The planning of the port was personally designed by Ang Lee. Every step was strictly carried out according to Ang Lee's will. If there was a lack of materials, his subordinates would report to him in a timely manner and predict the various needs that would follow.
Among the more than 10,000 soldiers of the Tang dynasty, there were more than 1,000 construction troops and all kinds of craftsmen. Although some of them were left behind along the way, they also recruited many new people along the way, so the total number of people did not decrease. Therefore, every time they arrived at a new place, they could launch construction activities in a timely manner.
After solving the housing problem of the more than 10,000 soldiers, these construction troops began to build the lighthouse and port facilities according to Ang Lee's requirements.
The requirements for the lighthouse were relatively high. The demand for construction materials was very high, whether it was cement, sand, crushed stones, or steel bars. If there were not enough materials, the construction of the lighthouse would be delayed.
Because the speed of the early construction was not fast, the construction materials needed were only cement and steel bars, while the sand and crushed stones were produced by the craftsmen nearby. Sand could be produced directly in places where the river was relatively slow. The production of crushed stones was even simpler. It was not difficult to break the big stones.
However, after the manpower was dispersed, there were very few people in charge of the construction of the lighthouse. The serious shortage of craftsmen would inevitably delay the progress of the port construction.
But so what? The construction progress could not be accelerated by more people. If there were not enough raw materials, the construction would stop.
The construction of the later generations stopped because of the lack of funds. In the end, the construction became unfinished buildings because the construction materials could be bought anywhere. As long as you had money, you could definitely buy the materials.
However, the current situation was very different. The materials could not be bought with money because there were no materials at all. For example, the most high-tech steel bars could not be bought locally. The local houses did not need crushed stones, so crushed stones could not be bought. Under the premise of not being able to buy the construction materials, the construction craftsmen could only produce the construction materials themselves.
Because the process of producing sand and crushed stones was too simple, Ang Lee planned to let the nearby villagers produce the materials and sell them to the Tang dynasty. In this way, the shortage of manpower could be solved.
As for the steel bars and cement, for the time being, they could only hope to be transported thousands of miles away. There was no better way.
When Ang Lee expressed his idea, his subordinates were naturally very supportive and thought it was a very good idea.
"Assistant Minister Li, other materials are easy to deal with, but the demand for steel bars and cement is too high, and the prices of these two materials are the highest. If most of the four or five-story buildings use these two materials, the cost will be too high. Moreover, it will be difficult to supply them. Shouldn't we reduce the use of steel bars and cement as much as possible?"
Wang's subordinates pointed out the difficulties.
Li An also understood this. In this era where steel production was quite low, the cost of large-scale use of steel bars was very high. However, if one wanted to build a strong building, it was obviously impossible to do without such materials. Steel bars were the skeleton of a building. Without bones, how could a building be strong?
However, the shortage of steel materials was indeed a big problem. If they really couldn't supply them, they had to reduce the use of steel materials. As long as the building was not too high, they could use less steel bars in a building. For example, a few steel bars must be placed on the floor of a building. A few steel bars must be added to the main bearing points to increase the strength of the building and prevent it from collapsing.
The reason why wooden buildings could be built with many floors was that the material of wooden buildings was relatively light. The upper floor was not easy to crush the lower floor. The flexibility of wooden materials was also very good. Therefore, many floors could be built without a problem.
Concrete building materials were very cumbersome and far less flexible than wood. If steel bars were not added, the tragedy of the building's collapse was likely to occur.
However, living people could not be suffocated by urine. They could find ways to deal with the lack of materials.
"Brick and wood structure, we can use brick and wood structure. In this way, there won't be too big of a problem. It can also solve the problem of insufficient steel bars."
Ang Lee said happily.
The so-called brick and wood structure was the large tile-roofed house before the emergence of commercial housing in later generations. However, it was a multi-story tile-roofed house.
The tile-roofed house was built with bricks. The walls were bricks. The doors and windows were wood. The roof was wood, reed poles, and tiles. The main body of the building did not have any steel bars. Such a building could also be used for many years. Even without cement, the walls could be built directly with yellow mud. Of course, if cement was used, the building would be stronger. Using yellow mud would reduce the building's lifespan.
Although most of the tile-roofed houses were single-story, it was possible to build two or three stories. For example, the foundation could be made firmer, cement bricks could be used, and wood could be used for the floor between the two stories. The area of each room should be as small as possible. As long as the design was like this, the collapse of the house could be completely avoided.
The difference between this kind of brick and wood hybrid building and an all-wood house was that the planks supporting the walls were replaced with brick materials. The firmness and fireproofing would be greatly enhanced. It was a very good building.
Using this kind of building, there was no need for steel bars. The need for cement was also very small. Concrete could be used or not. The only things that were in great demand were bricks and wood.
There were enough trees around the harbor. The problem of wood was not difficult to solve. They just had to spend money to buy it. The problem of bricks and tiles was also not difficult to solve. As long as there was soil, there was no need to worry about not being able to make bricks.
When his subordinates were inspecting the surrounding area, they had already found a nearby location that was very suitable for building a brickyard. The construction had already begun.
The materials needed to build bricks were relatively simple. The main material was soil. Soil with a certain viscosity was better. If the soil had no viscosity, it would be difficult for the bricks to form the shape, and they would not be bricks.
In addition to the raw materials such as soil, fuel was also needed. The cheapest material was wood. The high temperature generated by burning the wood would burn the soil into hard bricks.
The amount of soil was massive. There was no need to worry about the lack of raw materials. Fuel was also not a problem. Now the villagers in the village had begun to cut down trees and sell them to the Tang dynasty. The trunk of the trees could be used to build buildings and make furniture, but the branches of the trees could be used as fuel. It was the most suitable thing to transport to the brickyard.
Because bricks were very heavy building materials, it was reasonable to place them near the harbor. It was understandable if they were a little further away. If they were too far away, it would be more troublesome. Transportation would also be a big problem.
Therefore, the location of the brickyard chosen by his subordinates was relatively close to the harbor. This place was even within the planned harbor city. In other words, as long as the city wall was built, the location of the brickyard would be within the city.
Ang Lee quickly finished drawing the brick and wood structure of the building and handed it to his subordinates. He asked them to study it and prepare to build as many brick and wood structures as possible in the early stage to reduce the need for steel bars.
After studying it, his subordinates all felt that Ang Lee's plan was very possible. They fully expressed their support.
The Tang dynasty had a large number of soldiers and horses. All the important positions were guarded by soldiers and horses. Therefore, they would not stop construction just because the remaining pirates had not been dealt with. On the contrary, they would carry out large-scale construction. At the same time, they would eliminate all the remaining pirates in one fell swoop.
After a night, Ang Lee got up early in the morning. After breakfast, he hurriedly set off. He originally planned to go to the nearby village in the afternoon to see if the villagers had finished building all the arrow towers. This plan would not change. Therefore, he had to take a look at the brickyard in the morning.
As usual, Ang Lee rode to the brickyard six miles away with 50 guards.
Now the brickyard had started to produce bricks. Therefore, he could see the chimney emitting black smoke from a long distance away. Because the scale of the brick production was a little large, the kiln was also relatively large. However, no matter how large the kiln was, it generally only needed a chimney. After all, it was not easy to build a chimney. Having one was enough.
After getting closer, he could see a large number of mud billets placed around the brickyard. These mud billets were all being dried. Only after they were dried could they be fired in the kiln.
Some craftsmen were mixing mud and pressing the mud into the wooden molds. After they were slightly dried and shaped, they could be taken out and placed outside to dry.
At present, there were not many craftsmen in the brickyard. There were only more than 100 craftsmen. In addition, there were more than 100 soldiers in charge of protecting them to prevent the crazy pirates from raiding here.
Because the terrain was not very flat, the brickyard did not have walls or wooden fences. There were only arrow towers in several directions. Each arrow tower could accommodate five or six archers. Inside the brickyard, there were also soldiers patrolling day and night to ensure the absolute control of the brickyard.
Ang Lee glanced at the surrounding arrow towers. He felt that the security measures were in place. As long as there were several arrow towers as support, even hundreds of pirates could not defeat the Tang dynasty's army. Moreover, there were very few pirates left. Under the suppression of the Tang dynasty, they could not gather so many troops.
There was a small river next to the brickyard. The width of the river was only two or three meters. The flow of the river was not large, but it was enough to supply the brickyard.
Water was needed for mixing mud. Water was also needed for craftsmen to wash clothes and cook. After the bricks were fired, because the temperature was too high, water was needed to cool them down. Therefore, the brickyard must be close to the water source. It was necessary to be next to the river.
The reason why the bricks were watered with cold water was to improve the efficiency of firing bricks. Just imagine, the bricks that were just fired had a temperature of hundreds or thousands of degrees. The craftsmen could not get close to them at all. They had to wait for a long time for the bricks to cool down. After that, the craftsmen could work hard to move the bricks out and then enter the next round of firing.
This cooling process was very long. In a closed brickyard, it was difficult for the high-temperature bricks to dissipate heat. If cold water was poured from the top, the cooling speed could be greatly increased. In this way, the next cycle could be quickly entered, and the firing speed of the bricks could be greatly improved.
Of course, there was also a loss of energy. The cold water cooled the entire brickyard. In the next round of firing, the temperature had to be raised little by little.
After the development of science and technology in the future, in order to avoid the waste of heat and to save water, the method of natural cooling was used, but the premise was that there was the help of advanced machinery.
It was a forklift that could directly transport a large number of hot bricks without manual contact. Then, the finished rough mud bricks were put into the brickyard for the second round of firing.
This could greatly increase the output and maximize the utilization of the brickyard. At the same time, it could also save energy and reduce the use of firewood. It did not use water at all.
However, there was no forklift in the brickyard at the moment. The bricks still needed to be moved in and out by manpower, so they had to be cooled with cold water.
The bricks that were cooled with cold water were cyan, also known as green bricks. The bricks that were cooled by natural cooling were red, also known as red bricks.
Now, this brickyard could only use the method of cooling with water, so it could only produce green bricks.
The mud bricks piled outside were arranged in a square according to the rules. Each pile was no more and no less. There were exactly five hundred and twelve mud bricks.
The bricks in the future were all arranged in this way. This kind of small brick was very convenient to use. It was much more practical than the big bricks made before the Tang dynasty. Therefore, Ang Lee decided to use this kind of small brick.
"This is the first trial firing. How long will it take to get out of the kiln?"
Seeing that there were no green bricks outside, Ang Lee naturally knew that this was the first time the brickyard fired bricks.
"Assistant Minister Li, you still have to wait for nearly an hour."
The brickyard manager replied.
At this time, Ang Lee could still afford to wait. He nodded and said, "You continue to work. The demand for bricks in the port is very high. You have to speed up the firing. Don't delay the construction of the port."
"Yes, I understand."
Ang Lee glanced over. There were at least a hundred square meters of mud bricks piled up on the open space. However, all of them could be fired in two trials.
The most physically exhausting part of brick-making was not the firing process, but the process of making and transporting the bricks. The square blocks of mud bricks needed to be transported to the cart one by one. After they were transported into the brickyard, they had to be unloaded and neatly stacked in the designated place. After they were fired, they had to be transported out by the cart one by one and neatly stacked in the open space outside.
In short, the process of transporting bricks was very tiring. It consumed a lot of people's physical strength. Those who were not in good health would not be able to bear it. Therefore, the young men in the brickyard were very strong. Even if they were thin and weak, they would soon become very strong after working in the brickyard.
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