The methods of bamboo weaving and rattan weaving are actually exactly the same, but the materials are different. When weaving, the bamboo strips can be treated and processed differently according to the size and type of the utensils.
For large utensils, the bamboo strips can be drawn thicker, while for delicate and small utensils, the bamboo strips must be drawn thinner and softer. Even the treatment on the base and frame is different.
These were not obvious in the previous rattan utensils. Therefore, making bamboo utensils not only pays attention to the weaving technology, but also pays attention to the processing of bamboo strips.
A skilled bamboo craftsman can use fine bamboo strips to weave utensils that can hold water.
After studying with Xu Chen for a few days, the selected men have all learned the skills of breaking bamboo and bamboo weaving, and their weaving skills seem to be better than Xu Chen's.
In fact, even if bamboo is a new tool that is better than rattan weaving, it is not likely to be traded and sold because it does not have any characteristics beyond the use of rattan weaving tools and is not as epoch-making as pottery and bronze.
The meaning and progress are, at best, more solid and beautiful.
Therefore, Xu Chen taught bamboo weaving technology to the Ba people this time just to make another thing, that is, a bamboo hat.
In the past, there was no bamboo, so it was impossible to make bucket hats. We could only use animal skins and some tough wooden sticks to make simple hats.
But the hat is too small after all. It can barely cover the sun, but it can't cover the rain at all.
Now that we have bamboo, we can use bamboo as a frame and use thin animal skin to make a wide and rain-proof hat, which is very convenient for sun protection and rain protection.
In recent years, as leather goods have become more and more widely used, leather processing technology has also made considerable progress.
Just like when Xu Chen used to write, he used raw leather that was simply scraped and cleaned and tanned with plant ash. But since he succeeded in making leather drums, he suddenly found a new method of leather processing. Not only can he boil the hair in hot water,
The skin and fat are completely removed, and the skin can be made thinner and larger through forceful stretching.
In other words, after processing a piece of ordinary animal skin, it can be made into leather that is thin, strong and double the area.
With continuous exploration and development, leather processing technology is now more mature. Not only can it be stretched, but it can also be cut and layered with sharp tools. A thick piece of leather can be divided into two or even three layers. Polishing has even been invented.
craftsmanship, so that leather products are more exquisite.
Nowadays, the animal skins used by Xu Chen, Little Witch and others to write on are completely different from those of a few years ago. They have the properties of Western medieval animal skin paper, which is very light and thin, and can even transmit light.
Use the thin animal skin after this treatment to make a bamboo hat, and then paint it once or twice with tung oil. Xu Chen believes that it will not only provide protection from the sun and rain, but also last for a long time. It will definitely be an essential tool for various tribes to use for home travel in the future.
As long as the Ba people master this technology, it will become a very important source of wealth in the future.
After all, making bucket hats is no longer just rough processing. It involves three advanced techniques: bamboo weaving, leather, and oil processing. It would be difficult for other tribes to learn it, especially in this era when tung oil is in short supply.
As long as the bamboo hat is successfully made, animal skins can be used to make umbrellas that are more portable in the future. In this way, the Ba people will have an advanced technology to make money in the long run. After forming a brand and characteristics, it may be passed down for thousands of years.
In order to cooperate with the production of bamboo hats and umbrellas, Xu Chen decided to set up a leather deep-processing workshop in the Ba people, which not only satisfied the needs of making bamboo hats and umbrellas, but also further developed the processing and processing of animal skins, striving to make thinner and real animal skin paper to meet the needs of the people.
There is a greater need for writing in the royal city.
Once the three emerging industries of painted pottery, bamboo hats and umbrellas, and animal skin paper are built, the Ba tribe will still have a huge influence in the Ba country in the future, and will still be the most powerful and wealthy tribe. This will also greatly enhance the tribe's sense of honor.
and cohesion.
As for other processing industries and casting and smelting industries that consume huge amounts of manpower, material and financial resources, Xu Chen will slowly promote them to other tribes or move them near the royal city.
Especially for industries that are crude and expensive, such as making stone grinding tools and manufacturing carriages and ships, the Ba people should not become the main force in manufacturing.
When civilization develops to a certain level, light industry and luxury consumer goods are the most profitable industries, and they will last forever.
Heavy industry with huge investment and consumption can only be developed by the state as a whole and form an important weapon of the country, so that it can control the lifeline of the country's economy to the greatest extent.
The Ba people are the Ba people, and the country of Ba is not just the Ba people. The two are no longer unified.
…
When he came back this time, Xu Chen was not in a hurry to return to Gonghuo Basin, but concentrated on staying with the Ba tribe to guide the completion of industrial upgrading.
During this period, he also made a special trip to the Uzbekistan, Hu and Muya ethnic groups to inspect the development situation, especially the copper mining and smelting of the Uzbek people.
With the establishment of the royal city, the population is increasing, development is getting faster and faster, and the demand for metals is increasing. The Uzbek tribe's monthly copper output of half a ton is completely unable to meet the demand.
But after the inspection, he could only accept this reality depressedly.
In the short term, there is simply no way to increase copper production on a large scale.
Mining, picking, transporting, crushing, logging, and burning charcoal, each step requires a lot of manpower.
Heavy industry was a capital-intensive industry in later generations, but now it is a labor-intensive industry. It is all built up little by little with manpower and consumed little by little over time. There is no possibility of opportunism at all.
However, there are only so many Uzbek people who can participate in such heavy physical labor, and it is impossible to allocate more manpower. In other words, even if the manpower is increased, agricultural production will be greatly affected.
Although Xu Chen also thought about recruiting some people from outside to participate in mining and smelting, the development of other tribes was not even as good as that of the Uzbek tribe, so after thinking about it, he decided not to do it.
For now, we should try to focus on the overall planning and development of Pakistan and expand the scale of agricultural production and livestock breeding. Only after more people are completely fed and clothed can we be free to slowly develop heavy industry.
Many things simply cannot be rushed, and the more urgent they become, the more chaotic they become.
In early April, the first painted pottery of the Ba ethnic group came out of the kiln.
After the original gray clay pottery was processed with mineral glazes of various colors, the fired pottery was colorful. Although the shape of the pot did not change, the beautification effect was obvious. It not only surprised and amazed the entire Ba ethnic group, men, women and children.
Even Xu Chen found it eye-opening.
In his two lifetimes, this was the first time he had seen so many colorful pottery.
And it was made and produced under his guidance.
Seeing hundreds of pieces of pottery of various sizes and mixed colors being taken out from the kiln and placed all over the floor, the Ba people once again started a lively and joyful celebration carnival.
This kind of lively scene has not appeared among the Ba people for a long time.
Everyone gathered around the open space of the kiln, singing and dancing, just like when Xu Chen fired pottery for the first time and left the kiln.
It's just that a few years have passed, and things have changed.
It was Mother Ba who presided over the celebration ceremony at first, but now it was replaced by Grandma, who is even older.
The women of the tribe helped the men apply paint on their faces and bodies, and Xu Chen did the same. His whole body was painted like a colorful paint man, and then he was lifted high by a group of men, women, old and young, and they danced around in circles in the open space of the kiln factory.
The sound of ho ho ho resounded throughout the valley.
The appearance of painted pottery and this lively celebration completely resolved the sadness of Mu Ba's death, and the entire tribe completely recovered.
After the celebration, Xu Chen led a group of kiln workers to carefully observe and select these painted pottery, discarding most of the products that cracked or failed to form an effective enamel protective layer, and finally selected several suitable colors and shapes.
Prepare to start ramping up large-scale manufacturing.
For clay pots and pots that are often heated for cooking, making wine and pickling vegetables, black glaze is the main choice.
Small items such as pottery bowls, cups, plates, and vases are mainly made of colored glazes, either single or multi-color. If it's not too troublesome, you can paint some flowers, birds, insects, fish, text or other imaginary decorative patterns.
Xu Chen didn't have any special requirements for these pictures.
He can paint some pictures and colors he likes by himself, but he will not interfere with the creations of the kiln workers and the Ba men, women and children.
Because this kind of artistic creation produced in production and life is also an important feature of the development of human civilization. Once it is guided too much, it loses its natural meaning.
But no matter how much Xu Chen doesn't want to interfere, in the end these patterns and colors will still be greatly influenced by him, just like the murals in palaces and temples. Although the ending effect is very different from what he designed and imagined, it has the characteristics of this era.
He has a strong wild aesthetic taste, but no matter what, everyone still accepted a lot of his guidance and color matching methods during the coloring process. The style is very different from the rock paintings in the cave.
In addition, in order to make the Ba people's painted pottery more tribal, Xu Chen also asked the craftsmen in the foundry to cast several snake-shaped copper seals with the character "Ba". At that time, the base of all the finished pottery must be stamped with a snake.
shaped mark, replacing the four words "Produced by Pap" which were previously carved with a carving knife like a dog crawling.
The emergence of painted pottery greatly stimulated the Ba people's enthusiasm for production.
In the first few years when pottery first appeared, all tribes came to the Ba tribe to buy pottery. However, in recent years, other tribes have slowly begun to learn to make pottery, including ordinary pottery bowls, cups, and even small pots, pots, pots, and pots.
There is no need to come to the Ba people to buy it, so the Ba people's pottery only has large and medium-sized pottery. However, with the continuous promotion and popularization of large and medium-sized pottery in recent years, the actual demand is also decreasing, so the Ba people's pottery
The pottery industry also plummeted and became quite depressed.
When a product has no characteristics, it will fall into price competition. The same is true for the Ba people. Although the pottery of the Ba people is indeed much better than that of other tribes, there is no difference in use. For the same pottery bowl, the Ba people
One for a penny, other tribes sell two or even three for a penny, and the ugly ones are also sold in four for a penny.
Because pottery only consumes labor costs to make pottery, unlike hunting and gathering, which depends on luck. As long as there is labor, there will be output, and selling it will make money. If it was not easy to trade for animal skins or other things before, then now there are copper coins as a trade.
As long as the intermediary is available and cheap enough, it will be able to sell.
The emergence of copper coins not only increased the possibility of transactions, but it also created greater competition. While transactions became easier, the options became wider, making it more difficult to master the transaction process.
However, the emergence of painted pottery will completely change the dilemma faced by the Ba people and bring new changes to the pottery industry.
All the Ba people believe that as long as painted pottery is unveiled, the disgraced pottery of other tribes will be suppressed again.
Of course, because firing twice will consume twice as much manpower, material resources and time, and it will also take a lot of time to make the glaze, color and glaze, the price will definitely be higher, but because other tribes cannot imitate it, for a long time All of them will be unique technologies and products of the Ba people, and will soon occupy the high-end market. Even if the sales volume is not high, they will definitely make money.
Just like high-end leather goods such as tiger skins, bear skins, and wolf skins, there is a market for them no matter how expensive they are, and each tribe treasures them as treasures.