jdhmnovel Chapter 121 Let me see what's going on!
Chapter 121 Let me see what's going on!
Yang Shaofeng carefully recalled the mud-brick houses he had seen when he was a child, and finally found that it was just as Wang Laowai had said: the base of the house was made of stones and blue bricks, and then the mud bricks were replaced when it reached the windowsill.
As Wang Laowai said, those mud bricks were mixed with wheat straw. Ningyang County hadn't received much wheat this year. The little wheat straw they had was either woven into straw hats by the people or made into other things, which was far from enough. It had long been burned as firewood, and there was no wheat straw left to make mud bricks.
Thinking about this, Yang Shaofeng, the county magistrate, couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
The people of Zhongyuan Tangkou have this one bad thing: no matter what grows in the fields, they can make the most of it. They eat what is edible, use what is not edible as medicine, and use what is neither edible nor medicinal as animal feed. Stems, leaves, roots and the like are all thoroughly utilized.
Then, wheat straw is no longer available in Ningyang County, let alone used to make mud bricks.
Just as Yang Shaofeng was secretly having a headache, Wang Laowai continued, "Sir, are you in a hurry for bricks?"
Seeing Yang Shaofeng nod slightly, Wang Laowai tentatively asked, "Then, sir, could you wait another half a month? In just half a month, I can fire a batch of bricks, about 30,000 pieces, enough for you to build a house."
Upon hearing Wang Laowai's words, Yang Shaofeng's eyes lit up, and he asked, "One furnace? Thirty thousand?"
Old Wang nodded and replied, "Yes, 30,000 per batch. If the brick press machine that the master mentioned could be made sooner, 40,000 per batch wouldn't be a problem. Our rotary kiln can handle it all."
Yang Shaofeng was overjoyed.
What does it mean to be sleepy and then have a pillow come to you?
That’s it!
The brick press machine is a bit technically advanced, but not much. The most important thing is that someone figured out the basic principle of it. Fortunately, Yang Shaofeng, the magistrate, had seen it in his previous life. Combining this with the physics knowledge he learned in junior high school, he could roughly figure out the principle and structure of the brick press machine by guessing. As long as the carpenters try a few more times, they will be able to make this thing sooner or later.
As for the negative characteristics of brick presses being bulky and easily consuming physical strength, these problems did not exist for Magistrate Yang, because there was a shortage of livestock in the early days of the People's Republic of China, while the Ming Dynasty had no shortage of livestock, especially draft horses.
Or rather, the Ming Dynasty did not lack livestock, but it lacked oxen, mules, and donkeys, while it did not lack warhorses and draft horses.
Occasionally, when they were short of warhorses and draft horses, Xu Da and Chang Yuchun would lead their troops on a trip to the Mongol Yuan territory. Upon their return, they would not only replenish the missing warhorses and draft horses, but would even have some left over.
Therefore, Magistrate Yang didn't care about the draft horses in the county government's livestock farm at all. As long as the craftsmen could convert the human-powered brick press into an animal-powered one, Magistrate Yang would dare to bring out a few draft horses to use as donkeys.
After pondering for a while, Yang Shaofeng instructed Wang Laowai, "You guys hurry up and set up the brick kiln. I'll go check on how the brick press is going."
When Yang Shaofeng returned to the county town and arrived at the workshop where several carpenters were working, he saw a donkey blindfolded and walking in circles. In the middle of the circle was a frame made of several wooden logs. At the center of the frame, a vertical wooden stick connected two horizontal wooden sticks, and the two horizontal wooden sticks moved with the donkey's movements.
Several carpenters were huddled together discussing something when they saw Yang Shaofeng and hurriedly bowed to him, saying, "Greetings, Master."
Yang Shaofeng waved his hand, pointed at the spinning donkey and the wooden stick, and said, "You've made this mud-mixing thing?"
The lead carpenter bowed and replied, "Your Excellency, we've finished making the mud-mixing tool. We're currently figuring out how to make the brick press."
Yang Shaofeng immediately became happy.
Mixing mud during the brick-making process is also a very tiring job.
Before the advent of animal-powered methods for mixing mud, the process of mixing mud could only be carried out by people using iron shovels to stir it back and forth. The stirred mud could only be stomped on by people's feet to make it even. During the stomping process, the mud would stick tightly to people's feet due to its stickiness.
In other words, turning over mud is already tiring, but stepping on mud 10,000 times is even more tiring than walking 10,000 steps.
Now these carpenters have invented animal-powered mixing, so when mixing mud, there's no need to tread it with your feet anymore. Just add the soil and water, and the rest can be handed over to donkeys or draft horses, saving the people's energy to do other things.
For example, if these carpenters failed to develop a brick-pressing machine, then the people would have to make the bricks by breaking them and removing them from the molds.
Yang Shaofeng's mind was racing. He asked, "Any clues? How long will it take to get a brick press machine ready?"
The lead carpenter bowed and replied, "Your Excellency, we have almost finished discussing it. We estimate that we can make a brick press in another three to five days. However, whether it will work or not will depend on a few more tests."
Yang Shaofeng grunted in agreement and casually instructed the carpenters, "Do a good job and hurry up and get the brick press out. I need it."
After leaving the place where the carpenters were working, Yang Shaofeng strolled around the streets of Ningyang County.
As the weather gradually cools down, there is less and less farm work to be done, so it seems that it's time to put land reclamation on the agenda.
The two master craftsmen, Zhu Liuqi and Chen Choulu, who were brought by Wang Qiong, have now settled down in Ningyang County. Chen Choulu has already started making woodblocks, using the same materials provided by Zhu Biao, while Zhu Liuqi is waiting for the papermaking workshop.
In other words, the paper mill needs to speed up its progress.
Besides these, what else in Ningyang County needs my attention?
As Yang Shaofeng pondered this, he strolled toward the county government office. However, he hadn't gone far when he saw a group of people gathered together ahead. Occasionally, there were shouts and cries from the crowd.
Magistrate Yang Shaofeng was immediately very curious—this was Ningyang County, known for its simple and honest people. Except for the fact that the people liked to do some part-time jobs during the Yuan Dynasty, they were very harmonious under his rule. Now, someone was making a scene in the street. Could it be that someone had eaten their fill and started thinking about that kind of thing, to the point that they were harassing respectable women in broad daylight?
Having imagined a whole host of scenarios of bullies harassing respectable women, Yang Shaofeng immediately rushed into the crowd, pushing his way through while shouting, "Make way, let me see what's going on!"