The sixty-two miles of embankment, plus the lattice embankment every one mile, the daily need for stone is extremely terrifying.

Fortunately, Xishan is dominated by limestone, and it is very difficult to mine. Stone can be obtained in large quantities by using the traditional fire boiling water shock method.

In order to ensure the supply of stones, the county sent 10,000 strong men to Xishan to help the seven or eight thousand displaced people hired by the Jiangnan Company to quarry stones.

17,800 people got up early and stayed up all day at night, enough to produce nearly 200,000 stones, enough to supply Kunshan for the repair of embankments.

How to transport so many stones to the embankment? On the contrary, it has become a bottleneck that restricts the progress of the project.

It is far from enough to rely on dozens of large ships supported by the county, Wu Ji, Liu Yuanwai and others.

Fortunately, Kunshan is a water town, and almost half of the families have boats, and they can rely on the number to make up.

As soon as the county issued a notice on the recruitment of civilian ships to transport stones, the common people enthusiastically signed up, and more than 6,000 boats applied for the recruitment in one day.

Xiong Dianshi, who was in charge of organizing the transportation, screened again, eliminated the ships below one material, and finally requisitioned only half of the ships.

'Material' is the unit used to measure the volume of ships in this dynasty, which is approximately equal to the displacement of 666 catties.

The ones below one material are basically sampan boats, which can't transport many stones, and it just consumes manpower. It's better to pool the manpower and work together on a larger ship.

The men all went to do the hard work, and the work of rocking the boat and carrying the stones had to be left to the women, children, and the elderly.

Although the outbound journey is empty, the return journey is downstream, and it does not require much effort. But it took almost two days to travel nearly 300 miles back and forth, and it was an arduous journey.

Xiong Dianshi divided the 3,000 large and small ships into two shifts, one shift on a single day and one shift on a double sunrise, which could reduce the pressure of loading and unloading goods on Xishan and the embankment, alleviate the congestion on the river, and be more efficient.

The boat of Li Hua's family is the marriage of the Liang family, and the size is just right.

She didn't want anyone else to her boat, so she took Miwa out with her.

~~

The morning sun is rising, and 10,000 points of golden light are sprinkled on the Loujiang River.

The Loujiang River starts from the Loumen of Suzhou City, goes straight east through Kunshan, and enters the sea in Taicang.

Since the Song Dynasty, this canal connecting the two wealthiest cities in Suzhou has been busy with boats and thousands of sails.

Yushan Town, which is adjacent to the canal, has also prospered because of the river and has become the most prosperous and wealthy place in Kunshan, and even the county seat has moved from the banks of the Wusong River.

From the county seat to Suzhou and even to Taihu Lake, it takes half the time to go to Loujiang than from Wusongjiang Province.

Not only did the journey save fifty miles, but also because the Loujiang River was slow and the Wusong River was in a hurry, and it was also much faster to sail against the current.

Therefore, the Kunshan stone transport fleet naturally has to go to Xishan through the Loujiang River into Taihu Lake. On the return journey, we will go down the Wusong River until we reach the embankment.

This circular route is repeated over and over again, bringing a steady stream of stones from Xishan back to Kunshan.

Miwa and her mother shook alternately, barely falling behind. I arrived in Suzhou at noon, gritted my teeth and made persistent efforts, and rowed into Taihu Lake along the Xitang River.

Tired of half the size, lying in the stern of the boat and not wanting to move.

"Let's take a break and get something to eat." Liang operated the oar, and then went all the way down to the West Mountain, and there was no need to row hard.

Miwa smoked in her throat and rolled over on the deck, trying to take a pinch of lake water to drink.

But he was stopped by his mother.

"I forgot again, you are not allowed to drink raw water!" Liang handed his son a bamboo tube containing boiling water from the morning.

"Oh." Miwa answered, muttering in her heart how could there be insects in such a clean lake.

However, he was sensible and did not make his mother angry, so he sat in the cabin, opened the cold and opened it, and ate the lotus leaf rice made in the morning.

The day before the convoy departed, the people who went out of the ship had to go to the dock to receive red head signs, as well as two days' rations. Liang's rice is made to bring rice.

The two brought a total of four rice packets, and Miwa ate two in one go, licking her lips unsatisfied, and retracting her gaze from the remaining two rice packets.

"Mother, you eat, I'll shake the oar."

Liang handed the oars to his son and sat on the deck, rubbing his arms as he watched the long fleet of boats sprinkle like a chain of beads on the lake.

This gave her an unprecedented sense of involvement, and she really felt that she was contributing to the cause of the county.

"Miwa, maybe next year, we won't have to flee."

"Mother, the embankment that is being built now can only be managed in Kunbei." Miwa laughed.

"The eldest lord can repair the north embankment in a month, and can he ignore our south?" Liang said confidently: "That day, I heard Aunt Zhou say that she had a nephew's cousin's brother-in-law who ran an errand in the county. People secretly told her that the county has set three phases of the project, and the next phase is to solve our Kunnan problem. ”

"That's great!" Miwa danced excitedly, "Then let me carry stones every day." ”

"Hold steady." The boat was not big, it was swaying, and the water in Liang's hands was spilled.

"Hey, hey." Miwa hurriedly stabilized the oar, scratched her head and smiled: "I'm so happy, I don't want to be called Hanako, it's embarrassing." ”

"You." Liang stood up with a feigned annoyance, handed the remaining rice to his son and said, "Mother is full, you can eat." ”

"Hmm." Miwa was a child after all, so she ate it deliciously.

~~

While speaking, Xishan Island arrived.

The two saw that in the northeast corner of Xishan Island, there were three tall chimneys, all billowing and spitting smoke.

They were no longer surprised by this, and Liang hurriedly rocked the oars and bypassed here far away, so as not to be troubled by the patrol on the lake.

"Hey, there are a lot of boats patrolling today."

But people are like that, and the more you defend yourself, the more curious they become. Miwa tiptoed and craned her neck to look over.

"The island is walled, and you can still see houses building inside."

"What are you looking at?" Liang stepped up rowing. "Forgot what Chief A said, you can't get close, don't ask?"

"But I heard that where the cement came from......" Miwa looked at the chimney without blinking, until the mountains blocked his view.

The fleet traveled twenty miles southwest along Xishan Island to the Shigongshan Quarry at the southern end of the island.

At this time, the sun was already blocked by the mountain, and under the vast shadow, the flames were particularly dazzling.

It was countless topless people, setting up a pyre to burn stones.

This is the method of opening the mountain that has been inherited from the Qin and Han dynasties to the present, using the principle of thermal expansion and cold contraction of rocks.

After the fire is burned, it is quickly poured with water, so that the rock will crack and even become as easy as cutting tofu. This is especially true of limestone.

This method is simple to say, but it is actually very technical. It is necessary to have an experienced quarryman to observe the texture and joints of the rock, just like the cook, and select the most vulnerable parts. A small stove was then built with stone masonry, commonly known as the 'dragon stove', to guide the flames straight to the focal point of the stone wall.

When the fire enters the rocks, the rocks gradually crack, and finally there will be a firecracker sound, and then the stone chips will fall one after another. Based on this, miners can determine the heat of the fire.

As soon as the fire arrived, he immediately ordered someone to pour cold water, and the hot mountain rocks suddenly contracted when they were cold, and cracks soon appeared. Miners can then use chisels, hammers, shovels and other tools to hammer along the cracks in the rock, and easily dismember the huge rocks. Then it is pulled by cart to the dock at the foot of the mountain and loaded and transported away.

Miwa and her mother came a little late, and the fleet waiting for the loading of goods was sent out two miles long, and they could only stay in Xishan for one night today.

ps. The first change, ask for a monthly pass.