The location of the open-pit coal mine detected by the magic mirror happens to be on the dirt road to Patras City.
Three days later.
The area where the open-pit coal mine is located is bustling with people.
More than half of the wild slaves, some village supervisors from the small village of Nisei, and two-thirds of the escort members were all recruited by William to dig three feet into the ground and dig crisscrossed ravines on this dirt road.
Due to the lack of tools, under the guidance of William's magic mirror, the open-pit coal mine had to be dug into a staircase pattern.
Every meter there is a platform-like staircase with a size of several square meters. A ten-meter-deep coal mine has ten floors of stairs, and below the ten floors of stairs is where the coal ore is.
A large number of wild slaves lived there, mining coal with crude tools, loading it in baskets, and transporting it to the surface layer by layer.
There were already wild slaves waiting there, who moved them onto the wheelbarrow, then pushed the wheelbarrow and rushed towards the small village of Nisei.
In a specially designated area of the new village of Nisei, there was already a group of wild slaves waiting for a long time with wooden sticks in their hands.
This group of wild slaves were mostly strong men and acted as stone crushers.
As soon as the coal ore was dumped, the gang of wild slaves threw off their arms, waved their big sticks, and started working hard.
As a reward, they can get an extra bowl of sweet porridge when eating.
The crushed coal powder is transported near the bricks, where the clay is piled.
Mix 80% coal powder and 20% clay, add an appropriate amount of water, and stir evenly to form a pile of black slime.
This aspect of work is the responsibility of the villagers who make the bricks.
These coal slimes are the materials for making coal cakes.
That's right, the heating and water boiling tools that William wanted to make were the briquettes that could be seen everywhere in the countryside when he was a child in his previous life.
Briquettes ignite quickly, have high temperatures, and have a long burning time. They are easy to use, simple to make, smokeless and odorless, and their utilization efficiency is higher than simply using coal. This is exactly the method William came up with to solve the problem of heating slaves and boiling water for villagers.
Coal slime alone is not enough, you also need to make a mold for briquettes.
In William's previous life, the countryside used to use hand-made briquette molds, but this kind of mold required the use of iron pipes.
With William's current conditions, it is impossible or very difficult to do this.
So William simply simplified this set of molds.
Things originally made of iron were replaced with wood.
Instead of stamping the iron pipe, we directly hollowed out a piece of wood into a flat plate, leaving six small wooden pillars on the flat plate. Then we made a square of the same size and hollowed out the top and bottom.
When making briquettes, put the wooden board and the square together, then add the coal slime, compact it and turn it over. Pull out the flat plate to get a square briquette.
The finished briquettes cannot be used immediately. They need to be dried like bricks, which takes about two to three days.
A honeycomb mold cannot meet the growing material and cultural needs of the small village of Nisei.
The work of the blacksmith was transferred to the carpenter Charles.
Charles opened a carpentry shop in the village, and with a group of relatively dexterous carpenter apprentices, began working against the clock on the briquette molds.
The finished molds were immediately sent to the adobe yard and put into this heated battle.
Within a few days, dense black briquettes took up half of the brick yard.
It's not enough to have briquettes, you also need a stove, a briquette stove.
Traditional briquette stoves are generally cylindrical because the briquettes are made into a round shape.
But for convenience and speed, William chose to make square briquettes.
Therefore, the stove must also be changed accordingly and made into a square shape.
Making a stove is not difficult, as long as you have enough raw materials.
And there is as much clay as you need!
Of course, compared to bricks, this stove still requires a bit of technical content.
Among the wild slaves, William also found a family who used to be pottery workers. Because they were oppressed by the officials and had a hard time, the whole family had to become wild slaves.
There are also five or six scattered people, all of whom have experience as pottery workers.
William simply transferred these dozen people from the hard work of wild slaves and established a pottery workshop, with one man named Borg as the manager, and their first task was to make briquette stoves.
William promised them that if their performance was outstanding, they would receive amnesty from William after spending the winter, change from slaves to citizens of the Decas Territory, and receive rewards for their work.
This group of potter's slaves naturally burst into passion.
Of course, with only a dozen or so people, the work speed is still a bit slow.
So William selected dozens of young wild slaves from among the wild slaves and sent them to pottery workshops to serve as apprentices.
William also made this promise to them. Those who are excellent and have outstanding achievements will receive his special commendation after winter.
Under such encouragement, five days later, William finally saw the first briquette stove he saw in the small village of Nisei.
In the earthen house, William, Old John, Charles, Eddie, Old Gretel, Jacques Porter, and Drake John all gathered around the red clay stove.
There is a pottery basin placed on top of the red clay stove. There is water in the pottery pot, and the water is bubbling at this time.
There were three square pieces of honeycomb briquettes placed inside the red clay stove. Orange-red flames were flickering between the holes. A wave of heat spread in all directions, and the chill in the late autumn was immediately driven away.
No smoke, no smell, and most importantly, convenient.
There are handles on both sides of the stove so you can move it around at will.
It can be placed close to you without worrying about being engulfed by flames.
Old John looked at this red clay stove, and the more he looked at it, the more he liked it.
The weather is getting colder and colder. After all, old John is getting old and cannot compare with young people.
Living in a drafty thatched mud house, the autumn wind blowing every night made his hands and feet feel cold and his whole body stiff.
There is no fireplace in the thatched house. Although you can light a fire, you don't dare to light it after falling asleep, for fear that a caregiver won't be able to catch it, and the sparks will ignite the dry thatch, making you howl in your nightmare.
Originally, Old John thought he could only suffer forever, but the appearance of the red clay stove allowed him to see the good times in the future.
While keeping warm on a cold night, you can also drink hot water or make hot soup overnight.
Is there any happier enjoyment?
He couldn't help but stretched out his hand and touched the outer wall of the stove.
hot!
Old John suddenly retracted his hand, but the smile disappeared from his face.
He looked at William and asked happily, "Baron, how long can this thing burn?"
"How long does it take to burn?" William thought for a moment, "About the time it takes for two candles to burn. A piece of briquettes, that's right, this thing is called briquettes!"
After hearing William's answer, not only Old John, but also Old Gretel and Charles' faces lit up.
William looked around them, then smiled and said his plan, "Currently, fifteen red clay stoves have been made in the pottery workshop, and thirty-eight red clay stoves are being fired in the kiln.
Among them. More than two thousand briquettes have been made, and they are all placed in the brick-making field to dry, ready for use at any time."
"In the near future, the number of red clay stoves and briquettes will definitely be more and more, enough to meet the needs of everyone in our small village of Nisei."
"So, I'm going to do this."
"Each wild slave slave's shack can get a red clay stove and three briquettes per day. Of course, they only have the right to use the red clay stove, but not ownership. If it is destroyed, they will be severely fined!" William said.
A shack usually houses 10 wild slaves, and about a hundred red clay stoves are enough to meet the minimum needs.
Old John and the others nodded after hearing this.
William then continued, "In addition, I will sell the red clay stove in a grocery store for one franc silver coin."
A franc silver coin can buy a mobile fireplace. This price is not expensive but too cheap.
Old John opened his mouth to say something, but William was the first to say, "Of course, briquettes are not provided for free. Three Poole copper coins are used for each briquette."
One briquette can only support the burning time of two candles. Compared with dry firewood, the price is relatively expensive.
Because dry firewood is close to a large forest and rich in resources, it is almost free.
However, honeycomb briquettes are smokeless and odorless when burned, and are convenient and easy to move. The price is not unacceptable.
You need about three to four pieces of briquettes a day, which means you need to spend 10 to 12 copper coins, which is about three silver francs a month.
I believe many villagers would make a choice to exchange three franc silver coins for a month of comfort.
Old Grete thought silently in his heart.
Naturally, other people have no objections.
"In addition, I will also issue a lord administrative order. From now on, all drinking water in Dikas Territory must be boiled. Otherwise, once discovered, a penalty of 1 Aiju silver coin will be imposed. If discovered repeatedly,
, the penalty is doubled!”
William looked at Jacques Porter and Derek John among this group of people, the two representatives of the Nisei Village Guard.
This was originally the responsibility of the urban management or the police, but there is no way. The small village of Nisei is now in dire straits. All it needs is to let the military escort team do this job.
However, the escort team has been undergoing high-intensity training to face the possible coming disaster of lizardmen, and there is no time to manage these trivial matters. This order, that is, the deterrent effect is greater, and the actual implementation may be insignificant.
form!
But it doesn't matter, what William wants to express is a matter of attitude.
Jacques Porter and Drake John both nodded solemnly.