Herald of Steel

Chapter 287 Residential District

Uzak quickly got to work using the army of workers under him to dig not just the roads, but also the underground sewage system for the entire city, the total work spanning more than a hundred kilometers.

While Alexander decided to meet his next, very important advisor- Diagnosis.

The man had been put in charge of the public houses and Alexander was eager to see how much progress he had made.

He also planned to give the man with a fierce scar some critically important additional work related to the cement manufacturing and so the two met up at the construction site in the morning.

"My lord, good morning," The man had greeted Alexander and after the usual polite exchanges, Alexander got to know about the extent of the construction works.

"My lord, I have said it again and again, I need more cement." Diaogosis repeated his request, and then he pointed to a few men some distance away, "Look, many are starting to idle. If my lord had not asked for all those plows, they would have had nothing to do."

This was the um-teemed time the man had asked him for more cement, as with the amount allocated to him, he was barely able to make just four outside perimeter walls (16m x 4m x 0.2m) and one roof (16m x 16m x 0.4m) per day.

In fact, he could not really even do that.

So by this point, he was bound to miss his deadline of making one hundred homes by December, leaving the people to spend the cold winter nights in their rundown shacks.

"I instructed Jazum to make ten more kilns in three months. You will get enough soon," Alexander promised in a tired voice.

He had promised the men that all infrastructure projects would be able to go full steam ahead once the first cement kiln was built, but was finding that even working 24/7, with a production rate of over one ton per hour, it was but a drop among the ocean of demands.

Being not a civil engineer, Alexander had no idea of this freakish rate at which cement could be consumed, a realization he was only waking up to.

When Diaogosis had first informed him that he was running out of cement within the first hour, all fifteen tons of it, Alexander's only thought was that the man was certainly incorrectly using the thing.

And so he had personally gone on a site visit to confirm his fears and the scene there gave Alexander a slight trauma.

He was not appalled by the bricklaying though.

Oh no, on the contrary, that was happening exactly as Alexander had instructed and in fact, he was even very impressed by the smooth, slick, technique by which the workers were laying brick after brick on the walls.

Alexander watched with muted appreciation as the workers would scoop up the bit of the cement with their small wooden spade, expertly flick the tool to deposit the gray, spongy solid onto the bricks or stones, and then spread it over the bricks in one swift, practiced motion, laying four hundred to five hundred bricks per day individually.

This speed very much impressed Alexander.

But what impressed Alexander less, or more specifically what made him fearful, was the amount of cement they were using, even when they were applying just the appropriate amount.

He was astounded to find out that 25% of a brick wall was mortal, which it self was one-seventh (1/7) cement.

And when he did the math using what he saw, he found that around a ton of cement was needed to lay about four thousand (4,000) bricks.

In fact, one ton was usually not enough, as spillages and wastes were bound to occur, bringing the number closer to eleven hundred kilograms of cement.

So using Diaogosis's allocated daily amount of fifteen tons of cement, the limit of the number of bricks he could lay was around fifty-five thousand (55,000).

This might sound like a lot because that was around a hundred and ten tons of materials a day.

But such an amount could be laid by just a bit over hundred men, much less the five thousand under Diaogosis.

His demand was not fifteen tons per day, but more like fifteen tons per hour, and possibly double that.

This realization had made Alexander's stomach unnaturally squirm as he let out his usual curse, 'I hate multiplication'.

He knew beforehand that even small numbers would swell to huge figures when multiplied, but it was only after he became the pasha that he was beginning to get a real example of it.

And he hated it.

But along with this frustrated feeling, Alexander also began to appreciate the industrial revolution of his last life and the huge production capacity that people in his previous life had managed to achieve.

And then thought back on a certain county, realizing just how terrifying its production ability was that earned it the nickname- 'The world's factory'.

The numbers that must have been needed to meet the ever-hungry, insatiable demand of the eight billion people of his previous life must have been gargantuan, a number that surely would have hurt Alexander's head just seeing it.

And compared to that, here Alexander was, struggling with just making enough cement.

In fact, the lack of cement was also not Alexander's only headache.

"My lord, we only get two hundred bricks a day. That's as good as not getting any, "Diaogosis again complained, "And that's why we are using stones instead."

Afterward, he warned, "And though the huge stockpiles from before and the production from the quarries is enough to ride us through right now, if cement production becomes more than ten times as you promised....I'm afraid we will face shortages within days."

"..." Alexander only gave a flat, placid look, feeling like he had bitten off more than he could chew.

After just becoming pasha, and being given the full rein to do whatever he wanted to do, he launched every infrastructure project in his mind simultaneously, wanting to transform Zanzan in one fell swoop.

But reality had now come knocking on his door, reminding him that he had forgotten to take into account the issue of raw materials and manpower.

So Alexander felt that all these construction projects were stretching his efforts too thin, resulting in none of them being completed on time.

And so he decided to scale back his ambitions by some scale.

"I will go see the issue of brick making and find out why the speed is so less." Alexander weakly addressed the man's first complaint.

Then he informed the man of his decision, "Taking into account the acute manpower and raw materials shortage, it is clear we are not able to proceed with all the projects simultaneously at the speed I had hoped."

"As such, understanding the realities of the situation, I have decided to decrease the extent of some of the works."

As soon as Alexander said this, Diaogosis could understand where he was going and he quickly interjected, "My lord! But why? These the people's homes we are talking about!" He cried and even pointed to the many dug-up plots of land that had hollowed wooden pillars sticking out, ready to be filled with concrete, and said, "Look, sire. We have already done so much of the work. All we need is the cement and we can start building the houses immediately!"

And at last, he pleaded in a shaky voice, "Think of the people my lord. It's the middle of the winter. They need these houses!"

It appeared that Diaogosis's heart was bleeding for the population.

But his true intentions were certainly not so altruistic.

The real reason why he was whining so much was because without these projects he feared he will not be able to distinguish himself, without building all those residential buildings he was worried he would not be able to make contributions to Zanzan, and without control of the thousands of workers under him, he knew he would see his power and influence in Zanzan dwindle.

And all these combined would mean that there will be nothing to show for his work and without any accomplishments, there can be no peerage of him. something he knew Alexander had already promised Jazum, Krishhok, and Uzak.

Seeing his colleagues move up in life and become bona fide nobles while he trudged in the obscurity of the common mass was a mortifying thought for the man and something he would never be willing to accept.

And thus the hysterical outburst he was currently displaying, even before Alexander could really say anything.

Alexander knew very well why Diaogosis was being so defensive about his project.

But he was also a bit angry that he was interrupted even before he could really say everything he wanted to say.

The man was worrying about nothing because Alexander intended to give the man alternative tasks which he could do to earn credit and acclaim.

And Alexander was very much in the mind to give him the same peerage he had given the other three.

Was.

Alexander was going to give him.

But the outburst right now displeased Alexander and he decided to hold off on it for a while.

So, instead of directly giving the man his new job, and then promising the peerage, he decided to delay his noble title.

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