[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

Previously, people from an unknown tribe discovered by accident that clay could become hard when fired in a bonfire, and the clay would become plain pottery.

But the fire wasn't hot enough to turn the biscuit pottery into real pottery.

The firing of pottery can be achieved by increasing the firing temperature, but this requires the use of a material that releases more heat when burned-charcoal.

Yi Nan looked at the charcoal in his hand with some complacency: Humans in history invented charcoal, probably by accident, and found these dark fuels covered with holes in the embers of campfires that could not be completely burned.

The high temperature generated when charcoal is burned can even be used to make steel.

With this kind of fuel in hand, humans can even light up their smelting skills very quickly.

Yi Nan packed up all the charcoal, and then took a small amount of clay and started making pottery blanks.

The clay resources along the Euphrates River are very rich.The large chunks of clay raised from the river bank are pure and fine in texture, without impurities, and do not even require special purification.

The pottery wheel specially used for making pottery blanks has not yet been invented. Yinan’s method is to knead the pottery by hand, and try to make it as thin and even as possible. Can see past.

Next, Yinan put the pottery blanks in a bonfire with charcoal and fired them. After a few hours of burning, he set aside the firewood to let the pottery blanks inside cool down slowly and naturally. Looking back the next day, all the pottery blanks had been fired. pottery too.

Yi Nan picked up one and looked at the light, and saw that all the holes on the surface of the pottery blank had been filled, and the whole pottery looked smooth and moist, and then filled it with water to try it, and it sure did not leak, and the pottery itself would not absorb water anymore.

But not every pottery is fired successfully.One or two pieces of pottery were cracked during the firing process, but the fragments were also fired into "pottery", hard and sharp.

Yinan also handed these pieces to Huan to see if Huan could use them to cut fabrics, chop vegetables and so on.

The burning of the pottery cup has received enthusiastic responses from the tribe.The women couldn't put it down holding the pottery cups, and most of the men were also amazed.

——Now they can finally make things that can hold water more conveniently.

Everyone looked at Yi Nan with eager eyes - this "god" really has some skills.

Yi Nan himself was not very satisfied: the fired pottery was yellow-brown, bare and without any decoration, which really had nothing to do with the "pottery art" of later generations.

But now is not the time to worry about the appearance, Yinan just took advantage of this fresh energy to mobilize everyone and expand production capacity.

So, the old and the young in the tribe went out together, went to the Euphrates River, took out a whole piece of clay, and did not deal with it right away, but took it back to the tribe directly and put it in the shade to dry slowly.

After drying to a certain extent, Yinan asked everyone to compact the clay (which had already become clay) with stone slabs, and she took out her own safety rope, one folded up as a ruler, and the other stretched tight for cutting pottery. Mud's "rope cutter", along with Dan, cut the clay into cubes of the exact same size.

The whole unknown tribe was dumbfounded: Can this whole piece of clay be turned into the clay cups, bowls and pots they want?

Yi Nan didn't care to answer everyone's doubts for a while, she directed everyone to prepare firewood, buried these whole pieces of clay in the firewood, and then lit a bonfire.

Dan looked back and forth, and finally asked the question in his heart: "My god, why don't you use the charcoal we burned?"

Yi Nan shook his head: "It's not needed yet."

When the fire was extinguished, Dan held a branch in his hand and pushed away the ashes covering the clay block, revealing the gradually cooling clay block below.

The people of the tribe let out an "oh" and sighed one after another——

"Why didn't it become a usable vessel, but still piece by piece?"

"Is the goddess' spell not working?"

Ku, who had been watching coldly, even snorted and turned to do his own business.

On the other hand, Yi Nan happily inspected the cooled lump of clay. She took a piece and weighed it with her hands, feeling very satisfied:

Although this is not a pottery vessel for everyday use, it is a plain pottery brick!

These plain clay bricks can be fired with an ordinary campfire.There are many pores in plain ceramic bricks, which are full of air, but this just gives plain ceramic bricks the characteristics of thermal insulation.

——With this basic building material, what's wrong with it?

"It's gone!" The whole unknown tribe no longer watched Yinan's pottery crafts, only Dan and a few teenagers stayed.

But earlier, with enthusiasm, everyone had dug enough clay from the river.To be precise, the reason why Yinan first used charcoal to burn the pottery samples was to arouse the enthusiasm of the villagers, let them see a little "sweetness", and then go all out to help her get all the clay she needs from the river. side to fetch.

Yi Nan took Dan with him and burned one crop after another, turning all the clay into clay bricks.

"Yinan, my god, what are you doing?"

Dan watched Yi Nan build a strange-shaped small house with clay bricks. He said it was a house, but it was only half the height of a person.Even his ten-year-old child had to bend over to get in.

After Yinan finished building this "small house", he started to make pottery blanks.

This time she did it very relaxed and freehand. She asked Huan what kind of utensils women wanted. After collecting various opinions, she really made clay bowls and plates according to their opinions. A jar with a handle.

And Dan and several children in the tribe used clay as a toy, making various animals and little people.

All these pottery blanks were finally piled into Inanta's "little room".Yi Nan piled firewood on one end and lit the fire.Smoke billowed out from the pre-reserved flue at the other end of the hut.

After burning like this for most of the day, Yi Nan extinguished the flame inside.When the "hut" was completely cooled, Dan got in with his body arched, and carried out the fired pottery one by one.

There are shallow pottery plates, deep pottery bowls, and a pot with a handle.

Not only these containers, but also the small animals and figurines that Dan and the others created were also fired into pottery dolls.

Yi Nan is very proud: this is not a simple "hut", this is a kiln!

The children were also crazy about it.The "little friends" they made with their own hands are no longer soft mud that can be flattened by stepping on them, but clay dolls with smooth and firm surfaces.

For a while, the children of the entire tribe wanted to make persistent efforts and create a "doll tribe" for themselves.

The women are also very proud.These newly fired vessels are much easier to use than those made of wood and stone.

Huan held the jar from ear to ear and thanked Yinan again and again: "Dear God, with this, the tribe can store the excess goat milk and leave it to the elderly who are not strong enough..."

The ewe raised in the tribe produces goat milk every day, and the lamb has gradually grown stronger and can already eat grass.Now that there are clay pots, the women in the tribe can squeeze out the excess goat milk every day and save it for the weak.

But Dan looked at Yinan thoughtfully, looking like an outlier in the whole happy tribe.

"My God, Yinan," he tugged at Yinan's sleeve, "You burned charcoal back then, in fact, just to burn a few pottery cups for show? The main reason is that you want everyone to help get more pottery clay to burn these pottery cups." brick……"

Yi Nan reached out to touch his head, and replied with a smile, "Yes, only with clay bricks can there be a brick kiln, and only with a brick kiln can more pottery be fired on a large scale..."

This is like nesting dolls, the second step can only be done after the first step.If it weren't for the clay cups that were first fired with charcoal, she and Dan might still be moving "bricks" bit by bit from the Euphrates River here.

As soon as the brave men came back, they heard that the newly built "house" by Yinan had become a "house of the gods". Putting the pottery blanks in it could be fired into hard pottery quickly and well.The brave men didn't expect that the clay they dug hard would finally play a role, and they were all overjoyed.

Only Ku came to the kiln built by Yinan, looked at it for a long time, and even reached out to knock on the bricks on the kiln, listening to the sound.

He came to find Yi Nan, but he didn't know how to speak.The brave man who was as strong and mighty as an iron tower forcibly turned his face black and purple, rubbed his hands together and couldn't utter a word.

Yinan nodded at Chongku, and said with a preemptive smile: "Yes, that's right, it can be used to build houses, which is much better than what you use adobe now!"

At present, the houses in the unnamed tribe's residence are all built with rammed earth.The walls are not piled high, so in order to ensure the space for people to move around, the ground inside the house can only be dug down, making the house even darker and more humid.

As the leader of the tribe, Ku has good vision and foresight.He saw that Yinan could use clay to burn clay bricks and build such a house, so he naturally realized the importance of this material.

Let’s not talk about anything else, just imagine, if every room is neatly paved with such bricks on the ground—how pleasant it would be!

Yi Nan's words broke Ku's mind, but he didn't expect this brave man to blushed with a "guji".

Ku scratched his head: "This, Yi Nan...God, that me..."

"You don't need to thank me," Yinan waved his hand generously, "Go and see if the land I mentioned on the mountain is suitable for the tribe's new residence, and then consider whether to burn more bricks like this."

It seems that her "matryoshka" has successfully put on another layer.

The head of the tribe announced for the first time that he would consider building a new resident in the middle of the mountain with higher terrain-this time became big news in the tribe.

Dan couldn't sleep at night.Although he was smart, he still couldn't figure it out. Ku had never believed in Yinan, but why did he suddenly change his attitude on the matter of the resident.

Suddenly, a meowing sound came from outside.Dan Yigulu sat up, put on his fur coat, and went outside.

The moonlight was just right, and I saw Yi Nan standing under the watery moonlight, holding his cute pet in his arms, smiling sweetly at him.

"Come with me, I will teach you how to become a qualified 'witch'."

The author has something to say: the order of firing pottery is roughly like this:

The temperature of the bonfire is around 850°C, which can produce plain pottery→

The temperature rises to about 950°C (the campfire can no longer reach this temperature, and a kiln must be used), and pottery can be fired→

Apply a layer of minerals (salt) to the surface of the pottery to burn out the enamel of the ceramic surface→

By adding different minerals, you can burn out glass→

As the temperature continues to rise, the metal can be smelted.

This is basically how the human technology tree is lit up step by step.