"Of course. After all, this road isn't merely meant for carriages and people to walk on," Lucas said, a look of anticipation in his eyes.
"Not just for carriages and people? What else is there?" Ayesha asked, puzzled.
Although she was part of the castle staff, she had rarely been inside the city recently, previously spending most of her time at the Security Department. As a result, there were still many things about Lucas's plans that she didn't know.
"There are also bicycles and cars, right! master," Mina smiled lightly.
"Exactly. And eventually, tracks will be laid on the side for trains to run on," Lucas said, pointing to the reserved land beside the road.
Only then did Mina and Ayesha notice that alongside the spacious main road, there was a nearly five-meter-wide gravel path. It was paved entirely with crushed stones and hadn't been poured with concrete like the main road under their feet.
"Eh, eh, eh??? Bicycles, cars, and now a train... what in the world are all these?" Ayesha widened her eyes, her eyes full of confusion.
She had only ever heard of horse carriages and dung carts. This was her first time hearing about cars, bicycles, and trains.
"These are all modes of transportation. Their function is the same as a carriage—to carry people and transport goods. They are still in the research and development phase. Once they are built, you'll know what they are," Mina explained simply. Having followed Lucas constantly, she already had some understanding of these concepts.
"You'll know in the future. It will still be a while before they truly appear," Lucas smiled mysteriously.
Trains certainly couldn't be built that quickly. After all, there were so many technical hurdles to overcome, requiring time and effort to explore and solve.
However, bicycles and cars would probably make their appearance in the near future, and then everyone would know what they were.
Lucas planned to bring some stamping dies over the next time he returned to Earth. He could first manufacture some bicycle parts, like the chains and the iron frames. By the time the rubber was produced, all they'd need to do was install the rubber tires, and they would be ready for use.
By then, various vehicles would be traveling back and forth on the road before them, and people riding bicycles to Liberty City wouldn't be an issue at all.
"Oh!" Ayesha nodded in a daze, not probing any further.
"Let's go. The road construction site should be quite a distance ahead," Lucas said calmly.
Clip, clop...
The group set off in a grand procession. This time they were traveling on the spacious highway, and their speed noticeably increased.
Even so, the group still traveled for one hour before they saw the section ahead where the road was being built.
"This efficiency is quite decent," Lucas marveled. Given their current technological level, being able to build a road this quickly truly surprised him.
"Master, what is that used for?" Ayesha pointed curiously at a cluster of buildings beside the road ahead.
"That is a relay station. It's a place for passing carriages and people to rest and eat halfway through their journey," Lucas explained.
It was somewhat similar to highway service areas on Earth—places specifically meant for travelers and drivers to stop and rest.
And this relay station served exactly that function. If the horses pulling the carriages were hungry, hay and straw could be bought there. There would also be restaurants selling food, though these were still in the planning phase.
Lucas planned to build a relay station like this at regular intervals all the way to Liberty City.
But a relay station was more than just that. Behind every relay station, land was reserved for future development. Eventually, clusters of buildings would be constructed here, forming villages or small towns.
These were all preparations Lucas was making to fine-tune his future population distribution plans. By reclaiming wasteland and planting crops in the surrounding areas, they would naturally attract many people to settle and live there.
Moreover, several buildings had already been erected behind this relay station. These were places for the workers to rest and sleep. After all, having to commute back and forth from Sedona City every day would waste an enormous amount of time.
Currently, on both sides of the road, people could be seen reclaiming the wasteland. Food crops would be planted, and trees would also be planted along the sides of the road for landscaping.
Once the beastkin arrived, they were quickly taken by the supervisors to arrange their accommodations. From now on, they would be living here.
After housing was arranged, it was also time for lunch. Once they finished eating, their work assignments would begin. With the addition of these beastkin, the speed of road construction would absolutely skyrocket once again.
Lucas, Mina, and Ayesha ate some food they had brought along in the carriage, and then began their inspection work.
"Eh, master, what is this big spinning thing?" Ayesha widened her eyes. Before her was a large, steel cylinder-like object spinning rapidly.
Buzz buzz buzz...
It emitted loud rumbling noises. Every so often, beastkin would throw large boulders into the cylinder, while at the other end, a continuous stream of crushed gravel poured out.
Once the gravel accumulated to a certain amount, beastkin would come with carts to load it up and transport it to the road construction site ahead.
A portion of it was spread over the land reserved for the train tracks, while the rest was mixed into cement to pour the road and construct the buildings behind the relay station.
"This is a stone crusher, specifically used to grind up large rocks," Lucas said, looking at the machine before him.
The Research Department had informed him about the stone crusher earlier, and he had ordered it to be sent directly to the construction site. From the looks of it now, the efficiency of crushing stones was very high.
The design of the stone crusher wasn't overly complicated. It was essentially a large cylinder lined with rows of spike-like teeth made of steel. Powered by a steam engine, belts pulled the mechanism to make these teeth crush the rocks.
Through the force of the churning motion, the crushed stones would be pushed out from the back and fall to the ground.
The most difficult part of the stone crusher was the drive belts. Lucas had bought these from Earth; this era simply didn't possess such advanced technology.
"Did the master invent this as well?" Ayesha exclaimed in awe.
Lucas nodded helplessly. The blueprints for the stone crusher were found in a library. Compared to the crushers used on modern Earth, it was several tiers lower, clunky, and not highly efficient.
But here it was several levels faster than manual labor. The only issue was that the steam engines easily overheated, requiring two engines to be swapped out and used interchangeably.
"Tell the Research Department to build two more stone crushers. The current speed is starting to fall behind," Lucas said, glancing at the people clearing land ahead, who were manually excavating bit by bit.
With an extra eight thousand people now, relying on just one stone crusher would likely make it impossible to keep up with the work progress.
"Yes." Mina nodded, pulled out a notebook she carried with her, and began to write.
Knowing this matter was quite urgent, she directly tore out the page, stamped it with Lucas's personal seal, and had an accompanying soldier take the letter and rush straight back to Sedona City to deliver it to the Research Department.
As for tonight, they planned to spend it at the relay station. After all, if they rushed back, the sky would already be dark. For safety's sake, they had no choice but to return to Sedona City tomorrow.
"Let's go, we'll head further up to take a look," Lucas said calmly.
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