Chapter 52: The Great Zhou Dynasty (I) Update
People often ask him: "Young Marquis, how did you learn smelting?" "Young Marquis, how did you hear about this precious steel?" "Young Marquis, how did you come up with this conveyor belt to transport ore carts? It's amazing!"
This is different from the countless exclamations and praises I have heard in recent days.
She was sure that Fu Zhen'er must have been amazed at first, but at this moment, she suddenly asked this question.
What do you want?
She just wanted to survive!
But if I tell you, who will believe it?
She said, "What I want is the same as before. Just to sit on this throne and lie there for the rest of my life."
But from Fu Zhen'er's perspective, she was clearly not convinced: "Then why put yourself through this hardship?"
While he was asking the question, he took the handkerchief handed to him by Xiying and wanted to wipe Liu Ziye's hands.
However, Liu Ziye withdrew his palms, which were covered with obvious wounds and calluses, and said to him, "Brother Fu, I can do it myself."
The two stood up in silence, and Liu Ziye did not delve further into the issue.
She had once told Fu Zhen'er that she wanted to live with dignity and that the people of Xiguan County could live freely, but there was no need to repeat it now.
Obviously, Fu Zhener was not satisfied with this answer.
She couldn't explain more.
I also don't want to say something against my will just to win over Fu Zhener like I did at the beginning.
The atmosphere became awkward for a moment.
Xiying was a little confused about the situation.
In his opinion, Patriarch Fu came all the way here, and the young marquis was also very happy when he first saw him!
Why did everything become so confusing after just a few words?
He scratched his head and ears, wanting to say something to ease the atmosphere. But now, he was much more self-aware and cautious than before.
Fortunately...
"Young Marquis."
Jin Jie's voice was heard, and he had already arrived in front of him.
Seeing Fu Zhen'er was also there, he followed suit and said, "Little Clan Leader Fu is here too."
"Captain Jin is fine." Fu Zhener nodded in response.
After the greetings, Jin Jiedao said to Liu Ziye, "Young Marquis, Mr. Hao said that he has already moved the manpower and supplies you need from Queping Mining Valley. I would like to ask you when you have time to check and see if they meet your needs."
Liu Ziye threw the handkerchief he had been holding stiffly for a while back into the basin, stood up and said, "I'll go check it out."
Jin Jie's eyes swept over her palm, which had been tightly clenched for a moment and had already left red lines, and he said calmly, "Yes."
Liu Ziye turned around as if nothing had happened and asked with a smile, "Brother Fu, do you want to go with me?"
"Of course." Fu Zhen'er took over his words and responded in a relaxed manner.
Before returning to the camp at the foot of the mountain, Liu Ziye suddenly had an idea and pulled Fu Zhener and walked back a distance into the depths of the mining valley.
Along the way, he meticulously explained to Fu Zhen'er the transmission tracks in the mountains, every fork in the road, the quarrying areas designed and divided on both sides, and his plans for this entire mining valley...
As they talked, the inexplicable entanglement between the two of them dissipated completely.
Everyone passing by in the mining area would say that the relationship between the young marquis and the young patriarch Fu is really good!
Liu Ziye and Fu Zhener walked side by side in front, while Jin Jie and Xiying followed behind with a few steps between them.
Liu Ziye stepped on the gravel road beneath his feet and asked Fu Zhener.
"What do you think of this cement road, Brother Fu?"
Fu Zhener had long discovered the difference of this path and its benefits.
Hearing Liu Ziye ask this question with some pride, he immediately smiled and said, "Flat, stable, and solid! Ziye, you can actually come up with such a great way to pave the road. With a road surface like this, carts will surely travel many times faster!"
“It’s actually very simple.”
Liu Ziye said, "In this Queping Mining Valley, the mountain structure is mostly stone, and the iron ore you see now. When I was refining the iron ore here, I found that if you mix crushed limestone, water, and iron ore together, and then add clay in a ratio of two to one to limestone, and put it into that machine..."
Liu Ziye said this, pointing his finger at a large wooden barrel that was erected high and rotated continuously, pulled by a tall windmill.
"Put it in the cement mixer and keep stirring. Pour it out and put it in the furnace to burn. Then add gypsum, gravel, and water and continue stirring. The final product is the "cement" I use to pave these roads!"
Fu Zhen'er nodded repeatedly. Liu Ziye then asked, "Brother Fu, how long did it take you to get here from Yucheng?"
Fu Zhen'er said, "Most of the road is accessible by horseback, but there are a few rocky sections where you need to dismount and walk. But I'm considered lucky. This time I came with the transport team arranged by Mr. Du Hui, with seven or eight carts. The journey was much more difficult. From leaving Yucheng to arriving at Queping Mining Valley, it took a total of seven days."
"Yes." Liu Ziye nodded.
She then asked, "If I pave the entire road from Yucheng to this place with this cement, how many days do you think it would take for the transport convoy to arrive?"
Upon hearing this, Fu Zhen'er opened her eyes slightly in surprise and looked over: "Are all the roads paved like this?"
He couldn't help but stop and stepped on the ground again and again with his feet, feeling the flat and hard touch under his feet.
"If that's the case, any carriage can get there in three days at most!" Fu Zhen'er asserted.
Liu Ziye was delighted to hear him say this. "That's what I'm going to do next, Brother Fu! Let's go back to the camp and see how Mr. Hao is preparing."
"Okay, let's go now!"
After that, the four of them left the mining valley and returned to the west side of the camp, the area that Fu Zhener had seen before, which was being developed and several workshops were being built.
Hao Wenchang was leading his men, directing the layout of this area. When he saw the young marquis and his entourage, he hurried over to greet them.
"Young Marquis!"
Hao Wenchang was also an old minister of the Xiguan Palace. Although he was not as good as Du Hui, who had been working in the palace since the beginning of the Xiguan Prince's enfeoffment, he had also been working in the palace for seven or eight years.
He is not very old, only in his thirties, and his physical strength and energy are relatively strong. That is why Du Hui sent him here to assist Liu Ziye in handling specific affairs.
"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Hao." Liu Ziye greeted him habitually.
Led by Hao Wenchang, several people walked into a workshop that had already been set up.
This workshop hadn't yet displayed any signage, so it was impossible to tell from the outside what it was used for. When they entered, they saw only some materials Hao Wenchang had prepared according to a list compiled by the Young Marquis of Xiguan.
In addition, what surprised Xiying, Jin Jie and even Fu Zhener was the two people they saw waiting in this workshop.
It turned out to be Ah Huan and Ah Bi!
Liu Ziye came in and they both bowed according to the rules: "Young Marquis!"
Liu Ziye nodded without surprise. Including the two of them, it was obvious that Ah Huan and Ah Bi were also the people she specifically asked to come over.
Xiying shouted in surprise: "Sister Huan, Ah Bi, why are you here too?"
He wanted to say, "The conditions here are so tough, why don't you girls stay in the Marquis' Mansion instead of suffering here?" But when the words came to his lips, he thought, "Even their young Marquis can lead by example and stay here for more than a month, so who can't come?"
Ah Huan glanced at Liu Ziye, who showed no intention of restraining them, and said, "We followed the Marquis's instructions and were sent here by Mr. Du."
Liu Ziye nodded and said to the two, "I originally wanted to call you here earlier, but I didn't have the time to settle you down and test your skills these days. Now it's all good, this marquis can be of great use!"
When the two heard that the young marquis wanted to check their "skills", they were both shocked.
But since they're here, there has to be a knife like this! Moreover, although they were kept in Yucheng Marquis's Mansion by the young marquis during this period, they worked really hard every day and completed their homework twice as hard!
That "study room" and the "R&D room" in the backyard of the Marquis's Mansion, which the two of them controlled the keys to, were both polished by them!
Thinking of this, Ah Huan and Ah Bi calmed down a bit and each replied, "Yes. We will obey the young marquis's test and orders."
Fu Zhen'er asked curiously, "Kung Fu? Ziye, do you want Ah Huan and Ah Bi to start studying martial arts?"
"No, no."
Liu Ziye was in a good mood and also spoke in a literary tone: "This 'kung fu' is a hundred times better than simple leg, foot, sword and gun kung fu!"
She thought for a moment and then said, "How about I show Brother Fu this 'Kung Fu' later?"
"Okay, then I'll wait and see." Fu Zhen'er said with great interest.
After a brief conversation, Liu Ziye walked into the workshop and checked the materials on the ground.
Then he turned and asked Fu Zhen'er, "Brother Fu, I just said that I want to build a cement road from here all the way to Xiguan Houfu. Do you think it's actually possible?"
Fu Zhen'er pondered for a moment. "Ziye, your idea of a cement road is a good one. I believe that if you're determined to do it, you can definitely pull it off! However, we shouldn't rush it just yet. From Yucheng to Queping Valley, it's nearly two hundred miles. To build a road passable by traffic, it would need to be at least two or three feet wide. Both the raw stone and the manpower required would undoubtedly be substantial. Right now, Mr. Du is doing everything he can to recruit all the talent, manpower, and livestock that could be used by the Marquisate for this Queping Mining Valley."
He looked at Liu Ziye frankly and said, "If we start paving this road at the same time, I'm afraid it will be difficult to sustain in a short period of time."
After saying these words, Fu Zhen'er was worried that it would dampen Liu Ziye's unprecedented enthusiasm.
Not only did he think so, but everyone in the room also thought so.
Hao Wenchang said at the right moment, "Young Clan Leader Fu is truly experienced in handling clan affairs, and his concerns are well-founded. The Marquis once mentioned to me the idea of building a cement road. In my opinion, a smooth road connecting Yucheng and Queping Valley is absolutely necessary! Once completed, the changes it will bring will undoubtedly be enormous."
"However, we must eat one bite at a time. Both human and animal power are extremely scarce in Xiguan County. Take this Queping Mining Valley, for example. If it weren't for the ingenious blueprints left by the Xiguan Prince, and your tireless and genius-like layout design, how could a mere hundred people have built such a large mining area and successfully smelted more than ten furnaces of fine iron every day?"
Jin Jie and Xiying were there the whole time. Liu Ziye didn't ask any questions, and as guards, they wouldn't express their opinions without permission.
But obviously, they also agreed with what Fu Zhener and Hao Wenchang said.
Liu Ziye listened to them, but he was not anxious. He asked, "What if we also rely more on the power of machinery?"
"Young Marquis, even if we're producing machinery now, we still need people! Besides, it's not easy to lay a gear conveyor belt like the mountain road here for a distance of hundreds of miles. Queping Mountain has water and strong winds, but if we want to build a road, wind and water won't be so easy to use! Most of these machines still require animal and human power to move."
Hao Wenchang analyzed.
He did not intend to deliberately express negative opinions on the ideas of the young Marquis of Xiguan, nor did he have any intention of delaying or condoning laziness. Instead, he analyzed the facts realistically and put forward what he thought was the most practical opinion.
However, what surprised him and everyone else was...
Liu Ziye smiled slightly and asked, "What if I say that we can do without animal and human power? In other words, we can reduce the need for animal and human power to one-tenth of what it is now?"
What! ?
Hao Wenchang looked at the young Marquis of Xiguan in disbelief. "If we don't use human or animal power, then... what else can we use? Those machines and tools, they can't move on their own, right?"
Liu Ziye said, "If you say it moves on its own, there's nothing wrong with that. What I want to show you now is 'automatic movement without external force.'"
This time, not only Hao Wenchang, but Fu Zhener also couldn't help but change her expression and looked at Liu Ziye in disbelief.
Not to mention Xiying, she had been watching it for a long time, like watching a zombie... no, like watching a god descend to earth, waiting for their young marquis to perform a magic trick.
Who would have thought that their young marquis would become more and more extraordinary!
It moves on its own. If it isn't a god descending to earth, then what else could it be?
Jin Jie couldn't help showing some doubts, staring at the young Marquis of Xiguan who made such "wild remarks".
If you look closely, you can find it.
His eyes showed more of a desire for the answer to the mystery to be revealed rather than complete disbelief and surprise.
After all, if the Shaman's voice is true.
Whether the young Marquis of Xiguan is a human or a god, or whether she has some way to obtain the help of the shaman's power, these are not nonsense.
So, what she said about "automatic operation without external force" is not impossible!
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