"Mr. Marquis, this mountain is called Hulu Mountain. Through our observation and measurement, the best place to change curves is at the waist of this gourd. The two sides are less than one hundred feet apart, but they are all rocks. It cannot be dug through without human power. If a two-meter-wide passage can be blown up, the road construction can save at least nearly two months, and the cement and labor saved is 3 million..." The craftsman of the Academy of Sciences, who participated in the design of this section, pointed to a small valley in the concave direction with a horse whip.

"Well, this is exactly the factor I was considering at that time. It not only saves money but also saves time and effort." Chen Xu nodded immediately as he rode.

"Mr. Marquis, don't say that the hill is flattened, even if it is only reduced by half, then our engineering team will put down the soil and rocks on the mountain and fill the roadbeds on both sides. Even if it is a long slope, the length of both sides will not exceed five miles, which will save the caravans a half hours..." The merchant who was also riding a horse and following him said carefully.

"Haha, the height of this mountain is only 30 meters and the width is only 200 meters. If it is manually dug, as long as the number of people is enough to start construction on both sides at the same time, it is estimated that it will be the same in half a year. It's just that the cost is too much and it's not worth the loss. Don't worry, since this marquis is here, he will definitely blow it up a passage."

Chen Xu stood in the valley with a smile and observed carefully for a long time. Then he spent twenty minutes climbing up to the top of the mountain to watch the situation on both sides and then said: "You should gather people now to clear all the trees and thorns in the narrowest places, and at the same time, he summoned skilled stonemasons and helpers to prepare sledgehammers and steel drills to dig holes in the rocks on both sides. The diameter of the hole is one foot, the deeper the better..."

After Chen Xu finished giving instructions, the merchant left excitedly and summoned the construction team and prepared tools.

In the afternoon of the same day, the construction team summoned hundreds of mountain people from nearby towns and began to clean up the trees and thorns with knives and axes.

The next day, the merchant had already returned with a sledgehammer and steel drill that had been built overnight in Luoyang, and also brought dozens of stonemasons and helpers.

Chen Xu also had no experience in blasting rocks by opening mountains and exploding mountains, so he could only choose a few places that seemed easy to operate and construct, so that these stonemasons helped to start digging holes in the rocks.

Because the power of black gunpowder is limited, the amount can only be used to increase the intensity of the blasting, so these holes are relatively large. According to Chen Xu's idea, a hole can be filled with dozens of kilograms of gunpowder. It will definitely have a good effect under a violent explosion. It is more than a hundred times faster than burning with cold water.

In the blink of an eye, three days have passed, seven large caves more than ten feet deep have been made on the hill, three on one side of the mountainside and the foot of the mountain, and one on the center of the mountain.

After waiting for another day, a guard came to report that the gunpowder transported by the factory had arrived.

This batch of gunpowder is more than 2,000 kilograms, all of which are contained in large sealed wooden barrels. In order to safely install eight trucks and hundreds of meters of leads, two dumb slaves responsible for the manufacture of gunpowder and blasting also arrived with them. The guards and imperial guards who are responsible for the safety of the experimental factory of the Academy of Sciences are protected.

A group of craftsmen and craftsmen from the Academy of Sciences came with this batch of explosives, and even Zhao Qing and Hu Kuan came with them.

"You are here just in time, and you can see the method and effect of blasting. After the explosion is opened, you will be responsible for the remaining few places to change the curve and straighten the curve!" Chen Xu was very happy with Hu Kuan and a group of craftsmen.

Those who work hard to control others, and those who work hard to control others.

Blasting is a high-risk project, and he, a marquis, cannot do this kind of thing himself. Moreover, for his own sake, Chen Xu cannot do it himself.

Since ancient times, countless people have been killed or injured in blasting projects. Even if safety measures are strictly implemented, there is no guarantee that there will be no problems. Therefore, we can only try to be careful.

"Okay, now I'll find someone to sew some sheepskin pockets slightly thinner than the entrance of the cave, and prepare two small flags with red and white. At the same time, I inform the Mianchi County Magistrate to arrange a team of soldiers to go to the blasting construction site to maintain order, so that the villagers who were watching the fun could get too close to each other and were accidentally injured by Taiyi Shenlei and Feishi..."

"Yes, Marquis!" After the group of people saluted, they all went to work hard. After all the arrangements were in place, a truck of gunpowder was transported to the near the construction site to be blasted.

The two mute slaves put the gunpowder in the wooden barrel into the sheepskin pocket. One leather pocket could hold about twenty kilograms. After the installation, insert a wire about one or two feet thick and thin with a small finger to press it tightly. After all the preparations were done, Chen Xu brought two mute slaves and Hu Kuan and Zhao Qing and other craftsmen from the Academy of Sciences to the foot of the mountain, directing the two mute slaves to carefully push the tightly-bound explosive bag into the hole of the blasting hole with a wooden stick tied to the leather pocket, and poke it to the bottom.

Because I heard that Qinghe Hou was going to use the Taiyi Divine Thunder Immortal Art to blow up the hill, many nearby villagers came to watch in groups every day in the past few days.

But a few days ago, they were digging holes in the mountains, so everyone was confused. But today I heard that Qinghe Hou was going to officially use the magic of immortals, which immediately ignited the passion of nearby villagers and many well-informed people in Mianchi County. When Chen Xu and others transported gunpowder from Mianchi County, thousands of people rode horses, donkeys, and even ran over to watch the fun.

In addition to the villagers who flocked to the vicinity, there were at least 3,000 people near the entire blasting construction site. Many people climbed directly to the top of the mountain and even climbed onto the nearby big trees to watch.

After the explosives were installed, Chen Xu looked up at the lead only left outside, and then his face turned black.

Because in addition to the group of craftsmen around him, countless people gathered around him, and even the county magistrates and county magistrates of Mianchi County, everyone was full of expectations.

"Shake the red flag, blow the whistle, and let everyone leave the construction site. No one is allowed within a hundred feet, otherwise I will be welcome!" Chen Xu said with a stern face.

"Ding ~~~"

With several sharp and rapid sounds of bamboo whistles, the craftsman in charge of blasting waved the small red flags to the crowd watching the fun, but the crowd watching the fun was still unmoved.

"Zhao County Magistrate, immediately arrange soldiers to disperse the surrounding spectators. If they do not retreat, they will be arrested and flogged!"

"Yes, Marquis!" Looking at Chen Xu's angry face, the county magistrate of Mianchi County did not dare to watch the fun too much, and blew the bamboo whistle to command the soldiers to disperse the crowd around.

It took Nao Nao Rang nearly half an hour to yell. After all the scoldings and beatings, the onlookers finally retreated sixty or seventy feet. Then the crowd dispersed, resulting in insufficient soldiers. The onlookers were unwilling to continue to retreat. They were completely a savage who was not afraid of death.

Chen Xu had no choice. He thought that according to the power of black gunpowder, the gravel would probably fly up to a hundred meters away. If it was hit or even killed, these idiots would have to ask for their own blessings.

"When I see the red flag waving again, I will ignite the fire and quickly escape from the valley. Did you hear it?" Chen Xu ordered the two mute slaves.

"Woooo~~" the two mute slaves nodded together.

"Let's go~" Chen Xu waved his hand and led Zhao Qing and Hu Kuan and other groups of people from the Academy of Sciences to leave quickly, retreating to the entrance of the valley, which was two hundred meters away from the blasting place before stopping.

"Wave the order flag~"

"Yes~" The craftsman raised the red flag in his hand and waved it several times in a row. One of the two mute slaves in charge of ignition helped to hold the lead, and the other took out a match to ignite it and then ignited the lead. Seeing the lead burning quickly, the two mute slaves turned around and ran away with their heads.

It was too far away to see, and the onlookers didn't know why the two mute slaves ran away so quickly, so they could only watch on tiptoe and stretch their necks, and they were confused.

"What's going on? Didn't it mean that Qinghe Hou released the Taiyi Divine Thunder? What's going on with these two mutes?" a pussy muttered.

"Ku, these two are the immortal slaves of Qinghe Hou. They must be preparing magic weapons. Qinghe Hou only needs to release magic power from afar!" A seemingly sensible answered disdainfully.

"Hey, it seems you are right. What does the Marquis take out?"

A sharp-eyed pussy suddenly started to yell when he saw Chen Xu take out a monocular lens and hold it in front of him.

"You see it. The divine thunder is a magical art. How can you use common sense to judge it? The marquis's hand must be a magic weapon that triggers the arrival of the immortal thunder!" The wise man said proudly.

Amid the speculation and commotion of the onlookers, time passed by minute by minute, and three minutes passed during the long torture waiting. The two mute slaves had already run to Chen Xu and squatted on the ground covering their ears.

"It seems that it is indeed a magical art. The Marquis also needs such a long time to prepare. I am looking forward to what the scene will be when the arrival of the immortal thunder will be!"

The onlookers are still talking.

"Look, the Marquis put away his magic weapon. It seems that the divine thunder is coming!"

"Hey, why did the marquis cover his ears!" The sharp-eyed pussy shouted again.

"The divine thunder is naturally loud, so it's better for me to cover my ears!" The wise man turned his head and looked at Chen Xu, and found that not only Chen Xu covered his ears, but also the group of people around Chen Xu covered their ears, so he quickly reached out to cover his two ears and eyes.

Onlookers elsewhere had no ideas or measures at all, and were still arguing about why the Taiyi Divine Thunder had not fallen yet.

"Why didn't it explode yet?"

More than a minute passed, and the gunpowder still did not explode. Even Chen Xu himself began to wonder if the leads were extinguished, because he looked in his glasses for three minutes until he could not see the blue smoke coming out. He guessed that the time should be almost done before he put away the glasses and started to block his ears. As a result, his hands were sore and not exploded, making him doubt his life.

Seeing Chen Xu put down his ear-blocking hand, Zhao Qing, Hu Kuan and others slowly put down their hands, but in less than five seconds of letting go.

"Boom~~~"

Suddenly, a thunderous explosion exploded at the foot of the mountain like thunder.

The entire ground trembled, and the nearby trees were shaking, and a strong stream of smoke rose into the sky in the valley. Then the gravel in the sky shot out like hail, hitting within a radius of hundreds of meters.
Chapter completed!