Chapter 428 Minister Beard
The "commute" time between Valar Bay and Phoenix is still a day and a half.
Before the Valar Tunnel is built or the "transportation" is changed, there will not be any big changes at this time.
The biting cold wind swept the ice crystals across the silver-gray Varar Mountains, adding a chilling air to the land.
It was only a month and a half later, when Gothe came to the end of Valar Mountain near Phoenix again, he could already see a new, dark hole with no bottom, and a faint light coming from it.
This is the Valar Tunnel under construction.
On both sides of the cave entrance, half a man's height of ice and rock fragments were piled up, which were waste materials produced during the excavation process.
Since everyone is here and on the way, Gaode immediately stopped on his way and prepared to learn about the current construction progress and specific conditions of the Valar Tunnel.
One is curiosity, and the other is that the Valar Tunnel is one of the key projects in Phoenix at the current stage. As the king, it is definitely necessary for him to pay attention and inspect it.
As soon as Gothe arrived, the northerner wrapped in thick animal skins at the entrance of the cave immediately knelt on one knee and saluted: "My king!"
His voice had the unique roughness of the North, mixed with a bit of trembling due to excitement.
This is his first face-to-face interaction with the new king of the north.
Gothe used the hands of the mage to help him up, "No need to be polite."
He pointed to the inside of the tunnel, "I happened to be passing by, so let's take a look at the current progress of the tunnel project."
He pointed at the tunnel. "My king, I will notify Minister Beard immediately!" The man said quickly, with a trace of nervousness in his eyes.
Gaode nodded slightly.
He did not come to Weifu for a private visit. If he wanted to know the specific situation of the tunnel project, it would be best to contact the "chief project manager" directly.
It was just Gao De who noticed the title of minister.
When he last left the northern border, there were only four departments in Phoenix, namely the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Education, the Public Security Bureau and the Office.
The Minister of Agriculture is Flora, the Minister of Education is himself, the Public Security Bureau has only two deputy directors for the time being, and the Office Director is Aisha.
This new minister, whom he had never heard of before, should be the newly formed Minister of Construction after he left.
This made Gaode feel a little interested.
In the Northern Territory, the only person other than him who can directly appoint a department official position is War Mother Sunaifa.
Getting Sunaifa's approval is not an easy task in itself.
While Gao De was reverie, a burst of rapid footsteps sounded, from far to near.
Then a stocky man walked quickly out of the shadows of the tunnel.
This man is unexpectedly young, he looks like he is in his early twenties, with thick apple muscles hanging on his cheeks, his eyes are small, narrowed into two curved slits, and there are thin folds in the corners of his eyes, making him seem to be smiling all the time.
The brown hair looked extremely messy, with some dust on it, and a few strands of hair hung down in front of his forehead.
He was wearing an animal skin coat stained with gravel chips and gray-white dust. He showed his big white teeth, which were not neat, to Gothe. He gasped slightly and said, "Beard has seen His Highness."
His Highness, Gothe, was slightly startled.
In the north, the Zhenbing people directly call him the king, and generally only outsiders call him your highness.
In other words, the extremely young-looking person in front of me who was appointed as the Minister of Construction is actually not a member of the Zhenbing tribe?
What outstanding talents does this guy have that allow Sunaifa to be promoted like this?
Gaode became increasingly curious.
“Are you the new Minister of Construction?” he asked first.
"Oh?" Gothe raised his eyebrows, and did not ask further questions, but indicated with his eyes: "Take me to see the situation in the Valar Tunnel first."
"Okay, Your Highness, please follow me." Beard was not afraid of the stage, and led Gothe towards the tunnel.
As soon as he entered the tunnel, a cold wind carrying ice shards hit his face, like countless tiny silver needles pricking his face.
At intervals, there would be a flash of light, like a light bulb, illuminating the environment inside the tunnel and stretching the shadows of the two people on the ice wall.
It's not a black technology, it's just a simple trick called "Light Technique".
Purely natural and pollution-free.
While walking, Beard introduced the specific situation to Gaode: "It has been twenty-nine days since the construction of the Valar Tunnel started, and the tunnel currently completed is about 250 meters long.
But this is because we are not familiar with it in the early stage. There are many problems that need to be solved. Now that we are proficient, the construction speed is slowly accelerating."
Tunnels are generally built while digging. First, timely support can ensure safety, and it can also avoid the problem of soil weathering and loosening caused by long-term exposure of the tunnel after digging.
Of course, I don’t know much about these Gaode. In his previous life, he was just a senior graduate of the Department of Mathematics, and he was not close to civil engineering.
Gothe opened Mandora's Magic Eye, scanned it for a while, and got another accurate data.
The tunnel is 5 meters wide and 6 meters high. In the previous life, it was barely three lanes.
But in the north, it can only be used as a two-lane road.
The reason is also very simple. The carriage here is larger.
The technical content of the tunnel construction process is actually quite high. At least the conditions of the almost primitive tribes in the north are not sufficient to complete such a high-tech project.
But fortunately, this is a world with extraordinary power.
Therefore, many technical difficulties can be overcome directly with the help of extraordinary power.
For example, in environmental survey, although the Northern Territory does not have high-precision geological survey instruments, it does have detection magic. During the excavation stage, [Quick Excavation] can completely replace sophisticated excavation equipment and blasting technology.
"What is that?"
Gothe looked up and noticed that there was a layer of gray-white vines covering the top and sides of the rock wall.
The vines are entangled in the gaps between the ice rocks like living creatures. The ice crystals condensed on the surface reflect the cold light, and light blue light spots flow in the veins of the vines at regular intervals.
"Permafrost vines used for reinforcement and support." Beard rubbed his hands and said: "After the tunnel is excavated, the biggest problem is how to support and strengthen the tunnel rock wall to prevent later deformation and collapse
"I initially thought of laying a layer of ice, but the disadvantages are also obvious. As long as someone casts fire spells in the tunnel and melts the ice, it will cause great damage to the tunnel. Destruction"
"Use wood. One is that the northern border does not produce wood resources. The other is that ordinary wood becomes brittle in such extremely cold conditions and cannot withstand it for a long time. Using special wood is too expensive."
"Bild seems to be a talker. When Gothe asked, he rambled on and explained the entire construction process in detail.
“Finally, I thought of the permafrost vine. It secretes a sticky ice crystal in a cold environment, which is very annoying, but its body is very tough, so we have always used it as scrap material for bundling firewood or weaving baskets. However, every time it sticks to our hands and hurts, so it is disliked by many people.”
As time goes on, the entire tunnel will only become stronger and stronger.
Even if someone attacks with fire elemental spells, the ice crystals on the surface of the vines will isolate most of the heat, and at most the outer layer will be scorched, without affecting the internal structure at all, and causing no damage to the tunnel. "
“And all we need to do is to regularly clean up the overgrown permafrost vines.”
“Now, every five meters of excavation, I will have someone plant the permafrost vines, and then let the mage who masters the art of nature promote it. Within a few days, it will grow into a natural reinforcement network.”
Beard walked to a rock wall and pulled the entangled vines hard. The sound of the ice crystals colliding was clear and crisp, "Look, this permafrost vine was planted only half a month ago, and now it has grown together with the rock wall."
Gothe's heart was moved.
He noticed that when Beard introduced the progress of the tunnel, he always used the unit "meter".
Not to mention anything else, the fact that Beard, as a foreigner, could so quickly accept and use the weights and measures he set is enough to show that he is a talented person with strong learning ability and adaptability.
And this is not his greatest advantage.
"Did you come up with the method of permafrost to reinforce the tunnel yourself? Also, was the design of this tunnel also done by you?" Gaode further confirmed.
His eyes swept through the intertwined vine network at the top of the tunnel and fell into the ravines dug downwards on both sides of the ground road.
The ditches have neat edges and are paved with stones at the bottom.
Based on his experience, he can naturally tell that this is a drainage facility.
The problem is that this is the northern part of an extremely cold place, and in most people's minds, the necessity of drainage pipes has never been thought of.
Beard scratched his hair, the brown hair was still stained with tiny ice particles. He took out a rolled-edged parchment from his arms and copied the road grid map of Phoenix on it, and then said honestly:
"No, the design of the tunnel. It is based on the Phoenix expansion plan drawn by His Highness. It has detailed road design structures. I think it can be used here. "
"What do you think of these ditches?" Gothe pointed to the much smaller ditches on the rock wall and next to the drainage pipe.
"There are some strange lines in the Phoenix expansion plan drawn by His Highness. I asked the War Mother for advice. The War Mother said that these are some necessary designs envisioned by His Highness, but the conditions are not yet mature and cannot be implemented for the time being." There are these lines on the road. "
"Although I don't know the purpose of these lines yet, I think that the tunnel, as an important thoroughfare between the two places, definitely needs the existence of these lines, so I have reserved corresponding ditches."
Gaode's eyes lit up as he listened.
He finally understood why Sunaifah chose a foreigner who looked so young to serve as the temporary Minister of Construction.
Whether he is willing to follow the construction team to carry out the construction in person, he is familiar with the project, or he makes responses and plans based on the actual situation during the construction process without any reference experience, it all shows that he is a thinking and logically complex talent.
Especially the insight into converting abstract concepts on drawings into actual projects, and the ability to reason logically. There are only a handful of people like this in the entire Norland continent, let alone in the north.
This is really a treasure!
While talking, the two of them had reached the innermost part of the tunnel.
Here, the twenty ice wizards who have mastered the [Quick Digging] spell are working hard to dig a tunnel.
naturally, they are now the backbone of the Ministry of Construction.
Seeing Gothe arrive, they quickly turned around and saluted.
Gaode waved his hand, indicating that you were welcome, and then opened his mouth to encourage everyone.
Digging tunnels is a very hard job.
After watching the whole journey, Gaode felt a lot more at ease.
This peace of mind mainly comes from the ability shown by Beard.
After the inspection, he mounted the Snow Wolf again and headed towards Phoenix again.
Peter watched Gothe leave at the entrance of the cave. After his figure completely disappeared from sight, he turned around and said to his trusted subordinates selected from his own tribe: "Hurry and help me clean up these dirty things!"
The subordinate quickly stepped forward to help brush away the dust and gravel on Beard's animal skin clothing. While cleaning it, he complained: "Young patriarch, none of us northerners are so particular about you!"
Beard was heartbroken. Fu's head: "You are the only one who talks a lot."
"His Highness came without warning and didn't have much time to prepare for me. I should have done well when I first came out, right?" He thought for a while and confirmed with his confidants.
"That's great, young patriarch, he looks shabby and looks like he's working so hard that he forgets to eat and sleep." His confidants nodded in affirmation.
"That's good." Beard showed his trademark "silly smile".
"But Young Patriarch, your ability is here, and you have indeed fulfilled your duties. You just love to be clean. Is it necessary to do these window-dressing efforts?"
"Ability is one thing, attitude is another. Your Highness has not known me before and does not understand me well. If you see me clean, you will inevitably think that I am just talking but not doing anything."< br/>
"And for His Highness to become the new king of the North, he must be extremely capable, both in terms of ability and accomplishments. Even if he thinks so in his heart, he will definitely not say it out loud. After all, I am appointed by the War Mother, and he wants to give the War Mother face."
He patted his confidant on the shoulder, still with a simple and honest expression, and said earnestly: "It's not enough to go out and work with only ability but no appearance."
After a day and a half of traveling, just before sunrise on the second day, when the distant sky turned white, Gothe finally saw the faint outline of Phoenix under the morning glow, lying across the flat snowfield like a sleeping giant.
The wheat fields on the snowy plains have become much larger than a month and a half ago, stretching as far as the eye can see.
The wind blows the wheat waves, and the surging wheat waves seem to be the breath of the earth.
The fresh aroma of wheat brings a slight chill to your face, making you feel happy.
Gothe rode a snow wolf into the city, walked through the quiet streets, and ran straight to his residence, which is also the core spiritual place of Phoenix.
Stepping into the residence, Gothe took a deep breath and felt the mellow and majestic magic power in the high-level spiritual land. He didn't stop at all and couldn't wait to enter the practice room.
Gaode sat down cross-legged and took out the wooden box containing the dragon-blood bacteria from his arms.
He wants to take the Dragon Bird Blood Bacteria, and then he can break through to the first level and then complete it.