Looking at this section of cement road, which is about 30 meters long and five meters wide, Zhu Zhanji couldn't help but walk over quickly, and then stomped on it a few times with his foot.

He wasn't a novelty, he just wanted to reminisce about how he had felt.

Spanning 600 years of time and space, the emergence of this kind of concrete road seems to have brought the 600-year time and space closer all of a sudden.

Although it is only a 30-meter-long road, the proportion of cement with lime is different, so each of the three proportions is poured 10 meters of pavement for comparison.

Before Zhu Zhanji's arrival, the craftsmen had carefully compared the differences between the three different proportions of the road surface, and also used more than a dozen catties of hammers to carry out heavy hitting tests on the road surface.

Kong Cheng, a member of the Ministry of Works, waited for Zhu Zhanji's freshness to pass, and then came over with a smile. "Your Highness, we carefully compared the difference in the coagulation effect of the three formulas, but we didn't find much difference, after this thing is condensed, it is harder than hard stone, and it is more tough, the boulder is brittle, and it will crack when hit hard, but the cement only appears in small pits, and it will not fall off in large pieces."

Zhu Zhanji leaned over and picked up a piece of smashed concrete on the side of the road, rubbed and pinched it vigorously with his hands, broke it for a while, and finally crushed the scrap between his fingers.

The degree of adhesion of the cement depends not only on the formulation, but also on the size of the powder particles milled. The finer the powder, the higher the cohesiveness.

Today's cement seems to others to be far more than expected. But Zhu Zhanji is not satisfied, because there is still a lot of room for improvement in these cements.

He confessed: "Since we can't distinguish the difference between the three formulas, let's expand the proportion of ingredients, one lime, clay plus more, one lime, clay plus less, so that it is easy to distinguish the effect." Then select the best ratio and record it. ”

Kong Cheng looked at the others and asked, "Your Highness, does this cement have other functions besides building roads?" ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said: "Different proportions of cement, of course, can have different effects. You can build a house with cement mixed with sand, you can also paint the interior and exterior walls, the cement that sets faster, and you can also build bridges in the water and repair river embankments......"

He looked up at a clearing on the side of the kiln and said, "You find an open space there, and I want you to build different houses out of cement." Find out the firmness and coagulation speed of different proportions of sand. ”

"Yes!"

Zhu Zhanji turned his head and said to Mao Zhong, the commander of Yulin's right guard who was standing on the side: "Commander Mao, step up patrols here, isolate inside and outside, and ensure that the formula of cement will not leak out." ”

Mao Zhong hugged his fists, and Zhu Zhanji said to Kong Cheng again: "The cement formula is very important, and all the craftsmen who come into contact with it must be screened separately to ensure that only a few people know the whole set of techniques." As the chief officer here, you also have to come up with a set of technical leakage prevention strategies and submit them to me. ”

Kong Cheng didn't dare to be sloppy, and he was also excited to be able to show off in front of his grandson, so he hurriedly responded: "This is a matter within the minister's responsibility, and I dare not be negligent." ”

Looking at Wang Tong again, he explained again: "In the next few days, you will have to take care of the craftsmen here, cooperate with the work of various departments, and solve the logistics service." When the cement technology is all sorted out, I will give you a credit. ”

Wang Tong said with a happy face: "Serving His Highness is an internal matter for slaves and maids, and I dare not take credit." ”

In Zhu Zhanji's heart, cement is definitely the most important and needed thing in the Ming Dynasty, and the importance of cement is even higher than that of machine tools and steelmaking.

Because the application of cement is too extensive, and solid roads, strong houses, and strong river embankments have brought greater changes to Daming.

Liu Jiang and they also saw this.

When he saw this section of concrete road, he couldn't believe his eyes, and despite his old age, he grabbed a hammer and beat it on the ground.

Then he sat on the hard pavement, stroking the rough pavement, not knowing what he was thinking.

Seeing that Zhu Zhanji was busy with affairs and walked over to him, he got up from the ground and said excitedly: "What His Highness said is correct, this thing is indeed a major weapon of the country!" ”

Zhu Zhanji smiled: "What did the governor see? ”

"If you use this thing to build a house, you will not be afraid of collapsing, build a city wall, stabilize Mount Tai, build a road, you will not be afraid of the disaster of rain, build a river embankment, and you will not be afraid of the danger of collapse. In the past, it was difficult to walk an inch when it rained, but this road surface was not soluble in water, and the baggage was not dragged down by the mud, which affected the march. If I can build this kind of road in the Ming Dynasty, I will not be afraid to march thousands of miles. ”

Listening to Liu Jiang's words, Kong Cheng said with a smile: "What the governor said is very true, and using cement to build a road is more trouble-free than ramming a dirt road, as long as there is cement, river sand, plus water, paving the road, it can be condensed in two days, and there will be no worries from now on." ”

Zhu Zhanji shook his head and said: "This is a bad statement, the manpower is weak, and I didn't notice it at this time, but according to the lonely view, cement is not omnipotent." If the roadbed is not solid, the cement paving is like a rootless grass and cannot be sustained. Therefore, to lay down the roadbed, this set of procedures must not be missing. ”

Of course, Kong Cheng didn't dare to refute Zhu Zhanji's words, and praised with a smile: "Your Highness is still far-sighted and thoughtful. The minister should do his best to test the best strategy. ”

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "On the day you succeed, you will report to Gu as soon as possible, and Gu will also bring the emperor's grandfather to commend Er." ”

At this moment, everyone couldn't stand still, whether they were around the side of the road or standing on the hard road, they all knelt down and thanked them.

If they can really be rewarded by the emperor, these middle- and lower-level officials and craftsmen will be happier than pie in the sky.

Will Zhu Di come? Of course it will come!

Don't say that when all the experiments are successful, even now, when he gets the news, he can't wait to come and have a look.

Although cement is inconspicuous, it is a real thing that benefits the country and the people, is widely used, and can be used everywhere, and the cost is low.

Nowadays, cement consumes the most labor for grinding. But the manpower of the Ming Dynasty cannot be said to be inexhaustible, at least it is as much as you want.

It wasn't until he was about to leave that Zhu Zhanji suddenly remembered a more important matter. He confessed to Li Liang: "After returning to the palace, you go to the Inner Prison Towel and Hat Bureau, and ask them to make 2,000 sets of masks from double cotton cloth and send them over." The craftsmen here are issued two masks to prevent dust from entering the lungs and causing lung diseases. ”

Cement is the most polluting, and now there is no vacuum equipment for later generations, and it relies entirely on manual grinding, Zhu Zhanji suspects that if he does not wear masks, these craftsmen may not be able to do it in a few years.

In the future life, you can still wash your lungs or something, but in this era, you have pneumoconiosis and silicosis, and you can only wait for death.

At the same time as the success of the cement side, the first large waterwheel also officially fell into the water on the bank of the Jiajiang River.

Although the waterwheel is still made of wood, the main shaft in the middle is made of ironwood that has just been transported from the southwest, and bearings are used at both ends of the ironwood.

With the smooth power of the bearings, the power of the waterwheel can be used to the maximum.

Ma Zhicai has been staying by the Jiajiang River during this time, and every day with a large number of people from the Ministry of Industry are experimenting with various linkage devices.

At Zhu Zhanji's request, the waterwheel should have the functions of pushing and grinding, forging and perpetual motion, and these different functions require different linkage devices.

The power required for pushing and grinding is not too large, but the machine tool and forging equipment, of course, the more power the better.

In particular, Zhu Zhanji not only wanted to drill the barrel directly, but also wanted to directly get a hydraulic forging press to make gold and silver coins, and the power required for this naturally stumped a large number of technical personnel.

Because of the successful development of cement, Zhu Zhanji also gave an order, temporarily suspended the infrastructure construction on both sides of the Jiajiang River, and waited for Kong Cheng to make cement with a more obvious effect.

It is of course better to use cement to build a wharf near the water than to mine stones to build a wharf and install waterwheels and factories.

On Jiangxin Island, on the other side of the Jiajiang River, a military camp for a naval division was originally being built, but now it has also been suspended.

Of course, this guard is to protect the entire industrial area, and in the future, it will be the most advanced and concentrated area of various technologies in the Ming Dynasty, and some secrecy and security measures must of course be considered.

However, as soon as the work on the Jiajiang side was stopped, Zhu Di knew.

This day is March 14, which is also Jiaxing's seventh birthday, when Zhu Zhanji came back from Jiajiang, he also asked Liu Wan, who came back from Suzhou, to buy a cart of various dolls and snacks in the market and bring them back to the palace.

Seven-year-old Jiaxing is Zhu Zhanji's favorite sister, not only because she was born to the same mother, Jiaxing has a cheerful personality and is generous, which also makes Zhu Zhanji prefer her a little more.

Seeing this worthless gift, Jiaxing liked it very much. I gave some kites, windmills, dolls, and snacks to my siblings.

Even Sun Xian did not forget, knowing that Sun Xian likes to raise birds, she gave her a delicate bird cage.

Seeing that Zhu Zhanji nodded secretly, Sun Xian accepted the gift with a smile and coaxed her to be happy.

A group of children were elated, but the chamberlain reported the news of Zhu Di's arrival in the Wenhua Palace, and the panicked Zhang family took a group of concubines and children to greet them together.

It is quite rare for Zhu Di to quit the court before noon, and at this time, even Zhu Gaochi is still in the James Mansion and has not returned.

After appeasing everyone, he also specially rewarded Jiaxing with a jade Ruyi, and then asked Zhu Zhanji. "Why did you stop the project on Jiajiang? I also know that the people in the Ministry of Industry can still do their best, and the progress is going smoothly so far. Aren't you afraid of delaying the military order you received? ”

Seeing that he couldn't hide it anymore, Zhu Zhanji also told him about the cement. "Originally, I wanted to wait for Kong Cheng to inform grandpa of his achievements and give you a surprise, but grandpa asked, of course grandchildren can't hide it anymore."

"Does that really work?"

"It's true!"

Zhu Di laughed happily. "This is a big deal, you dare to hide it, you should really give you a few boards to remember for a long time!"

"If you don't reward and punish, your grandson won't accept it."

"What should I do if I don't have a reward?"

Although this is a joke between the grandfather and grandson, Zhu Zhanji feels that this is a good opportunity to speak for Zhang Fu.