The planning of the port was designed by Ang Lee himself, and every step was carried out in strict accordance with Ang Lee's will.

Among the more than 10,000 soldiers and horses of Datang, it has brought more than 1,000 construction troops, all kinds of craftsmen, along the way, although some have been left along the way, however, many new people have been recruited along the way, and the total number has not decreased, so every time a new place arrives, construction activities can be launched in a timely manner.

After solving the housing problem of more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, the more than 1,000 construction workers began to give priority to the construction of lighthouses and berth facilities in the port in accordance with Li An's requirements.

The requirements for lighthouses are relatively high, and the demand for building materials is very large, whether it is cement, sand, crushed stone, or steel bar.

Because the speed of the early construction is not fast, the required building materials, in addition to the cement and steel bars are brought, the sand and crushed stone are produced by the craftsmen themselves in the vicinity, and the sand can be produced directly in the slower part of the river, and the production of crushed stone is simpler, just break the big stones, there is not much difficulty.

However, after such a dispersion, there were very few people responsible for the construction of the lighthouse, and the serious shortage of craftsmen would inevitably delay the progress of the port construction.

But despite this, construction is not something that can be accelerated by a large number of people, and if there are not enough raw materials, construction will be stopped.

In later generations, construction stopped, all because of funds, which eventually led to the building becoming unfinished, because building materials can be bought everywhere, and as long as there is money, materials will definitely be bought.

But now the situation is very different, not money can buy materials, because there are no materials at all, such as the most technical steel materials, it is impossible to buy in the local area, and local construction houses do not need to break stones, therefore, broken stones can not be bought, under the premise of not buying building materials, you can only let the construction craftsmen produce building materials themselves.

Because the process of producing sand and crushed stone is too simple, Li Ang plans to let nearby villagers do it for him, let these villagers produce nearby, and then sell it to Datang, so as to solve the problem of lack of manpower.

As for the steel materials and cement, for the time being, we can only hope that they will be transported from thousands of miles away, and there is no better way.

When Ang Lee said his thoughts, his subordinates were naturally very supportive, and they all thought it was a very good idea.

"Li Shilang, everything else is easy to say, that is, the demand for steel and cement is too great, and the price of these two is the highest, if most of the four- and five-story buildings use these two materials, the cost of money is too high, and it is difficult to supply, should we use steel and cement as little as possible?"

The subordinate opened his mouth to point out the difficulty.

Ang Lee also understands this truth, in this era of sluggish steel production, the cost of large-scale use of steel bars is very high, but if you want to build a solid building, it is obviously not possible to do without this material, steel is the skeleton of the building, if there are no bones, how can the building be very strong?

However, the problem of lack of steel materials, is indeed a big trouble, if it is really not available, then it has to take less steel materials, as long as the building is not too high, in a building, less use of steel bars, such as the floor of the building is sure to put a few, the main bearing point should also add a few, in order to increase the strength of the building, to prevent the collapse of the building.

The reason why wooden buildings can be built with many floors is because the materials of wooden buildings are relatively light, the upper floors are not easy to crush the lower floors, and the flexibility of wooden materials is also very good, so there is no problem in building many floors.

Concrete is a bulky and no-bust building material that is far less flexible than wood, and if steel is not added to it, there is a high risk of a house collapsing.

However, the big living people can't be suffocated by urine, and they can't find a way to deal with the lack of materials.

"Brick and wood structure, you can use brick and wood structure, so that there will not be too many problems, and it can also solve the problem of insufficient reinforcement."

Li An said happily.

The so-called brick and wood structure is a large tiled house before the appearance of commercial housing in later generations, but it is a multi-storey tiled house.

The tile house is made of bricks, the walls are bricks, the doors and windows are made of wood, the roof is wood, the reed poles, and the tiles, the main body of the building does not have the slightest steel material, such a building can also be used for many years, and even, you can also use the yellow mud to build the wall directly, of course, with cement, the building will be stronger, and the yellow mud will reduce the life of the building.

Although the tiled houses are mostly single-storey, it is also possible to build two or three floors, such as laying the foundation more firmly, using cement bricks, using wood for the floor between the two floors, and making the area of each room as small as possible.

The difference between this brick and wood mixed building and an all-wood house is that the wooden planks that support the walls are replaced with brick and stone materials, which will greatly enhance the solidity and fire resistance, and it is a very excellent building.

With this kind of building, there is no need for steel bars, and the demand for cement is very small, concrete can be wanted or not, and the only demand is brick and wood.

There are enough trees around the harbor that the problem of timber is not difficult to solve, just spend money to buy it, and the problem of bricks and tiles is not difficult to solve, as long as there is soil, I am afraid that I will not be able to make bricks.

When the subordinates were inspecting the surroundings, they had already discovered a nearby location that was suitable for building a brick factory, and had already begun to build it.

To build bricks, the materials needed are relatively simple, mainly soil, soil with a certain viscosity is better, if there is no viscosity, it is difficult for the bricks to form shapes, and it is not bricks.

In addition to the raw material of soil, fuel is also needed, and the cheapest is wood, which is burned to produce high temperatures and burn these soils into hard bricks.

Now the villagers of the village have begun to cut down trees and sell them to Datang, the trunk of the tree can be used to build buildings, used to make furniture, but the side branches of the tree can be used as fuel, and it is the most suitable thing to transport to the brick factory.

Because bricks are a very heavy building material, as long as they are placed close to the harbor, it is understandable, if it is too far, it will be more troublesome, and transportation will be a big problem.

Therefore, the brick factory selected by the subordinates is a place that is relatively close to the port, and even this place is in the interior of the planned harbor city, that is, as long as the city wall is built, the location of this brick factory is in the city.

Li An quickly drew the brick and wood structure of the building, and handed it to his subordinates, asking them to study it, and prepare to build as many brick and wood houses as possible in the early stage to reduce the need for steel materials.

After the subordinates studied it, they all felt that Ang Lee's plan was very possible, and fully expressed their support.

There are many soldiers and horses in the Tang Dynasty, and all important positions are guarded by soldiers and horses, so they will not not not engage in construction because the remnants of the pirates have not been solved, on the contrary, they will also engage in large-scale construction, and at the same time carry out large-scale construction, all the remnants of the pirates will be killed in one fell swoop.

After a night, Li An got up early in the morning, and after breakfast, he set off in a hurry, he originally planned to go to the nearby village in the afternoon to see if the villagers had completed the construction of the arrow tower, this plan would not change, so he had to use the morning to go to the brick factory to see.

Still leading fifty guards, Li An rode to the brick factory six miles away.

Now the brick factory has begun to produce bricks, so you can see the chimney emitting black smoke from a long distance, because the scale of manufacturing bricks is somewhat large, so the scale of the kiln factory is also relatively large, but no matter how large the brick kiln is, it generally only needs the chimney, after all, it is not easy to build a chimney, and one is enough.

When you get closer, you can see a large number of mud bricks around the brick factory, which are all mud that is being dried, and only after drying can they be transported into the brick kiln for firing.

There are also craftsmen who mix the mud and press the mud into the finished wooden mold, and after it has dried and set the shape a little, it can be taken out and left outside to dry.

The brickyard currently has a small number of craftsmen, just over a hundred people, and more than a hundred soldiers who are responsible for protecting them from the remnants of the frenzied pirates.

Because the terrain was not very flat, the brickyard did not have a courtyard wall, not even a wooden fence, but erected arrow towers in several directions, each of which could accommodate five or six archers, and there were soldiers patrolling the brickyard day and night to ensure absolute control over the brickyard.

Li An glanced at the surrounding arrow towers, and felt that the security and defense measures were still in place, as long as there were these arrow towers as support, even a few hundred pirate soldiers and horses could not defeat the Tang Dynasty soldiers and horses, besides, the pirate remnants were very few, and under the suppression of the Tang Dynasty, they could not gather so many troops.

There is a small river next to the brick factory, the width of the river is only two or three meters, and the flow of the river is not large, but it is enough to supply the brick factory.

After the bricks are fired, because the temperature is too high, they need to be cooled with water, and they still need water, so the brick factory must be close to the water resources, and it is necessary to be next to the river.

The reason why the fired bricks are watered with cold water is to improve the efficiency of firing bricks, just imagine, the bricks that have just been fired have hundreds of thousands of degrees of high temperature, and the craftsman cannot get close at all, and it takes a long time to cool, after which the craftsman can work hard to move these bricks out, and then enter the next round of firing.

This cooling process is very long, in the closed brick kiln, the high temperature bricks are difficult to dissipate heat, and if cold water is used to pour from the top, the cooling speed can be greatly increased, so that you can quickly enter the next cycle, and the speed of firing bricks can be greatly improved.

Of course, there will also be energy loss, cold water cools the entire brick kiln, and the next round of firing, the temperature will be increased little by little.

After the development of science and technology in later generations, in order to avoid the waste of heat and save water resources, the method of natural cooling was adopted, but the premise was that there was advanced machinery to help.

That is, a kind of forklift, which can directly transport a large number of hot bricks without manual contact, and then put the finished rough mud bricks into the brick kiln for the second round of firing.

This can greatly increase the output and maximize the utilization rate of the brick kiln, and at the same time, it can also save energy, reduce the use of firewood, and completely do not use water resources.

However, there are no forklifts in the current brick kilns, and the bricks still need to be moved in and out by manpower, so they must be cooled with cold water.

Bricks that have been cooled with cold water are cyan and are also known as green bricks, while bricks that have been cooled naturally are red and are known as red bricks.

At present, this brick factory can only use water cooling, so it can only produce green bricks.

The mud bricks stacked outside are arranged into cubes according to the rules, and each pile is no more and no less, exactly five hundred and twelve mud bricks.

The bricks of later generations are placed like this, and this kind of small brick is very convenient to use, and it is much more practical than the large bricks made by Datang before, so Li Ang decided to use this kind of small brick.

"This is the first test firing, how long will it take to get out of the kiln?"

Li An saw that there were no green bricks outside, so he naturally knew that this was the first time that the brick factory had fired bricks.

"Li Shilang, I still need to wait for nearly half an hour."

The head of the brick factory replied.

At this time, Li An could still afford to wait, nodded, and said: "You continue to work, the port has a great demand for bricks, you must step up firing, don't delay the construction of the port." ”

"Yes, familiar."

Li An looked over and saw that there were at least a hundred more than 100 mud bricks piled up in the open space, but they could all be fired in two times.

The most physically demanding part of brick-making, is not the process of firing, but the process of manufacturing mud bricks and transportation, the clay bricks on that side need to be transported to the trolley one by one, transported into the brick kiln, and then unloaded neatly and placed in the designated position, after the firing is completed, it is also transported out by a trolley piece by piece, and stacked neatly in the open space outside.

In short, the process of carrying is very tiring, the physical consumption of people is great, and people with poor health can not bear it anyway, so the young men in the brick factory are very strong, even if they are thinner, they will soon become very strong when they go to work in the brick kiln factory.

After climbing the arrow tower, you can see the whole brick factory more clearly, and you can monitor a large area around it, as long as outsiders break in, it can be found several miles away.