The autumn harvest and plowing took up a large amount of manpower. More than ninety percent of the common people were busy working in the fields, and there were less than one hundred thousand people continuing to build the railway. Although this was still a very large group, compared to the length of the railway, there was still a lack of manpower.
In order to transport all sorts of supplies and support the construction of the railway, the Imperial Court had gathered a large number of carriages and related personnel in the Guanzhong and Luoyang regions. Even the supply wagons of the army near the capital had been mobilized. Only ten percent of the supply wagons of the four armies at the North Gate remained. Their own supply of food had become a problem. Sometimes, they had to mobilize soldiers to carry the food into the camp on their shoulders.
There were more than five thousand carriages, the majority of which came from the caravans of Chang 'an and Luoyang. After all, after the railway began operating, a large amount of goods had been transported by rail. The carriage transport industry between Chang' an and Luoyang had suffered a major setback. Since there was not much business to do, they could only switch to other lines or join the railway system. And after the Imperial Court decided to gather carriages to transport supplies, these people found an opportunity to make quick money and joined the railway transport team. Thus, they quickly became the lifeline of the railway construction army.
Of course, the supply team from the capital was the main force. Almost all of the railway came from here, but in terms of food, the counties along the way provided an even greater demand. Long before the railway was built, before last year's autumn harvest, the Imperial Court had ordered that the grain collected by the counties along the way be stored locally. There was no need to transport it to Chang 'an, thus making it easier to resupply and greatly reducing the pressure on transportation.
In addition, many of the counties along the way had large amounts of forest resources. These counties with resources were responsible for providing sleepers for the railway system. Some counties with mountains were responsible for providing crushed stones, further reducing the pressure on transportation.
At present, most of the common people in the counties along the way had returned to the autumn harvest and farming, so new grain would soon be produced. This time, the counties along the way would follow the Imperial Court's request and cancel this year's collection of land taxes, allowing the common people to bring their own grain and participate in the railway construction army. This would further increase the efficiency of the railway construction and reduce the logistical pressure.
Of course, in addition to the outdated carriage transportation, the cargo steam cars and steam ships that were successfully developed a few months ago were also put into use to transport materials. After a few months, the number of steam cars in use had reached as high as 300. Although there were only 10 steam ships, there were as many as 200 transport ships towing. The transport volume was still very large.
Among them, the load of a steam transport vehicle was five times that of a horse carriage, and its efficiency was at least twice that of a horse carriage. As such, a steam transport vehicle could carry at least ten horse carriages.
The transport capacity of transport ships was much greater than that of steam cars and horse carriages. However, their speed was slower, and only part of the road leading to the west could be used. Most of the areas were not connected by water, so their efficiency was limited. However, it could greatly reduce the transport pressure on the eastern section, allowing many horse carriages to directly wait for the cargo ships nearly a thousand miles away from the western part of the capital, and then continue to be transferred to further places.
Of course, during the laying process, most of the manpower was concentrated on the section near the capital. In this way, the railway from the capital was laid for hundreds of miles in a few months. In this way, a large number of freight trains could be allocated to transport the goods from the capital hundreds of miles away.
In this way, there was no need for horse carriages or steam trucks within a hundred miles of the capital. These vehicles could directly wait for the goods hundreds of miles away and carry out the transfer.
With the continuous popularization of machinery in the agricultural field, Ang Lee believed that it would not be long before more people were liberated from agriculture and joined the industrial and handicraft fields, making the Tang Dynasty even richer and stronger. After the popularization of all kinds of machinery, the process of building railways would continue to accelerate. In a limited time, more railways would be built, and it would greatly promote the commercial prosperity of the Tang Dynasty.
During the autumn harvest, Ang Lee's attention on the artillery force continued to decrease because the artillery force had begun to get on the right track and did not need too much attention. This way, more energy could be devoted to the research and development of machinery.
Ang Lee also lived up to expectations. In a very short period of time, he developed a lot of practical machinery. The first to be put into production was the steam crane, which was specially prepared for the laying of railway tracks. With this equipment, the laying of railway tracks could be greatly improved.
In addition, the bulldozer was also quickly developed and put into production. The difficulty of the development of this machine was the least, but the requirements for power were relatively high. For this reason, three steam engines were installed to increase the power and move more earth and stones.
Of course, in addition to various machinery, Ang Lee also invented a lot of practical non-mechanical products, such as the composite steel beam. When there was a river that was not wide, several piers could be built in the middle of the river. The steel beam could directly connect these piers to form a complete bridge.
Because the weight of the train was relatively high, the requirements for the piers and steel beams were also relatively high. The steel beams had to be connected into an arch shape in order to reduce the pressure on the bridge deck and ensure that the steel beams would not break and ensure the safety of the train.
These scientific research results were quickly applied to the construction of the railway and effectively increased the speed of the construction of the railway so that the two main arteries of the railway could be unblocked as soon as possible.
When building the piers, a lot of time and manpower were needed. This attracted Ang Lee's attention and he immediately decided to develop a new material to be able to build the piers quickly and at the same time, it had a greater use.
This material was the cement of the later generations. Its composition structure was extremely simple. It only needed to mix lime and clay together. After simple processing, the simplest cement could be obtained. After adding water, it could be used normally.
Of course, theory was theory. Practice was the only standard to test the truth. After asking his subordinates to bring a lot of lime and clay, Ang Lee officially began the experiment.
However, lime was very difficult to handle, so Ang Lee would not do it himself. This dirty work could be done by his subordinates.
After repeated experiments, Ang Lee finally mastered the best method of making cement. Moreover, the cost was extremely low and was very suitable for large-scale production.
There were a lot of lime and clay mines in the Guanzhong area. The raw materials were far more abundant than iron ore. Therefore, as long as there was enough manpower, the Tang dynasty would never lack cement in the future.
After the successful development of cement, Ang Lee immediately experimented with concrete. That was, cement, sand, and gravel were mixed according to the ratio of the area to form a stronger solid.
Of course, reinforced concrete should be stronger. However, although the Tang Empire used black gunpowder to double the mining of iron ore, iron was still not enough because the demand for the railway and various machinery was too high. Therefore, reinforced concrete could not be used too much. It was too easy to make reinforced concrete and add it to concrete.
Whether it was the two raw materials of cement or sand and gravel, the Tang dynasty had enough raw materials. There were so many that they could not be used up in hundreds of millions of years. Therefore, cement and concrete were the most suitable for large-scale promotion.
Ang Lee had already thought about it. In the future, the piers of the bridges of the Tang dynasty would be made of concrete, even reinforced concrete, so as to greatly improve the efficiency of construction and the strength of the construction. The bridge body could also be made of the same material. In this way, bridges could be built over the Yellow River and the Yangtze River in the future, which would greatly improve the trade between the two sides of the river, improve the lives of the people, and promote the flow of goods.
Of course, the use of cement and concrete was not limited to this. Cement could be used as a basic material to build hard roads, build strong houses, repair city walls, and so on. Therefore, the value of this promotion was needless to say.
The premise of all this promotion was to gain the support of the emperor and the ministers as soon as possible and let them understand the great role that cement could play. Then, they would fully support the cement industry of the Tang dynasty.
Ang Lee personally instructed his subordinates to make cement blocks and concrete blocks. He asked them to carry these two things directly into the Imperial Palace so that the emperor and the ministers could see the performance of the cement blocks and concrete blocks with their own eyes.
"Everyone, Assistant Minister Li is carrying two things in. They look very heavy. It takes more than a dozen people to carry one."
The little eunuch hurriedly reported the situation.
"Oh, Assistant Minister Li has made something good again. What is it?"
"It looks like a piece of stone, but it's definitely not a stone. I'm not sure."
Li Longji suddenly became interested. He stepped out of the Zichen Palace and came out to greet him in person.
"Your humble servant pays his respects to Your Majesty."
"Assistant Minister Li, what are these?"
Li Longji was stunned when he saw the smooth cement blocks and concrete blocks. He was sure that he had never seen such things before. In other words, these things were newly made by Ang Lee.
"Your Majesty, these are the cement blocks and concrete blocks newly developed by your humble servant. They are specially presented to Your Majesty."
Li An replied with a straight face.
"Cement blocks, concrete blocks? How did you make them? "
Li Longji asked with a frown. After all, even the most skilled craftsmen could not make the surface of the stone bricks so smooth, and the surface did not look like it had been polished.
Ang Lee did not care about leaking the secret. He directly told Li Longji and many eunuchs about the materials and the process of making the cement. He also explained the materials and functions of the concrete.
After listening to Ang Lee's explanation, Li Longji was stunned for a long time. He knew all these materials, and he knew that the Tang dynasty had a lot of raw materials. But he did not know that these things could produce such a great effect after mixing them. It was beyond his knowledge.
"I really didn't expect that these materials could be mixed together to make such a strong thing. It's even more powerful than using clay to make bricks!"
Li Longji sighed and took the horsetail whisk from the little eunuch's hand. He smashed it a few times and showed a satisfied smile.
"Your Majesty, cement and concrete are extremely strong, especially concrete. It's much stronger than bricks. It's difficult for swords to hurt it. Your Majesty can let the guards test it with swords."
Ang Lee suggested.
Li Longji felt that it was necessary to test it. He immediately ordered several guards at the entrance of Zichen Palace to use their swords and spears to hit the two pillars at will. If they broke it, they would be rewarded.
However, with a crackling sound, the two pillars did not suffer much damage. Only the surface was damaged. Among them, the cement blocks were more seriously damaged, and the concrete blocks were less damaged. In addition, a lot of sparks splashed. The scene was quite lively and attracted a large number of onlookers. After all, with such a big movement, everyone wanted to see what was going on.
"Your Majesty, if we use a big hammer, we can definitely break it."
A guard whose hands were in pain from the shock said loudly.
"Haha! The big hammer is ready. Give it a try! "
Ang Lee had already prepared the big hammer, but he did not take it out. He wanted to test the power of the swords first, and then try the big hammer. It was more enjoyable this way.
"Rumble, rumble …"
The power of the big hammer was indeed much stronger than that of a sword. After a few strikes, the cement pillar was smashed bit by bit. However, the concrete was still only injured and gradually lost a small amount of material. After dozens of strikes, only one-third of the material was lost.
"Okay, it's about time. Stop."
Li Longji did not want to continue watching. Through this performance, he already had a very clear understanding of the properties of cement and concrete. Of course, there was no need to let the guards keep smashing.
"Your Majesty, in addition to being strong, cement can also be used for adhesion. After two bricks are stuck together with cement, as long as they dry, the two bricks will be stuck together firmly and won't be able to be separated."
Ang Lee explained and let his subordinates demonstrate how to use the cement on the spot.
In order to not dirty the floor tiles of the palace, Ang Lee prepared a few big planks in advance and put them together as a place to mix the cement.
For this demonstration, Ang Lee used the method of mixing cement and sand. First, the cement and sand were mixed according to a certain ratio. Then, an appropriate amount of water was added and the mixture was mixed continuously until it was uniform.
After the cement was mixed, the cement was piled on top of one of the bricks, and the second brick was piled on top of it and pressed down with force.
Of course, since it was an experiment, they naturally couldn't just stick two bricks together. Li An ordered his subordinates to stick together the twenty bricks that they had prepared. Then, according to the principle of stacking, they crisscrossed and stacked the twenty or so city walls tightly together.
In this way, they only needed to wait for the cement to dry naturally. At that time, they could use the big hammer to hit the cement and see the adhesion effect of the cement.
The cement needed a long time to dry. After all, the cement that Ang Lee made was the most ordinary cement. As for the quick-drying cement, Ang Lee had not made it yet. Perhaps he would make it in the future!
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