Chapter 94 Red Brick
Compared with forging steel, the technique of firing bricks is much simpler, and it is basically something that only requires hands.
Generally speaking, civilizations that point out pottery technology will also learn to bake bricks, and furthermore, they can also unlock the production of glaze or glass.
Contrary to what many people may think, glass has a very long history.
Not counting the natural glass pillars (also called silica or lightning lava) produced by lightning striking the desert and melting the sand. This kind of glass looks black because of too many impurities, just like coke. In addition to being used There seems to be no other use besides being cool)
The earliest history of human production of artificial glass can be traced back to ancient Egypt and ancient Greece BC. Of course, it was Rome that finally made use of glass.
The Romans invented glass mirrors by pasting metal on the back of glass. In addition, they also mastered more complex glass techniques such as blowing, blow molding, cutting, engraving, and wire wrapping, and were even able to produce exquisite thin-walled glassware ( There are just a lot of bubbles inside).
However, after the fall of Rome, their glass craftsmanship was gradually lost. In medieval Europe, only the mosaic craftsmanship of colored glass remained.
In contrast, the Eastern Empire during the same period was almost a thousand years ahead of the world in the development of material technology. However, perhaps because of the fanatical preference for porcelain, glass technology was delayed in China.
Until the 19th century, Eastern people could hardly see the shadow of glass in their daily lives, so they missed the invention of telescopes and microscopes.
On the Bratis continent, the situation is a little more complicated. It is said that the secret of making glass is firmly in the hands of the elves.
The elves claim that this skill is a gift from the Mother Goddess of Forest and Life to the elves. They can use this transparent and thin material to make various beautiful vessels.
There are even rumors that there is a transparent palace made entirely of glass hidden deep in the forest.
Li Yu is personally skeptical of this statement, because the impact resistance of glass is so poor that it is not safe to build a sunroom, let alone an entire palace.
But it can also be seen from this that the glass craftsmanship mastered by those elves should not be too bad, maybe equivalent to the ancient Romans.
Going a step further, let’s talk about burning bricks.
Although the Red Lion Empire couldn't figure out the secret of the elves' glass production, bricks could still be burned. However, after inquiring, Li Yu learned that only a few brick kilns existed in a few areas along the southern coast.
After all, brick houses are not something that the nobles of the empire look down on. They tend to prefer stone castles that are more defensive and more magnificent in appearance. Even if the construction cost of a stone castle is much higher than that of a brick house, it is only made of stone. Mining, processing, and transportation will consume huge amounts of gold coins.
And civilians can like it but can't afford it.
Even though the cost of firing bricks is not high, the raw material clay is widely available and easy to obtain.
For most nobles, both free people and serfs are just pure production tools. As long as the most basic living conditions are guaranteed and they are not allowed to starve to death or freeze to death, the taxation of the territory is often set very high. high.
In addition to various corvées, such as each person needing to cultivate a certain amount of land for the lord every year, build or repair castles, military service, and other miscellaneous expenses, such as the use of bread ovens and wells, the cost of breeding boars, weddings and funerals Special gold and so on.
In the end, even less money will fall into the hands of farmers.
In addition, war and banditry are factors that cannot be ignored. If the brick house that was finally built is burned down or knocked down, the loss will be even greater.
On the contrary, it is not as easy to rebuild as ordinary thatched longhouses.
As a result, it is naturally difficult for brick houses to be promoted in the Red Lion Empire. In fact, if Li Yu remembers correctly, it was not until the twelfth century in the universe that Li Yu lived that brick houses gradually began to appear in Europe. .
Of course Li Yu was not interested in waiting that long.
At this stage, the cost of reinforced concrete structures was still too high for him, so Li Yu had to give up, but he could still afford to build several brick kilns.
Moreover, Miss Rabbit's family fiefdom is a bit remote, but it is not completely without benefits. At least it is not easy for wars to reach here on weekdays.
After all, there has to be a reason for fighting. The green fields are mediocre and not worthy of anyone sending out an army. Even if they win, they can only take back some carrots.
Call this a triumph, I'm afraid I'll blush first.
In the past, the biggest trouble in this land was the lizard man bandits living in the swamps, but now these lizard men have been recruited by Li Yu. As long as they don't rob others, no one around them dares to mess with them.
From this point of view, the cost of reconstruction does not need to be considered.
The only problem is that Li Yu cannot directly recruit ready-made bricklayers from the Western Region.
And the south was too far. Even if the craftsmen were willing to come and build a brick kiln for him, it would take two months at the earliest. This would only happen if Li Yu offered a high price that they could not refuse before they were willing to leave their homes and trek all the way. Come to the territory of the Arias family.
Although Li Yu was rich, he still had a lot to spend money on in the future. He didn't want to spend so much money, and he didn't want to wait so long, so he simply built a brick kiln by himself.
It is different from the game where you can easily unlock technology with just a click of the mouse.
In reality, it is not easy to invent a technology, even if it is just an existing technology, and develop it to the point where it can be put into use.
Fortunately, Li Yu was mentally prepared for this. After setting the construction plan, he put forward the spirit of writing his own paper and began to collect literature and materials online, learn and summarize technical points, and went to the library to borrow several books. Books related to this.
When it came time to actually get started, Li Yu purchased some tools and equipment from 1688, including but not limited to a thermometer that can measure the temperature of the brick kiln, standardized molds for making bricks, etc.
He even found a way to bring a small manual brick-making machine to Bratis by disassembling it and carrying it in batches, thereby greatly increasing the speed of brick-making.
But even so, the bricks that Li Yu was barely satisfied with were burned only three weeks later in real time, and a full two months had passed in the Bratis continent.
However, looking at the row of square red bricks that were exactly the same size and shape after being fired, Li Yu still felt that the hard work during this period was worth it.
The next step is to expand the scale of the brick kiln. Li Yu plans to gradually increase the brick output to 50,000 bricks per day, which can almost meet the subsequent construction needs.
There is a lot of information to be checked recently, so the update time may be delayed a bit, but we will still guarantee two updates a day. Everyone should go to bed early at night. If not, get up early the next day and read again.
(End of chapter)