Gongsun Du of Liaodong had been watching from the sidelines. At first, he refused to send troops to rescue them, causing both sides to be unhappy. After that, his petition was like a stone sinking into the ocean, and there was no news of it. Now, Xuantu Prefecture had set up checkpoints on the official roads to strictly control entry and exit.
Considering the disharmonious relationship between the two sides, it was inconvenient for Gongsun Du to send people to ask. The spies he had sent previously could not be contacted, and the strange atmosphere made Gongsun Du feel unhappy.
Time passed as the spring flowers bloomed and the river thawed. Liu Heng checked the distribution of land, visited various workshops, and made suggestions from time to time.
Of course, many of them were learned from books, such as deep ploughing, planting density, irrigation ditches, crop matching, fertilizer application, and so on.
Taking this opportunity, Liu Heng had a preliminary understanding of the farming tools at that time. When the steel smelting reached a certain scale, he would start to improve the farming tools to increase agricultural productivity in order to free as much labor from agricultural production as possible to promote the development of industry and commerce and establish a standing military force.
In the middle of February, under Xun Yu's supervision, the first elementary school was built outside the east gate of Xuantu Prefecture City. It covered an area of 30 acres and had more than ten rooms. All of them were built with red bricks, and the desks and chairs were built according to Liu Heng's design.
At the same time, the enrollment notice was released, asking parents who were willing to send their children to school to register and collect their books at the prefecture and wait for the school to start.
This matter aroused great interest among the common people, and scholars also commented on it. Only the rich families scoffed at it and laughed at it as a private school for the poor.
However, due to its free service, many poor people signed up, especially those who had just been allocated land. The men were busy clearing the wasteland and the women were busy with the workshop. The opening of the school solved their only worry. Not only could they work without worry, but they could also give their children the opportunity to read and write. To the poor, this was a great thing!
At the end of February, the blast furnace and open pit furnace were completed early under Zheng Hun's supervision.
Zheng Hun personally moved the coal and iron ores and directed the trial steel. Due to the lack of environmental protection facilities, the black smoke from the chimney shrouded the entire smelting area in smoke and dust.
The burning of coal was like a cardiac stimulant, making Zheng Hun extremely excited. He waited beside the blast furnace to closely observe the temperature of the furnace.
Three days later, the first batch of red molten iron flowed out and poured into the pool outside the furnace.
Zheng Hun personally opened the floodgates and released the water. The smelting area, which was previously shrouded in black smoke, immediately turned into a paradise. Thick mist was formed on the molten iron and spread rapidly... Two lines of excited tears flowed down Zheng Hun's blackened face.
"Governor! Governor Liu! Come and take a look! This iron…this iron!"
Accompanied by excited shouts, Zheng Hun rushed into the prefecture with an iron ingot in his arms." This iron ingot is enough to withstand fourth-grade forged steel! Coals were simply too magical! He didn't expect that there would be such a treasure in the cold and bitter land of Liaodong.”
Liu Heng was discussing political affairs with the crowd. When he heard Zheng Hun's excited shouts, he immediately lost interest in his work. He turned to look at Zheng Hun, who had rushed into the room with an iron ingot in his arms. When he saw that it was fine, the crowd immediately laughed. Liu Heng even laughed so hard that he spat out the water he had drunk.
Zheng Hun's face was covered in black ash, and he smiled with his white teeth. His clothes were black and torn. Those who did not know better would think that he had just climbed out of the fire!
Liu Heng swallowed the water in his mouth and said,""Master Zheng, don't be anxious. The coal used for ironmaking now contains impurities such as phosphorus and sulfur. If you use the method of burning charcoal to make it coke and then use the coke to make ironmaking, I think Master will be even happier!”
Zheng Hun's eyes widened. "In that case…refined steel…" Zheng Hun suddenly turned around and threw the iron ingot away before running out of the prefecture.
Liu Heng walked into the hall, picked up the iron ingot, and flicked it with his fingers. The crisp "ding" sound was pleasant to the ears. Liu Heng couldn't help but praise,"A good piece of iron!"
Gao Shun took the iron ingot and tapped it carefully.”
"Of course!" Liu Heng laughed. Conservation was also thinking that it was time to strengthen the prefectural soldiers!”
At night, Liu Heng found Ju Shou, Gao Shun, and Sun Hong to discuss the matter.
Liu Heng spread out the map of Xuantu and pointed to the southeast part of Green Brick Peak,""The prefecture city will transfer 300 troops to the Green Brick Peak area to find a flat land near the river. On one hand, they will set up checkpoints to check and on the other hand, they will level the land.
Ju Gong secretly sent skilled, loyal and reliable blacksmiths to this place.
Commandant Gao, do you still remember the weapons we forged in Ji City?
I'll immediately collect everyone's experience and use that set of weapons as a benchmark to improve and create new equipment. As for the armor, I'll guide them.
This matter is only known to the four of us. Don't mention it to others for the time being.”
The three of them agreed in unison.
After that, Liu Heng secretly ordered Zhao Feng and Mu Xin to purchase warhorses from the Xiongnu, Wuhuan, and Xianbei. They were all sent back one by one by a special person to avoid attracting Gongsun Zan's attention.
After arranging the weapon forging, Liu Heng got busy again.
First, he instructed Zhao Feng to set up a merchant group and taught him marketing techniques to expand the sales of porcelain, cloth, paper, and books. Then, he secretly transported all kinds of materials back, using the same method as the horses to hide from the public.
Liu Heng knew that Zhang Jiao was about to start his uprising next year. He still had a lot of things to prepare.
Secondly, he would continue to recruit blacksmiths and arrange for apprentices to learn smelting techniques from Zheng Hun. He would also use all the remaining money in the prefecture to expand the smelting facilities in order to increase production in the short term.
Thirdly, he would explore the terrain of Liaoxi Prefecture to find a harbor and start building a small port.
After the Yellow Turban Uprising broke out, the northern states, especially Jizhou, Qingzhou, and Yanzhou, would be in a state of war. The rich and powerful families would move south one after another. At that time, the land route would definitely be blocked, and they would have to rely on the sea route to transport goods to the south for sale.
Finally, before the spring sowing, as many workers as possible would be transferred to renovate, expand, and build new roads. First, the main cities in the prefecture would be connected, and the traffic network within the three prefectures would be built bit by bit. This would accumulate experience in design, planning, and construction for the future construction of the national traffic network.
When building the road, Liu Heng referred to the grading method of the post-era and introduced the concept of highway, state highway, county highway, and county highway. The highway was forty feet wide (about ten meters) and could accommodate four carriages.
The state highway was thirty-five feet wide (about eight meters). The county road was thirty feet wide (about six meters). The county-level highway was twenty feet wide (about four meters).
Highways were built in major cities, strategic locations, and between states to increase transportation capacity and speed of military mobilization.
The state highway was built between the state capitals and the county cities, mainly responsible for transportation.
County level roads were laid between county cities and county cities, and between county cities and county cities, responsible for short-distance transportation.
The county-level road was built between the county and the nearby villages.
After the construction of the highway began, Liu Heng began to focus on developing transportation tools to improve transportation capacity, the speed of military mobilization, and logistics support.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, two-wheeled carriages were mainly used, pulled by one or two horses. The transportation volume was limited and the speed was relatively slow.
Therefore, Liu Heng directly designed a four-wheeled carriage to develop by leaps and bounds. After dozens of repeated experiments, he finally succeeded. Not only did he design a sturdy and durable chassis based on the future heavy-duty trucks, but he also solved the problems of the front wheel steering and horsepower transmission system. He immediately mass-produced it.
The steering system was based on the principle of car steering, but the most important wheel was completely Liu Heng's original creation. First, it used a wooden wheel as the frame, then fixed it with iron bars. The rim was temporarily filled with multiple layers of cloth and cowhide, and then wrapped with iron sheets at the outermost layer. It was like a modern tire and inner tire, but the materials used were different.
In addition, a rather primitive shock absorption system was used on the new car's chassis, which was made by stacking many iron sheets.
The wheels were made of iron. At the same time, according to Liu Heng's request, the original bearings were also trial-produced. The main components were all completed by casting and grinding. Only the part of the bearings that had not been found a suitable solution.
The use of four-wheeled carriages had greatly increased the volume and speed of transportation, greatly improving the transportation capacity within the three counties.
However, for safety reasons, this carriage was only used in the three prefectures. The goods transported were changed to another improved two-wheeled carriage after reaching Youbei Prefecture.
Wherever the caravan from the three counties went, not only were the goods attractive, but even the improved two-wheeled carriage was the same. Many people immediately requested to order it.
Of course, Liu Heng also wanted to make money from this kind of carriage, so its price was not much lower than porcelain. It could also be considered a by-product of improving transportation tools.
In order to increase sales without increasing the expenditure of the county government's caravan, Liu Heng introduced the concept of wholesale. Except for valuable items, all goods that could be mass-produced would be wholesale or opened as a first-class agent.
For places that were too far away and inconvenient to travel, they would directly inform the local merchants to buy goods from Youan and Wuzhong in Youbei.
As for Liangzhou, Si Li, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Jingzhou, and other places, they were required to select large merchants as the general agent of the state level, sell at a discounted price, and let them transport the goods to the various states for sale.
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