Chapter 262 The Bridge Over the Chishui River

A week later, Roland officially launched the steel bridge construction project. Hunting????????

"You mean, let me raise two pieces of land in the middle of the river to serve as footholds for the bridge piers?" Lian looked at the rolling river and asked in surprise, "Are you planning to build a real bridge instead of a pontoon bridge?" Connect the two ends of the river bank?"

"Well," Roland spread out the roll of paper in his hand, "Considering the impact of the river, the two pieces of land need to have a certain volume, and in order to reduce the impact, they need to be processed into this shape."

"This is... what the ship looks like," Lian turned her gaze back to the drawing.

"That's right, it's spindle-shaped to be precise," he nodded. "As long as it's parallel to the direction of the water flow, its front will suffer the least impact. The question is, the Chishui River is nearly ten meters deep. Can you raise the bottom of the river?" ?”

"It's not difficult to do, Your Highness," Lian replied bluntly, "Leave it to me."

To be on the safe side, the ship responsible for carrying the witch was the Township. The large concrete hull was as smooth as walking on the ground in the river, the helmsman was still Lightning, and the sail power was provided by Wendy.

However, in the past week, when the latter saw the prince, he would look away slightly, looking a little uncomfortable. It wasn't until today that Roland saw her look up and look directly at him as usual, and when he passed by on the boat, he heard a soft "thank you" from the other party.

"You have to credit me for this," Nightingale in the mist whispered in his ear.

The Small Town quickly left the pier and headed towards the middle of the wide river. Carter had already pulled up the hemp rope on both sides of the river, and the two red cloth belts tied on it were the positions where the bridge pier was expected to be erected. After the cement boat advanced to the first point, Lian stood on the edge of the boat and began to use her ability.

I saw that the surface of the river suddenly seemed to boil, surging upward one after another, forming a "mountain bag". After a while, gravel, grass roots and silt emerged from the turbulent river, and the water gradually became cloudy.

So, Roland thought to himself, her ability can not only transform solid ground, but water is also included, and it is easier to raise the water surface than loose gravel. Although the raised river immediately rolled down to the surroundings, the river bed has been lifted up little by little.

Not long after, a mass of blue-gray soil surfaced. It looked very soft and exuded an unpleasant smell. Everyone couldn't help covering their noses.

However, in Roland's eyes, these are good fertilizers. For hundreds of years, the bones of fish and other aquatic organisms, aquatic plants, and the feces of residents have been deposited in the soil little by little. If it wasn't inconvenient to transport, he would rather use the soil to fertilize the field. Unfortunately, now it can only be shoveled away manually and thrown directly into the river.

Just like this, he cleared one layer and raised it a bit. Finally, he saw the solid yellowish-brown soil. The next step was to repeat this process until the two pieces of land were completely trimmed and formed.

Roland expects this process to last at least a week, but just lifting the land out of the water does not mean it can be used directly. The flowing river water will continue to carry away the sediment. Without protection, even the spindle-shaped land cannot last Over ten years.

He called Carl Vanbert to his side, took out a charcoal pencil, and described how to solidify the ground next while drawing.

"You mean, dig out grooves at the edge of these lands, and then pour in cement?" The current Minister of Construction asked, gesturing to the drawings.

Fortunately, he is an outstanding member of the King's Capital Stonemasons Association, Roland thought with satisfaction, he just reminded him a few words, and he immediately understood his intentions.

"That's right, the length of each section should not exceed five meters, and the depth should be controlled at about one meter. After the cement is filled, let the witch lower this section of the groove by one meter, and repeat this process to form a concrete wall that goes straight into the bottom of the riverbed." This plan was thought up by Roland after seeing Lian's ability. Since she can control the ground to drop straight down, she must also be able to bring the structures built on the ground into the ground.

"Your idea is really ingenious," Carl's eyes lit up. "In this way, even if the river washes away the outer soil, it will be blocked by the tightly wrapped wall."

Roland nodded and said, "The key point is to control the overall height of the sinking. If it is too small, the bottom will not be tightly wrapped. If it is too much, it will waste cement and delay the construction period. This is up to you to control."

"Yes, Your Highness," he replied, "Counting the excavated silt and soft soil, I estimate the overall height should be about twelve meters."

"In addition, after the cement wall is built around, the land in the middle should not be covered with cement. I will plant flowers and grass on it in the future." The prince urged.

"Planting...flowers?" Karl was stunned.

After all, these walls cannot be watertight, and if they are constructed in sections, there will be uniform gaps on the walls. To further stabilize the soil, the easiest way is to plant grass—vegetation can balance the water content of the soil and reduce soil erosion, especially the long-rooted weeds after the leaves have been modified, which can ensure that the soil is firmly consolidated .

After briefly explaining the soil-preserving effect of the lower plants, Roland turned to look at the busy workers on the river bank, "How is the construction of the bridge approach going?"

"The cement and gravel road is being laid," Carl reported without thinking. "It should be completed this week."

According to the plan, the approach bridges on both sides of the river are made of rubble and cement, just like the city wall in the west, as long as the positioning and measurement work is done, the construction itself is not difficult. The ramp of the bridge deck is raised by a full seven meters relative to the ground, and it is connected to the city streets through a long and gentle slope with an arc. In addition to the height difference between the embankment and the water surface, when the iron bridge is completed, it should be able to form a ten-to-ten-meter bridge with the Chishui River. The clear height of two meters is basically enough for inland river sails.

At present, only one span of the main bridge has been completed, and it is being erected on the shore for testing. Since the span is not large and the load is extremely low, even though Roland knows nothing about bridge engineering, he is not worried about its reliability at all. In the era when there were no rear eight wheels, the 30-centimeter-high I-beam was a solid guarantee. Even if it was crowded with people, it was impossible to break the steel beam. What's more, from processing to assembly and welding are all done by Anna, the probability of shabby projects is extremely low.

Similarly, its installation is also very simple. After the three-span main bridge is prefabricated, Hummingbird will directly lighten it, and then hand it over to Lightning to hoist it in place.

When this steel bridge, which can accommodate two four-wheeled carriages side by side, stands on the Chishui River, the north and south banks are truly connected as a whole.

"Even the greatest stonemason can hardly imagine such a magnificent bridge," Carl sighed, looking at the sparkling broad lake, "Your Highness, does this steel bridge have a name?"

Roland thought for a while, "Let's call it Chishui Bridge." (To be continued.)