Chapter 903: Road Roller

Baifeng stayed at the Xuanyuan Tribe for a few days, taking a good tour of the Xuanyuan Tribe, and after making detailed arrangements for the work of Changle and the others, he prepared to return, because this trip, including the travel time back and forth, had already taken a long time.

However, on the boats this time, most were carrying things like the Tea Leaves traded for; the Laborers provided by the Xuanyuan Tribe could not really be brought on in large numbers, as one Large Ship of Huaxia could not hold too many people, and it would be extremely crowded, making for a very uncomfortable stay.

Therefore, this time the Xuanyuan Tribe had to send their own boats to send the vast majority of such a large number of Laborers to Huaxia, and for the remaining people, Baifeng said that another Large Ship would come later, which could conveniently take some more over.

Huaxia was under the regency of Yulong, but in the days he had been away, no major events had truly occurred; everything was just as plain as could be.

After Baifeng returned, he began to take over the work again, and Yulong returned to his original post.

As for those Laborers, Baifeng let the Ministry of Works handle the arrangements themselves; Zhu then arranged for nearly two thousand people to go to Xiao Town, firstly to continue helping with the construction of Xiao Town, as they were capable of doing a lot of the hard labor.

Furthermore, there was the clearing of land; before winter set in this year, the main construction of Xiao Town would inevitably be completed, and the relocation work for Xiao Town also had to begin, as planting would need to start next year, and if the arable land was not cleared now, what would be planted next year?

All the remaining Laborers were arranged to go to the road construction site of the Western Development Group; starting from Lema City and changing direction, it was a road that needed to be rebuilt.

When hiring Laborers this time, Xuanyuan was still very honest; at least half of the Laborers hired by Huaxia last year returned to Huaxia, which meant that Huaxia had more skilled workers in better physical condition.

Xuanyuan could also send men who knew nothing and were physically weak to Huaxia to work; not only could they learn things, but they could also get their health back, killing two birds with one stone.

However, this year's road construction project was really not easy to handle; a large amount of tools had been taken away by the Western Development Group, and the number of Laborers hired by Huaxia this time was truly too large, so there were simply not enough tools to go around.

Just as Zhu was worrying, Yulong gave him a method directly: borrow them, borrow them from all the Residents of Huaxia, as every household had axes, saws, and the like.

As long as among several neighboring families, one family kept their tools, the others could all be borrowed and then given to the Laborers to use; as for how to borrow them, it would naturally be borrowing for free.

One had to consider the big picture; a wealthy and strong Huaxia meant everyone was wealthy and strong, and it was a matter of borrowing and returning; if something was broken or ruined, it would be replaced with a new one, all of which relied on the credibility of the Huaxia government and the support of the ordinary people for Huaxia.

After Baifeng learned of this plan, he did not refuse, because he also wanted to see if Huaxia's patriotic education was truly successful, and at the moment, it was indeed the only way.

The Ministry of Works was forging non-stop every day, but the number of owed Weapons alone was quite high; the tool reserves accumulated over these years could all be exhausted in one big push.

Added to the fact that in the future Huaxia would absorb an unknown number of people from the Shennong Clan, that would surely be another endless task, and the demand for various tools would never stop, never be satisfied, but cultivating a qualified Blacksmith was truly too difficult, too difficult.

However, some good news came from the Ministry of Works, saying that the Stonemason Zao had invented something new and wanted to let Baifeng see it.

Baifeng was truly surprised for a moment, because he could not think of what kind of tricks could be played with stone, as all the utensils that could be made from stone were already available now, so what kind of new invention could there be?

To satisfy his curiosity and also to support everyone's enthusiasm for invention, Baifeng immediately agreed to Zao's request and prepared to look at his invention.

However, Zao only took out a piece of paper and said: "King, this invention of mine is still just an idea, because it is time-consuming and laborious to make, and if it turns out to be unusable, it would be a waste of time, so I must let you see it first; whether it succeeds or fails, I will make it afterwards."

Baifeng smiled, took the paper, and opened it; upon looking, it was actually a design drawing, and it was quite professional, with both front and side views, as well as how to use it.

When Baifeng looked, it was shaped like a roller, only it had many protrusions drawn on it; Baifeng could not recognize what it was for at first.

Seeing Baifeng's confusion, Zao hurriedly explained: "King, for our road construction, don't we need to use a Stone Pestle to ram the ground until it is solid and hard? But that Stone Pestle is so small, and it requires so many people to ram it together; it is too troublesome."

"So I thought, why not just use stone to chisel out a large roller like this, with protrusions on it like those Stone Pestles, and then have people pull it as they walk; wouldn't that press the road well in one go?"

"With as many people as it takes to use the Stone Pestles, even the largest stone can be pulled, and pressing it once would have a better effect than ramming it once with a Stone Pestle."

"I think it should be like this, King, what do you think?"

Baifeng clapped his hands in admiration: "Hey, this idea of yours is good; isn't this a Road Roller?"

"Road Roller..." Zao savored the name and felt it was quite good, but he also had doubts: "King, why call it a Road Roller, and not a Road Roller Stone?"

Baifeng waved his hand: "Hey, the name doesn't matter, but this thing of yours is indeed worth making, at least to try it out, right? However, for the effect, it will probably need to be made half a person's height, or even taller."

Hearing Baifeng's approval, Zao was extremely excited: "King, I have thought about it and tried it with a large stone; it needs to be about as tall as me. There are plenty of such large stones, but I am afraid it will have to be made from the Lema City side, otherwise how can we transport it over? We would crush our roads."

Baifeng immediately made the decision: "Good, Zao, you are in charge of this matter. If it fails, I will not hold you responsible; if it succeeds, I will raise your Nobility by one rank!"

Zao immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Baifeng in excitement; he thought he would never have another chance to make a great contribution in his life, and he did not expect happiness to come so suddenly.

But Baifeng held the drawing and said: "However, you also have to think about this: if it is all protruding bumps, won't the road it presses over be full of pits? This is not the same as hammering bit by bit with a Stone Pestle."

"How about this, you think about it: make this thing into a square block with many faces. If there are too few faces, it cannot be pulled; for example, look at a four-sided one—after I pull it, won't it have to slam down again by itself, pressing it even more solidly?"

"But a four-sided one might be hard to pull; you try eight faces, sixteen faces. Anyway, think about it carefully yourself. Of course, you can also try your own version; I don't know if it will work either, because we have never used it. Zao, it all depends on you."