"Prosperous wealth!"
Upon hearing Song Xuan's call, Wangcai, who was playing with the deer, ran over in a hurry.
"Ouch!"
Before he could call out, Wangcai was grabbed into Song Xuan's hands and rubbed.
However, it can still be seen from the gentle whimpers that this man and the wolf are enjoying themselves very much.
After almost a month of wild growth, Wangcai is already a very lively little wolf cub. Since Song Xuan has always been taken care of, he naturally regards Song Xuan as his parent, so he and Song Xuan are very close. relative.
Of course, it also sees many people every day, so it is very close to them. No matter who in the tribe calls out, it will run over to join in the fun.
Although Wangcai still needs to drink milk, it is much less. Song Xuan has begun to try to give it some chopped meat. After all, it is only the first generation of wolves, so it is still full of wildness and the meat is very delicious.
It is estimated that Wangcai will no longer need to drink milk in a short time, and by then the pressure in Song Xuan's heart will be much less.
Under the leadership of Uncle Lu, several deer have fully integrated into the life in Tengshe. The deer's character is relatively docile, and now they are able to help Shi Yantuo with some things. The fodder that is cut back every day is packaged and directly Just put it on the deer's back.
There was no need for Shi Yan to drive him away. Uncle Lu consciously took his wife and children back to the tribe. When he arrived at the door of the house where the fodder was kept, he leaned over and the grass on his back was unloaded. Uncle Lu couldn't be more satisfied. If you take a few bites, this is considered as compensation for its transportation.
Song Xuan always felt like Teng Snake was their long-term meal ticket. Teng Snake had enough fodder to eat every day, and Shi Yan always picked their favorites. In addition to eating well, there was no need to eat here anymore. I'm worried about safety issues. Wangcai, the only one who may be a threat, is still too early to reach adulthood. Looking at Wangcai playing happily with a few fawns, he will definitely not take action against one of his own people even when he grows up.
Not to mention the accommodation, the entire shack is theirs, with ventilation all around, a roof on top, and a lot of hay, which can be said to be very comfortable.
As for what Uncle Deer needs to do is hang out with his three wives every day, Song Xuan doesn't know whether it will be successful or not. He still hopes that it can bring more deer to the tribe. After all, it is difficult to increase the number by hunting alone. It's too slow. In the past nearly a month, the hunting team only caught three sheep and four rabbits.
…………
Shitou has been firing bricks for more than a month, and finally accumulated a lot of bricks. Although the two small kilns can't burn many bricks at a time, they can still burn two to three hundred bricks at a time.
However, this is only two days. After groping for a while, I finally found the best firing time. If I want to bake the bricks, it will take at least a day and a half. It is best to simmer them like black pottery. After a period of time, the color of the burnt food was not the bright red that Song Xuan was most familiar with before, but was slightly bluish.
Anyway, as long as the bricks are strong enough, it doesn't matter what color they are, as long as they are easy to use.
At first, the stone was made into bricks entirely by hand, so they were very uneven. After Song Xuan looked at them, he felt that it would be difficult to build a relatively stable wall with such unevenly sized bricks.
So he asked Shi Ban to make several molds for him. These molds are very precious in today's Tengshe. They are all made of polished wooden boards, or wood blocks may be more appropriate.
Each wooden board is almost three centimeters thick. There is nothing that can be done about it. It took Shi Ban a lot of effort to make it.
The only tool the tribe has is a stone axe. It is difficult to use it to carve out the wood bit by bit. Even if it is chiseled, polishing is not easy. You can only use stones to carve out the uneven places bit by bit. After grinding it off, I can't get out even a few pieces from the stone slab at the end of the day. As for the thickness, I can only cut it out as thick as it needs to be. It's unrealistic to want it to be too thin.
But the day after Song Xuan brought the mold over, Shi Shi fired a pottery mold out of clay. Although it was a little heavier, after brushing it with grass and wood ash water, the glaze was smoother than the wood. a lot of.
The most important thing is that it is very simple to make. Just take a brick and use it as a mold. Although you don't dare to make it too thin, there is no problem in using it with a width that can't be reached by fingertips.
At this moment, Song Xuan didn't know what to say, but Shi Ban had already done it. If he told him that it was completely useless, the consequences for the two of them would probably not be good, so neither of them understood it. Xuan continued to use it.
After having the mold, the brick making speed is much faster, and the sizes are basically the same, with only slight differences.
After more than a month, Stone finally burned a sufficient number of bricks, which was almost six to seven thousand compared to the previous total.
The address of the new kiln, Song Xuan, has been chosen a long time ago. It is not far from the current kiln. This is also to facilitate the digging of clay, and it is also close to the river, making it easier to mix the clay.
Naturally, Song Xuan had never seen such a thing as a kiln, so he could only use what was available, put the pottery blanks in one, and protrude a part next to it as a combustion chamber.
The new kiln does not need to be too high, it is enough for one person. If it is higher, it will be a lot of trouble whether it is to put the pottery blanks or to take out the fired pottery.
As for the bricks, they still need to be bonded with clay. After they are laid, they are burned again. Basically, they are still quite strong. Although they cannot be completely integrated, they are almost there.
This time the kiln is still on a small slope. According to Song Xuan's design, the kiln body is slightly higher than the combustion chamber. It will be easier to place it on this slope like a ladder.
After all, it was the first brick structure building in the tribe, so Song Xuan still put a lot of thought into it. He and Shitou designed it for several days, trying to avoid any major flaws.
After everything is ready, the next step is to start construction.
First of all, a foundation must be dug out. The foundation will be stronger. In order to ensure that it is strong enough, the foundation alone is half a meter deep.
The first time he built something like this, Song Xuan didn't make it too big, only two meters square. If it was too big, it would waste bricks, and it would definitely be technically more difficult.
The bricks are also about the same size as later generations and can be picked up with one hand. In order to ensure that they are strong enough, all the bricks are stacked layer by layer with their narrow sides facing inward.
The bricks were covered with very sticky clay. The clay alone took several prisoners a whole morning to step on the stones to a satisfactory level. After all, if the bricks could not be glued together, then it would be the same. Failed.
After the foundation was dug, it was quickly built with a layer of clay and bricks. At first, Stone was very particular about laying the bricks evenly. Fortunately, Song Xuan quickly stopped him after seeing it.
If you do it this way, even if you build it, it won't be very strong. Of course, there is a high probability that it will fall down when you build it, so the bricks still have to be laid out of position.
In order to ensure that the built thing does not tilt, I also learned to use a rope to make a plumb, but there is a stone hanging below, maybe it would be more appropriate to call it a stone pendant.
Since the whole building was not very big, Song Xuan didn't ask anyone else to help. He and Shitou were responsible for the construction, while Shi Tao and Shi Qi were responsible for laying the foundation. A few prisoners could concentrate on kneading the mud.
The two of them each had a plumb, and they would take it out and measure it from time to time. Although it was a bit pretentious, the resulting plumb still looked very straight.
At first, the two of them were not very skilled, and it took them half a day to finish the foundation. But after they got started, they were much faster, and they had already laid more than half of the foundation by the time they took a lunch break.
Of course, the main reason was that everyone cooperated well. Shi Tao and Shi Porcelain scraped the reconciled clay of the prisoners onto the bricks. Song Xuan and Shi Shi only needed to be slightly trimmed, and then they could be placed on the already built wall.
The two of them didn't take a break after the meal, and worked non-stop to get everything done today.
Soon the two of them had built the four walls and the waist-high combustion chamber.
The next step is the most troublesome roof. The best case scenario is to make a circular vault, but with Song Xuan's skills, he really doesn't dare to try it himself, in case everything around him collapses. But it’s not a good deal.
However, there are ways to make up for poor technology. Song Xuan and Shitou adopted a step-by-step approach. After reaching the top, each layer of bricks would stick out slightly more than the one below.
After stretching out four or five bricks, the two of them were afraid that it would collapse, so they would use a pillar to temporarily support it from the bottom, and then directly pile bricks to replace the pillar.
These pillars made of bricks are not exactly the same on all sides. Every ten bricks will have two bricks with different directions from the bricks below.
Later, you only need to get a pottery plate between the two pillars, and you can place it on these baffles when firing pottery later. This can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.
Otherwise, for such a large and high kiln, it would be a bit wasteful to only put one layer at the bottom. Although Song Xuan had never seen what was inside the pottery kiln, he thought there should be similar shelves. He just combined the two. After a little fusion, the effect will depend on future use.
It extended from all sides to the top, with a width of about eighty or ninety centimeters. The two stopped. The hole left was used to get pottery from the stone.
In this way, there are two directions for taking pottery. One is to get in from the combustion chamber, and the second is to come down from the top. No matter which way you come in, it is more convenient to pass things out through the hole on the top, and it The opening is also larger than the combustion chamber.
One person lifted the object, and another person outside took it and handed it to the standing person. The combustion chamber was still too low. The place where the kiln burned charcoal was only waist high, and the width was only a little more than half a meter. Inside it was It is difficult to move and open, and some large objects are not easy to handle.
The two of them worked hard all day, until it got completely dark, and finally finished the kiln. Inside the cave, the two of them carefully pasted a thick layer of clay, and also used clay on the outside. It's blurry, trying not to have any gaps.
As for the top hole, since neither of the existing two kilns could produce such a large pottery slab, Song Xuan had several larger ones made out of stone in advance. Now, after a little bit of work, they can barely be used.
Then the fire was burned inside and out for several days until all the clay was burned firmly.
Such a large kiln naturally requires a lot of charcoal. Fortunately, Stone has already prepared several hundred kilograms of charcoal, just waiting for such a day to arrive.
Thick charcoal covered the bottom of the kiln, leaving no dead spots. It was very dry. Some pine needles were laid under the charcoal. After being ignited, it burned quickly. Through the small door of the combustion chamber, You can see the flames inside.
The two people outside naturally considered it, but they were reluctant to use the charcoal. However, they still brought a large amount of wood and piled it around. The wood was piled higher than the kiln.
The raging fire illuminated a large area, but there were still many trees around. Song Xuan was also worried that the fire would spread to other places. Although he chose thick and large wood, if the evil wind blew up at night and blew the sparks, On the surrounding grassland, the grass and woods were set on fire, but it was not good. There was a tribe not far away. Once the fire burned down, nothing would be left.
So we arranged for a few people to take turns watching at night, and even brought a lot of basins with water already in them, so they can be used directly in case of any unexpected situations.
After all, he was too close to the tribe, so Song Xuan couldn't help but be careless, and the burning lasted for two or three days, so he couldn't be careless.
Fortunately, nothing happened overnight. When I got up in the morning, the stone cleared a gap from the wood that was almost burned on the outside. Even though it was almost burned, there was still a lot of charcoal fire, and the temperature was still very high, but it would not be opened if it was not opened. There is no way, the charcoal in the kiln is basically burned at this time, and only a little is left.
I endured the high temperature and climbed up with a ladder, then poured a lot of charcoal inside, trying to keep the temperature inside the kiln very high. From the outside, it can be seen that it has hardened after being roasted by the flames all night, but in order to pursue For better results, we must continue to burn, so Stone moved a lot of wood to stand outside.
So far, the effect is quite good. Although there are a lot of gaps in the outer layer of clay, Shitou said that the inside of the kiln is okay, there are no big gaps, and of course the temperature inside the kiln is better maintained. It has a lot to do with it.
Although there is a small hole of nearly 20 centimeters left on the top, it is only for the purpose of discharging moisture and does not have a particularly big impact on the temperature inside.
In order to ensure a success, the fire burned for three full days. When the flames naturally extinguished and the entire kiln slowly cooled down, the two of them began to examine it carefully.
The two of them got into the kiln and looked carefully at the condition of the surrounding walls. Since they were pasted with a layer of clay and painted with some vegetation gray water, the entire wall looked very smooth. Although there were some cracks, most of them were relatively small. , does not affect the overall strength.
Even the ground became hard due to the heat of the flames.
"good!"
Song Xuan's evaluation of this kiln is quite high. After all, he made it bit by bit with his own hands. With this kiln, the tribe will be able to bake things on a large scale in the future. As for the brick house that Song Xuan longed for , can also be put on the agenda.
Although the overall kiln is not very big, it is also an epoch-making thing for Tengshe. Everyone can finally gradually get rid of traditional wooden houses.
It’s not that wooden houses are bad. The wooden houses in the tribe are relatively comfortable to live in. At least they can be warm in winter and cool in summer. However, the natural disadvantage of the material lies here. Even if the thatch above is covered with a layer of grass, Mud is quite unpleasant on rainy days.
The roof cannot be heated by fire, so every time it rains, part of it will be washed away. Over time, some places will no longer hold up, and leaks are common.
The next step was naturally to repair. Fortunately, the wood in the tribe was chosen to be strong enough to withstand such torment. If it were thinner, it would be directly crushed by the huge weight above.
However, the brick house is only Song Xuan's temporary idea. It will take a lot of time to actually build it. Not to mention the large amount of bricks and tiles required, and enough manpower. The tribe does not have a stock of more than half a year. , Song Xuan is still a little worried, after all, winter alone lasts for nearly four months.
The food in the tribe had been consumed by the captives before, and there were only three months left. Fortunately, it had been replenished a lot recently, and finally there was a little more. However, it was half a year before Song Xuan could feel relieved. There is still a gap of about two months.
But Song Xuan didn't want to do it now. Now that the kiln is ready, he can let the stone burn more bricks when it is free. It's better to be prepared. Prepare it in advance. When the manpower is more abundant in the fall, you won't want to see it again. trouble.
For such a kiln, the number of bricks fired every time is still quite considerable. Song Xuan made a preliminary calculation, and there is definitely no problem with one thousand, eight hundred bricks. Even if the bricks are placed well, one or two thousand bricks is not without hope.
However, with such a kiln placed outside the tribe, Song Xuan began to worry about its safety again. He was mainly afraid that enemies would come and cause damage. Fortunately, Teng She's current enemy was only the Wuyu tribe. I believe they have not been able to change from the previous one. Failure slows down.
Even so, Song Xuan decided to wait until autumn when he had some free time to expand the tribe. At least most of the buildings in the future would have to be protected by walls, and it would be easier to keep them secret by surrounding them.
The previous kiln had a circle of wood erected around it to prevent others from seeing it. Especially since many tribes had sent people over before, the most stringent targets were naturally the captives in the tribe.
The pottery produced by Teng She now is much better than that of the Wuyu Tribe. When he first captured those prisoners, Song Xuan was particularly worried that they could see some clues at a casual glance like stones, so at that time the prisoners were Walking in this direction is strictly prohibited.
But things are much better now. After the Wuyu tribe exchanged some salt for some, most of the remaining people have begun to integrate into the Tengshe. Song Xuan, most of the people here, also allowed them to reorganize their families. There will be more in the future. If you have a child or something, your worries will be even greater. By then I believe that I will be completely integrated into Teng She.
Therefore, there are currently no particularly big restrictions on the activity areas of the prisoners. As long as it is the open space around the Soaring Snake Tribe, they can move around at will. Of course, the traps around them have not been removed, so the unguarded range of activities is limited to the surroundings of the tribe. Open spaces in several directions.
However, I am still very busy at work, and I only have a little leisure time occasionally. Most of the prisoners who are left now are more sensible and usually take this time to have a good rest, even if there are some who come to the river to wash their things. , also took care to avoid the kiln area.
After the new kiln was built, Shitou's mood became better and better, and he looked cheerful every day. Although the work procedure was very fixed, digging soil and mud, making pottery blanks, and then firing, you could see that Shitou was in a good mood. Enjoy this life very much.
As for the unused bricks and stones, they were used to build a larger charcoal kiln. Although the new kiln is larger, bigger is better, and good is bigger, but it is not without its shortcomings, that is, it requires a lot of charcoal. , if you want to always maintain a very high temperature in the kiln, a large amount of charcoal will be consumed every time.
As a result, the hole dug against the hillside was no longer enough. The stone and bricks were used to nearly double the size. One charcoal stew was enough for the new kiln to be fired once or twice.
After burning a few times, Shitou came to Song Xuan again, saying that he always felt that the firepower was not very strong. Song Xuan saw that it was indeed the case. Although the combustion chamber was not too small, for the entire kiln, it was so small. The air intake volume is still a bit disappointing.
songs They made do by fanning the stone with something, which could at least make up for some of the shortcomings caused by insufficient oxygen.
It's hard to do it, but it's not realistic to ask Shitou and the others to fan themselves with a big fan every day. For such a big kiln, the wind blown in by the big fan is barely enough, but it consumes a lot of physical strength. , after all, the fan is not small, and the frequency is also very fast. Even if Shitou and the three of them take turns, it will be a bit overwhelming at the end of the day.
So as soon as he learned about this situation, Song Xuan found Shi Ban to see if he could work with him to create something that could inspire people.
The principle of the simplest wood blowing equipment is not difficult, and even in the modern era where Song Xuan lives, it can still be seen in some remote areas. The main thing is to squeeze the air in the wooden box into the kiln.
Although it sounds simple, it is not that simple to make. After all, it is very difficult to make wooden boards in the tribe. The wooden blocks used to make molds took Shiban a lot of time to grind out. Now it is necessary to grind them out. The difficulty of making a suitable large box can be imagined.
