Chapter 955: Just Go Ahead and Speak

Hand-drawn map of the current distribution of forces.

The road construction team between Lema City and the Western Development Group encampment has now achieved a rapid increase in project progress through the use of an increasing number of road rollers.

However, they were still a bit too optimistic, because sometimes compacting the road surface is not the most troublesome part; creating the roadbed is.

Clearing trees, excavating the road, and encountering large rocks—breaking them, moving them, and winding around mountains along the way—otherwise, their progress would be much slower than it is now.

From the initial situation where the road-compacting team lagged far behind the excavation team in front, things have now completely changed; everyone has begun to work together to excavate the road.

As a stonemason, road construction originally had nothing to do with Zao, but since he invented the road roller, he has been on the road, wanting to continue making improvements, because he discovered this was his only chance to obtain a higher Nobility; of course, his ambition and competitiveness were also very important reasons.

After a period of testing both the road roller designed by Baifeng and the one he designed himself, he determined how the two road rollers should be used: the multi-protrusion road roller he designed should press it first, and the one designed by Baifeng should press it again.

At the same time, he also did something even more unrelated to his profession: first, he improved the composition of the roadbed; previously, they used torches to burn the soil mixed with sand and gravel before paving the road surface, but now Zao feels that this will not work.

Moreover, according to those experienced Workers, although the effect of doing this is obvious, it cannot completely restrict the growth of Grass, and after it rains, the road surface will also become thinner bit by bit, eventually exposing the soil base at the very bottom.

Therefore, Zao designed a method of laying large stones at the bottom layer, then using small stones to fill the gaps, and then covering it with a mixture of soil and Lime to compact it; this can not only prevent the growth of vegetation to the greatest extent, but even if heavy water destroys the road surface, with the stone roadbed underneath, subsequent repairs will be much easier.

The only drawback is that the construction difficulty is greater and it consumes more time; Zao's proposal received almost no support from anyone at the construction site; although the people from the Ministry of Works felt this was a good method, getting this road opened up now is the most primary problem.

The previous roads, especially the roads in Xiao Town, were built according to the current standards, and the practicality is still sufficient; although it could be built better, it is not necessary.

However, the people from the Ministry of Works did not say that Zao was meddling; after all, Zao first designed the road roller, which greatly reduced their workload and also improved the project quality by a large margin.

Later, Zao designed a bulldozer, which is to say, taking an ordinary two-wheeled cart, making slight modifications, installing a wooden board at the very bottom like an ordinary shovel, and through the pulling of an ox, it can level the loose soil on the road surface at the fastest speed.

Even after several generations of updates, the shovel can also be manually adjusted in height to adapt to various situations, which made Zao look very good in front of the officials of the Ministry of Works; they did not expect that an Artisan who only knew how to chisel stones would have so many ingenious ideas, but it also worried a group of carpenters; this should have been their job, yet they did not think of it, and instead, Zao made it first; their faces were truly lost.

Although Zao made so many contributions, it did not conflict at all with rejecting his proposal; if he wants to implement it, then go find the King for an order, and then extend the construction period, and they could completely build the remaining road surface according to the requirements.

In order for his vision to be realized, Zao immediately rode an ox and galloped back on the newly built road, and during the few days on the way back, he also discovered a problem: the road surface and the sides of the road were at the same height, and rainwater would still accumulate on the road surface.

In the long run, there would certainly be no benefit, and the road surface needs to be dry to be good, so he slowed his pace for the next two days, observing the road surface while walking back.

But sometimes the answer to a problem is just a flash of inspiration; isn't it enough to just make a height difference between the sides of the road and the middle? It doesn't need to be too large, even if it is invisible to the naked eye, as long as there is a slope, the water can flow out.

Of course, this inspiration was entirely because the road surface, which could not reach a very high standard, still had some undulations after being pressed; a flat section had stagnant water, while a curved one did not; how to solve the problem of stagnant water was self-evident.

And he also thought of the matter of drainage ditches; as long as drainage channels are built on both sides of the road, and then the water is led out at a certain location, wouldn't the problem of rainwater washing away the road be solved?

Zao felt that his design concept was becoming more and more perfect; he had to report it quickly and get permission before the subsequent road implementation; if the road were built according to his vision, perhaps the effect would not be worse than a Cement Road.

When he returned to Huaxia, it was already evening; at this time, Baifeng was exhausted after a day of inspection and observation with Baoxi, and even before the normal time to get off work, he had already started preparing to serve food and eat; after eating, he planned to go to sleep early.

However, before the food was served, it was reported that Zao had come; Baifeng thought to himself, isn't Zao at the construction site? Could something have happened?

Now Baifeng felt his brain reaction was slow, and he was stunned for a few seconds; Baoxi thought it was because he was worried about him being here, so he said: "Baifeng, if it is inconvenient for me to be here, I will leave first, and you two talk?"

Baifeng hurriedly came back to his senses and waved his hands: "Hey, no, you are now a person of Huaxia, there is nothing that needs to be hidden from you; it's just that he should be at the construction site now, and I am wondering why he suddenly came back."

Afterwards, Baifeng hurriedly had someone call him in so he could inquire carefully.

The dust-covered Zao was now tanned dark by the sun, and Baifeng almost didn't recognize him, but before Baifeng could ask, Zao saw Baoxi sitting on the chair at a glance; he looked very familiar, but he just couldn't remember who it was; in any case, it couldn't be a person from Huaxia.

Baifeng immediately introduced: "He is Baoxi, you should know; it's fine, you go ahead and speak."

Zao recalled for a few seconds and said in surprise: "He, isn't he the Tribal Chief of the Suiren Clan? How come?"

Zao looked at Baifeng in confusion and blinked twice, signaling that it was inconvenient for him to speak; Baoxi watched the whole time and felt a bit uncomfortable.

Baifeng smiled and explained: "It's fine, Baoxi is one of our own now; the Suiren Clan has already merged into Huaxia, there is nothing that needs to be hidden from him; you just speak."