The place where the imperial court smelted iron was actually relatively simple. After all, in the Han Dynasty, the technology of iron-making was not very good.

In addition, it is a government-run institution.

All kinds of circumstances add up, and these iron-making things are actually just like that.

When Huo Guangyi asked for the slag produced by iron smelting, Danong Ling Yan Yi couldn't help but be a little curious, and asked, "Huo Yilang, what do you want these slags for?"

"Ahem, fill the road, recently dug up some clay and started a blast furnace to fire some things. Dig a big hole in some land, and you can't leave it unfilled!" Huo Guang said.

Merely.

It's okay if you don't explain it.

As soon as he explained it, Yan Yi was even more confused.

Incomprehensibly, he asked, "Digging clay? This digging is dug up, and the hole left behind needs to be filled?"

"Isn't it necessary?"

Huo Guang shrugged his shoulders and asked as if he didn't understand.

However, Yan Yi said, "Of course you don't need to, if you dig a small soil pit, over time, under the washing of rain, the mud flow will naturally fill it."

"If you're digging a big hole."

"God's rain will also fill it into a pond. Over time, fish, loaches, and other things will grow in the pond."

"If you can't hold water, it's just a low-lying journey!"

"So."

"Why fill it artificially?"

"Uh..." Huo Guang was a little confused by Yan Yi, an honest man, so he had to change the topic and said, "I'll just say that, not as much as you think. By the way, Da Nongling, here in the iron-making field, is the slag produced after the usual iron smelting thrown aside so casually?"

"Could it be too much?"

"I don't think you all have anyone to clean it up and take it away!"

Hearing Huo Guang's question, Yan Yi also nodded and replied, "Yes, there is too much slag, and the amount of iron produced every day is required, so they are busy producing iron, so how can they have time to take care of these slags."

The iron-making technology of the Han Dynasty was not yet good.

And the imperial court had requirements for the weight of iron produced every day.

This leads to a problem in the ironworks.

In order to meet the iron production standard, it is necessary to increase the mining of iron ore every day, and use a larger amount of iron ore to refine the required amount.

And those in power look.

Yo?

Isn't that an easy way to accomplish your goal?

Yes!

Ramp up production next month!

So...

The vicious circle begins.

The imperial court gave the production weight requirements, and in order to complete the goal, the ironworks were too lazy to improve the ironmaking technology, and directly and rudely increased the mining of iron ore to produce the set goal in more quantities.

The authorities looked at the weight of the production that had been completed and continued to increase the production of iron.

One comes and goes.

Since the beginning of the salt and iron official camp, the amount of slag has increased day by day.

This is for the ironworks.

Not to mention cleaning up, as long as the slag is not in the way, you can throw it anywhere.

It's been a long time.

Someone will always be sent from above to clean it up.

And this so-called above is the big farmer who makes Yan Yan.

Merely.

He also has a headache for these iron slags, if he had a way to clean it up, wouldn't he have cleaned it up a long time ago?

Why are you still here?

Thereupon.

Hearing Huo Guang ask him, Yan Yi immediately sighed and said, "I can't hide it, I'm also thinking of a way!" I was going to clean it up in a few days, but with such a large amount of iron ore slag, how could it be so easy to clean up."

Yan Yi looked so distressed, Huo Guang was very satisfied when he saw it.

But on his face, he put on a worried look for the big farmer Ling, and said, "In this way, whether you need to fill the pit or not, within the scope of my ability, I will share part of the slag cleaning work for you."

Yan Yi suddenly stopped doubting Huo Guang, and said with a smile, "That's so grateful!"

But talking.

This big farmer made Yan Yi suddenly change his words and warned: "Huo Yilang, thank you for your gratitude, but I can warn you, don't think about using these iron slags to make iron again."

"If Your Majesty knew about it."

"You and my heads have to be moved."

Ironmaking?

Huo Guang had this idea before, but he hadn't thought about it since the Yantie official camp.

Now is not the time.

As for these slags?

Scold!

Although there is still a lot of iron in it, who cares what is left of these people's homes?

Forthwith.

Huo Guang smiled and said, "Da Nong Ling Mo is laughing, what am I going to do by smelting iron privately? Smelting iron with this kind of slag is purely a matter of looking for trouble, don't you think I'm idle?"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." When Yan Yi heard this, he felt that Huo Guang was not wrong, and immediately said ashamedly: "It is I who has the heart of a villain and spends the belly of a gentleman."

Huo Guang smiled and waved his hand, "It's okay, it's right to be cautious."

"So be it!"

"A few days later, I will send someone to clean up some of the slag for the Great Agricultural Order, which can be regarded as helping the Great Agricultural Order reduce some of the burden and concentrate on dealing with the matter of Bai Diezi."

As soon as these words came out.

Yan Yi "understood" Huo Guang's true intentions even more.

He felt.

Huo Guang mistakenly thought that he was distracted by the affairs of the salt and iron official camp, so he was negligent about the cultivation of white stacks.

It was with this worry that he came to help him lighten his burden.

Come to think of this.

Yan Yi was even more convinced that his guess was correct, so he said with a smile: "Huo Yilang can rest assured, although people's energy is limited. But since Your Majesty has arranged for me to plant white stacks with you, I will not delay."

"That's very good."

Huo Guang saw that Yan Yi had already believed his words, so he nodded with a smile.

Now that the purpose has been achieved.

Later time.

He didn't talk to the farmer for long, and then he said goodbye and left.

It's just that.

Although he is gone, Sang Hongyang is still here.

Seeing Huo Guang leaving, Sang Hongyang immediately walked to Yan Yi's side and asked, "Dare to ask the big farmer order, what is this Huo Yilang doing in the ironworks?"

Yan Yi waved his hand and said with a smile: "Huo Yilang is a good person, he saw that there was too much slag in the ironworks, so he decided to send someone to help me clean up some of the slag."

Cleaning up slag?

Sang Hongyang didn't believe it, so he said directly: "Da Nong Ling, be careful, I have checked these slags beforehand, if you are careful to smelt iron, you can still refine a lot of iron in it!"

But the Great Farmer Decree said, "Don't you know how big a crime it is to smelt iron privately?"

"Don't worry!"

"This Huo Yilang is a smart man, he wouldn't do such a thing."

"As for why you helped me clean up the slag?"

"I see."

"I guess I don't know who said it, but I've been focusing most of my time on the salt and iron official camp recently."

"He's afraid that I'll delay the planting of white stacks because of this!"

"People, they're all a little selfish."

When Sang Hongyang saw Yan Yi say this, he immediately stopped saying anything, so he nodded slightly and stopped talking.

It's just that.

His eyes were still staring at the direction of Huo Guang's departure, as if he was thinking about something.

The other side.

Since Huo Guang persuaded the matter of transporting the iron slag in the Great Agricultural Order, he began to call servants when he returned, and recruited a large number of farmers who were working and those who fled from the northwest.

That is, recruitment!

As the autumn harvest season approaches, farmers are not easy to recruit, but homeless people are still very easy to recruit

Target.

There are workers.

Huo Guang began to survey the places where there was limestone, and began to excavate a large amount of clay, gypsum stone and other materials.

Wait for the iron slag to come back.

He ordered the three materials of iron ore, clay, and limestone to be evenly crushed and mixed together in a certain proportion to form the so-called raw meal.

Afterwards.

Put it into an earthen oven and calcine, and when it is almost burned, there will be clinker.

The latter thing.

It is to add gypsum stones, grind them into a fine powder, and mix them together according to the proportion.

This is the making of cement.

Looks simple.

However, the process of trying was extremely difficult, and in one of the steps, the calcination temperature had to reach at least more than 1,400 degrees, and it was difficult to burn such a high temperature in the small earthen furnace designed by Huo Guang at the beginning.

No way.

The calcination temperature was not enough, so Huo Guang could only change the earthen stove first.

Gradually.

The original low earthen furnace became a blast furnace with repeated modifications, and it became a blast furnace.

The calcination temperature is sufficient.

It is also important to try the mixing ratio of several materials in cement. The proportion is not right, and when it is used later, it will not be solidified.

Like the first batch of cement produced by Huo Guang.

After solidification!

He can even use his hands to break it at will like breaking a hard clod of soil, and some of them can't even solidify, and they become powder when he kicks his feet.

Such cement?

It's better to add glutinous rice juice and grass ash, what's the use?

Thereupon.

Without knowing the mixing ratio, Huo Guang could only lead the workers to start trying blindly. But it took him a lot of time to experiment, and a month passed in a blink of an eye.

In this month's time, some eyebrows have gradually been explored for the cement mixing ratio. Later, when the cement came out, he used it to build a wall.

Looking at the wall made of cement, Huo Guang was stunned and arranged for the workers to take turns to kick it, but he didn't kick the wall down.

Huo Guang was satisfied.

Of course.

After coming up with the formula of cement, Huo Guang did not rush to build a house at the first time, but took workers to build a cement road between the cement factory, the brick-burning kiln factory and the land in the northern circle outside Chang'an City.

Purpose!

The first is to make the workers proficient in using cement.

Meantime.

Having access to roads also reduces the workload in the future.

There is a road.

He doesn't have to worry that the houses he will build in the future will not be sold, even if they are outside the city, Huo Guang firmly believes that the new houses made of cement and red bricks will definitely attract attention.

After all, there is this house.

The effect of keeping out the cold can be more direct than a simple cotton quilt. Even if the cold wave is cold in the coming year, the people who live in this house will be able to resist the winter.

Wait for these to get through.

The money Huo Guang wants to make is not just as simple as selling a house.

Businessmen are profitable.

When they see Huo Guang making so much money, will they not learn?

Definitely!

But if they want to build a house like Huo Guang, they first need materials.

Such as cement, red bricks, and so on!

If there is desire, there will be demand, and if there is demand, Huo Guang will be able to make money and earn the money of those businessmen.

As long as it is needed by others, Huo Guang can sell it to them.

Of course.

The recipe is not sold!

If they can steal it, then they are in charge.

But all this is just a sprout in Huo Guang's mind, what will happen later, what kind of result will be, who knows?

It's still early!

One thing is certain: a month later, the road was built.

Trampling on the cement road two meters wide and more than ten centimeters thick, Huo Guang was quite excited.

Regardless of the surprised eyes of the workers!

He lay directly on this cement road, and after feeling this long-lost intimacy, he couldn't help but shout loudly: "Haha, the first cement road of the Han Dynasty, Lao Tzu has made it!"

The surrounding workers who had paid for it looked at him with curiosity in their eyes when they heard the voice.

Seem.

In the eyes of these ancients.

Huo Guang is a strange person, a person who behaves very strangely.

In the eyes of the workers, Huo Guangming was the son of the princely and general's family, but he seemed so out of place with the surrounding affairs.

While he was lying on the concrete floor.

I don't know who it is, but I suddenly clapped my palms and praised: "Huo Yilang is really a strange person, he can actually make such a magical thing to pave the road, making the road surface smooth and smooth, just like the surface of a windless lake."

"It's just—"

"Huo Yilang doesn't think it's a bit of a waste for such a magical good thing to be used to build roads?"

Suddenly hearing someone talking to him in such a tone, he couldn't help but have a touch of curiosity, raised his head slightly, and saw that the person who came turned out to be a wealthy businessman in Chang'an City, so he didn't bother to stand up, continued to lie on the cement road, and said indifferently: "Who should I be, it turned out to be Zhang Gong's doorman, Tian Jia!"

This person Huo Guang is no stranger.

The last time he raised funds for disaster relief, Tian Jia was one of the few businessmen who took the initiative to donate money.

used to be one of Zhang Tang's doormen before he became the imperial doctor.

It's a pity that the back.

As Zhang Tang began to attack the merchant businessman, the two had a conflict. The ways are different, and if they don't conspire with each other, they can be regarded as parting ways.

Right now.

Tian Jia's face changed for a while when he heard Huo Guang deliberately say this, but soon, he regained his demeanor and said with a smile: "Tian has no malicious intent, why does Huo Yilang squeeze people like this?"

"Runners? Hmph!" Huo Guang sneered, which seemed to reveal the meaning that you are not worthy of my run, but after thinking about it, he still spoke: "You just accused me of wasting money by using this thing to build roads, so according to your intentions, what should I repair?"

Tian Jia immediately said: "In the Yellow River basin and the Yangtze River basin, there are often floods. Once the embankment of the river bank bursts, the lives of the big men on both sides of the river will be threatened."

"Why didn't Huo Yilang use this magical thing on the embankment of the two rivers?"

"If it happens."

"It's a great merit!"

Listening to Tian Jia's eloquent conversation, Huo Guang smiled contemptuously and said, "A great merit? Hehe, Brother Tian stands on the commanding heights of morality, and he doesn't do anything, but he directs me to build the flood embankment project, which is easy and comfortable!"

Tian Jia frowned slightly, and said, "Why did Huo Yilang say this?"

Huo Guang smiled and didn't speak.

With his head resting on his arms, he looks particularly comfortable under the scorching sun.

Seeing this, Tian Jia immediately smiled and said, "It seems that Huo Yilang is dissatisfied with what Tian just said, so it should be regarded as nonsense."

"Still."

"It is rumored that Huo Yilang is going to build four cities near Chang'an City to defend Chang'an."

"Tian is curious."

"Huo Yilang made this magical thing, is it going to be used in the four cities that were built?"

When Tian Jia said this, Huo Guangluo stood up suddenly, looked directly at this loyal and strong rich businessman, and asked curiously, "The matter of enclosing land to build four cities is a plan that I told His Majesty, and I have not mentioned it in front of outsiders."

"Tian Jia!"

"How do people like you know about the affairs of the court?"