Chapter 683: Overarching Strategy, Cement! (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“We’ve experimented and learned that a mix of around three parts lime and one part clay has the best effect. But even so, this one compared to the previous slurries is like a soldier who retreated fifty paces laughing at a soldier who retreated one hundred paces,” Zhao Jingdian said respectfully.
Wang Chong nodded. Zhao Jingdian and his group had managed to produce some results from their research in this period. That they could find out the best ratio of lime and clay was already rather decent. Wang Chong also felt that the correct recipe used proportions like this.
However, just this was clearly far from enough. Wang Chong needed a cement path that could endure the weight of dozens of people at a time, of several thousand jin. It was obvious that the slurry before him would not be able to do this.
Moreover, just like Zhao Jingdian had said, cement of this level could truly only be called ‘slurry’. Something was evidently missing from the mix.
Wang Chong stood up and asked, “Jingdian, have you gotten any of that thing that I mentioned before?”
“Is Young Master speaking of that ‘lu ore’? A few days ago, as Young Master ordered, I sent people to a mountain near the Silk Road in the northwest and had them dig up the ore Young Master spoke of. But whether it is the ‘lu ore’ that Young Master spoke of still needs Young Master’s confirmation. Someone, bring that ore over.”
Zhao Jingdian waved his hand, and a few guards quickly brought in a box of ore.
As he looked at the red-brown stones within, Wang Chong inwardly smiled. This world naturally didn’t have anything like ‘lu ore1‘; it was just aluminum. But this world of martial arts only regarded metallic-looking ores with great importance.
As for ‘aluminum ore’, such a thing simply didn’t exist to them.
“It should be this.”
Wang Chong nodded as he looked at the ore in the box. Aluminum itself was not red-brown and only gained the color when it was mixed with iron. However, it was still rather different from true aluminum.
The color did make it much easier to identify.
In the era of the Great Tang, there was still no concept of aluminum2. Just like Zhao Jingdian, many people mistook the word ‘铝’ for ‘缕’ and were left completely confused. But this was of great convenience to Wang Chong, as it meant that no one would compete with him over aluminum in this era.
As for why Wang Chong had tasked Zhao Jingdian with finding aluminum ore, it was very simple. Wang Chong recalled that by mixing aluminum powder into cement, the cement could be made much tougher.
If one said that cement formed from lime and clay was the most basic form of cement, cement with the addition of aluminum ore was of a much higher level, nearing the complete form of cement.
Bang!
With a light slap of his palm and a burst of Stellar Energy, Wang Chong immediately pulverized the ore in the box into an extremely fine powder that slowly began to seep through the chinks in the box.
“Young Master?!”
Wang Chong’s move was far too unexpected. Even Zhao Jingdian was perplexed.
“Jingdian, call the masons over and have them mix the lime and clay in the ratio you described, three to one. After that, add in this lu ore powder. Oh, and pay attention to the amount of water you add. More water will result in a weaker product, so research the ideal amount of water to add.”
Patting off the aluminum ore powder from his hands, Wang Chong got up off the ground.
Now that he was beginning to look over his memories, Wang Chong was realizing that he had missed something. Besides lime and clay, the amount of water added was also important. This would affect the properties of the cement.
After all, even the best cement would immediately dissolve if thrown into the sea. What viscosity would it have to speak of?
The masons under Zhao Jingdian had clearly missed out on this factor as well.
“Yes, Young Master.”
A look of doubt flashed through Zhao Jingdian’s eyes, but he still nodded. He would always follow Wang Chong’s orders unconditionally.
The masons in the mine quickly began to work.
Wang Chong had more boxes of aluminum ore brought over and similarly smashed them into powder. He remained in the mine, personally supervising the process as the masons split up to work on separate piles and began to mix in aluminum ore powder and water in differing quantities.
The mixing and stirring required quite some time, and after all that, forty to fifty piles of ‘slurry’, each using a different ratio, were finished mixing in the mine. But the crucial part was the hardening.
This required no small amount of time, and the only thing one could do was wait.
Wang Chong appeared very patient, quietly standing in the mine as he waited. Wang Chong regarded this cement with just as much importance as the city of steel, or perhaps even more, as this was something that could alter the fate of the empire.
One hour later…
One of the cement masons in front of Wang Chong deferentially said, “Young Master, it’s about time!”
“Mm.”
Wang Chong nodded and gestured to a worker. The worker understood and walked over to the first pile of hardened slurry. Snatching at it, he immediately became excited and turned his head.
“I can’t believe it! Young Master, good news! After adding this lu ore powder, this slurry is several times harder!”
The worker was shaking in excitement.
These words immediately made the masons gather around the slurry in excitement. They had spent every day researching this slurry, but all their experiments had failed.
How could they not be excited when they heard that this slurry was now much harder?
“Young Master, this is a wonderful thing! If we have this kind of slurry, it will be much easier to construct things in the future!”
The worker snatched up a handful of slurry and presented it to Wang Chong, his face brimming with hope. In a flash, he had understood the enormous use this sort of thing had in construction.
But to his surprise, Wang Chong gave a slight frown. Although this slurry was a little more satisfactory, it was still far from what Wang Chong wanted.
When that worker snatched a handful of the hardened slurry, he immediately knew that the experiment had failed. Although this slurry was now much tougher, it was still too weak for the cement that Wang Chong wanted.
If one could snatch a slab with one’s hands, how could it withstand the strength of a carriage weighing several thousand jin?
“Try the next pile!”
Wang Chong’s words immediately dampened the mood of the excited crowd.
The second pile was tried, then the third, the fourth… As the amount of aluminum ore powder increased, the toughness also increased. By the fifth pile, it was no longer possible to take a slab with both hands.
In the mine, the crowd had initially been very excited, but as they saw the slurry getting harder and harder, its properties growing more outstanding, they actually began to grow quiet.
At the start, they had all had their doubts about the uses of mixing a slurry like this, but no one could say anything now. The scene that Wang Chong was revealing for them was basically a miracle to these masons who had spent their entire lives working with wood and brick.
No one had expected the Young Marquis of the Great Tang to not only be a masterful strategist on the battlefield, but also an incredible builder. Lime and clay were easily obtainable things, but in the Young Marquis’s hands, they were just as good as stone.
And the only special ingredient was that ‘lu ore’ that the marquis had obtained from somewhere.
Slowly, all the masons began to feel a heartfelt respect for this youth by their side. This time, Wang Chong had won their hearts not through his prowess on the battlefield, but through the domain that they were most skilled in.
A stalwart guard, dressed in full armor, strode over to Wang Chong and spoke in a resounding voice. “Young Master, we’ve tried it, and this pile of slurry is the toughest. It can probably sustain a weight of around eight hundred jin! Ordinary people probably wouldn’t be able to break it, only warriors!”
Buzz!
The words of this guard elicited cries of shock from the crowd. Although they had personally mixed these slurries, they still found the number of eight hundred jin difficult to believe.
This product could no longer be described as a ‘slurry’.
No slurry in the world could reach this level of toughness. This was already like the toughness of stone. All the people in the mine turned to Wang Chong, and even Zhao Jingdian’s eyes were wide open in shock.
Although he had been supervising the mine for quite some time, he would have never expected that Wang Chong’s brief visit would be enough to raise the toughness of the slurry to this level.
“Eight hundred jin—that’s good enough!”
Wang Chong gave a faint smile and a contented nod.
Eight hundred jin meant that even a strong man could not do any damage to this slurry. This was already approaching the demands that Wang Chong required for his cement.
Although this level of toughness was still very far from the several thousand jin that Wang Chong wanted, roads had never been built with pure cement.
Mix the cement with river sand, crushed rocks, and a few steel bars, and this kind of road would definitely be able to bear the weight of several thousand jin and come away unharmed!
Wang Chong turned to the nearby pile of cement and smiled.
Now that he had the right mixture to create cement, he could formally begin the plan. It was time to engage in large-scale mining, gathering large amounts of lime and clay and opening many aluminum ore mines. In addition, he also had to collect vast quantities of river sand and crushed stone, as well as order the sword-smithing clans and various smiths to begin forging steel bars…
With these things, he could construct for this world a massive, easily traversable, and developed network of roads. Although the future Great Tang would be just as vast, it would be much easier to travel to its various borders and react to any incidents on the frontier.
This was a major event that could alter the course of the Central Plains for the next few millennia!
Buzz!
As this thought passed through his mind, a boom suddenly rang out and that familiar voice began to speak.
“Congratulations to user for unlocking the mission, ‘The Empire’s Fury’!
“Criss-crossing roads are like the blood vessels of the earth, allowing one to rush across the lands. A swollen system and vast lands have also held down this massive and ancient empire, making it a sleeping lion. Yet a day will come when the lion awakes and releases a roar of fury that will shake the heavens. Congratulations to user for researching ‘cement’ and unlocking the first phase of The Empire’s Fury: The Fury of the Road.
“Cement is a weapon that can alter the fate of an empire! User is specially rewarded with 1000 points of Destiny Energy.”
The emotionless voice of the Stone of Destiny rang out in Wang Chong’s mind.
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1.The term for ‘lu ore’ is 缕矿, with 缕 sharing the same pronunciation as the word 铝, the Chinese term for aluminum, also known as aluminium.↩
2.The Chinese did not know of the element aluminum until the Europeans isolated it during the Industrial Age. As such, the Chinese character for aluminum was only created in the 1800s and was phonetically based. 铝 is pronounced like the ‘lu’ in the middle of ‘aluminum’.↩