226: Chapter 226 Professional matters should be handled professionally!

"Great minds think alike!"

Zhao Fusu's thoughts aligned perfectly with Meng Tian's.

He also believed that Modun intended to use the Fire Bull Array to launch an assault.

"Your Majesty the Paramount Leader, this will not be easy to deal with!"

Meng Tian analyzed, "While the terrain of the Qinglan Grassland is high, it lacks city walls. It would be difficult to resist the impact of a million fire bulls unless we abandon the Qinglan Grassland."

"Mhm!"

Zhao Fusu expressed deep agreement with Meng Tian's analysis.

A million fire bulls—the mere thought of it was terrifying!

However, Zhao Fusu was reluctant to give up the Qinglan Grassland.

He had finally managed to establish a base in the Southern Desert.

As long as he held this base, he could absorb more Xiongnu Tribes and expand the base's territory and strength.

The more territory he occupied in the Southern Desert, the more he could squeeze the survival space of the Xiongnu Royal Court until they were pushed out entirely, ensuring the safety of the Hetao Region.

This was one of his primary military objectives for sending troops into the Southern Desert.

Achieving victory in the second counter-encirclement campaign would be far more difficult than the first.

In the first campaign, they had joined the war in secret, catching the Right Great Danghu and the White Sheep King off guard.

This time, the enemy was driving a million cattle toward them specifically to counter pit-traps and caltrops.

How to deal with a Fire Bull Array composed of a million cattle had become a major problem.

"General, what are your thoughts?"

Zhao Fusu turned his gaze toward Meng Tian, wanting to see if he had any good ideas.

"In my humble opinion, there are two methods."

Meng Tian had also been contemplating Modun's million-strong Fire Bull Array.

"Oh?"

Zhao Fusu said curiously, "Let's hear them."

He placed great importance on Meng Tian's views.

As a famous General of Great Qin, Meng Tian possessed extraordinary military talent.

During the wars of Qin's unification of the six states, Meng Tian had led armies on numerous expeditions, making significant contributions to the cause of unification.

He participated in the campaign against the Qi State, using his outstanding command and military strategy to lead the Qin Army to a swift victory over the Qi forces, adding a brilliant stroke to Qin's final unification of the six states.

His most brilliant achievement, however, was leading the Great Wall Legion to strike the Xiongnu in the north. Relying on his superior military command, he defeated the Xiongnu multiple times and reclaimed vast lost territories like the Hetao Region, ensuring the Xiongnu did not dare venture south and securing the northern borders of the Qin Dynasty.

The biggest difference between Meng Tian and Wang Li was that Meng Tian was adept at using strategy in military command, formulating flexible and ever-changing tactics based on different battlefield situations.

When fighting the Xiongnu, he noted the high mobility of their cavalry and adopted a strategy of defending first before attacking. He used the Great Wall and other defensive works for steadfast defense, waiting for the Xiongnu army to tire or reveal a flaw before launching a counterattack, achieving remarkable results.

He was also skilled at utilizing terrain, using tactics like ambushes and raids with such mastery that the enemy found them impossible to guard against.

Zhao Fusu was well aware of his own limited military prowess.

Professional tasks should be left to professionals!

It was just like the coal bosses of the past; they knew they lacked the ability to direct TV dramas, so they just invested the money.

When the production crew was free from the interference of outsiders, the dramas they produced were actually good.

After entering the internet era, there was too much meddling.

Battle Qi could even be transformed into a horse!

Even a Soul Emperor could only ride a horse!

He could just take Meng Tian's suggestions and put them to use.

He looked at Meng Tian.

Meng Tian spoke up: "First, based on the terrain of the Qinglan Highlands, we should construct city walls. By rationally planning the direction and layout of the walls, they can become a vital barrier for defending the Qinglan Grassland!"

"Mhm!"

Zhao Fusu nodded; this was indeed a viable method.

Young Master Fusu had built the Great Wall, and Zhao Fusu possessed those memories.

He also knew how the Qin Dynasty constructed city walls.

The construction techniques for Qin Dynasty city walls were quite complex.

First, the foundation of the wall would be leveled and rammed to ensure stability. When encountering soft ground, methods such as driving wooden piles were used for reinforcement to prevent the wall from cracking or collapsing due to settling.

Regarding materials, loess with good viscosity was mostly selected. Sometimes sand, lime, and other additives were included to improve the soil's properties and enhance the wall's sturdiness.

Timber was also used as a supporting structure, while reeds and bamboo strips were used for reinforcement and waterproofing.

Wall construction methods included rammed earth (hangtu) and Brick-and-Stone Masonry.

The Rammed Earth Method was the primary technique.

Wooden boards or frames were used as molds, and soil was filled into them in layers and then rammed.

Each layer's thickness was usually around 10 to 20 centimeters. By repeatedly filling and ramming, the wall would gradually rise.

Ramming tools were mostly made of stone or wood. Laborers would swing these tools to compact the soil, making the wall more solid.

Many ancient buildings today still use this method.

Zhao Fusu remembered that after an ancient building near his home was washed away by a flood, this method was used to rebuild the walls during its reconstruction.

Brick-and-Stone Masonry was used for certain important sections or in areas with poor soil conditions.

Stone was processed into regular shapes, while bricks were mostly made of fired clay. Lime or mud mortar was used as a binder to assemble the bricks and stones into the wall structure.

The defensive power of walls built with these two methods certainly couldn't compare to cement.

Zhao Fusu rubbed his chin with his fingers.

He was considering using cement as a binder and employing the Brick-and-Stone Masonry method to build the wall structure.

This would definitely be much stronger than walls made with the original methods!

When Zhao Fusu had signed in, he had received the method for industrial cement production.

The firing process for cement was quite complex.

The raw materials required included calcareous materials like limestone and chalk, which primarily provided calcium oxide.

Argillaceous materials like clay and shale provided silica and alumina.

Correction materials, such as iron ore powder and coal gangue, were added as needed to adjust the chemical composition of the raw materials.

After mixing the raw materials in specific proportions, they were sent to a mill to be ground into raw meal. The raw meal required appropriate fineness and uniform composition.

The raw meal first entered a preheater, utilizing the heat from waste gases discharged from the rotary kiln for preheating. This increased the temperature of the raw meal and reduced energy consumption.

The preheated raw meal then entered the rotary kiln for calcination at high temperatures.

Inside the kiln, the raw meal passed through stages of drying, preheating, decomposition, and sintering. A series of physical and chemical reactions occurred, forming clinker mainly composed of minerals like tricalcium silicate, dicalcium silicate, tricalcium aluminate, and tetracalcium aluminoferrite.

After calcination, the clinker was discharged from the rotary kiln and entered a cooler for rapid cooling.

This helped improve the quality and grindability of the clinker while recovering heat to preheat the air, thereby increasing combustion efficiency.

Appropriate amounts of gypsum and admixtures like slag or fly ash were added to the cooled clinker, and then they were sent to a mill together to be ground into cement.

In terms of process, this wasn't particularly difficult for the current Great Qin.

The only technical requirement was that the temperature of the rotary kiln had to reach 1450°C.

Kilns of the Qin Dynasty, especially fixed kilns like the Mantou Kiln, had a maximum firing temperature of 1300°C.

This temperature was not high enough!