The six words written by Ang Lee were quickly carved onto the wooden plaque by the carpenters and sent to Ang Lee for Ang Lee to personally inspect.
"Assistant Minister Li, we have completed the plaque according to your request. Please see if it is suitable."
The middle-aged carpenter gently waved his hand and asked the carpenters behind him to remove the red cloth covering the plaque, revealing the six words on the plaque.
"Anzhu City Railway Station. Good, very good. It is as good as what I wrote. You guys will have to work a little harder to carry this plaque to the construction site in the northwest."
Ang Lee praised and gave the order.
"Yes, this little one understands."
The middle-aged carpenter quickly nodded and waved his hand to ask the young carpenters to carry the plaque to the construction site in the northwest direction.
Ang Lee also led his subordinates to the construction site in the northwest direction.
The huge project of building the railway station was about to begin. Before the official construction, it was natural to have a groundbreaking ceremony to boost everyone's enthusiasm.
In fact, it was just a process of showing off. However, it often had a certain effect and could boost morale.
In the later generations, the Groundbreaking Ceremony would be held by some famous people. Each person would hold a shovel and bury the stone tablet with the words engraved on it into the ground. This process was very short. Most of the time was spent talking and showing off.
The groundbreaking ceremony that Li An was going to hold was similar to the groundbreaking ceremonies in the future. However, instead of a stone tablet, a wooden plaque would be used. The size of the plaque seemed to be a little lacking. This was also done in order to save time. If a stonemason was asked to find a large stone and carve it, it would definitely take a long time. However, there was wood everywhere, so they could use ready-made ones. As long as the ceremony was meaningful enough, it was fine.
Since it was a plaque, it was obviously not suitable to bury it in the ground. It had to be hung at a high place so that more people could see it.
For this reason, Ang Lee had already asked people to build a small wooden gatehouse on the site. In front of the small gatehouse was a temporary small platform that was only half a person's height. There was also a row of seats on it. The front of the seats was covered with brocade so that the audience outside could not see the lower half of the leader's body.
Ever since the big movement in the northwest direction, the crowd of onlookers had not stopped. Some merchants watched for a while and felt that there was nothing new and left. However, there would always be new merchants who would run over to watch the show. Even if there was no scenery, they would still enjoy watching it. It was as if they would lose a lot if they did not watch it.
In short, the construction site in the northwest could always maintain the scale of two to three hundred people. After a few people left, a few more people would come. Some people left and came back two hours later.
"Yi, we just left for less than two hours and such a big gatehouse has already been built."
"That's right! When I came here just now, there was nothing here. In the blink of an eye, the gatehouse and the high platform have been built. "
"Look, there is a row of tables and chairs with cups on them. What are they going to do?"
"It seems that there will be a big shot coming later. Otherwise, why would they prepare these teacups?"
"Yes, yes, yes. There will definitely be a big shot coming. Let's wait here. Anyway, the business is not very busy for the time being."
"Yes! The port has just begun to be built and the population is not much. As long as there are more facilities in the port in the future and the train station is open to traffic, business will be good. Moreover, it can be many times better, more than a hundred times better! "
"That's right. That's why we came here in advance to occupy the best seats and make a name for ourselves. In this way, we can make money without doing anything in the future."
"Anzhu Port is good at everything. The only regrettable thing is that all the houses are built and rented together. This has deprived us of a way to make money. The value of the land and houses here is not high now, but there will be a lot of room for appreciation in the future. If we can buy a batch of properties, we will definitely get hundreds or thousands of times more income in the future. However, this way of making money has been taken away by the imperial court of the Tang dynasty. After living for so long, I have never heard that the imperial court was in charge of building and renting houses."
"It doesn't matter! As long as we can make money, it's fine. The risk of renting a house is lower, and we can change places at any time. It's pretty good. "
The businessmen gathered together to discuss.
Soon, Ang Lee arrived at the scene and immediately caused a wave of cheers.
Ang Lee was very famous and had a lot of fans. The whole Tang dynasty and even overseas were full of Ang Lee's fans.
"You guys come up and stand in front."
Ang Lee looked at several carpenters and asked them to lift the plaque up to the high platform.
The scene was a little chaotic. An official asked the crowd to quiet down and first spoke. He described the Tang dynasty's imperial court's plan to build the Anzhu City Railway.
While the official was talking about the construction of the Anzhu City Railway, Ang Lee sat in a chair and gently sipped tea to relax his body and mind. He would have a chance to speak later.
"Next, let's invite Assistant Minister Li to speak."
The official of the Tang dynasty looked at Ang Lee and said.
At this time, only the audience gathered and did not leave. The crowd of onlookers expanded to the size of 500 people.
Ang Lee quickly stood up and waved to the onlookers to accept their cheers. Then, he said, "Everyone, today is a good day to lay the foundation of the Anzhu City Railway Station. The Anzhu City Railway Station is a project that the Tang Empire attaches great importance to. The Emperor of the Tang dynasty has personally ordered me to organize the construction as soon as possible. The railway station will be open to traffic in a year at most. At that time, the goods transported from Chang 'an City of the Tang dynasty will be able to directly reach Anzhu City! There will no longer be a need to transport goods by sea. The time will be greatly shortened, and the lives of merchants and common people will be greatly improved. In addition, Anzhu City will also be a port city with a good port. You should know very well what it means to combine the railway station and the port. In the future, Anzhu City will surpass all the other cities and become the largest city within a thousand miles. It won't be difficult for the population to exceed one million. "
These words were impassioned. Of course, they were all true. There was no exaggeration. Anzhu City's geographical location was too special. Its importance was irreplaceable by any port. This water and land transportation hub was bound to have a promising future.
After a short break, Ang Lee began a long speech. He analyzed the huge benefits that Anzhu City Railway Station would bring to Anzhu City from various angles.
The number of onlookers quickly increased to eight hundred people, and it was still increasing. Everyone was very excited after listening to Li An's passionate speech. They were even a little hyped.
Especially the merchants who came to do business. They were in the best mood. Listening to Ang Lee's blueprint, they seemed to see themselves making a fortune in the future. Money piled up like a mountain, and young women hugging them left and right. Just thinking about it made them feel very happy.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the plaque next to you was personally written by this official and engraved by the carpenters. Now, hang it on the gatehouse."
Ang Lee asked several carpenters and soldiers to hang the wooden plaque on the gatehouse.
This plaque not only told everyone that the Anzhu City Railway Station was being built here, but it also allowed people to admire Ang Lee's calligraphy. It could even be used as a scenic spot.
After hanging up the plaque, the groundbreaking ceremony was over. Li An left the scene with his subordinates, leaving only a few people to clean up the temporary high platform. They were going to dismantle it and move it away.
After the high platform, tables, and chairs were removed, most of the onlookers also dispersed, leaving only two or three hundred people who refused to leave.
Some of these people were really bored. Seeing that some people didn't leave, they didn't leave either. In any case, they had nothing important to do. There were also cultural people who understood calligraphy. They were attracted by Ang Lee's unique calligraphy level and were so engrossed in it that they forgot to leave.
"Look, Assistant Minister Li's handwriting is vigorous and lively. It has the habits of the Right Army!"
One of the merchants began to praise him.
"It's more than that. It's simply a work of God. It's smart and unrestrained. There's no second person in the world who can write such good handwriting."
Another merchant said.
"You guys are too good at bragging. These are just carpenters who carved it with a chisel. It should be said that the carpenters' skills are first-class."
A dabbler scholar said.
"What do you know? The carpenter is only copying. If it wasn't for Assistant Minister Li's handwriting, with the carpenter's skill, how could he carve such words?"
"That's right. If the words carved by the carpenters can be so vigorous and majestic, then Assistant Minister Li's calligraphy must be much better than what we saw."
"Yes! It's a pity that we can only see the words carved by the carpenters and can't see Assistant Minister Li's handwriting with our own eyes. It's a pity. "
A few of the merchants showed a regretful expression.
If Ang Lee was present, he would be happy to write a copy for each of them so that they could admire it and fulfill their wishes.
However, Ang Lee was also very busy now. After returning to his residence, he had been looking at the map. It was the recently modified map of Anzhu City, including the area dozens of miles outside the city.
The terrain could not have changed much, and the modification of the map added a lot of content. The original map was relatively empty, and many places were blank. It was impossible to tell that this was a port city.
Now that he looked at it again, the map was quite full. The city walls were marked on it, the lighthouse at the port was marked, and all the facilities under construction were marked.
The shape of the port was very much like a human ear. The train station was in the northwest, the government was in the middle inland, and the commercial street was in the middle near the sea. As for the residential area, it was mainly concentrated in the south, where the earlobe was.
The city walls were not completed yet, but because the location had been determined, it could be marked on the map. It was just that the dotted lines were used to indicate that it was not completed yet.
According to the current scale of construction, most of the parts in the map city were still blank. It would take a few years for it to be completed. Once the city was too small to accommodate more people, they could choose to build super-tall buildings or expand the city walls. These were all for later, and there was no need to consider them for the time being.
Most of the areas outside the city walls were forests and rivers, and there was also an area of wasteland. These wastelands naturally did not need to be marked, but all the workshops must be marked.
For example, the sand quarry not far from the port, the quarry workshop further away, and the brick kiln factory that was growing day by day must be marked on the map.
The collection of wood was the responsibility of the nearby villagers. The collection location was not fixed, so it could not be marked at all. However, the location of each village must be marked, and the location of all bridges must be marked.
"Sand, gravel, wood, bricks, these are all available. The only thing missing is cement and steel. Are there no lime mines and iron mines nearby?"
Ang Lee looked at the map and sighed. He was somewhat depressed. He sent out so many people, but they did not find any mineral veins after such a long time. Of course, he felt a little regretful.
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. I have asked people to expand the search area. I believe that we will find something."
His subordinate said.
Lime ore was a very important mineral. Not only could it be used to make cement, but lime itself was also a very important building material.
The effect of cement mortar was the best for building bricks, followed by lime mortar, and then clay mortar. In other words, even if you don't make cement, you can use lime mortar directly to build walls. The effect is also very good.
Lime had another very important function, and that was to paint the walls. Buildings were made of green bricks, so the walls of a house would be green. It would be very ugly when it was built, and the best solution was to smear lime on the walls of the house, so that the house would look bright and grand.
This was very important because if the walls inside the room were very dark, the whole room would be very dark, and it would be very uncomfortable to live inside. Therefore, it was best to make the walls brighter, and the only way to do so was to use lime materials.
The house that Ang Lee lived in when he was a child used lime mortar for the walls. The main materials were lime, sand, and silky materials like hair. Ang Lee was not sure what they were, but Ang Lee knew that they were used to prevent the walls from cracking.
Because the quality of ordinary brick houses was not very good, it was normal for the walls to have a small crack. As long as there was a crack in the wall, the lime mortar smeared on the wall would be pulled to a certain extent, and it was easy to crack. If there were cracks, the wall would not be beautiful enough.
Adding the hair-like materials would enhance the toughness of the lime mortar, so as to resist the stress caused by the cracking of the wall, and protect the wall from cracking.
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