Infrastructure masters in the red building

On the side of the Grand View Garden, Shuangwen quickly finalized the design plan for the folded belt Zhulan Banqiao, and handed it over to Jia Fang for review.Jia Fang nodded briskly and handed over to Shuangwen to direct the project.

Shuangwen is very familiar with craftsmen and small workers, and it is now winter. After finishing this work, the craftsmen can get red envelopes and go home for the New Year.The big guy is naturally full of motivation, and Shuangwen refers to where to hit, and it is effortless to command.

But when Shuangwen sorted out Jia Fang's drawing board by chance, he found a pattern of a bridge on a thick stack of drawings of various colors—it was definitely not the small and exquisite folded belt Zhulan bridge in the Grand View Garden, but a bridge across a real river. The bridge above has six thick piers and a wooden flat bridge deck. One of the bridge decks is also equipped with a winch hinge, which seems to be able to directly lift the bridge deck for boats to walk under the bridge.

Shuangwen read it and silently put away the pattern.She knew that this must be related to Jia Fang's "secret" in Daoxiang Village, and she promised to help Jia Fang keep this secret.

But this also aroused Shuangwen's curiosity - what kind of grand world is that?How can such a world be accommodated in a small Daoxiang Village?Could it be that the mustard seeds and the heaven and earth in the pot really exist?

Jia Fang's ability, as she guessed, is not small at all.Shuangwen believes that this young man still knows a lot, and still has a lot of skills that he has yet to display.

It's just a coincidence that when the bridge was being built in the Grand View Garden, the bridge was also being built at the other end.

In Taoyuan Village, Jia Fang's bridge construction project has also officially started.After Jia Fang made the rough design drawings, he asked the engineering office under the "Ministry of Public Affairs" to make a project budget.

The people in this time and space didn't know how to make the project budget, but they just roughly calculated the materials and labor, and took a picture of the budget allocation.

Jia Fang: ...Anyway, it will be changed in the end.

The project budget team paid much higher wages and benefits to the workers who repaired the bridge than those who repaired houses for the villagers. Let's talk about the completion of the public construction works here.

Unexpectedly, such a standard of treatment stimulated all the people in the village, and everyone came to sign up. The number of applicants greatly exceeded the number of required workers, so they had to be screened.Jia Fang made the final decision. Those between the ages of 18-35, with no previous medical history and strong physique can become project builders.In the end, the number of people exceeded expectations, and finally had to be limited. Each household can only send one person. If two people meet the conditions at the same time, one person will be kept at home to work as a farmer and build a house.

Jia Fang has a relatively young "construction team" under his command. He is determined to teach these members some knowledge about building construction during the construction process, so that they can also become excellent project builders in the future.

At present, the Qingfang River is in the dry season, and the riverbed is only about five or six feet wide in the middle of the riverbed, and there are large stretches of riverbanks on both sides of the riverbank.But in the wet season, the width of this river is at least fifteen feet or more.

From this point of view, the current construction conditions are quite convenient.The water in the river is very shallow, generally no more than the knees, and the deepest part just reaches the waist.

Jia Fang directed everyone to build a "small dam" upstream of the bridge site to divert the river to flow on the right bank close to the river, so that the construction team can repair the bridge piers on the left bank first.

But on the materials for bridge construction, Jia Fang disagreed with several villagers who had bridge-building experience in the construction team.

The villagers' idea is to pile up big stones before and after the pier, and then build the pier on the basis of the stones-this is a very traditional bridge-building method.Superimpose boulders of different shapes, and use chisels and sledgehammers to change the shape of the contact surfaces of the stones so that they fit tightly together to achieve a stable combination.

This is indeed an ancient and effective building method, but its problem is that there is a lack of hard giant stones near Taoyuan Village, but there are many small limestones.If it is necessary to use large-scale building stones, they must be quarried from far away stone mountains-not to mention very labor-intensive and time-consuming. If this method is adopted, the bridge will definitely not be completed before the wet season.

Therefore, Jia Fang's suggestion is to use cement as a binder to build bridge piers with reinforced concrete structures.

As soon as Jia Fang revealed the plan, the construction team was completely dumbfounded.

"What what? Water and mud... can also build bridges?"

"Third Master, you are really not joking, you are not talking about the mud Buddha crossing the river, are you?"

Jia Fang could only patiently explain to them: cement is not simply water and mud, but the name of a gel material.This material can solidify in air and has a certain strength and hardness.

"Come on, let's do the experiment." Jia Fang ordered.

Before deciding to build a stone bridge with a steel-concrete structure, Jia Fang had already discussed with the owner of the brick and tile factory by the river, and asked the owner to help him build a cement kiln for calcining limestone and clay to make it into a cement kiln. lime.

After the first batch of lime powder was burned out, Jia Fang led people to make a scaled-down model of the pier, using several wooden boards to form a square hollow cylinder, and then poured water into it and mixed it with sand and water. lime powder.

"Isn't this similar to our ancestors' method of 'block building'?" One of the workers with a little construction experience asked curiously.

"Very good!" Jia Fang praised his divergent thinking, "Thank you for providing a control group!"

He ordered another team of workers to really search for loess, and also used the method of block building to build a square "soil pillar" exactly.

It took a lot of effort for the workers to tamp the loess for the plate building.In contrast, the group that used cement just poured the cement in and waited.

After two days, the cement was completely dry.Jia Fang ordered the outer wooden boards to be removed, and at the same time the control group also removed the outer wooden boards.

He found a donkey and asked people to tie it to two pillars, and then drove the donkey to see if the two pillars could be broken.

Unfortunately, the donkey that Jia Fang found happened to be the most loud donkey in the village. When the owner of the donkey tied it to the concrete pillar, the donkey yelled "Enang" and "Enang". , It actually attracted all the people in the whole village near Qingfang River.

Men, women and children watched together: "Look, Mr. Jia is doing an experiment!"

"What's an 'experiment'?"

"I know," a doll who was studying at Xiaoxiang Academy answered first, "Jia Sanye said that true knowledge comes from practice, and that hearing is believing and seeing is believing. If you are in doubt, try it yourself. This is an experiment." gone."

"Today, the purpose of our experiment is to test the strength of the cement column and the loess column. The method of the experiment is to let the donkey try to pull the two columns. If the column can be pulled, it proves that the strength is not high enough." Jia Da said loudly presided over his experiment.

So the donkey's owner began to drive the donkey away.Somehow, the crowd followed suit: "Stubborn donkey, work hard!"

But no matter how hard the donkey tried, the concrete pillar would not budge.I changed it to the loess pillar, and before I could drive it away, the stubborn donkey flew forward and rushed forward, and the loess pillar was cut off immediately, turned into two pieces and fell to the ground.Immediately the donkey was free, "en ang" "en ang" ran away from the crowd.

The result of the experiment is too obvious. The effect of this cement column is simply to crush the loess column that the villagers worked so hard to ram.

The members of the construction team showed some expressions of admiration.But there were also people who asked loudly: "Master Jia, what happens when this thing is soaked in water? I think it's all made of sand and ash powder. Will it disintegrate after soaking it later?"

Jia Fang smiled without saying a word, and the construction team all stared at his mysterious smile for a long time, and finally someone realized, "What the third master means is that if we have any doubts, we can try it ourselves!"

The construction team, who understood this principle, thought of a way to bring down the concrete column, put it on a flatbed truck and transport it to the river, where it was thrown into the water and soaked for two days.

"It's okay, it hasn't been soaked at all!" The construction team was also very excited when they got the result of the experiment.Several young people in the team had a discussion and salvaged the cement pillar from the water. They planned to plant it next to the "Qingfang River Bridge" that was about to be built, and named it "Experimental Pillar".

Jia Fang was very pleased that they finally understood the "experiment", but he was a little bit disapproving of the commemoration of the column.He just smiled and said, "Do you think this experiment is over?"

As if by magic, Jia Fang conjured up a cart full of finger-thin long iron rods and sent them to the construction team.

"This is a wrought iron bar." Jia Fang introduced.

In fact, this is steel bar. At that time, there was no concept of turning iron into steel. There were only pig iron and wrought iron. The pig iron with high carbon content was refined into wrought iron.Jia Fang ordered these wrought iron bars from Baigongfang, so he also called it that way after the craftsmen of Baigongfang.

"Add wrought iron bars to concrete, and then use cement as a coagulant to make cement concrete columns. Because iron bars are used as external force bearing objects, the strength can be increased to dozens of times higher than cement columns. A hundredfold."

The construction team was completely dumbfounded again—could it be that the strong have their own strong hands, and if one cement column is not enough, will another iron-reinforced concrete column be produced?

But Jia Fang said: It is useless to say what you say, but true knowledge comes from practice.Everyone has to do an experiment with their own hands to verify that what he said is true.

So another concrete column of the same size with wrought iron bars mixed in it was set up again. Two days later, the column was completely dry, and the construction team continued to test the strength.

This time, donkeys cannot be used.According to Jia Fang, the strength of the two pillars in front of him has exceeded the strength that livestock can provide.

Jia Fang asked the construction team to think about the testing method. A group of team members discussed for a long time and finally came up with a plan——

They found a big tree at the entrance of Taoyuan Village, picked up one of the strongest branches of the big tree, and hung a long rope from it. ).Then put the cement column and the iron-mixed column under the tree respectively, swing the boulder up, and hit the cement column/iron-mixed column, and see which one is smashed first, and which one has the lowest strength.

Jia Fang imagined the picture out of thin air, nodded, and solemnly told his construction team: "Be careful!"

As a result, Taoyuan Village witnessed another "experiment" of chicken and dog jumping:

At the beginning, the boulder could not hit the concrete/iron concrete pillar. After finally adjusting the angle, every time the boulder could hit the test object, the boulder and the cement/iron concrete pillar collided with each other, making an earth-shattering sound.

As a result of the experiment, the cement column cracked after being hit eight times, and broke from the crack after being hit ten times.

As for the iron mixed column with iron bars, after being hit seventeen times, cracks appeared on the surface, and after being hit twenty times—the boulder shattered.

The result of this experiment shocked everyone in the construction team—everyone was stunned for a moment, and someone who shouted "Run!" ran away in an instant, leaving only the one who contributed his own stone mill standing in place , Looking at the shattered stone mill, want to cry but have no tears.

In the end, Jia Fang could only come forward to comfort the volunteer who made a "great contribution" to the experiment, and promised to use the bridge repair fund to buy a new stone mill for his family, which finally comforted people. .

The results of the experiment are obvious. The strength and impact resistance of concrete columns with iron bars are much better than those of concrete columns without iron bars.

Jia drew a diagram of the internal structure of the iron mixed column on the blackboard, and explained how the iron bars inside transmit the force to the entire iron mixed column instead of concentrating the force at one point.The members of the construction team finally understood: this principle sounds very clear.But if they hadn't done the "experiment" before, no one would have a concrete concept of how strong this iron bastard is.

Therefore, the construction team of Taoyuanzhai happily accepted Jia Fang's plan and the "iron bars" he provided, and began to dig the foundation at the selected location on the river bed, set up iron bars, pour concrete, wait for the foundation to be completed, and then start Pouring piers above ground—

At the same time, the craftsmen of Baigongfang were also doing the same strength experiment. After the experiment had a preliminary outline, the shopkeeper Ren invited Shui Xian to have a look.

"You mean... At this time last year, Jia put it in his bathroom and used this to paint the walls?" Shui Xian grabbed a handful of lime powder mixed with sand, and then let go, the loose powder rustled And down.

In front of Shui Xian, there is a wall plastered with "cement". The wall is smooth, and if you look closely, you can see small air holes.

"It is completely impermeable and durable." Shopkeeper Ren explained to Shuixian.

"What do you say he made with this 'cement'?" Shui Xian asked.

Shopkeeper Ren took him to watch the craftsmen pour concrete in the area where iron bars were pre-laid. "This cement will harden after it dries. If sand and gravel are added to the cement, and then iron brazing is used as reinforcement, the cast foundation, walls, and pillars... will be as hard as boulders... No, both The masons tried it a few days ago, and it is harder than ordinary stones, and only granite can match it."

What shopkeeper Ren said shocked Shui Xian: "You mean—"

Shui Xian had already thought a lot in an instant: When Jia Fang was just plastering the wall with cement, others thought he was just playing around, decorating the room for the comfort of his own life.

But a year later, Jia Fang improved this thing into a building material.According to the craftsman, this thing can not only be made as hard as a rock, but also can be molded at will, and it can be made into whatever it wants——

In the future, there will be not only houses and palaces, but also city walls to defend against foreign aggression, river defenses to resist huge waves, seawalls, roads, bridges...

What else in this world can't be made?

Shui Xian was shocked for a moment before remembering to ask shopkeeper Ren: "What did he say?"

Shopkeeper Ren carefully relayed: "It was said by the blacksmith. At the beginning, the third master came to discuss with him to see if he could make some iron bars of wrought iron. He said that wrought iron must be made. Pig iron is too brittle and has no toughness. , It broke before it was under much pressure."

"At that time, the blacksmith asked the third master how the iron brazing method was used to withstand pressure. The third master even gestured and talked, and called the mason who had been to his house at that time, and explained the relationship between cement and this The formula of concrete. He said that everyone will know after trying it, and the result may be different if the ratio is different. If the craftsmen in the workshop try more, they will have more experience.”

Shui Xian frowned, and asked again: "Did he say... Forget it, he won't say it."

Shopkeeper Ren speculated on the meaning of his master, probably because he was a little unsure whether the method Jia Fang said could be used at will, so he carefully reminded: "We still have that 1000 taels of silver a year contract with Mr. Jia. Are you there?"

Now it was time to fulfill the promise and pay Jia Fangyin.

Shui Xian immediately smiled wryly: "1000 taels... Do you think he will care about this little money?"

The shopkeeper Ren thought about it too. When Jia Fang accepted the 8 taels of banknotes, he probably thought that there were only a few figures on the face of the banknotes.

But the most important thing is that for 1000 taels of silver, the idea in Jia Fang's head, if he can buy one, it will already make Baigongfang profitable.Unfortunately, there is still a steady stream of output on his side.Even the shopkeeper felt a little bit unworthy.

"Then... what should we do?" Ren Jing asked Shui Xian cautiously.

Shui Xian thought for a while and said, "What else can I do? Do as he said, let the craftsmen try more, and write down all their experiences."

"Go to the outskirts of Beijing to see how many lime-burning kilns there are, calculate the approximate output, and build a few more if the quantity is small..."

"As the year is approaching, go collect some hills that produce this kind of stone. The people nearby don't have to move out, they just hire workers..."

Shui Xian gave orders one by one.After everything was said, he sighed a long sigh, stretched out his fist and slapped the table lightly, and said:

"The five-year agreement, now there are four years left—"

Shopkeeper Ren also felt that it was a pity in his heart, and he thought that if he could have agreed with Jia Fang for a longer period of time, it would be nice to have an appointment for a few more years.Once the five-year period comes, even if the owner wants to renew with the other party, the price of the 1000 taels will be ashamed to say it anyway.

But Shui Xian didn't think about these at all—it's just that shopkeeper Ren couldn't guess what he was thinking anyway.