With Guo Nu’er leading eight family soldier apprentices to assist, the five kiln workers worked through the night to build the earthen lime kilns. Early the next morning, they invited Han Qian and the others to watch these craftsmen use their ancestral techniques to burn limestone.
Shen Yang utilized the existing villages at Taowu Gathering to establish over a dozen additional soup kitchens overnight, dispersing the thirty to forty thousand refugees to these soup kitchens for relief, then reorganizing them according to military registration. The scene no longer appeared as chaotic as it had the previous day.
In the morning, when Han Qian and the others went out, they could already see the family soldiers and family soldier apprentices temporarily reassigned to Shen Yang’s side by Fan Dahei and Lin Haizheng, leading some of the refugees to clear the roads. This showed that Shen Yang’s efficiency in handling matters was higher than they had imagined.
Feng Yi and Kong Xirong remained at the manor. No longer as frightened as before, they were in no hurry to return to the city. They followed Han Qian to watch the lime burning as a form of entertainment, and specifically sent someone to the Marquis of Linjiang’s mansion to say they would be working at the military headquarters for these two days, hoping to escape two days of arduous riding and archery training.
The Third Imperial Prince Yang Yuanpu had always been extremely diligent and particularly wanted to gain others’ recognition through this. The one hour of riding and archery practice each morning and evening made Feng Yi and Kong Xirong, who had to accompany him, suffer unbearably.
Seeing that the chaotic situation at the lakeside had improved somewhat overnight, Han Qian thought that perhaps Shen Yang hadn’t slept at all after they returned to the manor the previous night. He wondered how the little old man managed to endure it.
At the workshop side, the earthen lime kiln had been built. It only reached thigh height, even more rudimentary than commonly seen stove platforms. It didn’t even have a furnace door or air vents—it could be said to be just a circle of low walls serving as a kiln. They simply laid a layer of rice and wheat straw and dead tree branches directly in the kiln, then laid a layer of blue-white stones broken into fist-sized pieces. After igniting it, they sealed the top of the kiln with yellow clay, leaving a small opening for ventilation. They said it would be ready after burning for a day and a night.
The entire process involved calcination, causing the blue-white stones to thermally decompose and generate quicklime.
Zhai Xinping from the dream realm had been very poor at chemistry, having returned all the chemistry knowledge learned in middle school to his teacher, but he could still grasp basic concepts. This made Han Qian feel at first glance that these kiln workers’ so-called ancestral techniques were truly crude and primitive.
The earthen lime kiln didn’t even have a furnace door, so naturally there was no furnace chamber to speak of.
Without a furnace chamber or air vents, there was no way to control the fire. If they wanted to build this earthen lime kiln larger and fill it with more limestone all at once, the amount and quality of lime that could be produced would be completely uncontrolled.
The key to building a large kiln was that the large kiln needed to have a furnace chamber—or air vents—that could control and observe the fire.
The problem was how to build such a furnace chamber, what refractory materials to use that wouldn’t fear fire and could leave enough large openings for ventilation, while also being able to support thousands of pounds of limestone and charcoal without the furnace chamber collapsing during the lime burning process.
Han Qian thought that since the earthen lime kiln didn’t even have air vents and used wheat straw as fuel, the flame temperature for burning the stones probably wouldn’t be too high. He had Guo Nu’er take a long iron rod used for quarrying and insert it into the kiln from the top of the furnace.
After a long while, he pulled the long iron rod out. Seeing that the iron rod had only just turned red, it appeared that the furnace fire temperature for calcining limestone really wasn’t high enough to melt the iron rod.
Since cast iron could be used to construct a furnace chamber, Han Qian didn’t find any difficulty at all in rebuilding a large kiln.
“For the large kiln, leave a furnace chamber at the bottom for ventilation and fire observation. Place an iron grating on top of the furnace chamber, lay a layer of charcoal on the upper level to ensure the stone powder doesn’t leak down, then layer after layer spread blue-white stone blocks and firewood. Let’s burn it for several more days to see the results!” Han Qian called Fan Xicheng over, drew out his conceived plan with paper and pen, explained it to him, and had him find a few more tenant farmers to come help Guo Nu’er and the several kiln workers attempt to build the large kiln.
“Sir, if this doesn’t work, we’ll ruin several thousand pounds of blue-white stones and dozens of loads of firewood all at once.” A kiln worker felt Han Qian was being reckless. After working up his courage for a long time, he came forward with well-meaning advice.
An ordinary craftsman household, after working themselves to death for an entire year, could only earn five or six thousand coins.
Two to three thousand pounds of blue-white stones wasted would be equivalent to three to five months of work for these kiln workers. They truly didn’t dare to easily try new methods. But if Han Qian was reluctant to waste even this much, what could he possibly accomplish?
Han Qian smiled slightly. At this moment, he didn’t want to explain too much. After all, these kiln workers couldn’t read a single character, their concepts were outdated and stubborn. No matter how much effort he put into explaining, it wouldn’t be as good as directly instructing them to make it and see the results.
“Can your reckless tinkering possibly work?” Feng Yi pulled Kong Xirong over to watch the excitement. Seeing that Han Qian had no previous contact with this lowly trade, had only heard these craftsmen talk about it once the previous night, and after seeing the earthen kiln they had built this morning, was already planning to directly rebuild a large kiln, he felt it was unreliable no matter what.
“If I can randomly tinker and produce some results, how much will you wager with me?” Han Qian asked Feng Yi with a smile.
Although in the middle and late periods of the previous dynasty, regional military governors had established separatist势 势, and the newly emerging civil service examinations had relatively limited influence, making scholars less lofty, while aristocratic families were relatively more practical, neither scholars nor aristocratic scions would engage in these lowly trades, let alone have specialists research them.
This meant that for any traditional craft in the current age to improve, it relied on the accumulation of several or even dozens of generations of craftsmen, making the entire process naturally extremely slow.
Although Han Qian didn’t fantasize about conjuring up out of thin air the kind of jaw-dropping industrial system from the dream realm, if he couldn’t improve to some degree even such crude contemporary craftsmanship, he would truly be unworthy of the advanced thinking and knowledge beyond this era that the dream realm had brought him.
Of course, Han Qian also didn’t expect to immediately build a large kiln that could produce tens of thousands of pounds of quicklime in one firing. He decided to first modify based on the earthen method, attempting step by step, then have Fan Xicheng organize additional manpower specifically for quarrying operations, implementing division of labor and cooperation. He believed the lime kiln he built would produce results that others absolutely couldn’t match.
“One gold coin.” Although Feng Yi didn’t believe Han Qian was omnipotent, he had also learned to be clever and wouldn’t randomly jump into his traps.
Han Qian rolled his eyes at Feng Yi. With a wager of only one gold coin, he couldn’t be bothered with him.
……
Previously, when building houses and courtyard walls at the manor, although Fan Xicheng had been solely responsible, he had hired nearby masons to do the work, while he and other family soldiers acted as supervisors watching from the side.
Now he had to personally get involved, leading tenant farmers who knew nothing to work. Han Qian had only drawn a simple diagram with paper and pen and explained with gestures and comparisons. He seemed to understand, but when actually starting to do it, he was somewhat at a loss.
As for those several lime burners, the earthen kilns they had built before all relied on experience. The kiln walls didn’t even reach thigh height. More importantly, the firewood and crushed stones were piled directly on the ground. Since the earthen kiln didn’t bear much weight, it didn’t matter if it was built somewhat crookedly.
The large kiln they now wanted to rebuild had a diameter twice as large, needed to leave a furnace chamber below, and was planned to have six to seven layers of limestone and charcoal stacked above, nearly the height of a person. The furnace chamber needed to bear the weight of five to six thousand pounds of crushed stones and charcoal suspended in air. This difficulty was much higher than imagined.
If the kiln walls were slightly crooked, before the lime could be burned, the large kiln might collapse first.
However, Fan Xicheng didn’t want to show weakness before his young master Han Qian. Leading people to tear down a building for bricks and mix mud mortar, he started working on it.
Although it was called a large kiln, it was only about two steps square. After Han Qian returned to the manor with Feng Yi and Kong Xirong for breakfast, when the sun had climbed above the treetops and he brought Qing Yun, Old Uncle Zhao, Zhao Ting’er, and Zhao Wuji back to the workshop, he saw the kiln walls had already been built to half a person’s height. The speed wasn’t slow.
It was just that no matter how one looked at it, the kiln walls were crooked.
“Should I send someone to the Palace Supply Bureau to find a master craftsman to help you? Otherwise, when these kiln walls collapse under pressure, you’ll owe me one gold coin.” Feng Yi asked somewhat gleefully.
The truly skilled craftsmen near Jinling were almost all recruited into the Palace Supply Bureau.
Whether it was the construction of imperial palace buildings, the firing of utensils used by the imperial family and the weaving of robes and garments, or the casting of warships and military equipment for the personal guard troops, as well as the minting of coins—these were all the finest creations in the current age, or at least in the Jianghuai region.
The excellent craftsmen who specialized in these tasks were mainly concentrated in the Palace Supply Bureau.
Standing to the side, Fan Xicheng’s old face flushed red with embarrassment, but he also felt that Han Qian assigning him this task was somewhat unreasonable. It really would be better to send someone now to invite an old master over.
Fan Xicheng could be considered talented and capable, but there was clearly still a considerable gap from the kind of capability Han Qian expected. He sighed and said to Zhao Ting’er: “Ting’er, tell Uncle Fan how to see whether these kiln walls are built straight or crooked!”
“Can your household slave match an old master?” Feng Yi asked with a laugh.
“If Zhao Ting’er can direct these craftsmen to build the large kiln, how much will you wager with me?” Han Qian had just happened to teach Zhao Ting’er these past few days how to measure level and how to compare vertical alignment. He stood with hands on his hips, smiling as he looked at Feng Yi and asked.
“If Zhao Ting’er can use these craftsmen to build the large kiln, I’ll give this Hepu pearl to her!” Feng Yi pulled out a longan-sized Hepu pearl from his bosom and glanced at Zhao Ting’er.
A longan-sized Hepu pearl was worth about one hundred thousand coins and was absolutely a rare treasure in Jinling. Seeing that Feng Yi was still trying to seduce Zhao Ting’er even while making a wager, Han Qian inwardly cursed him and said to Fan Xicheng: “You find ten or so people to go into the mountains to quarry blue-white stones. They might be needed tonight.”
Fan Xicheng knew that his young master Han Qian had always had considerable opinions about him. Now seeing the young master send him to lead people into the mountains to quarry stones while entrusting the kiln building to a half-grown young girl, he felt unspeakably aggrieved.
However, before Han Qian had come over, Shen Yang had also sent someone to urgently inquire when the lime kiln could be completed. Fan Xicheng didn’t dare delay this matter. No matter how aggrieved he felt, he could only do the tasks he was competent at.
Zhao Ting’er and Zhao Wuji’s father, Old Uncle Zhao, who happened to have free time during the agricultural off-season, had also been pulled over by Fan Xicheng to help build the kiln. At this moment, he walked to the corner and quietly tugged at his daughter’s sleeve, advising her not to show off.
Old Uncle Zhao thought in his heart that if this girl caused the young master to lose such a large pearl, even selling her wouldn’t be enough to compensate.
Moreover, how could such a major matter as building a large kiln allow a young girl to interfere? Wasn’t this inviting bad luck?
Zhao Ting’er, however, was eager to try and paid no attention to her father’s dissuasion.
Those several lime burners were unwilling in their hearts, but they didn’t dare mutter anything in front of Han Qian. They just shrank back and watched as Zhao Ting’er, not minding that the ground was somewhat muddy after the snow had melted, found a small wooden board and used silk thread to tie a copper coin to it, creating the simplest plumb line.
Pressing the plumb line to the kiln wall that had already been built to half a person’s height and letting the copper coin hang straight down, when compared, the crooked kiln wall became even more obvious.
“See clearly? Make several more such plumb lines, and after laying every two or three layers of bricks, straighten them accordingly. The entire structure built upward won’t be crooked.” Han Qian never missed an opportunity to discipline these family soldiers like Fan Xicheng.
Fan Xicheng was ashamed and didn’t know what to say.
Since the kiln walls didn’t involve woodwork, building them level and straight was key. Seeing Zhao Ting’er use such a simple method to directly grasp the crucial point, Feng Yi was also somewhat dumbfounded. He couldn’t help but clap and praise: “This method is wonderful! So seeing whether a wall is straight or crooked is this simple!” Still unwilling to give up, he asked Han Qian, “How about I offer ten Hepu pearls and you let me have this clever and bright slave?”
“That’s because you’re all stupid.” Han Qian didn’t even acknowledge Feng Yi. Seeing that those craftsmen and tenant farmers still looked down on Zhao Ting’er for being a young girl, he scolded them: “Tear down all the kiln walls and rebuild them! Also, bring over several bags of lime and mix it into the mud mortar for building the walls!”
The manor had already prepared a batch of lime for emergencies. Han Qian thought that mixing lime into the mud mortar for building the kiln walls could make them more solid.