There were a total of fifteen roads in the Tang Dynasty, and each road was very large. Of course, they also contained a large amount of resources. Lime and clay were present in every road, and of course, there was no lack of sand and gravel.
In order to popularize cement workshops in the Tang Empire, Ang Lee specially trained three hundred talents while building cement workshops near the capital. He planned to let them learn the process of making cement and go to each road to build cement workshops. Then, step by step, he would build a certain number of cement workshops in the provinces and counties under his jurisdiction that were suitable for building cement workshops. This would promote the construction of roads and improve the living conditions of the people.
Because the production of cement was very simple, the 300 talents were quickly trained and sent to the various regions according to the scale of 20 people per region.
After dealing with the matters related to the promotion of cement, Ang Lee began to consider the plan of building a large number of bridges. Of course, all the bridges built so far were for the construction of the railway to Lai Zhou in the future. Without these bridges, the railway to Lai Zhou could not be laid.
Since the purpose of these bridges was to serve the railway, the location of these bridges had to be on the railway line. In other words, the railway line to Lai Zhou had to be determined first before the construction of the bridges could begin.
Of course, when the two strategic railways were being laid, Ang Lee had already sent two groups of prospectors to investigate the railway line. One of them was the strategic railway in Anxi, and the other was the strategic railway to Lai Zhou.
Almost all of Anxi was desert, so there was no need to worry about the problem of building bridges. However, the railway line to Lai Zhou was different. This line had to pass through many water systems. Moreover, there was the Ji River, which was nearly two li wide. It was almost like a natural moat. Therefore, Ang Lee put more effort into the eastern railway line and immediately invented cement and concrete. Of course, there was also the more high-end reinforced concrete. The purpose was to build large bridges on the water systems along the way so that the railway line could pass through smoothly.
The officials of the Railway Bureau who were in charge of prospecting the railway line had already returned to the capital and handed the best route to Ang Lee for Ang Lee to make the final decision.
Ang Lee did not have much time to personally inspect the route. Since these people from the Railway Bureau had already determined the route, he would not raise any objections and immediately agreed.
After the railway line from Luoyang to Lai Zhou was confirmed, the first step was to build the bridge. Only when the bridge was built could the various materials for laying the railway be smoothly transported to the railway line, thus speeding up the process of laying the railway.
When building the Longshou Canal Bridge outside Chunming Gate, the craftsmen who participated in the construction had already grasped a certain amount of experience in building concrete bridges. However, the Longshou Canal was a very narrow river and could not be compared to the Luo River and the Grand Canal. Therefore, if they wanted to build the Luo River Bridge and the Grand Canal Bridge, they still had to do some research.
The Luo River was not far from Luoyang, and the section of the Grand Canal that they had to pass through was also near Luoyang City. For this reason, Ang Lee first had to build these two bridges.
In order to build these two railway bridges, Ang Lee first sent a group of people to build a cement factory near Luoyang City and gather manpower to carry out large-scale production. In addition, he used a cutter suction dredger to dredge sand in the river near Luoyang City to provide for the construction of the bridge. He also transferred a large amount of black gunpowder to the vicinity of Luoyang to blow up the bluestones in the nearby mountains. As for the manufacturing of the steel bars, the workshops near Chang 'an City had already been prepared for a long time. They could use the train to transport them to Luoyang City in large batches.
After these materials were arranged, Ang Lee led more than a thousand bridge-building talents to take a passenger train to Luoyang City. He prepared to give on-site guidance and give the ideas and methods to build the bridge so that the craftsmen could complete it.
According to the current train transport capacity, more than a thousand people only needed one train. As for the various machinery needed to build the bridge, another freight train was used. These were all arranged by Yu Chaoen, so Ang Lee did not need to worry. He only needed to take the train there.
In the comfortable soft sleeper carriage, Ang Lee picked up a pen and paper and drew the diagram of a bridge on a piece of white hard paper. It was the railway bridge of the future. It was divided into two levels. The lower level was the railway, and the upper level was the road for carriages.
The structure of such a railway bridge was quite complicated. The difficulty of construction and the materials consumed were bound to be enormous. However, the construction of such a bridge had an extremely important strategic significance. Therefore, no matter how high the price, these bridges had to be built.
Although the width of the Luo River and the Grand Canal was only a few hundred steps, not even a li, in order to ensure the smooth flow of water, the bridge deck of the railway bridge had to be built higher. In order to make it easier for carriages to cross the bridge, a very long approach bridge had to be built. In this way, the total length of the bridge to be built would be much wider than the river surface.
Of course, the length of the approach bridge depended on the difference in height between the two banks and the river surface. Only then could a decision be made. If the river surface was much shorter than the two banks, then the approach bridge did not need to be too long. If the two banks were almost the same height as the river surface, then a very long approach bridge would be needed.
As for the specific situation and specific analysis, only after arriving at the site could Ang Lee finally determine the total length of the bridge. At present, on the train, he could only draw a rough appearance and could not finalize it.
After all the drawings were drawn, Ang Lee let several technical backbone into the carriage and told them the structure and characteristics of the railway bridge in detail. He let them understand how the railway bridge should be laid and the technical difficulties that might be encountered.
These craftsmen were all experts in bridge-building. Although they had only built stone and wooden bridges before, they were very clear about the principles of bridge-building. Therefore, after building the Longshou Canal Bridge, they quickly understood the various characteristics of concrete bridges and knew that this advanced bridge-building material was much better than stone and wood.
When Ang Lee proposed to build a bridge over the Luo River and the Grand Canal, these craftsmen were all very shocked at the beginning. They thought that Ang Lee was a little crazy, but after carefully analyzing the characteristics of the concrete bridge, they were convinced that Ang Lee's idea could be realized and fully supported Ang Lee. After all, as long as these advanced bridges were built, these craftsmen would also feel proud. Any profession had a sense of professional pride, and the bridge building craftsmen were no exception.
Before dark, the train arrived at the Luoyang Railway Station on time. Ang Lee took more than a thousand craftsmen and temporarily stayed in Luoyang. They were ready to immediately go to Luokou the next morning to inspect how to build the bridge.
After dinner, Ang Lee continued to draw to perfect the details of the railway bridge, looking for the best design ideas and building the highest end railway bridge at the lowest cost.
Early the next morning, Ang Lee led a thousand craftsmen and a large number of bridge building machines to Luokou. The craftsmen and machines were too slow, so Ang Lee left them behind. He only led a small number of technical backbone on horseback. Of course, there were also several dozen armed guards and several talents from the Railway Bureau.
"Assistant Minister Li, this is the place. This river is the narrowest and most suitable for the construction of the bridge."
A talent from the Railway Bureau pointed at the Luo River in front of them and loudly introduced.
Ang Lee looked up and scanned the area. This location was indeed very good. Not only was the distance only a hundred steps, but the banks on both sides were much higher than the river level. Thus, there was no need to raise the bridge deck too much, and the bridge approach did not need to be too long.
After some observation, Ang Lee finally decided on the plan for the bridge. In this plan, the total length of the bridge was two li. The railway on the lower level was level with the roads on both sides, while the road on the upper level was slightly higher. Thus, the bridge approach had to be specially built for the road on the upper level.
The bridge approach had to be bent to one side and could not be in a straight line with the main bridge. Otherwise, it would block the railway track and the train. After all, it was a railway bridge, and its main function was to allow the train to pass. Moreover, the carriage could easily turn, but the train could only go in a straight line. Thus, of course, the flatness of the road had to be sacrificed.
After the plan was decided, it was time to start construction. At this time, a lot of bridge building materials had been prepared. Although it was not enough to support the entire bridge, the various materials needed for the early construction were still enough.
The pier of the bridge approach was relatively easy to build. It only needed to dig the foundation and pour in reinforced concrete. However, the pier of the main bridge was not so easy to build. It needed to lay the foundation in the water. Moreover, the height of the entire pier was relatively large and required more materials. However, these were not difficult for smart construction talents. They had long had experience in this area and easily completed the construction of the pier in the water.
In order to increase the strength, all the piers were buried with reinforced concrete. It took a long time to build the piers. Ang Lee used this time to go to the Grand Canal not far away to investigate the construction plan of the second canal railway bridge.
The situation encountered in the Grand Canal was completely different from that of the Luo River. The shore here was almost the same height as the water surface. In order to ensure the smooth passage of the transport ships, the height of the bridge deck had to be raised. In this way, the length of the bridge approach needed to be greatly increased.
Ang Lee made a preliminary estimate. In order to build the canal railway bridge, the bridge approach and the main bridge on this level of the railway would need five li, while the road on the upper level plus the bridge approach would need seven or eight li.
In other words, the construction difficulty and work of the canal railway bridge was much greater than that of the Luo River Railway Bridge. Only after the Luo River Railway Bridge was completed could manpower be drawn out to build the canal railway bridge.
Of course, building the Luo River Railway Bridge first instead of recruiting manpower was to verify the technology used to build the bridge. They wanted to see how effective the railway bridge would be if they used this construction method. Then, on the basis of summarizing enough experience, they would build a second bridge and continue to summarize the experience.
Ang Lee believed that as long as the Luo River Railway Bridge and the Grand Canal Railway Bridge were completed and put into use, he would not have to worry about the next few bridges. These bridge builders who had mastered the technique were completely competent for the task of building these bridges.
The construction of the piers of the Luo River Railway Bridge proceeded in an orderly manner, and the modular reinforced concrete bridge deck structure was also in the process of being constructed.
After several days of inspection, Ang Lee confirmed that there would be no major problems, so he took the train back to Chang 'an City and handed the heavy responsibility of building the bridge to these skilled craftsmen. He was confident that they would be able to fulfill his expectations and complete the task of building the bridge. And in a few months, Ang Lee would return to the Luokou Bridge to inspect the construction quality of the bridge.
In the evening, the train arrived punctually at the Changan City Railway Station. Ang Lee, escorted by his guards, alighted from the carriage.
"Assistant Minister Li, what a coincidence!"
Ang Lee had just walked toward the train when he saw the Assistant Minister of Works, Guo Xuji, grinning as he walked over.
"Assistant Minister Guo, why are you here? The train at night doesn't seem to be running!"
Ang Lee looked at Guo Xuji curiously.
He felt that Guo Xuji had deliberately waited here so that he could be the first to see him. However, Ang Lee's return to Chang 'an City was a last-minute decision, and he had not told anyone in advance. In this era of mobile phones, it was impossible for Guo Xuji to have been notified in advance.
Could Guo Xuji really have happened to pass by here? Or perhaps he had some ability to predict the future and knew the kung fu of pinching fingers.
"Assistant Minister Li, this official just happened to pass by. When I saw Assistant Minister Li alight from the carriage, I came up to greet you. How is it? The construction of the Luokou Bridge is going smoothly, right?"
Guo Xuji casually replied and asked about the bridge.
"Haha! The construction of the Luokou Bridge is going smoothly. The craftsmen are working day and night. I estimate that it will be completed in a few months. "
Ang Lee confidently introduced the bridge. He had absolute confidence in the design of the railway bridge, and he believed that the craftsmen responsible for the construction of the bridge would complete the task well.
"It's good that the bridge is going smoothly. It's good that everything is going smoothly. This is really a blessing for the Tang dynasty!"
Guo Xuji said happily, and he was grinning from ear to ear.
"Assistant Minister Guo, do you have to be so happy?"
Li An frowned and glanced sideways at Guo Xuji.
"Hehe, Assistant Minister Li, I have something to discuss with you."
Guo Xuji said embarrassedly.
"What is it, Assistant Minister Guo? Just say it."
Guo Xuji thought for a while and said, "Assistant Minister Li, the construction of the bridge is a big project, and we will build even bigger bridges in the future. Therefore, the imperial court should set up a special government office for the construction of the bridge, just like the Railway Bureau."
"A government office for the construction of the bridge?"
Ang Lee was stunned, and he immediately understood that Guo Xuji was not just passing by. He had deliberately waited here for the government office for the construction of the bridge.
"I understand what Assistant Minister Guo means. It is very necessary for the imperial court to set up a government office for the construction of the bridge. However, I can't guarantee that this government office will belong to the Ministry of Works. It all depends on His Majesty."
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