Chapter 73 73. Opening up the wasteland
Since pottery making involves certain industrial pollution, pottery workshops are located far away from cities.
Lowe chose the lower reaches of Xiaoqing River, a river bank where clay was readily available.
In the future, pottery will be fired from nearby materials and the finished products will be transported to the city for sale. This is quite convenient.
Even before the announcement of recruiting apprentices, the kiln had already been built. Now it looks far from finished.
"It's right here." Lowe stopped and signaled to the children with his eyes.
There was a construction site ahead, with about dozens of people busy at work, and it was a very deserted scene.
The children were a little disappointed: "Are we going to live here?"
"Not for now. Come back after the workshop is built." Luo Wei's face turned red. This sentence was very embarrassing, but fortunately the children didn't care too much. He emphasized the purpose of bringing people here: "Do you remember the location?"
"Remember it." Everyone said in unison.
"Very good, I will now tell you the process of making pottery, it's very simple." Lowe raised his hand and pointed to the river bank, "It's the soil, which I call clay. You go and dig out the soil and make it into the shape people want. After forming, remember to leave it for a while. Wait for the pottery to dry in the shade, which usually takes about five days to a week. After it is completely dry, put the pottery in the kiln and burn it for three or four hours. Finally, you can make finished low-temperature pottery."
Most of the apprentices had confused expressions on their faces. Some little girls even held their fingers in their mouths, their eyes wide open in a cute way.
Lovey was helpless. He knew he had to demonstrate it, but there was no stove here.
Forget it, let's take everyone back to Fulinbao. A pure white cuckoo bird flew across the sky.
Zoe raised the bow and pulled the string, narrowing her eyes slightly. When the time was right, she released her fingers.
The arrow used its last bit of strength to hit the cuckoo bird, but the force was exhausted. The cuckoo bird was so scared that it fell from the sky.
One of the subordinates who were watching quickly chased after it and picked up the fallen cuckoo in his hand.
Zoe slowly put down the longbow in her hand and waved to the members around her to continue moving forward.
Clearing wild animals from areas near human settlements is an important conservation measure.
Especially some medium-sized wild animals near the gathering place are likely to attract large predators. This is very unsafe for humans.
Zoe put on her bow and arrows, found a tall tree, and climbed to the top of the tree in one breath, looking as far as possible.
The forest and the cleared farmland are separated only by a small mound, which may slightly increase people's sense of security.
This is also an important reason why scholar Bruno chose this place as the starting point.
The first day of land reclamation.
Bruno did not choose to divide the land immediately, but asked the people to build houses first.
Everyone must have their own wooden house before the severe winter comes. Otherwise, let alone land reclamation, it is not impossible that half of the people will freeze to death.
As for food, don't worry too much for now.
Zoe hunted a lot of medium-sized beasts, and everyone got a few pounds of meat. However, there was not enough salt to preserve the meat, so it could not be stored for a long time, which was a pity.
Donggang City, which is located on the coast, should not be short of salt.
But in fact, even ordinary coarse salt is a very precious material for civilians. It can only be obtained by constantly boiling seawater, which is very expensive.
Bruno was expecting Lowe to send a batch of salt and farm tools.
I think it is unlikely to happen in a short time.
Lowe showed the children his pottery works: "See, after a few days, the surface of the clay will become drier."
The children looked at the clay sculpture of the water mill with curiosity. Such a complex model could easily arouse people's interest.
Not to mention children, even some adults would be curious.
"After the pottery is dried in the shade, it can be thrown into the fire and fired. This is the final result."
Lowe handed the cooked dishes to everyone to watch in turn. Some smart children had already understood it.
Shalang said in a crisp voice: "Mr. Lord, you mean that after we dry the mud, we should put it into the fire and burn it."
"So smart." Lovi praised: "What's your name?"
"My name is Sharon." The girl bowed timidly.
Luo Wei nodded slightly. He already had a certain impression of the gray-haired girl in front of him. Although there were many female apprentices in the pottery workshop, she was the only pretty one.
Then he led the children to the blacksmith shop.
Mosophie went out to refine coke, and the furnace was temporarily vacant, so it could be used.
The accompanying female guards, dispatched by the lord, entered the kiln and neatly arranged Lovi's clay sculptures one by one.
After the charcoal fire was ignited, the pottery in the kiln gradually turned red like a lit lantern.
Lowe once again emphasized to his apprentices that low-temperature pottery takes four hours to fire.
Someone asked how long four hours is?
Lovey thought about it and really couldn't explain it well.
In the early stage, it was basically impossible to equip the pottery workshop with a clock. It could only be roughly described as the time from sunrise in the morning to lunch time.
Or during lunch time, or when the sun sets in the afternoon.
An extra hour or two isn't a big problem.
Lowe was a bit of a stickler by nature, so he decided to explain the concept of time in a more specific way. He brought the apprentices back to the meeting room and pointed to the hands of the clock to describe it, using the sunrise and meal times as rough standards.
The time should be advanced a little bit, but most people are confused as to how much.
Maybe a few smart people understood it, but Lowe didn't have too many expectations. The seeds had been sown, and whether they could blossom and bear fruit depended on their luck.
Lovey knew very well that he was just a man of theory and theory, and it was just barely ok for him to say a few more words to guide the way.
The real development of the industry can only rely on these talented children.
Before announcing the disbandment, Lowe gave each person a set of thick clothes and a silver dollar, and put forward his own demands.
During the construction of the pottery workshop, try to complete as many of your own works as possible.
He will select a monitor for the apprentice class based on the quantity and quality of the finished pottery. "Master, you haven't dealt with today's government affairs yet!" Lan Lan reminded in a low voice.
"What's more important?" Lowe said lazily.
"I don't know. I don't understand."
Lanlan came up and massaged Luo Wei's shoulders. Now she could understand Luo Wei's eyes.
No need for further words, this is the degree of running-in.
"If there's nothing important, let's go tomorrow." Luo Wei naturally used Lan Lan as a backrest and squinted his eyes comfortably.
Lanlan's face turned red and she looked around nervously.
Don't let Mrs. Dale find out.
(End of this chapter)
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