Hou Chen noticed that Liu Yong and Liu Ji both observed the four-wheeled carriage, and they were also a little proud, "The eldest prince, the third lady, but I think this four-wheeled carriage is very unique and novel? This is the creativity of the king of the county, and later developed by a group of craftsmen from the Caiguan Academy. ”

"Oh, is it the idea of the county king?" Liu Yong and Liu Ji both showed some disbelief on their faces.

"Hehe, the eldest prince and the third lady are Hou Mou to put gold on the face of the county king? Does the county king still need to use this way to grow his face?" Hou Chen also laughed, "The eldest prince and the third young lady might as well go to the material official courtyard and ask those craftsmen, they don't know who to put gold for, the creativity of the county king is quite popular in the material official courtyard, and many craftsmen are eager to it." ”

The new words "creativity" and "craftsman" are particularly new to Liu Yong and Liu Ji's ears, and although they don't quite understand the true meaning of these words, they can roughly guess some meanings from them.

"Lord Hou, does 'creativity' mean unique ideas?" Liu Ji didn't have as many scruples as Liu Yong, and asked directly: "What is the identity of 'craftsman'?"

"Well, the word 'creativity' was also invented by the county king, and it is similar to what the third lady thought, as for the word 'craftsman', according to the county king's explanation, it is probably a craftsman, an artist and a high-level personnel who focus on the research and production of a certain industry or an object, well, there is also a premise that they can have a unique level of research and development. ”

"Well, listening to Lord Hou, this 'craftsman' is not something that anyone can afford, and there are still some conditions and standards?" Liu Ji was very curious, "Is it the same as magic?"

"It's similar, there are also some standards, which are basically agreed upon by the county king and Lord Luo. Hou Chen didn't expect this third lady to be so interested in this.

In fact, when Liu Ji appeared, Hou Chen was already thinking about the purpose of the third lady's visit, as a member of the political hall who was in charge of external liaison, he had already guessed some of Nanyang's thoughts.

Liu Ji is very likely to become the object of the marriage between Nanyang and Xuzhou, of course, most of the Xuzhou side is the king of the county, think about Xu Jing is already a magician among the concubines of the king of the county, and now there is another Liu Ji who is interested in the "craftsman", it is really too joyful.

"Then I don't know what the load and speed of this carriage is?" Liu Yong was more concerned about this.

For the army, the transportation of baggage has always been the most important problem, just the transportation consumption of grain, is a great problem, like the Han Wu Emperor when the Xiongnu called the grain and grass transportation of one out of ten, the rest are consumed along the way, it can be seen that its consumption is huge.

Now the army transports grain and grass materials, if it is a plain area, most of them use large carts, that is, ox carts, and a small number of horse-drawn carts to transport, but if it is in the mountains and hills, the roads are not good, it is mainly mule and horse packs, and from the horse-drawn carriages that began to appear in Xuzhou City in front of them now, the carrying capacity and speed are not the same as the ox carts and the original carriages.

Moreover, this kind of carriage can also be used in large quantities for civilian use, which is self-evident in the plain areas, especially in areas where the official road and post roads are in good condition.

"It is not easy to say that the load capacity alone should be similar to the ordinary carriage ox cart, or to see the bearing capacity of the wheels and axles, but if you use a horse cart, the road conditions can also be adapted, and its speed will be greatly increased. Hou Chen said half-truthfully.

The four-wheeled carriage is a new thing, and is still in a state of further improvement, in addition to the key of the steering device, the more important thing is the improvement of the wheel spokes and axle materials, and the specially processed steel began to be used for the wheel axle, so that its durability has been greatly improved, which is also the key to the large-scale promotion and application of this four-wheeled carriage, otherwise it is often damaged, and it can not be popularized again.

However, there are still many things that need to be improved in this kind of carriage, and the Magic Material Courtyard is still improving many parts, but it also needs to be improved slowly in use.

Liu and Liu also noticed that the streets in Xuzhou were somewhat different from those in other places.

Other places, including Bianliang and Luoyang, Chang'an, if it is the main street, most of them are paved with stone slabs or bricks, but the roads paved with stone slabs and bricks are extremely expensive, and the cost is extremely high, except for only a few roads, most of the other streets and alleys can only be paved with loess and sand and gravel after being rolled, but this is easy to crush and break for heavy-duty carriages and ox carts.

Some streets in Xuzhou are different, as they seem to have been paved with a special material, hard and smooth, like condensed river sand, which shocked both Liu Yong and Liu Ji.

On this kind of integrated street, ox carts and horse-drawn carts drive on it, which is not only smooth and fast, but also does not leave marks, which is extremely convenient.

"Lord Hou, what is this made of, why is it so hard?" Liu Ji stepped on it directly, stomped a few feet hard, and found that it was indeed very hard, so he asked in surprise: "Are you afraid of rain?"

"This is also the result of our Xuzhou Magic Materials Academy, and it is also the idea proposed by the King of the County, and later under the exploration and development of the Xuzhou Magic Materials Academy, the results are still in the trial stage, so there are only one or two streets in Xuzhou City that are paved with this kind of plaster. Hou Chen proudly introduced: "Water and fire are not immersed, and knives and axes are difficult to enter." ”

"Plaster?!" Liu Yong and Liu Ji both secretly remembered this word, and Liu Ji asked unceremoniously: "Is this thing born or refined?"

"It should be made the day after tomorrow. Hou Chen said vaguely, "What is the specific combination of things, but I don't know, everything in the material official courtyard has a secret law, and it is not allowed to be leaked." As for the cost geometry, although I don't know, I think it can be used to pave roads, and it shouldn't be too expensive. ”

Liu Yong and Liu Ji exchanged glances, which is also reasonable, it makes no sense that this kind of thing that is very likely to be sold is stolen by others, for merchants, this is equivalent to the secret recipe of medicine, of course, it is tight-lipped, and it is best to buy and sell exclusively.

The two of them are not outside, but they feel very flat and hard when they step on this mud and plaster, and they don't know how much this thing costs, if it is cheap, when it is promoted, it can greatly improve the traffic situation in the city, and then if it can also be used in the wilderness, the significance is immeasurable.

However, it can be guessed that the price of this thing is not very expensive, otherwise it would be more cost-effective to pave it with stone slabs.

Cement is indeed a new thing that has just been successfully developed and has not yet been used on a large scale, but in Jiang Feng's view, this thing is of great value, especially in military use, and in the face of the cavalry army with strong mobility in the field, then the infantry army that relies on the city to defend how to consolidate the defense, cement is a big help.

However, at present, the quality of cement is not stable, so it is still in the trial stage.

The emergence of this kind of new thing has greatly stimulated the desire of businessmen, especially those Hu businessmen, who are constantly being challenged to the bottom line, they did not expect that Xuzhou has so many new things that may bring huge profits, not to mention steel, just this mud, once the cost is reduced, it is promoted, the city is built to repair houses and pave roads, and the irrigation canals can be used, and the amount of its consumption is so large that it is simply unpredictable, and it is fascinating to think about it.

The group arrived at the pavilion and settled down, stayed temporarily, and waited for Jiang Feng to receive them.

Hou Chen and the others said goodbye, saying that after reporting to the king of the county, they would finalize the time for the meeting and come to report.

"Isn't it very touching, big brother?" Liu Jue asked casually when he came to his brother's room, leaned on the windowsill, and leaned on the windowsill.

"Well, we did underestimate the strength of Xuzhou, and the iron production has increased greatly, we know, but the prosperity of Shouzhou is beyond our imagination. Liu Yong groaned: "This is all secondary, the key is that there are endless new things here in Xuzhou, their performance of the magic material official academy is impressive, I didn't expect Xuzhou to combine the magic with the material official production, it has such power." ”

"Yes, it's just iron production, big brother, have you noticed that the carriage and the plaster?" Liu Ji's eyes flashed with lustre, "The wheels and spokes of the carriage are made of a lot of iron, well, it is made of stainless steel, and the axle is made of special steel, otherwise it can't bear the load, I think the load capacity of the four-wheeled carriage is at least twice that of an ordinary cart! That's it, but if it is combined with this plastered road, big brother, think about it, what will this bring?"

Liu Yong nodded slightly, "The transportation speed of grain and grass will be greatly improved, the marching efficiency of the army will also be greatly improved, and the battle in the plain area will make the effectiveness of the infantry more prominent, and the suppression of the cavalry will be greater,......

"Not only that, big brother, you only see the role of the military, but you do not see the benefits brought by the circulation of non-governmental commerce. Liu Ji shook his head again and again, "If the plaster is really cheap and can be used on a large scale, then the communication between the city will be more convenient, grain, tea, porcelain, cloth, iron, etc. can flow quickly and widely, the circulation of bulk materials on land has a more prominent advantage in speed, and the load has also been improved, and the northern plain area has more advantages in the speed of water transportation in the southern lake and marsh water network area, making up for the disadvantage of water transportation cost, which was originally a major strength of the south, and now it has been weakened." ”

Of course, Liu Yong also wants to get this, but he believes that although the advantage of water transportation has been weakened, in the south, the geographical difference still makes water transportation still have a greater advantage, but it is conceivable that a region like Xuzhou, which spans the river, Huaishui and river, once it is used by marl for the construction of official roads, it is really unimaginable.