Ma Zhide's family arrived in Beijing in the first month, and immediately selected a suitable place to build a kiln on the north side of Xiamaqiao Farm, that is, at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain.

However, officials of the Ministry of Rites believed that the cave was too close to the royal mausoleum and would be detrimental to feng shui, so it was not allowed to break ground at the foot of the mountain.

Zhu Zhanji also felt that he had neglected this, no matter what, the first thing he had to do was to maintain the majesty of the royal family, so he asked Ma Zhide to relocate the site.

Under the leadership of the chamberlain, Ma Zhide revisited several places, and finally re-selected a suitable place for building a kiln at the foot of Fang Mountain.

Located in the upper reaches of the Qinhuai River, it is a bit far from the capital, but it is conveniently located and can be reached directly to the palace by boat.

Zhu Zhanji also came to see it in person in February. I found that this place is really more suitable than Zhongshan, because there is still a small quartz mine here.

What's more, the stone composition here is complex, with not only large areas of limestone, but also marl with calcium silicate composition.

Fired cement, especially the most rudimentary Portland cement, is in high demand. And it's far away from the capital, so it won't cause too much pollution nearby.

At the beginning of the construction of the kiln, Zhu Zhanji gave Ma Di a task, asking him to use this marl to burn into powder, and then with limestone to make powder, to form a new condensate powder.

Ma Di now admires Zhu Zhanji very much, although Zhu Zhanji did not teach him much knowledge, but Zhu Zhanji can ask some questions that he has never thought of, but are thought-provoking.

For example, if they live on a ball, but when they are head-down, why don't people fall down? Why do ebbs and flows occur? Why does it rain, wind, and thunder?

Ma Di thinks he is very smart, but he doesn't know why for these questions raised by Taisun.

This also aroused strong doubts in his heart, and he felt that he had to figure out these things no matter what, and the meaning of his life seemed to be for these.

In the closed and relaxed environment of the Young Army, he received a strict education while being able to follow his uncle to conduct various studies and experiments as he wanted.

In this environment, he has a feeling of being at home and his life is extremely fulfilling.

He carried out Zhu Zhanji's orders correctly, and Ma Zhide did not question it at all.

If he was still a little worried at first, but now that His Royal Highness Taisun has made it clear that he wants to marry his daughter, he would rather shed his blood for Taisun.

Not to mention the fame after becoming a nobleman, with this identity, their Ma family must be prosperous for at least three generations.

At this time, no matter what Zhu Zhanji wants him to do, he will do it with his heart.

At the end of February, under the construction of craftsmen day and night, eight caves were built side by side at the northern foot of Fangshan.

These eight caves have different shapes and functions, only two are for firing glass, the other caves will be for firing blue bricks, coking, and porcelain, and one is a shaft kiln built according to Zhu Zhanji's instructions.

This type of shaft kiln is similar to that of an iron-making kiln, with a special ventilation duct that allows the water to drain the air inside.

It is said that this is a kiln where vanadium clay was fired that Taisun saw in an ancient book, and after building a cave with refractory clay, the fire temperature was raised to the point where iron could be smelted.

With this high temperature, any stone can be fired into powder.

Even if some people disagreed, it was Taisun's order, so everyone built such a cave in accordance with the strict requirements of the Ministry of Industry to build a kiln.

In modern times, with advanced industrial equipment and rotary kilns, firing cement is very simple.

But in this era, there is no stone crusher, and it can only be crushed by manpower. Therefore, the cement manufacturing process of two grinding and one firing must be added to the firing procedure in order to save more manpower.

The cave was completed at the end of February, but it still had to wait for the shade to dry and dry, and the spring rain was heavy, so it was not until the tenth day of March that the first test of the kiln could be carried out.

The half-crushed stones that were knocked into a kiln were tens of thousands of catties, and after being baked at high temperatures for a day, they became much more brittle.

At this time, the fire in the cave was extinguished, and the stones were transported out again, and they were ground into powder by manpower and stone mills.

At this time, according to the firing strategy taken out by Zhu Zhanji, a small amount of clay and lime powder were added, and then put into the cave for high-temperature firing.

Out of the kiln again, after cooling, the ash powder is ground again, and the stone powder becomes extremely delicate.

With great anticipation, the powder was mixed with half of the river sand, then a little gravel was added, mixed with water, and spread on the pavement.

Several wall-building craftsmen smoothed out the soft mud surface with a slick, and then quietly waited for the miracle to happen.

Taking advantage of everyone's inattention, Madi secretly tried it with his hand, but before he could use force, his finger sank in.

He quickly withdrew his fingers, a little skeptical in his heart, could this really turn back into a hard stone?

Chang'an Avenue, Navy Headquarters. In the main hall, Zhu Zhanji and Liu Jiang met with the sailor generals who followed Zhang Fu back to Beijing to report on their work.

"Your Highness, great joy......, Your Highness, great joy......"

The voice from outside the main hall came from Feng Yuwangtong, and the others didn't dare to stop him, so they let him rush directly into the hall. Liu Jiang and the others also stopped discussing.

Without waiting for Zhu Zhanji to speak, Li Liang loudly reprimanded: "Your Highness is discussing military affairs, what kind of system is it to shout so loudly!" ”

Of course, this was not to scold Zhu Zhanji, but to let several generals know that the people around Zhu Zhanji were not people who did not understand the rules.

Wang Tong made a long gesture before panting and said: "Your Highness, Fangshan Kiln was ordered to try to make cement, and today it is done!" ”

When Zhu Zhanji saw him, he thought that it should be this matter, and his task was to coordinate the relationship between the Ministry of Industry, the people, and the young army in Fangshan Kiln. If the cement had not been developed, he would not have dared to come back like this.

However, when he heard the news, he still felt very happy, stood up and said to Liu Jiang: "Governor, today's topic is postponed for the time being, let's go and see the cement ...... first."

Liu Jiang looked at several garrisons and commanders who had returned from Jiaozhi, and said with some embarrassment: "Your Highness...... Is this cement important? ”

Zhu Zhanji came to his senses when he arrived, smiled and waved to the generals and said: "I learned that the country's heavy weapon was successfully developed, and I am a little out of shape, please forgive me." ”

"How dare you, how dare you ......" Several commanders and garrisons hurriedly returned the salute.

Just kidding, Taisun is just humility, if anyone dares to take it seriously, it is a joke.

Liu Jiang also had a trace of curiosity when he heard Zhu Zhanji say this, and asked: "I don't know what this cement is, it can be called the important weapon of the country by His Royal Highness!" ”

has been in contact with Zhu Zhanji for more than a month, and Liu Jiang also knows that although Zhu Zhanji is young, he is old and serious, and it is definitely not an ordinary thing to be called the important weapon of the country by him.

Zhu Zhanji said with a smile: "With this thing, the moat can change the path, and the Ming Dynasty will be able to connect all the miles." There will be no more worries about flooding in the world, no more worries about the border cities being destroyed, and people's houses will not be damaged for a hundred years. ”

The group of people were dumbfounded, although they didn't say it explicitly, but their expressions all felt that Zhu Zhanji was bragging. How can there be such an artifact in the world, if this is the case, it is not an exaggeration to be called the important instrument of the country.

Among the generals who met today, the lowest position was a thousand households named Huang Yuan and Huang Qianjiu.

The official positions of the Ming Dynasty were very chaotic, especially the naval divisions, because the fleet of the Ming Dynasty had no opponents, and it had never formed an effective command system, and many official positions were the same as the army, but the nature of the army was completely different.

Huang Yuan is the eldest son of Huang Fu, the political envoy of the current Jiaozhi Chengxuan Political Envoy Si Bu and the Punishment Envoy and the Inspector Huang Fu, who is only 25 years old this year, and is a person who has been raised in the ninth year of Yongle, but he has abandoned his pen and followed Rong.

He went to Jiaozhi to visit relatives in the tenth year of Yongle and persuaded his father to join the Xin'an River Water Division, from a general manager to the position of a thousand households today.

Zhu Zhanji admires Huang Fu very much, there are really not many ministers like Daming who can do practical things with their hearts. Therefore, he also looked at this Huang Dagongzi differently, and treated him lightly without his lowest position, and he was very polite.

Huang Yuan is not a few years older than Zhu Zhanji, and he is also very close to this old and respectful grandson, so he boldly said at this time: "Your Highness's words make me and others very curious, I hope Your Highness can allow me to accompany me, and I can also finish today's matter on the way." ”

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said to Li Liang: "Let the governor send a ship, and I will go to Fangshan Kiln together." ”

Board a paddle steamer from Chang'an Bridge, and there are two flat escort boats in front and behind. After Zhu Zhanji boarded the ship, he sat on the main seat of the hall without giving up, and everyone sat down according to their official positions, and then continued the topic at the beginning.

As soon as the navy was established, the naval divisions in various regions would be separated from the control of the Governor's Office of the Five Armed Services and the local government. These reforms cannot be one-size-fits-all, but must be adjusted according to the actual situation, otherwise they will only get worse and worse.

These generals from the navy division in Jiaozhi should analyze the actual situation with Liu Jiang in response to the reform of the navy, and then make appropriate adjustments.

In addition to the power of jurisdiction, which must be forcibly unified, the power of the Navy Division to transfer troops is still subordinate to the Ministry of War.

However, there are still many problems that need to be discussed and solved according to real problems.

For example, the source of military spending, logistical supply, such as training, such as fleet formation, these are simply impossible to implement without the cooperation of various naval divisions.

Some provisions need to be tough, but some changes must also respect the requirements of various ministries, even local governments.

The situation in Jiaozhi is still relatively easy to handle, because the Jiaozhi Chengxuan Political Envoy Department has not been established for a few years, and the military expenses borne are not much, except for the maintenance of food and ships, most of the logistics are still borne by the Guangdong Qiwei and Fujian Naval Divisions.

Zhu Zhanji wanted to expand the strength of the Jiaozhi naval division, and the Jiaozhi naval division naturally raised his hand to welcome it, so there were many fewer things to talk about between the two sides, and the most discussed things were the situation in Jiaozhi, the location for the new naval station, and the greatest burden that Jiaozhi could bear.

(These transitional chapters must not be written, otherwise there will be no cause and effect, no strategy, and it will become a small white text.) I also accelerated the progress as soon as I could, and in a few more chapters, I wrote about these episodes. ）