Chapter 275 Upgrading Equipment
However, when the favorability value reached its peak, it dropped again and finally stopped steadily at a certain value. Although there were slight fluctuations, it did not soar as it did just now.
The system was happy for a moment, but upon seeing this, it couldn't help but sigh. Looking at the host and Ying Zheng on the screen, its little eyes were full of expectation, "You better do your best!"
Zhao Yuanxi had no idea what was going on in Ying Zheng's mind, so he found a lot of useful things and gave them all to him.
"Take out more of these things and show them to the ministers. Don't hide them in the palace."
Ying Zheng pursed his lips slightly, lowered his eyebrows, and concealed the dissatisfaction in his eyes. So he went to such great lengths just to make these glassware famous.
Having experienced Qingci's tricks before, Ying Zheng felt helpless and a little funny.
…
After seeing Ying Zheng off, Zhao Yuanxi began to plan the road construction project that he was about to take over.
There are two main types of roads officially built by the Qin State. One is the Qin Chi Road, which is used to connect Xianyang with various counties, military towns, and transportation hubs, similar to modern national highways or expressways; the other is the Qin Zhi Road, which is a military road specially built by the Qin State, responsible for the rapid mobilization of troops and supplies.
The world was not yet settled, and the Qin State had not yet started large-scale road construction. Currently, only some roads had been built in important places within the Qin State to facilitate the mobilization of domestic materials.
Zhao Yuanxi's plan was to first build a road from Xianyang directly to Yunzhong County.
This was not for her own convenience, but to deal with the risk of the Huns moving south. Yunzhong County would become a major granary of the Qin State within five years, and the Huns could not help but covet this piece of fat meat.
The Great Wall has not yet been closed. If we want to stop the invasion of the Huns, we must be able to quickly send reinforcements to Yunzhong County. Building a road to Yunzhong County is a must. Moreover, the grain produced in Yunzhong County can be sent to the heartland of Qin State, which can also alleviate the problem of insufficient food and grass for the Qin army. The trade activities between Qin State and the Huns will also rely entirely on this road. The number of caravans coming and going will only increase, and the tolls that can be collected will not be low.
In times of peace, this is a road to wealth; in times of war, it is a great way for the Qin army to defeat the Huns.
Zhao Yuanxi found a map and called Meng Xi over to tell him the plan.
"If we were to build a road from Xianyang to Yunzhong County, it would be at least 1,500 miles long. We would need to cut through mountains, dig roads, fill in river valleys, and build bridges. It would take at least three years and require the mobilization of tens of thousands of civilian workers. Is the Queen Mother really going to do this?"
If the king sends people, then the cost can be disregarded. After all, the migrant workers need to perform labor, and the Qin treasury does not need to spend much.
But what the Queen Mother meant just now was not to make those migrant workers do labor, but to hire them.
Feeding tens of thousands of people for three years is no small sum, and even paying them wages is an astronomical figure.
"Don't worry, Mr. Meng. I can afford it."
If she hadn't calculated the bill clearly, she wouldn't have planned to build this road.
"Many people in Handan County don't own land and rely on being tenant farmers for a living. Besides paying various taxes, they also have to endure high rents from the wealthy. If we recruit people from Handan County, it will not only ease the living pressure of the tenant farmers, but also reduce the amount of money and grain they spend."
Most of the roads from Yunzhong County to Xianyang are within the scope of Handan County, so recruiting troops nearby naturally saves time and effort.
"As for the things you mentioned about cutting through mountains and digging roads, filling up river valleys, and building bridges, we'll have to rely on Master Meng and the rest of the Mo family to contribute."
Zhao Yuanxi didn't know how to build roads, and the current road construction methods were different from what she knew.
He didn't know how to build a road, but she came up with another idea.
Steam engines are currently only used in production activities and have not yet been developed for transportation functions. Trains cannot be built, but a simplified version of a steam-powered car is not impossible.
Even if this vehicle is used to replace manual labor in pulling large rammers, or is used to compact the ground up and down, it is much better than manpower. It would be even better if it could be used to transport stones, mud, sand and other things.
Zhao Yuanxi handed the new task target to Meng Xi. Hearing that the Queen Mother wanted to build such a thing, he felt overwhelmed. If he had known earlier, he should not have come. It would be better to let Li come to take charge of this matter.
"Master Meng, don't say it's impossible lightly. Think about when you built those steam-powered textile machines, you also felt helpless, but you finally made them!" Zhao Yuanxi cheered him up.
The corners of Meng Xi's mouth twitched. "But this is not something that can be accomplished overnight."
Thinking back to the beginning, just one machine like that had already taken him more than half a year. Even after it was built, problems still occurred from time to time. It was not until the Queen Mother took out the so-called rubber that the hidden dangers of the machine were truly solved.
The Queen Mother wanted to repair the road as soon as possible, so where would she find the time for him to research this vehicle that could pull heavy objects?
"That's fine. The specific road construction will be handled by the Engineer. Master Meng only needs to cooperate and can devote more time and energy to researching this new vehicle."
Meng Xi knew he couldn't refuse, so he could only agree, "I'll do my best."
Hearing this, Zhao Yuanxi knew that the matter was half successful.
Although their theoretical knowledge is a little behind, they are all geniuses. She believes that what foreigners can do, they can also do.
After the matter here came to an end, Zhao Yuanxi set his sights on Han Chong and the others.
What's the most difficult part of road construction? It's not laying the rammed earth or transporting the sand and gravel, but breaking through the rocks that stand in the way.
Although gunpowder is indeed a bit dangerous, it is really useful.
When Li Bing first opened up the mountain, he poured water into the cracks in the mountain. In the winter, the water would freeze and expand when it cooled, causing the rocks to crack. However, that was a specific solution under specific conditions and could not be applied to all road construction projects.
Most of the time, it still depends on migrant workers to dig it out bit by bit.
Now that she knew there was a way to be lazy, how could Zhao Yuanxi resist not using it? Moreover, Han Chong and Shi Sheng were almost ready to make the explosives, and she was just trying to make it appear faster.
Qiyun Pavilion has been cleaned up, but Han Zhong and Shi Sheng look increasingly sloppy.
Zhao Yuanxi asked quietly, "What's wrong with your hair and clothes?"
Han Zhong looked up at the sky awkwardly, while Shi Sheng lowered his head to look at the ground.
The two hesitated for a long time before they were willing to confess honestly, "The Queen Mother said before that you also caused an explosion, and I want to repeat it."
Who would have thought that this thing was so powerful? If they had not followed the Queen Mother's instructions and experimented with small amounts repeatedly on things they didn't understand, they might not have seen the Queen Mother now.
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