Chapter 114 - 86, Even if we meet, I should not recognize you
At that moment, Prince Jing looked at Old Yao, "Doctor Yao, you saved the life of the mother of the Jianzhou Inspection Officer, Ma Yiming. Nine years ago, had it not been for your treatment, his mother would probably have long since passed away. Nowadays, there is still some glutinous rice in the grain stores of Jianzhou. Could you possibly write him a letter? I plan to utilize that glutinous rice to solve an urgent crisis. In the Ning Dynasty, civil servants greatly value filial piety. Your letter will surely be effective."
Old Yao nodded, "I can do that. I’ll write it tonight, and you can send someone to collect it tomorrow, Your Highness."
"Let’s write it now, without a moment’s delay," Prince Jing’s expression eased somewhat, yet he had not fully let down his guard, "The Inspection Officer of Jianzhou refuses to hand over the glutinous rice also due to the livelihood considerations of the entire province. Now that I am taking this batch of glutinous rice, I still need to think of a way to fill their granaries with other crops to prevent the people from starving."
Chen Ji suddenly lapsed into deep thought. Glutinous rice mortar had been in use in his world until the end of the eighteenth century. It was only gradually replaced when foreign cement technology entered the country.
At that time, cement was called "foreign ash" by the common people.
Was glutinous rice mortar effective? Yes, it was effective. The Great Wall was constructed using glutinous rice mortar as a binding agent, and it has withstood thousands of years. To some extent, it was more robust and durable than ordinary cement.
But the crux of the matter was that glutinous rice mortar emerged in an era of low productivity, inherently conflicting with people’s livelihoods. Furthermore, glutinous rice mortar required three years after application to achieve the standard strength through carbonation, while cement only needed twenty days and was extremely low in cost.
Once cement appeared, it was a complete upheaval for the entire construction industry.
Chen Ji remembered, how was cement produced again?
While he was pondering, it became lively outside Taiping Medical Hall again.
Everyone looked over, only to see bearers carrying numerous official sedans heading towards Prince Jing Mansion; roughly estimating, there were about three to four dozen officials visiting Prince Jing together.