Abandoned Prince Survival Guide

Now that tofu is made, of course we can't just drink simple tofu nao.Xiao Yu put the tofu brains in a cloth bag, squeezed out some of the water, and made tender tofu and firm tofu respectively.He cooks himself, and arranges fried tofu, fried tofu, mapo tofu, stuffed tofu, and stewed fish with tofu.

That night, everyone had a sumptuous tofu feast, which was an eye-opener and a feast for the eyes. The elderly and children especially liked it and were full of praise.Everyone praised Xiao Yu, how can Mr. Lang be so capable, he can do everything.

An old man who has been begging in many places said: "I thought soybeans could only be used to make bean rice, but I didn't expect to be able to make tofu. This tofu is much more delicious than that bean rice, especially suitable for my old man with bad teeth. I'm afraid those wealthy families in Yazhou City have never eaten such delicious food."

When Xiao Yu heard this, his heart moved, or the whole tofu workshop specially arranged for people to make tofu, so that he could eat it himself and sell some to subsidize his family.It's a pity that the family is full of old people and children, and no one can do this.

The new house has already been built, and Xiao Yu is not in a hurry to move. The new house is too damp, so let it air out first, and a new set of furniture needs to be prepared. When all these are ready, at least it will be after the Dragon Boat Festival.

And there are many small details that need to be improved, such as the toilet and bathroom.He plans to make a ceramic squat pit, if not, at least build a sewer, dig the cesspit outside the courtyard, so that it can be washed with water later, and the peculiar smell of the toilet should be minimized.The bathroom should also be designed separately so that there is no need to take a bath in the bedroom.And also for men and women.

So in addition to arranging for people to re-make bricks and burn green bricks, Xiao Yu's main energy was placed on studying the soil and stones brought back by Min Chong and Ji Shan.These days, Xiao Yu has become a kid playing with mud, rubbing mud all day long.

But I have to admit that he is not as good at playing with mud as the children at home. After all, he has never used mud as a toy, and neither has the original owner.He selected a few muddy clay from the group of children at home, and asked them to make bowls, saucers, pots and other shapes according to their own requirements.

But the problem soon came out, without a drawing machine, it would be difficult for even dexterous hands to squeeze the mud into an even thickness, so Xiao Yu began to think about making a manual drawing machine.But he was a little bit at a loss, because he also knew that there was such a thing, and he had never seen the real thing at all.

This day, he was frowning and thinking hard, thinking about what to do with the drawing machine.Yu'er came over, showing a cute smile, watching him hesitate to speak.Xiao Yu raised his eyes and asked her, "Yu'er, what do you want to say?"

Yu'er asked: "Mr. Lang, when shall we make tofu again?"

Xiao Yu said: "Want to eat tofu again? Let's do it, let's go and grind the beans." Anyway, idle is idle.

"We can grind the soybeans ourselves, without the help of the gentleman." Yu'er got the approval, and happily ran to grind the soybeans.

"I'll help you grind the beans." Xiao Yu went to help the little girls grind the beans.At the request of his sister, Ji Hai lifted the upper grinding disc to clean up the dust.Looking at the protruding axis in the middle of the lower millstone, Xiao Yu suddenly had a flash of inspiration. If the structure of the millstone is turned upside down, wouldn’t it be possible to make a casting machine that can rotate fixedly? He turned around and ran away: “I can’t help you. You guys are grinding the beans, Ji Hai, you help them grind, I have something to do." Then he ran away.

"Where are you going, sir?" Ji Hai asked worriedly.

"I'm at home, you can help them, don't worry about me." Xiao Yu waved his hand.

Xiao Yu joyfully ran to look for materials for the drawing machine, wondering whether it is better to use stone or wood. Stone is wear-resistant and heavy enough, and it has a strong centrifugal force when it turns. It should be easier to pull the blank, but it takes more time to polish it. Wood is fast to make, but it is afraid that it will not last.But first you can make a wood test effect, and then ask the master stonemason to build some stone throwing machines, and even fire a ceramic throwing machine by yourself in the future.

As soon as he said it, he hurried to find the master carpenter who helped make furniture at home, and he didn't bother anyone. He just borrowed tools and found a piece of rosewood waste from the discarded wood.

When Pei Linzhi came back from Zhoucheng, he saw Xiao Yu stopped playing with mud and started playing with wood. He was splitting a piece of yellow sandalwood stake with an axe: "Lang Jun, what are you doing?"

The rosewood wood is too hard, Xiao Yu hacked for a long time, his hands were numb, and he couldn't even make a prototype: "Rinzhi, come and help me."

Pei Linzhi tied up his horse and came over to help: "What are you doing?"

Xiao Yu then expressed his thoughts on what he wanted to do, and Pei Lin pointed out the crux of the problem: "It's inconvenient to use an ax to do this, so let's borrow a chisel from Master Carpenter."

After Xiao Yu heard it, he laughed silly: "That's right, it should be more appropriate to use a chisel."

So they went to the master carpenter, borrowed ink fountains and compasses, and drew lines as needed.With a chisel in one hand and a hammer in the other, Pei Linzhi made a drawing machine for Xiao Yu.

Xiao Yu chuckled: "Rin is still smart, why didn't I think of that."

Pei Linzhi raised his head, looked at him dotingly, and did not speak. His Highness's occasional silly look was very cute, which made him feel that His Highness was someone close to him, not an omniscient and omnipotent saint.

With Pei Linzhi's help, the drawing machine was ready the next day.Xiao Yu called those boys over to play in the mud, and fumbled to make the blank. With the casting machine, the pottery blank was indeed much rounder and smoother.After these blank tires are placed in a cool place to dry, they can be fired.

Xiao Yu is still thinking about the design of the porcelain kiln. Although lime and blue bricks have been fired before, the temperature of firing porcelain is much higher than these two. Without coal, how can the temperature reach hundreds of degrees under effective conditions? Woolen cloth.

But there is no way to improve the fuel, so we can only work hard on the kiln.He first built a small porcelain kiln with mud and blue bricks in the yard, and put the air-dried plain tires into it for firing.Unlike bricks, clay adobe is very thin, so Xiao Yu didn't plan to burn it for too long, and decided to burn it for a day.

Two days later, the first batch of pottery was ready to be fired, and everyone in the family gathered around, waiting excitedly to witness the miracle. As a result, none of the three pottery was successful, and all were broken into pieces.

Xiao Yu was hit hard this time, was it because of the soil, the temperature, or the wrong time?The knowledge in this is too great.Xiao Yu was hit for the first time. It is no wonder that Chinese porcelain is the best in the world. It is because firing is too difficult. It cannot be fired casually, but it has been accumulated through hundreds of thousands of years of experience from countless generations. of.

There are still a lot of pottery blanks left, but Xiao Yu had a problem. Min Chong and Ji Shan brought back soil samples are limited, each can only be made into three or four utensils, if they have not been fired, why should they let them Go out for another run?Or should I just stop thinking about burning porcelain?

But it would not be Xiao Yu who gave up when encountering a little difficulty. After thinking about it, he decided to experiment with the clay of burning blue bricks first, at least get out the kiln and time first, and then consider whether the clay is good or bad.

So in the days that followed, Xiao Yu entered the stage of crazy experiments, leading a group of children to play with mud all day long, repeatedly screening and washing the dug-up soil to remove impurities, and then making the clay into green tires.Several small kilns with different specifications were designed and tested repeatedly.Yet failure still accompanies them.

Those children who made ceramics together almost lost their confidence, and their enthusiasm for making pottery blanks also dropped a lot. Only Xiao Yu still persisted, and he didn't believe that he couldn't make pottery.

The weather was already very hot, and Pei Linzhi felt sorry for him being roasted by the extremely high temperature porcelain kiln every day, and said, "Why don't I find a skilled craftsman."

Xiao Yu squinted at him: "Where can I find it?" If he could find a craftsman, would he need to bother so much.

Pei Lin was at a loss for words, he had actually gone to Yazhou city to ask about it, and all the ceramics sold in the grocery store were shipped from Guangzhou, that is to say, no one in Yazhou fired ceramics at all.

Xiao Yu laughed: "Don't worry, I believe it can be burned out."

Emperor Tian paid off, after [-] or [-] failures, Xiao Yu finally fired a good pottery, which encouraged everyone, and it was still possible to burn it.

Pei Linzhi looked at Xiao Yu who was completely darkened by the sun and high temperature, and felt distressed, His Highness is really amazing.

But Xiao Yu knew that this was only the first step, the next step was to apply the glaze.He ground quartz stone and feldspar into powder, mixed it with plant ash and clay, then dipped the fired pottery in it, took it out and dried it, and then put it into the kiln to continue firing.

Unfortunately, the result of the firing was not satisfactory. After washing the vessel, most of the glaze on the pottery fell off, and only a few places were still stained with glaze, probably because the temperature was higher in that place and it adhered to it.

Although it was unsuccessful this time, it also gave Xiao Yu confidence that at least the glaze was stained, indicating that the temperature could still be reached, and the kiln should be improved to make the pottery evenly heated.

Xiao Yu continued to experiment persistently. After countless failures and repeated battles, he finally opened the porcelain kiln on a sunny morning and saw the reflective ceramics inside. He took it out and saw that the glaze was almost attached to it this time. , although there are some unevenness and chapped lines, it is indeed porcelain, and it has not fallen off after washing.

Xiao Yu was overjoyed, dancing and shouting: "Rinzhi, Rinzhi, come and see, I have finally fired! Haha, I am porcelain that has finally been fired."

He turned around and wanted to find Pei Linzhi, but he bumped into someone unexpectedly, and his body fell back uncontrollably. The porcelain bowl in his hand almost fell to the ground, but the other person reached out to grab it and stabilized his body: " Watch out!"

Xiao Yu grasped the bowl in his hand, took a step back, and stood firm: "I'm scared to death, Mr. Min, it's you, look, my porcelain is finally fired successfully. That's great, haha!"

Min Chong let go of Xiao Yu's hand on his waist, and looked at the smiling Xiao Yu, with a little black dust on his face, but it didn't affect his high spirits in the slightest.During this period of time, Xiao Yu's efforts were all in his eyes. He didn't expect such a tenacious perseverance in this weak-looking young man. It was really impressive. It was not unreasonable for so many people to surround him.

Min Chong raised the corner of his mouth slightly: "I see, congratulations!"

Xiao Yu chuckled: "My Maritime Silk Road is one step closer, and I will have to work hard for Master Min in the future."

Min Chong nodded slightly: "Yes."

Yu'er, who was busy in the kitchen, heard the noise and came out: "Mr. Lang, is the cooking done this time?"

Xiao Yu replied loudly: "This time it's finished."

"Really?" Yu'er ran over excitedly, holding the porcelain bowl in his hand, looking over and over again, "It really is a bowl, although it's a bit ugly, but it's still burnt, sir, you are so amazing, this bowl can take a lot of money." What are you doing here?"

Xiao Yu said: "I plan to use it as a job for Little Lucky." Little Lucky is the leopard cat he raised, because it was lucky to be rescued by Pei Linzhi, Xiao Yu named it Lucky.

At this time, Pei Linzhi, who had finished his military training, came back from the outside, and saw the bowl in Yu'er's hand at a glance: "Mr., did you succeed?"

When Xiao Yu saw him, he immediately smiled and rolled his eyes: "Yes, it finally succeeded this time, look quickly."

Pei Linzhi ran over quickly and took the bowl in Yu'er's hand. The bowl was black because the glaze was mixed with plant ash, the glaze color was uneven, and the glaze surface was uneven, but it was indeed a porcelain bowl. Pei Linzhi Said: "Lang Jun, give me this bowl."

Xiao Yu smiled: "Why do you want this, I plan to make a job for Lucky. I will cook it for you in the future."

Pei Linzhi's complexion changed: "I want this, this is the first porcelain bowl that Lang Jun fired, it is of great significance. Yu'er took it for me and washed it, put it away, and tell everyone, don't use my bowl .”

"Okay, Mr. Pei, I'll write it down." Yu'er took the bowl and took it to the kitchen to wash it.

In fact, no one will take it if he doesn't say it, because it is a meal-sharing system, and everyone has a fixed bowl for eating, and they eat and wash themselves.I was worried that there would be guests at home, and the busy people in the kitchen took this bowl to the guests.

Xiao Yu can't laugh or cry, this is just his own experiment, it is not well done, it can only be regarded as a barely successful product, but he insists on this, it is quite touching, Rinzhi will always support him the most people.

Since this morning, Pei Linzhi has been eating with this bowl.Everyone in the family eats with coconut bowls, only Pei Linzhi eats with a porcelain bowl that is not even round, which is truly unique.However, he didn't realize that the food was delicious.

Xiao Yu couldn't help but force himself not to look at him while eating.

With the first success, the next step will be much smoother, because Xiao Yu has made detailed records every time, following this step, the chance of success will be greatly improved.

In order to make the firing more stable, Xiao Yu fired it several times, with a success rate of [-]% to [-]%. Only then did he use the clay brought back by Min Chong and Ji Shan to make pottery.

Due to the limited materials, Xiao Yu did it very carefully, and finally selected the best one from this batch of soil. The porcelain fired with this soil is delicate and smooth, and the glaze effect is also the best.

Xiao Yu decided to use this soil to make porcelain from now on, and luckily, the clay was produced in Zhuguan County, and it took less than a day to go back and forth on horseback. within the acceptable range.

After confirming the place to fetch the land, Min Chong and Ji Shan took another trip with them. This time, they hired a few people from the village to go with them. They will help them fetch the clay in the future. After all, Min Chong and Ji Shan are both going to sea.

When they set off, they drove several ox carts.The cattle were rented from the village, and Xiao Yu asked the carpenter to make the big cart in advance. There was no rubber to make wheels, and it was a bit difficult to bend straight wood to make wheels, so they simply used huge ancient wood for wheels.

Xiao Yu felt that it was a bit of a crime. Such a big tree had grown for hundreds of thousands of years, but in the end it still failed to escape the fate of being cut down.It would be great if there were rubber trees. Although Yazhou can grow them, the origin of rubber trees is the same as that of peppers, potatoes, corns and sweet potatoes. They are all in remote South America, that piece of land favored by heaven.I really hope that one day, he can sail across the Pacific Ocean, reach that rich land, and bring them all back.

The porcelain kiln was finally built, and Xiao Yu began to look for people in the village. Although the children in the family could help, they were still young, so at least one person in charge was needed.

This morning Xiao Yu finished class and was about to leave, when he heard Meng Hong who came to class say, "Mr. Xiao, please stay."

Xiao Yu stopped: "Brother Meng?"

Meng Hong said: "I heard that Mr. Lang is going to build a porcelain kiln."

Xiao Yu nodded: "Yes, it's finally finished, and the kiln can finally be built."

"Do porcelain kilns need manpower?"

Xiao Yu looked at him unexpectedly: "Brother Meng wants to help?" He was in charge of implanting the bead core, and he would only be busier than Xiao Yu.Fortunately, after he came to class, the students helped to plant the land at home.

Meng Hong waved his hand: "I'm not coming, I'm not free, I just want to recommend someone."

"Is there a suitable candidate?" Xiao Yu asked.

Meng Hong said: "It's my brother-in-law. His wife died of dystocia at the beginning of the year, leaving behind two young children waiting to be fed. He used to fish and pick pearls for a living. Now there are children to take care of at home. I want to find a job for him. Errands out."

"As long as the character can be guaranteed, and the person is diligent and capable, that's fine." Xiao Yu readily agreed.

Meng Hong showed joy: "Then thank you sir, I will let my brother-in-law come over later."

Xiao Yu said, "Then where is his home?"

Meng Hong said: "When the time comes, he will move to my house and bring the children with him. During the day, my wife will help him look after the two children."

Xiao Yu nodded: "Then sister-in-law will have to work hard."

Meng Hong smiled wryly: "There is no other way, poor people and relatives, please help if you can."

In the afternoon of that day, Meng Hong brought his brother-in-law Fu Wang. Fu Wang was much younger than Meng Hong, in his twenties, when he was young and strong. No, how can I not be sad with two children alone.Xiao Yu sympathized with the other party.

Xiao Yu said: "Brother Meng, you happen to be here. I have something to trouble you. I want to draw up a document and sign a contract. I will make up for those who have been employed for a long time in the family. There are too many people. I am worried I can’t remember it, but it’s more reliable to have paperwork as proof, can you help with the drafting?”

Meng Hong said: "It's very good. There is a contract as proof, and there are constraints and guarantees between both parties. It's really not safe to rely on the oral agreement and the conscience between the employer and the employer."

Xiao Yu cupped his hands in thanks: "Then thank you, Brother Meng."

So Meng Hong helped draft several contracts, and long-term employees, including apprentices, would get one copy. Lizheng was invited to come and justify it, and both parties signed and stamped their thumbprints.

When Min Chong and Ji Shan come back, they will also sign a contract, so that they will be guaranteed.

The porcelain kiln has finally been repaired, and it is near home. There is no need to consider local materials like blue brick kilns and lime kilns.We can start work only after Min Chong and Ji Shan come back from digging the clay.

The repair of the porcelain kiln was regarded as an end to Xiao Yu's major concern, and he finally had the energy to do something else.

While he was busy burning ceramics, the silkworm chrysalis had already turned into a moth, and produced countless silkworm eggs, which were densely packed and covered with a thick stack of paper. This is the capital of the Silk Road.Xiao Yu put them in a box and put them on the shelf, and put charcoal on them to prevent moisture. After all, they won't be released until next year, so they can't be damaged.

The silk moths have come out, leaving behind a pile of cocoons like hills. These cocoons can now be used to make silk quilts.