"His Majesty has arrived!"
A sudden announcement jolted everyone awake. The construction of the Wei River Bridge had not only alarmed the Hundred Schools of Thought, but had also attracted the attention of the entire court. Even Li Shimin, who had been gloomy about the assassination attempt, was overjoyed to hear this good news and personally came to attend the opening ceremony.
"Greetings, Your Majesty!"
Li Yun, Meton, and the others immediately stepped forward and bowed.
"No need for formalities. Beloved Official Li has indeed lived up to Our trust. He has finally completed the Wei River Bridge in five years." Li Shimin looked at the majestic bridge in front of him and couldn't help but reveal a hint of shock.
"Li Chun's descendant truly lives up to his reputation. In the eyes of the Minister, Li Yun has already surpassed him," Zhang Liang chimed in from behind Li Shimin.
He was the Minister of Works, and the Wei River Bridge was the work of the Ministry of Works. Moreover, Li Shimin was also attending, so as the Minister of Works, he naturally couldn't be absent.
"Lord Zhang is too kind," Li Yun said modestly.
"It is. Li Chun's Zhaozhou Bridge is only ten-some zhang long, but Beloved Official Li's Wei River Bridge is probably one li long!" Li Shimin clicked his tongue.
"Replying to Your Majesty, thanks to the new bridge construction materials and the concept of suspension bridges, the Wei River Bridge spans more than two hundred zhang," Li Yun proudly said.
"Two hundred zhang!" Everyone immediately burst into an uproar.
One li was about five hundred meters in modern times, and two hundred zhang was six hundred meters. Just the extra length alone made it longer than the Zhaozhou Bridge. At this moment, Li Yun was the brightest star present. Even Mo Jiazi couldn't compare to him.
Li Yun continued, "In addition to its length, the Wei River Bridge also uses a two-way six-lane road and pedestrian walkways. Each lane can lead to three carriages side by side, and pedestrians can pass through. "
Li Shimin nodded slowly. Most of the ordinary bridges were one-way or side-by-side. It was enough for two carriages to pass through. However, the Wei River Bridge was the main artery in the north of Chang 'an City. There were countless vehicles coming and going, and a bridge that was too narrow could not meet the traffic demand. Six lanes in both directions seemed a bit wasteful at the moment, but in the long run, there would be no need to worry about the traffic in the north.
"More importantly, this bridge can bear a load of 30,000 kilograms per bicycle. The theoretical limit is 100,000 kilograms per bicycle. The lifespan of the bridge is theoretically 100 years. If it is regularly repaired and strengthened, it can last for more than 200 years," Li Yun said.
"Thirty thousand catties, a hundred years!" The Minister of Works couldn't help but click his tongue. Who would have thought that just hanging by a steel rope could reach such a high load and last for so many years?
It should be noted that the largest carriage produced by the Mo Family Village was only 2,500 kilograms. As for the lifespan of 100 years, even though the Zhaozhou Bridge in the future had been passed down for thousands of years, it would not be able to last for 100 years if carriages weighing thousands of kilograms were constantly used.
"Moreover, the bridge is ten meters above the highest water level of the Wei River, so it won't affect the navigation of the Wei River at all. Moreover, the Minister has built a wharf not far away to connect the Wei River Bridge with water and land transportation." Li Yun pointed to a newly built pier not far away. With both water and land transportation, the importance of the Wei River Bridge would definitely increase.
Water transportation was the most common means of transportation in the Tang dynasty, and the Wei River was responsible for the transportation of Chang 'an City. However, the Wei River was an inland river after all, so the boats were generally small. The bridge was ten meters above the water level, so it did not affect the water level at all.
"Ten meters above the water level? How can such heavy carriages get up there?" Li Shimin couldn't help but ask in surprise.
"Your Majesty, rest assured. In order to make it convenient for the carriages to get up and down, the Minister has specially built a flat road for nearly five miles from the bridge, which is enough for the carriages to pass through the bridge smoothly. Moreover, there are ramps on the side for the carriages to get up and down," Li Yun explained.
Li Shimin turned around and saw that across the bridge, a flat cement road was laid along the bridge for more than two miles. The next three miles was a red brick road, and the gentle slope of more than ten meters was cushioned by five miles of road. It was almost no different from a flat road and did not affect the slope at all.
"Using cement to pave the road!" The Minister of Works looked at the two miles of cement road and couldn't help but gasp.
Cement was expensive and rare, but Li Yun had actually used it to pave the road. However, there were also advantages to using cement to pave the road, and that was that it could be shaped at will. The entire road was also supported by the bridge piers and could be used for carriages coming down from the ramps.
"The ingenuity of this bridge's design is the best in the world." Li Shimin nodded and praised.
"Your Majesty is right. However, in the Minister's opinion, the Wei River Bridge won't be the best in the world for long. There are wider and longer bridges in the world waiting for Your Majesty to build," Zhang Liang said with a smile. He looked at Li Yun with a gentler gaze. Of course, it wasn't that he had to use Li Yun, but that there was probably no one else in the world who could build such a majestic bridge other than Li Yun.
"Your Majesty Zhang, you don't know the cost of daily necessities unless you're in charge! The Wei River Bridge was built using five years of Village Mo's taxes. That was a huge sum of nearly two hundred thousand strings of cash. If the Ministry of Works were to build a few more bridges like this, wouldn't it empty the national treasury? "The new Minister of Civil Affairs, Tang Jian, said with a wry smile.
The original Minister of Civil Affairs, Dai Zhou, was too old and had already resigned. The original Assistant Minister of Civil Affairs, Tang Jian, took over the position of Minister of Civil Affairs.
Meton couldn't help but sigh. It turned out that the old officials of the new generation were slowly getting old and had unknowingly retired. The various ministries in the court were slowly being replaced by new people.
"Two hundred thousand strings of cash!" Zhang Liang couldn't help but click his tongue. This sum of money was deducted from Village Mo's taxes, so he didn't think it was very expensive. However, if the Ministry of Works really had to fork out a few hundred thousand strings of cash to build the bridge, he immediately felt a little reluctant.
Meton stepped forward and said loudly, "Your Majesty Tang's words are biased. The bridge is an act that benefits the country and the people. It's worth it no matter how much money it costs. Moreover, the bridge is not always a loss. We can also use the bridge to pay for the bridge. Let's say that each carriage is charged ten coins, and three thousand carriages pass through every day, that's thirty strings of cash. That's ten thousand strings of cash a year, and we can earn back the cost in twenty years. However, this bridge can be used for hundreds of years.
Tang Jian's eyes flashed. The Wei River Bridge was the passage to the north of Chang 'an City. It was as prosperous as the Longhai Line. Five thousand carriages passing through every day was already a conservative estimate. Moreover, the charge of ten coins for a fully loaded carriage was very reasonable. What made Tang Jian even more excited was that the return of five times the cost of building the bridge was five times the cost of building the bridge. That was to say, the charge of one bridge was enough to build five more bridges, and the benefits generated by these five bridges could be used to build other bridges. In this way, the court only needed to invest in the early stage, and in the later stage, use the bridge to pay for the bridge. It could also build bridges on all the rivers in the world, making the world unimpeded. Not to mention the invisible benefits to the economy of the Tang dynasty.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
