Rich people in this era used charcoal for heating in winter.
Charcoal burns for a long time, is smokeless and odorless, and does not produce any toxic gases. It is the first choice for wealthy people.
Coal has been loved and hated by users since the first day it was discovered. They love it because it has powerful thermal energy, but hate it because as long as it is used, poisoning is unavoidable in the process.
Cheng Wanwan still remembered reading a story, which was the autobiography of the last emperor Puyi. When he was a child in the Forbidden City, he was poisoned by coal.
The emperor had people to serve him, and people to take care of the ventilation. They could all be poisoned, which is enough to show the uncontrollability of this thing.
Later, with the invention of briquettes, coal was finally promoted to every corner of the country.
This is not to say that briquettes are not toxic, but the probability of poisoning is relatively lower by dozens or hundreds of times. As long as it is not burned in an absolutely sealed environment, there will not be much of a problem.
"Da Shan Niang, is this really possible?" Li Zheng felt a little uneasy, "Master Yu and Master He both said that this thing will kill people if burned. I'm mainly afraid..."
Cheng Wanwan said: "You will know after you try it and make the tools first."
Fortunately, there is a blacksmith in the village. He repairs farm tools for the village every year during the off-season, which can be regarded as a living. However, this man's blacksmithing skills are only at the basic level.
He looked at the drawings given by Cheng Wanwan and expressed embarrassment: "Circular things are not easy to make, and I don't know how to..."
Briquettes are round, right? They have a round appearance and round holes. It looks quite simple, but making the mold is a bit complicated.
Cheng Wanwan had to change the drawing. It didn't matter whether it was round or square, as long as there were holes. The main reason was for ventilation and allowing the coal to burn fully.
It has a square shape with twelve square holes in the middle. It is made of scrap iron to make a briquette machine.
Although Tiejiang Zhao is not very skilled, he has great mobility. He made something in half a day. It was a strange thing. Although Tiejiang Zhao made it with his own hands, he didn’t even know what it was for. of.
Li Zheng handed the thing to Cheng Wanwan and she tried it. Although it was slightly stuck, it was not a big problem. She just needed to get used to it and it would be fine.
At this time, Zhao Anjiang and seven or eight men had already carried a lot of coal down from the mountain.
These coal blocks were piled in the yard of Cheng Wanwan's house, and were violently crushed into powder, and then mixed with an appropriate amount of loess. After mixing evenly, all the coal ash was piled into the shape of a hill, and a large pit was dug at the top to the bottom. , add appropriate amount of water to the pit, and then fill the pit with coal ash.
Wait for about a quarter of an hour until the water and coal ash are fully combined, then stir thoroughly with a tool.
However, this was Cheng Wanwan's first time making it, and he didn't have any sense of propriety. He added too much water, so he added some coal ash and continued stirring.
When the soot becomes loose when grasped and can form into a ball when pinched tightly, it is considered ready.
Then, use a briquette machine to press on the pile of coal ash, keep pressing firmly, and pedal once, a briquette is completed.
This was the first time Cheng Wanwan had seen such a strange shape of briquettes with square holes.
She said: "Make some first, I will dry them by the stove, and then try the effect."
The briquettes were formed piece by piece and placed in the yard. The gate of the yard was closed, so the villagers did not know what was being done inside.
But they knew very well that Li Zheng had people carry many black stones down from the mountain.
"The wildfire last night was caused by this kind of stone."
"How can rocks catch fire? It's so strange."
"If it can be used as firewood, then can't we make a fire to keep warm?"
“It’s much easier to pick up rocks than chop wood.”
Hearing the discussion outside, Satozheng coughed. He knew that he couldn't hide this matter and had no intention of hiding it. He walked out with his hands behind his back and closed the courtyard door.
"Everyone must be very interested in the black stone on the mountain, so I will tell you directly. This thing is called Wujin Stone. Just by hearing the name, you will know that it is a precious thing." Li Zheng looked at everyone, his voice was majestic, "Whether it is Whoever finds the Wujin Stone anywhere, even under his own bed, this thing belongs to the imperial court and no one can take it privately."
Zhang Laigui was about to retort.
Li Zheng glared at him coldly: "The reason why I took it is because our village is running out of dry firewood. If the heavy snow continues, there will be a shortage of firewood. In such a cold weather, if you don't burn firewood, you will freeze to death. For everyone's lives, My old man can only use the Wujin Stone in violation of the imperial decree. After the mountain road is opened, I will plead guilty to the county magistrate on my own."
Mrs. Zhao said with some fear: "If you use the court's things privately, will you be beheaded?"
"That's not the case." Li Zheng's voice softened a little, "The county magistrate is not such an unkind official. As long as our reasons are sufficient, it won't be a big deal. I'll say it again, no one is allowed to do anything privately. Go up the mountain to collect the black gold stone... Even if someone shamelessly steals the black gold stone, you are not allowed to burn it at home. This thing smells strong and is poisonous when burned. If you are not careful, you will die... Dashan Niang and I made the black gold stone into something else. It looks like there will be no poisonous gas when burning. Each household can receive ten pieces of briquettes a day..."
Zhang Laihai said loudly: "It's only ten yuan. It's too little. It burned down in half a day. Why do you warm yourself by the fire?"
"One piece of briquettes can burn for about half an hour. If you block the stove and provide a small air outlet, two pieces can burn all night." Li Zheng stroked his beard, "When you use it, you will know how powerful this thing is. It can be burned.”
Everyone is doubtful.
By the next day, thousands of briquettes were finally ready.
Every household takes it home and bakes it to dry. Once it is completely dry, it can be used directly. Ten pieces of coal a day are enough.
When it is useless, no one can imagine how good this thing is.
But after using it once, everyone in the village fell in love with this square briquette.
"No wonder this thing can only be used by the imperial court, it's so useful."
"Put a piece of coal in, and the water in the pot will boil in the blink of an eye. It's much easier than dry firewood."
"I specially built a clay stove and put three coals in it. It can burn all day long and it won't go out at night."
"..."
With coal, there is fire. No matter how heavy the snow is, the people in the village are not so panicked.
However, on this night of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, two figures sneaked up to the short hill in Houcun.
"This thing is valuable. Take more and hide it, and then take it to the city to sell it. Our family will become rich."
"What if someone finds out?"
"I asked you, mother-in-law, why are you so stupid?" Zhang Laihai said coldly, "The mountain is so big, let's take some home. Who knows? Even if we know, we don't know that we took it. Then we can secretly transport it." Go to Baiyun Town next door to sell it, and I'm sure no one will find out."
Mrs. Zhang nodded: "You still have a plan."
The two of them picked up two full baskets of black coal on the low mountain, and secretly returned to their home under the cover of night.
These two people are not hard-working people. They did not make special coal stoves. They were still big earth stoves for cooking. When they returned home, the fire in the stove was out and the room was freezing. They burned coal like this. , Ten yuan a day is naturally not enough, so we can only start with the raw coal we just brought back.
Granny Zhang said proudly: "The dry coal I dug from the ground can be burned without drying. Let's give it a try."
She took out the fire stick, lit a ball of hay, and then threw the raw coal in the basket into the stove, and the fire started burning.
She rubbed her hands: "It's too cold outside. Let's boil some water to warm up first."
The fire in the stove is getting bigger and bigger, and a strange smell begins to spread in the house...
