At first, Song Xuan was worried that the entire cellar would get wet if he did this, but then he thought about it, anyway, he still had to do a few waterproofing and moisture-proof work in the later stage. It would not take long for this little moisture to dry it out.
"Angel, is it necessary to dig so deep?"
"It's necessary, of course it's necessary!"
It took two days of digging to dig the two-meter-square hole to a depth of more than one meter. Shi Meng now has a headache when he sees the soil.
The deeper you dig below, the less buildings on the ground need to be exposed.
It took three days for everyone to dig the entire cave to the depth Song Xuan wanted, which was almost as deep as one person.
Digging out the cave is just the simplest step, but it is also the first step. A lot of work is required in the follow-up. The first step is to dry out the entire cave due to the water splashed during the excavation.
This is quite simple, just light a few pots of charcoal fire in the center of the cave.
Next is the most important moisture-proofing work.
Although the excavated soil is very dry, it is difficult to say when it comes to the rainy season or winter.
Especially after it is filled with rice, there are no layers of soil to block it. Only the things designed by Song Xuan can block the water vapor.
The first thing is to smooth the soil around the cave. In addition, Song Xuan also asked the stone to move a lot of clay. The clay was pasted around and smoothed, and then two consecutive The sky is scorching.
The underground cave can also serve as a brick kiln. Except that the top cannot be sealed tightly, the effect is worse than the brick kiln that Teng She worked hard to build. In the beginning, Teng She's kiln was also dug from the hillside.
Around here, Song Xuan had the stones painted with several layers of grass and wood ash water. Although the effect after being fired was not as good as the pottery in the brick kiln, most of them still had that layer, but there were still many cracks. Even so, this could still deal with the humidity. Qi has a very good blocking effect. As for the parts that are not done well, we can only rely on the next steps.
Before doing this, Song Xuan first used some bricks to surround the brick wall with a height of more than half a meter according to the size of the area. Above, Song Xuan was going to let the stone burn several larger ceramic plates and splice them into a lid, and then put it up It is a traditional wooden straw shed.
These stones and stone slabs have already been prepared, and they can be erected directly as soon as they are completed here.
Since it is already in the house, the rainwater above will definitely not have much impact, but even so, there is definitely no harm in adding a few more layers.
Next is the multiple moisture-proof mats carefully designed by Song Xuan.
The bottom layer was a thick layer of plant ash, five or six centimeters thick, and a fence was built around it with bamboo.
The fence this time was different from the ones the tribe had made before. They were all lined up with bamboo boards three to four centimeters wide. It could be said that there were not many gaps in the middle. The distance between the fence and the surrounding sides was only five or six centimeters. The gaps naturally need to be filled with thick plant ash.
In addition to its powerful moisture-proof function, plant ash can also clearly detect moisture, such as in this season, if it is in a humid place. The plant ash clumps together quickly, and you don't even need to touch it. You can tell whether there is moisture in it by just looking at it.
If water vapor wants to come in, it must first pass this level. I believe that as long as water is not poured directly on it, most of the moisture will definitely be blocked.
Next is the woven thatch mat. Song Xuan still prefers straw in his imagination. The main thing is straw, which is relatively easier to obtain. He brought it back when harvesting rice.
But at this time, there was no such thing among the tribe. Almost all the straw from the few acres of land last year rotted in the ground, and the rest was burned into fertilizer by Song Xuan.
Now we can only use thatch, but the functions are similar, and this cellar is only an experiment now, mainly to observe its moisture-proof ability.
Song Xuan could only ask everyone to dig when there were more winter people in the tribe. Now that the rain had passed and the sky had cleared up, Shi Meng and the others naturally ran out again.
Fortunately, the next steps do not require too many people. Song Xuan can just call them and the two of them can get busy.
With this layer of thatch mat, the entire cellar has basically been formed, and then the next step is to wait for the stone flower hides.
Song Xuan asked Stone Flower to splice several large pieces of animal skin out. When the time comes, hang one piece on each side and lay another piece underneath.
Rice can be poured directly into a large package surrounded by animal skins. Animal skins also have very strong moisture-proof capabilities. As long as the package is properly wrapped, even if it rains, the contents inside will not get wet even if you walk around outside.
Therefore, Song Xuan's request for the stone flower is that the stitches should be as fine as possible. Of course, no matter how fine they are, they are needles polished from animal bones. The thinnest needle among the tribe is far better than what Song Xuan has seen before. The thickest ones are even thicker.
The bone needles in the tribe are comparable to the fine needles used to make sweaters in later generations.
But even with such a tool, the needle holes in the animal skin Shihua handed to Song Xuan were not obvious, and the distance between each needle hole was only about half a centimeter.
You can still see the level of stone flowers.
Of course, this was also due to the fact that Song Xuan specially approved some thin threads made of hemp for him. It would be difficult to achieve this effect if he had to use animal skin rope or other threads.
In addition to the importance of the cellar, the most important reason is naturally that the hemp in the tribe can be harvested and utilized soon.
If you don't save the seeds, you don't have to wait until they are completely withered before harvesting. How long will it take? The hemp should have reached the point where it can be used. There will be no shortage in the tribe by then, so there is no need to dig too much now, except In addition to keeping enough for making arrows, the little inventory in the tribe can be used elsewhere if absolutely necessary.
Of course, there is not much inventory in the tribe. Just a few large pieces of animal skins like Shi Hua Seam have already used up a quarter.
Song Xuan estimated that most of them would still be used for sewing clothes, otherwise it might not be enough just for casual use.
After the things in the crypt were completed, Shi Ban and Shi Shi's work had been completed.
Although the brick kiln could not bake a whole piece of this size, the stone still fired six rectangular ceramic plates, and the two pieces could be put together into one whole piece without even needing to be supported by anything in between.
The more complete the pottery board, the stronger the moisture resistance. Song Xuan told him when the stone was made, so the stone was also carefully designed. The two pottery boards in the middle are different from the ones on both sides, except that they are much wider. In addition, there are a lot of gaps on both sides of it, which can just fit the ceramic plates on both sides underneath, so that there is almost no obvious gap between the six ceramic plates.
Song Xuan also had the stones put together and tested. Even after pouring several basins of water on it, not a drop of water leaked from the pottery board.
The waterproof effect is quite good. With these ceramic plates, plus the animal skins and the ceiling above, the effect will not be much worse than the set below.
There isn't much rice left in the tribe now, and most of the remaining rice is reserved for planting. You can't just put it in to see if it will get damp. That would be too risky, but it's okay. It was not impossible, so Song Xuan directly filled a pottery basin with some plant ash and piled it inside.
The upper animal skin cover is made of wood to build a shelf, or it can be directly covered on the shelf.
Further up are the pottery boards and the roof. Since they are all made strictly according to the size during production, they can be said to fit perfectly after being put up, except for the roof on the top.
The roof of the shed extends around the perimeter, with a section of about 20 centimeters. The shed and pottery panels are filled with animal skins and thatch to try not to leave too big a gap.
Next, it depends on whether there will be too much moisture in the cellar during this rainy season. In order to make it more difficult, Song Xuan also put several basins of water in it to increase the moisture in the house.
Even the ventilation holes and doors have been sealed. It can be said that the moisture inside will only get bigger and bigger. It is not that easy to escape. Song Xuan will sprinkle it on the ground every two days. some water.
The effect is quite obvious. At least once you open the door, you can clearly feel that the inside of the house is much stuffier than the outside. Especially now that the weather is hot, the inside is stuffy and hot, almost like a steamer at noon.
Song Xuan also knew that this condition was naturally a bit harsh. Under normal circumstances, the tribe would try to keep the house as dry as possible.
Even if we light a few fires in the house during the rainy season when the humidity is relatively high, the moisture will be quickly drained out. But the stricter the conditions now, the easier it will be for the tribe to preserve these grains in the future.
Although if the goods are successfully received this year, the output will definitely be high, but there is still a long way to go before Song Xuan completely regards it as a staple food.
If we calculate it based on one kilogram of rice per person per day, it will definitely not be enough if the tribe does not have 80,000 to 90,000 kilograms of rice, but the children will definitely not be able to eat so much. In winter, they will definitely eat less, but even if it is repeated To save, 40,000 to 50,000 jins are definitely needed.
This is only calculated based on Teng She's current manpower.
Ten thousand to twenty thousand kilograms of rice can be managed more carefully, but if there are too many, it may be ignored at some point. If the cellar itself is not strong enough, the impact it will have is very heavy. Song Xuan can't even imagine this. How serious the consequences are.
In particular, the tribe must be like now, always saving about half a year's worth of food. After the meat is pickled, it will not affect the slimness. As long as it is not spoiled, it can be eaten out in the sun, but rice is different. It will get wet. If it is more serious, it will be completely inedible, not to mention that it will sometimes sprout or something.
Therefore, if the requirements are stricter, no mistakes will be made, and even after all this trouble, not much manpower is actually used, and the largest part is used for excavation.
With enough manpower, the digging speed will not be too slow. This time, it was mainly because Song Xuan made everyone dig hard in the first half and wasted too much time.
