Translator: YHHH Editor: Book_Hoarder
"Boss, two bowls of beancurd jelly and two tiers of steamed buns." Ren Baqian and the empress attracted a lot of attention when they walked into the breakfast shop.
[Beancurd jelly - a type of Chinese snack made with very soft tofu]
If they were to see such a woman in a five-star hotel, they would feel that it was nothing out of the blue. But, to see such a woman in a breakfast shop by the roadside, they felt that it was a little odd.
"Sweet or salty?"
"Salty!" Ren Baqian said as if it was a matter of course.
Is there sweet beancurd jelly in the world? Is that thing even edible?
"Sweet!" The empress couldn't understand anything but could only catch the word sweet.
Ren Baqian and the empress looked at each other with deep gazes.
A while later , the beancurd jelly was served. The empress frowned upon seeing the concentrated braised soup. There were many ingredients in the braised soup and it didn't look very appetizing. But, Ren Baqian had already dug in even though it was piping hot. Nevertheless, she tasted a mouthful of it and the taste was still acceptable.
After a hearty breakfast, when they drove past the plaza, the empress exclaimed all of a sudden, "What do you think if we build two of such plazas in Lan City?"
After walking around in the plaza with Ren Baqian yesterday, that carefree appearance, as well as the satisfied expression on the commoners faces who were exercising or having fun, made her felt that it would be good to have a place like this in Dayao's city.
"It's possible, but there wouldn't be any significance. As a matter of fact, the infrastructure of a city is more important. I notice that many places in the city are dirt roads and when it rains, it would accumulate water. The drainage system of the city relies completely on the irrigation canals and as long as it rains heavier, floods would frequently occur.
Presently, it is somewhat difficult to remodel Lan City. It is even more troublesome to remodel Lan City than to build a new one. As such, it would be better to build a new city like this only when Dayao earns money."
Ren Baqian pointed at the surroundings and said,
"After which, we will gradually remodel the old city to form dual cities in Dayao. The prerequisite is that we have to make money first." Ren Baqian turned around and explained. The more he said, the further he digressed. Unknowingly, the topic was changed from building a plaza to building a new city. The both of them actually didn't find that anything was amiss.
But, everything in Lan City was left behind by the Hao Nation. All the facilities were too backward, and building a new city was much easier than remodeling one.
Moreover, all kinds of facilities could be planned right from the very beginning.
In particular, after producing cement, it would, in fact, be very easy to build a city. It wouldn't be like the past when they had to transport rocks over long distances after cutting and grinding them from far away.
The only problem would be the palace. It would not be an easy feat to rebuild the palace, in particular, those landscape gardens.
Of course, this was only a city and it wasn't very important to Dayao as a whole. If they wanted to rapidly increase the overall construction of Dayao, the money required would definitely be an astronomical figure.
And if they wanted to make an overall change in Dayao, there was still a long way to go. It wasn't just a matter of money.
Once they have returned to the other world, he would create a comparison table of Chinese characters and Dayao characters as soon as possible. Then, he would recruit a few people and translate some basic scientific knowledge into Dayao writing to cultivate his first batch of students. A few years later, this batch of students who have learnt some fundamentals of physics and chemistry, would then spark a revolution.
If everything were to be done by him, he would die an earlier death than Zhuge Liang due to exhaustion.
[Zhuge Liang - Chinese politician, military strategist, writer, engineer, and inventor]
...
The both of them wandered on Earth for three days before returning to Yangxin Palace Hall while carrying several small and big bags of items.
Previously, he had purchased three drones and within a short span of time, he purchased an additional two. Even the boss of the specialty store could recognize him by now.
He got a solar battery and, once again, two additional small-sized batteries. In fact, Ren Baqian had his eyes on an electrical accumulator and some supporting equipment that could store kilowatts of electricity. This was sufficient enough to light up Yangxin Palace Hall and also power up other electrical appliances such as electric fans, etc. Such a pity that it was too heavy. Including the packaging, the entire set was about 70 kilograms, and he could only bring it back the next time round.
This time, he bought another twenty walkie-talkies to make their daily communication more convenient.
For example, if the empress wanted to look for Ren Baqian, she could directly use the walkie-talkie to contact him. It could also be used as a mobile phone within a short distance.
The walkie-talkies they were using now weren't like the cheap ones that they bought previously. This time round, the walkie-talkies they purchased were branded. The effective communication range could reach up to 10 kilometers in the open, and up to 3 kilometers within the city.
When they returned to Yangxin Palace Hall, Ren Baqian adjusted two specially prepared walkie-talkies These two walkie-talkies were the most expensive, had the most powerful functions and could monitor other channels as well. He handed one to the empress and kept the other one for himself. At the same time, he also set aside a solar battery for the empress. Only then did he instructed someone to carry the bags back to Pingle Park.
Ren Baqian returned to the room and lay on the bed for a while. Ren Baqian took out the walkie-talkie and called the empress. Once he heard some noise from his walkie-talkie, he immediately spoke, "Your Majesty!"
A short while later, the empress's voice came through, "What's the matter?"
At this moment, Hong Luan and Qing Yuan who were somewhere near the empress opened their eyes in disbelief at the small orange box in the empress's hand. There was a voice coming from inside? Furthermore, it was Deputy Prefect Ren's voice?
Ren Baqian pondered for a while if he answered honestly that he was unoccupied and had nothing to do, he reckoned that he would get beaten up by the empress. He then replied, "I'm just testing out the signal. Now that I have tested, good night to you, Your Majesty."
The other party immediately turned off the walkie-talkie.
Ren Baqian drew back the corners of his mouth and placed the walkie-talkie at one side. After which, he entered the Visualization of Water for cultivation. After another while, he woke up from it, collapsed on his bed and fell into a deep slumber.
And at Yangxin Palace Hall, the empress was in a daze while holding onto the walkie-talkie, with her lips slightly curled upwards.
It seemed that this palace hall wasn't that cold and desolate anymore.
She then waved at Qing Yuan and Hong Luan, "The both of you can take your leave now."
After which, she placed the walkie-talkie aside and finally lay on the bed.
Early the next morning, Ren Baqian brought along sheets of paper that recorded the process of making cement, as well as the characteristics of different types of ores and headed for Ministry of Works. Ren Baqian was surrounded by ten tall and strong bodyguards and his child-like physique was immediately overshadowed as if a wall was built around him.
The guards at the Ministry of Works had a deep memory of Deputy Prefect Ren, as he was almost assassinated just as he left the Ministry of Works on his previous visit. In addition, Tong Zhenye also specially kept an eye on him as Ren Baqian was immediately invited in once he reached the doors of the Ministry of Works. Upon receiving information, Tong Zhenye was already waiting in the room for him.
"Sir Tong!" Ren Baqian cupped his fist to the other when he entered the door.
"The things that you have mentioned the previous time have been brought back. Go and take a look first." Tong Zhenye impatiently pulled Ren Baqian and walked out. He was already so anxious that he didn't even want to utter any nonsensical words.
Tong Zhenye pulled Ren Baqian all the way till they reached a room at the back of Ministry of Works. Only then did he finally come to a halt and pointed ahead. "Everything that you want is inside here."
It was unknown what the room in front of Ren Baqian was used for previously. At present, everything was emptied out and replaced with piles of all sorts of things. There were piles of limestone, gypsum rocks, clay, feldspar, as well as dolomites. There was also a pile of coal at the side.
Ren Baqian had little previous knowledge about such things. He could only rely on the things that he had penned down on the paper in his hand to distinguish it all bit by bit, and it seemed like there wasn't any problem with the materials. He was hoping that the ores in this world were similar to those on Earth.
"Are there any iron ores?" Ren Baqian turned around again to ask.
"How much do you need?" Tong Zhenye asked in a low voice.
"Just a little will do, one cart of it will be sufficient for now." Ren Baqian said. Iron ore powder was also required to make cement. However, this stuff was produced in Mount Liucui. He didn't mention it before, but he needed it for this task at this moment.
First of all, he had to use the ratio of the formula he obtained online, burn some necessary materials in an earthen kiln and see the specific results. If the formula used on Earth couldn't be used in Dayao, he would still have to try and tweak the formula. In that case, it would be somewhat troublesome.
Once there were no problems with the cement formula, they could then prepare for large-scale mining and transport materials for production.
"Yes, there is."
"Is there anywhere in the city that has an earthen kiln?" Ren Baqian asked again.
"There isn't any inside the city, but, you can find them outside." Tong Zhenye said as he stroked his beard.
After all, smelting metal still required an earthen kiln. But it wouldn't be placed in the city.