77 Chapter 77
◎Quarry◎
"Fugui, go see what's happening outside and why it's so noisy?" Huang Desheng, who was sitting in the hall, frowned and whispered impatiently.
Ever since his only son was exiled, he has been haunted by nightmares and unable to sleep at night.
Every time when he closed his eyes, he would see his beloved son, who used to be a healthy and happy boy, in his dreams, skinny as a skeleton, dragging a lame leg, crying to him with tears and blood in his eyes. Every time he saw such a tragic scene, Huang Desheng would wake up from his dream in fear, and then he would not be able to sleep at night because he was too worried about his only son who was thousands of miles away.
If this happens repeatedly, one will inevitably become exhausted and look visibly older.
After lunch today, he wanted to take a short rest on the couch, but as soon as he lay down, he heard a noisy sound outside, so he impatiently sent someone to check it out.
The servant came back quickly and reported: "My lord, the county government wants to build a public-private partnership workshop and is now posting notices to recruit people. All the villagers nearby have signed up, so there is some noise."
"That guy again!" When Huang Desheng mentioned Jiang Jingyun's name, he wanted to eat his flesh and bones. He stared at the servant with a sinister look, "Have you found out what workshop it is?"
"No...never." The servant lowered his head.
"Why don't you go quickly? Stand here and wait for me to treat you!" Along with the scolding, a teacup filled with hot water flew over.
For fear of angering his master again, the servant did not dare to dodge. He knelt on the ground and took the hit before slowly backing away.
The atmosphere in the Huang Mansion was gloomy and depressing, but at the county government office it was lively and festive.
Three days ago, with Jiang Jingyun's promise, Jiang's second brother took out all his savings accumulated over the years and joined forces with him to start a cement workshop in Fu County.
As soon as the workshop address was chosen, we started recruiting people.
"Come on, come on, don't squeeze, line up in order, and come forward one by one." Jiang Jinglin stood in front and shouted loudly, "First of all, the workshop is looking for three to five people who can make bricks and tiles. Those who are good at this, please step forward first."
After looking left and right in the crowd for a while, three people finally stood out.
Jiang Jinglin took a look and thought, well, there's no need to choose. He pointed at his third brother and said, "You three, go over there and register your names."
The three of them didn't even ask how much they would be paid, and just went away happily.
Seeing this, Jiang Jinglin turned around and continued to shout: "Now, recruit fifteen to twenty people who are good at building roads, bridges or houses. Anyone who has experience in any of these, please come forward."
There seemed to be more people attending the meeting this time. As soon as he finished speaking, thirty or forty people stood up one after another.
In order to prevent someone from mixing in and filling in the numbers, Jiang Jinglin asked carefully one by one, and then picked out twenty people who were either experienced or young and strong, and sent them to Jiang Jingfeng for registration.
Afterwards, he selected about a hundred young and strong men as laborers before announcing the end of today's recruitment.
As the sky gradually darkened, the people gathered in front of the government office were still reluctant to leave. Jiang Jinglin had to come out again to appease everyone, saying, "Today's recruitment has ended. We may recruit more people depending on the situation of the workshop. Please pay attention to the announcement of the county government and come back when the time comes. Let's go back today."
Hearing that there would be opportunities later, those who were not selected left reluctantly.
Seeing the crowd disperse, the two brothers breathed a sigh of relief and dragged their tired bodies back home.
As soon as he entered the house, Jiang Jinglin, who had been mature and steady outside, took off his disguise and revealed his true self. He shouted in a hoarse voice: "Brother, we are back! I am so tired and my throat hurts. I want to drink rock sugar and snow pear soup!"
"Go to the kitchen and let Songhua make it for you." Jiang Jingyun said without raising his head.
"No, I want to drink your stew!" Jiang Jinglin was still brooding over the last time his elder brother ignored him. He tried to arouse the brotherhood that Jiang Jingyun had completely forgotten by acting like a spoiled child.
"If you don't want to drink, forget it." Jiang Jingyun said coldly. He had a lot of things to do, so how could he have time to stew rock sugar and snow pears? "You are so old, but you are complaining after doing a little work. You are not as good as your younger brothers and sisters."
"Third brother is also very tired, he looks listless." Jiang Jinglin pointed at his third brother and protested, but he found that the person who was standing behind him just now had spontaneously walked towards the kitchen. He hurriedly followed him and said, "Wait for me, eldest brother is too much, and you don't help him."
"I'm used to it," Jiang Jingfeng said weakly, "There will be a lot of days like this in the future, you should adapt to it as soon as possible." He had regretted more than once that he did not stay in the official school to study, but chose to come to Fu County.
When it comes to exploiting his own family, the eldest brother is even worse than those slaves who have signed indentures, but Jiang Jingfeng can't win the argument. Every time he refutes him, there are a bunch of big truths waiting for him. After several failures, Jiang Jingfeng accepted his fate.
In Jiang Jingyun's words, he has successfully transformed into a qualified ox and horse: willing to work hard and be at the disposal of others.
"Alas," Jiang Jingfeng sighed, "My life is miserable."
"Is it that serious?" Jiang Jinglin hesitated.
The third brother said nothing, but just nodded in agreement.
"Hiss," Jiang Jinglin took a breath, "No one is taking care of him?"
"Who cares? Who can do anything about it?" I don't know who has allowed the eldest brother to be like this?
Jiang Jingfeng asked himself, it seems that everyone in the Jiang family has a responsibility, "Oh, forget it, the eldest brother is also very hard-working, we as younger brothers should help share the burden."
Jiang Jinglin nodded in agreement.
A mature younger brother should learn to comfort himself.
By dinner time, the two of them had successfully coaxed themselves into a good mood and came to eat happily. Even when they were told that they had a lot of things to do the next day, they agreed with a smile. This made Jiang Jingyun doubt himself a little, wondering if he had exploited his two younger brothers too much recently and had exhausted them.
But he had no choice. There were just too many things to do and not enough people to spare.
So, the next morning, all members of the Jiang family went out to do the work.
In order to build momentum for future cement sales, Jiang Jingyun planned to build a new workshop directly with cement in one go, for which he needed to bake a batch in advance.
Cement firing is simple. You just need to crush the limestone into raw material and then calcine it at high temperature in a kiln to make clinker. Anyone who knows how to fire bricks and tiles can do this job.
The difficulty lies in the crushing of limestone. Although gunpowder can be used for mining, its size is far from being suitable for burning and it needs to be crushed manually. This is laborious and time-consuming, which invisibly increases the investment cost.
Therefore, Jiang Jingyun thought of using a water wheel to utilize the force of water flow to make it a cheap and efficient hammering tool.
As for waterwheels, they had already been built in various places in the county for terrace irrigation. The craftsmen were very familiar with it. Jiang Jingyun simply threw a rough structural drawing to Jiang Jingfeng and asked him to discuss the construction with the craftsmen, and then left it alone.
Jiang Erge and Jiang Jinglin took the list of materials and made large purchases from all over the county, and then had people transport them back.
Even the youngest Jiang Qingrong was not spared. She was arranged to stay at home, leading a group of servants to sew the cotton gauze masks that Jiang Jingyun mentioned.
Jiang Jingyun himself, together with Xiao Muyan, stood directly in front of the mountain where limestone was being mined.
First, they had people set up guardrails at the foot of the mountain to ensure that no one would accidentally enter. Then they placed the gunpowder in a position that had been calculated long ago, and then carefully pulled the fuse down the mountain.
Signaling everyone to step back and cover their ears, Jiang Jingyun wanted to step forward to light the fuse, but was stopped by the person next to him: "Let me do it."
Xiao Muyan took the fire starter from his hand without saying anything, and then warned him, "Stand back a little more, so as not to be splashed by flying sand and rocks."
Black gunpowder is made of saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal and other substances in a certain proportion. It has only been tested on a small scale in bamboo tubes before. Jiang Jingyun has no idea how powerful it will be when used in large quantities like today. He said with some reassurance: "Then remember to run over to my side as soon as you light the fuse."
Xiao Muyan nodded, and after confirming that he had retreated to a safe place, he turned around and lit the fuse.
A few breaths later, before the roar sounded, Jiang Jingyun was already tightly embraced by someone, and the warm body created a safe space for him.
“Boom!”
The earth shook and rocks rolled down.
The common people had never seen such a scene before. They thought it was caused by the anger of the mountain god. They were so scared that they knelt on the ground, trembling and holding their heads to beg for mercy: "Mountain god, please calm down... Mountain god, please calm down..."
Seeing this, Jiang Jingyun hurriedly got out of Xiao Muyan's arms and said in a soothing voice, "Don't panic, everyone. This noise is caused by the black gunpowder that has just been ignited."
"It's just like the firecrackers that are set off every day, the sound is a little loud."
"We are far enough away and our lives are not in danger. There is no need to be afraid."
Seeing the magistrate standing there calmly and without changing his expression as the mountain collapsed in front of him, the people's panic gradually calmed down and asked hesitantly, "Is it really not the mountain god who is angry?"
"Of course not," Jiang Jingyun said firmly, "The mountain god is kind and merciful. He will definitely not blame us for anything that can benefit the people."
The people nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Excellency is right."
"Hearing is believing, seeing is believing." Seeing that the movement on the mountain gradually subsided, Jiang Jingyun directly called out to the people, "Why don't you follow me up the mountain and see the situation with your own eyes."
After saying this, he turned around and walked up the mountain first. Seeing this, the people slowly followed him.
In order to prevent rocks from falling and hitting people, Jiang Jingyun did not return the same way, but went around from the other side of the mountain.
When they arrived at the place where the gunpowder was buried, the rocks had been blown into pieces and scattered on the ground. It can be seen that the power of gunpowder is considerable.
After confirming that there was no danger, Jiang Jingyun ordered people to put the gravel into bamboo baskets, carry them down the mountain by manpower, and then use ox carts to pull them to the temporary brick kiln built in the workshop for crushing and firing.
As baskets of raw materials were transported back and turned into mountain-high piles of cement, the smile on Jiang Jingyun's face grew wider and wider.
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