May, Xianyang.

At noon, the sun is shining brightly and it is the hottest time of the day.

Groups of teenagers, boys and girls stripped naked to play in the river or catch fish and shrimp, and sailboats and fishing boats shuttled back and forth on the river, and countless shirtless and dark-skinned fishermen and boatmen were paddling and rocking.

"Hey~hey~"

The riverbank wharf outside the south gate of the city is equally busy, with hundreds of black, thin men and convicts braving the scorching sun to transport huge logs and cement masonry, and the forbidden army with long leather whips patrolling back and forth.

Although the heat is almost breathless, there are still many officials and craftsmen of the Ministry of Industry and the Academy of Sciences wearing hats and official robes, holding various drawings and tools in their hands, measuring and directing back and forth, assembling the gantry crane on the wharf that has been built, one of which has been successfully installed, and the hoisting test of the goods is underway.

"Left ~ Left ~ Two feet to the left, okay, slowly put ......"

Although he was wearing a hat, Zhang Cang was already soaked in his official robe, and his sweat was rolling down, and he almost didn't have time to wipe it, and at this time he was directing a group of craftsmen to push the gantry crane to move back and forth, left and right, and hoisted a huge wooden cabinet on a cargo ship.

Chen Xu's book launched an unprecedented smooth road plan, involving many large and small projects, and whether it is the port terminal of the river, lake and sea, it is ultimately necessary to install a new equipment, that is, the gantry crane, one is to speed up the loading and unloading of goods, but also to achieve a more orderly, all merchant ships need to enter and exit the port in order, according to the dispatch docked at different wharves for loading and unloading, so that the old-fashioned loading and unloading methods can be abandoned.

In the past, merchant ships were going to arrive at the river port, almost at the seam to dock for loading and unloading, dozens of hundreds of people waiting at the wharf to make a living from anti-cargo would rush up, and then through a simple gangplank and gangway began to carry goods up and down, so that there would be frequent accidents under the disorder, either ships collided with each other or people and goods fell into the water because of crowding, if the water flow was stable in autumn and winter, it was good, if the river water rose sharply in spring and summer, the waves and floods would soon be swept away by the river.

In order to support the construction of the new port terminal, Chen Xu gave a lecture at the Academy of Sciences, which specifically talked about the scheduling operation of the terminal in later generations and the concept of gantry cranes and containers that can move back and forth, left and right.

At present, Daqin already has qualified steel and mature bearing pulleys, iron shaft gears and other production processes, the production of this kind of height is not more than ten meters, width is not seven or eight meters of gantry crane is not too difficult, and are used giant wood as the main beam, now Daqin is not lacking is the tree, two thousand years later, the Loess Plateau is now full of lush primeval forests, the diameter of one meter at breast height is not big, the diameter of the two feet of the tree in later generations is not a small tree that can not be used at the moment, and Shaofu also has regulations, Trees with a diameter at breast height of less than one foot or a height of less than five zhang are not allowed to be cut down without special needs, and they should be kept to grow into timber.

In order to renovate and build countless palaces inside and outside Xianyang, on both sides of the Wei River, and even in Yongcheng, Shaofu has arranged for convicts to cut down large trees in the upper reaches of large and small rivers in the Weishui Basin, and then drift down the river to the timber factory near Xianyang, where they are peeled and dried and then piled up for storage, and tens of thousands of trees are harvested every year.

The diameter of these giant trees is three feet five feet commonplace, and the length of eight feet and ten feet is the minimum requirement, but after the steel and cement in the past few years, the amount of wood used for renovation and new repair of the palace has decreased a lot, and even this year, all the palace construction has completely stopped, and the giant trees stacked by several large timber factories along the Wei River are as magnificent as a hill, so the Academy of Sciences has ample options for building docks, using the thickest and straightest giant trees that were used to make the main beams of the palace, and they are all wood that has long been dry. It is enough to ensure the sturdiness and safety of the gantry crane.

As for the container, it is even simpler, it is just a standard wooden cabinet with a length, width and height according to the loading capacity of today's large cargo ships.

These wooden cabinets because of the production requirements of unity, so can be used throughout the country, and in order to save and convenient, in the future will be in accordance with the regional preparation of several container companies to operate, of course, everything is still in preparation, at present several containers stacked on the dock are just made for verification of gantry crane loading and unloading lifting test, all kinds of data need to be further adjusted, and after everything is tested, there will be a national bidding and promotion of the Ministry of Industry.

In Chen Xu's view, it was easier for Great Qin to quickly promote the development of science and technology than any feudal dynasty in later generations.

One is the foundation of magic governance, the Qin Dynasty in all later dynasties, the law is the strictest, from the people's clothing, food, housing and transportation to all walks of life have clear laws and regulations, and the people of Daqin have gradually adapted to the constraints of this kind of law, because those who do not want to be restrained have been rubbed by Qin Dada.

Second, the theory of a hundred schools of thought is very prosperous, and schools of thought that have a profound influence on the people, such as Confucianism, Taoism, and Mo, have their own audiences and the right to speak, and Confucianism, which emphasizes the rule of man and the rule of virtue, does not have the upper hand, so the resistance to the promotion of science is very small.

The third is that Daqin's attention to craftsmen far exceeds that of any dynasty, as long as there is a skill, people can be recognized by the imperial court, and those who are compiled as workers can get a stable life guarantee by family inheritance, and even innovative inventions are rewarded.

There is also one of the most important and major factors is that after the unification of Daqin, the unification of weights and measures is strictly implemented, and there are strict regulations on all kinds of utensils in the world, whether it is civilian or military instruments, knives or even axes and firewood knives, the Ministry of Industry has issued strict regulations, craftsmen can not build indiscriminately, under this strict law, it is very easy to unify the size and style of a thing in Daqin.

Because Qin Dada's favorite thing is reunification.

Everything that is not conducive to the development and stability of Great Qin, he wants to unify it.

Therefore, in the eyes of a group of officials and craftsmen of the Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Industry, the container proposed by Chen Xu is definitely the most whimsical and convenient and practical transportation method.

To transport a container from Lingnan to Liaodong, it only needs to be loaded in Lingnan and transported to the seaport near Panyu by ship, and then directly hoisted onto the sea ship to be transported to Liaodong Bay, and then transferred to a four-wheeled carriage specially built to transport containers, so that the goods no longer need to be loaded and unloaded in various wharves and warehouses from beginning to end, which is not only convenient, but also safe.

Moreover, several containers of different specifications can be customized according to the type of goods, which can be combined and stacked neatly, or transported separately, so as to greatly speed up and facilitate the transfer of vehicles and ships and the loading and unloading of the terminal.

In order to cooperate with the promotion of containers, special improvements should be made to cargo ships and merchant ships sailing in the river and sea to facilitate gantry crane lifting and security bundling.

At present, the research team of the Academy of Sciences led by Zhang Cang should verify and finalize the pattern as soon as possible.

Therefore, in this scorching summer, when Chen Xu returned to his hometown with a group of beautiful wives and concubines and daughters, the entire Great Qin, from the emperor to the commoners, was all boiled by his unprecedented smooth road project, and he was overwhelmed by his hard work.

"It's too hot, go and call the Ice Powder Shih Tzu!"

After watching several containers successfully hoisted onto the ship, Zhang Cang walked to the dock and sat down on the ground under a big tree, took off his straw hat and fanned the wind vigorously, while asking a craftsman to hurry up and call a young woman selling ice powder with a burden next to him.

While Zhang Cang and several craftsmen were drinking ice powder in the shade of the trees, there was also a group of craftsmen and craftsmen on the ship who were also sweating under the scorching sun and were observing and measuring the placement of the container, so as to design the best fixing and hoisting plan.

"Rest, go down and rest for two moments!" Soon everyone on the boat also came down the gangway, swarmed to the shade of the trees, took off their straw hats and coats, and each of them asked for a bowl of cold noodles on the floor and sat down and drank it in a loud voice.

"One more bowl, it's too hot!" Hu Kuansan took a bowl of cold noodles in his stomach, and felt that he had not quenched his thirst at all, so he handed the clay bowl to the woman.

"On such a hot day, you adults are still busy, it's really not what you should do!" The little woman is in her early twenties, wearing an ordinary gray and white skirt, with a delicate appearance and a plump figure, and the action of adjusting the cold powder is very quick.

"If we don't hurry up and get the container and ship data out, won't Hou Ye's smooth road plan ...... Hey, I'm talking to you as a woman, add a little more vinegar......" Hu Kuan changed his words halfway through.

"Hehe, Dean Hu also said yesterday that Bingfen Shih Tzu is bewitching and speaks well, why don't you want to say it today! I still want to hear it! An official next to him joked loudly.

"Hahahaha......" The large crowd under the willow tree laughed along.

The little woman who sold the cold powder lowered her head and held the cold powder, her cheeks were red and her eyes were full of spring water, and she secretly threw a wink at Hu Kuan, Hu Kuan shivered slightly, and instantly felt much cooler.

"Don't make a fuss, but this cold powder is really delicious, don't go, I'll come to drink it later, there are not enough people, everyone hurry up and finish drinking it and continue to work......" Hu Kuansan took two sips and drank a bowl of cold powder again, dropped the pottery bowl, picked up the hat and put it on.

"Alas, what Dean Hu said is that if there are another 51,100 people, this wharf will be finished in half a month, and now that it is done like this, I am afraid that it will not be completely repaired until autumn......" Zhang Cang shook his head and stood up, put on his hat and shook his already sweaty official uniform a few times and smiled bitterly.

"Woo~~"

Just as a group of officials and craftsmen were once again up to work in the scorching heat, suddenly there were several long bull horns from the west of the city, followed by the faint sound of rolling horses' hooves and the noise of noise.

A group of people stopped their movements and led their necks to visit, but they could only see the tall south gate tower of Xianyang City.

"What happened?" Everyone looked at each other blankly.