Aztec Eternals

The barracks are continuous, the training of the soldiers of the legion is shocking, and the dirt school grounds are firmly trampled. The patrol teams coming and going stepped out of the dirt road. However, the tenacious weeds in early spring have already begun to sprout on the dirt road.

The daughters of the Silver Crow tribe were arranged to rest in the Tree Snake City. They had never seen tens of thousands of warriors, nor had they seen a forest of spears and longbows, and they were all shocked and frightened for a moment.

And after the envoys of the Vastec people left, another envoy of the expedition fleet came, bringing the fleet's message and two bamboo baskets containing clay pots.

"Your Majesty, these are the two new minerals discovered by Vice-Captain Puap in the Crow City area! The local Vasteks call them 'black mud', 'black stone' or 'black oil'. The kingdom fleet The damaged ships are filled with these black stones and oil. They are waterproof and leak-proof, and the repaired ships are even better than before!"

After Pu Apu was exiled to Haikou, it was by discovering the Shenshan Iron Mine with Hei Lang that he regained his chance of recovery. Then, he participated in the Kingdom Expedition and was rewarded by bringing back various ores and guano with the old militiamen.

In Pu'apu's heart, "Your Majesty likes strange stones the most, especially those you have never seen before." He knew His Highness's preferences, and he would search for strange stones and minerals wherever he went. This time, after the discovery in Crow City, he also specially sent his Prepecha warriors to bring back these two jars of novel minerals.

"Huh? This smell"

The guard took the two clay pots and checked them carefully before handing them over to His Highness. One of the clay pots contained black oil, while the other contained oily stones. And when the clay pot was opened, the familiar pungent smell came oncoming, and Shulot immediately recalled it instinctively.

"What is it? Oil and asphalt? Yes, Puapu has a heart!"

Shulot raised his brows and sighed in admiration. He was a little surprised, but not as expected.

Mexico is the seventh largest oil producer in the world. The oil on the Gulf Coast, as well as the fields on the U.S.-Mexico border, is so plentiful that it could just spring from the ground. It's a pity that although there is so much oil, it will take a lifetime to carry out fractionation and refining of crude oil.

"Oil. Oil!. The black gold that future generations of countries have longed for is of little significance to the current alliance. The combustion efficiency of crude oil is too low, and the smoke is too poisonous, so it cannot be used as fuel. At most, it is trying to make war. Strong fire oil. But in the face of gunpowder, this has no advantage at all."

Shulot pondered for a moment, and whispered a command. The guards took the can of flammable crude oil away. Then, his eyes turned to another can of asphalt.

"Natural asphalt. Half and half oil stone."

Xiulot stretched out his finger, carefully stuck some natural asphalt oil on it, felt the viscosity of this natural adhesive, and nodded in satisfaction. Then, he picked up another small asphalt stone and put it in the palm of his hand. His eyes flickered, looking at this hard and brittle, water-insoluble, poisonous stone, a strong thought gradually arose from the bottom of his heart, almost ready to come out.

".Are there many such black oil and black stones in Crow City?"

"Your Majesty, around the Crow City, there are several lower valleys that produce such oil and stones. And the craftsmen of Vastyk say that in the north and south of the Crow City, along the coast, there are hundreds of miles of land There are also many such valleys scattered on the land. The boatmen of various ministries use these to repair ships."

The messenger bowed his head to report back, and Xiu Luote nodded and pondered. This piece of coastal underground must hide extremely rich oil. Asphalt has always been the "brother" associated with oil.

"Natural asphalt is just a natural road-building material! Asphalt oil can replace cement as a road binder, and asphalt stones can be crushed to replace finely crushed sandstone layers. More importantly, in the lush rainforest, Only this kind of asphalt road surface can inhibit the growth of vegetation and maintain it for a long time!"

Looking at the clay pot in front of him, the light in Shulot's eyes became brighter and brighter.

"Build the road"! This is a big plan that has been kept in his mind for a long time. What he hopes to build is not the kind of simple dirt road, but an imperial artery similar to the Roman stone road and Qin Chi Road, which can connect the north and the south of the world and connect the various city-states!

However, Central America is located in the tropics, with two common terrains: plateaus and lowlands. In the rich plateau areas of the alliance, the annual precipitation is above 1000 mm, while in the coastal lowlands subject to the alliance, the precipitation is above 2000 mm! Moreover, such intensity of rainfall is mostly concentrated in the summer rainy season. It is hot and rainy, and a large section of shrubs and weeds on the plateau can emerge in just a few days. The rainforest in the lowlands is even more terrifying. The roots of the trees extend rapidly, and the damage to the dirt road is unimaginably fast!

Therefore, in order to build roads in tropical Central America, suitable road construction materials must be available, and the cost is extremely high.

"Refer to the construction process of Roman roads, and then simplify it according to the current technical level. Well, at least three layers are needed, two layers of roadbed, and one layer of road surface!"

Xiulot lowered his head, looked at the land under his feet, and thought about the road construction plan that he had conceived for a long time, his chest was surging.

"First of all, we need to excavate the soil surface until we reach the hard soil layer. This depth, with the current tools and manpower, can only reach more than one meter. Then, the bottom layer of the roadbed is 20-30 cm thick gravel. It is used to level the road surface and prevent water accumulation."

"The second layer of the subgrade is more than 60 centimeters, and the main body is filled with large and small stones and gravel clay. It is necessary to lay the big stones the size of a pumpkin first, then fill in the medium stones the size of a human head, and small stones the size of pebbles, and finally fill in the finely crushed stones. Gravel and clay. In this step, oily asphalt will also be added as a binder to replace cement. Or air-dried and smashed stone asphalt will be added as a substitute for filling small stones. As for the last layer of road surface.”

Shulot paused for a moment, thinking for a while, unable to make up his mind.

The Romans had enough manpower and production tools to cut huge stone slabs directly for laying seamless road surfaces. The Qin Dynasty also had enough technology and manpower to fry the soil, mix it with salt and alkali, and then tamp it down with countless hands to build a road that would last for generations to come. The alliance's current technology and productivity are indeed incomparable with the two.

"If the output of asphalt is sufficient, the avenues of the Central American empire should still be dominated by asphalt and gravel roads! And for future convenience, at least four meters of two carriages should be built in parallel, and small drains for drainage should be excavated on both sides. canal."

After reading this, Shulot looked to the far east. In the mighty Caribbean Sea, there is a large island full of black wealth, which provided a huge amount of asphalt for road construction to the Chinese dynasty of later generations. Then, he looked to the southwest. In the mountains of Colima, there were still active erupting volcanoes, as well as the volcanic ash left after the eruption tens of thousands of years ago. That's what makes Roman cement.

"Crow City, the capital of the Kingdom of Colima in the middle of the lake"

Shulot muttered to himself, an imperial artery two thousand miles from east to west was taking shape in his mind. It will take tens of thousands of manpower, many ships' materials, many years, and the supreme power to penetrate the world!