The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

"Stone?"

The red lady was surprised again.

She has been guarding Queshan for three months and has learned a lot about this place.

Recalling some of my experiences, I discovered that there are indeed many stonemasons in Queshan, and there are even shops specializing in selling stone carvings.

She puzzled: "There are indeed many quarries in the west of Queshan, which are rich in marble and granite. But quarrying is difficult, and people's demand is limited. How can it become a big business?"

Liu Sheng tapped the table and said: "Marble and granite alone cannot be sold for much money, but limestone can be sold for a lot of money."

"Limestone? Do you sell burnt lime?" The matchmaker frowned slightly, "But limestone is found in many places. Why can we make more money from Queshan's lime?"

Ancient people began to use lime very early.

Ancient Greece was in the eighth century BC, and my country was in the seventh century BC.

By the Ming Dynasty, lime had become a relatively common building material.

Limestone is relatively common, and there are many private lime-burning workshops (lime kilns).

There are many peers, competition is fierce, and the market demand is so huge, it is naturally difficult to make big money by burning lime.

Liu Sheng said with a smile, "It is indeed difficult to make big money from lime, but cement can."

"What is cement?"

"Cement is a good building material..."

Liu Sheng immediately told the matchmaker some knowledge about cement.

Among the various types of cement, the most common is Portland cement, whose main raw materials are limestone and clay.

There are not many clay mountains, but there is no shortage.

The two are crushed, batched, and ground into raw materials, which are then fed into the cement kiln to be calcined into clinker, and then an appropriate amount of gypsum is added and ground again.

If you want the lime to have other properties, you can add other mixing materials and additives during the mixing step with gypsum.

In addition, cement production is divided into dry process, semi-dry process, wet process and semi-wet process.

Anyway, Liu Sheng had the relevant information, and he was ready to take it out and give it to the craftsmen to test, and then use whatever method was suitable for production.

Previously, Liu Sheng's main site was in Tianmu Mountain. The reason why he did not bake cement was that he had not found any limestone mines that were easy to mine, and he was afraid that the cement production method would be leaked too soon due to lax confidentiality.

It should be noted that since he wants to change the world, the rebel army will definitely focus on siege warfare for a considerable period of time in the future.

If Ming Ting obtained the cement production method, wouldn't he have shot himself in the foot?

As for producing it in North America and then transporting it here for use - this process is too complicated, and Liu Sheng doesn't want to spend all day transporting supplies in the living room on the first floor of the villa.

Moreover, no large limestone mines have been discovered in North America yet.

However, as Huabu's sphere of influence expands, it should not be difficult to find small limestone mines.

Since he is planning to build a cement plant here in Queshan, he will definitely build one in North America as well.

With cement and masonry, whether it is building houses, roads, or water conservancy facilities such as reservoirs and ditches, the speed will be greatly increased and the buildings will be stronger.

Of course, in order to keep it secret, the Ministry of Health must send troops to guard the cement factory here in Queshan.

The production process will also be as detailed and separated as possible to prevent too many people from knowing the complete formula and production technology of cement.

In addition, for a considerable period of time, cement will only be sold by Guanbu officials - similar to the salt and iron monopoly of the Han Dynasty, but relying on technology to monopolize the sale.

Although the official sale of cement will cause many disadvantages if it lasts for a long time, it is perfect in the early stage of the expansion of Guibu's power.

The red lady was very excited after hearing this.

With a series of industries such as coal mines, briquette plants, coking coal plants, lime plants, and cement plants, it is indeed not difficult for Queshan to develop.

Maybe next year the lives of ordinary people will improve significantly and they will no longer be as poor as they are now...

On December 29, Liu Sheng returned to North America to celebrate the New Year with North American immigrants.

In the 1641th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty, AD, it was the fifth day of the first lunar month.

Liu Sheng married the red lady.

After the wedding, both of them looked radiant.

Especially the red lady, who is originally very beautiful, with a heroic spirit in her softness.

Nowadays, the heroic demeanor is slightly reduced, and there is more of a feminine touch, and the whole person is so hydrated that it seems like you can pinch water.

Moreover, the Red Lady did not step down from her command of the Fourth Regiment of the Standing Army, as most had suspected.

Not only does she still hold this general position, but she also serves as the civil affairs manager of Tianmu Mountain - Queshan County is also under her jurisdiction.

Obviously, with the relationship between husband and wife, Liu Sheng can more safely leave the rear to the red lady.

As for the matter of "harem interfering in politics", it was not within his scope for the time being.

Li Changwen and others were also very sensible, and no one gave any advice on this matter.

After all, Liu Sheng has no relatives or clan to support him. If he does not allow his "harem" to interfere in politics, how many of his "own people" will he have in his army?

On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year, before Li Changwen left, he even secretly said this to Liu Sheng.

"The Marshal has no relatives to support him, so he can only rely on his relatives. Therefore, if the time is right, I hope the Marshal can marry more side wives as soon as possible.

Giving birth to more heirs earlier will also allow the bloodline of the commander-in-chief to flourish here as quickly as possible. "

Although Liu Sheng didn't say it explicitly, through the "Jingshe", various treasures, "supernatural powers", and the fact that Liu Sheng was alone and had no relatives, Li Changwen had already implicitly assumed that Liu Sheng was a "relegated immortal".

That's why the suggestion was made to let Liu Sheng marry wives and concubines and have more children.

Liu Sheng was amused, but he didn't refuse. He responded carelessly: "I'll take care of it."

···

The seventh day of the first lunar month.

Liu Sheng held a meeting of generals at the level of the Yibu Rebel Army in Zhumadian.

At this time, Zhumadian was just as its name suggests. It was just a market that arose due to the inn and official roads.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, it had grown to the size of a town, with thousands of households and a population of several thousand.

Previously, they also formed strongholds to protect themselves.

Now that Queshan, Suiping, and Ruyang are all in the hands of the Weibu, Zhumadian has naturally been captured by the Weibu long ago. As early as last year, when Liu Sheng led his troops to attack Suiping, Zhumadian surrendered in front of thousands of rebels. .

Liu Shengxuan held the meeting here not because of any future generations' complex, but simply because it was relatively close to Queshan, Ruyang and Suiping.

The generals can arrive on horseback in two hours at the latest.

You can come to a meeting on the same day and return on the same day.

Although the rebels already had a garrison in Zhumadian, for safety reasons, Liu Sheng still came with his guards.

The meeting took place in the Guards camp outside Zhumadian Market.

Inside Liu Sheng's big tent.

Because this was Liu Sheng's first collective audience with regiment-level generals since he became commander-in-chief.

Therefore, the regiment commander, regiment deputy, military and political officials present at the meeting, including the red lady, all gave Liu Sheng a fist salute.

"See the Marshal!"

Liu Sheng solemnly exchanged a fist-cup salute and then said: "The Chinese New Year is over, and I am getting married. I have called everyone here today to discuss our military operations for the beginning of spring."