155. Introducing Cement

If you wanted to read 15 Chapters ahead and more, be sure to check my Patreon!!!

Go to https://www.patreon.com/Tang12

_________________________

Ying Yue also holds her abdomen, wishing for it to be a boy and letting Lie Fan have an heir. Lie Fan hearing this said that he doesn't care if it's a boy or a girl, they are his blood and he will love them equally. He even hoped that it would be a girl, so he could spoil her like how Lie Fan spoiled Wannian, as a daughter is a father-padded jacket.

Ying Yue just smiled at Lie Fan, even though she felt glad that Lie Fan didn't care whether it was a girl or a boy, she had a selfish wish that it was a boy so that she would be the first one to give Lie Fan a boy.

Lie Fan decided to hold a banquet to celebrate Ying Yue's pregnancy, He invited only close friends and his retinue, people that will be close to his family. The banquet will be held in 3 days, so Lie Fan spread the invitation very fast.

When Lie Fan's subject knows that Ying Yue is pregnant, they are happy that Lie Fan finally will have a child. Of course, they hoped for it to be a boy so that Lie Fan would have a designated heir.

Of course, in the end, Lie Fan is the one who will be picked to succeed him, but having an heir can calm the hearts of his followers. Under Jia Xu's machinations, he spread the news of Ying Yue's pregnancy.

The Nobles and Merchants send gifts to congratulate Ying Yue on her pregnancy, and the people of Xiapi are happy that Lie Fan will have a child, they hope that Ying Yue will have a safe and healthy pregnancy.

Diao Chan and Cai Wenji were responsible for the decoration of the banquet, Yung Yue who wanted to help was stopped by the two of them who told her to take more rest and that she couldn't do any heavy work.

3 days passed by, and the day of the banquet arrived, Lie Fan invited not only the men but also their wives was also invited. The ladies were received by Ying Yue, Diao Chan, and Cai Wenji, while the men were welcomed by Lie Fan.

Lie Fan asks everyone good wishes for Ying Yu to have a safe and healthy pregnancy, after saying that he drinks a wine toasting everyone in the room. Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song, and Lu Zhi can be considered to be Lie Fan's leaders, they were happy for Lie Fan that he finally had a child.

Lie Shang and Yu Yan have received the news of Ying Yue's pregnancy, unfortunately, both of them can't come today as they have important matters to attend to in Huai'An. The soap and shampoo business is booming across the country, many merchants come to Huai'An just to buy stock for their own.

Ying Yue in the other room, received the wives of Lie Fan's close friends and Subjects. She was listening to the words of some of the experienced ladies who had been pregnant and given birth.

Diao Chan and Cai Wenji sit beside Ying Yue, listening along with her to the advice that was given to her. They are absorbing the knowledge that they will need for the future, and thinking about having a child together with Lie Fan brought a smile to their face.

The banquet lasted until evening, Lie Fan escorted all of the guests out, staying outside until everyone finally left the mansion. Tonight Lie Fan sleeps with Ying Yue, accompanying her while talking sweet words to each other until they sleep.

The next day, Lie Fan goes to his office at the Governor's Castle. He has received a Cement recipe, which shows what the ingredients needed, and how to make it In a simple way that can be made in this era.

Lie Fan called Wang Lang and Mi Zhu to his office, he will hand this to the two of them. He truly needs to recruit more advisors, as he feels that he needs more of them to handle his projects.

After 15 minutes, Mi Zhu and Wang Lang arrived at Lie Fan's office. He told the two of them to take a seat, and he took out the Cement recipe from his inventory through his drawers, handing it to Mi Zhu.

Lie Fan: "Mi Zhu and Wang Lang, here I have some sort of project that I want the two of you to handle. I know that the Horse Farm project is being handled by Mi Zhu, I think this can help you in finding e new types of building materials, which can reduce the amount of wood and stone we use."

Mi Zhu: "My Lord, this cement is truly a wonderous material! From the schematics it's easy to find as we have this like stone, I have heard of this in the southern part of the country."

Wang Lang: "Marvelous thing, it was said that also can use mud and dry grass, which were easier to make for now, I think we can try this one first My Lord."

Lie Fan: "That's great that you have heard of this limestone, employ our soldiers to use the second method and work together with the smiths as we need their smelter to help us with the first method.".

Mi Zhu: "Don't worry My Lord, me and Wang Lang will handle this project to the best of our abilities! I was thinking that maybe the Horse Farm could become the first building to use cement."

Lie Fan nodded his head, he explained to Mi Zhu that the cement of success, he planned to expand Xiapi, adding another layer of walls outside, to increase the population Xiapi could hold and upgrade Xiapi's defense capability.

Mi Zhu and Wang Lang were surprised, expanding Xiapi was the biggest project that Lie Fan will undertake, even the ships project Lie Fan has been on a smaller scale than expanding Xiapi, the capital of Xu Province.

Mi Zhu told Lie Fan that such large-scale expansion would cost them a lot of money and resources, even with the invention of cement which reduced the number of wood and stone being used, it still needed large amounts of money.

Lie Fan knew this, so he explained the benefits of expanding Xiapi. first, increasing the number of people Xiapi can hold, the population is an important asset to have in war. Second, economically this has a great benefit, as the more people the more merchant comes in.

Third, new lands to expand buildings, new mansions, warehouses, and other buildings are being built which reduces the amount of land Xiapi has. Since Lie Fan's administration, Xiapi has seen more buildings being built than under the Han Central government.

Lastly, Xiapi will become the seat of his power, the capital of course needs to be bigger than Luoyang and Chang'An, the previous capital of the Han dynasties, to raise the prestige of his dynasty in the future.

Mi Zhu and Wang Lang stayed silent, listening to Lie Fan's four-point and feeling what Lie Fan said made sense, especially economically as Mi Zhu can see the benefit of it, and Mi Clan will also revive huge benefits.

Mi Zhu asked Lie Fan if the expansion would begin after they managed to make cement, Lie Fan replied that they don't need to do that right now. When they truly control the central plains or are strong enough, that's when the expansion of Xiapi will begin.

Mi Zhu nods his head, he tells Lie Fan that he needs to calculate the cost of expanding Xiapi, and how much money they need to invest in this huge money sinkhole project.

Lie Fan waves his hand, telling Mi Zhu to do it however he likes, this project will be shelved until all of his advisors agree at one point that the project will be started.

Lie Fan dismissed the meeting after they finished discussing the Xiapi expansion project, Lie Fan told Mi Zhu and Wang Lang to complete the project as soon as possible.

After the meeting, Lie Fan got out of his office and headed towards the army camp outside of Xiapi, where only the Guard Battalion was left staying in the camp as the others had been assigned to their army group with Ze Rong as the only general as well.

Lie Fan separated the army into 4 groups, and his generals were also assigned to each group except for Ze Rong who stayed in Xiapi. Chao Bai was assigned under Huang Zhong, Chao Bo was assigned under Dian Wei, Fan Chou was assigned under Zhang Chong with Fang Yue, and Zang Ba was assigned under Taishi Ci.

Xu Rong was still in prison, he didn't want to come out and serve Lie Fan until his family arrived at Xiapi safely. Lie Fan sent Xu Kai 3 months ago to Chang'An along with Oriole members, tasked with escorting Xu Rong and Fan Chou's families.

Arriving at the camp with his bodyguards, Lie Fan saw that the Guard Battalion captains were recruiting and selecting candidates to join the Guard Battalion. It will be expanded to 9,000 men with the arrival of the 5,000 Mongolian horses which 1,000 were used to make the horse farm.

Ze Rong helped the Guard Battalion captain in recruiting new members for the guard battalion, he suddenly was attracted to one stalwart man holding a spear, the aura around him showed that he was experienced in war.

Ze Rong: "Hello Sir! May I ask for your name?"

Ling Cao: "I'm Ling Cao from Wu! I'm here to join Governor Lie Fan's army and personal unit, the Guard Battalion!"

Ze Rong: "You're from Wu? That means you're from Yang Province, and you have come a long way here to Xiapi, why don't you join Governor Liu Yao who controls Yang Province?"

Ling Cao: "I have served for some time in Governor Liu Yao's army, fighting against Yellow Turbans remnant that entered the Yang Province and some rebels that revolted against Governor Liu Yao, but I admired Governor Lie Fan for his accomplishment and come all the way here with my family to serve him!"

Ze Rong: "Good! You have made the right choice! I admire your bravery to come all the way here bringing your family, come let me introduce you to Governor Lie Fan, he is over there overseeing the recruitment."

Ze Rong brought Ling Cao to meet with Lie Fan, who was sitting some meters away from the registration area for joining the Guard Battalion. Lie Fan sees Ze Rong approaching him, behind him, a man holding a spear stands gallantly behind Ze Rong and has the aura of a man who has seen the battlefield and killed people, and the way he is holding the Spears shows that he is skilled in martial arts.

______________________________

Name: Lie Fan

Title: Three Heroes Who Defeat Lu Bu

Age: 23 (190 AD)

Level: 15

Next Level: 1.588.000

Renown: 600

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 8)

SP: 656.700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 864 (+20)

VIT: 420 (+20)

AGI: 408 (+10)

INT: 415

CHR: 93

WIS: 339

WILL: 237

ATR Points: 0