Two months passed in a flash. During these two months, Liu Mang was in deep trouble. He had underestimated the strategists of this era. They took advantage of the loopholes in his conscription order and dug a big hole for Liu Mang to jump into.
These two months were really hard to endure. If it was not for Liu Mang's seeds that were planted in the soil, they would not have enough rations to survive.
A total of 1.2 million people almost killed Liu Mang. Although Yangzhou was rich, even in its heyday, Shouchun could not support 1.2 million people. One must know that Shouchun and Lujiang were only one-third of Yangzhou. The current Yangzhou was a mess left behind by Yuan Gonglu.
There were many industries waiting to be developed in Shouchun. As for the 1.2 million people, not only did they need to eat and drink, but they also needed a place to sleep.
They needed to build houses, feed the people, clothes, and so on. When did Liu Mang ever manage so many people? Moreover, these people came here with nothing to their name.
Lü Bu and Chen Gong wrote a letter to Liu Mang. Liu Mang also read it. It was nothing more than cutting off all means of retreat. However, Liu Mang did not immediately agree. This was because he did so much to help his father-in-law. It was also for the people who followed Liu Mang to have a good background and a good home. If Shouchun and Lujiang were to be lost, even if they crossed the Yangtze River and turned Jiangdong upside down, what would the Lvbu's Army get? The Battle of Guandu would not last long. Once the two giants, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao, were free, there would be no chance. Lü Bu was not Liu Bei. He could still play the game of Red Cliff and Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou. Lü Bu and Jiangdong's Sun Ce were mortal enemies. It was impossible for them to form an alliance. If the current situation continued, both of them would suffer. At that time, the world would not belong to them. They could only become a pile of bones like Gongsun Zan and Tao Qian and be buried in the mountains and rivers.
Liu Mang could not do that. Since Liu Mang created the disaster, then let Liu Mang solve it.
"Did we succeed?" Liu Mang looked at Liu Ye who also had dark circles under his eyes. Liu Ye had not slept well for the past few days as he had been researching. Ever since he came to Liu Mang's place, Liu Ye had found his own heaven. He could display his knowledge of mechanisms and Liu Mang's pile of books made Liu Ye so engrossed that he forgot to eat and sleep. What Liu Mang and the others are discussing right now is one of those things — cement!
Liu Mang could not find enough wood and bricks to build houses for the commoners. He also did not have the time. Until now, most of the commoners were still living in the wilderness. They only used simple military barracks to build houses.
Cement became Liu Mang's life-saving straw. This was because once it was made, he could quickly build some buildings. He did not need to use clay and glutinous rice soup to solidify the gaps between the bricks. That would be too slow.
Liu Mang did not remember much about cement. However, he knew that it was made by mixing lime and clay in a 3: 1 ratio. Lime was made from limestone that was forged at a high temperature. After that, the mixture would be placed in the place where the lime was forged. After that, it would be polished. Only then would it be successful.
The principle was so simple, but the actual operation was not so simple. In two months, Liu Ye, the great inventor of the Three Kingdoms, had developed the most basic cement. This kind of cement could only be used to reinforce ordinary houses and city walls. It was not very useful for underwater buildings, but it was enough.
"Ziyang, let the commoners send out 30 teams to collect as much limestone as possible from Shouchun. Send out another 20 teams to collect clay!" Liu Mang divided the 1.2 million people into a team of 10,000 people. There were 120 such teams.
Fifty teams would be a total of 500,000 people. Liu Mang could not feed these commoners for free. If they did not work, naturally, there would be no food distribution. Among the 1.2 million people, 200,000 were the old, weak, sick, and children. Liu Mang did not make things difficult for these people. He also distributed food daily. The rest of the people were not so good. Liu Mang's army did not have much food. Lü Bu had moved all the food from Lujiang to Shouchun. Even so, Shouchun could only last for less than half a year. After two months, the army's food had begun to shrink.
"Yes, Milord!" Liu Ye nodded his head and instructed one of his assistants. Cement was a very important item. Liu Ye had tested the hardness of cement before and it was much tougher than bricks and wood. It was very difficult to split it open with swords. Even ballista and ballista cannons could only crack it open but not shatter it. Liu Ye definitely did not wish for the formula of this item to fall into the hands of the enemy. Naturally, Liu Ye could only rely on himself to supervise the process.
There was strength in numbers. Under the concerted efforts of five hundred thousand people, the limestone was peeled off and the clay was dug out. All of it was sent to a huge camp outside Shouchun.
The camp was called the industrial zone by Liu Mang. Not only was there cement construction, but there were also chimneys and mechanical barracks. There were also ballistas and ballistas. If it wasn't for the fact that this place was close to the water, Liu Mang might have already turned the dock over. The Urban Management and Black Flag Army were guarding this place every day. As for the defense of Shouchun, they had been replaced by garrison troops. Since the civilians had to be supported by themselves, Liu Mang did not hold back and recruited more than fifty thousand soldiers from the population of 1.2 million to be garrison troops. These new soldiers surprised Liu Mang a little because they were all good at fighting and were not inferior to the Danyang ruffians. When Liu Mang asked, he found out that most of these soldiers were actually from Shanyue. However, regardless of whether they were from Shanyue or Han, Liu Mang only called them the Great Han Clan. Liu Mang did not discriminate against them because they were from Pre-Qin and Yue. Towards these foreigners who wished to integrate into the Great Han Clan, Liu Mang would treat them as Han people.
The limestone was calcined according to the stipulated supply and demand. It was processed with clay and then calcined again. Bags of lime were pulled out of the industrial zone and loaded onto carriages to be sent to Shouchun.
"What are those?" "Most of the people left in Shouchun are old people and children. There are also many women. Don't underestimate these old people. These old people are basically very prestigious people. They can exhort the young people, especially the people of Shanyue. They are the most strict people.
"I don't know! Bags after bags. Could it be grain? " Some people guessed that these cloth bags should be grain because grain is easily susceptible to moisture. Once it gets wet, it may become moldy. Cloth bags can absorb water, so grain is basically packed in cloth bags to ensure the transportation of grain. Of course, the cloth bags here are not the ones used to store flour in the modern world. They are a kind of coarse cloth bag. This kind of cloth bag is not only waterproof, but also cheap to manufacture. That's why Liu Mang's army has a lot of such cloth bags.
"Grain? Does His Highness not have much grain? " Someone on the side asked.
"It has been running out for a long time. Don't you see that His Highness has already reduced our rations?" An old man stood up and said.
"Reduced? How can that be? Isn't it still three meals a day? " Someone on the side was puzzled. Liu Mang gave the people who worked three meals a day. Porridge in the morning and evening, and rice at noon. This way, they could maintain their physical strength to work.
"The food at noon has not changed, but the amount of porridge in the morning and evening has decreased. There is more water and less rice!" The old man was indeed an old man. He had dealt with grain for a lifetime. Naturally, he could calculate the lack of grain in Liu Mang's army from the amount of porridge and the thickness of the soup.
"Maybe your eyes are playing tricks on you!" An old woman on the side glanced at the old man.
"Haha, it has been so many years. Although I am old and confused, this grain still can't escape my eyes." If it was only once or twice, he might not care so much. However, since the beginning of this month, it has been decreasing. This old man had no choice but to guess.
The old man's guess was right. The decrease in the porridge in the morning and evening was an order issued by Liu Mang. This was also because Liu Mang's army did not have much grain. If they did not save up, they might not even last two months.
The words of not having much grain really made people panic. Liu Mang did not expect that these old men could eat porridge. The older they were, the more valuable they were.
"Bam, bam, bam!" Bag after bag of lime was thrown on the ground. In front of these bags of lime was a large open space. The original dilapidated houses were all demolished by Liu Mang. Even if the people were to live in tents, they would not be allowed to live in these old houses. This was because these houses could be blown by the wind and collapse. When that time comes, the price for that would be the lives of the people.
"Rip!" The cloth bag was torn open, and a grayish-white powdery substance appeared in front of everyone.
"It's not grain!" The old man sighed and shook his head. How good would it be if it was grain?
"What is this gray powder for?" Someone did not understand and asked the old men, but the old men did not know either. They had never seen this grayish-white powder before. However, one of the old men seemed to have thought of something and asked in a doubtful tone, "Is this lime powder?!"
It was not lime powder, but it was not far from it. A team leader of a construction team on the side said to the people below, "This is cement. Cement is used to build houses for me. Big houses!" This team leader had obviously seen the process of using cement in the industrial area. Therefore, when he said this, he was very confident and proud.
"What? Using this to build houses? Is there something wrong with your brain? "An old man questioned in a thick dialect.
Building houses! In the eyes of these people, it was naturally green bricks and big tiles. Even if they could not afford it, they would use mud and bamboo to paste it. How could they use this gray powder?
"How much money can I make by lying to you?" The team leader who was questioned was not happy. "If you don't believe me, you can come and see!"
After the gray cement was pulled down, it was piled up into a small hill. The construction team members poured buckets of water on the hill. Then, they dug a small pit from the hill and mixed it with a wooden stick.
"Water and ash? Do you think you are playing house?! Playing with mud? "Children liked to play house like this. However, they used urine instead of water.
"If you don't believe me, then forget it!" The team leader's face was sullen. "Come, come, come. Let's show these old guys! Don't let them look down on us! "
The other construction team members were not very happy. After all, it was very uncomfortable to be questioned.
One by one, wooden strips were sent over. Liu Mang did not have steel bars, so he could only use wooden strips as the internal structure of the cement.
One by one, wooden pillars and wooden strips formed the general framework. One by one, the cement was smeared and pressed. The more people there were, the greater the strength. Under the efforts of tens of thousands of people, houses were built one after another. Although the cement outside was not dry, the general framework had been completed. Liu Mang's first wave of building was a row of bungalows. These houses were only temporary, but they had to be sturdy. After this period, Liu Mang planned to lay the foundation to build the buildings.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
