Chapter 140

140. Chapter 140: Pouring the Foundation with Concrete

The elderly person who recognized Master Zheng's identity was an old man in the village. He had traveled all over the world when he was young. Although he hadn't been to the capital where the emperor lived, he had heard of Master Zheng.

The people in the village heard this and were even more amazed that the Jiang family had the ability to invite someone like Master Zheng!

After Master Zheng chose the foundation, he took the apprentices he brought and started to divide the orientation and functional areas of the house according to the shape and terrain of the house site, and made marks to facilitate subsequent construction.

The 30-something people Liu Dagang found cleared the floating soil and soft soil on the surface in that area.

The land the Jiang family chose to build the house on was good, the soil was hard and the terrain was flat, which was most suitable for laying the foundation. If it were a place where the soil was loose, they would have to keep digging down until they reached the hard layer underground.

It didn't take long for the workers to clear the debris and soft soil on the ground.

Jiang Wei took those five or six people to the courtyard, and the rest followed Master Zheng to start digging the foundation.

At this time, the sun had already risen, and the weather was gradually getting hot.

The villagers who had been watching the fun had dispersed, each doing their own work, and there were no idlers outside the courtyard.

Jiang Wei brought those five or six people to a large pile of prepared cement, sand, and stone materials, and tools such as shovels, mallets, and buckets were already prepared on the side.

These people didn't know what they were being called over to do alone. While they were puzzled, Jiang Wei asked them to mix the cement, sand, and stone on the ground in a certain proportion, then pour water on it and stir.

Two people were responsible for fetching water from the well, two were responsible for adding materials, and two were responsible for stirring.

These people were confused and didn't understand what this was for, but they honestly followed Jiang Wei's instructions.

Others didn't understand, but Jiang Xiaoxiao, who was watching from the side, knew very well.

Her mother was preparing to use concrete to lay the foundation.

As the saying goes, a ten-thousand-foot tall building rises from the ground. The foundation is the basis for building a house and determines the quality of the upper-level house, so it must be taken seriously.

Ever since her mother started manufacturing cement in large quantities, she had vaguely guessed it. The foundation filling of wealthy families in this era was generally made of sand or gravel. Her mother naturally wouldn't look at these things. Since cement had already been manufactured, concrete was not a problem.

Concrete is a high-strength, durable material that not only has excellent load-bearing capacity but is also durable and has good water resistance.

The foundation poured with concrete has good compressive strength, and even if an earthquake comes, it won't easily collapse.

After arranging for people to stir the concrete here, Jiang Wei went to the foundation side to keep an eye on it, and Jiang Xiaoxiao was responsible for looking after the progress of the concrete stirring.

Stirring concrete is not only a physical task but also requires meticulousness. It won't work if it's stirred too fast or too slow. The time and speed of stirring must be adjusted according to factors such as the proportion and quality of the materials to ensure the quality of the concrete.

The house building was in full swing, and Qiulian Niang and Zhao Dasao were also busy in the kitchen.

Besides preparing food for those 30-something workers, they also had to prepare for Master Zheng and the apprentices he brought.

Jiang Wei had also prepared ingredients in the kitchen early, white rice, eggs, vegetables, and two pieces of river deer meat.

This river deer was hunted by Jiang Wei on the mountain a long time ago, but she never lacked meat in her space, so she kept it in the space and didn't eat it. This time it just happened to be useful.

This was the first meal for the workers, so it couldn't be sloppy. Qiulian Niang and Zhao Dasao put in 120% of their spirit and used their hearts to make this meal.

Soon it was noon, and because there were enough people, the foundation was almost finished.

Master Zheng looked at the concrete that had been poured into the mold and formed, and his expression changed from calm and puzzled at the beginning to shocked.

What on earth is this?!

Looking at it, it was like a mixture of sand, stone, and soil, soft and limp, how did it become as hard as a stone after being poured with water?!

Generally speaking, the best material for building a house is stone, which is solid and indestructible.

But stone has a serious disadvantage: it is big and heavy, and it takes time and effort to transport it down from the big mountain. Moreover, the shape of the stone is usually irregular, which is difficult to use in building a house. So even if wealthy families build houses and lay foundations, they choose sand and stone.

But the material provided by the Jiang family was simply too incredible. It was soft and limp at first, and transportation didn't take much effort. It could be poured into any shape they wanted, and after a while, it would become as indestructible as a real stone!

No, it was even more solid than stone!

Stone would burst when it couldn't withstand cold and heat, but this concrete didn't have this disadvantage at all.

Master Zheng suppressed the shock and doubt in his heart and treated the matter of the Jiang family building a house even more carefully.

At the beginning, before he really saw Jiang Wei, he didn't believe at all that the blueprint for building the house was drawn by a peasant woman. Later, after meeting her, although he was surprised that Jiang Wei, a peasant woman who had never heard of it, had this ability, he didn't pay too much attention.

Even when the other party proposed to provide part of the pouring materials for building the house, he felt a bit whether the other party didn't trust him.

Until now, after seeing the concrete taken out by Jiang Wei, he was completely convinced.

"Time to eat!"

Qiulian Niang's voice sounded in the courtyard.

Hearing the sound, everyone put down the tools they were working with and swarmed into the courtyard.

The 30-something people Liu Dagang found plus the apprentices Master Zheng brought were a full 40-something people, crowded into the small farmhouse courtyard.

There were too many people, so Zhao Dasao didn't set the dishes on the table, but directly moved the big pot containing the rice and dishes into the courtyard and served the food to everyone one by one.

The rice was white rice cooked according to Jiang Wei's instructions, the dishes were braised pork, stir-fried greens, and a pot of egg and scallion soup, with several large bone broths boiled in the soup, thick and fragrant, making people drool when they smelled it.

The people queuing up for food in the courtyard kept swallowing their saliva.

They didn't expect that coming to work at the Jiang family would not only have 30 wen a day, but also be able to eat such good food!

My goodness, this is white rice, right? They only eat it once a year, and the Jiang family is actually willing to use it to treat them workers.

And that braised pork, fresh, fragrant, and oily, one bite is crispy and soft, it's simply too delicious!

The courtyard was crowded with people. Everyone held their bowls, found a place to sit, and couldn't wait to eat. If they could eat such delicious food every day, they would be willing to come and work for nothing!