Chapter 42: Rough Stone Self-Weight Method
Cao Yunmeng's cheeks immediately turned red, and she spat and said repeatedly: "Pah, pah, pah, who is married to that bastard!"

After saying that, he stamped his feet and glared fiercely at Wan An's departing back before turning around and returning to the inner courtyard.

That night Wang An was in the library looking through the Jizhou map and the land and water map until midnight. Then he sighed and came to the dilapidated city wall. He gazed at the bright moon in the sky and the chaotic shacks under the city for a long time without saying a word.

"Jizhou is really a poor and barren land..."

After a long while, Wang An finally let out a long sigh.

However, this is the only way for him to return to the capital and bring back Shen Shaozhu to settle down. No matter what, Wang An is already one with Jizhou in terms of honor and disgrace.

No matter how difficult the future may be, he will create glory on this land.

After expressing your feelings, you still have to do your work.

Wang An walked on the city wall, gazing at the adobe wall under his feet.

Today, Baicheng is still too small. With only 50,000 residents, this provincial capital is already packed to the brim.

Otherwise, the people of the entire Jizhou would probably flock to Baicheng to live.

Although Zhao Yi is a villain, there is one thing he has to admit.

With his 5,000 garrison troops around, the foreign marauding armies were not willing to cause any more trouble in Baicheng.

After all, they were only here to rob money and food, not to engage in a head-on confrontation with the Daliang army.

Population is also a precious asset to them. If some of them are lost, it will also be a big loss.

Of course, the real wealth is only their own kind.

As for the people looted from Jizhou, they were just two-legged sheep that could walk.

How to build the new city wall?
Wang An kept thinking about this problem.

He already had an idea in mind on how to speed up the construction of the city wall and its structure.

This is also thanks to the discovery of the large limestone mine on Crescent Mountain. With just a small amount of clay and iron ore, it is possible to burn the infrastructure artifact that has been seen since ancient times - cement.

As for clay and iron ore, although Jizhou is also poor in them, there are still some small-scale mines there.

Through the map of Jizhou, Wang An discovered that there was a small iron mine and a clay mine not far from Baicheng.

Of course, cement can only speed up the construction of city walls to a certain extent. Its most important function is to increase the strength of the city walls.

If you want to significantly increase the progress of the project, you still have to rely on the rubble stone self-weight method.

The so-called rubble stone self-weight method is to mix a large amount of irregular gravel into the city wall, using the gravel's own weight to improve the stability of the wall and reduce the amount of cement used.

Moreover, compared with ordinary concrete walls, rubble stone self-weight walls omit the quality inspection and finishing processes, which can greatly speed up the progress of the project.

Although I had ideas about methods and materials, I still felt a little troubled by the design of the new city wall.

After a deeper understanding, Wang An discovered that the ancient city walls were not simply built with stones as he had originally imagined.

This involves a lot of knowledge, including the foundation, the inclination angle of the outer wall, etc. Any flaw in any of them may cause the painstakingly built city wall to collapse in a heavy rain without the need for an enemy attack.

What's more, the city wall itself bears a huge weight, and it also needs to carry a large number of personnel and equipment during combat, so a single negligence could easily cause it to collapse.

Moreover, the city wall does not only involve the city wall, but also needs to be planned according to the layout of the city.

Although Wang An relied on his previous life's love of reading books, which was equivalent to the popular science level of previous life technology, such as cement, rough stone self-weight walls, etc., the specific planning involved professional knowledge and many details, which were not something he could have the final say on.

We must find a professional to take charge of this matter.

Thinking of this, Wang An just felt his scalp a little swollen.

Since he couldn't think of a suitable candidate, Wang An had to put the matter aside for the time being and gather everyone together tomorrow to find out more.

The next day, the sky became brighter.

Wang An was about to find Chen He to ask if he had heard of anyone who could build the city wall, and to make some arrangements for the settlement of the bandits.

However, after asking the bailiff on duty, they found out that Chen He did not live in the government office because he was a native of Baicheng, but lived in his own home.

The bailiff wanted to please Wang An and went to find Chen He for Wang An, but was stopped by Wang An.

He didn't know how much time was wasted going back and forth, and he also wanted to go outside the city to see how the bandits were settling down, so he asked the yamen runner to be his guide and take him to Chen He's house in person.

However, when the gate of the government office opened and Wang An was about to ride out on horseback, the horse's hoof almost trampled a woman under its feet.

Wang An pulled the reins just in time and managed to stop the woman from dying under the horse.

Just when he lowered his head, he was shocked to find that there were seven or eight women sitting or lying in front of the gate of the government office. Even though they were leaning against each other, they were still shivering from the cold.

Although it is a scorching hot summer now, Jizhou is located in the northern desert, so the weather in the early morning is still very cold.

The women were awakened by the noise of the door opening. When they looked up and saw Wang An, they all knelt on the ground.

"Your Highness, I am here to see you!"

"Thank you, Your Highness, for saving our lives and rescuing us from the hell on earth that is Crescent Moon Mountain!"

Wang An frowned and thought, then recognized a woman among them and said, "Are you the women imprisoned in the secret room by the mountain tiger?"

Several women didn't know what they were thinking of, and their originally pale faces immediately turned red.

Fortunately, the woman that Wang An remembered was quite courageous. She replied, "I never thought that the prince still remembered me. This is really a blessing from my previous life."

Wang An asked in confusion, "Why are you standing outside the city and freezing in front of the government office?"

That day, Wang An wiped out the Yueya Mountain and rescued seven or eight naked women.

These girls knew at first glance that they were looters from the mountain tigers, so when they returned to the city, they took the girls with them and handed them over to Chen He for settlement.

There are too many miserable people these days, and Wang An has no way to take care of so many of them.

He only instructed Chen He to ask about the hometowns of these women one by one. If they were nearby, he would send yamen runners to send them back. If they were far away, he would ask someone to send a letter to their home so that someone could be sent to pick them up.

I never thought that at this moment I was sleeping in front of the government office.

However, Wang An quickly realized that these women were playthings looted by bandits. Unlike ordinary bandits who had families to rely on, they did not dare to live together with those bandits.

He had no relatives or friends in the city, and no money on him, so it was only natural for him to come to the government office since he had nowhere else to go.

After realizing this, Wang An comforted them, "If you have nowhere to go, you girls can rest assured!"

"This king will order people to properly place you all."

(End of this chapter)