If you ask, with a city full of buildings, which part should be built first, the answer is, schools.

There are too many children in the army now. Not only the children need to learn, but the soldiers will also need to learn knowledge in the future. Education is a top priority.

The school in Li Mengxi's impression should have a tall teaching building, a playground, a canteen, and other facilities. However, the current conditions are insufficient and tall teaching buildings cannot be built, and only ordinary houses can be built.

There is no canteen, but there must be a canteen, and there must be a playground. Considering that there are many orphans in the army whose families do not have them, dormitories must also be provided.

Because there is no way to build a tall teaching building, the classrooms occupy too much space. In addition, the playground, canteen, and dormitories occupy a huge area. Considering that more and more children will enroll in the school in the future, the number of children in the county will

The total amount would be an astonishing number. Taking this into account, Li Mengxi planned the school area on the main traffic axis that crosses the east, west, south, north and west of the city. The school occupies half of the public area.

The remaining half are public bathhouses, public hospitals, public markets and the like.

In the past few days, construction has been in full swing.

Li Mengxi's requirements for classroom construction are that all classroom doors and windows should face south or east.

This is another application of the knowledge Li Mengxi learned.

Last winter, there were not enough places to live in the city, so the people in the city had to camp outside the city. At that time, there were four directions outside the city: south, east, northwest, and Liu Bei proposed to camp in the south city.

Among them, there is a knowledge related to reality. The wind is different in the four seasons of the year. In winter, the north wind blows. In winter, the north is windy and the south is leeward.

This bit of knowledge was firmly remembered by Li Mengxi.

The knowledge related to the orientation of doors and windows may belong to Feng Shui and the like. In Li Mengxi's case, he simply feels that the east and south directions have more light. Sufficient light is extremely important for classrooms. If there is enough light, the classroom will be bright, and the bright light will make the classroom brighter.

Children can see more clearly when they look at the blackboard.

——

The city is very busy, with busy people everywhere.

The most mainstream and commonly used construction method in the countryside is to use clay walls to build houses. Li Mengxi is no stranger to clay walls. To make clay walls, only three materials are needed: yellow mud, wheat straw, and water. There are only two tools required: molds and wood.

hammer.

Soil can't be any cheaper, and it can't be simpler. However, the army cannot make such cheap and simple things now because there is no wheat straw.

The firewood hoarded by the army had been consumed throughout the winter, and no trace of wheat straw was left.

In the absence of wheat straw, the builders came up with another construction method, which was the rammed earth method similar to the city-building technique.

The rammed earth method is very simple. The construction process is to use wooden boards to clamp the two sides, leaving a gap in the middle, and then fill the gap with soil. After each layer of soil is filled, a group of people will go up and throw the big rocks high.

Dongdong smashed down.

This method of building a wall relies entirely on the word "smashing", which relies on gravity to pound the soil into solid form so that the soil naturally forms a wall.

The principle of the rammed earth wall building method is not difficult, but the construction is very difficult, because it needs to be tamped layer by layer, and the stones need to be lifted high and smashed down. Therefore, the wall cannot be narrow, and the wall must be very wide to facilitate tamping.

Li Mengxi visually measured the thickness of the rammed earth wall. The thickness of the rammed earth wall was almost twice that of the soil embryo wall, which was astonishingly thick.

According to the craftsmen, if you want to make the wall stronger, you can use Sanhe soil, yellow mud, sand, and lime to build it together.

Of course Li Mengxi knew about Sanhetu. Not only did he know about Sanhetu, he also knew how to add glutinous rice juice and egg white to improve the adhesion. However, he was poor, had no money, and had no glutinous rice, so he was even more reluctant to use egg white.

Li Mengxi watched the construction site for a while. He looked at the earthen wall that was as high as one person. The peasants were shouting chants and sweating profusely as they threw the stones high high and then dropped them heavily. The chants were earth-shattering, and the stones falling were also earth-shattering.

After watching quietly for a while, Li Mengxi felt that the work of lifting stones was really tiring. He called the city builder over and asked the builder, "Do you know about pulleys?"

Seeing that the craftsman was confused, Li Mengxi took out the short knife from his waist and raised his hand to draw several wheels and lengths of rope on the ground.

After finishing the painting, before Li Mengxi started to explain, the craftsman suddenly asked, "Isn't this a windlass?"

The craftsman explained that if he knew about this thing and borrowed it, he could lift a thousand kilograms of heavy objects. This thing would be used when building a city.

Li Mengxi looked at the city-builder who was talking so eloquently. He thought to himself, since he knew about the pulley, why not let him use it to build the wall? It would be so tiring to rely on manpower to compact it.

Li Mengxi wanted to get pulleys, build a high shelf next to the wall, hang a set of pulleys on it, and then lift a big stone. In this way, only one person could operate it, saving a lot of manpower.

After hearing Li Mengxi's idea, the city builder hesitated and said, "It will work, but it will be troublesome."

Li Mengxi didn't even understand. It can obviously save effort, so what is trouble?

After subsequent practice, Li Mengxi understood why the city builders said the pulley was troublesome.

——

The carpenter camp made some pulleys. The pulleys are easy to make. A round wooden block is used, and a deep groove is cut in the middle with a chisel. A pulley is ready.

A set of pulleys, a long rope, and a long wooden stake. A horizontal arm is connected to the wooden stake. Once the wooden stake and the pulley are assembled, a simple crane is ready.

Work at a construction site stopped, and the craftsmen buried the wooden piles next to the wall according to Li Mengxi's request. The civilian workers pulled up the ropes on the side, and the pulleys squeaked and twisted, slowly lifting the big rocks.

After the stone was hoisted high to the top, the farmer let go of his hand. He lost his grip and the stone fell with the rope. Then, there was a "kacha" sound.

The stone hit the wrong side and broke the wooden mold below.

It was a bad start. The first problem arose. The location of the boom was not accurate enough.

Later, the craftsmen went over to pull out the wooden piles and bury them again. After burying them, they pulled up the stones and tried again. They were still a little bit off, so they had to continue pulling out and reburying them.

Li Mengxi couldn't help but frown as he looked at the tedious and busy steps of the craftsmen.

After a while of "adjusting" by the craftsmen, the boom was finally adjusted. The adjusted boom was aimed at the mold below. The stone was pulled up high and then dropped down. It hit the center of the mold and would not hit it any further.

Then, the farmer got busy again. The labor-saving effect of the pulley block was very strong. The farmer alone easily pulled up the big stone, and then he kept raising and lowering the big stone. The big stone was lifted and lowered.

Winter keeps pounding.

After about forty or fifty hits, just when Li Mengxi thought there was no problem, the stone fell again, and with a "kacha" sound, it hit the mold again.

Li Mengxi thought that the civilians were too hasty to take advantage of it, and the stone was lowered before it was stable. The stone swayed, and then he smashed the mold.

The city builder walked under the pile and looked up. Then he looked at the pile and found that the pile was crooked. He held the pile and pushed it aside. When he came back, the craftsman told the reason. The reason was that the pole had been buried in a hurry.

, the burial was shallow, the soil was soft, and the stone was too heavy. The stone fell on one side, and the pile tilted as it fell.

Li Mengxi thought to himself, if the pile was buried shallowly, it would be better to bury it deeper. It would not be a big problem.

Afterwards, no more problems occurred for a long time, and after a while of smashing, the city builder invited Li Mengxi to go over and check out the details.

Li Mengxi followed the craftsman to the top of the wall. He saw that after a while of pounding, a deep hole was created where the stone was hit.

The craftsman pointed to the pit and explained to Li Mengxi, "Military advisor, you see, you can only hit one area with a windlass. If you use a person to lift it, it will hit both the left and right sides."

After the craftsman explained it, Li Mengxi understood. It turned out that when tools were not accurate enough, manual labor was a more accurate and efficient method.

If you use a boom to hang the stone, you can only hit one point if the stone goes straight up or down. However, if you use human power, a group of people can control the stone to fine-tune it left and right, so that the corners and corners can be smashed all over the porcelain.

Li Mengxi realized that the simple pulley was really not as useful as human power.

However, he did not want to give up the pulley. The simple pulley was not easy to use, so he made a sophisticated pulley.

Li Mengxi looked up. When he looked up, he was startled. He accidentally stood under the big rock. If the rope was broken, he would be cold.

Li Mengxi quickly jumped off the wall.

Away from danger, Li Mengxi raised his head and looked at the boom. He thought that the stone was too small and did not fully fit the mold. This problem seemed to be solved.

If the stone is too small, then just sit on a stone that is as wide as the mold. In this way, when the stone falls, it will hit both sides and there will be no blind spots.

Li Mengxi told the city builder his idea. The city builder scratched his head and could not refute. The city builder could only smile and said, "Good advice, military advisor!"

Li Mengxi's method is a good method, but it is too cumbersome. The stone must be carved, and the mold must be placed as wide and narrow as the stone every time the mold is placed. It is very troublesome.

Li Mengxi raised his head and stared at the big stone for observation. He found that the shape of the big stone was very irregular. According to Li Mengxi's understanding, it was best for the bottom of the stone to be flat, so that when it was smashed down, the soil could be flattened.

With an idea in mind, Li Mengxi called the messengers and ordered them to go to the blacksmith camp and ask the blacksmiths to make a large square iron block and deliver it.

The messenger took the order and left.

It would take a while before the big iron block was finished, so Li Mengxi asked people to continue pulling the stones and smashing them.

Soon, the next question appeared.

When Li Mengxi felt that the smashing was almost done, he asked the civilian husband to change the section and smash again, but at this time he found that it could not be changed.

A boom with a simple structure of only one wooden stake and one horizontal arm cannot rotate left and right, extend or contract like the cranes of later generations. In other words, the boom can only be fixed at one point and can be moved to the side.

It can't be done at all.

Li Mengxi thought that the boom could be improved and changed into a rotatable and telescopic structure, just like the cranes of later generations.

Li Mengxi was very proud of his idea, and he immediately informed the city builders beside him of his idea.

After listening to Li Mengxi's story, the city builder looked up at the boom and imagined Li Mengxi's description in his mind. The city builder couldn't help but scratch his head.

After hesitating for a moment, the city builder had to tell Li Mengxi, "Military advisor, it's easy to turn the piles, but even if the piles can be turned, it still won't work."

The city builder made a horizontal gesture with his hand, "It was originally long enough, but when I tilted it, it was no longer long enough.

It was originally aligned correctly, but after a turn, it became misaligned.”

Li Mengxi stared at the boom and frowned. After thinking for a moment, he understood what the craftsman meant.

The craftsman said that if the pile can be rotated, it must also be matched with the length or shortening of the horizontal bar, so that the rotation is useful. If it only turns to the horizontal bar and remains unchanged, it is useless.

Li Mengxi understood that if you want to have a boom that can automatically turn, you must also have a horizontal bar that can accurately telescope. Both are indispensable.

When Li Mengxi was wondering whether it was easy to make a retractable horizontal bar, the craftsman beside him dutifully suggested, "Military advisor, you can make a bar that can be made long or short, but it's easy to do despite the trouble."

bad……"
To be continued...