Volume 1: Farming Chapter 19 Street Fighting Artifact
Ashan and Hongye went out for a walk and picked up a... uh... a dark-skinned young man covered in mud. Xiao Yun, who was organizing the tribesmen to play games, was completely confused.
Ashan dragged a large rattan mat and Hongye put the black-skinned young man on the mat. A group of snow wolves came over to take a look. Dahe, who had a good intelligence and memory, immediately recognized the man: "This is the black panther from the cat tribe. I remember his name was... Qingyan? When our tribe passed by them, he gave us some fruits."
Hongye suddenly realized: "Yes, it's him. No wonder I felt his smell was a little familiar."
"I remember too, he can climb trees and pick berries from the top of the trees." Niu Jiao has a strong memory when it comes to food.
Black panther? Xiao Yun touched his chin. I see. No wonder the fighting power of individuals in the cat tribe varies. Cats have always had large differences in size... The black-skinned young man that Hongye brought back looked similar to him, but judging from his more mature appearance, he should not be a cat cub, but an adult.
"The cat tribe is so far away, how did he get here?"
"Oh, he's hurt, his stomach is rotten."
"Where is the patriarch? Is he asleep?"
The Snow Wolf Man also had the ability to treat common external injuries. The awakened tribe leader came to see the black-skinned young man and asked people to move him to the kang in the house. Well, everyone remembered Xiao Yun's request to bring him in with the mat, so as to prevent the dirty black-skinned young man from dirtying the kang...
Out of curiosity, Xiao Yun went forward to watch how the clan leader treated the wound, but he dodged after a few glances - it was too brutal. The clan leader actually used his claws to cut off the rotten flesh on the man's stomach. The unconscious guy was groaning in pain.
No matter how brutal it was, the person still had to be saved. Xiao Yun went to the bathroom to fetch some hot water. After the clan leader had treated the wound, he stepped forward to wipe the unconscious Hei Pi's body, to prevent his body from being too dirty and causing a secondary infection in the wound. And then...
Xiao Yun found that this guy couldn't be cleansed.
Several buckets of hot water were changed, and the sludge that was washed off was simply unbearable to look at. But compared to the snow werewolf, which at least looked white and clean after being washed, this guy's skin was really black... and it wasn't that healthy wheat color, but charcoal black.
"A man who has turned into a black panther is even more unlucky than an African?" Xiao Yun muttered, and found some rhubarb that he had saved while collecting wild vegetables. He mashed the rhubarb slices and applied them to the affected area, then used the cloth he got from Sar to make a simple bandage - plantain can be eaten but rhubarb cannot, and the snow wolves were not willing to collect this thing that they thought was useless. The rhubarb that Xiao Yun had on hand was all saved when he went collecting wild vegetables.
In online games, rhubarb is a material for hemostatic drugs. In reality, rhubarb does have the medicinal effects of purging heat, cooling blood, removing blood stasis, and detoxifying. It’s just that the powerful snow werewolves will not be easily injured, and if they are really injured, rhubarb cannot save them...so the herb rhubarb has no value to the snow werewolves.
After applying medicine and wrapping his stomach, the dark-skinned young man, who had sweated a lot, gradually relaxed his frown and fell into a deep sleep. Xiao Yun threw the dirty animal skin he took off, which was covered with countless parasites, into the big stove and burned it. He looked at the man's appearance, took out the ox horn knife, and shaved his head without saying a word... Er, cut his hair. He didn't know how many lice were hidden in his hair. Xiao Yun forced the tribesmen to cut their hair and take a bath every day to eliminate the lice in the tribe. This hard work should not be ruined by this guy.
While he was bothering the "guest", the tribesmen did not call him back. Instead, they secretly shared and ate all the beans and pine nuts that Xiao Yun had fried while he was busy... The tribe leader even secretly pocketed some.
When Xiao Yun finished his work and turned around, he saw... all the tribesmen sleeping on the kang had their butts facing him. Their cheeks were secretly moving in the dark, and the sound of them chewing beans could be heard by anyone who was not deaf.
"...Is it really okay to eat openly in front of the original owner like this?" Xiao Yun felt like his balls were bursting with pain.
The next day, Xiao Yun woke up and went to see if the guest had a fever. It was okay. These non-humans had super strong physiques. The tribe leader saved the person by shaving the rotten flesh so brutally and using his roughly processed rhubarb to stop bleeding. Not only did the person not have a fever, but he also slept soundly.
"This dark-skinned guy... Qingyan, is he going to stay in the tribe for the winter?" Xiao Yun called out to the tribe leader who was about to go out.
"If we drive him away, he will die in the snow." The chief nodded. I have to say that the simple thinking mode of the snow wolf people is quite heartwarming... They didn't even say that they disliked outsiders who would share their food.
Xiao Yun nodded: "But...will there be any trouble if I take him in? For example, if his tribe comes looking for him?"
"If he wants to return to the tribe, just let him go." The chief was surprised. "What trouble can this cause?"
Xiao Yun's eyes were dead: "...Nothing, I just think too much."
The tribe is very busy now. The tribesmen in charge of grazing have to carry back fodder in addition to looking after the pastures of cattle and sheep. The patrolling warriors also have to hunt as much as possible and let the young people process more dried meat strips to store for the winter. The wool also has to come with hair bean sprouts to ensure the tribe's daily supply of vegetables.
Xiao Yun did not have to do repetitive work like Yangmao and the others, but he also had his tasks: he planned to build another activity room with floor heating for the tribe members to play in during the winter. The existing two mud brick houses were still a bit cramped as activity space.
Floor heating is to apply the heating principle of a kang to the floor of the whole house. This requires a lot of work on the foundation and requires floor tiles with sufficient pressure and impact resistance. There are not so many rocks on the grassland for Xiao Yun to use locally, so the only way he can rely on is to burn bricks.
Brick making is a low-tech job, but no matter how low-tech it is, it still has technical content. It is not that any clay bricks can be used after being baked in the cave. It is not so easy to take it for granted. Fortunately, Xiao Yun is a common citizen who can eat and wear warm clothes in modern society. When he has nothing to do during work, he watches live broadcasts on his mobile phone to pass the time. On the magical Douyin APP, he has seen a high school student in the northwest live broadcasting a video of his hometown making bricks by traditional methods...
The mud for burning bricks is much more particular than the mud for making mud bricks. After thinking about the work plan in his mind, Xiao Yun led the coolies to carry out the preliminary preparations:
The first step is to dig a shallow rectangular pit on the river bank, pour the yellow clay dug out from the deep pit into it, stomp it with big feet and crush it basically, then pour water to soak the soil, and leave it for about five hours.
The second step is to pour two buckets of swamp mud and the ashes swept from the big stove into the mud pit, and let the tribesmen jump into the mud pit and jump around as much as they can... uh, mix the mud. This process of stepping on the mud and mixing the mud should be repeated about five to six times.
Then it was left to ferment again... uh, to wake up the soil. This would also take about five hours. Xiao Yun could do other things first, such as frying another pot of beans and pine nuts to entertain the tribe members in the evening...
After stepping on the mud for a long time, Qingcao Dahe and the others forced themselves to wash it, but they were too tired to move. Xiao Yun asked them to mix the mud more finely, just like kneading dough. Even an adult Snow Wolf would feel tired...
As for Niu Jiao, he was still digging the foundation with great effort - he had to build a large activity room of 50 square meters and install floor heating. The foundation had to be more sophisticated than the previous mud brick house. After digging the foundation, Niu Jiao had to cut the beams. In short, he was busy.
After a pot of fragrant beans and pine nuts were fried, Xiao Yun went into the house to get salt and found that the guest sleeping on the kang had woken up. He was staring at the mud brick house with horror and touching the warm kang surface with his hand in disbelief.
"You're awake." Xiao Yun put the pottery pot away and walked over to observe enthusiastically, "You look fine... Did you pass gas?"
"...Ah?" The guest didn't understand.
"Did you just fart?"
"Let him go." The guest swallowed.
"If the stomach is injured, I remember that you can eat after you pass gas." Xiao Yun nodded, uncovered the pot on the stove and took a look, then scooped up a few pieces of boiled white meat and half a bowl of soup, "If there is no porridge, use the boiled meat as a sick meal. I put bean sprouts in it to replenish it."
The guest didn't dare to take the bowl, but just stared at him blankly...
"You have come to our tribe for refuge , and the tribe agrees to take you in. Come on and eat." Xiao Yun said, "After you finish eating, get up and move around. This kang is usually not heated during the day, but it is kept heated for you. It's a bit useless."
"You... you do smell like a snow werewolf." The guest raised his hand tremblingly, "But I remember that snow werewolves are not like you... why are you so white?"
Xiao Yun: “…”Are you embarrassed that the Snow Wolf Man was dirtier than you before?
The original owner's autistic child didn't even interact with his tribesmen, so this guest from the cat tribe definitely didn't recognize him. Xiao Yun called Dahe in, and the guest immediately relaxed a lot... Although Dahe had become many shades whiter, he was still recognizable.
"Your tribe can actually build houses!" The relaxed young cat man held the broth in his hand with a look of excitement on his face, "And there are such nice pottery bowls!"
Dahe climbed onto the kang as soon as he entered the room. When he found it was warm, he called Qingcao in as well. Hearing that, Dahe tilted his neck and gave a thumbs up, imitating Xiao Yun's self-praise: "Great Qingyan, I built this room!"
"Huh, huh, huh?!" The young cat man's jaw almost dropped.
"Wait a minute, I also repaired the wall, and I laid the kang." Qingcao was unwilling to be left behind.
“Oh oh oh~~” The cat youth’s golden vertical pupils were almost turning into stars.
"Hey, can you guys focus on more important issues before you start talking nonsense..." Xiao Yun's mouth twitched, "Dahe, let's put it another way, were you the one who took the lead in stealing my beans last night?"
Taikawa immediately looked exhausted, panting with his tongue hanging out.
Qingyan, the young man from the cat tribe, then realized that Xiao Yun, a cub from the snow wolf tribe, actually had a say, and looked over in surprise.
"I mentioned earlier that the tribe agreed to take you in. After all, you won't be able to survive the winter on your own if we let you go. However, taking you in doesn't mean we'll keep you unconditionally. You're from the Cat Tribe, and we have to know why you left the tribe and ran so far before the heavy snow came, and why you came to find us on purpose. If you'll bring trouble to our tribe, then we can't take you in." Xiao Yun said with a straight face. All the tribe members were silly and didn't have much of a sense of security, so he was the only one who had to play the bad guy.
Not to mention the young cats, even Dahe who was pretending to be dead and Qingcao who was really exhausted were frightened by Xiao Yun's seriousness...
"I... aren't you willing to take in even humans?" The young cat swallowed and said weakly.
"The humans we take in won't cause any trouble for the tribe. First, they can't even harm the tribe's cubs. Second, no humans on the grassland will specifically look for them and cause any disputes or conflicts with the tribe." Xiao Yun narrowed his eyes. "But you are different. You are from the black panther tribe among the cats. You can hurt the cubs of our tribe. In the case of an attack, you may also hurt the adult tribesmen. What's more, your tribe is not too far away from us. When your tribesmen come to ask for you, if you have ulterior motives, then you will have countless excuses to cause trouble for our tribe."
The young cats were shocked, as were Dahe and Qingcao. They could understand Xiao Yun's words, which made them very unbelievable... When did the simple grassland people have such a way of thinking? Was the door to the new world opened a crack for them? !
"I hope the Snow Wolf Tribe can take me in. Of course, I won't harm any Snow Wolf people." The young cat tribe member said quickly, "As for my tribe members... they will definitely not come to find me because I was exiled by the tribe."
“Huh, huh, huh?!” Dahe and Qingcao shouted before Xiao Yun could say anything, “How could this happen? Aren’t you a warrior in the tribe?”
The young cat showed a lost expression: "Our chief fell ill shortly after you left. Huagang wanted to be the new chief and challenged the warriors in the tribe to a duel... I don't agree with the tradition of deciding the chief by dueling, but... so Huagang exiled me after he became the chief."
Dahe and Qingcao looked at each other in bewilderment and couldn't help but ask, "The strongest person may not necessarily be a good patriarch. Why don't you let the elders take the position?"
Xiao Yunte looked at Dahe with admiration. This guy who often acted cute and knew how to pretend to be tired was indeed considered intelligent among the snow werewolves.
The young cat smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Ever since the tiger tribe separated from the cat tribe, my people have firmly believed that only a strong leader can lead the tribe to survive better. But... over the years, our cat tribe has never lived better than the minotaurs with the elders and wise men as their leaders."
After hearing this, Xiao Yun almost understood where this poor young man was lost - the main ethnic group on the grassland was actually neither the tiger tribe of the royal tent nor the richest minotaurs, but the cat tribe. Even if we don't count the tiger tribe that broke away from the cat tribe, the cat tribe still accounted for more than 70% of the total population on the grassland.
Logically speaking, as the main ethnic group, the cat tribe should be the most powerful, but the actual situation is... Even the large cat tribes that occupy the lush and fertile grasslands have not developed very well... In terms of abundant supplies, they are definitely not as good as the minotaurs, and in terms of fighting ability, the snow wolves and tigers are ahead of them. Not to mention occupying a dominant position, they don't even have a say in the meetings of the various tribes in the royal tent.
This is a failed revolutionary. Xiao Yun finally found the young man more pleasing to the eye after thinking about it. As the descendant and successor of the revolutionaries, Xiao Yun had to respect those who dared to say no to the old traditions. He didn't mind that he brought a bunch of mud lice and kept him busy in the middle of the night. He nodded and said, "In that case, if you have nowhere to go, stay in our tribe. As long as you can work with our people, the Snow Wolf Tribe won't let you go hungry."
Qingyan, the young cat, nodded quickly: "I am good at climbing trees. When it is not snowing, I can always find fruits."
Except for the Tauren, most of the indigenous people on the grassland have been in a sub-healthy state due to lack of vitamins for a long time. Qingyan, who is good at climbing trees, is not wrong to use this as capital to seek shelter, but...
"If the work of our tribe can be done just by being good at climbing trees, then you are thinking too simply." Xiao Yun looked at Qingyan, who was of similar size to him, with the standard of labor force, and clicked his tongue repeatedly.
"...Huh?" Qingyan blinked, and blinked again.
Qingyan, who had a strong ability to recover, was able to get off the kang and move around around 4 or 5 in the afternoon. Xiao Yun, who estimated that it was about time to go make bricks, pinched the hard muscles of the dark-skinned young man and without saying anything, included him in the group...
On the river bank, next to a mud pit, Qingyan, with a confused look on his face, was holding the wooden frame mold handed to him by Xiao Yun, staring blankly at the snow wolves who were sweating and playing in the mud.
"No, aren't we going to work? Why are we here to play in the mud?" Qingyan was stunned as he watched Daha trying hard to press the mud into the wooden frame mold.
"We are not playing here. We are making bricks. The room you sleep in and the kang are built with this kind of mud bricks." Dahe wiped his sweat and accidentally smeared mud all over his face. "This time we are going to make stronger bricks. Slam and press the mud into the wooden frame blank mold, and stick the top and bottom with dry fine sand. Scrape off the excess mud by flattening the animal tendon, and then put it on the flat ground over there to remove the mold and dry... It's very simple, not too tiring, but a little troublesome."
Qingyan... Although Qingyan understood, he had no idea why they had to do this. However, the several Snow Wolf men present were busy sweating, and he couldn't just stand there and watch. He could only watch and learn, and try his best to do it like others... What's more, his intelligence and hands-on ability were much better than Niu Jiao's, and he got the hang of it after just a few tries.
Making bricks is a little more complicated in terms of procedures, but the technical content is on the same level as making mud bricks. It does require physical strength, but it is not a high threshold. They can catch the cubs of the snow werewolves, such as Yangmao, to do hard labor... A sickly cat youth like Qingyan can do it at a slower speed, but he gets tired easily. His waist is sore and the wound on his stomach hurts, and he almost fell down after working for only two hours.
After finally being able to rest, the somewhat scary Snow Wolf Cub (Xiao Yun) asked him to go into the dark little room (bathroom) to wash his head, hands, face and feet, and then allowed him to sit by the campfire and have dinner with other Snow Wolfs...
The snow werewolves' barbecued meat was cut into thin strips before grilling, which was more delicious and flavorful than meat grilled in chunks. There was also hot bean sprout soup to drink, and everyone could use a beautiful ceramic bowl. During the meal, Qingyan silently improved his assessment of the financial strength of the snow werewolf tribe - he thought that the cat tribe would be richer than the snow werewolves, but now it seems that he underestimated the snow werewolves (actually not).
"But... why does he use a small stick to eat?" Qing Yan peeked at Xiao Yun eating meat with chopsticks, and was very curious. "But other snow werewolves don't do this. Is this cub special?"
Taking another peek at the human Thrall who was eating quietly in the corner, Qing Yan suddenly felt relieved: "This Snow Wolf Tribe has raised this human for many years. They can even feed humans who are prone to dying. They should not dislike me."
"The bean sprouts are really delicious, even better than the food that the Tauren tribe gave to the tribe in the summer..." Qingyan quietly turned his gaze to the diligent snow wolf girl Yangmao, and his mood was a little complicated. "This bean sprout is also made by their cubs. The snow wolf cubs are so powerful, no wonder they can always be so powerful on the grassland..."
After eating the big pot meal, the Snow Wolf people did not go back to the warm house to sleep as Qingyan thought, but... surrounded the cub named Ayun, and kept shouting some inexplicable words like "this time we will definitely win"; Qingyan hadn't figured out what these Snow Wolf people were so excited about, when he saw... the cub named Ayun smilingly brought out a clay pot with a lid, set out a few clay bowls, and then threw a few beans into the clay bowls whose fragrance could be smelled from several meters away...
Then, Qingyan stared in amazement at the majestic snow wolves fighting each other in pairs, and fiercely poking the beans in the pottery bowl with thin wooden sticks in their hands...
"I succeeded, I did it! I got it!" Niu Jiao raised his slightly trembling hands, stared at the tiny beans on the tip of the chopsticks, and shouted in surprise.
"Eat it quickly. It won't count if you don't put it in your mouth." Ashan said nervously.
"No, I can't move. My arm will fall off if I bend it. I tried it by clamping stones during the day." Niu Jiao said as tears streamed down his face.
Ah Shan: "...then you should just admit defeat."
"Oh, what a pity. Niu Jiao's beans fell. This challenge failed." Xiao Yun clapped his hands. "Hey, Niu Jiao, I said it was unsuccessful. It doesn't count if you drop it on the ground and then pick it up and eat it. Anyway, Da He hasn't picked it up yet. You still have a chance of winning if you try harder now."
"How could I lose to Niu Jiao!" Da He poked the beans in the bowl even harder.
"Relax, Dahe. You won't be able to pick it up if you use too much force. Just do as I told you, pick it up gently. Use the chopsticks as your fingernails!" Qingcao was also infected and became nervous.
"I caught it again!" Niu Jiao shouted.
"It counts only after you put it in your mouth. Be careful and turn your wrist slowly... Oops, it fell again!" Xiao Yun slapped his thigh.
On the other side, the tribe leader who was also fighting shouted anxiously: "Clip the wool slower!"
"I've eaten two, Chief, I'm sure to win this time~" Yangmao said proudly.
Qingyan watched for a long time before he realized that the snow wolves were playing a game of using sticks to pick up beans to eat. He was stunned and then did not know whether to laugh or cry, but he could not help but feel a little envious. The tribe he was born in was a large tribe among the cats, with more than 300 people living together. The bonfire burning when distributing dinner every night could be seen from far away from the tribe - a large population and abundant food were the symbols of the prosperity of the tribe, and Qingyan had been very proud of this for decades.
The population of this Snow Wolf tribe is only one tenth of his tribe, and the bonfire at dinner can't even illuminate the entire tribe camp, but... the lively atmosphere of this Snow Wolf tribe is also incomparable to his tribe. The people here don't seem to care about the heavy pressure of survival. Before the heavy snow comes, when each tribe is working hard to prepare supplies for the winter, these Snow Wolf people can still relax and play this meaningless little game, not afraid of the coming long winter.
As he was thinking, Qingyan couldn't help but cast his eyes towards the warm house where he had slept for a night. That kind of house was really magical. He didn't feel any cold at all during the night he spent in it. The biting night wind on the grassland couldn't penetrate the thick walls at all. Even if he was injured or weak, the warm "kang" could keep his body warm.
"They are not afraid of snow because they can build houses like this." Qing Yan sighed secretly, "If my tribe can also have houses like this... then this winter, no one will freeze to death, and no one will fall asleep and never wake up again..." He subconsciously turned his gaze to the river and the green grass, "Will they be willing to teach my people how to build houses? If the cat tribe gives them a lot of prey and fur, they may be willing..."
"What on earth was I thinking about? I've been exiled." Qing Yan realized that what he was thinking was useless, and smiled bitterly again. Not to mention asking the Snow Wolf to guide the tribe to build a house, he couldn't go back at all... Exiled people were not allowed to return to the tribe. This was an unwritten rule on the grassland. If he ran back, he would have nothing to complain about even if he was killed by Huagang.
On the second night after being taken in by the Snow Wolf Tribe, Qingyan slept on the warm kang like the Snow Wolf Tribe, but...he, who used to be able to sleep soundly in the cold tent, stayed awake all night this time.
The next morning, the Snow Wolf tribe was busy from early in the morning just like the Cat tribe. Everyone had their own work to do and no one could be idle. Qingyan got up and took a bowl of bean sprout and meat soup that was heated on the big stove at the head of the kang like the other Snow Wolf people. After drinking it, he consciously went to find one of the little "leaders" who arranged work in the tribe, the cub Ayun.
In the cat tribe, cubs are often only responsible for the simplest repetitive work, but in the snow wolf tribe it is different. In addition to their daily work, Yangmao and others are also responsible for sprouting bean sprouts and preparing food. The cub Ayun is leading the tribe to do things before he reaches adulthood. This is the rule of the snow wolf people. Although Qingyan, as a person who was taken in, found it strange, he did not question it out loud.
“Today, we are going to build a brick kiln.”
The cub Ayun included Qingyan in his labor force without any hesitation. After everyone gathered, he took everyone to the earthen kiln and pointed to the small mound of earth that Qingyan could not recognize. He said, "This old kiln does not need to be demolished. It can be used again when it is free in the future. We are going to build a big earthen kiln next to it to burn bricks, and we will build it here. Niujiao, Qingyan and I will move the bricks. Qingcao and Dahe, you two go and pick up the swamp silt. Put it here, and then mix the earth cement. The method is the same as when we built the house and the kiln before."
Since ceramics can be fired, firing bricks is not a big problem (the temperature required to fire red bricks is lower than that of pottery, about 900 to 1100 degrees is enough). It’s just that the original earth kiln was not big enough - the floor must be paved with fired bricks, and compared with the demand, the original earth kiln was too small.
Carrying bricks means moving the mud bricks that were dried on the river bank and made by the tribe leader and Niu Jiao. This job is pure hard labor, which Qingyan understands very well. But when it comes to stacking bricks, Qingyan's claws are numb... He stared blankly at the three cubs Ayun, Qingcao, and Dahe, who scooped up mud with wooden boards and stacked mud bricks one by one. To him, this behavior is like reading a book in heaven...
"Qingyan, don't just watch. Come and learn how to lay bricks." The cub Ayun waved at him. "Look, just lay them like this, with soil and cement on both sides, one brick at a time. The upper and lower bricks should be staggered, and they should be laid in a ring with an arc... The hands of the cat people should be more dexterous than those of the snow wolf people. You should be able to learn it."
Qingyan is indeed more skillful than the Snow Wolf Man. Xiao Yun will be able to do it after teaching him... After all, he is a cat who is good at climbing trees! The difference between him and a stupid big guy like the Snow Wolf Man is quite obvious.
After hesitantly laying two circles of bricks, Qingyan suddenly realized, "Wait, is this how a house is built? Use mud bricks and earth cement to lay it up in circles?"
"Yes, but the earthen kiln is to be built in the shape of a mound or a hill, so the surface should be built with an inward arc and the top should be sealed. If you build a house, the walls should be built in straight lines, and stones should be dropped from the top with animal tendons, and the animal tendons should be attached to the walls. Only in this way can straight walls not easily collapse." The cub Ayun nodded as a matter of course, "We are going to build a larger mobile house later, and you can see the difference then."
"..." Qingyan opened his mouth silently. Wait a minute, isn't building a house an important knowledge for snow werewolves? He didn't exchange the fur of his prey for it. Is it really okay to teach him like this?
Xiao Yun couldn't care about saving the worldview of the young cats. He had many headaches. The brick kiln was much larger than the earthen kiln for firing pottery. The combustion was carried out inside. In other words, it was not enough to build a closed earthen bag. A T-shaped fire channel had to be left inside. The combustion was carried out inside the kiln. This was the difference between the brick kiln he was going to build and the old earthen kiln.
A T-shaped fire channel with long ends and a short middle should be built inside the brick kiln. Combustion takes place in the middle fire channel, and the heat is then transferred from the two long ends to the place where the bricks are placed in the entire brick kiln for heating. When placing the bricks, the middle fire channel is left out to form a pattern that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom so that fuel can be fed into it for combustion. Fire holes that act as chimneys should be evenly left on the kiln wall... The technical content of a brick kiln is much higher than that of an earthen kiln for firing pottery. Xiao Yun has no idea how many brain cells he has lost in order to burn usable bricks in one go.
The dome brick kiln, which was two meters high and more than three meters in diameter, was built. Not only did the three assistants Qingcao, Dahe and Qingyan all lie down, but Xiao Yun was also so tired that he fell to the ground... The physical consumption was not a big deal, but the consumption of brain cells could not be replenished without eating half a pound of meat.
The brick kiln cannot be used immediately after it is built, and the bricks made the day before need to be left in the sun for a few more days before they can be fired. Next, Xiao Yun began to prepare the fuel for firing bricks - he had nowhere to find coal, and the brick kiln, which took too long to fire, must store more long-lasting fuel. Pine branches rich in pine oil and resin are undoubtedly the best firewood.
So they called on Niu Jiao, who was working hard to dig the foundation, and led a group of coolies to the primitive jungle... There was no need to cut down trees, just pick up the pine branches that had fallen naturally over the years, tie them up and drag them back to the tribe in bundles.
When they reached the outskirts of the jungle, Qingyan suddenly became active, jumping up and down... and brought two leather bags of pine cones to Xiao Yun. There was no other way, in this weather, there couldn't be any wild fruits on the branches.
After running six or seven times in two days and dragging back a mountain of pine branches, Xiao Yun checked the dried bricks and decided to... start burning bricks.
Stacking bricks in the brick kiln is also a technical job. Besides Qingcao, Qingyan is the only one who can do it after learning it quickly. As for Dahe, who is supposed to be very smart... she still needs to spend more time to understand why bricks need to leave gaps for the fire, and why bricks cannot be placed in some places... So being smart is not always a good thing. Qingcao just does what he knows, but she likes to think about the reasons.
Well... Actually, Xiao Yun himself didn't dare to say that the way he chose to place the bricks was correct, because the traditional method of brick firing, how to place the bricks, and how to leave gaps for firing are all technical skills that require professional quality. If you want to burn the blue bricks that the ancients loved to use, there is also a trick of using steam to cool down... But anyway, as long as he can burn red bricks, everything will be fine. There are enough bricks to fill the brick kiln, and as long as he burns half of the finished products, it will be more than enough...
After the bricks are assembled and fired, unlike pottery firing, the firepower of the brick kiln can be observed intuitively: the lower part of the T-shaped fire channel is left empty, and after the fuel is fed in and starts to burn, the fire holes left by the placed bricks can also be used to see whether the flames have burned throughout the entire kiln and the firepower is uneven. After all, brick firing does not require high temperatures and emphasizes sealing like pottery firing. Experienced masters observe whether the fire is sufficient with their naked eyes.
Seeing the red burning scene in the cave from the fire channel and the crater on the kiln wall, Xiao Yun was fine, but everyone else was amazed... This was also the shocking part of the old-fashioned brick-making technology. Even modern people who are well-informed would take out their phones to take pictures when they saw the burning situation in this ancient brick kiln...
For the big pot meal that night, the tribesmen did not light a bonfire, but ate around the brick kiln... One reason was to save fuel, and the other was to see if it was rare. Anyway, the heat from the brick kiln would overflow, so it was warm to sit there.
The fire in the brick kiln continued to burn all night. During this process, Xiao Yun stayed almost closely together, carefully observing the shapes of the bricks that could be seen at the fire outlet. He did not have the experience of a master brick-maker, so he could only observe with his own eyes. Anyway, he did not understand any water cooling or steam cooling technology, and he did not need to burn blue bricks that were worth appreciating. As long as he could make red bricks that were not deformed and could be used, it would be fine.
The ancients would bake bricks at a low temperature (800 degrees or below) for three days. Xiao Yun felt that his brick kiln could never be heated below 900 degrees (he used the clay molded in boredom to calcine it, and the speed at which the thinner clay molds were cured was used as a reference). After baking for a day and a night, Xiao Yun stopped feeding fuel and let the kiln cool down naturally.
After another half day of waiting, the bricks were taken out of the kiln after they were no longer hot. As the saying goes, whether you can succeed after mastering the skills depends on fate. At this point, Xiao Yun didn't talk about being nervous or not. He went in and moved the bricks calmly... The bricks he moved out were still warm, reddish, rough, and dense - they were truly a standard modern street fighting artifact and an invincible brick!
