Chapter 144: Triumphant Return

While everyone was out searching everywhere for potato seeds, Chu Yun began studying the production of cement. After all, whether it was for repairing irrigation channels now or roads in the future, a massive amount of cement would be required. Cement was truly of paramount importance.

Before his transmigration, as a top-tier science student, he was well-versed in the manufacturing process of cement: two grindings and one burning. First, raw materials such as limestone and clay were proportioned in precise ratios and ground finely into raw meal; then, they were fed into a kiln and burned into clinker; finally, the clinker was ground down even further into cement.

The process itself was quite straightforward. Even formulating the raw meal was no difficult task for Chu Yun. In a mere two days, he successfully produced cement. Its strength was quite impressive—while perhaps falling short of 425 grade, it was easily comparable to 325 grade.

However, the problem that gave him a headache was the grinding of the materials. Bronze lacked sufficient hardness and was prone to damage, making it unsuitable for grinding materials, not to mention simple grinding stones. Consequently, although he had produced cement within two days, the yield was far too meager to be used for repairing irrigation channels or roads.

"Sigh, it seems that if I want to produce cement in large quantities, I must first manufacture iron! Yet repairing channels and roads is the most pressing matter right now." Chu Yun rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on.

Then he recalled a story about cement told by his high school chemistry teacher. Legend had it that the first person to discover cement lived beneath an active volcano. One day, after a volcanic eruption, a layer of volcanic ash coated his courtyard. When the ash cooled, he went to sweep the courtyard. To avoid inhaling the dust, he first poured water on it to dampen the ash before sweeping. To his astonishment, the moment the water touched the volcanic ash, a magical thing happened: the ash rapidly solidified and turned into hard stone. And just like that, cement was discovered.

Recalling this story, Chu Yun smiled wryly and shook his head. "None of the three towns have active volcanoes. Where am I supposed to find volcanic ash? And in large quantities, no less! It would have to be freshly erupted volcanic ash that hasn't yet been solidified by rain!"

Later, he considered an indigenous method of making cement using local pottery shards as raw material. Sourcing the materials would be convenient, but that method also required the materials to be ground into a fine powder. In the end, Chu Yun sighed helplessly, "There's no help for it. It seems I must temporarily abandon the cement project and focus on producing iron first. Without adequate grinding technology, the cement plan simply cannot be implemented."

With this realization, Chu Yun suddenly felt that producing iron first might not be a bad thing after all. Iron had vast and widespread uses; primarily, it could be used to upgrade military equipment, boost combat effectiveness, and further secure the safety of the territory. Furthermore, the reason the Bronze Age failed to produce iron was simple: people could not raise the furnace temperature high enough to melt iron ore and extract the metal. He only needed to solve this problem. As a top-tier science student, Chu Yun could manufacture iron in a short period.

However, none of the territories across his three towns possessed any significant iron ore deposits. The reason he had prioritized the cement project, aside from the urgent need for large quantities of cement to repair channels and roads, was the abundance of limestone across all three towns. If technological civilization advanced to a certain degree, all three towns could easily establish large-scale cement plants.

"If iron ore is lacking, I will have to mine in other territories. Not only will this consume vast amounts of capital, but it will also risk leaking the technical secrets of iron production."

"If my own territory possessed abundant iron ore, I wouldn't have to worry about other lords stealing the smelting technology to forge their own ironware."

"The crux of the matter is that I lack large-scale iron ore deposits. Once the iron-making technology spreads, other lords will manufacture massive amounts of ironware and enhance their military equipment. Moreover, by then, purchasing iron ore to produce iron myself will become even more difficult."

"Furthermore, if my territory possessed abundant iron ore, why would I even need to buy from other lords? The whole premise is fraught with contradiction—a closed, inescapable loop."

Chu Yun felt a throbbing ache in his head, sensing that he had hit an insurmountable bottleneck.

At that exact moment, Ye Zelan returned. She walked straight up to Chu Yun, interrupting his train of thought, and reported, "Big Brother Chu Yun, I have successfully completed the task you gave me. I blew up the Quack Doctor Sect's apothecary and clinic in Anning Town."

"Afterward, I stayed in Anning Town for two days and found that the townspeople were terrified. They all claimed that your master, the God of Thunder, had displayed his divine might and used thunder arts to blow them up."

"Many residents fled Anning Town on the very night I bombed the apothecary and clinic."

"I also heard that at the exact same time, Heijiang Town was similarly bombarded by the God of Thunder's thunder arts. Everyone is saying the God of Thunder is terrifyingly powerful, possessing boundless divine abilities that allow him to cast thunder arts across a hundred miles in an instant."

"Consequently, the Quack Doctor Sect was frightened out of their wits and immediately retreated from both Anning Town and Heijiang Town."

"Big Brother Chu Yun, perhaps you could take over both of these large towns without any trouble."

Take over two large towns and further expand his territory? Chu Yun could not help feeling tempted. Perhaps Heijiang Town and Anning Town held the iron ore he so desperately needed!

Just as this thought crossed his mind, Ye Zelan spoke up again, "Oh, right, Big Brother Chu Yun, I heard my dad is back. Is it true? Has he really come back?"

Chu Yun smiled and replied, "Yes, he returned alive. What is more, he discovered potatoes—a high-yield food crop that can serve as a staple grain. With potatoes, we will never have to worry about people going hungry without food in the future."

Hearing this, Ye Zelan grew even more excited. "Where is my dad? Where is he? I want to see him!"

Chu Yun answered, "He is in the apothecary."

"Okay." Acknowledging this, Ye Zelan turned on her heel and dashed off.

Watching her vanishing figure, Chu Yun was momentarily stunned. He inwardly lamented that he hadn't even had the chance to show Ye Zelan a sample of iron ore to ask if she had ever seen such rock formations near Anning Town.

With no other choice, he picked up a small piece of iron ore and went to find Chen Ping, who had returned just ahead of Ye Zelan. "Second Uncle, during your trip to Heijiang Town, did you ever see any mountain of stone with this color?"

Chen Ping pondered for a moment before answering, "You hadn't asked me to pay attention to that beforehand, so I need to think carefully."

After a brief pause, he nodded. "Yes, I have seen mountains of stone with this color. However, it is very far from Huai Town; relative to Huai Town, it is almost on the completely opposite side of Heijiang Town. Yun'er, why are you looking for this kind of stone mountain?"

Iron ore existed there?

A wave of excitement washed over Chu Yun, and he could not help but reconsider whether he should take over those two towns precisely for the sake of the iron ore.