One of the important preparations for the development of the farm base was the collection of agricultural tools. Zhang Fei sent people to purchase agricultural tools for more than ten days, and the agricultural tools were brought back in a steady stream.

In terms of cooking utensils, the kiln has plenty of manpower and the work is in full swing. The kiln is still being built, and there are more than a hundred and ten people digging and raking mud here who have already started working.

More than 20 young men were sweating profusely as they dug mud in the mud pit, and a dozen more people carried loaders of yellow mud. Others who were specifically responsible for handling the yellow mud began to wash it.

Another fifty or so people occupied the space in front of the old potter's house. The skilled potters, recruited from the Yellow Turban refugees, used the door panel as a workbench and used clay to shape pottery shapes on the door panel.

There is a vague standard for pottery, that is, it has a small volume and cannot be made that big.

Although the kiln has not been set up yet, according to Li Mengxi's observations while wandering around, one person does not care about anything else and is only responsible for kneading clay embryos. One person can probably knead more than thirty clay embryos a day.

That is to say, more than fifty skilled potters, with other people helping to dig out the mud, can make more than a thousand clay embryos a day, and there is no place to put them. Old pottery

The craftsman's house is too small.

I was forced to communicate with the village, occupy their threshing floor, and put the ready-made pottery clay embryos there first. After the kiln was built, I would bring carts of clay embryos there.

The old potter was very worried about the rain, saying that it would be ruined if it rained.

Li Mengxi looked up at the sky. He didn't understand the celestial phenomena, let alone the climate, and he didn't know when it would rain.

In this case, speed up the process of setting up the kiln. If the clay embryos made on the same day are sent to the kiln for burning on the same day, the clay embryos will not be left in the threshing floor and be turned into a pile of mud by heavy rains.

Because the weather was unpredictable, Li Mengxi went to speed up the progress of building the kiln again.

It is said that the clay firing technology was the prototype of later porcelain technology.

I also remember that it was written in the history textbook that during the Han Dynasty, primitive celadon technology existed in the Central Plains. I asked the old potter, did he know how to make porcelain?

The old potter was standing on the edge, looking at the group of people busy digging and sifting out mud. He was very happy when he heard Li Mengxi ask, "Porcelain? I don't know how to cook." The old man shook his head.

The old man doesn't know how to make porcelain, he only knows how to make pottery.

It was a pity. Li Mengxi thought that if the old man knew where to find porcelain clay that could be used to produce glaze, with porcelain clay, he might be able to try making porcelain.

The most important technical difference between the firing techniques of pottery and porcelain is the temperature.

Pottery can be burned with firewood, but porcelain has very high temperature requirements. If firewood is not enough, charcoal or even coal may be needed.

Another thing is that pottery does not have enamel, while porcelain does.

The reason why the glaze color of porcelain shows glaze color, you should have learned it in junior high school, and still vaguely remember that the glaze color is due to the color development effect of metal ions.

For example, iron red is iron rust. When it is mixed into the glaze and fired in a high-temperature kiln, the glaze will appear blood red.

Rust is made of ferric iron ions or divalent iron ions, I can’t remember exactly.

Then, sometimes an oxidation reaction occurs with iron ions, and sometimes a reduction reaction occurs. Different iron ions display different colors.

For divalent iron ions and trivalent iron ions, one displays red and the other displays green.

There are also copper ions, and copper shows blue.

These are some of the most important glaze colors.

The top treasures among Song Dynasty porcelains, Ru kiln's rainy and sunny porcelain, use iron as the raw material for color development, so it shows a light green color.

Because the old potter didn't know how to make celadon, and naturally didn't know where to get the glaze, Li Mengxi's plan to make porcelain was put on hold indefinitely.

Earlier, when trying to produce distilled wine, Li Mengxi thought that distilled wine could be sold everywhere as an economic product and make a lot of money.

If winemaking consumes too much food and the conditions are limited, then porcelain, which is also very profitable, consumes very little. It does not consume food and only uses soil and firewood. It is much more cost-effective than winemaking.

Several basic items needed for farming, farm tools and cooking utensils were finally solved.

Also, the bed and bedding for sleeping is another problem that is almost difficult to solve.

A quilt uses more cloth than the clothes of two adults.

Cloth is hard currency and can be used as money at any time.

If a quilt is provided for each of the peasants in the camp, it is one thing whether Zhang Fei's family has enough money to buy the fabric for sewing the quilt, gather a lot of people, and gather enough needles and threads to sew the quilt, cloth, needle and thread,

All are extremely difficult to accumulate.

Forced, Li Mengxi lowered the conditions again.

The bedding is really not good enough, so I don’t have to do it anymore.

Now in May and June, the weather is still hot, and it is really winter. If it is cold and you don't have a quilt, you can just make a nest with wheat straw and arch it in to keep out the cold.

There is no other way.

There really aren't enough bedding.

It is not necessary to prepare bedding, but it is necessary to prepare the manuscript bed for sleeping. Otherwise, do you have to sleep on the floor?

The good thing about manuscript mats is that they can be made out of wheat straw. Wheat straw can be found everywhere, and there are many refugees who know how to compile manuscript mats.

By then, as long as there is enough wheat straw, a sleeping mat and wheat straw to keep out the cold will not be a problem.

As for sleeping in wheat straw, whether bugs bite you or not, there is nothing you can do. Conditions are limited, so you can only do this.

It seems that all the supplies needed for farming are sufficient.

June 26th.

The kiln in the kiln farm was finally set up and production started on the same day.

At the same time, Li Mengxi, Liu Guanzhang and others discussed. While talking, they gathered together the supplies. They wanted to see if they could first send rangers to search for unclaimed areas that could be used for farming. When everything was ready, they could send people there directly to avoid having to search slowly.

.

Liu Guan and Zhang Shen thought so.

More than thirty people rode out again, first searching all over Zhuozhou County, and then leaving Zhuozhou, looking only for places with large plots of land and close to water.

On the 27th, Li Mengxi and Liu Bei came to the kiln together. Yesterday was the first day of opening the kiln. According to the order, the people worked continuously, day and night, and each kiln fired an average of three kilns.

Because there were sufficient preparations in the early stage, hundreds of civilians were busy, and the piles of mud and other things could not be accommodated.

On the first day, more than a thousand pottery came out of the kiln.

That is, the firing was a little hasty, the clay embryos were not dried in the shade, and the scrap rate was a little higher. Nearly 30% of the pottery came out of the kiln with cracks and could not be used.

However, excluding these defective products, there are eleven kilns of different sizes, with a daily output of more than 800 small pottery urns.

Li Mengxi looked at the carts of pottery being loaded away and breathed a sigh of relief. Now he could leave the farm base calmly.

By then, it was July.

In the past half month, there have been piles of hoes purchased from various places. The kiln has been busy day and night, and there is even more pottery being fired than there is room to put.

What supports the full operation of the pottery field are dozens of skilled craftsmen making clay embryos, more than 200 young and strong laborers responsible for digging and washing mud, and more than 10,000 refugees responsible for collecting firewood from everywhere.
Chapter completed!