As the temporary heart of the empire, Laizhou withstood an unprecedented crowd for three months. Chen De also completed the road hardening work from Laizhou to Weixian in a state of full flow of people.

The new road is made of gravel and paved with a mixture of gravel and mortar. The entire new road rises more than three feet above the surface, and drainage ditches are dug on both sides.

Such a design is taken from the road standards of Jingshi and Jiangnan, and it is the first time it has appeared in Shandong. Fortunately, many of the construction craftsmen invited by Jiangnan also knew how to build bridges and roads, which saved Chen De a lot of trouble.

Unlike Jingshi and Gangnam, the pavement material is the latest East-West hybrid mortar.

As early as before the Tang and Song dynasties, the folk used limestone, clay, and sand to stir out mortar as a masonry binder. However, the Chinese tradition favored civil dwellings, so bricks and stones were generally used in city walls, dikes and tombs. The mortar used for the city wall has a higher specification configuration: glutinous rice juice with lime.

The city wall of Nanjing was built in this way, and the mortars of the Japanese invaders could not be knocked open in the Anti-Japanese War. However, the cost is also extremely expensive, and it is impossible to use it to pave the way.

Tessie's earthy cement originated from the ancient Egyptians. They also used the mud of the Nile River to build their buildings, which was very useful in the dry and hot desert. In the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC, the ancient Egyptians began calcining gypsum as a building adhesive and used it in the construction of pyramids.

Later ancient Greeks did not burn plaster, but fired limestone to obtain lime, which was used as a gel material in construction.

After the ancient Romans annexed Greece, they inherited the tradition of the Greeks using lime, mixing sand and finely ground volcanic ash into the lime, and finally got the "Roman mortar".

China does not have volcanoes and cannot replicate the recipe of Roman mortar. However, Shandong is a place rich in gypsum, and gypsum is used instead of volcanic ash. Folk cement formula, fully calcined and grinded, this new type of hydraulic material is obtained, although it is called mortar, the actual effect is not much different from cement. It's just that the quality of the mortar is not stable until the formula is determined. Fortunately, as far as the current road is concerned, there is no need to consider the quality of the project for the time being.

As long as you can get enough wagons through quickly.

When the artillery wagons galloped on the smooth and hard roads under the pull of the two horses, the strategic advantages brought by the advanced roads were unmistakably displayed in the eyes of the world.

Along the way, the state and county set up a kiosk every ten miles on the roadside, and each kiosk has a special person responsible for tea and simple food. Five pavilions set up a post for people to stay, eat. Horses and horses are also available for exchange of public servants.

These places seem to increase local administrative expenses, but in fact, they also solve the employment problem of the weak laborers, which is part of the cash-for-work scheme. As trade routes gradually recovered. The gradual resumption of business travel has also greatly eased the problem of spending.

"Yicheng, change horses quickly." A group of men and horses stopped at the entrance of the pavilion, and the officer at the head shouted loudly.

The old man hurriedly came out, asked the young servant who belonged to the post station to lead the horse over, and then replaced the sweaty horse, took it to the back to dry his body, and fed it fine bean feed. Recover well. Judging by the recent sudden increase in artillery trucks, I'm afraid there will be one or two more passing by tomorrow. According to this calculation, the horses could only rest for one day, and then they had to run another fifty miles.

"Fetch some more water, and in order to save horsepower, the brothers are running on the road." The officer bared his teeth and untied the coconut scoop from the belt around his waist. I poured saliva and drank.

"Do you want some food, sir?" Yi Cheng stepped forward and asked in a good voice.

The officer looked at the sky and said, "Let's talk about it later, it's already a little slower today." ”

After the servant changed his horse, the officer checked the wheels again, blew the whistle and gave the order to continue on the road.

The inn should be a novelty for business travel. When the post man entered, he stopped and asked, "Where is this military master?" Where is the war? ”

Yi Cheng's face was full of wrinkles and smiled, and he said, "Didn't you see the logo on the chief's shoulder?" That's the prince's soldiers and horses. ”

"Why are there so many artillery?" Someone else asked, "I don't know where it came from." ”

Yi Cheng glanced at him, did not speak, and did not hear it. The young man who kept the account at the counter glanced up and buried it in the book again, as if he was keeping accounts, but the words in the pen were the facial features of the person who had just been questioned, and Zuihou even drew an outline.

The man didn't know that his unintentional words had been labeled as "suspicious".

These bookkeepers who are installed in the Thoroughfares are the first batch of eyeliners specially cultivated by the Golden Scale Society. Most of them can write and draw, have bright ears and eyes, and have received simple reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance training, although the degree of jishu can only be on par with later film and television dramas at most, but the serious attitude is even better.

Zhu Cihong very much appreciated Xu Dian's sense of cultivation, and specially ordered him to regularize this kind of training, set up espionage classes, and recruit and train more intelligence personnel. For a big country, no matter how much Xu Duan expands his recruitment, the number of people will not be enough. What's more, the talent requirements of spy personnel are also extremely high, and it is not just a handful of them.

In contrast, the old brand of Dongchang is a little slow in terms of progress, and the main Liliang is still concentrated in the city, unaware that Jinyiwei has a new head of the family, and has long had the idea of seizing power.

The gun truck finished the dirt road and boarded the newly built hard road, and the speed increased a lot. After solving the steering problem of the four-wheeled carriage, the advantages of high load capacity appeared. With the supporting hardened road, it only took two days to get from Jiaozhou to Weixian. It only took seven days to get from Weixian to Dezhou.

Just as the artillery arrived in Texas one after another, Tannin's 3rd Guards Battalion finally won the first victory since the establishment of the establishment.

On July 12 of the 17th year of Chongzhen, the 3rd Guards Battalion completely occupied the nine counties of Guangping Prefecture and was stationed in Handan, where they organized manpower to build fortifications while exposing their fangs to Xingtai in Shunde Mansion in the north.

When Zhu Cihong received the good news, he was already sitting in Texas and preparing for Texas fortifications. Xiao Mo also pulled the main force of the first battalion to Dezhou City, from here to the east is the sea, to the west is Taihang Mountain, and Dezhou is just in between. As soon as the 1st Guards Battalion of the Guards went to this station, Dongyu could not detour left and right, and if he wanted to go south, he had to fight hard for this nail.

On the same day of 12 July, Bahana and Shi Tingzhu of the Eastern Southern Route Army also happened to set out from the camp of the Beijing Division. The Yechen Department of the Northern Route Army was scheduled to pull out the camp the next day and bypass the Taihang Mountain from the north to enter Jin.

"The tannins are punctual." Zhu Cihong was not very satisfied with the performance of the third battalion of the guards.

The Guangping defense of the Dashun army made Qu Fengqi and Fu Yin Liangdong run fast, and fled when Li Zicheng retreated westward. The guards left behind were Du Lieutenant Guo and Chang Zhang, who had only 500 soldiers, and there was no artillery, and the soldiers had never been strictly trained. Even so, with five guns and seven guns, Tannin fought for two days to capture Handan with an absolute superiority of troops.

However, the tannins, who were born in the training department, are good in battle damage control. Moreover, being able to recruit soldiers on the spot for training after the war and expand their own strength as much as possible can be regarded as a bright spot in the mediocre results.

"Your Highness, the city of Texas is small, you should still sit in Jinan." Xiao Mo said.

"Are you afraid that I will rob you of your command?" Zhu Cihong said with a smile.

"The last general is worried about the safety of His Highness." Xiao Mo didn't have the intention of joking, and said seriously.

"Don't worry, I'm here, and my morale can be higher." Zhu Cihong said: "This is our first confrontation with Dongyu. In the past, the officers and men of our dynasty had not been able to obtain benefits in the hands of the eastern captives, and the land outside the customs was lost again and again, and it was inevitable that some people would be afraid. This time, we must fight a beautiful battle and pick up the face we lost before! So this time there is danger and opportunity at the same time, and if we play well, we didn't dare to mess with us before the year. If we lose, we can only stay in the east of Lexia for another two years. ”

Xiao Mo nodded.

Zhu Cihong turned to You Shiwei on the side and said, "General You, regarding the war briefing, have you agreed with Jinyiwei on how to contact you?" ”

"Back to Your Highness," You Shiwei said, "it has been decided. The General Staff Department of our country has set up a military intelligence department, which is specifically responsible for communicating military information with Jinyiwei and conveying various armies. ”

Zhu Cihong nodded and did not express his opinion. Based on his knowledge of the evolution of the organization, this military intelligence department will soon be like a cell splitting and trying to expand its shili, eventually becoming an intelligence agency similar to Jinyiwei.

This kind of benign division is welcome. (To be continued......)

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