The new material Zuo Menggen came up with was, of course, cement.
As a military expert, it is impossible for Zuo Menggeng not to know about cement.
Not only do you know, but you also know the formula of the full grade cement.
Of course, in this era, all he can bring out is the most basic cement.
Cement is one of those things that is very common in daily life, but the gap between the highest and lowest specifications is like the product of the Mariana Trench.
In later generations, no country will be able to produce cement, but for the best cement, only a limited number of countries have mastered the technology.
But even the most basic cement conquered Lu Hao in one fell swoop.
The Lu family has been running a brick factory for generations and is an expert in construction. Of course they understand the value of cement.
The reason why Zuo Menggeng didn't take out the cement until now was simply that the New Army's weapons had made tremendous progress.
The application of guncotton explosives doubled the destructive power of the New Army's weapons. Even primary cement fortifications could not withstand it.
In the past, the New Army's artillery used black powder. Let alone concrete, even the big cities of this era were powerless.
I can't come up with a good thing and then have it bought and used by the enemy, causing me to be unable to defeat myself, right?
Now, with new explosives, it's time for cement to come out.
The first application place of cement was actually in Jiaozhou Bay.
Today's Jiaozhou Bay has long become a busy and lively construction site.
Countless people were mobilized here, completely changing the appearance of this place.
"Take a seat, we have hired all the people around us, and we still don't have enough manpower."
As soon as they met, Fu Yusun began to complain.
What projects are currently underway in Jiaozhou Bay?
The first is the demolition of the city wall of Lingshan Guard.
After a comprehensive discussion by the administrative committee, everyone agreed that Jiaozhou Bay has a bright future. Therefore, it must be built extensively to make it a big city that is not weaker than Jinan, Yanzhou, and Dongchang.
After demolishing the city wall of Lingshan Guard, it can be spread around based on the existing city.
Zuo Mengeng predicts that once this area develops, within a hundred years, the prosperity of Qingdao will be restored in later generations.
In addition to the construction of the town, there is the Dagu River Saltworks.
After Huang Zonghui's autumn wind swept away the fallen leaves, the Dagu River salt field was cleaned up, and all the kitchen households were full of life.
Fu Yusun reformed the salt field and established a salt company. All the kitchen households became employees of the salt company and received a fixed income every month. They no longer had to worry about being hungry or full.
What made the kitchen households burst into tears of gratitude was that Fu Yusun canceled their salt lessons.
From now on, kitchen households no longer have to pay taxes, and their burden is lightened.
Moreover, Fu Yusun promised to build new houses for the kitchen households, and advance preparations have now begun.
The new salt industry company residential area is located on the east bank of Dagu River north of the salt field and south of Yantaiding.
The Lu family is also Fu Yusun's partner and wants to provide bricks and tiles to the salt industry company.
In view of the situation here, after comprehensive consideration, Lu Hao decided to set up a brick and tile factory directly here, which resulted in attracting another group of laborers.
In addition to people's livelihood, the military is also the focus here.
Both sides of the Baisha River entrance to the east were requisitioned by the New Army.
The east bank of the river mouth became the headquarters of the Fourth Division of the New Army.
The Fourth Division will be formed here and will also be responsible for local defense.
An army of more than 10,000 people, military camp construction, and daily consumption are astronomical figures.
But this also helped the people around him.
The local people discovered that the new army not only did not bully the people, but was also very wealthy, so they spontaneously moved their business closer to the military camp.
The consumption of the New Army soldiers is currently enough to feed the nearby people.
On the west bank of Shahe River, the uses are even greater, and they are all related to the sea.
Two schools will be established here.
One is the Naval Academy and the other is the Naval Academy.
The Naval Academy will provide talents for the soon-to-be-established navy and is the cradle of the future navy.
The Naval Academy is both a military and civilian institution.
Not only will various disciplines of ship construction be developed here, but also crew members will be trained. It can be used to develop the maritime economy, and can also be incorporated into the navy at critical moments to help with operations.
The coast of Hongdao, which protrudes into Jiaozhou Bay, will be built into a naval dock.
Most of the ships transferred from Dengzhou dock here.
The construction of these places alone has absorbed the surrounding population. Even the people in Haiyang heard the news and came here to make money.
"You are also stubborn. If you are short of labor, you just need to recruit people. Our territory is all around here, who can stop you from recruiting people?"
After being scolded, Fu Yusun defended himself.
"I... I'm not afraid that if we recruit too many workers, no one will be able to plant the crops, which will affect next year's spring plowing."
Zuo Mengeng had no choice but to teach in person.
"Although Shandong has been fighting for so many years, the population has dropped sharply, but there are still more people and less land. With so many people, how can they survive just by farming? And you have also seen our agriculture in Dongchang Prefecture.
Reform and know what agriculture should do to increase production and income. Completing the labor distribution through recruitment is also a reflection of your ability."
Fu Yusun suddenly realized this, scratching his head and ears, feeling very excited.
"It's better to stay with Shenzuo. You can learn something every moment."
Zuo Mengeng smiled and said: "No matter how much you learn next to me, what's the use? You can only have one secretary on your side, so how can you be useful? Look at this place, the sky is high and the sea is vast. As long as you run it well, you can even compare with Songjiang Mansion."
.”
Seeing Zuo Mengeng raising the prospects of Jiaozhou Bay so high, Fu Yusun couldn't help but feel excited and determined to start a vigorous career.
Speaking of Songjiang Prefecture, people from there came over again, and went directly to Jiaozhou Bay to find Zuo Mengeng.
"The cloth you mentioned last time has been studied by major cloth merchants in Songjiang Prefecture and they think it would be good to use a back cloth."
"Back fabric?"
Zuo Mengeng was a little confused and felt that Xu Erdou was entertaining him.
It's not like he has never seen a back, which is exquisite, delicate, soft and luxurious, but only ladies can afford to wear it.
How can this kind of fabric be used to make military uniforms?
Only then did Xu Erdou realize that he had misunderstood. He quickly took out a piece of very rough and strong cloth and said, "I'm talking about the backs of the Song Dynasty, not today's ones."
Zuo Mengeng took the cloth and inspected it carefully. He found that the cloth in his hand was very thick and airtight. He took the dagger again and cut it casually. He was surprised to find that such a sharp dagger was difficult to pierce and cut open in his hand.
of fabric.
The texture of this fabric is quite like the denim clothes of later generations.
Although it is not as hard as that, it is indeed enough for military uniforms.
Xu Erdou introduced in detail: "The backs of the Song Dynasty were generally worn by laborers or warriors because they were cheap and very strong. After listening to your request last time, we searched in many places after we went back, and an old weaver mentioned this kind of backs.
Fabric.”
Zuo Mengeng was very satisfied with the fabric and asked: "Can it be mass produced?"
Xu Erdou made a sure decision.
"It's easy. With the size of the Tianwei Factory, it can produce 30,000 pieces every day."
Zuo Mengeng made the decision immediately.
"Okay, order half a million pieces here. When Shandong ships cotton to Songjiang Prefecture next spring, the fabric must be ready."
Xu Erdou was very happy about this deal.
Although the fabric Zuo Mengeng wanted was not expensive, the quantity was too large. This business alone was as much as Tian Weaving Factory's annual profit.
Zuo Mengeng asked him to keep all the fabric samples he brought, and also ordered someone to call Wang Xiuqin over.
"This is the fabric that will be used in the military uniforms of our army in the future. What your garment factory needs to do next is to produce military uniforms that are unique to our new army."
Wang Xiuqin was greatly surprised.
"Are we no longer wearing Ming army uniforms?"
Zuo Mengeng shook his head.
"no need."
He asked Fu Yijian to take the drawings and show them to Wang Xiuqin.
"Let's see if we can make it."
Since he decided to establish his own system, Zuo Mengeng decided to be more thorough.
Anyway, the New Army is a pure firearms force, and the military uniforms of this era are really not suitable.
The style he took out was based on the hbt military uniform of the US Army in World War II.
Compared with the military uniforms of various countries during World War II, this kind of military uniform is not the least bit superior.
Because most of the military uniforms of other countries have not yet left the category of uniforms. Although they are easy to identify, to be honest, they are really uncomfortable on the battlefield.
Once hbt military uniforms appeared in the style of field military uniforms, they received unanimous praise from the U.S. military.
Moreover, this kind of military uniform is made of cotton and fine canvas fabrics, which are quite similar to the fabrics of the backs of the Song Dynasty, which coincidentally solves the problem of using materials.
At the same time, Zuo Mengeng also made modifications to suit local conditions.
For example, hbt military uniforms are mainly in khaki and olive green, which could not be printed and dyed in the late Ming Dynasty, so Zuo Menggeng decided to use the ocher yellow commonly seen in Shandong.
If the clothing factory can make it, then the new army will enter a new era.