When all the preparatory work was completed, Liu Chenggong ordered the construction to begin, and he personally served as the chief engineer to direct the operation.
The first project to be carried out was to fill in the soil and build a dam ten miles ahead of the bridge, temporarily cutting off the flow of water in the upper reaches of the Yinma River, so that the water in the area where the bridge needs to be built can be emptied and exposed to the river bed.
For the entire project, 4,000 men were mobilized from the city, including 3,000 monks and 1,000 slaves.
On the Han army side, Liu Cheng ordered 6,000 soldiers to help build the bridge in the city.
Once the project started, the entire construction site became a lively scene.
Everyone carried a load on their shoulders and kept going back and forth between the river bank and the excavation site.
Considering that the construction technology of this era does not yet have the ability to build gates to store water, and also considering that once the upstream is blocked, the huge lakeside outside Wuni City is likely to dry up due to the reduction in drinking water velocity and flow, so Liu Cheng After discussing with Chihe, it was decided that the purpose of building the dam was only to temporarily cut off the river water and expose the river bed to facilitate the construction of bridge piers and bridge bodies.
Spring has not yet begun, so the river flows very slowly, and the flow rate is the smallest among all seasons of the year.
Therefore, it only took two days to fill up a simple earthen dam to cut off the river water.
In less than half a day, the river reached the lake downstream.
This section of the river bed at the mouth is exposed.
After the river bed was exposed, a large number of fresh fish were jumping on the shallow water at the bottom of the river.
It was a spectacular sight.
The soldiers of the Han army who were not tasked with repairing the bridge lined up and ran over to the river to catch them under the organization of the general officers. fish.
This news was known to the people in Muni City, and they also took pots and pans into the river to catch fish, almost causing a looting scene.
That night, both the soldiers of the Han army and the people of Muni City ate fish and drank fresh fish soup at their homes.
Liu Cheng sat in the tent and drank a bowl of fragrant fish soup.
He felt so good.
After taking two sips, he asked: "How much fresh fish can be caught to feed the soldiers?"
Pang De cupped his fists and said with a smile: "I can eat two meals, mainly because the people in the city came to loot after hearing the news.
There are too many monks and not enough gruel.
Today, when I killed the fish, I also harvested 600 kilograms of fish oil.
This is a good material for making kerosene."
Liu Cheng nodded and said: "Okay, keep it.
It can be cooked and cooked.
There must be fish in the big lake.
Tomorrow, the lieutenant generals will find a few soldiers who can weave fishing nets and let them Weave a few fishing nets and build a few small rafts to go fishing, and catch more to improve the food for the soldiers.
Also, don’t throw away the fish bladders, collect them, pickle them and dry them, they are good things.”
Fish maw is a very famous dish.
If you have a good chef, the taste will definitely make people eat it.
Pound agreed: "Yes" Liu Cheng thought for a while and said: "The dam is almost ready now, and there is no need to carry soil anymore.
From tomorrow onwards, two thousand people will be assigned to dredge the river; six thousand people will go to quarry, and the rest will be built at the bridge repair site."
Pier Mold Frame" "Follow your orders" While quarrying, Liu Cheng organized craftsmen and technicians to build the bridge mold frame, and decided where to erect the four bridge piers based on the width of the river.
At the same time, let Chihe, the lord of Muni City, collect scrapped iron tools, and let several blacksmiths in the army take charge of melting the collected scrap iron into juice, and then pour the iron juice into the prepared mold to make iron. strips, Liu Cheng reluctantly used them as steel bars.
After the mold frame of the bridge pier was built, Liu Cheng asked the craftsmen to insert the smelted steel bars into the mold frame of the bridge pier, and then ordered the laborers to pour the stones transported piece by piece into the mold frame, and then mix in clay, gravel and splendens.
This is the concrete of this era.
This simple concrete mixed with water only has a certain viscosity, and then mixed with some cooked glutinous rice soup, its viscosity is greatly increased, and it is very strong after drying.
There is really strength in numbers.
A steady stream of stones and simplified concrete were transported and poured into the mold frames.
In just one day, the mold frames of the four bridge piers were filled.
After the concrete dried and the molds were removed, the four towering The bridge piers were erected like this.
The bridge pier is not high, only five meters high, but this is enough.
Even after the river bottom is dredged, the height of the river bottom and river bank is only five meters.
The next step was to build the mold frame for the main body of the bridge.
This took two days.
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Then the steel bars were fixed, a large number of long timbers were erected on the bottom of the river as supports to hold up the frame, and a large amount of stone and simplified concrete were transported. , it took three days to fill the entire bridge mold frame.
Liu Cheng ordered the stonemason to carve a monument as a memorial and testimony.
He erected the stone tablets at both ends of the bridge and wrote: "On the twenty-fifth day of the first lunar month in the fourth year of Chuping of the Han Dynasty, the Marquis of Anyi, General Huqi, and Sikong Liu Cheng led an army of 10,000 soldiers to patrol the west.
Here, together with more than 4,000 people from Muni City, we built the Yinma Bridge, which took twelve days to complete."
Two days later, the mold boards were removed, and a stone bridge 200 meters long, five meters wide, and one meter thick spanned the river.
The top between the two piers used an arch to support the main body of the bridge, which is load-bearing.
Powerful and stable.
This building was simply a miracle in this era.
Although the Central Plains Dynasty had already had examples of stone bridges built on the river, they were definitely not this long.
The people of Muni City and business travelers from various places sang and danced on the bridge, and held a bonfire party at night to celebrate, which lasted until dawn.
It took a total of twelve days to complete the construction and opening of the bridge, which was far beyond Liu Cheng's expectation.
Any delay here would consume an extra day of food and grass.
Fortunately, there is also the granary of the Colonel Tuntian to support the supply of food and grass, otherwise it would have been difficult.
There really wasn't enough food and grass collected for the army to set off.
Late that night, Chen Qun came to report to Liu Cheng: "My lord, everything has been arranged.
My lord, I will summon Chihe immediately tomorrow morning."
Liu Cheng nodded and ordered: "Carry out another inspection to fill in the gaps.
Do not leave any loopholes or doubts.
We must make this case a solid case."
"clear" Early the next morning, Liu Cheng sent someone to summon Chi He, the lord of Muni City, and Chi He hurried to the military camp outside the city to meet Liu Cheng.
"Your Majesty pays homage to the General" Liu Cheng looked at Chi He who was bowing, slammed the table and shouted: "Chi He, the soldiers of the imperial court spent more than ten days carrying earth to build dams and bridges to solve the problem of crossing the river for the people of Muni City.
I didn’t expect you guys to be so ignorant, do you know your guilt?”
Chihe was startled and confused.
He couldn't figure out the situation and asked cautiously: "General, what happened to make the general so angry?"
"What happened?
I will tell you, General.
While the soldiers were building the dam, the two thousand sets of armor and weapons that were unloaded were stolen."
These words were like a bolt from the blue.
Two thousand sets of weapons and armor were stolen.
Chihe's eyes widened, "How is this possible?"
Liu Cheng shouted: "Why is it impossible for you to show me the general?
Several tents storing weapons and armor in the camp were overturned.
Someone dug a tunnel from outside the camp and entered the camp and stole two thousand sets of weapons and armor."
Then Chihe followed Liu Cheng to the tents where weapons and armor were stored in the camp.
A large dark hole appeared in the middle of one of the tents.
Liu Cheng pointed at the big hole and said, "Go down and see if this hole is a passage outside the camp."
Cold sweat broke out on Chihe's forehead.
He immediately jumped into the cave, and then Liu Cheng also jumped in with some soldiers.
Everyone walked through a long tunnel and walked out of the tunnel entrance.
Chihe looked again and saw that the outer fence of the Han army camp was not far away, less than twenty feet.
"How could this happen?
What kind of courage does this have?"
Chihe was shocked beyond measure.
Liu Cheng shook off the sand and dust on his body, walked up to Chi He and said solemnly: "You also saw it.
I only know that two thousand sets of weapons and armor were stolen.
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As for who stole it, I don't know. , you need to check, here It is under the jurisdiction of you, the city lord.
If something like this happens, you will naturally be fully responsible.
The general will give you three days.
If you cannot find the two thousand sets of stolen armor and weapons within three days, you will be held responsible.
Don’t blame me for being rude.”
Chihe's face turned pale, and he bowed his hands repeatedly and said: "Yes, yes, I will do my best to trace the whereabouts of these armors and weapons, and I will give an explanation to the general."
"Humph" Liu Cheng snorted coldly and turned around with the soldiers.
Chihe hurriedly returned to the city lord's palace to summon his officials and staff to tell them about the incident and discuss countermeasures with everyone.
Soon, all the police officers in the city came out to search for news inside and outside the city.
Some caravans that came to Muni City in the past few days were subject to intensive interrogation and questioning, but nothing was found.
Apart from these caravans, in recent days, Are there any other outsiders inside?
After a day of collecting information, the police officers did not find any useful clues, as if these weapons and armor had disappeared out of thin air.
The next day, the police officers shifted their targets to petty thieves in the city.
Some of the gangsters who usually had dirty hands and feet were all arrested and severely interrogated, but still no useful clues were obtained.
At this time, two days have passed, and only the last day is left.
That night, Chihe and his subordinate officials looked sad in the lobby of the city lord's mansion.
One of his subordinates stood up and said, "Mr.
City lord, don't you think this is strange?
It's not a simple matter to steal two thousand sets of weapons and armor."
It's an easy thing, just digging a tunnel takes a lot of time At that time, it was impossible for one or two people to steal this batch of armor and weapons.
But except for the few caravans that had arrived in the past few days, there were no other outsiders.
It was impossible for the residents of the city to do such a thing. , they don’t have the courage either.
Even if they had the courage, they wouldn’t be able to do it.”
Chihe frowned: "What do you mean?"
The subordinate hesitated for a moment and said: "I wonder if someone among the generals of the Han army is watching and stealing."
This suspicion was immediately questioned by another official: "Isn't it possible?
What's the use of them stealing weapons and armor?
This is our sphere of influence in Muni City, Shanshan State.
Is it possible that someone among them has stolen weapons and armor and wants to sell them to us?"
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