dognovel Chapter 437 Cement (1)
Chapter 437 Cement (1)
Choi Ji-ho's Adam's apple bobbed slightly.
Since heading south for disaster relief, Shi Wanxia hasn't had a proper rest.
During the day, she followed Crown Prince Shen Yanzhou to investigate the disaster and formulate relief policies. At night, she had to check the accounts of grain and medicine. Sometimes, when she was busy until the early hours of the morning, he could see her silhouette as she bent over her desk by candlelight as he passed by her room.
When he was dispensing the medicine, he noticed that there was a patch of mud on her sleeve and that the stray hairs by her temples were wet from the rain and stuck to her cheeks, but she didn't bother to tidy them up at all, as she was only focused on asking Zhao Hu something.
"Lord Cui, could you give my wife an extra packet of medicine? She's been coughing since yesterday, and I'm worried about passing it on to the child."
A man dressed in ripped shorts squeezed forward, clutching a cloth bag tightly in his hand, which contained half a bag of brown rice he had just received. His eyes shone as if they were about to burst into flames.
“We know the rules, but my child is only three years old and can’t take any more fuss…”
Cui Zhihao withdrew his gaze, loosened the medicine packet with his fingertips, and deliberately took an extra packet when handing it over: "Take it, decoct it according to the prescription, and take it once in the morning and once in the evening."
"Is there enough grain? If not, go to the accounting office to make up the difference."
The man took the medicine packet, his fingers trembling, and thanked him repeatedly. He almost fell into the mud when he turned around, but he held the medicine and food in his arms tightly, as if they were his lifeblood.
The surrounding disaster victims also gathered around the piles of food and medicine. Some held the coarse rice and shed tears, while others pressed the medicine packets to their chests and whispered, "May the Bodhisattva protect us."
The chaos under the shed was real—the cries of children, the inquiries of adults, and the rumbling of carts and horses rolling over the mud were all mixed together.
But Cui Zhihao knew in his heart that as long as the medicine and food could be delivered in time, the chaos would not reach its root.
His only concern was that ever-busy green figure.
Inside the makeshift command tent outside the city, the atmosphere was a bit more somber than outside.
Shi Wanxia stood in front of the desk, her fingertips holding a scroll of map, her brows slightly furrowed.
On the map, several black lines marked with vermilion represent the main roads leading to the disaster area, but at this moment, two sections are circled in red—those are the sections of road that Zhao Hugang mentioned are blocked again.
"You mean, the Xipo Road and Liuhe Bridge, which were just opened up three days ago, have been blocked again by landslides and mudslides?"
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable seriousness.
"Isn't the cleaning team I asked you to arrange enough?"
Zhao Hu stood before the desk, his back ramrod straight, but sweat beaded on his forehead: "Lord Shi, the cleanup team has tripled its manpower, and even invited able-bodied men from nearby villages, but the landslide area on the west slope is too large."
"Robbles rolled down and blocked half of the ditch, and tree stumps were still stuck in the mud; digging made it difficult to move."
"The Liuhe Bridge is even more troublesome. The silt washed down from upstream has filled the bridge arches, and now even the river has changed course. To clean it up, we'll have to build temporary embankments first..."
He paused, then lowered his voice.
"At the current pace, it will take at least five more days to open the road. If it rains again, it will probably be delayed even further."
Shen Yanzhou sat on a folding chair to the side, tapping his fingertips on the armrest, his gaze fixed on the map, but occasionally glancing at Shi Wanxia's profile.
She wore a plain-colored ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) with a blue cloth cloak over it. The hem of the cloak was covered with mud spots, indicating that she had visited the site during the day.
When she's thinking, she unconsciously bites her lower lip, her eyelashes droop, casting a small shadow under her eyes, making her look softer than usual, yet her tightly furrowed brows reveal a tenacious spirit.
Shi Wanxia didn't speak, her fingertips tracing back and forth across the traffic jams on the map.
With roads blocked, supplies of food and medicine cannot be delivered, tents for disaster victims cannot be transported, let alone timber and bricks for post-disaster reconstruction.
We can't rely on manpower to carry things all the time; it's too inefficient and prone to accidents.
A thought suddenly flashed through her mind—cement.
In my past life, I witnessed the cement-making process on a construction site, where crushed stone, clay, and iron ore powder were mixed in specific proportions.
It solidifies after being mixed with water, and its hardness is even stronger than that of stone, making it perfect for road construction and dam building.
Although we don't have modern equipment now, we can always figure out a simple recipe from memory.
"Shiqing".
Suddenly, Shi Wanxia spoke up, calling out to the girl guarding outside the tent.
"Bring me paper and pen, I need to jot something down."
Shi Qing quickly brought in the brush and ink and laid out the Xuan paper. Shi Wanxia walked to the table, picked up the brush, and wrote as she recalled: "Cement formula: three dou of limestone, two dou of clay, and half a dou of iron ore powder. First, crush them into powder, sift them, mix them, add water and stir until it becomes a paste."
"After pouring, it needs to be covered and sprinkled with water; it will solidify after seven days..."
She wrote meticulously, even noting the coarseness of the crushed grains and the frequency of watering. Occasionally, if she couldn't remember a detail, she would stop writing, frown, and then continue writing after a moment.
Zhao Hu stood to the side, his eyes widening and his mouth almost unable to close.
During the days he followed Shi Wanxia south, he had long been amazed by the woman's abilities—she could recognize disaster relief prescriptions, calculate complicated food and medicine accounts, and soothe disgruntled disaster victims.
But he had never heard of "cement," let alone that you could build roads and bridges by mixing stones and clay.
Looking at the densely packed characters on the Xuan paper, he suddenly thought of his three daughters.
My eldest daughter is ten years old this year, and she can only do embroidery.
The second and third daughters had never been to school; they spent their days learning needlework from their mother.
Zhao Hu suddenly had a thought: when he got back, he must ask his wife to hire more tutors, whether it be classics or arithmetic, so that his daughters could learn them.
It turns out that women can be so knowledgeable and capable. His daughters should also have the opportunity to see such a world.
Shen Yanzhou's gaze had long since shifted from the map to Shi Wanxia's hand holding the pen.
Her hands weren't slender; her fingertips had calluses from frequently holding a pen and checking accounts, but they were very steady, and her handwriting was neat and crisp, unlike the delicate handwriting of ordinary women, but rather carrying a heroic air.
"cement?"
He suddenly spoke, breaking the silence inside the tent.
"Can this thing really be used to build roads and dams?"
Shi Wanxia stopped writing and turned to look at him: "Yes, it is extremely hard after solidification. It is not afraid of water immersion or heavy pressure. It can be used to repair bridges and roads that have been washed away."
"It's much faster and more durable than using stones to ram the earth. It can be used for rebuilding houses and building river embankments later on."
Shen Yanzhou's fingertips paused, a thought flashing through his mind—if this "cement" were used to reinforce the walls of the capital or to build fortresses on the border, wouldn't that be...?
The city's defenses will be several times stronger, resulting in fewer casualties when foreign enemies attack.
The moment the thought crossed his mind, he immediately gave a wink to his trusted confidant beside him.
The trusted confidant understood and quietly withdrew, undoubtedly to warn those inside and outside the tent that not a single word spoken in the tent today should be leaked out.
If such a "magical artifact" were to get out, it would likely attract countless covetous eyes, and would not only fail to save the disaster victims but also bring trouble to Shi Wanxia.