That night, the three brothers had to share a bed with Chen Biao.
Chen Biao felt sorry for them because they were frightened by his own predictions, so he allowed them to share a bed.
As a result, the little piglet Chen Biao fell asleep quickly, while the three young men kept their eyes open for half the night without feeling sleepy.
In the middle of the night, Zhu Wenzhen, Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying got out of bed, climbed onto the roof and looked at the moon side by side.
As they watched, someone started crying, and then all three boys started sobbing on the roof, scaring the wild cats and dogs that were foraging for food at night away.
The next day, when Chen Biao opened his eyes, he saw three enlarged faces with dark circles under their eyes. He was so scared that he punched one of their eyes directly.
Ah~hehehe!
After three punches, Zhu Wenzhen, Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying squatted on the ground, covering their eye sockets and screaming in pain.
Biaoer's strength has increased!
Chen Biao climbed up from the bed and looked down at his little fist.
You deserve it! Who told you to scare me?
Zhu Wenzhen, Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying circled around Chen Biao pitifully, but Chen Biao found them annoying.
Chen Biao could understand them. Marshal Zhu, who was so kind now, might turn into a madman in the future, and the Chen family might be wiped out by the madman Hongwu Emperor. These three young people placed their passionate hopes on Marshal Zhu, and in this era, people were particularly obsessed with loyalty to the emperor. One can imagine how upset they must be.
No matter how miserable I am, why are you watching me cry? It's like I'm the one who's going to die young! How unlucky!
Chen Biao patted his brothers' heads one by one, complaining, "Don't be so sad. You don't know how many years will pass, why are you sad now? Marshal Zhu is still your good adoptive father, you can rely on him without worry. Oh, I know you all feel sorry for him, that's why you're crying so hard."
What a deep love between father and son. Chen Biao was a little touched.
In fact, the three unfilial sons did not feel sad for Zhu Yuanzhang and nodded with sobs.
Yes, yes, yes, we are sad for our adoptive father, it has nothing to do with Biaoer.
After Chen Biao coaxed his brothers, doubts arose in his mind again.
Chen Biao: "Brother Ying, you're not really hiding a foster brother who you have a deep affection for, are you?"
Chen Ying shook his head vigorously: "No, no, you are my only sworn brother. Biao'er, think about it, I have only just become the lord's adopted son. How could the lord let me meet his eldest son? On the contrary, Wen Zhong and Wen Zheng..."
In short, Chen Yingxian diverted the blame to others.
Chen Biao crossed his arms and looked up and said, "Cousin, cousin, do you have a younger brother out there who is more important than me?"
Li Wenzhong: "Just listen to Chen Ying's nonsense."
Zhu Wenzheng: "Chen Ying is just asking for a fight."
Li Wenzhong and Zhu Wenzhen rarely stood on the same front at this moment, and crazily criticized Chen Ying, insisting that Chen Ying might be the Mu Ying who was raising a younger brother outside without Chen Biao's knowledge.
Li Wenzhong said, "Biao'er, don't be nice to him in the future."
Zhu Wenzheng nodded: "Yes, yes, the three of us will isolate him!"
Yay! Is it finally Ying's turn to be isolated?
Chen Ying said, "My credibility is much better than yours. Biao'er won't believe you."
Chen Biao suppressed his laughter and nodded repeatedly: "That's not necessarily true."
Chen Ying was shocked: "Biao'er!"
Chen Biao: “Hahahahahaha!”
When Chen Biao laughed, his three brothers couldn't help laughing too.
After learning that Chen Biao might die young and that their adoptive father might become a madman, they laughed so heartily for the first time.
Biaoer can talk about his own "future", so it means that the future can be changed, right?
The three of them finally understood why Chen Biao had to return to his throne at the age of twenty. Before returning to his throne, Chen Biao was just Chen Biao, not Zhu Biao. This was the only way to escape death, right?
The three of them decided that from now on, whatever Chen Biao said would be their primary opinion. Whenever Biao insisted on something, it was bound to be a positive development.
Chen Biao originally thought that once his three brothers calmed down, the four of them would be able to return to their normal lives.
Is this actually the case? No one knows.
After learning of Chen Biao's prediction, Zhu Wenzhen, Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying immediately wrote a letter to Zhu Yuanzhang.
Zhu Wenzhen was also very tactless and asked his fourth uncle what he felt when he learned that Biaoer and his aunt would die early and that he would become crazy.
Zhu Yuanzhang really wanted to rush to Hongdu and beat his annoying nephew Zhu Wenzhen to death!
Zhu Yuanzhang wiped his tears and sniffed: "Biao'er didn't tell me that his adopted son Mu Ying would die of grief over his death."
Zhu Yuanzhang was very sure that Mu Ying was definitely Chen Ying.
There is no need to judge the overlapping pasts of Chen Ying and Mu Ying. When Zhu Yuanzhang asked his adopted sons to change their surnames back, he asked Chen Ying about his real surname, but Chen Ying always said he didn't know.
He discussed with Xiuying that the surname "Chen" in Chen Ying's name must be changed after Biaoer returned to his place.
But even if Chen Ying would become the King of the State in the future, it would be best if Biaoer gave him a surname. So Chen Ying changed his surname to "Mu".
"Mu" means blessing. They wish that Chen Ying's descendants will always be bathed in the grace of the Ming Emperor and enjoy eternal glory like the children of the Zhu family.
Only Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying knew about this matter, so when Biaoer suddenly said "Mu Ying", it was really a prophecy.
Zhu Yuanzhang wiped his tears again and sniffed.
Chen Ying was different from his other adopted sons. He and Ma Xiuying adopted him at the age of eight and had lived with them ever since.
Chen Ying couldn't remember his parents' faces, didn't know the location of his hometown, and had no interest in returning to his ancestral home. Compared to Zhu Yuanzhang's other adopted sons, he was more like the adopted son of Zhu Yuanzhang and Ma Xiuying.
Good boy.
Such a good child, my feelings for him will grow deeper, right?
So if my future self first encountered the tragic news of Biao'er's early death, and Aying also passed away, how would I get through it?
Wow, why is my future so bleak?
No, I need to go talk to someone.
Zhu Yuanzhang immediately walked into Xu Da's tent, jumped onto Xu Da's bed, who was catching up on sleep today after a successful night raid the previous night, and kicked Xu Da off the bed.
Zhu Yuanzhang: "Get up! Why are you sleeping? Your boss is so sad, how can you sleep?"
Xu Da: “#￥@*&……!!!”
The tent was right next to Xu Da's. Hearing the noise inside Xu Da's tent, Chang Yuchun walked to the door and looked out curiously: "..."
Chang Yuchun turned and ran, running faster than the black-faced warhorse he had carefully taken care of.
After these days of experience infiltrating the core circle, Chang Yuchun had a hunch that if he didn't run away now, it would definitely be bad!
The people patrolling in the military camp looked at General Chang as he left in a cloud of dust with a puzzled look on their faces, whispering to each other.
"What happened to General Chang? Urgent military information?"
"Shouldn't we run to the lord's tent if there's urgent military information? This is the opposite direction."
"Maybe I have an upset stomach."
"You don't have to run so far if you have a stomachache, right?"
The patrolmen looked at each other in confusion.
In Hongdu, Zhu Wenzhen opened the letter, which was full of vulgar words from his fourth uncle who was also his adoptive father.
Zhu Wenzheng sneered. Even though his fourth uncle was all talk and no action, he wasn't afraid.
Zhu Wenzhen threw the letter away and picked up his son from the cradle next to him and shook him.
Zhu Wen Zheng's son was used to being shaken, so he closed his eyes and didn't even look at Zhu Wen Zheng.
Song put down the scroll in her hand and picked up the letters that Zhu Wenzheng had thrown away. She glanced at the intimate exchange between Zhu Yuanzhang and his nephew and said helplessly, "Why did you anger my adoptive father again?"
Zhu Wenzheng said: "It's a secret. I can't tell you."
Song laughed: "Okay." A secret? It must be related to Biao'er.
Song changed the subject and said, "Biao'er asked me about Madam Cao a while ago. Could it be that Madam Cao offended Biao'er?"
Zhu Wenzheng said, "No. It's just that my adoptive father found out that Xiao Deng had a legitimate daughter, so he wanted to marry Xiao Deng. Biao'er is very curious about which unlucky girl would marry into my adoptive father's family."
Song's smile broke: "Unlucky girl?"
Zhu Wenzheng smirked and said, "That's what Biao'er said, not me. Biao'er said that his adoptive father is fighting outside and has no time to take care of his son. If he lets his son grow up wild, he will definitely have a bad character in the future. If the prince's wife interferes too much, she may be tortured by the prince. If the prince's wife doesn't care, if the prince gets into trouble, the adoptive father will definitely take his anger out on her. Being a daughter-in-law of the royal family is not an easy thing."
Song rubbed her face and complained, "Yes, yes, it's good that you know."
Zhu Wenzheng held his son in one hand and pulled Song into his arms with the other, kissing her. He said, "I'm different. Madam, please don't wrongly accuse me."
Song gently pinched Zhu Wenzheng's ear and said, "If you treat me badly, I will complain to Biao'er."
Zhu Wenzheng immediately said seriously: "You can complain to my adoptive father, don't look for Biao'er!"
Song suppressed her laughter and said, "You said it yourself, your adoptive father can't control you."
Zhu Wenzheng said shamelessly: "That's why I asked you to find a foster father."
The young couple ignored their son who was pretending to be dead with his eyes closed. They stayed together affectionately for a while before separating to do their own things.
After playing with his son enough and dealing with the matters that needed his attention in Hongdu Mansion today, Zhu Wenzhen went to play with Chen Biao.
A few days ago, they took Chen Biao to visit all the places in Hongdu City. Chen Biao hand-drew a detailed map of Hongdu City and marked the places that needed repairs.
Deng Yu was in charge of the deployment of defenses.
Deng Yu didn't know Chen Biao's true identity, but Zhu Wenzheng and Chen Ying both fully supported him. They did whatever Chen Biao said, as if Chen Biao had become the general guarding Hongdu. Although young, Deng Yu was very perceptive and didn't say anything, just quietly supporting him.
When he saw the map drawn by Chen Biao, his hands trembled and he said, "Just by visiting the city for a few days, we can get such a detailed map?!"
Chen Biao looked at Deng Yu, who was about to faint from fear, and said, "I can do it, but others can't."
Deng Yu looked at the map, then at Chen Biao, then at the map again, and then at Chen Biao again, not knowing what to say.
He was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat!
Chen Ying said, "Brother Boyan, don't worry too much. There aren't many people in the world with Biao'er's ability."
Chen Biao said, "Don't praise me so much. It's not that I'm so capable, it's that I have you accompanying me to visit and observe the situation in the city. If someone else had come, they would have been captured by you long ago."
Deng Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "That's true."
But Biao'er's ability is too terrifying. No wonder the lord appointed Biao'er as the prince's companion so early on, making Biao'er the prince's first close minister.
With Biao'er's assistance, the prince's future will definitely be stable.
After Deng Yu calmed down, Chen Biao said, "There are cracks in several places on the wall. It's very weak here, and here... Humph, whoever built it cut corners."
Deng Yu said, "Hongdu Prefecture has experienced many wars and the city walls have been repaired. It's not that they cut corners, it's simply that there aren't enough stones."
Hongdu is Nanchang in later generations.
Hongdu is located on the southwest shore of Poyang Lake. The entire area is mainly composed of the Poyang Lake Plain, with flat terrain and dense water networks. The stones that can be used to build walls are far away from the city and are located in the hilly areas in the northwest, making mining time-consuming and labor-intensive.
This difficulty wasn't unique to Hongdu. The construction of most ancient cities required a significant amount of manpower and resources for the quarrying and transportation of stone. Consequently, less critical areas were often constructed with earth walls mixed with pebbles for compaction.
Chen Biao said, "It's not stone. It's fine if it's just an earthen wall, but here it's probably not even earth, just a bunch of grass wrapped in sand."
Chen Biao rode his pony and took Deng Yu to the area he had marked, and asked the craftsmen to take out the iron bucket for probing the soil and hit the city wall.
After the iron bucket had sunk two inches into the city wall, the craftsman drilled a hole in the wall, pulled out the iron bucket, and poured the soil onto the ground.
Chen Biao squatted on the ground, took out the small dagger from his waist, and scratched the soil: "Look, there is less than two inches of soil, and it is all sand."
The soil used to build the wall must undergo special processing before it can be compacted into an earth wall, otherwise it will collapse.
The inside of this wall is made of straw mixed with sand, and the outside is covered with a layer of mud. It looks like an earthen wall, but in fact it is just like the straw house of the farmers outside, and is very fragile.
In this era, there were no cameras or quality control departments, so other cities were sure to experience this kind of shoddy workmanship. Chen Biao marked these walls out, not only of caution and fear of an attack on Hongdu City, but also because he wanted to openly demolish these walls and experiment with his cement.
Deng Yu looked at the obvious divisions in the soil and his face turned ugly.
Zhu Wenzheng happened to come over and asked curiously after seeing this scene: "Biao'er, how did you find out?"
Chen Biao said: "The density is different, the sound is different, you will know it by knocking on it."
In fact, it's not just the sound, but also a comprehensive analysis of the surface condition of the city wall, the degree of collapse, and the surface conditions, but Chen Biao was too lazy to explain.
Zhu Wenzheng immediately asked someone to fetch a large hammer and spat into his palm twice. "I'll knock it!"
Chen Biao was speechless: "I said knock to make a sound, are you going to knock on the wall?"
Li Wenzhong said, "Let him knock. If the wall wasn't built with shoddy materials, it can't be broken."
Deng Yu said with a dark face: "I'll come too!"
So the two defending generals started knocking on the wall together, one with a hammer and the other with a hammer.
Chen Ying took a few steps back to prevent the two men from remembering that he was also a general guarding Hongdu and asking him to knock on the wall as well.
Chen Biao dubbed the two generals in his mind.
Hammer, hammer, hammer eighty, hammer still eighty...
With a bang, the earth shell of the city wall was pried open, revealing a bag of grass inside.
Zhu Wenzheng carried the hammer on his shoulder and laughed loudly, "Biao'er really never makes mistakes."
Deng Yu threw the hammer to the ground and said with a dark face, "The city walls were all built by the wealthy families in the city and organized by the people. I will investigate immediately!"
Chen Biao said: "We must investigate, but the most important thing is to repair the city wall."
Chen Biao smiled sheepishly and said, "My father said that Chen Youliang and Zhang Shicheng are both targeting Yingtian, so he asked me to seek refuge in Hongdu. But I'm a timid person, and I always worry about the worst. If General Deng doesn't mind, could my Chen family organize the repair of the city wall?"
Zhu Wenzheng said: "He dislikes nothing."
Chen Ying said, "Biao'er, you don't have to be so polite."
Zhu Wenzheng said: "He is younger than me, why do you call him General? Call him Xiao Deng!"
Chen Ying said, "Biao'er, just call me Brother Boyan or Brother Boyan like me."
Li Wenzhong picked up a sledgehammer and struck the straw wall with a powerful blow. The straw wall collapsed. "Come and smash the wall, and see how Biao'er fixes it. Don't you want to know what good things Biao'er has hidden?"
Zhu Wenzheng rubbed his hands together, "Yes, yes, you don't allow me to touch the things you brought. I want to see what surprises you have waiting for me!"
Chen Ying didn't back off this time: "I'll come too."
The three of them, along with their soldiers, immediately began to work on demolishing the wall.
Yan Qian stood behind Chen Biao to protect him, and was also eager to try.
Deng Yu was dumbfounded.
He felt a headache. Although he didn't mean to disagree, were you, the Chen family, going to demolish the house without going through the proper procedures? Aren't you afraid of being impeached to the Lord by someone who would accuse you of being the one who has the final say by acting so recklessly?
The adopted sons of the three lords present were all relatives of the Chen family, so Deng Yu was in a difficult position to speak to.
He had no choice but to look to Yan Qian for help.
Of course, Deng Yu knew Yan Qian. When Deng Yu first defected to Zhu Yuanzhang, Yan Qian was already a senior general in the Haozhou Red Turban Army.
If he had not been implicated by Shao Rong, even if he had the merit of leading his troops to surrender, his status would still be far inferior to Yan Qian.
Although Yan Qian was implicated by Shao Rong and became an ordinary general under Chen Ying from the commander of Yingtian, given Yan Qian's qualifications and reputation, would the three members of the Chen family listen to him?
Yan Qian understood the meaning in Deng Yu's eyes and gently reminded him, "General Deng, the construction of Yingtian City is the responsibility of the Chen family."
Deng Yu: “…” That’s right.
The lord has let the Chen family manage Yingtian City inside and out, so he probably won't care about a small Hongdu.
Deng Yu immediately joined Zhu Wenzhen, Li Wenzhong and Chen Ying to demolish the wall together.
He was also curious about how Chen Biao, who had many miraculous legends, would quickly repair the city wall.
After a weak struggle, Deng Yu was pulled into the army of demolishing the wall by the Chen brothers. It became easy for Chen Biao to repair the defense of Hongdu City.
Zhu Wenzhen directly marked the city defense layout on the newly drawn map by Chen Biao, and watched Chen Biao take action with eager eyes.
Deng Yu stood silently by the side, facing these Chen family members, he had no opinion and dared not to have any opinion.
Yan Qian glanced at Deng Yu.
Deng Yu, unaware of Biao'er's identity, acted sensibly. This man possesses remarkable intuition and wisdom. No wonder the Lord holds him in such high regard.
This was not just the result of the 10,000 troops brought by Deng Yu.
"It's difficult to move stones, but it's easy to carry sand. There are many rivers in Hongdu, so sand is easy to obtain. Then let's go to these places, where they should have what I want." What Chen Biao wanted was naturally lime mine.
The mixture of lime and volcanic ash has physical and chemical properties similar to modern lime-pozzolana cement. However, even this most primitive cement still consumed a great deal of Chen Biao's time and energy in formula, production process, and alternative materials.
When craftsmen experimented with high explosives, they used coal-related compounds. The volcanic ash mixture in lime pozzolanic cement could be replaced with burned clay, coal gangue, coal slag, etc. So when making high explosives, Chen Biao also had another group of craftsmen make cement using the waste materials from the high explosives experiments.
Yingtian was a treasure trove of land, boasting not only flat farmland and a dense network of waterways, but also numerous useful mineral resources. Chen Biao had no shortage of materials or manpower. He also had a general understanding of the principles of cement production. Logically, he should be able to produce cement quickly.
As a result, cement has been experimented with for as many years as high explosives have been produced.
This thing is easier said than done, but I don’t know how many difficulties I will encounter when I actually do it.
In fact, producing small quantities is quite easy. The challenge lies in reducing the process steps and costs, making cement production and calcination the smoothest possible assembly line process, and reducing cement costs. Otherwise, cement will have no practical significance compared to ordinary earth and stone walls.
It is easy to conduct experiments, but it is really difficult to transform experiments into industrial production.
Every time Chen Biao failed in an experiment, he couldn't help but sigh. Why was he just an ordinary science and finance student, and not an engineering student? If he were an engineering student, he'd be rubbing a nuclear bomb right now, and the world would be nuclear-free, without war.
Hey, just kidding.
Zhu Yuanzhang gave all the craftsmen he looted while fighting outside to Chen Biao.
Chen Biao led the most powerful group of craftsmen in the Zhu family army, and after repeated experiments day after day, he finally mastered a mature lime pozzolana cement manufacturing process that can be mass-produced, and the craftsmen involved in the production found it difficult to know the correct formula.
This is the benefit of the assembly line.
Nanchang lacks mineral resources, but it has no shortage of river sand, clay, limestone, etc.
To Chen Biao's surprise, he also discovered diatomite, a natural volcanic ash mixture. With diatomite, cement can be made in advance while waiting for the clay to be calcined.
The first thing to do in making cement is to make tools and fire the kiln.
The Chen family's craftsmen were busy directing the people in the Hongdu labor reform camp, and the people in the labor reform camp were willing to do their work.
Because the generals guarding Hongdu were working with them with their bare chests, and there was also a rumored young master of the Chen family who was busy running around, when they saw these people, they felt that their own busyness was not tiring at all.
These big shots are all working, and they are working for free without getting paid or receiving work points. What do these people who receive work points have to complain about?
Chen Biao had already put on coarse linen clothes several times over his fine cloth clothes, and also put on a mask and gloves to avoid inhaling dust.
Although he is young, he coordinates and directs many tasks on the construction site.
Under the leadership of his three brothers, the Zhu family army and members of the labor reform camp on the construction site quickly began to obey Chen Biao's orders, and the scene became well organized.
Chen Biao also begged his cousin-in-law, Mrs. Song, to come forward, bring the women in her family, and mobilize the women of the soldiers to help the people on the construction site boil water, cook, and deliver water and meals.
Song was the daughter of a great scholar. Although Song Lian had lived in poverty, Song Lian's reputation had already been established when Song was born, and her family was already well-off. Therefore, Song had never suffered hardship.
After she followed Zhu Wenzhen, she was able to wear coarse cloth clothes, and the delicate silk flowers on her hair became wooden hairpins that could be seen everywhere. She also did the rough work of boiling water and cooking, and even helped transport food and sand. The hands that only knew how to embroider could now pick up a knife.
This is not Zhu Wenzhen treating her unfairly.
Zhu Wenzhen has fought so many battles and has countless good things in his hands.
In the past, Chen Biao had been in charge of the household for him. When Zhu Wenzheng got married, Chen Biao naturally and quickly handed over all the family property accumulated by Zhu Wenzheng to the Song family.
Furthermore, although Chen Biao only seeks comfort in his own life and not ostentation, the Chen family is, after all, a wealthy merchant family that controls the economic lifeline of the Zhu family army and has countless fine goods. Chen Biao is never stingy with his family.
If Song wanted to be extravagant, she could change her silk clothes every day, wear a variety of pearls and jade on her hair, and throw away the pearls on her embroidered shoes as soon as they faded.
But she discovered that Zhu Wen Zheng could not only give her a good life, but also, influenced by his adoptive father and mother, could give her the opportunity to show herself and display her talents.
Song was well-read since childhood and never thought that she was inferior to men, but just did not have the opportunity to achieve success.
Now she had the opportunity to apply the ideas she had learned from books and contribute to her husband's career as well as her own career, which fascinated her more than any gold, silver or silk.
However, when she returned home, or when she had nothing to do and just wanted to go out for an outing in the wild, Song would still wear her most beautiful clothes, apply Chen Biao's special rouge and powder, and wear the novel jewelry sent by Chen's craftsmen every month, looking beautiful and happy, enjoying herself leisurely.
Her husband said, "Biao'er is right. Our Chen family isn't a saintly family. We work hard to enjoy life better. Since we have such a good family, there's no need to hide it. We should enjoy it when we can. It's a greater waste to let good clothes, jewelry, and food rot in the warehouse."
"Sister-in-law, thank you for your hard work!" Chen Biao ran over like the wind, waved and smiled at Song, then ran away like the wind again.
Zhu Wenzheng passed by carrying a shovel: "Hey, my brother is so cute. Madam, put a steamed bun in my mouth. My hands are dirty and I'm too lazy to wipe them."
Song smiled and used a handkerchief to wipe the dust around Zhu Wenzhen's mouth, fed Zhu Wenzhen two meat buns that she had secretly hidden, and then waved her handkerchief to let Zhu Wenzhen continue with his work.
All the unmarried men around here or whose wives are not around are jealous.
Chen Biao whispered to Zhu Wenzheng, "Showing affection, isn't that great?"
Zhu Wenzheng said: "Although I don't understand what you are talking about, I am amazing!"
Deng Yu held the steamed bun in his dirty hands and squatted on the ground, eating it silently.
It’s not clean, but you won’t get sick if you eat it.
Although Chen Biao knew that Cao would not come, he symbolically took the Chen family's visiting card and asked someone to go to the Deng family to invite her.
Cao had the Chen family's invitation thrown out, accusing them of insulting others. The person who delivered the invitation to the Chen family was also beaten by Cao's men.
Chen Biao felt very guilty, and in front of Deng Yu, he had someone "secretly" send some medicine and money to the servants who had been beaten during Cao's dowry. He vowed to ignore Cao and never have any "polite communication" with her again.
Deng Yu ate his steamed buns silently, watching Zhu Wenzhen and Song's conversation, lowering his head to hide the envy in his eyes.
If Cao didn't come, Deng Yu's concubine wouldn't dare to come either, otherwise the family rules would be violated and Deng Yu would be laughed at.
Moreover, even if his concubine came, he would not dare to behave too intimately. Zhu Wenzheng and his wife were intimate outside, which was called a loving couple, but if he was intimate with his concubine outside, he would be a complete lecher, and he could not afford to lose face.
Chen Biao looked at Deng Yu, who was covered in dust and dirt, and kindly brought him a basin of water so that Deng Yu could wash his face and hands before continuing to eat.
"If your hands are not empty, lower your head and I'll feed you." Chen Biao took off his gloves and shook his white and tender hands. "My hands are cleaner than yours."
"Biao'er!" Li Wenzhong leaned over.
Chen Biao picked up a big white steamed bun and stuffed it into Li Wenzhong's mouth, almost choking him to death.
"Hahaha...cough cough..." Chen Ying couldn't help laughing, and then almost choked.
"Brother Deng, come here!" Chen Biao raised the big white steamed bun and came forward.
Deng Yu remained squatting on the ground and retreated in fear.
Zhu Wenzheng laughed so hard that his teeth showed: "Biao'er, Boyan is worried that you will choke him to death!"
Chen Biao said solemnly with a stern face, "Don't worry, Brother Deng, I will only treat my brothers cruelly like this. I am very kind and sensible to outsiders!"
Li Wenzhong drank a bamboo tube of water before swallowing the steamed bun. He laughed and scolded, "Should I thank you for your cruel treatment?"
Chen Biao said seriously: "No need to thank me, it's my duty!"
Unable to refuse the kind offer, Deng Yu carefully took a bite of the steamed bun in Chen Biao's hand.
Chen Biao was not joking. He really fed Deng Yu several steamed buns very gently and sensibly, without any impatience at all.
After Chen Biao finished feeding Deng Yu, he brought some steamed buns to feed Yan Qian.
Zhu Wenzheng nudged Deng Yu, who had just stood up, with his elbow and said, "My brother has been overly sensible since he was young. When the adults at home are working, he always racks his brains to think of ways he can help, so he's used to feeding us."
Li Wenzhong smiled and said, "The Chen family is always busy day and night, and so are his uncles. When the adults in the family gather together to review documents, Biao'er is responsible for feeding them water and food on time. Otherwise, they would probably be so busy that they would forget to eat."
Chen Ying nodded but said nothing.
His son Biaoer has been well-behaved, sensible and caring since he was a child. Is there anything else to say?
Deng Yu said, "No wonder you all like him so much. My lord likes him too."
The three of them, including Chen Ying, all showed a slightly evil smile.
Since their adoptive father had spoken, they didn't hide Biao'er's identity from him. They didn't know when would find out for himself. The three of them made a bet.
After Yan Qian finished eating the steamed buns and drinking the water, he said, "You don't have to be so busy. Go and rest."
Chen Biao shook his head. "I feel uncomfortable if I rest too much. I just need to get enough sleep every day and run around when I'm awake. It's better for my health. Uncle Yan, please teach me Kung Fu when you have time. When I was in Yingtian, Uncle Xu and the others took turns teaching me. Now that I'm in Hongdu, I'm practicing alone, and I always feel like something's wrong. I'm worried that I haven't practiced enough."
He and Yan Qian finally became familiar with each other and only spoke today.
"Okay." Yan Qian agreed first, then asked, "Why don't you let Wen Zhong and the others teach?"
Chen Biao frowned and said, "They can't bring themselves to use force. If I even sweat a little, they'll be too distressed to let me practice anymore. Let them teach me? I'm afraid I'll become a lazy fat man in the future."
Yan Qian was a little embarrassed.
He was afraid that he couldn't be ruthless.
Half a month later, the preliminary work was finally completed. The first batch of lime pozzolana cement mixed with diatomaceous stone was calcined and the walls were plastered.
Chen Biao used the simplest reinforced concrete structure, replacing most places with sturdy wooden frames and more critical places with thicker iron frames.
Although it is not as good as modern reinforced concrete, it is much stronger than earth walls and is easier to make.
Chen Biao originally wanted to burn red bricks and use cement as an adhesive. The city wall made in this way might be more useful than the simple version of "wood reinforcement cement wall".
However, making bricks requires a lot of fuel. Unlike Yingtian, there are no coal mines around Hongdu. After making cement, bricks must also be made, which consumes a terrifying amount of manpower, material resources and financial resources.
Later, at the reminder of a craftsman, Chen Biao remembered that cement bricks could be used as an emergency measure.
So cement bricks replaced red bricks, and cement was used as an adhesive, making the production of cement walls more convenient and quick.
The people of Hongdu watched as Zhu's army applied mud and within a few days it turned into solid stone. They didn't even need to mobilize the people to do hard labor. Zhu's army completed the wall-building themselves as training. They were all amazed.
"Don't you need us?"
"Something feels off. Shouldn't we be the ones building the wall?"
"What about corvée? What about our corvée? Shouldn't this be our corvée?"
"I was saying that this corvée service was really fair, and we even got to eat big white steamed buns. But it turns out it wasn't our corvée service?"
"Now that farming is off-season, shouldn't we be doing corvee labor?"
“What are we doing?”…
The people were whispering to each other, becoming more and more anxious as they spoke. They quickly elected the elder as their representative and asked the busy generals of the Zhu family army what they needed to do.
From ancient times to the present, corvee labor has been performed by the common people and is part of taxes.
They had heard that the city wall needed to be rebuilt and had already prepared themselves mentally. How could they not be involved in the end?
It's so abnormal, they are scared!
When Chen Biao learned about this, he was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, then he sighed deeply, feeling very melancholy.
Chen Ying helped Chen Biao dry his hair, thinking that Chen Biao should grow his hair longer: "Biao'er, why are you sighing?"
Chen Biao said, "I just think that life is too difficult for ordinary people in this world. Even if the people in power do them a little good, they dare not believe it or accept it."
Chen Ying frowned and said, "Hmm. What does Biaoer want to do?"
Chen Biao said, "I don't have any plans. If they want to work, then let them work. Working with the Zhu family army will also enhance the relationship between the army and the people. Brother Ying, you will be responsible for commanding the people to build the wall. If you replace me, I'm worried that they will withhold their food rations."
Chen Ying said, "Okay."
Chen Biao touched his hair and felt it was half dry, so he reached out and asked Chen Ying to pick him up and go to find Zhu Wenzhen and Li Wenzhong who were checking the consumption of money and grain.
If we want to get the people to come along, we'll probably have to spend more money and food.
However, Deng Yu was furious when he discovered that the city wall was fake. He followed General Chang's example and built a high platform to rob several wealthy families. He had enough money and food.
Chen Biao wondered if he could think of some other way to store more money and food.
Sieges were a common occurrence these days. He was prepared for a rainy day. Even if he didn't need it, it would still help Zheng Ge and Ying Ge hold out for a while longer if they were unlucky enough to be surrounded.
It’s time for the Chen family’s caravan to move.
Chen Biao recalled the list of wealthy families who had “corrupted” Yingtian generals and officials that his father had copied to him before he left Yingtian.
Chen Biao couldn't help but smile.
Are you the only ones who can use money to pave the way? Who isn't a wealthy businessman?
He thought that there must be many generals under the command of Chen Youliang, Zhang Shicheng and Chen Youding who were looking forward to the Chen family's caravan coming to buy grain.
Selling food to the lord and putting the money into my own pocket is so satisfying.
Oh.