Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The era presently really doesn’t have advanced technology, but a lot of techniques are taking form in terms of broad concepts or its prototype.
For example, they already have a rough understanding of technique for burning ceramics, to model after this and build a kiln is doable.
She got men to hunt for an expert in kilning in an elder, she interviewed him about his experience and used what she learnt from him as the basis for designing a suitable kiln.
The viewers in the livestream also helped enthusiastically, preventing her from making the wrong moves. Thus, the work proceeded smoothly.
“What does elder think of this soil?”
Jiang Pengji had transformed from a lioness into a tabby cat. She wore a thick straw shoe daily instead of her wooden clogs, her loose garments also changed into a simple, coarse cloth clothing. There wasn’t a regal part about her, rather she looked more like a peasant’s son who grew up in the fields.
If not for the unfeigned, noble aura; her high cultured disposition, perhaps the others would really begin to doubt her identity.
She has shopped around many places over the past two days, choosing an extensive range of soi, one of which is mixed with soil from the shopping mall. They are kept in an organized fashion to consult the experts who have accumulated kilning experience in the Xiangyang district.
The elder specialises in the kilning of ceramics: he sells ceramic bowls for a living. The biggest figure he has met in his life up until now was only the village head. When has he ever spoken to a district magistrate in person, much less one who has humbled herself to seek guidance and learn from him?
If it was from before, during the regular times, surely, someone would deem him crazy and say he was dreaming in broad daylight.
But today, something that wouldn’t happen in dreams took place before his very eyes.
He calmed himself down, pacified his tiny heart that got a shock back in position.
Weird things happen every year, this year particularly. Astonishingly, there’s a district magistrate who doesn’t like formal work but would rather play with sand, the old man muttered in his heart; his face focused on examining the various types of sand and their grade.
Based on the elder’s experience with burning ceramics, he carefully decided on three types of soil and weighed their pros and cons.
In general, if they’re burnt to synthesize ceramics, these are very apt. Jiang Pengji glanced at them, coincidentally, they were the same as the soil sold in the mall.
Since the old man is so certain, Jiang Pengji felt relieved. She has been up and down the mountain and running all over. It was worth it.
“Does elder feel that if they are tampered and moulded to such a shape…”
Jiang Pengji took out a neatly stacked pile of papers, after she opened it up, a three-dimensional cuboid is drawn on top. The drawing technique is constrained to be flat; it has the elementary idea of three-dimensional drawings. There are no such techniques around so the elder watched with amazement.
She used the piece of coal to draw a sketch but even he who can’t read managed to decipher what she drew.
“What’s the purpose of district magistrate in doing this?”
The elder flipped the paper around, deep down he secretly felt it was a pity.
Drawing strange things on a good piece of bamboo paper, be it vertically or horizontally it didn’t look like anything he’d ever seen. He wondered what its use is.
If thrown on the ground it can be horse feed, but to use it to burn the soil and derive an item, won’t it be weightier than horse feed?
Jiang Pengji replied, “To build homes, we will lay the ground, look at this thing, which is so uniform and orderly, if it’s stacked together, imagine how neat it will be.”
The elder suddenly opened his eyes wide saying, “This item can be used to build houses and lay the ground?”
As if a new world opened its doors to him, the elder held the bamboo paper in his hands and mumbled to himself, “If we use such a small item to build houses, how many do we need to burn?”
Jiang Pengji wrapped her arms around her chest, and answered seriously, “This won’t do for building houses.”
Bricks and wooden materials can be mixed and used as building materials, but ever since the earthquake, she strongly believes houses should be built firmly.
The houses in this era are cooling in summer and winter.
If the entire building is made of wood, it’d be burned to naught if a fire breaks out and could not be salvaged. Jiang Pengji wants to build on the present construction style by adding on bricks to increase its ability to trap warmth and its stability. If possible, it would also be considered a preventive measure should a fire breakout.
As she isn’t an expert in this field, she can only provide a general direction, the more detailed tasks must be delegated to those with greater expertise.
However, to rebuild Xiangyang district and designate the houses, she also factored in the scenario if a fire should happen.
“If this is used to construct houses, it is too extravagant…” the elder mumbled to himself.
Yet, because Jiang Pengji held a positive learning attitude, the elder who was trembling from the start, calmed down completely and discussed with her how to ignite the kiln, and what was the optimal method to burn and synthesize. Then they came to the problem of the temperature for burning.
From the elder’s experience, to burn and synthesize these tiles would require a monstrous amount of materials for fuel. The precise temperature required is very high, if there’s insufficient heat, once bricks are placed into the kiln, they will be burnt and damaged and the loss will be great.
With this wooden material, why not just use it to build houses instead of fuel for the synthesis of bricks?
The elder swallowed back his words into his gut… no matter how amicable this person is, this was, after all, the district magistrate and not the regular people that he could afford to provoke.
“How do you burn the ceramics on a regular basis?” Jiang Pengji questioned curiously.
Under the guidance of the elder, she gained insight into the burning of ceramics in this era, and its arcane environment and tools.
Despite the dry topic in the livestream these days, the audience still watched with enthusiasm.
Many in the audience enjoy airing their suggestions, and would go to the extent of researching and worked hard at presenting their views logically.
If any suggestions were accepted by The Streamer, it felt like they contributed to the rebuilding efforts in the Xiangyang district as well.
In this way they could be time travellers who went back to ancient times to work…it felt extremely rewarding, and they felt immersed into that context.
Qingge Manwu: “In the past, I watched many time travel stories, there’re storylines about constructing kilns but they mostly synthesized glass. This is surely a luxury item in ancient times, it seems like streamer is a practical person since you’re kilning bricks. Yet the value of bricks is much lesser than glass so it should be easier to synthesize?”
Buyao Hushuobadao: “I remember that glass is a derivative from kilning, when the streamer is apt at the technique of kilning bricks and Xiangyang district is constructed into a bustling and prosperous place, will you still fear there’s no resources and energy to synthesize glass? Streamer, you don’t have to intentionally use glass to cheat others. Products are precious when they’re rare, sell it at a high price and this product will surely bring in profits.”
Mainuerde Xiaohuochai: “*props up chin* Take one step at a time. When a big step is undertaken, the fall is more devastating.”
The bricks are still in process of refinement, yet they wish to discuss glass now.
Kengongzhude Dupingguo: “The failure rate of ceramic kilning is high due to various reasons. The temperature is of utmost importance, the fuel for the fire is mostly wooden material, to keep the fire burning in the kiln requires a huge amount of wood, which is very costly. I noticed The Streamer struggling to decide on coal yesterday, this choice is indeed more cost-friendly than wood. Then the next obstacle is how to increase the temperature in the kiln.”
Jiang Pengji multitasked, on one end she talked to the elder on the other she scrolled the dry content on the bullet screen.
She deliberated, then posted a comment on the bullet screen.
Streamer V: “@Kengongzhude Dupingguo, wind?”
The audience had a eureka moment and recalled something.
Kengongzhude Dupingguo: “Ventilator? Bellows?”
Jiang Pengji sank into deep thought and thought for a while before asking the elder, “Is it possible to use a tuoyue to increase the temperature in the kiln?
The old man pondered deeply, then replied feeling bad, “The effect is minimal.”
What is an air blower?
The audiences in the live stream are dumbfounded.
Though deciphering the meaning from Jiang Pengji’s words, it should be like a bellow or some machinery that can trap wind and increase the fire intensity.
Are there bellows in this era already?
Someone searched Baidu… it took about half a day to understand what Tuoyue means.
