Next, Kangxi asked the craftsmen from the Imperial Household Department to demonstrate how to cast reinforced concrete slabs and use lime as an adhesive to bond blue bricks.

In order to let this group of people see the effect of cement intuitively, Kangxi took them with him to observe the condition of the stone slabs and blue bricks closely for several days.

It was not until they personally verified it that they confirmed that this cement could really replace glutinous rice mortar!

After learning about the cost of cement, the most excited people were the officials from the Ministry of Industry.

The Ministry of Works sends so many people out every year to repair water conservancy projects, but the funds that can be allocated to each place are extremely limited. One of the most important expenses in building water conservancy projects is glutinous rice mortar.

If this expenditure is greatly reduced, they will no longer have to look at the Ministry of Revenue's attitude when they go out to repair water conservancy projects in the future, and they will not have to worry about being reprimanded for not doing their job well. How can they not be excited?

Kangxi immediately made the decision and asked the Minister of Works to send people to Jizhou to select a site for building an official kiln.

Starting next year, he wants all water conservancy facilities in the Qing Dynasty to be utilised with cement.

Moreover, this year's rainy season has passed, and the official kiln will definitely be completed before the New Year. The cement produced by then can be used to pave a few roads in the suburbs of Beijing to test the effect.

When the others heard this, they couldn't help but feel jealous of Erdenbu. He was just sitting at home and all the credit came to him.

Forguo Chong happily agreed.

After finalizing the official kiln issue, Kangxi began to think about how to reward Yinreng.

Yinreng and Guwalgiya were not short of money, and Yuqing Palace had no children, so he couldn't transfer the reward to his children.

Kangxi was depressed.

After much thought, Kangxi could not think of any reward, so he wrote a letter to ask Yinreng for his opinion.

What opinion could Yinreng have?

Of course he wants money!

Like Lao Jiu, he was a money-grubber, but he spent all the money he collected on ordinary people.

After Kangxi received the reply letter, he saw the words clearly written on it:

"My son is short of money, but it's not much, only eight million taels."

The veins on his forehead twitched violently.

This bastard thing!

Did he think the silver came from the wind?

Eight million is not too much!

Yinzhi secretly withheld more than four million taels of silver that he robbed from the Japanese pirates, and he turned a blind eye to it. How could you still want to get more money from him?

What did he do to spend so much money!

Kangxi was angry, but also a little suspicious.

It was this doubt that made him give the silver away happily.

He wanted to see what Yinreng was planning to do with such a large sum of money!

After giving the silver, Kangxi felt that this kind of reward could not be made public, so he gritted his teeth and rewarded Guaerjia with a garden.

When Yinreng learned that eight million taels of silver would be delivered to him in batches, he was still a little confused.

He was just talking nonsense, but he didn't expect the old man to actually give it to him!

If he had known earlier, he would have asked for more! It’s not easy to get money out of Kangxi’s pocket.

In early October, the weather in Weihaiwei has gradually become cooler.

Just when the first payment of compensation from Japan arrived, good news came from Yinsi.

He found crude oil in Blackwater!

Yinreng could no longer stay there.

The distillation instrument he developed is still in Beijing, so he has to go back to Beijing to find someone to study petroleum!

But Yinreng stopped again when the action was only halfway through.

He is living well in Weihaiwei now, why should he return to the capital to be tortured by Kangxi?

Besides, lime has been developed, and lime mortar can be used for road construction.

However, the composition of crude oil is too complex, and the only things they can use now are asphalt and kerosene lamps.

The other components are simply not useful with the current level of technology.

Moreover, researching petroleum requires a huge amount of manpower and material resources, especially talented people who are good at chemistry. If he makes any noise in the capital, Kangxi will probably be furious again.

So Yinreng sent a letter directly to Yinsi, asking him to pump out a few barrels of crude oil and send them to Weihaiwei, and to set up a restricted area where the crude oil mine was discovered, and then return directly to Beijing to do his job.

When he returns to Beijing, he will be rewarded handsomely.

Yinsi was a little confused when he received the letter. When his second brother wanted to find this thing, he was very anxious and even had a big quarrel with the emperor. Why was his reaction so calm now that he found it?

However, despite his doubts, he still followed Yinreng's instructions, dug out a few barrels of crude oil, and sent someone to deliver them to Weihaiwei.

He rested for a few days and then returned directly to Beijing.

Yinreng focused on infrastructure construction in Weihaiwei.

Half a year had passed since the cement was successfully produced, and the military base had already taken shape.

The original dormitory building was renovated and completed in September, and the soldiers have already moved in.

At first everyone was worried - such a high floor, would it collapse?

But after living there for a while, when they were asked to live in tents, they all felt that buildings were better.

In addition to the dormitory building, a boiler room was specially built in the camp for soldiers to take a shower.

There is also a cafeteria, a medical room, and a library.

The first few houses that were built were directed by Yinreng and formed into small courtyards.

Zhou Hai, his deputy general, and several thousand commanders were allowed to live there.

It was also specifically pointed out that they could bring their parents, wives and children into the military camp.

This is called "following the army."

Everything seemed unreal to the people in the military camp.

But it is obvious that the loyalty and enterprising spirit of the soldiers in Weihaiwei have increased by several levels.

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!