Food is the paramount concern of the people.
As long as the problem of feeding the populace is solved,
The population will grow geometrically.
With people, everything can be changed! kanδん
The four hundred million population at the founding of the nation
Had grown to sixteen hundred million by the time Fang Er time-traveled!
In less than a century, China's population had quadrupled!
With this massive population base, there were countless talents in later generations!
As long as the population of the Great Tang can increase rapidly, similarly, no one can stop the Great Tang's development!
Fang Er, along with Ma Chao, Tie Lao Ba, and a thousand Heavenly Fire Army soldiers, set off the next morning.
They arrived at the iron mine at noon.
Tan Zong was somewhat confused. They had just left, why were they back? Had something happened?
My Lord, what is this?
Fang Er dismounted.
The weather is too dry, we need to forge some tools to dig canals.
Let the Heavenly Fire Army handle the mining and ore transportation. You, summon all the blacksmiths. We need to get busy.
Tan Zong, of course, had no objections to Fang Er's arrangements.
Dozens of blacksmiths were mobilized.
Due to the lack of water, water-powered trip hammers could not be set up.
But this was not a problem.
With these thousand Heavenly Fire Army soldiers, nothing was impossible.
After three days of work,
A manually operated trip hammer with pulleys was made.
There was only one set of molds,
Which was for shovels.
The red-hot steel plates were placed on the trip hammer.
The Heavenly Fire Army soldiers used a hemp rope as thick as an arm to pull up the forging hammer, then let go.
Dong!
With a loud bang,
The entire steel plate was hammered into an eight-shaped blank, one end small and one end large.
The blacksmiths who had never seen a trip hammer were stunned.
So, blacksmithing could be done like this?
Fang Er picked up the shovel blank with tongs and said to the blacksmiths,
The larger end is the shovel blade. The smaller end needs further hammering to form a socket.
After speaking, he took the blank to a nearby furnace, heated the smaller end until it was red-hot.
Then he placed it on a steel rod and hammered it back and forth.
Soon, a shovel head was completely formed.
Someone brought a wooden stick of appropriate thickness, and it was fitted on.
Perfect!
Then, it was put onto the assembly line.
Molten steel was poured into steel plates.
While still not completely cooled, they were directly sent to the trip hammer for processing.
Then they were refined by the blacksmiths.
Finally, after some polishing by the Heavenly Fire Army soldiers, they were fitted with wooden handles.
This shovel was ready for use.
The entire process, in one hour, could produce three hundred shovels!
This was still because the blacksmiths were too slow in refining.
This speed further astonished the working blacksmiths.
One must know that in the past, such a shovel would take a blacksmith a whole day to make!
But now, with the trip hammer and the blast furnace, thousands could be made per day!
It only took two days to produce enough tools.
These tools were brought back to Shenyang City.
Liu Dacheng had already gathered two thousand laborers who were waiting.
Zhu Zi and Liu Meng had also found rivers with water.
The closest major river to Shenyang was the Liao River.
Of course, there were also some tributaries.
The target this time was a tributary of the Liao River twenty li away from Shenyang City.
Fang Er stood on the city gate tower, looking at the laborers below.
He said loudly,
Heaven has sent a great drought, and man must save himself!
If we do not dig canals to divert water now, the crops in the fields will wither and die!
By autumn harvest, there will be no grain to reap!
You all understand this, and there is no need for me, this Earl, to say more.
I have prepared enough tools!
For everyone who works, twenty wen per day!
Now, pick up your tools, follow the Heavenly Fire Army, and dig canals!
Hearing that they would be paid for digging canals, the laborers, who initially thought it was forced labor, became energized.
Twenty wen!
That was enough for a family to eat for a day!
Let's do it!
It would be foolish not to!
Besides, there were their own crops outside the city!
Thus, these laborers, one by one, followed the Heavenly Fire Army with great enthusiasm.
From Shenyang City to the Liao River tributary,
Laborers were left behind at intervals.
The work was contracted in sections!
The future course of the canals was marked by the Heavenly Fire Army with lime, so there was no fear of digging off course.
Such a large project immediately alarmed several villages along the route.
Upon learning that digging canals could irrigate their land and that they would be paid for their work,
They brought their family's labor force and joined the canal digging team!
The original two thousand laborers, plus the Heavenly Fire Army, numbered only three thousand.
Later, the team swelled to five thousand people!
The speed of digging canals was astonishing!
Five thousand people for twenty li.
On average, each person only needed to dig a pit four meters long, three meters wide, and two meters deep!
This was incredibly easy!
It only took five days!
A canal from a tributary of the Liao River directly to the moat of Shenyang City was completed!
Standing beside the unknown tributary of the Liao River,
Fang Er shouted loudly!
Open the canal!
Liu Dacheng, along with the officials from the provincial governor's office, personally went to break through the canal.
The rushing river water, following the canal, created a white wave, surging towards Shenyang City!