American: Native Empire

Chapter 20 < Concrete. >

The Creek tribe had done many things in the past decade. 

As a result, things progressed quickly once a decision was made.

‘First, we need to pave the road from the mining area to the river.’

Various minerals, including iron and limestone, were being mined at this very moment.

If the raw material transport route was paved, it would be easier to transport the minerals to the industrial area.

‘Of course, I can’t go to the mining area for that.’

He had to deal with many things before the founding of the nation. He had to avoid leaving the Great Start City for other regions for a while.

Therefore, the first place where they started paving the road was the route from the industrial area of the Great Start to the riverside.

The skilled construction workers would lay the foundation here and then move on to the paving of the road in the mining area.

‘I wonder when they will be able to start new things without me.’

Kim Ki-woo thought as he supervised the work of making concrete. But he soon shook his head.

It would have taken hundreds of years for things to happen naturally as they did so far. He was compressing and progressing them.

It was too much to expect such things from people who lacked basic knowledge.

“Mix it well over there. Don’t do it roughly, mix it evenly! How do you expect to make it properly like that?”

“I’m sorry!”

“Wait! I told you to mix it in exact proportions! Why are you putting sand as you please!”

“Uh! I, I have a good eye for…”

“A good eye? Sigh… Are you saying you’ve been doing construction by guesswork until now?”

“…I’ll measure it properly.”

Kim Ki-woo went around and pointed out the mistakes of the workers countless times. And he didn’t spare harsh words for those who worked as they pleased.

‘It feels like I’ve enlisted in the army again.’

He had hammered countless times when he was doing trench work. Back then, he was a soldier who swung a shovel, but now he was in a position to give orders loudly.

Is this how military officers felt?

While Kim Ki-woo was having such useless thoughts, concrete was steadily being made.

‘Concrete is perfect for paving roads.’

Until now, they mainly used mortar made by mixing cement and lime, sand, and water and soaking it in water.

The mortar made this way was used to bond bricks.

But pouring more than half of the cement for making roads was crazy. There was no such waste.

That’s why they were making concrete. Concrete only contained 30 percent cement.

The rest was mostly sand, gravel, and clay.

Even while Kim Ki-woo was lost in thought, concrete mixed with enough water was quickly made.

And on the planned site of the paved road, where they had solidly prepared the ground for days of shoveling, they laid concrete.

Once the concrete that was still wet hardened, it would perform the role of a great paved road.

‘I miss remote control.’

Until yesterday, he missed forklifts, but today it was remote control.

He missed the power of machines so much as he did such large-scale work with manpower.

Well, this wasn’t the first time he had such thoughts, so his regret quickly disappeared.

‘It’s a shame that I can only use concrete for this purpose right now. Sigh.’

Concrete was indispensable for modern architecture. But to use concrete properly, he had to make rebar.

Concrete had high compressive strength. It meant that it didn’t get damaged much even if it was pressed down from below.

But it was weak against tensile force. Therefore, rebar was essential to supplement tensile strength when building buildings or bridges with concrete.

‘Make rebar with uniform quality?’

Kim Ki-woo snorted. It was impossible at this level.

Even if it were possible by any chance, because mathematics had not been widely spread yet, it would be blocked from design.

In order to make buildings last long without collapsing, advanced architectural engineering calculations were essential.

In other words, he could only use concrete relying on its powerful compressive strength to pave roads like this.

Still, the construction workers were skilled people who had built countless buildings. They quickly adapted as Kim Ki-woo directed them.

“There’s nothing too difficult now. Just follow what I told you and try paving a road once. Got it?”

“Yes. We’ll do our best.”

Feeling that his role was over for now, Kim Ki-woo left the site soon.

The next place Kim Ki-woo visited was a construction site by the river where they were building docking facilities.

“Things are going well here.”

“We’re used to using cement now. You don’t have to worry about this place.”

“Haha. It looks like it. Then I’ll trust you guys and make it well.”

“Yes, boss.”

Compared to paving the road, the construction of the docking facilities went well without Kim Ki-woo. He didn’t need to say anything at all.

With this, Kim Ki-woo was able to finish the transportation-related work for now. Time would solve everything from now on.

*

“Did you hear that?”

“Did you find a good job?”

“Ah, this guy. How can you be so slow with information?”

The burly man clicked his tongue as he looked at his friend’s sturdy legs. But the sturdy legs just smiled amiably.

“Haha. Why worry when you know how the world works?”

“Hehe. I do have some fast information. Well, you see, the Grand Chief has started a new project.”

“Again? But according to my friend in the administration, the Grand Chief already has a lot of work to do…”

“That’s true. He’s an amazing person. Anyway, do you know what it is?”

“Haha. No, I don’t. Tell me quickly.”

“Ahem! But before that, don’t we need some more drinks?”

“Kehkehkeh. You’re such a friend. Hey, boss! Bring us some more drinks!”

“There’s no one like you, right?”

The burly man smiled contentedly and began his story in a low voice.

“He’s building something called paved roads.”

“Paved roads?”

“Yeah. It’s a process of flattening the roadside with stones.”

“Huh? Why would he do that?”

The burly man explained to his friend the reason he knew. Then the sturdy legs nodded as if convinced.

“Hmm. I see. But is that all? Ahem, it doesn’t seem worth the drinks…”

“Hey, you! Do you know how important this information is? Think about it. When they start moving things with those carts, what will we porters do?”

“Hmm?”

At that sound, the sturdy legs widened his eyes.

“What? Does that mean we have to quit being porters?”

“Haha. Did you get it now? Of course, not all of them will disappear. But they’ll decrease a lot, right? Instead, there will be jobs like pulling carts or loading and unloading cargo on ships.”

“Oh, I don’t know if that’s better or worse.”

“Of course it’s better! How hard is it to carry a load back and forth? And we’ll hear less nagging from our wives. We’ll be able to go home every night.”

“Hmm. Now that you mention it, that’s true. The Grand Chief is the only one who thinks of us. I bow to him once every morning when I go to the administration.”

“Hehe. I do it twice because it feels good.”

“What?”

As soon as he said that, the sturdy legs burst into laughter and clapped his hands.

“Don’t you know that yet? I heard this from a friend in the administration, but the Grand Chief told him not to bow twice. He said that twice is for dead people.”

“Oh! So we can’t bow twice in the spirit world? Oh dear, then I’ll have to bow once from today on.”

“That’s obvious.”

Like this, various rumors circulated here and there today.

The world was changing too fast for the tribal people.

But it would be the same wherever they went, and there were people who didn’t like such rapid changes.

“It’s really ridiculous. Tsk! Why are these strange things popping up everywhere? Is this really the will of the spirits?”

“Sigh. What can we do? The world is going crazy.”

These complaints were especially evident among the old elders.

They didn’t like the changes of the young people.

When they were young, they respected the wise elders and followed their words faithfully. Whenever something happened, they looked for solutions from the wise elders.

But now, they solve those things in places like the security bureau or the supreme court.

When they tried to guide the young people with something, they ignored their words by spouting out new common sense spread by the administration.

Sometimes they even dragged them to the security bureau for being oppressive and cruel…

“Tsk tsk. Look at that. What kind of ridiculous outfit is that?”

“It looks hot just by looking at it. They’ll die like that. Die.”

The two elders muttered as they watched the busy people on the street. What they pointed out were the strange clothes worn by many young people.

The clothes that Kim Ki-woo wore in modern times and modified to suit pre-modern conditions. That was trending now. The elders found them disgusting.

But no matter what the elders said, the world was already changing radically.

And they realized that by changing like this, they could live a better life, at least for the tribal youths living in and around the Great Start City.

This was already a state of inertia. As long as Kim Ki-woo didn’t abandon this policy of driving change, it would never stop.

And such signs were happening here, at the mill.

“Let’s take a break!”

“Yes!”

As soon as the manager finished speaking, the mill workers stopped working.

“Oh my god, I’m dying, I’m dying!”

“Those shiny grains never seem to disappear.”

“Oh, the harvest ended last year, but we’re still grinding grains. This is a problem, a problem.”

“But isn’t the bread made from that flour so delicious?”

“That’s true.”

The sharp-eyed man nodded his head in agreement with the big palm. It was a fact that delicious food had increased a lot since flour was distributed.

The sharp-eyed man, who had been a member of the Creek tribe for four years, was satisfied with his current life.

But when he saw the mountain of grains piled up like that, he felt something rising up in his chest.

That’s why. The reason why the sharp-eyed man muttered softly.

“Wouldn’t it be nice if there was something that automatically ground those grains?”

“What? Hahaha! There’s no such thing!”

“Hmm. There’s none if there’s none. Why are you laughing so much?”

The big palm laughed out loud and mocked him. He couldn’t roar as he clapped his big hands.

But the big palm didn’t care about his change of expression and said.

“It’s funny because you’re talking nonsense. What would we do if there was such a thing?”

“Damn. It would still make our work easier! The Grand Chief has created many machines so far, but who can guarantee that such a thing won’t be made?”

“Hey, mentioning the Grand Chief is cheating. He’s special, so he can do it.”

“Who doesn’t know that the Grand Chief is special? Tsk! I can’t talk to you!”

The sharp-eyed man went home that day with a bad mood. And his wife, the big butt, noticed it right away. They had been living together for a long time, so they couldn’t miss such a change.

“What happened? Why do you look so gloomy?”

“Eh. Well…”

The sharp-eyed man told his wife what had happened at the mill. His wife didn’t laugh or mock him like the big palm. She listened very seriously.

When he finished speaking, she expressed her thoughts.

“It would be great if such a machine existed. The Grand Chief would surely like it if it was made. What are you afraid of? Let’s make it together.”

< Concrete. > The end