Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Capital Datang

Life in Chang'an Chapter 34: Firing Cement (Part 2)

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    PS: At the request of book friend Xiaolou, I will upload another chapter today. Not much to say, Lao Yu still has to spend the night coding to prepare tomorrow's chapter.

    Li Min curiously followed Li Ke into the small door and found that there was a whole other world inside. It was a room similar to a warehouse, but it was not large in size. Apart from two rows of wooden shelves for placing items, there were basically no other furnishings.

    Li Min stepped forward and took a closer look at the items on the shelf. He found that these items were either exquisite or clumsy, and some were still semi-finished products. It was estimated that these were items made by the craftsmen in the prison.  Suddenly, Li Min's eyes were attracted by a group of pottery. This group of pottery was composed of ladies, horses and camels, and these pottery were all colorful. Whether they were characters or animals, they were all vivid and colorful. The reason why Li Min noticed  They came from seeing a set of Tang Sancai pictures in a previous life, and this set of pottery was almost exactly the same as the ones in the pictures.

    "This is the legendary Tang Sancai. It is indeed well-deserved!" Li Min said to himself with a face full of obsession. Tang Sancai was a popular antique collection in later generations, and the price was even ridiculously high. It could even fetch tens of millions. If it were sold,  This group of Tang Sancai was auctioned by later generations, and it is estimated that the price will definitely be in the hundreds of millions.

    "Sixth brother, why are you always staring at those piles of underworld artifacts, don't you think it's unlucky? Come and see the good things you found for your brother!" Just when Li Min was about to breathe out, Li Min raised a hand next to the shelf  shouted while pointing at a cylindrical object.

    Hearing the word 'underworld weapon', Li Min immediately became frustrated. Tang Sancai was indeed used as a burial artifact, and it was not worth much now. He had just paid it back for a long time, but Li Min was soon replaced by Li Min.  The thing in Ke's hand diverted his attention.

    "Thiscouldn't this be the legendary fireworks?" Li Min looked up and down the bamboo tube as thick as his arm in his hand. This was what Li Ke found just now. The upper and lower bamboo sections of the bamboo tube were preserved, and there was no clue what was inside.  Something was placed to make the bamboo tube very heavy. There was a small hole drilled in the middle of the bamboo joints, and a rope-like thing passed through the small hole. The more Li Min looked at it, the more familiar it became. This thing was similar to the fireworks used during the New Year in later generations.  Almost no different.

    "That's right, these are the fireworks developed by the director. I don't know how effective they are. Why don't we go set one off and have a look?" Once Li Ke got excited, no one could stop him.  After saying that, regardless of whether Li Mintong agreed or not, he went to the front hall holding a few fireworks.

    "Tsk~" As Li Ke lit the fuse, and then quickly retreated, after a while, he saw a burst of green smoke coming out of the bamboo fireworks, followed by a burst of red and green sparks, which lasted for about a minute.  It looked like it stopped after the gunpowder inside burned out.

    "Well, it's really good. It's much more beautiful than last year's fireworks, and it lasts longer. It seems that the supervisor has put in a lot of effort." Li Ke nodded with great satisfaction.

    Li Min next to him curled his lips. In future generations, even children would probably not be willing to play with the fireworks in front of him. In Li Min's view, these were not real fireworks at all. The fireworks in his impression should be  It's the kind of fireworks that shoot into the sky with a salute and then explode to cover half of the sky. That's the real fireworks.

    Although the fireworks in front of him were not worth mentioning, they reminded Li Min that gunpowder had appeared as early as the Jin Dynasty, but until the Tang Dynasty it was only used to make fireworks. Firecrackers had not even appeared, let alone applied to it.  The battlefield is on.  The emergence of gunpowder marked the official entry of hot weapons onto the stage of history, and then gradually replaced cold weapons, directly changing the form of human warfare. If this good thing is only used to make fireworks, it would be too wasteful!

    It seems that there is a chance to improve the gunpowder.  Li Min secretly made up his mind that the current gunpowder can only be used to make fireworks. There is probably something wrong with the formula and it cannot reach the optimal ratio of gunpowder, so the power is very small. This is not a problem for Li Min, please.  Thanks to the education system of later generations, Li Min learned the best ratio of gunpowder when he was in middle school.

    While Li Min was thinking about gunpowder, Yu Wenhu walked in from outside the hall. He was slightly startled when he saw the fireworks set off by Li Ke, and then smiled and said: "Your Highness is very interested. This improved firework has just been delivered to me, and it's so beautiful."  There is room for further improvement, and I will give some to your house when it is ready."

    "Then thank you so much, Brother Yuwen!" Li Ke was not polite and returned the favor generously.

    Yu Wenhu smiled slightly, then turned to Li Min and said: "Your Highness, the manpower and materials are ready. Your Highness, please move forward!"

    "Brother Yuwen is too polite. From now on, you can just call me Liuyang like my third brother. Calling me Your Highness is too awkward." Li Min walked up and said with a smile.

    "This" Yu Wenhu was slightly startled. His background was not comparable to those of Li Yong and Cheng Huailiang, and it was the first time he met Li Min. Calling him Liuyang was a bit superficial.

    "Brother Yuwen, please don't refuse., Liu Liang and I are not outsiders, and we will have many dealings with each other in the future. If you don¡¯t bother me and Liu Liang, you will be annoyed by people calling you Your Highness all day long.  "Li Ke also persuaded with a smile.

    "Haha, even if that's the case, then it's better for me to be respectful than to obey my orders." Yu Wenhu saw that Li Ke and Li Min both had sincere faces, so he stopped refusing, "Then please Liu Lang and Brother Ke come with me for inspection.  Once we have the manpower and materials, if there is no problem, we can start refining immediately so that Liu Lang can deliver the goods as soon as possible."

    "Okay, brother Yuwen, lead the way!" Li Ke and Li Min said at the same time.

    The three of them walked through several courtyards until they reached the westernmost courtyard of Jiang Zuo Prison, next to the city wall.  As soon as he entered here, Li Min smelled a pungent smell of lime, and there were several earthen kilns standing beside the wall of the courtyard. It seemed that this courtyard was used to bake lime.

    "Meet your two highnesses!" As soon as the three of them entered the courtyard, they saw a ninth-grade official in light cyan official uniform kneeling down to greet them with his assistant craftsmen.  Looking at the ranks of officials in the Tang Dynasty, you can tell them from their official uniforms. Among them, the third rank and above are purple; the fourth rank is dark crimson; the fifth rank is light crimson; the sixth rank is dark green; the seventh rank is light green; and the eighth rank is light green.  , dark green; ninth grade, light green.

    "Everyone, get up!" Li Ke waved his hand and asked them to get up very kindly, and everyone hurriedly thanked them.

    Yu Wenhu stepped forward and pointed at the ninth-grade official who was in his forties or fifties and introduced: "Brother Ke, Liu Lang, this is Bai Qing, the right principal. He has always been in charge of refining lime. Bai Shucheng will be the supervisor."  He has been working for more than 20 years and is a loyal and reliable person. Therefore, he mainly led people to assist Liu Lang in the cement refining work. In addition to the original lime craftsmen, these people behind also had burners transferred from other departments.  Porcelain craftsmen are all skilled, honest and reliable people.¡±

    "Your Majesty, Bai Qing, meet your two highnesses!" Bai Qing was very discerning. Hearing Yu Wenhu introduce himself to Li Min, he immediately stepped forward and saluted again.  He has been a ninth-grade official for more than 20 years and has never been promoted. This time it was Yu Wenhu who promoted him and gave him this great opportunity. If he could assist Li Min in building a cement industry  He must have a share of the credit for this matter, and his rank might be able to rise by then, so he made up his mind to embrace Li Min, the king of Liang.

    Li Min looked at Bai Qing and found that although this man had a dark complexion and thick hands and feet, if he took off his official uniform, he would be no different from the craftsmen behind him, except that his wrinkled face had a pair of shrewd little eyes.  Blinking twice nimbly, he is obviously a nimble and clever character.

    "Well, in the future there will be Lao Bai, the Prime Minister!" Li Min was very satisfied with this man. Looking at his appearance, you can guess that he is a craftsman and he is also very smart. This kind of person is not only down-to-earth in doing things, but also knows how to be flexible.  He is a creative talent.

    Seeing that Li Min was so kind to him, Bai Qing was so frightened that he dared not even say anything.  He was a ninth-grade petty official with a low background, and his status in the general prison was only slightly higher than that of an ordinary craftsman. How had he ever received such courtesy?

    "Cheng Bai Shucheng, you now command the craftsmen to grind the limestone, clay, slag and gypsum into powder, then mix the limestone and clay in a ratio of 5:1, plus a small amount of slag powder!" Li Min looked at Yuwen  The materials prepared by Hu were found to be very good, so he ordered Bai Qing who was following behind.

    "Yes, I will do it now!" After hearing Li Min's instructions, Bai Qing immediately took action, directing the craftsmen to run forward and backward, apparently wanting to show off in front of Li Min.

    The crushing of materials is an essential process for cement firing, and the dust raised is extremely harmful to the human body.  Li Min couldn't leave, so the three of them choked and coughed repeatedly. Bai Qing wisely gave them three wet towels and asked them to cover their mouths and noses. This made Li Ke and Li Min feel good about Bai Qing.

    After a while, the materials were ground into powder, and then under Bai Qing's command, the limestone, slag and clay were mixed according to the proportions Li Min said. The gypsum powder was set aside for later use, and then the mixed  The materials were put into the lime cellar and calcined. Li Min did not need to direct this process at all. Those craftsmen often played with fire and were much more skilled at calcining than Li Min.  In addition, the calcination time is relatively long, and Li Min and Li Ke cannot wait here, so Bai Qing will be responsible for the management and supervision of the following work. This is the benefit of being an official. Most things do not need to be done personally.  , naturally there are people to do it.

    Before Li Min left, he told Bai Qing a few things to pay attention to. Bai Qing wrote them down one by one. This serious attitude made Li Min very satisfied.  The three of them came out of the cement burning yard and came to the hall. Li Min looked at the sky and said, "Brother Yuwen, it's still early, and thanks to your help today, how about we find a place to have a drink?"

    When he heard that he wanted to drink, Li Ke would certainly not object and tried his best to encourage Yuwenhu to go, but Yuwenhu hesitated a little and declined with an embarrassed look on his face: "Ordinarily, Liulang would like to invite you."Brother Wei is of course going to go, but Mr. Zhou, who is in charge of the General Supervisor with me these days, is away for business. The entire General Supervisor is managed by Brother Wei, and it is really impossible to leave.  "

    Yu Wenhu paused here, then pointed at Li Min and Li Ke with a smile and said: "And today is really not a good time to treat guests to dinner. If nothing else, take a look at yourselves. Where do you still look like this?  A prince?"

    After Li Ke and Li Min mentioned this to Yu Wenhu, they realized that their clothes were all in tatters. They had had a fight in the restaurant in the morning and had not yet come to change their clothes, and they even tore a few pieces on purpose.  There was a big hole, and the dust was all over their body, and even their hair was dusty. If they weren't familiar with them, they wouldn't be able to believe that they were noble princes.

    "Hahaha~, if it weren't for Brother Yuwen's reminder, I wouldn't have realized that I was in such a mess. If I entered the restaurant like this, I would probably be kicked out as a beggar!" Li Ke looked at himself and then at Li Min,  Then the two of them laughed together.

    "That's it, then don't bother Brother Yuwen. When the cement is completed in the future, we must not get drunk with Brother Yuwen!" Li Min also said with a smile.

    "Haha, I wish I could be invited by Liu Lang as a brother. I have long heard that Prince Liang's house has unparalleled wines and delicacies, but I have never had the opportunity to taste them. I must have a good time when the time comes." Yu Wenhu said with a smile.  Even though he was wearing a purple uniform and was a senior official of the third rank, his family's strength was not obvious, and the general supervisor he presided over was not an important department, so he was not qualified to participate in the last Five Kings Banquet.

    "Okay, I will prepare some food and wine by then and wait for Brother Yuwen in the mansion." After Li Min finished speaking, he handed over his hands and then left together with Li Ke.

    {Piaotia Literature www.piaotia.net thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report