89. Kiln modification

Cuiyun Lane in the afternoon.

A white horse slowly stopped in front of the Chen residence. Chen Wenzong dismounted with a light movement. When he landed, a servant came up to him and took the reins and whip from him.

Chen Wenzong silently lifted the hem of his clothes, stepped over the high threshold, and walked into the depths of the red gate.

A strong servant came forward with a shiny copper basin and said, "Sir, please wipe your face."

There was hot water prepared in the copper basin, and a white towel was draped over the edge of the basin.

Chen Wenzong picked up the handkerchief, dipped it in hot water, and wiped it twice from his forehead to his chin. Only then did he feel refreshed.

Chen Wenzong folded the white handkerchief and placed it back on the edge of the copper basin. He asked softly, "Where's father?"

The strong servant whispered, "After the master ordered the young servant who embezzled the money to be beaten to death, he sent someone to prepare a carriage to go to the government office. It seems that he has some official business to attend to."

"Where's Mother?"

The servant replied, "Madam has made an appointment with Madam Zhang to go to the tailor shop to select silk."

"What about filial piety?"

The servant continued, "The second young master went out with his friends, saying they were going to the East Market for a stroll."

Chen Wenzong was in a daze. A servant died in his family today, but no one in the mansion seemed to be affected and everything was normal.

"Where's the housekeeper?"

"After the housekeeper was beaten with a stick, we carried him back to the house to rest."

"I'll go see him."

Chen Wenzong walked through the long vermilion porch and came to the back house where the servants lived.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he heard the housekeeper cursing: "That little bastard has now become independent and has grown wings. He even dares to complain to the master. Please be gentle when applying the medicine."

With a loud slap, it sounded like someone in the housekeeper's room was slapped. Soon, a servant said in panic, "I'll be gentler."

Chen Wenzong frowned. The butler's tone at this moment was completely different from what he had heard in the past, as if he were two different people.

He walked forward and lifted the cotton curtain, only to see the butler lying naked on the bed, a servant applying medicine to him, and a plate of preserved fruits and cakes beside the bed.

The housekeeper, seeing Chen Wenzong coming in, immediately stood up, pulled up his trousers, and said with tears of gratitude, "Sir, why did you come to visit me in the backyard? This filthy place where the servants live is not a place for you to come."

Chen Wenzong said slowly, "Those ten blows you received were not light. You must recuperate well. I went looking for Chen Ji just now, but I couldn't bring him back."

The housekeeper said in a serious tone, "Young Master, why are you looking for him? Don't be fooled by his pretense at the moment. He is just trying to trick the master into feeling sorry for him. If you and the master just ignore him, he will find a way to return to the Chen Mansion in a few days."

"Why?"

The housekeeper vowed, "Even though he looks like he doesn't want to return home, could he really give up the splendor and wealth of the Chen Mansion?"

Yes, the Chen family has been a family of nobles for generations, and the current head of the family, Chen Luchi, is also the Minister of Revenue. How many people can let go of such a shame?

But when Chen Wenzong recalled the Chen Ji he had just seen, he clearly felt that the other party had a determined and calm expression and really wanted to sever all ties with the Chen family.

He was silent for a long time. "Butler, take good care of yourself. I'm going to read a book. Tell the kitchen staff not to prepare dinner for me tonight."

"yes."

Chen Wenzong went out, crossed the deep courtyard, returned to his room, and sat at the desk. He wanted to review the scriptures, but after flipping through a few pages, he just couldn't concentrate.

The Autumn Examination would be held the day after tomorrow. He used a black jade paperweight to smooth out the rice paper and wanted to write a policy essay. His brush was soaked in ink, but he still couldn't put pen to paper.

The princess's questioning and the joyful laughter on the ox cart kept echoing in Chen Wenzong's mind, and he couldn't calm down.

After a moment, he stood up, walked out, and said to the servant waiting at the door, "Prepare the horses."

Chen Wenzong hurried to the door, jumped on his horse, gently squeezed his legs against the horse's belly, and galloped towards the south of the city.

He wanted to sincerely apologize to Chen Ji. His younger brother was injured, but he never cared about him. As an elder brother, he was indeed ashamed of himself for the sages.

After the snow melted, the official road became muddy and rugged, and the closer it got to Liujiatun, the darker the road became, covered with coal slag that had leaked from ox carts.

Liujiatun is not as secluded as imagined. At the entrance of the village, there are merchants coming and going, and ox carts are constantly passing by. Some are pulling clay in, and some are pulling porcelain out.

There are many chimneys in the village, which continuously spew white smoke into the sky.

In the first snow, the strongmen were wearing thin clothes and leaky straw sandals, busy loading and unloading goods.

The entire Liujiatun is a huge ceramic workshop.

Chen Wenzong, riding on his horse, stopped a strongman and asked gently, "Excuse me, have you seen the prince and the princess?"

Li Bang was a little bewildered: "Why would the prince and princess come to a place like ours? Has this young master come to the wrong place?"

Chen Wenzong was silent for a moment, he also thought he had come to the wrong place.

But the traces in front of the clinic clearly said Liujiatun.

He then asked, "Did you see a group of eight people coming to Liujiatun? There was a monk among them."

Li Bang suddenly realized, "You mean them? They just bought the abandoned kiln factory of the Zhou family with a gold hairpin. It's the third one after you turn left."

"Thank you!"

Chen Wenzong threw two

A copper coin, and continued to ride forward in the mud.

Seeing that he was tall and strong, with an imposing manner, the strongmen all avoided the middle of the road.

After a few steps, he heard Chen Ji's laughter coming from afar.

"Cover your mouth and nose with cloth. If you breathe in dust, you'll be uncomfortable for a long time!"

Chen Wenzong reined in his horse and stopped at the entrance of the kiln factory. He looked down at the mud on the road after the snow melted, and the clean soap boots on his feet, and hesitated for a moment whether to dismount.

He looked up and saw that the kiln factory gate was open and the yard was filled with gray dust. Chen Ji and others were covered in dust. They covered their mouths and noses with cloth strips and pushed the huge stone mill in the yard, grinding pieces of porcelain into powder.

This was completely different from what Chen Wenzong had imagined.

He thought the prince and the princess were happily out to enjoy the snow and plum blossom viewing, but he didn't expect that they were actually working in a dilapidated kiln factory doing dirty and tiring work.

The Zhoujia Kiln Factory covers an area of ​​about two acres. On the left is a row of low loess houses with broken tiles. In the middle is a huge flat kiln, which is not lit at the moment. On the right is a mountain of defective porcelain piled up, and there is also a huge stone mill.

Liang Gou'er was lying under the eaves of the loess house, sleeping soundly with a dried tobacco leaf covering his face. The little monk was sitting cross-legged on the ground, chanting with his eyes closed. Chen Ji and others were pushing the heavy stone mill, crushing the broken porcelain into slag.

Bai Li held a short broom and kept sweeping the crushed dust into a bamboo basket for later use.

At this time, a handful of dust was raised, and Princess Baili's face was covered with a layer of dust.

The prince, who was pushing the stone mill, said distressedly, "Come quickly, I'll help you wipe your face."

Upon hearing this, Bai Li raised her little face, but the prince did not wipe her face. Instead, he wrote the word "king" on her forehead.

The prince laughed: "Now it looks more like a little tiger."

Bai Li was furious and chased after them with the broom in his hand. The two of them chased each other around the millstone, while the others pushed the huge millstone together and laughed.

Liu Quxing looked at She Dengke and said, "Can I help wipe your face too?"

She Dengke sneered: "Go away and disgust me. Don't think I don't know that you are up to no good again, you little rascal."

Chen Wenzong sat on his horse and watched silently. He didn't know why these people, covered in dust and dirt, could be so happy pushing a stone mill.

Find joy in suffering?

But why do the Crown Prince and Princess Baili, who have such noble identities, have to do these things like laborers?

After hesitating for a long time, Chen Wenzong finally jumped off the horse. When he landed, mud spots splashed on the black boots.

He did not speak rashly, but quietly walked into the kiln yard and observed silently.

But then Chen Ji said, "Okay, let's grind this far. I need to see the results before I know how to adjust it later. This time we have to be prepared for a protracted war."

His understanding of cement comes from the widely circulated secret of two grindings and one burning.

It's simple to say: just mix the raw materials obtained by calcining lime and clay in a ratio of 75:25. Although it is not as good as special cement, it is definitely enough in this era.

There are mountains of broken porcelain in the kiln factory. These are defective products discarded by the previous kiln factory and can be directly used as raw materials for fired clay.

As for hot lime, which was called chalk in the Ning Dynasty, it has long been widely used in many fields and you can just buy it ready-made.

Now that all the raw materials are available, it seems that all that’s left is to grind them and mix them.

But Chen Ji knew that just like the method of decolorizing yellow mud with sugar, many things sound simple but are difficult to do.

It is easy to make cement, but it is difficult to make qualified cement.

At this time, no one noticed Chen Wenzong's arrival, so he watched silently, wanting to see what the prince and others wanted to do.

Chen Ji poured the ground chalk ash and porcelain ash onto the open space of the kiln factory, and then added water in the same proportion, stirring the powder into a paste.

After mixing it evenly, he spread the cement on a green brick and let it dry. A group of people squatted nearby, their faces covered in dust, waiting. The prince squatted with his knees hugged, and whispered, "Chen Ji, how long do we have to wait?"

Chen Ji thought about it and decided that the initial condensation would take more than three quarters of an hour, and the final condensation would take within three hours to be considered qualified.

Three hours, so long?

Chen Ji said seriously: "Patience is necessary to accomplish great things."

"Oh, then let's play Pai Gow for a while. Are you ready for Pai Gow?"

"No, we'll bring it when we come back tomorrow."

"OK."

Bai Li smiled and said, "Although I don't know if this cement thing will be as strong as Chen Ji said after it's made, working here feels much more interesting than studying in the academy. It's very fulfilling."

Chen Ji smiled and said, "Princess, this is just a temporary novelty for you. If you were to be treated like those power sticks, you would definitely not be happy."

At this point, Bai Li suddenly became sad. "I used to like asking Xibing, Xitang and the others about the world outside the palace, wanting to see how the people lived. At the time, I only heard them talk, and I thought the people's lives were very hard. But today, seeing the uncles from Libang wearing straw sandals in winter, I realized that their suffering is beyond imagination."

After a moment of silence, Chen Ji said, "The princess and the prince are born into wealth and nobility, so they don't understand the hardships of making a living. But you are willing to understand these things, which is not easy."

The prince curled his lips and said:

It’s time to ask the mournful officials in the court to see what kind of life the people under their rule have become!”

Chen Wenzong watched this scene and suddenly interrupted from behind, "The nobles in the court also care about the country. They work tirelessly every day to formulate policies and save the people from suffering. If anyone is to blame, we can only blame the Jing Dynasty and our Ning Dynasty for the continuous wars that have led to the people's miserable lives. The Crown Prince and the Princess, the daughters of a wealthy family, should not be wasting their time in the countryside, and they should not be plotting against the nobles in the court behind their backs."

Everyone squatting on the ground turned around and looked at him: "Hey, why are you here?"

Chen Wenzong did not answer this question, but said sincerely: "Prince, Princess, you should go back and study the sage books carefully, so that you can benefit the people in the future."

The prince squatted on the ground and said carelessly: "We are doing something important in military strategy. You nerd don't understand."

Chen Wenzong's breath hitched. "How can you accomplish something so significant that it will affect military strategy in this filthy and messy Liujiatun?"

The prince laughed cheerfully and said, "You wouldn't understand even if I told you."

Chen Wenzong said in a serious tone, "How can I understand if you don't tell me?"

The prince hesitated and said, "The main reason is that I don't understand either."

Chen Wenzong murmured, "You are quite honest, my prince."

Chen Ji glanced at him from the side. "Brother, if you want to watch, just stand aside and watch. Don't talk nonsense, and don't look down on what we are doing. The ultimate goal of learning is to apply knowledge to the world and benefit the people. Empty talk will only harm the country."

When Chen Wenzong heard this, he wanted to get angry. Confucianism advocates brotherly love and respect for younger brothers, but Chen Ji didn't care about these etiquette at all and didn't take his brother seriously at all.

But when he thought of the purpose of his trip, he finally endured it.

He didn't want to be like these people in front of him, squatting on the ground and humiliating himself, so he stood aside and waited quietly, wanting to see what tricks these people would come up with.

only……

Chen Wenzong asked doubtfully, "I just heard you talking, and it seems like Chen Ji is in charge here?"

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what the problem was.

The prince thought for a moment, then asked, "What else?"

Chen Wenzong was stunned. The butler had always said that Chen Ji was servile and fawning over the prince and the princess, but now it seemed that what the butler said was totally wrong.

Bai Li pulled the prince's arm and said, "Brother, ignore him. We don't want to play with him."

Chen Wenzong: ...

I don’t know how long they waited, maybe two hours, maybe three hours. Their legs were numb from squatting, so they brought wooden chairs from the house and continued waiting.

As the sun set, Chen Ji suddenly said, "It should be OK. The initial and final setting times are both acceptable. I just don't know if it's strong enough."

The prince went over to check, and saw that the mud paste just applied on the bricks had already solidified and stuck to the blue bricks.

His eyes lit up and he looked at Chen Ji: "How long does it take for ordinary glutinous rice mortar to solidify?"

Chen Ji said: "Ten days."

The prince asked again, "If this thing can really replace glutinous rice mortar, then father won't have to worry. Chalk and clay are readily available, and many people won't have to starve because of the glutinous rice levy."

Chen Ji took the blue brick and carefully examined the cement structure. Suddenly, he said, "Don't be too happy too soon."

After saying that, he reached out and poked it lightly with his thumb, and the cement that should have been strong and solid was rubbed off like tofu dregs.

If we use this cement to build a city in the border town, it will probably collapse before Jing Dynasty attacks.

By then, the prince and Bai Li might be fine, but Chen Ji would probably be beheaded.

What's the problem?

Chen Ji likes to read popular science knowledge, so he has a wide range of knowledge.

It can be seen that having broad knowledge usually means that the knowledge is only superficial and cannot be explored in depth.

It sounds very logical when you talk about it, but when you actually do it, you have to take many detours.

Chen Ji sighed and said, "It's definitely useless now."

The prince asked, "What should we do then?"

Chen Ji pondered for a moment. "This ground porcelain powder needs to be sieved finer. Princess, take She Dengke and Brother Mao'er to the village to see if there's a finer sieve. Prince, go buy some chalk later with Brother Liu and the little monk."

Chen Ji always felt something was wrong, as if he had missed a crucial step.

Chen Wenzong looked at Chen Ji who was concentrating on thinking and felt that he was extremely devilish.

In the past, Chen Ji lived alone in a courtyard in the Chen Mansion. He ate alone, slept alone, and even the school he attended was different from the one he and Wen Xiao attended.

The mother would always prevent them from being together on the grounds that Chen Ji was naughty.

The brothers live in the same house, but they seem to live in two different worlds.

It was not until this moment that Chen Wenzong realized that he had never really understood his younger brother.

At this moment, Chen Ji suddenly looked up at the huge earthen kiln in the yard: "No, it's this kiln that's wrong. No wonder the boss was hesitant when he bought this kiln factory."

After saying this, he took out a branch and squatted on the ground to draw a gourd. "This is a rising flame kiln. The temperature cannot reach the requirements for firing cement. We need to replace it with a gourd kiln, or a steamed bun kiln, so that the rising flame can be turned into a semi-inverted flame. Prince, go and gather the strength sticks from Liujiatun."

The prince was curious: "What are you going to do?"

Chen Ji said firmly: "I want to change the kiln."

End of this chapter.