

Picking up his binoculars, Xia Minghao looked at the distant river and the villagers busily logging along its banks.

After much thought, a word came to mind: Yu.

Mainly because it's located by a large river, and there was a real fear of the Yellow River flooding, so they simply named it Yucheng for good luck.

As they descended the platform, the deer riders had already returned.

To Xia Minghao's surprise, these deer riders were all carrying large nettle bags, and some were carrying pottery jars.

I asked and found out that he had helped the people who were digging clay and sand bring back their stuff on his way back, and he would have to return it later.

This wasn't something Xia Minghao requested; it was something the group did spontaneously.

In the past, it would have been unlikely. With palm fruits that were hard to swallow, barely enough to fill one's stomach, who would waste their own calories to help others?

Now, according to this group of Great Lakes tribes, it was actually their own initiative to bring it up.

As the saying goes, "When the granaries are full, people know etiquette." Now that these people have eaten their fill, they are finally able to help each other.

They followed each group from the Great Lakes tribe to examine the terrain and quickly chose a route.

Although the road is not straight, the land is not undulating and there are not many trees blocking the way, making it relatively easier to pave.

By this time, the first batch of sand and clay had arrived. Xia Minghao first had people begin the preliminary leveling, and then the rest began digging large pits.

The purpose of digging the pit is to make pulp.

First, a large amount of quicklime powder was poured into the pit, and then Xia Minghao added clay and river sand that had been initially sieved.

Once everything was ready, right under everyone's noses, jar after jar of stream water was poured in.

At the same time, steam billowed out from the pit, boiling vigorously!

Quicklime and water react in the air to form calcium carbonate, releasing a large amount of heat.

Exclamations rang out, but Xia Minghao, who had been observing the crowd, finally saw what he wanted to see.

That is reflection...

It was that young man named Washir who, amidst his surprise, appeared deep in thought.

"Chief, I just touched this stone, is it hot?"

Everyone here has cooked before, or at least seen it done.

Of course I know what steam and boiling means; if I touch it, I'll get a big bump on my body that will hurt for days.

Upon hearing this person's words, many people who had participated in limestone crushing also showed expressions of worry.

"No, as long as you don't put your hand in."

Xia Minghao didn't offer much explanation, simply glossing over the matter with a single sentence.

Then he had someone pick up the large, thick branches that he had collected while cutting down the trees and started stirring them.

The water boiled even more violently as it was stirred, and steam billowed out.

Xia Minghao added water again, waiting until the cement looked somewhat like the cement he had seen during his internship at the construction site before he stopped.

The pit was dug too small...

The cement was a bit too viscous, so they quickly dug a second hole and used a bronze shovel to put the cement into it.

Then Xia Minghao added water to both sides, and at this point, it no longer emitted scalding hot steam, indicating that the reaction was complete.

Cement hardens after undergoing a long reaction with carbon dioxide in the air and losing water; this is called cement hardening.

This hardening process is not like that of concrete; it is very slow, so you can rest assured and wait patiently for the road surface to be leveled.

Xia Minghao led his men to continue digging the pit, adding quicklime, clay, and river sand according to the recipe he remembered.

A special river sand processing site was set up next to it, and the cement workshop was already taking shape.

Before the construction of the second city wall, the cement workshop can be strengthened by introducing specially manufactured large tools to greatly improve cement production efficiency, thereby ensuring that the large amount of cement needed for the construction of the second city wall is met.

Once the leveling team returned, Xia Minghao assigned everyone to their posts, and the cement workshop officially began operation.

Xia Minghao then led his men to begin pouring cement onto the road surface.

The group carefully loaded the cement into the car. Although they could no longer feel the temperature that had been visible to the naked eye before, no one dared to touch it.

After truckloads of cement were dumped down and leveled by pushers made of two pieces of wood, descending from the platform to the stream, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Under the setting sun, looking at the smooth road surface, Xia Minghao felt that the sweat he and everyone else had shed had not been in vain.

After a period of maintenance, it will be initially hardened in three or four days, and will be open to traffic and pedestrians after a while.

Suddenly remembering the footprints and handprints on the ground of his old house, Xia Minghao reminded everyone not to step on them while they were wet.

Little did they know that this was a completely useless reminder.

Everyone knows that the cement mortar had just become boiling hot; who would dare to step on it? Who wouldn't be afraid of burning their feet?

Sometimes ignorance has negative effects, but it must be said that in certain situations, ignorance can still have positive benefits.

With the road leading to the stream completed, Xia Minghao began working on the road leading up the mountain.

But the focus of the work has shifted, because the next step is to build the city wall, which requires cement to make concrete.

Concrete is essentially a reinforced version of cement.

The ratio of cement, fine sand, and coarse aggregate is 1:2:3, which is the optimal mix that Xia Minghao learned in class.

The so-called coarse aggregate is actually just crushed stone and pebbles.

A large amount of fine sand and gravel form the framework of cement, thus creating a hard wall.

Therefore, Xia Minghao devoted a large amount of manpower to collecting fine sand and gravel, and the main work site was moved to the stream.

But that's tomorrow's task.

At Xia Minghao's command, the group walked towards the riverside village with light steps.

People don't yet know what important things they are doing, nor do they know what they will do, but they still feel comfortable, relaxed, and happy because of a fulfilling day.

Only one figure in the crowd walked with his head down, almost falling behind.

Washi thought of the torches he had seen go out yesterday, and then of the boiling cement mortar today. He felt like he had grasped something and would soon understand!
(End of this chapter)