Chapter 116
"What's wrong? Why do you look like that?" Yu had expected the couple to exchange private words, but Ye Jia's expression darkened after reading the letter. Thinking of the instability in the northwest, she suddenly felt a little apprehensive. "Could something have happened in the fortress again?"
"No." Ye Jia folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. "It's just that we ran into some trouble in the fortress."
Putting the letter casually into her sleeve, Ye Jia took a few steps, holding her stomach. She slowly walked to the window, lifted the curtain, and looked out. The snow outside showed no sign of stopping. She couldn't handle this weather, let alone her current physical condition. Even if she did, she probably wouldn't be able to immediately organize the construction of the city wall. Construction was impossible in the freezing cold, and materials were hard to come by. They could only wait until the snow stopped and the weather warmed up a bit.
Yu followed her for two steps, not knowing what she was looking at.
Ye Jia wasn't really looking at anything, just mentally weighing things. In today's weather, the Turks and the northern nomads were unlikely to come south to plunder. After all, they were likely to survive the plunder, but not bring anything back alive. Ye Jia was worried about something else: the poor people in the northwest wouldn't be able to survive this winter. After much thought, Ye Jia suddenly turned to look at Yu Shi: "Mom, do you have any writing brushes or ink in your room?"
"What do you need pen and ink for?"
Before Yu finished speaking, she thought of Ye Jia reading Zhou Jingchen's letter and immediately realized that she had to write back. "Yes, yes, Yingtao, go get it."
Yu usually taught Ruijie to read, so there was always writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone in the house. Yingtao went into the inner room to get the brushes, ink, paper, and inkstone, and immediately ground them. Ye Jia thought for a moment and then wrote a letter to Zhou Jingchen.
In reality, there was nothing left to hide at this point. Ye Jia and the original owner were not the same person, and Zhou Jingchen had known this for a long time. While it was unclear how aware Yu Shi was of this matter, she firmly supported Ye Jia no matter what she did. There were some things that didn't need to be hidden anymore. If her abilities could provide even a little help with the construction, she would naturally share them as soon as possible.
In reality, Ye Jia didn't offer many suggestions in her letter, simply emphasizing the immense difficulty of building city walls or watchtowers in extreme weather. She also suggested that, if conditions permitted, she discouraged the use of pure wood. She argued that using the mud used by local residents in building their homes would be more sturdy. She also casually asked Zhou Jingchen about teaching the locals how to build kangs.
She wrote very quickly and had it sent out as soon as she finished.
Yu watched her writing furiously, and her expression didn't look very relaxed, so she couldn't help feeling a little worried.
Ye Jia smiled and comforted her, "It's nothing, it's just that the weather is too cold, and it's difficult to repair the watchtower. It was repaired several times, but it collapsed every time due to the wind and snow."
"It's really hard to do things this weather." Yu Shi felt relieved when she heard it was about the watchtower. The Turks had been injured before, and they shouldn't harass us again in the short term. "Does Jia Niang know what to do?"
As soon as this question was asked, Fourth Sister Ye and Fifth Sister Ye looked over.
Ye Jia glanced at them a few times and didn't hide anything. "I can't say I know how to build it. Even skilled carpenters and masons can't guarantee it. I just suggested changing the building materials."
Yu agreed. The northwest's sandstorms were so severe, most people wouldn't dare use wood in their homes. They feared the wind and sand would corrode everything in less than a decade. The watchtower was built high to begin with, and if it weren't sturdy enough, it would collapse under the gust of wind. "No wonder Yun'an hasn't been able to come back for so long. It must be the time-consuming and laborious back and forth. Wood is certainly useful, but sometimes it doesn't last."
Ye Jia smiled. Seeing that it was almost time, Ye Wumei stood up and said, "It's time to prepare dinner."
Ever since she was sent back to Dongxiang Town, Fourth Sister Ye no longer had to take care of the Zhou family's meals. Actually, there were people who could cook, but the Ye sisters were used to their own cooking and thought that others' cooking was not tasty, so they cooked for themselves.
Fourth Sister Ye called in the two children who were playing on the carpet in the outer hall, gave them a few instructions, and then stood up: "Then Fifth Sister and I will go over and lend a hand."
The two of them cooked very quickly, and soon someone came to call them for dinner.
In winter, food should be piping hot and warm. Ye Wumei improved the soup base that Ye Jia originally used for hot pot. Although the taste of the hot pot is not much like the hot pot of later generations, it is still very delicious.
A small stove is burning underneath, and the delicious soup base can be scooped up and drunk.
A few people gathered together, the heat warming them. After eating a pot of hot pot, Ye Jia returned to the house with Yingtao's escort. What she was worried about, Zhou Jingchen was also thinking about. Almost as soon as Ye Jia's letter arrived at the city wall, Zhou Jingchen opened it and read it. When she mentioned this about the material replacement, Zhou Jingchen suddenly understood.
Indeed, the initial construction of the wooden fortress drew upon the experience of the Bashu region. Bashu was a land of low mountains and steep cliffs. Building a fortress on a mountaintop was easy to defend and difficult to attack, making it highly advantageous for strategic deployment. However, the topography and climate of the Beiting Protectorate differed significantly from those of Bashu, making the two approaches incomparable.
But if the material is changed, what material is stronger? Zhou Jingchen couldn't help but think of the things Ye Jia used to make the kang.
However, when they were building the kang, Zhou Jingchen was away from home, leaving Ye Jia to handle everything. Thinking back, he remembered that there seemed to be annotations on the design Ye Jia had given him. He had given that drawing to Guo Huai some time ago, asking him to use his position as county magistrate to popularize the practice. Now, it would take some effort to see it.
But on second thought, it would be more convenient to go home to find Ye Jia than to go to Kashgar City to find Guo Huai.
After much deliberation, he concluded that the watchtower and city walls couldn't be built for now, so there was no point in wasting time there. Zhou Jingchen, unwilling to get bogged down in unnecessary matters, summoned Sun Yushan. Sun Yushan had grown rapidly in recent years and was now capable of handling matters independently. Zhou Jingchen gave him a few general instructions and instructed him to closely monitor Libei Town's first line of defense. He then drove back to Dongxiang Town that same day.
The snow was falling heavily, and the roads were difficult to travel. He set out that afternoon, and what was supposed to be a one-day journey took him a whole day and a night.
Not to mention the heavy snowfall Zhou Jingchen encountered upon returning, the town had already seen a surge in people looking for the underworld shop since the start of the twelfth lunar month. The town wasn't big to begin with, so aside from the food stalls, which might see a surge in activity, there were generally only one or two shops of any kind. For a shop as unlucky as the underworld shop, there was only one in the entire town. Even on a snowy day, the shop remained closed, with several people constantly knocking on the door, asking if anyone was there.
Zhou Jingchen's carriage had just arrived in town when he encountered this incident. People outside the carriage wept pitifully. It was said that someone in a nearby village had frozen to death outside, unable to withstand the cold weather. The body needed to be buried in the freezing weather, so they hurried to town to order a coffin.
"People are freezing to death?" Zhou Jingchen frowned when he heard the news from outside. "Is the situation so serious now?"
These days, Zhou Jingchen was busy repairing the damaged parts of the fortress, leaving the task of popularizing kangs to Guo Huai. To ensure rapid adoption, Zhou Jingchen even dispatched a team to help the government spread the word. Over a month had passed since the blueprint was handed to Guo Huai, and there were still people freezing to death in Dongxiang Town. His brow furrowed, and he immediately pointed to someone to inquire about the situation.
The news wasn't good. Beiting Protectorate was already very large and sparsely populated, making travel difficult. Furthermore, the roads became even more difficult in the cold weather, making it difficult to install kangs in government offices.
In other words, no one has come from Dongxiang Town yet.
Time was running out, making it difficult to improve the harsh winter conditions in a timely manner. It wasn't that the government officials weren't paying attention, but simply rolling up the kang took a whole day. This delay naturally slowed things down. Those who froze to death in Dongxiang Town were from the northernmost villages. Most of those who didn't survive were either elderly, ailing family members, or young, frail children.
Zhou Jingchen pondered for a moment, then whispered to the people outside the carriage, "Let's go back home first."
The carriage moved slowly, and it was already evening when they returned to the Zhou residence. As soon as they reached the gate, someone rushed to Ye Jia's side to announce the news. Ye Jia had assumed he would stay in the fortress until at least the end of December, but she hadn't expected him to return so soon. Her pregnancy was already over eight months, and it wasn't easy for her to move around, so she didn't rush to the gate to greet him.
Zhou Jingchen looked at a group of people coming out, and subconsciously looked around in the crowd for a few times, but did not see Ye Jia.
Yu noticed the look in his eyes and couldn't help laughing.
Yun An was becoming more and more like a young man, even his expression was more lively. However, Yu Shi, feeling happy, didn't mention the young couple's affairs to anyone outside. She just said something to help Ye Jia: "Jia Niang is very ill now. It's so cold, she can't help but go out for a walk. Why are you back at this hour?"
"The snow keeps coming in over there, so we can't repair it. Even if we do, it's a waste of effort." Zhou Jingchen knew that Ye Jia was in poor health and had difficulty walking. Seeing a group of people coming out to greet him, he always held a glimmer of hope that this woman was thinking of him. "Mom, are you and Jia Niang doing well these days?"
"All good, all good." It was so late, and the Zhou family had already passed dinner time. Yu still asked, "Have you eaten yet?"
Zhou Jingchen shook his head: "We were in such a hurry to catch the bus that we had no place to stop."
"I see..."
Yu also guessed that he hadn't eaten. They'd been sitting in the carriage all this time, with nothing to eat except dry food. It was already dark outside the window. Ye Wumei had already gone back to her yard to rest, so she couldn't bring anyone out to cook for Zhou Jingchen. She thought about asking Xi Lai to help make a hot noodle soup and bring it over.
"Don't bother, mother. It's not a child. I can take care of it myself."
Yu frowned when she heard this: "Don't bother Jia Niang to cook for you. If you really can't, just go to the kitchen and make some porridge yourself. I think the porridge you cooked for Jia Niang last time was quite good..."
Zhou Jingchen was embarrassed by these sudden words. This happened a long time ago, and he never expected that Yu would bring it up one day.
Zhou Jingchen was a little embarrassed and nodded vaguely: "That's fine."
Seeing his rare shyness, Yu couldn't help but laugh. But she didn't overdo it. Too much teasing could backfire on someone so shy. Mother and son talked for a while before Yu let him go.
Zhou Jingchen then said goodbye in a low voice and hurried back to the main house.
When he arrived at the main room, it was pitch black. Inside, the lights were brightly lit. Ye Jia was sitting at his desk, sketching something. His expression was calm and focused.
In reality, Ye Jia knew something was going on in town. Being in Dongxiang Town, she naturally paid close attention to any unusual developments. She was also a perceptive person, and even with a little thought, she could figure out the whole situation without anyone pointing it out. The unusually cold weather had indeed had its consequences: people were freezing to death. Literally freezing to death.
Thinking that the previous kang blueprint had left a lasting impression on Zhou Jingchen, she naturally wanted to do her bit. To be honest, if she hadn't chosen to work with Zhou Jingchen, she wouldn't necessarily have stepped up to take care of this matter. But there's a saying that goes, "Do your job when you're in a position," and now that she's in this position, she has to take some responsibility.
Even after more than a year, Ye Jia hadn't forgotten her drawing skills. She had not only drawn the structural diagram of the fire kang, but also the structural diagrams of the fire wall and the fire floor. Some families, being poor, were seriously concerned with the cost of building a fire kang.
When Ye Jia built four kangs for the house, the labor and materials combined cost nearly three taels of silver. In other words, each kang cost a tael of silver. Some families wouldn't even have enough savings to cover a single tael, and would probably rather endure the cold than spend the money. Building a fire pit or fire wall would be much more convenient and cheaper. It could be done with a bit of grit.
Ye Jia was busy and didn't notice the movement behind her for a while. When she found someone approaching, something warm touched her earlobe from behind, and she was suddenly awakened from the diagram.
I turned my head quickly and met a pair of curved eyes.
Zhou Jingchen exuded a chill, his black hair cascading down to Ye Jia's shoulders, leaving a chill. He lowered his head to look at the drawing, his smile fading as he turned serious. "What is this...?"
"The structural diagram of the fire kang." Ye Jia knew he was coming back, so he wasn't too surprised to see him. "But the cost of the fire kang is quite high. People in the northwest live a hard life and don't have that much money to spend on it. So I drew the structural diagrams of the fire wall and the fire floor. Although these two are not as clean and safe as the fire kang, they can be used just as well as long as you are careful. Most importantly, the construction cost is much lower."
Zhou Jingchen had originally planned to send someone to inquire about Guo Huai's progress and clarify the reasons for the slow progress. He had previously considered the cost of building a kang, but it was only a suspicion. Now, listening to Ye Jia's words, he felt that this suspicion was probably the main reason why kangs were difficult to popularize.
But no matter how expensive it is, I have to build it. I can't freeze to death. "How much does it cost to build a kang?"
"Back then, I bought four of them at the garrison, which cost me over three taels and seven cents of silver." Ye Jia thought for a moment, then calculated more clearly, "Plus, I provided two meals at home."
Zhou Jingchen knew how tight Ye Jia's family was before he started his stall. These alone were worth just over four taels of silver. Divided equally among the four kangs, it was clear that most people couldn't afford it. He paused, then turned to look at the fire wall Ye Jia had already drawn. "What about this?"
"Constructing a fire wall is much simpler." The fire wall itself is simple, consisting of a furnace, the fire wall, and a chimney. The furnace can be located within the fire wall. It can also be placed close to the fire wall, creating a wall-mounted stove. A curved flue is built into the fire wall, forming short hollow walls of varying lengths. Flue ducts can be built into the wall to allow hot smoke to circulate within the wall, depending on the conditions.
The longer the process, the longer the heat storage time, the higher the thermal efficiency, and the more even the heat dissipation. The chimney is used as a smoke exhaust channel, which can be regarded as a combination of cooking and heating. However, the fire wall cannot be used for load bearing. Simply connect the wall central control and the stove, and maintain heating by the principle of rising hot air.
"The only problem is that the fire wall has high requirements for the structure of the house." Ye Jia explained briefly. Not sure if Zhou Jingchen understood, she said, "If the indoor structure is not reasonable, a lot of smoke will be produced, which is not very comfortable to use. However, this situation is much better than freezing. As long as you pay attention to ventilation, you can still survive the winter."
Zhou Jingchen didn't understand these things as well as Ye Jia, but he could roughly understand them by looking at the drawings: "Can this be built at a cost-effective rate?"
"Yes." Ye Jia nodded. "It's OK to use cheaper materials. But if possible, I still recommend using a kang. If the government can provide some help to the people in this regard, perhaps everyone's life will be much better."
To be honest, Zhou Jingchen had considered asking the government to help cover some of the costs. For example, he could have the government pay for the labor involved in building the kang. Or he could have the government negotiate with the vendors to lower the price of the materials. These were just his thoughts, and he hadn't discussed them with Guo Huai yet. However, if he could improve the situation elsewhere, that would certainly be a good approach.
As he thought about it, Zhou Jingchen remembered the issue of replacing materials for building the city walls that Ye Jia had mentioned.
Ye Jia had only mentioned it briefly in the letter, but hadn't given a clear method for what materials to use. "By the way, Jia Niang, where did you get the method for repairing the fortress you mentioned in your letter earlier?"
"The repair of the watchtower is not going smoothly?" Ye Jia frowned.
"Yeah." Although Zhao Weiqing worked for the Ministry of Works, he'd previously been involved in the construction of pavilions, towers, royal palaces, and imperial villas. He knew little about these militarily important defensive towers and other structures. "Zhao Weiqing also tried using the loess mud used by local people to build their houses, but the results were always disappointing."
Ye Jia blinked, thinking that if it was unsatisfactory, it was probably because the proportions were wrong.
After thinking for a moment, she asked, "Husband, when are you planning to go there again?"
"Deep winter won't pass." Anything is difficult in this weather, and repairs will have to wait until the spring when the snow melts. Now that the watchtower is gone, they just need to be more careful. "Now I just need to sort out the kang."
Ye Jia nodded: "When the snow stops, I will go to Libei Town with you."
Zhou Jingchen raised his eyes and looked at her.
Ye Jia lifted her chin, tilted her head and looked at him with a smile: "I can't say I'm completely proficient in this, but I can guarantee that I know a thing or two."
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