Chapter 18
Large objects were more likely to be burned, so Wen Yi smashed the broken pottery and porcelain pieces into pieces and mixed them into cement to reinforce the wall, while the sharp ones were pressed on top of the wall.
The making of tableware seemed to have enlightened some of his skills. Zhong Ji, who originally only made practical utensils, began to make many interesting small objects.
A lot of kittens were made in various poses according to the fish balls. The ones with holes poked in advance could be strung with hemp ropes to serve as ornaments or hanging ornaments at the door of the house. They were also green in color after being fired, and received unanimous praise from Amu and others.
Even Yuwan has a hanging fish-shaped toy.
Shan sighed. He thought, "Only here right now do we have enough fuel and free time. Otherwise, who would have the time and materials to make these things?" He knew that pursuing beauty beyond practicality was something only those with status could pursue. He hadn't expected that escaping to the mountains would give him the opportunity to experience it.
Not to mention that many refugees didn't even have a single unbroken pottery bowl.
After putting the small items that were not in use temporarily into a box, Wen Yi walked to the center of the yard and began to plan what changes to make next.
In winter, most people would stay indoors to minimize energy consumption, but their group had relatively thick clothes and enough food. As long as the cold wave was not too severe, the weather would not hinder their actions.
Shu and the others had already started spinning yarn from the newly acquired rabbit hair, with Amu helping out. Qingping also began to think about what tools might be helpful based on everyone's descriptions.
Wen Yi, holding a roll of twine, began to wander around the yard.
Their yard wall surrounds the dug cave and is connected to the rock wall on three sides. The area is not large, but it is relatively flat and located at a high place. The rock wall behind it seems to be quite solid and the vegetation on it is dense. As long as there is no heavy rain, the possibility of landslide is not high.
Based on the entrance, the cave and the outbuilding were located to the left rear of the courtyard. Important items like food were stored deep within the cave, while to the right rear was a makeshift thatched hut for fuel and other supplies. Now that the area had been cleared, Wen Yi measured it with a long, polished wooden stick.
Even if you burn a fire in the cave, it is still too humid, which is not good for the elderly and children. Burning charcoal or firewood for a long time can be dangerous due to poor ventilation.
Initially, in the rush of speed, the extension they built outside was very narrow, leaving little room after the kang. The kang chimney might also be clogged, so they repaired it before the weather really got cold, and then started working on the new house.
They still slept together, and if a new house could be built, it would be more spacious. Wen Yi measured the length and width while writing and drawing on rough paper, and then began to design the blueprint.
Wen Yi planned to build the most common two-story house, with a structure made of bricks, stones and wood, which were relatively easy to obtain. The clay originally used for filling or patching seams was replaced with previously fired cement.
Although houses built purely with earth, hay and wood are warm, they are not resistant to moisture and the four corners also need special protection. Once there is too much rain, there is a risk of deformation and collapse.
Wen Yi has considered using bamboo instead of steel to build houses, and it's said that such buildings can be lived in for decades without any problems. Bamboo is also quite tough, but its corrosion resistance is indeed not as good as that of reinforced concrete.
The thermal expansion coefficients of steel bars and concrete are similar. Concrete has a strong ability to withstand pressure, but it easily breaks when faced with tension. Steel bars have excellent tensile properties and sufficient toughness, so they will show crack warnings before breaking instead of breaking directly.
Moreover, pre-tensioning or post-tensioning methods need to be used during pouring. Not to mention that even iron cannot be smelted well now, even if steel bars are obtained, there is no hydraulic equipment. In the end, we gave up this idea and chose masonry structure.
Clay bricks consume more soil and fuel, which is why large, solid red bricks were later banned from building walls, even though they were cheaper. However, solid walls are heavier, require reinforcement in many unsafe areas, and have lower thermal insulation than that of straw houses.
Wen Yi plans to use hollow bricks for the walls, which have better thermal and sound insulation properties, and clay-fired red bricks and stones for the foundation. A multi-story building would require solid bricks at the bottom, but a single-story building wouldn't need to worry about that.
Mix the clay until it is slightly dry, press it with a wooden mold, and then place it on the sand next to it. After shaping and drying in the shade, it is fired. After forming, the edges are polished and stacked layer by layer in the yard.
The cut mud pieces are placed into a long arc-shaped hole dug out of the ground. After drying in the shade, they are fired and sprinkled with wood ash water to make tiles.
After most of the materials were prepared, Wen Yi began to build the foundation.
He drove wooden stakes along the designated locations on the blueprint, then used a shovel to dig a hole. There were quite a few rocks in the soil, some too large to dig out and move, so Wen Yi had to adjust the position.
It took several days to dig the pit, and then flat stones were placed on the edges. Then, solid bricks that had been soaked in advance were used to build the pit above the ground. The pit was left there for a while to be reinforced, and during this time, the ground in the middle of the house was filled and leveled with sand, gravel, clay, etc.
Perhaps because the weather was getting colder, or perhaps because the bricks and stones were not particularly regular and needed to be repaired from time to time, and they also had to be laid with matching holes and staggered joints, Wen Yi's progress was much slower than expected, but fortunately, the wall was completed before the cold weather came.
The wood that served as the roof was also laid on top together with the bricks and stones. Holes were dug and the shorter wooden strips were fixed with wooden nails. Old mats were tied on top and a layer of mud mixed with hay and yellow mud was applied to keep it warm.
Use cement to cover the roof with thin tiles with the concave side facing upwards, and then add another layer of tiles on the edge of the two rows of thin tiles. The curvature of the roof is not very large, and there are not many heavy rains here, so this protection should be sufficient.
However, after these were completed, the first snow of the year fell, and the rest of the renovations will have to wait until next year when the weather gets warmer.
After cleaning the yard, the next time is to eat, drink and do some handicrafts.
"Be careful, hey, Mu, move to the side, this thing is a little hot."
Wen Yi carefully padded both ends with hay and took the pot off the stove, placing it on a small brick stove in the open space. The pot was specially made, glazed inside and divided in the middle, imitating the style of an existing hot pot.
There is no chili pepper, so the main soup base is mushrooms, but spicy seasonings such as water pepper are added to it.
Hearing Wen Yi's instructions, Ah Mu carefully carried his plate around the pot, then placed the cleaned vegetables on the nearby table. There were already a number of dried mountain products, dried fish, meat, and cakes nearby. The loser cut the noodles on the other side and added them to the pot when the loser was almost done.
Wen Yi used wooden tongs to carefully place the hard-to-cook meat and dried vegetables in first. Bubbles swirled around the soup base and condiments, emitting an alluring aroma. Lacking sesame paste or sesame oil, she mixed two bowls of sauce with scallions, ginger, and vinegar. However, the children were not used to strong flavors, so they only poured a little into their own bowls.
When the food in the pot was almost cooked, Wen Yi put the remaining fresh food in, and then called the people inside and outside the house to come over.
The freshness and flavor couldn't compare to what I remembered, but the palate clearly conveyed its deliciousness. Perhaps it was because I hadn't eaten anything like it in ages, or perhaps it was because the ingredients at that time were different from the crops that were produced later, which were more focused on yield, but there was something truly comforting about eating a hot pot in the cooler autumn weather.
Wen Yi picked up a few more slices of mushrooms. Dried mushrooms or vegetables have a unique flavor, and after being cooked in the broth, they have a firm texture and a crunchy bite. Ah Mu also liked the taste and even tried a slightly spicy broth, but soon his nose started to run, so he chose the pure mushroom broth instead.
After eating and drinking, Amu and the others took Wen Yi and Qing Ping to the corner where they played. In the middle of the mat was a wooden frame put together by the children, but it seemed to be a half-finished product.
Wen Yi and the other two sat nearby, watching Amu and the others try and discuss.
"It seems like there's no way to push it horizontally here," the girl next to Ah Mu said, somewhat frustratedly, adjusting the air vent and removing the lever at the turning point. The boy on the other side handed over a few pieces of wood, attempting to replace the joint. They had been learning from their experience with other objects, and despite some stumbling through their discussions, they had become familiar with many basic joint structures.
Wen Yi thought about it and realized that in order to convert circular motion into push-pull motion, a curved wheel or a cylindrical cam was needed. He picked up the small wheel and curved rod next to him and talked with Amu and the others.
Qingping watched quietly from the side, connecting what they said with what she remembered.
She used to make those things because learning a little more could bring her more income. She was not good at making clothes and relied on her carpentry skills to make some simple boxes to supplement her life. Ordinary people cannot have hobbies. They are not the kind of nobles who have time and money, and they do not have the time and energy to think about those things.
She is no longer young, but when she really has some free time and doesn't have to worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation for a period of time, those thoughts that have been suppressed by the poor life have sprouted new buds.
Looking back at Zhong Ji, who was occasionally making things with the clay he brought on his back even in the yard, Qingping suddenly smiled.
Maybe...it's interesting?
*
After discussing with a few little ones, Wen Yi took out the paper with this year's records from the box and began to copy the important ones. He put the unimportant ones aside, preparing to wash them and make new paper or use them as fuel for kindling.
The most basic sowing and irrigation tools had been manufactured, and processing tools such as stone mills, stone rollers, and wooden oil presses could now be used in conjunction with waterwheels. For warmth, there were rabbit fur clothes and kangs, as well as wild silkworms; for record-keeping, coarse paper and charcoal pencils were readily available.
As for food, the vinegar and sauce were placed not far away. Various utensils were also made and glazed. Soybean oil and powders made from various grains were packed into jars and waiting to be used. There were also many strings of dry goods hanging behind them, guarded by Yuwan, who had turned into a strong big cat.
The cement mixed in the right proportions played an important role in the construction of the adjacent houses, as well as various bricks.
Wen Yi checked the box on the original plan, and then realized that he had missed something.
She already had soybean oil and lime or wood ash, things that could extract alkaline water, so she had actually forgotten about soap. But then she thought about how everyone washed their linen clothes by beating them directly at the stream, and how when the weather turned cold, they just wiped themselves with wet cloths instead of bathing. The existence of soapberry made her forget about this aspect.
After putting away the things that needed to be written down and the drawings, Wen Yi rolled up his sleeves, tied them up, and started making soap.
Mix the filtered soybean oil of poor quality into the settled alkaline water, add ground salt and stir in one direction. After it becomes a paste, put it into a mold to shape it. After a few days, take it out and cut it into thin cubes, then put it in a basket to dry for more than a month. It can be used after the saponification is complete.
She also made soap by grinding calcined shells, soaking them in water, and adding soybean oil. It's said that pearls and Baker's ash water not only remove stains but also have a certain bleaching effect. I'll just have to try it after I make it.
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