The previous day, Princess Xin Yue had once again witnessed new marvels alongside Chu Chen. Today, she ventured out of the palace again, pestering Chu Chen to take her to see the road construction. She was very curious about the new method of building roads with cement and blue bricks.
It was a bit tough on the Empress, who had another busy day of reviewing memorials.
Outside the outer city of Shuangyue City, work was in full swing.
The two sat in a luxurious carriage, surrounded by over a dozen guards on horseback, with more than a hundred soldiers following behind.
This time, Chu Chen wasn't afraid of being assassinated outside the city. He was already in the Qi Transformation realm, one of the five strongest individuals in the Yun Yue Kingdom.
Moreover, the road workers outside the city were all militiamen trained on the farm, capable of fighting with the tools they held.
"You, I really don't know what's so interesting about building roads."
Chu Chen patted the delicate hand he held with a hint of helplessness.
Princess Xin Yue's face flushed slightly. "I'm just curious about how your invented cement and blue bricks will be used on a large scale. Last time, this princess only did a small test."
"Then watch, watch."
Chu Chen helplessly lifted the carriage curtain for her and secured it.
At this moment, the carriage stopped not far away, without disturbing the workers by moving forward. Although some people cast curious glances, they dared not look too long upon seeing the carriage's luxury.
Princess Xin Yue looked out of the carriage at the workers toiling away.
"Keep it up! Our task today is this one hundred and twenty-foot section of road. We must excavate it to a depth of one foot!"
"Don't even think about slacking off. Think about the food and drink you had yesterday! Think about your families at home. You absolutely cannot let your families and fellow villagers be ashamed of you!"
"Labor is glorious! A beautiful future awaits us!"
The supervisor waved a small Yun Yue flag, shouting slogans to encourage the workers and supervise them.
When a dump cart arrived, he stopped shouting and directed his workers to shovel the soil into the cart.
"Is this for excavating the roadbed? Why dig a foot deep?"
"Well, it's not just for people to walk on, but also for horse-drawn carts carrying goods and passengers. If we don't dig deep enough and directly lay cement and blue bricks, the road surface will crack before long, and then we'll have to repair it, which is troublesome."
"I see."
Princess Xin Yue nodded, withdrawing her gaze from the distance and looking at a closer spot.
This was the thirty-foot area that had been excavated for testing yesterday. Now, someone in the Martial Disciple realm was repeatedly smashing the ground with a large, flat-bottomed iron block. After he finished, a large iron sledge was pushed and rolled over it.
Princess Xin Yue could understand these actions; they were for leveling the ground. However, it was unprecedentedly extravagant to use iron tools. Previously, large stones were used.
"Why use large iron blocks? Didn't you say iron is scarce? Those look like they consumed quite a bit of iron?"
"Not really. They are all made from melted scrap iron, forged casually. Most of them are made for skilled apprentices to practice with, with only a craftsman supervising. The rest are completed solely by apprentice craftsmen."
Chu Chen glanced at them and explained.
These iron tools were forged from pig iron. While softer than wrought iron, they were heavier than stones of the same size, making them more suitable for such tasks.
After several passes, Princess Xin Yue couldn't see the bottom clearly, but judging by the supervisor's instructions, the ground should have been leveled.
Then, on the other side, Princess Xin Yue saw four or five workers busy pouring cement onto the ground, then adding fine sand and small stones. They then used shovels to mix it thoroughly, left a gap in the middle, poured water, and waited for a moment, which also served as a short break.
Afterward, they began pushing the cement and other materials from the sides into the middle, then shoveling and mixing them evenly.
Finally, they shoveled it into the dump carts, which were then pushed to the edge of the pit. Two people worked together to pour it in.
Then, several workers jumped down and began to spread and level the cement.
This was repeated several times until the cement and other materials were level with the surface.
Then, a flat wooden plank was used to sweep back and forth across the road surface to level it.
"Huh? Aren't you going to lay blue bricks?"
"Uh, this is just a regular road, no need for blue bricks. Only pedestrian paths will be paved with them to prevent horse-drawn carts and the like from injuring pedestrians."
Chu Chen scratched his head and continued, "However, we won't be laying pedestrian paths for now. We're a bit short on blue bricks. Her Majesty has allocated them for building houses."
"Ah? Mother has allocated the blue bricks for building houses?" Princess Xin Yue said in surprise.
"Yes. Not only does the imperial palace's ground need to be paved with blue bricks, but even some palaces and government offices are being rebuilt with them."
Chu Chen sighed. He had originally planned to use them for urban renovation, but the Empress had taken them.
"Why is Mother using blue bricks to pave the imperial palace grounds? Can't it be paved with cement like this?"
Princess Xin Yue asked with a frown.
"It can be done, but on rainy days, this cement ground will accumulate water. For a ground paved with blue bricks, the water will flow through the gaps, so there will be much less water on the surface of the blue bricks, and it's more aesthetically pleasing, isn't it?"
"Hmm~ That's true. But why for government offices?"
"That's because Shuangyue City is extremely valuable in terms of land. Official residences have long been insufficient for office space, and the scattered locations of government offices consume a lot of time when officials travel. If we build buildings with blue bricks and cement, we can accommodate more people in the same area."
Chu Chen sighed again. This was essentially a government office building. It was remarkable that the Empress had thought of this without any guidance, using up all his limited blue bricks. He was truly speechless.
However, it wasn't without its benefits. At least administrative efficiency had improved, right?
Princess Xin Yue nodded. She recalled the carriages of the ministers when they left court. Traveling back and forth indeed took time, and the Six Ministries had their own residences in the city, with considerable distances between them.
"Aren't roads without blue bricks prone to water accumulation?"
At this moment, Princess Xin Yue suddenly asked.
"I've already thought about this problem, which you've also considered. Don't worry, you see that empty space next to the road where cement hasn't been poured?"
Chu Chen said, pointing into the distance.
Princess Xin Yue looked closely and indeed saw it. Her eyes darted, and she said, "That's a drainage channel, isn't it?"
"Haha, indeed. You can call it a channel, but in reality, I intend to build a large underground sewer, six and a half feet high. This height will not only withstand continuous heavy rain but also facilitate cleaning out accumulated garbage inside."
The empty space Chu Chen pointed to was seven feet wide and six and a half feet high, reserved for the construction of a large underground drainage channel.