dognovel Chapter 117 Because I'm Lazy Enough
Chapter 117 Because I'm Lazy Enough
Brick making has very strict requirements for soil quality: First, a place with few stones, shrubs, or even trees must be selected as the soil field. Then, the top half-meter layer of soil must be removed to select clay that is free of sand, stones, and other impurities.
"When making tiles from clay, dig more than two feet into the ground and choose a sand-free clay base for construction."
After selecting the soil, dig it out, soak it in water, and then use a shovel to mix it into a mud that is neither too soft nor too hard.
If the mud is too hard, it is easy to cause chipped edges and corners when the brick is thrown into the mortar; if the mud is too soft, the brick cannot be formed.
After the mud is mixed, the next step is to pound it into a clay shape.
When shaping the bricks, a wooden hopper is used. Generally, one hopper contains three brick molds. The inner diameter of the brick mold is two inches high, four inches wide, and eight inches long.
Before slamming the bricks, a layer of sand is sprinkled inside the brick mold to prevent the bricks from sticking to it. Then, the mixed mud is scooped out by hand into brick-sized pieces and forcefully slammed into the mold. Next, a small bow made of wire is used to quickly scrape along the top edge of the mold, and the scraped mud is thrown into a nearby mud pile to avoid waste.
After the initial shaping, the brick mold is taken to a flat area where sand has been spread, and it is firmly inverted onto the ground. Then, the mold is gently lifted up. At this point, the brick is considered complete.
Under normal circumstances, two experienced craftsmen working together can produce about three hundred brick blanks a day, while inexperienced craftsmen can only produce about two hundred brick blanks a day at most.
Moreover, the freshly made brick blanks cannot be sent directly to the kiln for firing. They must be dried until they are half-dry, then shaped with wooden boards. Only after they are about 80% dry can they be sent to air dry in the shade, waiting to be loaded into the kiln.
The entire clay-making process includes mixing clay, shoveling clay, digging clay, kneading clay, loading clay into a bucket, shoveling clay into a bucket, cutting, closing the bucket, pulling out the clay, finishing the clay, picking up the clay, transporting the clay, and placing it on a shelf, which involves about a dozen steps.
After giving a brief explanation of the brick-making process, Wang Laowai said with a touch of sadness, "If it were just physical labor, it would be fine, but when making bricks, you have to bend over and squat, and you can't even straighten your back."
"After a whole day, your body, face, and even your nose will be covered in mud. And if you work for a few months, the craftsman's hands will become cracked and calloused as hard as stone. Many people will suffer from back and leg injuries, and their finger joints will become thick and large."
Old Wang sighed slightly and continued, "Once the dried brick blanks are enough for one kiln, they can be sent into the kiln to start firing. Once the fire is lit, it will take about a month from start to finish. In the meantime, we not only have to add firewood to the kiln, but also water it. If we don't water it, it will be fired into red bricks. If we don't water it properly, it will be fired into patterned bricks."
“If it’s a small kiln, like the lime kiln in the east of the city, it can only fire about a thousand bricks in one kiln. If it’s a large kiln, it can fire about ten or twenty thousand bricks in one kiln.”
"The kiln that we started this time in Ningyang County can fire about 20,000 bricks at a time."
"Also, you have to keep an eye on the weather when making the bricks. You definitely can't make bricks when it's cloudy or rainy, and you can't make bricks when it's cloudy for a long time either, otherwise the bricks won't dry, and it will delay things in the end."
"..."
After Wang Laowai finished explaining the general process of making and firing bricks, Yang Shaofeng was completely numb.
Well, two able-bodied men can make two hundred brick blanks a day, which is about six thousand a month?
In other words, it would take at least eight able-bodied men working continuously for a whole month to prepare enough bricks for a kiln.
No, absolutely not.
If things continue like this, we might not even be able to fire a single batch of bricks next year.
After pondering it over, Yang Shaofeng decided to change the method of mixing mud by manpower to animal power.
What's so difficult about this? Just build a pool out of cement, put a frame on top of the pool, and put a bearing or something in the middle of the frame to connect the two stirring sticks below. Then you can use a donkey to pull the stirring sticks like a millstone.
As for the act of "throwing clay into a mold"... Yang Shaofeng didn't know how it was done, but when it came to filling a mold with clay and then removing it from the mold, Magistrate Yang was definitely qualified to speak on the subject.
When he was a child, Magistrate Yang visited a brick kiln and saw a brick press. That thing was basically used to fix the mixed mud, and then the brick press could cut the mud into perfectly sized brick blanks.
Although this type of manual brick press still has various drawbacks, such as being physically demanding and causing workers to get tired easily, compared to making brick blanks by hand, the manual brick press is undoubtedly a cutting-edge technology.
But looking back further, Yang Shaofeng sadly realized that he couldn't remember the structure of the brick press at all, and even if he wanted to imitate it, he didn't know where to start.
After racking his brains for a while, Yang Shaofeng simply sent someone to call the carpenter over, and then began to gesture with his hands.
"I need something like this. Put the mixed mud on it, and as long as you push the wooden board or anything else here, it can compress the mud into a long brick."
“A thin wire needs to be installed here. As long as it is pressed down, the long brick blank can be cut into smaller brick blanks.”
"It would be best if this tool for squeezing mud could also be pulled by a donkey, so that people wouldn't get tired from pressing it down."
"Try to use wood to make it. It doesn't matter if it's a bit heavy, as long as it's sturdy and durable, and can save people as much effort as possible and make the most of animal power."
"..."
Listening to Magistrate Yang repeatedly stating his needs, while the carpenters and Wang Laowai occasionally asked questions, and nodding in agreement after Magistrate Yang provided a brief explanation, Wang Qiong was utterly astonished.
So, can the demands raised by Magistrate Yang really be met?
Why didn't anyone think of this earlier?
After the carpenters took their leave of Magistrate Yang, Wang Qiong bowed to him with admiration, saying, "Brother Yang, your ideas are truly ingenious. I admire you greatly, but I wonder how you came up with these thoughts?"
With the brick press problem solved, Yang Shaofeng was in a great mood. He laughed and said, "The reason I was able to think of these things is because I'm lazy enough."
After making a small joke, Yang Shaofeng said seriously, "Actually, there's nothing we can do about it. There are too few people in Ningyang County, and there simply aren't enough people to make brick blanks."
"If we don't find a way to replace human labor with animal power, it may take more than three months to fire the first batch of bricks."
"But winter is just around the corner, and we can't make bricks in winter, so won't we have to wait until next year?"
Yang Shaofeng sighed softly and said, "I can hold out until next year, and the people of Ningyang County can also hold out until next year, but what about the people who have been relocated? Even if no people have been relocated, what about the criminals who have been exiled? Ningyang County's prison can't hold five hundred people!"