The day after the food stamps were issued, Ma Cheng's fleet returned.
They have been developing in Jiangbei recently, and this time they came back to collect supplies for ten months.
Ma Cheng mentioned a trip to Jiangning before, but recently he has been doing preliminary development work on the Jiangbei stronghold and Jiangzhou Island.
The trip to Jiangning will not be possible until the end of August.
"Food stamps? Did the prince come up with this thing?"
"Not bad! It's very convenient. It's much more convenient than getting food directly."
Ma Cheng looked at the flashy food stamps and praised them.
"Look, there are still people with good vision!" Song Yang looked at Fang Zhe and smiled.
Fang Zhe curled his lips, "Yes! You are the prince and you are right!"
Ma Cheng's fleet is loading the ships. After he finishes loading, he will go back in the afternoon.
Yu Ming is still supervising the work in Jiangbei, and Ma Cheng also has to travel between Jiangzhou Island and Jiangbei.
"It's been more than half a month. How is the progress of the project?"
While waiting for shipment, Song Yang asked about the construction of the Longgan Lake stronghold in Jiangbei and the dredging of the Longgan Lake water channel.
Ma Cheng shook his head with a grimace and said:
"Your Majesty, there has been too much rain recently, so the progress is really slow."
Since August, it has rained more and more, and it rains almost every other day.
It rained heavily last night, causing the water flow to increase, and a section of the previously repaired embankment even broke.
The water channel of Longgan Lake has been dredged and embankments are being built along the water channel.
However, heavy rains caused the embankment construction work to be very slow.
The main reason is that there is no stone collection area near Longgan Lake, and the stones for building the river embankment have to be transported by water from the south of the Yangtze River.
"All the empty cannons should be used for marble construction. Don't let them sit idle. Finish the repairs as soon as possible and there will be other things to arrange for them." Song Yang thought for a while and suggested.
Ma Cheng shook his head and said: "Your Majesty, the stone supply can barely keep up. It's just that the rain is too heavy now, the moisture in the Sanhe soil is too great, and the gravel is not easy to fix."
The common method of building river embankments in Daqian is to mix soil, sand and stone.
There was too much rain today, making it difficult for the Sanhe soil to dry.
"Your Majesty, Xiaguan and Master Yu want them to postpone the embankment construction and build the Longgan Lake camp first."
"When the rain subsides, we will consider reinforcing the dams along the waterways."
Song Yang thought for a moment and said, "That's okay. You and Yu Ming can just watch this matter."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"The progress at the camp is pretty good. Most of the adobe houses have been built, but because of the heavy rain and slow drying, we haven't moved them in yet."
"In addition, wooden fences and some simple fortifications have been built around the camp."
Ma Cheng introduced the situation of the Longgan Lake stronghold.
After talking about Jiangbei, we talked about Jiangzhou Island. After half a month of preliminary development, the four villages in the east, west, south and north have settled down.
The pier on the island has also been repaired, and there is no problem in docking warships and ships.
"Very good. You did a good job."
After listening to the report, Song Yang praised Ma Cheng and Yu Ming.
Ma Cheng said hurriedly: "These are all matters within the scope of official duties."
In the afternoon, after loading the supplies, Ma Cheng immediately took the supplies and said goodbye to Song Yang and headed to Jiangbei.
As soon as Ma Cheng left, Song Yang said to Fang Zhe: "Prepare ten workers for me."
"What did the prince think of?" Fang Zhe asked curiously.
Every time Song Yang says this, it proves that he is going to come up with something new.
"Didn't Ma Cheng just say that there have been heavy rains recently, making it difficult to build the dam?"
"I suddenly thought of a material that can be used even in rainy days."
Song Yang thought of cement. In fact, he had wanted to take out the cement for a long time.
However, if the current mud house does not delay the habitation of people, there is no need to rush out the cement.
It wasn't until Ma Cheng's complaint just now that Song Yang had the idea of making cement.
In addition to the embankments of the Longgan Lake waterway, cement can also be used in the Jiangbei stronghold.
The area of the Jiangbei stronghold is not large, so it would be appropriate to use concrete to repair it.
Thinking of doing it, Fang Zhe found ten Minzhuangs to come over in minutes.
Song Yang led ten people to an open space on the Jinghu Lake side.
First, let the villagers build a kiln and build several temporary work sheds.
This is how the first cement factory in Daqian was born.
The reason why I chose this place is because the Jinghu Hydraulic Workshop is right next to it.
You can borrow some hydraulic machinery.
There is news from the south that because the load of the hydraulic workshop is too large, Fang Zhe has asked someone to build a new hydraulic workshop at Jinghu Lake. A new water tanker was put into use just a few days ago.
"Pang Qiu, go check and see if Fang Zhe's side has prepared all the dismantling materials."
"You guys set up the kiln first and try to start baking it today."
Song Yang's command is a strong work of the people.
Pang Qiu, the captain of the ten-man team, was appointed as the first director of the cement factory...
"Uncle Wang, what are you doing?"
The work shed and kiln were set up and while the kiln was drying, Song Chengwang came.
This place is not far from the refugee camp, and the black smoke from the kiln attracted Song Chengwang.
"Make cement."
"What is cement?"
"A new building material that can be used in many ways in the future."
"My nephew, can I take a look?"
"certainly."
After arriving in Jiangzhou Fucheng, especially after entering the school, Song Chengwang's thirst for knowledge became higher and higher.
Professor Song Yang's nature class opened up a new world before Song Chengwang's eyes.
"Pangqiu, bring the stone here and break it into small pieces first."
"This won't work. It's too big, so keep knocking."
"It must be at least five centimeters or less. Well, it's that big."
Song Yang gestured and directed the people to work.
Song Chengwang watched with great interest, and he even took action himself, using a hammer to pound the limestone.
It won't be finished until after dusk.
After having some dinner, Song Yang and his people worked overtime again.
He is impatient and wants to burn the cement today.
Of course, this is impossible because the kiln is not ready yet.
"Bang bang bang!"
Here in the cement shed, there are constant knocking sounds.
I finished pounding limestone in the afternoon, and now I'm starting to pound clay, iron slag and coal.
There is clay not far south of Jiangzhou, so you can dig it wherever you like.
Dig it back, burn it dry and then pound it into powder.
The iron slag is leftover from the blacksmith's workshop. Some iron slag that is not easy to smelt is piled together, and it is just in use this time.
Coal is the hardest thing to find. Song Yang asked Fang Zhe to look for it in the afternoon, but he couldn't find it after a long time of effort.
Finally, Pei Lin said that he found some coal in a house in the ruins of the city.
In this era, because the sulfur content in coal is too high, it will produce a large amount of toxic sulfur dioxide after burning, so it is not used as the main household fuel.
Fortunately, the quantity Song Yang wanted to ask for was not large, and the ones found in the city were enough for him.
I kept knocking until the second quarter of the day, and finally all the materials were almost beaten.
Although Song Yang is still very dissatisfied with the current size of raw material particles, without the support of machines, he can only reach the current state.
Finally, mix the various materials in the proportion of 75% lime, 15% clay, 1% iron slag, and 9% coal.
When the raw material is mixed evenly, it is done.
I found a dry place to store the raw material, and when the kiln is finished baking it tomorrow, I can calcine the raw material.