A week later, Roland officially launched the steel bridge construction project.
"You mean, you want me to raise two pieces of land in the middle of the river to act as footholds for the bridge piers?" Lotus looked at the rolling river and asked in surprise, "Are you going to build a real bridge, instead of using a pontoon to connect the two ends of the river?"
"Yes," Roland spread out the roll of paper in his hand, "Taking into account the impact of the river, the two pieces of land need to have a certain volume, and in order to reduce the impact, they need to be processed into this shape."
"This is … the shape of a ship," Lotus looked back at the drawing.
"Yes, to be exact, it should be spindle-shaped," he nodded, "As long as it is parallel to the direction of the current, it will receive the smallest impact. The problem is, the Redwater River is nearly ten meters deep, can you make the bottom of the river rise? "
"It's not difficult to do, Your Highness," Lotus simply replied, "Leave it to me."
For the sake of insurance, the ship responsible for carrying the witches was Little Town, the wide concrete hull of the ship moved in the river as if it was walking on flat ground. The helmsman was still Lightning, and the sail power was provided by Vendy.
However, in the last week, when the latter saw the Prince, she would slightly avert her eyes, seeming somewhat uncomfortable. Until today, Roland finally saw her raise her head, looking straight at him as usual, and when they passed each other on the ship, he also heard her whisper "Thank you."
"You have to give me credit for this," Nightingale whispered in his ear from the fog.
Little Town quickly left the pier, heading towards the middle of the wide river. Carter had already pulled up the hemp rope on both sides of the river, the two red cloth strips tied to it were the expected positions of the bridge piers. After the cement ship moved to the first point, Lotus stood on the edge of the ship and began to display her ability.
She saw that the river suddenly seemed to boil, surging upwards, forming a "hill". Soon, gravel, grass, and mud emerged from the surging river, and the water gradually became turbid.
So that's how it is, Roland thought, her ability can not only transform the solid ground, but also the water, and raising the water surface is much easier than the loose gravel. Although the rising river water immediately rolled down in all directions, the riverbed had already been lifted up bit by bit.
Not long after, a ball of greenish-gray soil floated to the surface of the water. It looked very soft and emitted an unpleasant stench. Everyone could not help but cover their noses.
However, in Roland's eyes, all of this was top-notch fertilizer. Over the centuries, the bones of fish and other aquatic creatures, the water plants, and the excrement of the residents were deposited in the soil bit by bit. If it wasn't for the inconvenience of transportation, he would have liked to use the soil to fertilize the fields. Unfortunately, they could only be shoveled away manually and thrown directly into the river.
Just like that, he cleared a layer and leveled it up. Finally, he saw the yellowish-brown solid soil. What followed next was to repeat this process until the two pieces of land were completely shaped.
Roland estimated that this process would last for at least a week. However, just lifting the land out of the water did not mean that it could be used immediately. The flowing river would constantly carry away the sediment. Without any protection, even the spindle-shaped land would not last for more than a decade.
He called Carr van Bate to his side and took out a charcoal pen. While drawing, he explained the next step to solidify the ground.
"You mean, we should dig grooves at the edge of the land and then pour cement in?" The current Minister of Construction asked while gesturing at the drawings.
No wonder he's an outstanding member of the King's City Mason Guild, Roland thought with satisfaction. With just a few simple reminders, he immediately understood my intention.
"Yes, the length of each section should not exceed five meters and the depth should be controlled at about one meter. After filling it with cement, let the witches lower this section of the groove by one meter. Repeating this process, you can form a cement wall that goes straight to the bottom of the riverbed. " This plan was thought up by Roland after seeing Lotus' ability. Since she could control the ground to fall directly, then presumably she could also bring the structures built on the ground into the ground.
"Your idea is really ingenious," Carr's eyes lit up. "In this way, even if the river washes away the soil on the outside, it will still be blocked by the tightly wrapped walls."
Roland nodded, "The key point is to control the overall height of the sinking. If it is too little, it will lead to the bottom not being able to be wrapped tightly, and if it is too much, it will waste the cement and delay the construction period. You will be responsible for controlling this."
"Yes, Your Highness," he replied, "Counting the silt and soft soil dug out, I estimate that the entire height should be about twelve meters."
"In addition, after surrounding the cement wall, the land in the middle should not be covered with cement. In the future, I will plant flowers and grass on it." The Prince urged.
"Plant … flowers?" Carr was stunned.
After all, these walls could not be watertight, and if they were to be built in sections, the walls would inevitably have even gaps. If he wanted to further stabilize the soil, the simplest way was to plant grass. Vegetation could balance the soil water content and reduce soil erosion, especially after Leaf had magically modified the super long root weeds, which could ensure that the soil was firmly consolidated together.
After briefly explaining the role of plants in preserving the soil, Roland turned to look at the busy workers on the riverbank, "How is the construction of the bridge now?"
"We are laying the cement gravel road," Carr reported without hesitation, "It should be completed this week."
According to the plan, the bridge on both sides of the river would be made of rubble and cement, just like the Western Territory's city wall. As long as the positioning and measurement work were done, the construction itself would not be difficult. The bridge ramp was raised by a full seven meters compared to the ground, and was connected to the city streets through a long gentle slope with an arc. With the height difference between the river embankment and the water surface, when the iron bridge was completed, it should be able to form a clear height of ten to twelve meters from the Redwater River, which was basically enough for the sails of the river.
At present, only one span of the main bridge had been completed, and it was currently being tested on the shore. Because the span was not large, the load was extremely low. Even if Roland knew nothing about bridge engineering, he was not worried about its reliability. In the era before the overloaded rear eight wheels, the 30 centimeter high I-beam was a guarantee of stability. Even if it was crowded with people, it would still be impossible to break the steel beam. What's more, from the processing to the assembly and welding, Anna would take care of everything, so the probability of a shoddy construction was extremely low.
Similarly, its installation was also very simple. After the three spans of the main bridge were prefabricated, Hummingbird would directly lighten it, and then hand it over to Lightning to hoist in place.
When this steel bridge, which could allow two four-wheeled carriages to pass side by side, was erected on the Redwater River, the north and south banks would truly be connected as a whole.
"Even the greatest stonemason would find it difficult to imagine such a magnificent bridge." Looking at the sparkling wide lake, Carr sighed, "Your Highness, does this steel bridge have a name?"
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