Working Prophet.

Chapter 94 Red Brick
Compared with forging steel, the technique of firing bricks is much simpler, and basically belongs to the kind that can be done with hands.

Generally, civilizations that point out the technology of pottery will also learn to burn bricks by the way, and further unlock the production of glaze or glass.

Unlike many people's impressions, glass has a very long history.

Not counting the natural glass pillars produced by lightning strikes on the desert and melting the sand (also called silica tube stone or lightning lava, this kind of glass looks black because of too many impurities, just like coke. It seems that there is no other use besides being cool)
The earliest history of man-made glass production can be traced back to ancient Egypt and ancient Greece in BC. Of course, it was Rome that finally made glass.

The Romans invented glass mirrors by pasting metal on the back of the glass. In addition, they also mastered more complex glass crafts such as blowing, blow molding, cutting, engraving, and wire winding, and even made exquisite thin-walled glass vessels ( It’s just that there are a lot of air bubbles in it).

However, after the demise of Rome, their glass craftsmanship was gradually lost. In medieval Europe, only the stained glass mosaic technique remained.

In contrast, the Eastern Empire in the same period was almost 1000 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 nineteenth century, the shadow of glass could hardly be seen in the daily life of Eastern people, so that they missed the invention of telescope and microscope.

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 the Forest and Life to the elves, and they can use this transparent and thin material to make all kinds of beautiful utensils.

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 sun room, let alone a whole palace.

But it can also be seen from this that the glass craftsmanship mastered by those elves should not be too bad, maybe comparable to that of the ancient Romans.

Pulling away, let's talk about burning bricks.

Although the Red Lion Empire couldn't figure out the secret of the glass production by the elves, bricks could still be fired. However, after inquiring, Li Yu learned that only a few areas along the southern coast had sporadic brick kilns.

After all, the nobles of the empire look down on things like brick houses. They often prefer stone castles with stronger defenses and a more magnificent appearance. Mining, processing, and transportation will consume huge amounts of gold coins.

The civilians can look at it but can't afford it.

Even if the cost of firing bricks is not high, the raw clay is widely available and easy to obtain.

For most nobles, both freedmen and serfs are just pure production tools. As long as the most basic living conditions are guaranteed, they are not allowed to starve to death or freeze to death. Therefore, the taxation of the territory is often set very high.

Plus all kinds of corvee, such as each person needs 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 more.

Even less money will end up in the hands of farmers.

In addition, war and banditry are also factors that cannot be ignored. If the brick houses that were finally built were burned or knocked down, the losses would be even greater.

On the contrary, it is not as convenient as ordinary thatched longhouses to rebuild.

In this way, it is naturally difficult for brick houses to be popularized in the Red Lion Empire. In fact, if Li Yu remembers correctly, the universe he lives in did not start to increase in number in Europe until the twelfth century. .

Of course Li Yu was not interested in waiting that long.

At this stage, the cost of reinforced concrete structures is still too high for him, so Li Yu has to give up, but he can still afford to build a few brick kilns.

Moreover, Miss Rabbit's family fiefdom is a little remote, but it is not completely unhealthy, at least the flames of war are not easy to burn here on weekdays.

After all, there must be a reason for fighting. The green fields are mediocre, and it is not worth sending out an army. Even if you win, you can only grab some radishes and go back.

Calling this triumphant, I am afraid that I will blush first.

In the past, the biggest trouble in this land was the lizardmen robbers living in the swamp, but now these lizardmen have been recruited by Li Yu, it's fine if they don't rob others, and no one around dares to provoke them.

From this point of view, the cost of reconstruction does not need to be considered.

The only problem was that Li Yu couldn't directly recruit ready-made bricklayers from the western border.

And the south is too far away, even if those craftsmen are willing to come and build brick kilns for him, it will take two months at the fastest. This is only when Li Yu offers a high price that they cannot refuse, so they are willing to leave their hometown and travel all the way. Come to the domain of the Arias family.

Although Li Yu has money, there are still many places where he needs to spend money in the future. He doesn't want to spend so much, and he doesn't want to wait so long, so he simply builds a brick kiln by himself.

Unlike games 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 already prepared for this. After setting up the construction plan, he took out his own energy to write a thesis, began to collect documents on the Internet, learned and summarized technical points, and even went to the library to borrow a few books. Books on this subject.

When it was time to actually do it, 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, and so on.

He even thought of a way to bring a small manual brick making machine to Bratis by dismantling and carrying it in batches, thus greatly increasing the speed of brick making.

But even so, it will take three weeks in real time to burn the bricks that Li Yu is barely satisfied with, and it will be a full two months in the Bratis Continent.

But looking at the whole row of square red bricks that were burnt to the same size and shape, Li Yu still felt that all the hard work during this time was worth it.

The next step is to expand the scale of the brick kiln. Li Yu plans to gradually increase the brick production to 5 yuan per day, which can almost meet the needs of the next construction.

　There are a lot of information to be checked recently, so the update time may be delayed a little bit, but we will still guarantee two updates a day, everyone go to bed early at night, if not, just get up early the next day and watch again.

　
(End of this chapter)